DECEPTIONS

By Spense

CHAPTER EIGHT

As John had expected, the interrogation he received from his father and the rest of the family and even Lady Penelope, conferring via vidphones, was intense. They hashed everything out over and over until once again, Jeff finally called a halt, telling everybody that this was counterproductive.

John had finally wandered to bed, and absolutely crashed, both mentally and physically exhausted. He gone to sleep almost instantly. Unfortunately, his slumber was troubled by dreams of not being able to say what he meant, and anything he was able to say being twisted out of recognition. In one of his wakeful moments, he thought his dreams weren't very far from the truth. Both he and his father were awake early the next morning, and from the drawn look on Jeff's face, John didn't think he'd slept any better than he had. As a result, John had left fairly early the next morning, and his father had gone to Tracy Tower to try and distract himself by working.

John was not at all surprised to be met by his oldest brother as soon as he stepped out of the plane on Tracy Island several hours later. Having seen Scott's reaction to what he'd been told of the visit with Alan, he knew Scott would be on a tear.

"Come on. Gordon's waiting for us in the study with Brains, and Virgil's on the vidphone."

"Wait a second," John said mildly. "Aren't we supposed to be leaving for Thunderbird Five? Virgil's got to be in town tomorrow for his interview."

"Later," Scott said dismissively. "We need to talk. I've got an idea."

"Okay . . ." John said, trailing behind his brother. Arguing with Scott right now might not be a very good idea.

Arriving in the study, he met Gordon's knowing glance with one of his own. "Hey John," Gordon greeted him. "Scott has 'A Plan'."

"So I hear," John said, dropping resignedly into a chair. He hoped this would be over quickly. He was tired, and being up on Five would at least give him a break, and some space to think. "Hi Virg," he greeted his brother on the vidphone, and nodded to Brains who smiled a return greeting.

"Hi John," Virgil acknowledged, then looked to Scott.

Scott stood, leaning both hands on his father's desk looking determined. "So, Gordon and John have been through the interviews with the state, and found them incredibly confrontational . . ." he began.

John stopped him right there. "That's the wrong word – they weren't confrontational at all. They just saw what they wanted to see in the incidents they chose to discuss. There wasn't anything we could say that was right."

"I'll say," Gordon muttered.

Scott made a dismissive motion with his hand. "Fine – I'm not worried about semantics right now. What I'm getting at, is that based on what you've both said, and the transcripts Schaeffer got for us, they are looking at one thing, and one thing only – that this family is guilty. End of story. They are trying to prove guilt, not prove innocence."

"Yeah, so?" Gordon asked. "That's their job. It's lousy for us, but I don't see anything sinister in it, other than the obvious."

"I'd have to agree with Gordon," John said. "They are pretty tightly focused, but that's the state for you. I certainly don't like it, in fact I think it's reprehensible, but I don't see it as unusual."

"What if there is another motive? Something to get back at any one of us, or Tracy Enterprises, or even International Rescue?" Scott brought up.

"Scott, don't be ridiculous. This isn't a personal vendetta," John stated.

"But how do we know? Have any of us looked into the histories of the people leveling the charges?" Scott coolly pointed out.

"We've been a little busy for that," Gordon muttered.

"So what you're saying Scott, is that you think there might be an ulterior motive in these charges?" Virgil asked finally.

"I don't know. But I want to check it out."

Brains finally spoke up. "So you believe, uh, that the state workers involved have an agenda . . ."

"Might," Scott broke in. "Might have an agenda."

"Fine. Might, uh, have an agenda against your family. Why?"

Scott looked irritated. "I don't know! If I knew that, I wouldn't be talking to you now. I just want to look at the possibility. Explore the backgrounds of the people involved and see if everything adds up."

"But won't that make us exactly like them?" John asked cautiously.

Scott was beginning to look more than irritated, he was beginning to get mad. "No! This is our brother that we're talking about. He's living with strangers right now because of these accusations. In addition, the things that are being said about our father throughout the media right now, and the pounding his reputation is taking is not exactly something that I want to sit down and take. Not if there is even a slim chance that something else may be going on."

"Okay, okay!" John threw up his hands. He wasn't going to argue with 'Air Force' Scott right now. "Do whatever you want to do. If you think checking into the backgrounds of the state social workers involved will do any good, go ahead. Personally, I think you're blowing smoke."

Shaking his head he got to his feet. "I've got to go get Thunderbird Three ready if Virgil's going to make his interview tomorrow. I'll let you know when I'm ready to blast-off Virg."

"Ok," Virgil called from the vidphone. "I'll be ready."

"John," Scott called after his disappearing brother, "are you willing to help?"

"Oh, I'll help," John's voice drifted back as he left the room, "Not that I think it'll do any good."

"I'll help too, but I think you're completely whacked," Gordon told Scott in disgust as he got up to follow John. "You haven't had the pleasure yet. These are just disagreeable people, way too into their jobs to see straight." He left shaking his head.

"I, uh, believe that I'll go now as well," Brains interjected. "But, uh, count me in as well."

"Thanks Brains," Scott responded gratefully. He waited until they were all cleared of the room before he turned back to the vidphone. "Well Virg, do you think I'm crazy as well?"

Virgil shrugged. "Hard to tell. You've always been a little off center."

The unexpected levity caught Scott by surprise and he laughed in spite of himself. Groaning, he grimaced at his brother. "Let me rephrase that. Do you think I'm wrong?"

Virgil frowned. "I don't know. I do know that I haven't seen Johnny or Gordon so unsettled by anything in a very long time. They've been in a whole lot of stressful situations – both family and rescue, and I haven't seen either of them react like they are now. I know Dad told you about John's reaction."

Scott nodded. "Oh yeah. That was certainly far from the norm for Johnny. I think the transcriptions can't possibly do the interviews justice."

"Well, we'll know tomorrow. I'm up. But honestly, I think that maybe I can make up for some of the damage. I can't think of anything that they could use against me."

Scott snorted. "You mean like you didn't hit Alan hard enough to give him a black eye and a broken nose, or you didn't let him drive himself into an accident?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"I hope so. We need something for our side right now. I'm hoping these background checks just might be it."

"Scott . . ."

Virgil's hesitant tone alerted Scott that his brother was about to bring up something he probably wasn't going to want to hear.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

"Are you okay? I mean, after hearing about the reports that Schaeffer brought regarding Alan, and the things they were looking for . . ." he trailed off, obviously trying to find a delicate way of asking what he wanted to say.

Scott didn't let him. He said the unthinkable words straight out. "You mean, am I okay with the inference that I might have molested my little brother in a twenty minute unsupervised visit in a busy state building in the middle of the afternoon just because a state worker made a mistake and left me alone with him? Dear God, Virgil, NO, I'm NOT!" He exploded.

Virgil winced. Yes, this was exactly what he'd been afraid of. That Scott had just been raging silently. He let the blast continue.

"That fact that anybody could think that of me, or of anybody else in this family is completely beyond my comprehension. And the fact that Alan, probably not even understanding why this was happening to him was subjected to two – not just one, mind you, but two - miserable exams carried out by complete strangers – not even somebody he was familiar with - just to 'make sure that nothing happened' blows my mind! OF COURSE NOTHING HAPPENED! And that's what they confirmed, both times! It's in black and white in their own reports."

He finished bluntly. "If there is any way we can stop this now, then I will do whatever it takes. I don't care if it comes to reading the mail of the social workers involved or tapping their phone. I'll break whatever laws I need to in order to find out just what in the hell is going on!" He sat back, breathing hard.

"Are you finished?" Virgil asked. Scott's explosions didn't bother him. He thought they were probably more healthy than not.

"Yeah, I think so." Scott grated as he got out of his chair and started to pace. "So are you going to help, or what?"

"Did you really have to ask? Of course." Virgil kept silent about the fact that he agreed with his other brothers, and that his personal feeling was that this was Scott's method of coping. He didn't think that they'd find anything at all, mainly because there just wasn't anything to find.