"I don't like it. They should be back by now. Try John's cell again."
Virgil obediently dialed his older brother's number, but he knew in his heart that the effort was futile. John would never ignore a call, especially when he knew that his family was expecting him home. Neither he nor Alan were answering their cells, and it was nearly eleven at night with no sign from either Tracy.
Jeff was pacing restlessly through his office, his mind obviously elsewhere. Scott, Gordon, and Virgil all watched him silently, feeling worry course through them. They each wanted nothing more than to race out themselves and look for their wayward brothers, but knew that without any sort of clue where to start, they couldn't leave.
Jeff suddenly froze, causing his sons to stare at him in shock. "Dad?" Scott said tentatively.
Jeff hurried to his desk. "I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. God, I'm an idiot." He sent a call to Thunderbird Five, which Brains immediately answered.
"Y-Y-Yes, Mr. Tracy?" he asked.
"Brains, I need to talk to Fermat," Jeff barked.
Brains looked stunned, but started nodding. "A-A-All right, M-Mr. Tracy. He's sleeping. L-Let me go w-w-w-wake him."
"Dad?" Scott tried again as they waited. "What's Fermat got to do with Alan taking off?"
Jeff gestured for him to wait. Fermat appeared, still blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
"Mr. Tracy?" he asked. "Is everything all right?"
"Fermat, listen carefully," Jeff said. "I need you to tell me about Alan's friend from school. I think his name is Josh."
"Josh?" Fermat echoed. "Alan met him a few months ago. Why?"
"Alan's gone, and we have reason to believe that he went to go meet with Josh," Jeff answered. "John followed him and was supposed to bring him back, but now they're both missing. Please, tell me everything you know. Who is he?"
Fermat frowned. "He and Alan m-met a few months ago, on Family Day. They had a great time together, and started h-h-hanging out every weekend and calling each other all the time. I hung out with them a couple of times m-myself, b-but something felt weird."
"What?" Jeff demanded.
"I d-d-don't know," Fermat admitted. "I guess he was always way too interested in hanging out with Alan. And he happened to show up when Alan . . ." He trailed off, suddenly uncomfortable with what he had nearly revealed.
"Fermat, it's okay," Jeff assured him. "Tell me."
Fermat suddenly focused onto something in front of him. "W-Well, it seemed to me that Alan found someone who wanted to h-h-hang out with him right when he was feeling . . . when he was feeling that m-m-maybe no one else wanted to. It seemed kind of convenient. But he was never anything more than nice to Alan, so I didn't bring it up."
Fermat had done his best to disguise what he had really meant, but the message had come across to the Tracys loud and clear. Alan had wanted his family to notice him, and when they had ignored him, he had turned to someone else. Scott, Virgil, and Gordon exchanged guilty looks with one another.
"If we had gone to Family Day, we probably wouldn't be in this mess now, would we?" Virgil asked quietly.
"We couldn't have known," Gordon insisted. "Alan's never cared before. I mean, he hates school. Look at his grades. Why would this year be any different?"
"Because he's a Thunderbird now."
The boys turned to their father, who was staring at Fermat. "Fermat, didn't you tell me before that Alan had joined a study group?"
Fermat nodded. "He w-w-wanted to prove to you guys that he could work just as hard, and that he could be a Thunderbird, too. He told me that he got all A's and two Bs on his report card this time. He hasn't told you guys?"
Virgil covered his face as Gordon simply gaped at Fermat in shock. "Alan? Our Alan?"
"Look, we can save this discussion for later," Jeff said sharply. "Fermat, do you know anything else about him? Can you describe him?"
As Jeff busied himself with Fermat's description of Josh, the brothers crowded together.
"If Josh wasn't who he claimed to be, then what would he want with Alan?" Scott asked. "Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through unless he wanted something else. What could Alan have that he would want?"
"You don't suppose the Hood is back, do you?" Gordon asked.
Scott shook his head. "This isn't his style. Besides, if he had escaped, we would know about it."
"Maybe this hasn't got anything to do with Alan," Virgil suggested. "Maybe Alan was just the means to an end. This Josh guy spotted Alan, figured he would be easy to manipulate."
"And if we had just paid a little more attention to what was going on with Alan, this would never have happened," Gordon muttered.
"Hey, none of that," Scott said firmly. "We need to find Alan and John first."
"I'm ready when you are," Virgil stated. "Where do we start?"
Jeff severed the connection with Thunderbird Five and joined his sons' huddle. "I'm going to the mainland to talk to the police," he stated. "If we can get their descriptions out, our chances of finding them will increase. Brains and Fermat will be monitoring all calls. Scott, I want you to see if you can retrace John's and Alan's steps. They had to get off this island somehow."
"What about us?" Gordon demanded.
Jeff eyed his two remaining sons. "Wait here. I need you two to see if John or Alan call, and I need you to be able to relay any information from Thunderbird Five our way. But be ready to move if I need you."
The boys all nodded and separated to their tasks.
John moaned as fingers of pain prodded him into consciousness. His head throbbed mercilessly, keeping him from sinking back into the painless depths of oblivion. Turning his head, he opened his eyes to slits and looked around.
He was in a small room with towers of empty wooden crates. One bare bulb overhead lit the tiny room, casting an eerie glow. John gingerly pulled himself into a sitting position, one hand rubbing his aching skull.
A smaller figure partially hidden in shadows in one corner of the room drew John's eyes, and he crawled over to it. Recognizing his brother's form, he turned Alan over and lifted his upper body into his arms.
"Alan?" John felt Alan's neck for a pulse, then brushed back several of Alan's stray blond locks. As a result, Alan began to stir.
"John?" he mumbled. First one, then two hazy blue eyes appeared. They stared up at John, bemused, before realization flooded back into their depths.
John released Alan as the young teenager fought to stand. He staggered over to the door and tugged on it, then pounded. "Josh! This isn't funny, man!"
John carefully stood, but didn't move any closer to Alan. "Alan, what's going on? Who's Josh, and what does he want with you?"
Alan stopped pounding, but didn't look at his brother. His head bowed, and he leaned heavily against the door. "Josh . . . was my friend. At least, I thought he was."
John watched as Alan turned and slid to the ground, drawing his knees tightly to his chest. "I should've known, though. I mean, who in their right mind would want to hang out with me, anyway? No one ever did before, and like an idiot, I fell for it." He reached up and gripped his hair, his knuckles turning white. "I'm such an idiot!"
"What does he want?" John asked gently, not missing the self-deprecating comment Alan had just made. He filed it away for later, when they would be able to really talk about it.
Alan released the stranglehold on his hair and hugged his knees once more. Tears swam behind his eyes, but not a single drop fell. "He said that I was going to be his key to finally scoring big. That I was all he needed to make the rest of his life one sweet ride."
John frowned. It sounded to him as though Josh was talking about a ransom for Alan. It made sense; it even explained why Josh hadn't simply killed him back in the alley.
The elder brother walked over to Alan and sat down beside him. "Well, Sprout, this is a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into, but I'm ready to go home. How about you?"
Alan frowned at him in confusion. "What are you talking about? Do you still have your phone?"
John grinned softly at him. "'Course not. But I've got something better." He lifted his wrist and showed Alan his watch.
Alan snorted. "So you know what time it is. Big deal."
John pretended to be offended. "Gee, Alan, I was hoping that I could get one for you, too. They're pretty handy. See, you can tell the time no matter where in the world you are."
"And how does that help us?" Alan asked.
John lifted the faceplate of his watch. "That's just one charming feature of this little beauty. Just watch."
He pushed a button on the side, and almost instantly, an image flared on what Alan could now see was a tiny screen. Gordon and Virgil's faces leaped into view, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Hi, boys," John greeted. "Where's Dad and Scott?"
"Looking for you and talking to the police!" Virgil replied. "Where are you? Is Alan with you? Are you two okay?"
"We're fine," John reassured him. "Get a fix on my watch's tracer, then grab the others and get over here. I don't think we're in any immediate danger, but the sooner the better, you know?"
Gordon and Virgil grinned widely. "FAB, John. Have you two out of there in no time. Out."
Alan looked up at John, eyes wide with shock. "I didn't know you had those! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Brains just finished making them a few weeks ago," John answered. "Dad's got yours somewhere. He probably just forgot to give it to you."
Alan frowned down at his knees. "Yeah, right."
John heard something in Alan's tone and opened his mouth to talk about it when the door they were leaning against began to unlock. John leapt to his feet, dragging Alan back with him, and faced the opening door.
Josh appeared, still holding his gun. "Awake? Good. I have a job for you."
"Forget it," John shot back. "Do your own dirty work. Leave me and my brother out of this."
"That's no way to talk to your brother's best friend," Josh replied smoothly, a feral grin tugging at his lips.
Alan flushed with anger. "You used me!" he cried. "You pretended to be my friend just so you could get what you want!"
Josh's grin widened. "Yeah, I did," he admitted without a hint of remorse. "And I'm about to do it again. Have a seat."
He gestured to a stack of nearby crates with his gun. Worried about Alan keeping his cool, John gently nudged Alan over to the crates and sat down beside him.
"Good," Josh said as another man entered the room. "You keep cooperating, and everything will work out just fine."
The greedy glint in Josh's eyes told John that, somehow, he didn't think so.
Jeff let out a huff of air in frustration and ran a hand through his hair. He had been arguing with one detective after the other, along with a couple captains and a chief, but no one was willing to take on his sons' case. With no sign of foul play and his boys missing for only half a day, the police were loath to get involved.
His cell phone began to ring. Hoping for good news, Jeff answered it. "Hello?"
"Dad!" Gordon's voice boomed in his ear, causing him to wince. "John just called! He used his watch! He and Alan are okay, but they need our help! That Josh guy has them!"
"Gordon, Gordon, slow down!" Jeff replied. "John called?"
"Yeah!" Virgil's voice sounded next. "Brains and Fermat picked up his watch's signal! They're not too far from where you are! We're suiting up and heading out as soon as we hang up."
"Wait, wait," Jeff said. "Does Scott know? Where exactly are they?"
Jeff looked up as a detective approached him, and he called for his sons to stay quiet. The look on the detective's face was not promising. "Yes?"
"Mr. Tracy, this just came for you." The detective held out a very familiar cell phone. Jeff's heart wrenched in his chest when he realized whose it was. He took it from the detective and thanked him. The detective looked at him closely, but moved away without comment.
"Dad?" Virgil asked. "What is it?"
"Alan's cell phone," Jeff told his son. "It came to the station, but-." He was cut off as Alan's phone began to ring. Seeing John's number on the caller id on the screen, he once again hushed his sons and answered. "Hello? John? Are you okay?"
"He's fine, Mr. Tracy, but he won't be if you don't do exactly as I say."
Jeff tensed at the unfamiliar voice. "Who is this? What have you done with my boys?"
The voice that answered was not one that Jeff expected. "Dad?"
A rush of emotions consumed Jeff, and he fought to find his voice. "Alan? My God, Alan, are you all right? Where are you? Are you hurt? Is John with you?"
"Dad, I'm sorry," Alan replied miserably. "It was Josh, he set me up. I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Alan, it's okay, son," Jeff soothed. "It's all right. I'm looking for you right now, we all are. We're going to get you two out of this. Just sit tight, you hear me?"
"Dad, Josh wants me to tell you that . . ." Alan's voice trailed off, and Jeff could hear him arguing with someone in the background. The sound of something hard striking flesh nearly sent him into a frenzy. "Alan? Alan, answer me! Are you all right?"
John's voice took Alan's place. "Alan's okay, Dad. Josh wants you to deposit money for Alan and me into an account that will later be specified. He wants fifty million for Alan, and fifty million for me. He says that once he has all the money, and that no cops are involved in the transfer, he'll let us go."
Jeff swallowed his anger and nodded, though he knew John couldn't see him. "All right, son, just tell me where and I'll do it."
He scribbled the name and number and location of the account on a scrap piece of paper on the desk nearest him, then hung up. Ignoring the questions that several police officers threw his way, Jeff headed out of the precinct house and held his own cell to his ear. "Virgil? You still there?"
"Dad, what happened?" Virgil demanded.
"Never mind that," Jeff ordered. "Call Scott and give him the location of John's locator, then suit up and meet us out there."
"FAB, Dad."
John kept his arm around Alan's shoulder as he glared up at Josh. Alan was gingerly rubbing his cheek where Josh had struck him with the gun. It had taken every degree of self-control John had not to respond in kind on behalf of his little brother.
Josh closed John's phone, dropped it to the ground, and crushed it under his foot. "Well, we won't be needing that anymore. I'll leave you two to yourselves until my accounts have balanced. Ciao."
As Josh was leaving, Alan surged up as if to attack. John, who knew his brother all too well, held him tightly, not letting him move more than a couple inches. Once the door locked shut, Alan rounded on John, blue eyes blazing in fury.
"You're just going to sit there and do nothing while he drains Dad dry?" he demanded, incredulous.
John surveyed Alan with cool blue eyes. "No, I'm going to sit here and wait for Dad and the others to come get us out. We're unarmed and outnumbered. If we, by some miracle, manage to get out of this room, they'll most likely just shoot us. Dad and the boys know where we are. They'll be here soon. I promise."
Alan began to pace in the cramped room, energy pouring off of him in waves. "He can't get away with this, John! We can't let him!"
"He won't." Alan paused and turned to look at the uncharacteristically dangerous glint in his older brother's eyes. John was remembering Josh's mistreatment of Alan, both physically and emotionally, and had vowed to himself that he would find some way to make Josh pay for what he had done. He looked at his brother with fierce determination. "We'll get our chance. You just have to wait for it."
Alan studied John closely, then settled back on the crate beside him. "I'm not really good at waiting, John."
John allowed a wry grin to spread on his face. "I know, Sprout, I know. But hey; now's as good a time as any to start learning, right?"