When they landed back at Tracy Island it was 4am in the morning and Alan was taken from Thunderbird Two to the infirmary in the house. Brains checked him over, changed the bandage and Jeff ushered him straight off to bed
Alan had slept only two hours before his dreams forced him out of bed. After breakfast he sat outside by the pool reading a magazine while Gordon and Scott splashed around in the pool determined to see who could drown the other first.
"Hey Alan, you coming in?" Scott shouted from the end of the pool. He currently had Gordon's head under his arm as his brother splashed around like a landed fish trying to escape the hold.
Alan looked up smiling "No I'm not in a drowning mood at the moment".
Swimming over Scott placed his hands on the edge of the poolside and hauled himself out perching on the edge next to Alan's lounger.
"Hey sprout, how's the head?"
"Fine" Alan answered quietly.
"You sure you're alright?" Scott asked seriously.
Alan didn't answer and looked down at the magazine on his lap fiddling with one of the corners of the front cover.
Frowning, Scott turned round so he was facing his brother, watching him closely.
"Alan if something is wrong please tell me, or any of us. We're all worried about you" Scott said quietly so Gordon wouldn't over hear.
"Worried?" Alan asked looking up surprised by the statement.
"You've been avoiding everyone all summer" Scott answered as he stood up.
"I'm just feeling a little down this summer," Alan said sighing.
Scott didn't believe that. Silence fell as he watched Alan stare at his magazine, knew he wouldn't get the truth out of his brother. He decided to wait for Alan to tell them when he was ready to talk, instead of pushing him.
Scott smiled "Never mind kiddo, there's plenty more summer days left so hopefully you'll start to feel better soon".
"Yeah, I'm sure I will. Thanks Scott" Alan returned his brother's smile as Scott ruffled his hair affectionately before heading back into the house.
Before he reached the entrance to the house Scott had an idea. He turned back to his youngest brother "Hey, do you want to give me a hand with Thunderbird One's maintenance checks?"
"Uh, no thanks Scott. I think I'll just hang out if it's all the same with you" Alan looked back at his eldest brother before turning back to his magazine.
Scott was shocked, and a little hurt that Alan was refusing the opportunity to work in his beloved Thunderbird One. Alan loved Thunderbird One almost as much as he did and never passed up the opportunity to work on the ship…until now.
He stood there watching for a moment. Alan looked pale, he had dark circles under his eyes and his entire posture seemed withdrawn. Scott frowned sadly. Being the eldest of all the Tracy brothers Scott took it upon himself to look after all of them. After their mother had died their father had been struggling with his own grief, so Scott did what he could to help. He comforted his brothers, made sure they were ready for school, that they were doing their homework and that they were safe where ever they were.
It had left Scott little time to deal with his own sadness over his mother's death but he felt it was his responsibility. Scott cared deeply for his brothers and vowed he would never let anything happen to them. Yet, for all his trying, he couldn't get Alan to open up to him.
Heaving a silent sigh he headed into the house.
Gordon jumped out of the pool and grabbing a nearby towel followed Scott, smiling at Alan as he went past, into the house.
Once Gordon was out of sight Alan frowned. He knew that he wanted to tell somebody, he had to tell somebody or he was going to go crazy. But he didn't want to tell Fermat, TinTin, his father, in fact there was no one around he wanted to talk to because he feared that they might think he was really crazy.
Closing his eyes Alan sighed deeply, there was only one person he felt he could talk to about his nightmares. Getting up Alan walked back into the house dropping the magazine on the floor as he went.
Alan entered his father's office and was relieved to see that his father wasn't there. Sitting down at the desk he turned to the computer screen and punched in something on the keyboard.
After a few seconds an image came up on the screen.
"Thunderbird five go ahead" came John's response as he moved up to the screen.
"Hey John, how's it going?" Alan asked smiling at his long distant brother.
A confused look came over John's face "Alan? Is everything ok? Where's dad?"
"Dad's fine I uh, I just wanted to talk that's all" Alan said, his smile fading.
"Ha, dad doesn't know you're here does he", it was more a statement than a question. Jeff didn't like his sons constantly calling John, as it distracting him from his work on Thunderbird Five. John didn't mind in the least, as long as the calls were not to long.
Alan looked down at the table.
"Well you know I won't say anything, I never get to see much of you as it is, so what can I do for you kiddo?" John smiled sitting down in his chair.
"Well…I was wondering if I could talk to you about something, but I don't want anybody else to know so do you think we can keep it between us?" Alan asked slightly nervous.
"Sure. What's on your mind?" John leaned back in the chair with a slight frown on his features.
Alan breathed deeply leaning on the desk "You remember what happened last summer with the Hood?"
John nodded still frowning.
"Well….I haven't been able to get it out of my head. I keep having these nightmares, and he's there every time in my dreams" Alan continued looking up at the screen.
"When you say 'he' you mean the Hood right?"
Alan nodded "It's got so bad I'm……I can't go to sleep without dreaming about that day".
John could see that Alan was agitated and he wasn't sure, but he thought he could see fear in his eyes
"What is it about the dreams that's so bad?" John asked leaning in closer to the screen.
"Its just that…I know the Hood didn't win and we saved the day and all but…" Alan paused thinking about his next words carefully, "Whenever I dream about what happened its different".
"How different, what do you mean?" John asked watching his brother closely.
Alan had started to look really nervous John noted 'Man, these nightmares are really getting him'.
"….The Hood always wins, and he's saying things to me. Things that he hadn't really said that day" Alan finally answered.
"You're sure? What kind of things Alan?" John asked slightly concerned.
"He says that he's going to have his revenge. That I can't escape it, and that he's going to kill me!" Alan said looking down and clasping his hands in an attempt to calm himself.
John's eyes widened.
"Alan haven't you told dad? If the nightmares are that bad dad can help you. Are you sure you're not just imagining it?"
"NO I'm not imagining it, and NO I don't want them to know. You know that they'll only worry and fuss and dad won't let me go on missions and Gordon will think I'm the prize candidate for a loony bin and…"Alan stopped mid rant and sighed.
"I just want to deal with it alone. I'm not a kid anymore and I don't want them treating me like one" Alan looked his older brother in the eyes "promise me you won't say anything to them about this, please".
John was almost tempted to interrupt and remind him that he was in fact still a kid but decided that now was not the time for arguing. His brother needed his help.
"Please"
"Ok kiddo, if that's what you want" John said with a forced smile.
"Thanks John, it is" Alan replied gratefully.
"How long have you been having these dreams anyway?" John asked curiously.
Alan thought for a minute, "About four months I think. I had been having dreams before then about the Hood but they were just replays of what really happened. The dreams changed around Easter time ".
John thought for a moment leaning forward to rest his arms on the control desk.
"I don't know what it could mean, but if there's something I can do to help just say the word" John said trying to reassure Alan.
"I don't know yet. I just wanted to talk to you about it. I didn't think that I'd feel comfortable talking about it to anyone else" Alan admitted.
John laughed softly, "Well kiddo my job is to listen, and keeping a secret down there isn't easy I'll bet".
"Not with Gordon around" Alan answered and they both laughed.
"Don't worry Alan you won't have to suffer him for much longer, he's relieving me from Thunderbird five in a week" John watched as Alan's face lit up at this thought.
Alan really missed John, as he was usually at school when John was back on earth, so the only time he ever saw him was at Christmas and at some point during the summer.
Alan froze suddenly and looked in the direction of the door.
John gave him a puzzled look "What's wrong?"
Alan looked back at the screen. "Someone's coming. I'll see you when you come home next week"
"Ok I'll speak to you soon Alan and take care of that head of yours," John gave him, what he hoped, was a warm supportive smile.
"I will and I'll see you soon" Alan finished and cut the link just in time as Jeff walked in reading a newspaper.
"Alan? What are you doing in here?" Jeff asked looking up to see Alan standing up from the desk.
"Nothing, I was just, uh, looking for a book I was reading" Alan lied quickly walking out the door.
Jeff frowned as he watched him leave.
Later that day over in England the prison sirens burst into action sending birds far and wide flying in fright.
"HE'S GONE," shouted a guard.
"ORDER AN IMMEDIATE LOCKDOWN, NOW!" shouted another guard.
In an instant all the cell doors closed locking the prisoners safely in as guards came running from all directions.
"What happened?" demanded the warden as he came hurrying over to inspect the situation.
"We're not sure sir. When we opened up the cells just now he wasn't there" one of the guards answered.
The warden looked inside the empty cell, "search his cell!"
The guards rushed in turning the contents of the small room upside down.
"Sir! You better come take a look at this!" a guard shouted from inside the cell.
Hurrying inside everyone was focused on the bottom left hand corner of the back wall that had been obscured by the small bed.
The warden's eyes widened as he looked, in astonishment, at the hole that was just big enough to crawl through.
"One of the watchmen outside must have seen him," the warden asked looking back at his men.
"But sir, look. The debris is on the inside. Someone has dug through from outside!" one of the guards explained wide-eyed.
Just then another guard came running up to the cell entrance, gasping for breath.
"Sir…the night watchmen…we found some of them in one of the storage sheds…They're unconscious,"
"What about the gates. The whole perimeter of the prison is electrified" The warden asked still trying to comprehend what had happened.
"The guards at the gates seem to be in some kind of trance. They're just standing there!" the guard answered his superior.
The warden glared round at the guards. "Are you telling me that he escaped with outside help, from the third floor, climbed down the outside wall and…..walked…out of hear unchallenged and unchecked?"
The guards looked at each other then looked back at the warden with defeated, embarrassed expressions.
Pleading to the heavens for sanity the warden closed his eyes and thought for a minute, "Alright, I'll inform the police of the breakout. I want you all to be on guard and hopefully this is an isolated incident. DO NOT…Talk to anyone outside the prison about this, do you understand?"
The guards nodded their heads vigorously.
The warden left the cell heading for his office, 'the press will have a field day with this one'. Sighing in defeat he closed the door behind him as he entered his office.
'How could it have been an outside job in broad daylight?' he thought, then remembering a police report he had read a few days back it suddenly dawned on him. The Hood's accomplices had escaped earlier that year, and now the Hood had escaped with outside help.
The warden didn't waste anymore time and picked up the phone to notify the police. He planned to keep a lid on the escape for the time being until they figured out exactly how the Hood 'walked' out of prison.
TBC