Hunter, Prey
By Sapphire
Disclaimer in part 1
Chapter 7 – Coming HomeThe plan they came up with depended on John getting back to the island as soon as possible. His normal shift was to last three more weeks and it was out of the question that they could wait so long. Too much time had been lost already.
After some discussions, they finally decided that the only way to get John back home was to fake some kind of illness. Neither John nor the alien were exactly happy with that idea. John hated to deceive his family and Hunter felt reluctant to manipulate John's body to something that was essentially negative. But they both had agreed that it was the best way.
When the time of the daily check-in call came around, John was ready.
"Hunter, it's time."
YOU ARE SURE YOU WANT THIS
"I'm open to any other idea you have."
Instead of an answer, he felt like heat suddenly flushed his body. Breathing became harder and he felt his heart hammer in his chest.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, as he wiped off sweat from his forehead.
ARE YOU OKAY
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just didn't think this would be so fast. You just go on."
On rubbery legs, John walked over to the com console, making contact with Tracy Island.
"Evening, Dad." Even his voice sounded raspy.
"John!" his father called out the moment he laid eyes on his middle son. "Are you sick?"
John swallowed. There was it now. He would have to lie to his father. God, he hated that.
"I'm fine," he said, trying to sound like he meant it.
"You don't look fine, son," Jeff replied, looking sternly at him.
John counted on the fact that he, like all of his brothers, was well known to downplay any weakness they might have. And being sick was a weakness after all. It seemed to work.
"It's just a bit of a fever, dad. I'll be fine."
John had to admit even to himself that he sounded pretty pathetic.
"John," his father said. "This doesn't look like just a fever. You go, right now, to the diagnostic bed and check yourself out.
"Father," John whined a little bit, but then relented, as he didn't want to overplay it.
He went to the bed in his room, transforming it with a couple of switches into a high tech diagnostic unit and lay down. Multiple sensor arrays sprang to life and started to examine him. John hated to be in the diagnostic bed, but as it was a little difficult to have a doctor making house calls in space, he had accepted its usefulness.
The unit collected the data and sent them back to Earth. A few moments later, he heard Jeff's voice again.
"John, you have over 106 degrees fever. This is not just something harmless. You're coming back home. Now."
"But, Father," John protested, even though this was exactly what he and Hunter had wanted. But it would sound strange if he would give in too fast.
"Don't 'But, Father' me, son. You stay exactly where you are while I send Scott and Alan up. Alan can stay on Thunderbird 5 for a week, until you're better."
With that Jeff cut off the connection.
John allowed himself a brief grin, then he closed his eyes. All of the sudden he was very tired.
oooooo
Thunderbird 3 arrived a little over an hour later. John had actually fallen asleep but woke up when he heard Scott making contact.
"Thunderbird 3 calling Thunderbird 5," sounded his oldest brother's voice from the loudspeaker next to his bed. As John had to be ready day and night, there was also a com unit in his bedroom.
John rubbed his eyes, then flipped the switch.
"Still here, Scott," John said, making his voice sound weaker than he actually was.
Hunter had decreased his temperature a little, but John was still running a medium fever. He had to hand it to the alien; he was doing a great job. John really did feel sick. This also drove home to him what danger his family and friends were in. Hunter had been really reluctant to manipulate John's body and it had taken some fancy talking on John's part to make him agree to the plan. If the alien Hunter was searching for had no such high moral standards, there was no knowing what damage he could cause.
A few minutes later, there was a knock and Scott's dark-haired head peered into John's bedroom. "Hi, Johnny?" Scott's body followed and he stepped inside. "How do you feel?"
"I'm fine, Scott, really. It's just a bit of fever, that's all. No need to take me home just because of that."
"Sorry, John, but I do have my orders." Scott had stepped up to the bed and felt for John's forehead. "Hmm," he said non-committal.
"What do you mean, 'hmm', Scott?" Alan had followed his brother and also stepped into the bedroom. He dropped the duffle bag he had been carrying and joined Scott at John's bedside.
"John has a fever."
John rolled his eyes, while Alan grinned down on John. "It's always good to have a professional opinion. So, Doctor Scott, can the patient be moved?"
John pushed himself up into a sitting position. "The patient can walk himself," he said through the dizziness that grasped him suddenly.
He accepted Scott's steadying hand, not liking the concerned looks on Scott's and Alan's faces. John hated to cause worry to his brothers, but he was now committed to the plan and would see it through.
He held a little bit longer onto Scott as he got to his feet. Finally standing, he took a moment to get his breath back.
SCOTT IS CLEAR, a message suddenly flashed before his eyes.
"Thanks," he said to Hunter, though Scott, of course, thought he was the addressee.
"You're welcome," his older brother replied with an open smile.
It would do no good if John would go back to the island, only to leave the one brother who was infected back on Thunderbird 5. With Scott in the clear, they only needed to check out Alan.
"Alan," John called out for his brother.
The blond-haired man moved to John's side, slinging an arm around his shoulder. Scott let go, moving ahead to the air lock and Thunderbird 3 to start the pre-flight checks. John and Alan followed slowly.
"Are you okay with staying here, Alan?" John asked concerned. He felt a little guilty for pulling Alan out from whatever the youngest Tracy had been doing, only to dump him without any warning on the remote space station.
"I'm okay, John, don't worry. You just stay a week longer when you come back up here and we call it even."
"You don't need to worry, John. Brains has come up with a new kind of fire repellent gel that he 'burns' to test on one of us," Scott explained with a grin from up ahead. "I guess Alan is just glad he's far enough away not to be on the test subject list any more."
Well, that explained Alan's eagerness to stay up on TB5. Brains experiments could turn up with unexpected results, though there hadn't been any lasting damage – so far.
"Not true!" Alan protested, but John could feel that his heart wasn't in it.
"Yes true!" Scott returned with a wink.
Again, John received an 'all clear' message from Hunter, lifting another boulder from his heart.
They reached Thunderbird 3 and John buckled up in the shotgun seat.
The ride back home was uneventful. Scott handled the huge space rocket with a deft hand and landed her without a jolt through the opening in the large round house on the island.
"Okay, John, let's get you to the sick room."
Scott helped John out of the seat and onto the sofa that was the fastest way to their father's study. From there it would be only a short walk to the sickroom.
Father and Grandma were expecting them, both looking concerned. John felt another stab of guilt for deceiving his family. Hunter had once again decreased John's temperature, but as they didn't want to raise any suspicions, they had decided to keep John sick for a little bit longer.
Grandma's face split into a grin when she saw her two grandsons. "John, honey, how do you feel?"
She reached out and felt John's forehead. "That doesn't feel too bad," she noted as she took John's arm and led him towards the sickroom.
"I'm fine," said John for what felt to be the hundredth time.
"We'll see about that, honey."
Knowing that resistance was futile, he allowed his grandmother to tuck him in.
"What you need, John, is some peace and quiet and some of my homemade chicken soup," she diagnosed.
John decided not to point out that there was probably no place as peaceful and quiet at Thunderbird 5 – except maybe when a rescue was going on. But he wouldn't say no to grandma's homemade chicken soup. He wasn't crazy after all. Made the old traditional way, he and all his brothers would walk through a snowstorm just to get some.
"So, you rest a little and I will be back in a short while with the soup for you."
"Thanks, grandma."
Grandma lowered the light and left the room.
"Could you check her out?" he asked quietly when he was sure that he was alone.
YOUR GRANDMOTHER IS CLEAR
John exhaled in relief. "Thank God."
oooooo
John woke from the blare of the alert going off. He was disorientated for a moment because he wasn't in his usual bed in Thunderbird 5 but quickly remembered that he was back on the island and why.
Dressing hastily, he rushed into his father's study only seconds after Scott and Virgil. Gordon showed up a moment later. It was dark outside, the clock on the wall showing it to be 3:45 AM.
Alan was on the monitor, looking grave.
"… doesn't look good, Father. There are still explosives all over the place. If any more go off, the rest of the building will come down, too. The chief of police says there are at least twenty people trapped down there in the vault, but they can't get closer to the building because of the explosives. The only bright spot is that they believe the kidnappers all died in the first blast, so at least there will be no bullets flying."
"Okay, Alan, we take it from there. Scott, you better take off quickly. The situation is serious. Your target is Frankfurt, Germany. I'll update you on the way."
"FAB, father."
Scott moved over to his portrait on the wall and reached for the two lamp cones on either side. Pressing the hidden switches there, the wall rotated away with him, delivering him directly to the hangar with Thunderbird 1.
"Virgil, Gordon, you take Thunderbird 2 with Pod 5. The Deutsche Bank's vault is underground and maybe you will have to tunnel in with the Mole."
John noticed that he had been excluded from the round up.
"Father, let me go, too. Please."
Jeff Tracy cast a worried look at his middle son. Seeing that he actually looked better, he considered.
"How to you feel?" he asked still concerned.
"I'm fine, Father. Really. The fever's gone. It was nothing but a 12-hour flu."
"All right," Jeff finally relented. "You can go. But the moment that fever is back, you're off the mission and in Thunderbird 2's sickbay. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Father."
Together with Gordon John went to Thunderbird 2's hangar where Virgil was already loading up Pod 5. They entered the huge craft, and settled down on the extra seats in the cockpit. Virgil started to roll her out and in no time they were up in the air, heading Northwest.
"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 2."
"Go ahead, Alan."
"Okay, let's give you the low-down. Two hours ago a group of men came into the Deutsche Bank Building in Frankfurt. They carried weapons and explosives. They took twelve employees and an undetermined number of customers hostage and locked them in one vault while they started to clear out the other vaults. The vault with the hostages was mined and they threatened to blow them up the moment the police tried anything funny. Twenty minutes ago there was an explosion and part of the building collapsed. Somebody in the vault managed to make contact to the outside, so we know they're still alive, but they also found out that the explosives down there are still hot. The people can't get out as they are still locked in, and nobody can get in because of the explosives."
"Thanks, Alan. Our ETA is one hour and seventeen minutes." Virgil informed his brother. "I just hope those people can last that long."
He cut off the connection to Thunderbird 5 and then poured all his considerable skill into getting the best speed out of Thunderbird 2.
tbc
So, Alan, Scott and Grandma are all in the clear. But what about the rest? Is the bad guy in one of the other brothers?
Maybe you'll see as they go to their 'Rescue in Germany'
Happy New Year to you all.