Hunter, Prey
By Sapphire
Disclaimer in part 1
Chapter 11 – The Other HostThey were about ten minutes away from home when Scott made contact from Thunderbird 1. They had flown back to the island in formation, even though Scott could make much better time and arrive more than an hour ahead of the others. But ever since the incident with the U.S.N. Sentinel he liked to stay close to Thunderbird 2 in case something like that ever happened again. It wasn't possible on the way out to a rescue of course, as there speed was always of the essence, but on the way back it was something different.
"Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird 2, are we set?"
"Thunderbird 2 to Thunderbird 1, FAB. Everybody is where he belongs."
Hunter had returned to John about five minutes earlier. Gordon had been only too happy to get rid of the alien, a feeling that probably had only increased when he saw the slimy liquid flow out of his hand over into John's arm. John didn't exactly blame him. He had had some time to get used to Hunter by now, but Gordon was still pretty new to this. Besides, he always had been a little squeamish where slimy things were concerned, something his brothers used to tease him about mercilessly, until Scott had put a stop to it, after an especially nasty trick Virgil and John had played on their younger brother some years ago.
The plan they had come up with was basically that as soon as everybody was back on the island, each brother would seek out one of the potential hosts for the other alien and keep an eye on him or her. John was to go to Brains and check him out. If he was clear, he was to tell him about Hunter and start working on a way to repel him from a host body. If anybody could find a way to do it it would be Brains.
But as with the best-laid plans, they seldom survived the encounter with reality.
When they contacted base, it wasn't their father who answered their call.
"B-b-base here."
"Brains? What's up with Dad?" Scott asked concerned.
Though it wasn't that uncommon for Brains to staff the control desk, in light of the situation with the alien loose somewhere on the island it was some cause for concern.
"Nothing to w-w-worry, Scott. Your f-f-father just, ehr, went for a walk," said Brains. He didn't look worried, but then he didn't know what the brothers knew.
"FAB, Brains. Our ETA is eight and a half minutes."
On the screen they could see Brains checking the monitors. Alan would also take a look at the vicinity of the island from Thunderbirds 5 to make sure there was nobody who would be able to see the arrival of Thunderbirds 1 and 2.
"All is c-c-clear, Scott."
Scott thanked Brains. He cut off the connection to base but retained the link to Thunderbird 2.
"Dad's going for a walk while we're still out?" he asked concerned. "That doesn't really sound like him."
John agreed. "We can't be too careful now. I think that means I'll go for Dad first, before checking on Brains."
"I don't like it," Gordon cut in. "If it's really Dad, what do you want to do?"
John sighed. This was the one-million dollar question. Hunter hadn't provided a new solution to their problem yet.
Maybe they were making too much out of a small thing. Dad was spending a lot of time behind a desk, so why should it be so unusual that he wanted to stretch his legs a little? The old man wasn't getting any younger after all, even though he was pretty fit for his age.
But John's gut felling told him differently. Something was wrong. He knew it.
John wished Virgil would go faster, but to be fair he knew that Thunderbird 2 was already going as fast as she could.
The great machine had barely landed and rolled into the hangar, when he was out of his seat and on his way to the study.
Brains was still sitting at the desk checking on the data he received from Thunderbirds 1 and 2 about the rescue and possible damage the two machines and the Mole might have received during the rescue. John knew all machines had come through the rescue without any problems, but still Brains had to make sure. He was also always looking for ways to improve the performance of the rescue equipment, so all data was important to him.
"Brains," John greeted the engineer. "Do you know where Father went? I need to talk to him."
"He was h-h-heading to the boathouse the last time I saw h-h-him." Brains wasn't even looking up from his monitors.
John hesitated for a moment. He wondered if Brains had noticed something unusual about father, but then refrained from asking. When Brains was involved in something, he tended to ignore anything but his work.
"Thanks," he said and headed downstairs and out across the pool deck.
"Scott," he then called his brother on his wristwatch. "Brains said Dad was heading to the boathouse. I'll see if I can find him there."
"FAB, John. We'll follow you as soon as we can. If it really turns out to be Father, I don't want you alone with him."
"I won't be alone," John said, cutting off the connection.
"How do you feel, Hunter?" he then asked his 'guest', He walked down the path that led to the boathouse where the Tracys housed all their sea faring crafts from surf boards to a fairly large ocean-going yacht. All that was of course without Thunderbird 4 that was kept out of sight of anybody who might happen to come to visit the island and didn't know about International Rescue.
I AM FINE
John had to grin at that.
"You've obviously been hanging around me too long. You must be tired after saving Gordon. Thanks again for that by the way. You have no idea how grateful I am for what you did."
YOU RESCUE PEOPLE
I RESCUED YOUR BROTHER
"You're evading my question, buddy. But it's okay. I only hope it's just a false alarm and it will turn out it's not Dad."
In truth, John worried a little about Hunter. He suspected that Hunter had done a huge amount of repair work inside Gordon in order to save his life and that couldn't have been easy. John didn't really know what Hunter's capabilities were, but he doubted very much that patching up a body after he had been shot was normally on his agenda.
Before the events in Germany, John had thought about the possibility that Hunter might be lying to him. There was after all nothing to support his claim that he was indeed here on Earth in order to search for another alien. There might have been hundreds of reasons why he might have lied to John, starting with the possibility that Hunter was in fact the one who was hunted.
But now any doubts he had had were gone. Hunter had saved his brother's life and this was a debt he would never be able to repay.
He reached the boathouse and opened the door. He looked inside, but there was no sight of his father.
"Dad?" he called.
There was no reply. Where had his father gone?
He stepped back outside and looked along the beach left and right from the landing. About three hundred yards away he could see a figure walking slowly along the water.
It was his father.
John started to jog towards the solitary figure. As he came closer, he saw that his father had his hands buried deep in his pockets. His head was lowered and he didn't seem to notice his middle son.
It was a small shock, but John couldn't help but thinking that his father looked old. Now, for a twenty-five year old man somebody closing on to sixty would always look 'old', but for some reasons John had never before made the connection between his father's real age and the way he looked today. Jeff Tracy took great care to stay fit. He exercised regularly, ate healthy and kept all of his doctor's appointments if it was possible.
The last couple of months had been stressful on all of them. There seemed to be more rescues than ever, and only the last two weeks had let off a little, reducing the number of rescues from three to four a week down to only one per week. Besides the rescue business there was also trouble at Tracy Industries, something only Jeff Tracy could take care of, even though his sons tried to take part there as much as possible. Of course, Jeff liked to be in control, so helping him wasn't always easy or even appreciated.
"Dad," John called out when he was only a couple of yards away.
Jeff Tracy glanced up and a surprised look crossed his face.
"Oh, hi John. What are you doing here? Is everybody already back?"
John wondered how his father could have missed the landing of Thunderbirds 1 and 2.
"We came back about fifteen minutes ago, Father. What are you doing out here? We thought you'd been at the control centre."
"So, how did the rescue go?" Jeff asked evasively.
What was the matter? Something was wrong. John could feel it. And given the situation, there was only one logical explanation.
Jeff Tracy was the host to the alien Hunter was searching. And somehow he knew it.
Not wasting any time, John crossed the distance between them and reached for Jeff's arm. Jeff tried to pull back, but John was faster.
It only took a second before he got the answer he had been afraid to hear.
IT IS HIM
John took one more step and placed his other hand also on Jeff's arm in order to give Hunter as much contact area as possible. He prayed he was doing the right thing when he felt his hand grow heavy as Hunter gathered his body mass in John's arm. He hoped that Hunter was strong enough to fight his enemy. And most of all, he hoped that his father would be able to survive the confrontation.
From the corners of his eyes he saw some kind of light flashing from the water's surface. He tried turning his head but movement suddenly seemed to be impossible. His eyes remained fixed on his father, but the other man seemed to move away, though John wasn't sure how that could be as they both stood still on the beach, their feet firmly in the ankle deep water, John's hand still on Jeff's arm.
He saw his father's eyes widen. His mouth opened, though if it was just to cry out in surprise, or a warning, or something else, John couldn't say.
There was more light coming as the sun got brighter and brighter, until there was nothing but light.
Then it was as if somebody had turned a switch. There was sudden darkness.
And then there was nothing at all.
tbc
What happened here?
Tomorrow, there will be a 'Close Encounter'