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Thanks for the reviews as always people – and sorry for the delay with this chapter! I'll be more prompt with the next one!

Chapter Eight – Little Lies

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

Tell me lies, tell me tell me lies

Oh no no, you can't disguise,

You can't disguise, no you can't disguise…

Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac

"It s-still d-doesn't look r-right"

Brains frowned at the screen in front of him. His test subject's face changed from confident to worried.

"Well, the formula seems sound, Brains. Are you sure the numbers are right?"

Tin-Tin was checking the readouts.

"I w-was until I g-got the answer"

The petite Malaysian gave him a questioning look.

"According t-to my c-calculations, Gordon s-swims at the speed of l-light"

Tin-Tin giggled "Really? Maybe we should rename him 'Greased Lightning'"

Gordon's grin was huge "This Tracy's automatic, he's systematic, he's hydromatic…"

Brains sighed over Tin-Tin's smothered laughter as Gordon strutted round the lab. in true Travolta style.

"Sadly Gordon, t-that isn't the c-case. T-There must b-be a flaw in the m-math somewhere. It will n-need adjustment if we're ever to t-transfer the p-principles to a m-mechanical d-device"

"I'm taking that as a compliment" Gordon grinned "You guys need me to be guinea pig some more?"

"No Gordon, I h-have all the d-data I n-need. It is j-just the m-math that d-doesn't add up"

"Okay, I'm gonna skip out and leave you egg-heads to it. Enjoy!" He left the lab, whistling cheerily.

Tin-Tin watched him go, her own thoughts crowding in.

"Tin-Tin?"

"Hmm? Oh sorry Brains, I was…"

"T-Thinking, I know"

"Just wishing all problems could be solved as easily as mathematical ones"

Eyes still fixed on the screen, Brains paused in the editing of his work.

"Alan?"

"Alan, Mr. Tracy, my birthday…"

"Alan m-means well"

"I know, and I would like him here for my birthday too, but I don't want to upset Mr. Tracy either. And if I try and explain it to Alan he takes it the wrong way and thinks I want him to stay in Thunderbird 5. Then he gets angry, and he won't speak to me" she shrugged dejectedly "It's such a mess"

Brains didn't say anything. As brilliant he was at construction and repair of machines, fixing relationships was beyond him. But having spent a lot of time in the lab. listening to Tin-Tin had given him some insight as to what was going on. In fact, though he didn't know it, Brains had more idea than the rest of the family put together.

   There was a knock on the door, and a blonde head appeared.

"Sorry, don't want to interrupt but we got a call. Dad wants your input, Brains"

"N-no p-problem, John" Brains saved his latest efforts and adjusted his glasses before getting up "W-What's the emergency?"

"Tornado's hit Oklahoma. Caused a lot of damage"

"Oh no. Any casualties?" Tin-Tin moved towards the door, concerned.

"We're not sure yet. But there's one definite fatality – Scott's date"

     Scott caught Tin-Tin's sympathetic glance as she and Brains joined them in the lounge. Jeff finished talking to Alan in the satellite then turned to his two eldest.

"Scott, get going. You can be there in under half an hour. Find a safe place to set up Mobile Control and assess what we need. Virgil can be with you within an hour"

His tone changed to a slightly softened one "And I'm sorry you have to cancel your plans son"

"Can't be helped, Dad. I'll call when I'm airborne"

Pleased at Scott's composure in the face of disappointment, Jeff watched his son take up position in front of the usual portrait, taking hold of the handles either side of him.

"He sure took that well" Gordon muttered as the picture began to revolve, taking Scott with it.

"I've always been proud of how you boys handle situations and make sacrifices without complaint"

Jeff's impromptu praise on the virtues he'd instilled in his sons wasn't quite long enough to cover the muffled cursing from the other side of the painting.

"Nobody's perfect" he defended his eldest as the others snickered.

"Guess he didn't take it that well"

"Alright boys, back to business. Brains, Tin-Tin, this is what we have so far. Less than an hour ago an F4 tornado hit Sallisaw in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Since the initial broadcast from the authorities we've had numerous distress calls concerning people trapped in the ruins of their houses, collapsed buildings, and folks buried in their own bunkers under debris"

"Oklahoma? That place is like tornado central – weren't these people prepared?"

"T-True, Gordon, Oklahoma is r-renowned for the f-frequency of d-destructive weather that a-affects it, b-but if I r-remember correctly, Sallisaw itself has n-not suffered a great d-deal from such m-meteological conditions"

They were interrupted briefly by the roar of Thunderbird 1 taking off from its hidden hanger beneath the pool. Seconds later Scott called in to say he was airborne and give an ETA for Sallisaw, promising to check in regularly as always.

    "The city hasn't been seriously hit for well over 60 years" John called from the monitor he was now seated in front of. "The last F4 in Sallisaw was in the 1960's – killed 16 and injured 106. Other than an F3 in 1999, the only twister activity have been F0's and F1's"

"So they really weren't ready for it"

"What's the game plan?" Virgil leaned on his father's desk tapping the wood gently – keen to get going.

    Jeff was about to answer when an incoming call claimed his attention.

"Thunderbird 5 calling Base"

"Go ahead Alan"

"I just received an update from Sallisaw – thought you'd wanna know"

"What are they saying?"

Alan ran the recording. It was the Chief Firefighter who spoke, giving descriptions of the devastation and explaining why they desperately needed help. With only twenty firefighters total – both regular and volunteer – they were severely short-staffed.

"Tell them we're on our way" Jeff nodded. "Virgil, you heard the man – get cracking. Take John and Gordon, you'll need all the help you can get. Brains, what equipment do they need?"

The engineer didn't hesitate "The Mole, the F-Firefly…"

"Basically anything we can jam into one pod" Virgil had crossed the room and was preparing to exit to Thunderbird 2.

Brains nodded and headed back to lab. to arrange the appropriate pod. Virgil disappeared down the chute, John and Gordon not far behind in the passenger lift.

"Off they go again, Mr. Tracy" Kyrano had been observing proceedings silently from the shadows.

"Off they go" his friend echoed.

Scott eyed his watch, calculating how long he'd have before Thunderbird 2 would be in

the air and contacting him. Enough time to call AJ, he gauged, and retrieved his mobile

from the pile of civilian clothes he'd switched for his uniform. He had a rough idea of what to say, but he'd have to tread real careful in order to pull this off and not be up a certain creek with no paddle.

"So much for my love life"

AJ was thinking much the same as she stood in a darkened room, hands over her ears trying to make herself heard.

"I said – what caused it?"

"Security breach!" Sakura yelled as she tried to find familiar faces in the eerie red light.

"This had better not be another drill!" came the frustrated reply. "And can't someone turn those frickin' alarms off already!?!"

"No drill," Eric joined them, almost tripping over a chair in the process "Ooh! Something happened with the mainframe. They thought it was just a power spike or something, but it looks like someone tried to hack into system, got past the perimeter and triggered this" he explained, rubbing his shin.

"But why the panic?"

"I heard the phrase 'inside job' being mentioned"

"Shit" the expletive was uttered just as the klaxons were silenced, causing heads to turn in AJ's direction.

"Twenty quid says it's the CIA trying to nose into our system again"

"Bloody Yanks" Sakura added eloquently, seating herself at the nearest station and squinting at the screen through the emergency lighting. "Everything's been pulled offline. Hope everyone saved whatever they were working on"

Eric's face showed he hadn't.

"Guess it's up to Tech to figure out who it is and block them"

"And in the meantime?"

"You know the procedure – if the system has a breach the whole building goes into shutdown and nothing gets in or out until they solve it"

"Marvellous" AJ spat sourly "Why don't these people hack our systems early on in the day?"

"You got a date?"
"I did have, yeah. But there's no way I'm gonna get out of here on time. Damn!"

"Dare I suggest you call and re-arrange something then?"

AJ sighed "Got no choice. Here's hoping Scott buys my story, and doesn't think I'm calling it off completely"

"You could tell him the truth" Eric shrugged, and winced as AJ threw him a look.

"As in, 'Sorry, I can't make tonight – something came up with the top-secret organisation I work for. Can we re-schedule?' Yeah right, because that sounds plausible"

As if on cue, her phone rang.

Having checked he'd set the correct course and confirmed his ETA with base, Virgil settled to the usual routine of studying the many instruments and gauges that kept Thunderbird 2 in the air and on track. Behind him sat two of his younger brothers – one quiet, contemplating the surroundings and mentally prepping himself for the task ahead, and the other…

"Gordon!"

"What?!"

"You know what. Quit it" Virgil muttered through gritted teeth. The methodical snaps of Gordon cracking his knuckles drove Virgil to distraction, which was one of the reasons Gordon did it.

The silence lasted mere seconds before –

crack

"Gordon!"

"I had to! I'd done the others – it was the last one, I swear!"

John rearranged his expression from amused to serious as Virgil turned to eye his irritating passenger.

"Don't do it again! And stop laughing, John"

The chorus of 'sorry's' sounded almost sincere. Gordon cast around for a new topic of conversation to deflect interest away from his annoying habits.

"Isn't it about time you checked in with Scott?"

"Who's flying this thing, me or you?"

"Just a thought"

Virgil sighed "I'm giving him a chance to call AJ"

"How long's it take to cancel a date?!" came the incredulous reply.

"Once again Gordon shows his complete lack of knowledge about women"

"And illustrates why he hasn't had a date in months" John added.

"Hey!"

"Scott can't just 'cancel' it – he needs to come up with a good reason and get AJ to buy it"

"And he needs to sound suitably bad about it"

"No problem there" Gordon chuckled "He was pretty annoyed, whatever Dad says"

"Hell, I would be too if I were in his shoes"

John grinned "Ditto, from what I've heard. She sounds fun"

"She is" Virgil was smug, pleased he had one up on the others as the only other person to have met AJ "And speak of the devil…"

A flash on the panel in front signalled an incoming call.

"Thunderbird 2 from Thunderbird 1"

"Receiving you strength five, Thunderbird 1 – how's it going, Scott?"

"Good Virg – and thanks" Scott knew his brother had broken protocol for him.

"Hey no worries"

"So?" came a lighter voice from the background. Gordon.

"You mean did she buy it? Yeah, thank god. AJ was great about it. Oddly enough she wasn't sure if she'd be able to make tonight as well, since something came up at work and she might not have gotten away in time, so it worked out for the best. And since she couldn't, I didn't feel so bad about not making it either"

"Well that was lucky"

"You're telling me, bro'. Okay, enough about that – what's your ETA?"

"37 minutes, you?"

"I'll be landing in 16. Sallisaw's further over than Alan thought – it's 25 miles west of the Arkansas-Oklahoma border"

"I know, I heard."

"Alan contacted the FAA and let them know our flight paths over the mainland, and NOAA have promised to keep us updated on the weather systems"

"Yeah, last thing we need is another tornado hitting the area"

"Is that likely?" John frowned. The thought of their craft being in the path of a twister was not a pleasant one.

They could almost hear the shrug in Scott's tone "Your guess is as good as mine. At the moment they're saying no, but these things form so quick we can't rule it out"

"Okay, we'll keep an ear out for any changes"

"I'll see you kids on the ground. Contact me…"

"…when we're close, I know. Be seeing you Scott"

"Bye bro! See you in a bit!" Gordon called cheerily, apparently unfazed by the mention of possible tornado activity. John wished he could say the same.

"Thunderbird 1 out"

"Well?" Sakura prompted as AJ closed her phone with a smile and returned to the group with care – normal lighting still hadn't come back on.

"Man, am I relived. He got called away on urgent Tracy Enterprise business – downside to being the eldest son apparently – and so he can't make it anyway"

"Did you tell him you couldn't either?"

AJ laughed "Well, it did cross my mind not to say anything – but he was so apologetic I didn't want him feeling guilty! Honestly, he was so sweet about it and dead set on making it up to me!"

Sakura shook her head "Who is this guy, and why aren't there more of him? It's times like this I wish they'd gotten the official go ahead for human cloning"

"He has four brothers – and you're married!"

"True, but I can look, can't I?"

"That's a point, when do we get to meet this model guy of yours?" Eric put on a serious expression "As your bestest friend I need to check him out, make sure he's for real"

AJ grinned "I think it's a bit early to be subjecting Scott to you guys just yet – and besides, he's real enough, the Powers-That-Be did a background check on him"

"Hey" Eric shrugged "They might have missed something. You never know"