The sky around them was lightening almost faster than their eyes could adjust. They had left the fading day of the Island and were now arriving just after dawn over Eastern Europe. And all in little under an hour.
Jeff gripped the arms of his chair and closed his eyes, fighting a futile battle to stay calm. His emotions had been in turmoil for what seemed forever and he could feel an already aching heart thudding way too fast inside him.
Virgil had been keeping something of a close eye on him for some time. And it had come as no surprise when he had softly but firmly ordered his father into the co-pilot's seat. There was no way that Jeff was going to be allowed to drive in the state he was in.
The call had come shortly after they had crossed the Pacific. Alan had been garbled and excited and that had been enough. The details were secondary concerns. Scott had made contact.
And since that moment, a speed of over 5000 mph had suddenly become impossibly slow. Which was not helping Jeff's mood. Or his racing pulse.
It went against every instinct to now be taking what remained of his scattered family into the danger zone. And it contradicted the many arguments he had shared with them to now be racing to where he had expressly forbid them to go.
But it was too late for any of that now. He wanted Scott and John safe in his arms again.
And then he was going to rip them to shreds for what they had done. Or maybe he was simply going to hold them and never let go. It changed from moment to moment.
"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 2."
Jeff opened his eyes and turned to look at the comm., a familiar sense of dread pressing down on his chest.
"Yeah, Alan." Virgil responded quickly.
"I've got an odd energy reading coming out of the complex."
Jeff held his breath.
"Odd?" Virgil echoed. "Define, odd."
"Patching it through."
Virgil scanned through the downloading data and turned to his father, concern filling his eyes.
"The EM weapon." Jeff confirmed in a whisper.
Virgil waited not another second. His hands moved expertly over the controls, banking the immense craft hard to the left and ascending into the upper atmosphere, drawing a groan of protest from his passengers as the G-forces dragged through them.
"Dad?" Alan urged worriedly.
"What about the locator beacons?" Jeff asked quickly, trying to pull his youngest back from the brink of panic that he could hear in his voice.
"One moving on the edge of the complex. One about 700 metres away on the perimeter."
Jeff nodded thoughtfully. Still moving. That must surely be a good sign. Separated again, however, was ominous. But trying to find some sort of pattern in the movement of the signals they had been monitoring was of no help. Without being there, he could have no idea what was going on. And that was a big part of the problem.
"What is the range of that thing?" Gordon asked after a moment, bracing himself against his seat as Thunderbird 2 continued to climb in her swift retreat.
Jeff turned to him and could only offer silence.
Virgil glanced at his father and swallowed hard. "Alan?" He turned back to the comm. "What's Penny's ETA?"
"I guess about twenty minutes, judging from her last contact."
Virgil nodded, absorbing and assimilating.
"Okay." Jeff sighed, suddenly finding the strength to let reason cut a path through his fear. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the voices that screamed at him to just get the hell down there and grab hold of his sons. Charging in without thinking would help none of them. A lesson he had painfully learned when he had watched helpless, trapped while The Hood tried to strangle the life from his son.
"We'll hang here and wait." Jeff suggested carefully. "It's all we can do." He watched his sons nodding in dismayed agreement and heard Alan's affirmative over the comm.
"I'll contact Brains." Virgil offered quietly, "See if he can hazard a guess about that thing's capability. Establish a safe holding pattern."
Jeff nodded in agreement. He then closed his eyes and forced his aching fingers to relax their grip as he quietly, secretly began to pray.
Scott watched in silent dread as the civilian personnel were guided from the silos and into the waiting trucks. He slid further back from view as the guards then headed towards the main complex and was aware of Eva moving up close behind him.
"They came back." Eva observed in a whisper.
Scott nodded, trying to simultaneously anticipate the route the approaching guards would take and also watching the entrance to the silo.
"I guess they wanted to come check what had happened. Look for survivors."
Scott glanced at her in interest.
Eva shrugged, "Apart from the odd few psychopaths, it's a good company to work for."
Scott shook his head in disbelief and turned his attention back to the nearing guards.
"This might be to our advantage." Eva offered quietly.
Scott pondered this for a moment. She had, after all, developed a high-ranking identity among the security force. But there were also too many unknown variables. What if her men should question the fact that she was now aiding one who had been their prisoner? What if she was still lying and he let her get close to potential reinforcements?
"Where's John?" Eva asked suddenly.
Scott nodded in agreement. He had also noted his brother's lack of appearance from the silo and it was more than a little concerning.
They needed to get over there. He had to know what was going on. But there was still the matter of the –
Scott held his breath as one of the trucks rumbled back into life and headed away from the complex, ferrying its passengers to safety. The other stood still and empty. And soon the remaining guards were in the complex and out of sight.
"Come on!" Scott saw their opportunity and grabbed Eva's wrist, pulling her after him and heading out beyond the warehouse.
Despite keeping low and moving fast, they were ridiculously exposed as they bolted across the open space between the complex and the silos. Scott somehow managed to not take a breath through the entire journey and slipped quickly behind one of the immense hangar doors.
Breathless and still very aware of the danger around them, Scott paused for a moment to collect himself. He then signalled for Eva to stay close and ensured his weapon was armed before peering cautiously around the door and into the silo.
It was apparently empty. Scott headed further down inside the immense shaft to the bottom level. The silo had long been stripped of its equipment and had fallen into disrepair but its general shape had an oddly familiar feel. Scott smiled despite himself and headed down into the sunken pit at the base. A sudden, poignant memory of a game of hide and seek sneaked into his mind as he peered into one of the exhaust tubes in the side of the pit and breathed a sigh of relief.
Ustin smiled in delight and muttered a few words that Scott somehow didn't need translating.
Scott helped the greying man clamber from the narrow tube, Ustin carefully edging past his worryingly still companion.
"He panic!" Ustin urged hurriedly, watching Scott reach into the tube to check on John. "Hide! Hide!" He flapped his arms in emphasis, frowning as Scott began to pull John's limp form from the tube. "We hide." Ustin continued, hurrying back to help lift John carefully down to the ground. "And then …"
Scott nodded in gratitude for the urgent explanation and placed his hand on Ustin's shoulder to try and calm him. He then glanced upwards and Ustin followed his gaze, erupting into hushed but delighted babbling as he spotted his compatriot.
Scott sighed gratefully as Eva climbed into the pit and spoke soothingly to the kind but all too excitable scientist. He frowned in concern and checked again the rapid, weak pulse in John's neck. His brother was almost paler than the whitewashed walls of the silo and sweat glistened on the cold skin of his still face.
"The truck." Eva offered from behind him, her false accent again resumed in Ustin's presence.
Scott nodded. His instinct told him not to move John any more but they seemed to have precious little choice.
The worrying lack of response as Scott and Ustin lifted John from the ground brought a lump to Scott's throat but he pushed it aside, willing his rescue training to quickly take over.
Eva checked the area was safe and beckoned for them to make a quick dash for the empty vehicle.
It wasn't easy. Scott held John tightly against him, gripping him firmly under the shoulders while Ustin carried his legs. They hauled him into the rear of the truck as fast – and carefully – as they could while Eva clambered into the cab.
He still didn't know if he could trust her and something about being caught up caring for his brother made him feel vulnerable. And there was the small matter of not knowing what the hell she and Ustin were saying to each other. But Scott was fast running out of options.
Scott lifted the soft, still rain-soaked cotton of John's shirt and groaned as he saw the damage beneath. Dark bruising swirled in an odd navy pattern that almost completely covered the right side of John's chest and abdomen, revealing evidence of the repeated blows that Scott could well imagine.
John's skin was cold to the touch and Scott swallowed hard as he gently stroked along his ribcage. The chest wall seemed symmetrical but the slight crunch beneath Scott's fingers revealed the fractures within and caused Scott to shudder in revulsion; if there was one thing that he couldn't stomach it was broken bones, despite having broken many of his own in the past. He quickly removed his hand and pulled the shirt back over the damage, looking back up at John's face. And he smiled in relief as he watched his brother grimace in pain.
"Hey …" Scott leaned closer, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You're still with us, then?"
John's face relaxed a little and he gave a slight groan in response. "Wish I wasn't." He managed quietly.
Scott's smile grew; John was conscious and responsive, his GCS rising and Scott's spirits with them.
"Shit!" Eva suddenly exclaimed in annoyance.
Scott looked up towards the cab. "What? No keys?"
Eva groaned. "No nothing."
Scott stood and wandered along the truck to the open window at the rear of the cab. He watched Eva turn the key and heard the odd dull click. And nothing more. And then suddenly he knew. He looked to the dead instrument panel and groaned in dismay.
Turning back, Scott checked first Ustin's and then John's watch and groaned again.
"EM pulse." Ustin concluded quietly.
"Shit!" Eva hissed again.
tbc …