Alan paced the length of his room restlessly, his mind spinning. Nothing in his situation made any sense. Strange men had kidnapped him, but he hadn't been mistreated. In fact, he had been left on his own the last few hours. Not only that, he was trapped in a room that looked, for all intents and purposes, like a normal boy's bedroom, but with photographs of his mother as a child.
He had tried to find some other way out of his room, but it was no use. The air vent was too small for him to climb through, and the only other exit was through the door, which was locked from the other side. If he wanted to escape, or contact his family, he would have to leave the room.
His family. Alan's strides slowed slightly as his mind turned to his father and brothers. Surely they knew he was missing by now. Alan's only consolation in the matter was that his family would pull out all the stops in finding him. Not only were the entire resources of Tracy Enterprises at his father's disposal, but also those of International Rescue. If Alan could just find some way to leave them a clue . . .
The sound of the locks on his door opening caused Alan to pause, his stomach fluttering with nervousness. He retreated back to one corner of the room as the man from earlier entered.
The man smiled brightly at Alan, then glanced at the untouched food still on the bed. His smile faltered slightly. "You haven't eaten? I'm sure you're hungry. And why haven't you changed?"
Alan glared at the man. "I want to go home."
The man shook his head patiently at Alan, moving the tray of food back to the dresser. "Alan, you are home. The sooner you realize that, the easier this will be on everybody."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Alan demanded. "This isn't my home! And how do you know my name?"
The man sat on the bed, resting his hands on his knees. "I suppose you deserve an explanation. I know, if I were you, I'd settle for nothing less. Why don't you have a seat?"
Alan folded his arms but didn't move.
The man nodded. "All right. Where to start? There's so much to say."
Alan simply stared at the man.
"This is going to be a little difficult for you to understand," the man continued. He glanced at the picture on the nightstand, which had obviously been moved. "I see you recognize the young woman in these pictures."
Alan felt a tendril of anger curl in his stomach. "Where did you get these? How do you know my mom?"
The man's smile turned sad. "I know her . . . because she was my sister."
Alan stared dumbly at the man. Surely he had misheard him. "Your . . . sister?"
The man nodded. "My name is Chris Soble. I'm your uncle, Alan."
Alan shook his head. "No . . . you're lying . . . I don't have an uncle."
Darkness flickered across Chris' face. "I suppose I should have expected that. Your father never liked me very much. Just look at the pictures, Alan. Surely you see the resemblance."
Alan didn't want to believe him, but the evidence was overwhelming. "But . . . why? If you are my uncle, why did you kidnap me? How come I've never heard of you?"
"All your father's doing," Chris answered, the smile completely falling away from his face. "He never liked me. He took Lucy away from me. Lucy died because of him, and if that wasn't enough, he took away the last link to Lucy that I had! Her children!"
The tendril exploded. "You lie!" Alan shouted. "Mom died because of an accident! Dad tried to save her! And if he kept us away from you, then he must have realized that you were a nutcase! Which, considering what you've done, isn't too far from the mark, is it?"
Chris leaped off of the bed and, before Alan could react, struck Alan firmly across the face. Alan fell back against the wall, holding onto his reddened cheek. His blue eyes stared up at Chris in shock and anger, but he fell silent.
The anger cleared from Chris' eyes, and horror immediately filled the void. "Oh, Alan . . . I'm so sorry . . ."
He reached out to Alan, but drew his hand back sharply when Alan flinched. Stepping back, he took a deep breath.
"I apologize, Alan," Chris stated rigidly. "But you must understand that you can't say things like that. Your father told you lies, and I've brought you here to undo the damage. Your other brothers are too far gone for me to help, but you're not. I can't let Lucy's memory be tainted by the likes of Jeff Tracy. I won't."
Alan only stared at him, not moving. Chris studied his face almost regretfully, then turned and left Alan alone in the room.
As soon as he had gone, Alan slipped down to the ground, trembling. Chris' words chased themselves around his head. They couldn't be true. They just couldn't.
Could they?
No sooner than John had stepped out of the hangar than he was besieged on all sides by his brothers. Fermat was immediately whisked away by his concerned father, leaving John alone to answer his brothers' questions.
He held up a hand. "One at a time!"
Scott tightened his grip on John's arm and forced him towards their father's study, releasing him only when he pushed the younger man onto the couch. "All right, what have you found out so far?"
"Not much," John answered unhappily. "The men who took Alan knew all the security codes, and they managed to shut down the cameras in the twenty minutes it took for them to grab Alan and bolt."
"Where's Dad?" Virgil demanded.
"He decided to stay stateside to coordinate the search," John replied. "He thought it would be easier that way."
Search was an understatement. By the time John and Fermat had left, Jeff had already dispatched a massive manhunt to look for his missing son. From what John could tell, his father had called in not only the FBI, but several friends in the CIA as well as every private detective service on the Eastern Coast.
"Have they heard anything from the kidnappers?" Gordon asked anxiously. "Do they know why Alan was kidnapped? Has there been a ransom demand?"
"Not yet," John told him. He saw the hope dwindle on his brothers' faces and felt his heart break with theirs. If there had been a ransom call, that would at least give them more to go on.
"What can we do?" Scott asked.
"Dad wants us to keep an eye on things for International Rescue, but all of our efforts are to go towards finding some clue to Alan's whereabouts," John stated. "Our tracking equipment is the best in the world, and that gives us an edge. Did you hear from Lady Penelope?"
Virgil nodded. "She's heading out to Massachusetts to help Dad out with the search," he replied. "She told us that the Hood is still in custody in London, and that Mullion and Transom are as well. Whoever took Alan is operating without them."
"Well, that's something," John said. "I'm going to go talk to Brains and see about setting all of our scanners to locate any mention of Alan. The press hasn't gotten wind of this yet, which will help."
"I'm going to look at Dad's past corporate dealings," Scott decided. "Maybe it's an old associate or something who's trying to get back at him."
"I'll help," Gordon piped up immediately.
John turned to Virgil. "Virge, why don't you head out to Massachusetts and help Dad out? We can all take turns."
Virgil nodded and immediately took off for the hangar. John stood and, patting Gordon on the shoulder, ran off in the direction of the lab. Gordon turned to Scott.
"Do you really think someone took Alan for a ransom?" he asked.
Fire flashed in Scott's eyes. "Whatever the reason, they aren't getting what they want. No one messes with this family."