AN - Yup, another authors note. This should be cleared up in this chapter anyway, but just incase - Jeff Tracy isn't actually Ellie's Uncle. I used to call my dad's friends uncle when i was little so that's where i got it from... dont' worry, there aren't any unknown Tracy brothers you should know about! Oh and the year in my story is 2063, not 2065 - just for my convenience really for the ages!



Back To The Present

Jeff Tracy awoke with a start, his heart beating rapidly as he remembered the events of that night from ten years ago, a nightmare that had once haunted him for eight timeless years. The fire engines hadn't reached the house in time, and when they did get there, there wasn't much left of it. Jeff had refused to let go of Ellie, but finally conceded when someone pointed out she needed emergency medical attention. He can remember watching them take her away, bundling her into the ambulance and driving off without so much as a look back. Jeff let out a small silent sob at this memory, remembering this was the last time he ever saw Ellie, believing her to be dead. When the firefighters had finally got the blaze under control, there was nothing at all left of the once beautiful country retreat. They were able to recognise two charred bodies, which were later identified as Xander and Charlotte Hartley, Ellie's parents. The postmortem raised thousands of questions which still remain unanswered, but not due to lack of trying The coroner concluded that both Hartley's were murdered with some kind of sharp instrument believed to be a butchers knife or even an axe. After arriving at the hospital, Eleanor Hartley disappeared without a trace, hospital workers refused to comment and many, including Jeff himself, believed her to be dead. The hospital even encouraged these rumours to move the blame away from themselves it was revealed later on.

Jeff Tracy and his sons had attended the funeral of Xander and Charlotte Hartley, watching silently as they lowered the coffins into the grave. Jeff was wracked with guilt and anger, wanting to find the people who had brutally murdered his best friends. His anger finally boiled over when, three days later, he found out that Ellie hadn't died after all and had instead been taken without consent by an unknown group of people. He was furious with the hospital, even considering suing them. Instead, he devoted as much time and effort into finding his best friend's daughter, aiming to bring her to Tracy Island to live with him and his sons.

As he reflected back on this, Jeff sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He'd tried to find Ellie for eight long years, but it was as though she'd disappeared without a trace. Sometimes he thought he'd found her, but it turned out to be yet another false alarm. Exhausted from the searching and sick of neglecting his own children, Jeff gave up the search for Ellie two years ago, hoping her to be happy wherever she was. He had failed his best friend, or at least he thought he had until this morning.

The morning had begun like normal, except John had returned from Thunderbird 5 for the day and was now going over some of the accounts for Jeff. John had sat there for around half an hour, pouring over the accounts with precision before Jeff realised something was wrong. An confused look had spread over his son's face, clicking away before finally telling him something was wrong. John had pointed out that International Rescue had been received a large donation of money each month, something none of the Tracy's knew anything about. Usually John wouldn't have bothered with this, but it was the name under the donations he was concerned with, and told Jeff just that. Looking at the screen, Jeff had read the last line;

Donation: £2,500

Name: E. Hartley

When he'd read this, Jeff's heart had skipped a beat and he'd had to re-read it just to make sure he was seeing it correctly. Ignoring the curious glances thrown at him by his sons, Jeff had ordered John to try and trace where the donation had come from exactly, and then find the donater. John had started this without a question why, which Jeff had deeply appreciated. All of his sons knew little about Ellie, but they knew enough and Jeff had never found the time to tell them everything.

I'll have to today though, he thought, frowning. They deserve to know what happened that night, all they know is that her parents are dead and she disappeared. He sighed and got out of bed, checking his reflection in the mirror as he had done ten years ago. Seeing that name on the screen had awoken something in Jeff that had lay dormant since he gave up his search, but it had also awoken the nightmares about that fateful night which he had been so grateful to get rid of.

Walking into the living room, he squinted in the morning sunlight and started to fix himself some breakfast. Half an hour later the rest of the Tracy's had appeared and settled themselves down at the table, chattering and laughing. Glancing at the computer next to him, Jeff noticed it was still searching for E. Hartley and he prayed to himself that it was her, not Edward or Ella Hartley who had turned up in his many searches in the past ten years.

Three days later, Jeff was disturbed by a loud and urgent knocking on his door. Groaning, he stood up and made his way over to the door. It slid open and John was stood in the doorway, looking very anxious and happy at the same time.

"Dad you have to see this!" He exclaimed, running over to the computer and printing out sheets of paper.

Jeff followed reluctantly, feeling that deep down whatever the search had turned up would be a false alarm like all of the other times. He leant over the screen, glancing at the screen and then back at his son.

"She's put some money in again, a lot of money!" John said in excitement, hoping for once that something would turn out right for his dad.

Jeff looked back at the screen and read the latest entry;

Donation: £500,750

Name: E. Hartley

Jeff frowned and looked at his son. "There must be some mistake, she'd never donate that amount of money..." He trailed off and his eyes wandered to the stack of printouts next to John. Flicking through them, a small smile appeared on his face for a second before being replaced by a serious frown.

"What's wrong?" John asked, sensing his father's worry. "This is her, isn't it?"

"Yes, but i know something's wrong with her." Jeff replied, bowing his head and trying to think. "She'd never donate that much money, it must be everything she has! Unless she wouldn't need it anymore..." He realised what she could be doing, and ran into his bedroom, pulling on his clothes as he had done ten years ago.

John latched onto his father's trail of thoughts and ran to wake up his brothers. When he was sure they were up, he ran back to the computer and began to search for something, occasionally glancing at the printouts lying next to him.

"What're you doing?" Jeff asked curiously as he returned from his bedroom. "I need you to find out exactly where -"

"I'm already on it," John interrupted, typing amazingly fast to find Ellie's exact location. "Just... gimme...a....min." He said, referring to the papers again before leaning back in his seat and smiling. "She's on the Millenium Bridge in London, looks like she's broken down or something... She isn't going anywhere."

Jeff nodded, and turned to face his other sons. "Alan stay here with John and tell me if anything changes. If she moves, let me know." He nodded, sitting himself at the table as Jeff turned to the others. "Gordon, Virgil you're with me in Thunderbird 2 as we may need Thunderbird 4 as well. Scott, follow with Thunderbird 1. We need to get there fast, so get dressed quickly."

They nodded too and headed off to their rooms to get dressed as quickly as possible. Jeff sank into an empty chair, hoping that Ellie wouldn't do anything stupid and that they got there in time. He couldn't afford to let her go this time, not after ten years.