Chapter 10:

A/N: Hello there! Sorry for taking a while again. :s Nearing the end of the trimester (i.e. loads of homework, assignments, preparation for exams, etc.), giving sailing lessons, playing guitar in church, and I could go on, but I won't. I think you get the meaning. ;)

Special thanks go out to white rose01. She's very busy herself, and still found the time to beta-read for me! Thank you!

Gismo – Thanks for the compliments! Hope I'll make your day again. :p Enjoy this chapter!

White rose01 – What do you mean? Hinting? Me? Nah! I NEVER hint. The idea! Absurd! ;) Lol. Well, I suppose you found out by now exactly how much she suspects… Thanks for beta-ing! Good luck with everything! And thanks for the review!

Darkhelmetj – I agree. No intelligence cup for you. "Merf." /shakes head/ Hopeless. ;) Thanks. I'm glad the brother/sister relationship works. In fact, I'm glad both relationships go as intended. :p Anyway, thanks for the review! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter too!

Math girl – More suspicion arises I'm afraid. Trouble lies ahead. Thank you so much for the review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Now, on to the story.

It was nearing ten o'clock in the evening. Nicole, Ben and John had returned from their walk and were now relaxing, cold drinks and chips on the table. John was in the middle of a sarcastic comment when his wristwatch vibrated silently. He just continued talking as if nothing happened, and by seemingly just putting the watch straight on his arm, he cut off the vibrating. Whoever it was would understand he couldn't talk at the moment. However, it wasn't long before the watch vibrated again. This time John excused himself. He went upstairs to the bathroom where he locked the door and then gave his full attention to the watch. He found himself looking at a harried looking Alan.

"What's going on?" John asked quietly but calmly. He could see Alan was in need of some calm.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there was a severe earthquake in Japan in an area where no one seems to speak English or any language I know. There are some bad aftershocks expected, and if they don't get out of there soon, everyone will…

We need them to tell us how many people there were in the village at that time, and-"

"Put Scott on." John interrupted the flow of words. Alan nodded his thanks as he caught his breath.

"Scott, I've contacted John. He's ready to help." John heard his youngest brother tell his oldest brother in the background. Then the image of Alan was replaced by that of the dark-haired field commander of International Rescue.

"Hey John. Could you ask these people how ma-"

"Yes, just put one of them on." Scott nodded, there was a blur as the landscape whirled by, and then there was a Japanese man looking uncertainly at the wristwatch.

John smiled and greeted him. That appeared to erase the man's doubts, and he greeted back. John proceeded to question the man in a quick and professional manner. The man answered him to the best of his abilities, then John assured him that International Rescue would try their best to save everyone.

Scott came back on, and John quickly summarised everything he had learnt from the Japanese man. "So, you are sure there are no more people in that area of the village, except for the old lady?" Scott asked again.

"Yes, the man told me they were celebrating someone's wedding, and since the village is so small, every villager was invited and present. The moment the earthquake started, they fled as a group to the place where you found them. They were afraid the ground would swallow them all. The old lady is the only one who seems to have disappeared from the group. If I were you I'd check out her house. From what I've heard, she isn't all that fond of leaving it."

"OK. Could you ask this guy where she lives?"

John started to talk to the Japanese man again when he was suddenly interrupted.

"John?" Surprised John looked up. That was Nicole's voice. A quick glance at the time told him he had been upstairs for almost 15 minutes already.

"Hold on Scott." He whispered into the watch. "Yes?"

"Are you alright there?" She sounded worried.

"Yes, I'm ok. I ehm, I won't be long now."

"OK." Nicole didn't sound convinced, but went back downstairs anyway. John turned back to the task at hand.

Another quick word exchange between the Japanese guy and John, and then Scott knew where to look, or rather, where to send Gordon to look. As soon as that was done, Scott asked: "Could you say to these people that they need to go into Thunderbird 2? We need to evacuate. This place is so unstable, I'm surprised it hasn't opened up beneath us any further yet."

"Put me on the loudspeaker."

Scott complied, and soon the whole group of Japanese people was moving to the large green Thunderbird.

"Gordon? What's your status?"

"I've just arrived at her house. Hold on. Opening the door now." From that moment they heard Gordon from faraway, trying to reassure someone.

"Scott, she's just looking scared, but she's not moving. Ehm… she actually tries to get me to leave… I think."

"Gordon!" Scott sounded exasperated, "What do you mean: 'you think'! Try and get her to Thunderbird 2. This village is about to collapse completely. And if you can't get her to understand, carry her! There's no time for getting acquainted."

"FAB Scott." Gordon replied.

The field commander looked around. "I think we have everyone now. We're just waiting for Gordon and the woman. Virgil, what's your status?"

"Everyone is inside. As soon as Gordon arrives we're ready to leave."

"FAB Virgil. John? Are you still there?"

"Yes Scott. Do you need more assistance?"

"Just check in with Gordon to see if he's ok with the woman, otherwise I'll get back to you when we're home. Ok?"

"FAB."

John switched to Gordon's watch. "Gordon? Are you on the move yet?"

"Yes. But could you please tell this woman to quit fighting me?" The aquanaut sounded slightly out of breath.

"Are you carrying her?"

"Yes. But she doesn't agree. She must think I'm kidnapping her or something. Ouch! Could you stop that!"

John figured this would be a good time to try and calm the lady down. The woman finally cooperated, albeit reluctantly.

"Have a safe flight home Gordon."

"Thanks John!"

"Alan? I'm finished. If you need more assistance, you know where to find me. Keep me informed."

"I will. Thanks. Take care!"

"You too, Squirt. John out." John cut the communication, and looked at the time. More than 30 minutes had passed. How was he going to explain that to Nicole and Ben? He flushed the toilet, washed his hands and opened the door. When he came back downstairs, two heads turned his way, carrying almost identical expressions: a mix of curiosity, concern and a hint of amusement on Ben's face.

"Boy, did you have problems or something?" Ben asked with a smile.

"Yes, I felt intimidated by this guy who just happens to be the brother of my former colleague. So I fled to the bathroom and stayed there for thirty minutes in order to convince myself that this guy is nothing to be afraid of. After all, 'Blaffende honden bijten niet'."

"What?"

"It's a Dutch expression which can be translated as: 'barking dogs don't bite.' It means that the people who complain the most are usually people that just whine, but don't act."

"Ah. OK. So you're OK now? Not intimidated or anything?" Ben asked.

"Nope. Totally fine." John replied.

"Shoot." Ben said.

Nicole had not joined in with the bantering. She was studying John, her former partner, who she thought she knew, but wasn't entirely sure anymore whether that was the case.

"Do you always talk out loud in a different language when you try to convince yourself?" she asked quietly but determined. For a long moment John didn't move, didn't show any emotion, any reaction. Then he closed his eyes momentarily, before looking at the woman who was sitting in the arm chair with a look that said: 'don't you dare lie to me now.'

He had expected that she wouldn't go for the lies. She was one of the very few people that were able to see when he was acting differently than normal. Well, everyone would have known that he wasn't intimidated, but he had silently hoped that the two would just leave it at the joking. Ben was going to. Nicole wasn't. She had picked up on the fact that he was lying when it came to the subject 'work', and she had heard him speaking Japanese to apparently no one but himself. He had to tell her. He just couldn't continue lying to this woman who he… admired. But he couldn't tell her. He wasn't allowed to. The safety of his family was at stake, and with that so were so many lives on this world.

"I desperately wish I could tell you everything Nicole. I really do. But I'm not allowed to. I can't. Too much is at risk." The pain was evident in his voice.

For a moment everyone kept quiet. Then Nicole asked with a subdued and slightly unbelieving voice: "Is it dangerous?"

"I can't say it isn't."

"What just happened in the bathroom?"

"I was needed for something which couldn't wait."

"How did you know? You were just sitting here with us when you excused yourself to go to the bathroom to talk in whatever that language was. So, how did you know you were needed?"

John looked as if he was thrown in turmoil; in a way he was. "I'm really sorry, but I'm not at liberty to answer that question."

"What are you allowed to tell?" Nicole asked exasperated.

"Nothing." John said with a pained grin. "In fact, I've already said more than I'm supposed to. You already know more than you're supposed to."

"But-," Nicole stopped herself. She could see John was pleading with his eyes to leave it, to quit asking questions about that particular subject. At least he wasn't lying anymore. "Is that why you were so tense every time we talked about your job?"

John nodded. "You don't know how much I wanted to tell you; how much I still want to tell you. But without permission, I can't do anything. And as I said, there's so much at stake."

Although still dazzled by the little information John had supplied, Nicole saw that she shouldn't ask any further. Ben had been quiet all way through the 'questioning'. He couldn't wrap his mind around the astonishing information given. Or maybe he should say 'the information not given'. Quiet, reliable, steady, honest John – working for something secret and dangerous? OK, so NASA hadn't been the safest place either, but at least everyone was allowed to know you worked there. But this?

"I'm sorry if I'm saying the obvious here, but you can't let anyone know what little I've just told you. Not only for me, but for your own safety too."

The two siblings nodded.

"OK… Maybe this would be a good point to say goodnight then. I'll clean this up." John pointed at the table. Again the two nodded. "Do we have plans for tomorrow?"

That seemed to finally wake them up. Nicole shook her head. "Nothing yet. I assume you'll be taking your run tomorrow morning again?"

"Yes. Do you want to join me? Either of you?" John asked both siblings. Ben's face took on a disgusted expression. "What! That would mean I'd have to rise before eight o'clock on a free day! No way! You can run on your own, bro, 'cause I'm so not going to get up that early."

"Aren't you disappointed you don't live on a farm?" John asked pleasantly.

"Oh yeah! Really, I just don't understand why people would get up that early voluntarily!"

"Maybe it's so they can enjoy the day a little bit longer?"

"But you can also enjoy the night a bit longer by sleeping in."

"But you'll miss the nicest part of the day, when everything is nice and quiet, when you hear the birds chirping, when the sun is rising, when-"

"All right, all right, I get the picture! I choose to miss that, so you can have your alarm clock set early, as long as it doesn't wake me!"

Both Nicole and John grinned. "I don't think he'll ever be a morning person."

"No, he's hopeless." Nicole responded.

"How about you? Do you want to join?"

"I'll think about it. If I'm not here tomorrow by 5:45am you can leave without me."

"OK. Goodnight then."

"Goodnight. Goodnight Ben." She hugged her brother.

"Goodnight Nicky."

Nicole left for her apartment. John and Ben said goodnight after cleaning up the table and then went to bed. John waited for half an hour before he dared to call in.

"John to Thunderbird 5. Do you copy?"

"Yes I do. You know I do. Why wouldn't I?" John heard his youngest brother grumble good-naturedly.

"Just checking. Is everyone home yet?"

"No, they've lifted off not too long ago after bringing those evacuees to the nearest safe town."

"OK, what is their ETA?"

"ETA for Thunderbird 1 is about fifty-two minutes, for Thunderbird 2 it is one hour and twenty-three minutes."

"Thank you Alan. I'll catch up with them later." John paused. "Are you OK?"

A short hesitation. "Yeah…" Alan fell silent again as he tried to keep certain emotions in check. "No one was injured. But those aftershocks… and if you had seen the town… it could have been so different."

John let his blond brother finish wading through his thoughts, and then said softly: "It could have. But it isn't."

Alan sighed. "Luckily. It's just… I feel so helpless up here, you know."

'Oh yeah, I know, don't worry, I know. Better than I'd like.' John thought. To Alan he said: "Ask Scott or Virgil or Gordon, they will all say you're most definitely helping. You're not useless, if that's what you're thinking."

"But…" 'I will never be as good as you are.' Alan shook his head. "Never mind."

John had observed the reluctance Alan had to talk about something. "At least talk to Virgil, or Gordon."

Alan gave him a lopsided grin. "Is there something you don't notice?"

John returned the grin. "No."

"Oooh, I think it's time to quit talking. You're becoming arrogant."

"No, that's Scott's terrain… or Gordon's, or Virgil's, or yours."

"Indeed, it couldn't be yours. It's just not in your character… I mean, every Tracy has some arrogance in them… except for you."

"You got it." John said. They both laughed, knowing John was as much a Tracy as any of the brothers in that department. And it wasn't from a stranger either, Jeff Tracy being their father.

"Goodnight Alan. And don't destroy my bird." The older of the two blond Tracy's winked.

"Oh, I won't. Oh, oops. Ehm, John. Was this lever supposed to be loose?" Alan asked with a wicked smile.

"Depends which one you're talking about. If it's the one for life support, yes it's supposed to be loose. I loosened it so when you came on board and touched it, life support would cease operating within five minutes. Goodnight brother dear."

Alan stuck his tongue out at his older brother, and then smiled. "Goodnight John."

The connection was broken and John looked as the time replaced the live-picture of his youngest sibling. For several minutes he lay there, pondering about the last couple of hours. Then he decided he should call his father. This was one thing he wasn't particularly looking forward to, but it was necessary.

A/N: That went well. Stay tuned for the next chapter (which shouldn't take me too long to upload since I'm almost done with it… However, don't hold me to it. You never know with my messed-up schedules). :p Thank you! - zeilfanaat