The pace slows a little for this one as things start to come to a close. But, after all they've been through I think they deserve a reprieve ... all be it a brief one ...! Many thanks to all those who have reviewed and I hope this chapter doesn't cause some of you to reach for the nitroglycerine or the sedatives - although the idea of that is both amusing and flattering!

The list was detailed and suddenly, for a long, tired moment, seemed endless.

Penny read again through the names, organisations and companies that had apparently gladly assisted in the almost downfall of International Rescue.

Almost. She repeated the word silently, trying to tell herself that these people had not succeeded. Almost.

"Hey …"

Penny smiled thinly, unsurprised that he had sought her out. He had needed to call his sons and hear their voices for himself and she had been glad of the excuse. Glad that she could extract the necessary information from Transom without fear of revealing the woman's true identity to an already pushed to the limit Jeff.

Jeff paused at the door to the dining room for a moment, a slight frown of concern pulling at his tired face. He watched Penny studying the treasured results of her interrogation and was suddenly too intrigued to wait politely.

Penny held her breath as Jeff wandered inside the room and veered around the large table to approach her chair from behind. He peered over her shoulder and she waited in uncertainty for a reaction as he read her untidy script.

"Well …" Jeff sighed loudly and dragged the fingers of both hands back across his close-cropped, thinning hair. "That's a lot of people …" His hands fell down as if to his side but stopped half way and rested gently on Penny's sunken shoulders.

"I suppose we should be grateful that she is evidently void of all loyalty." Penny agreed quietly.

Jeff gave a small, weary laugh. "Yeah, but how far can you trust someone so obviously untrustworthy?"

Penny looked again at the names. "About as far as you could throw them." And, oh, how she would love to test that experiment sometime soon, preferably somewhere near the edge of a very high cliff.

Jeff squeezed Penny's shoulders gently.

"All we can do," Penny observed, laying the paper on cloth covered oak table, "Is check out each and every one."

"Not alone, though."

Penny chuckled gently, "Good god, no! That would take an age! I'll contact a few sources of my own and get the ball rolling, so to speak." She closed her eyes and allowed herself a small smile at the analogy, suddenly imaging a rather huge ball, huge enough to, say, roll along and crush a certain person.

Another soft squeeze of her shoulders and an almost successfully stifled yawn. "I need to get home."

Penny nodded slowly.

"Where is she?"

Penny's heart rate suddenly kicked up a gear and she reached up to grasp one of the hands that rested either side of her neck, instinct telling her to get hold of him and keep him close; as much for his protection as to prevent the nightmare of revelation and possible murder. Not that she would try very hard to stop him.

"In the study with Brains. He is going over her equipment and double checking exactly what the hardware is capable of." Penny replied carefully, "She has created some rather worrying devices and we … well, we need to ensure that they are neutralised."

Jeff nodded thoughtfully, "And she's just some crazy college student?"

"Well …" Penny closed her eyes, "That was a good few years ago … and just look at her contacts. She has had time and help enough from some rather powerful people to plot her revenge." Penny sighed and shook her head sadly; "Although one wonders if perhaps she would not have been such a danger to us if she had never crossed his path."

"His?"

Penny's heart sank.

"You said 'his'?" Jeff removed his hands from her shoulders and moved round her chair to look down at her.

"Yes, I meant these chaps." Penny retorted quickly – but calmly. She nodded towards the list of names and smiled in careful reassurance.

Jeff followed her gaze, studied the names for a moment and then looked back up at her tired face. "Pen …" he crouched down before her with a sigh, "What are you not telling me?"

Penny sat forward and forced her smile to grow to precisely the right convincible size. "Nothing, Jeff, darling." She reached out and placed a hand on his cheek to clinch the deal. "Nothing. I promise." And suddenly something inside her began to hurt as she realised she would have to apologise for that mother of a lie later but, right then, that prospect seemed anything but awful.

Jeff looked up into her kind face and leaned his head into her touch. "I'm sorry." He offered almost silently. "I'm so sorry. I just wish … god, I wish this was all over."

Penny leaned further forward and placed her free hand on the other side of his face. "It very nearly is." She offered softly.

And there they stayed for a long moment, their eyes locked in each other's gaze and their faces impossibly close. It would have been so simple for either of them to just move that little bit further forwards and …

"Pen." Jeff began again quietly, reaching up and placing one hand gently over her fingers. "What are we doing…?"

And the usually so confident and so quick to retort Penny suddenly had no answer. She looked into his face and thought she saw something there that she had not noticed before. Or maybe once. Long ago.

And then it was gone and he was moving away from her, standing and arching his weary body with a loud yawn. "Are the cops on their way?"

Penny smiled and swallowed back the lump that had defiantly forced its way into her throat.

Jeff turned and watched her nod a reply. "Good. I'm gonna go check Parker still has your uninvited guests safely secured."

And Penny watched him leave, telling herself that her exhaustion was making her see things that simply were not there. And trying to convince herself that she was not disappointed with this conclusion.

The crunching and screeching of protesting metal sent shudders through Scott and he cupped his hands over his ears as he waited a safe distance inside the cargo hold. Slowly and carefully the ambulance was winched free of its wedged position between the powerful hardware.

Broken glass and shards of metal dripped onto the cargo bay floor as the ambulance was pulled clear and Scott stepped forward to examine the damage to the Thunderizer and the Firefly. Short of a few scratches to the paintwork, both vehicles were otherwise unharmed and he smiled in satisfaction before then following the retreating ambulance down the ramp.

The sturdy jeep reversed clear of the descending ambulance, it's winch no longer needed as Virgil carefully guided the battered vehicle down the ramp. Steering the damaged front chassis was all but impossible but the brakes worked fine and he let the ambulance roll slowly down into the hangar, bringing it to a halt at the end of the ramp. The snug fit of Thunderbird 2 inside the large building would not allow much manoeuvring but Sergeant Wellington then kicked the jeep into gear again and dragged the ambulance clear, the tyres squealing on the concrete floor as the ruined ambulance protested against the sharp turn.

Virgil climbed out gingerly through the open front of the cab, careful to avoid traces of the broken windscreen. Brushing his gloved hands in satisfaction, he then turned and winced when saw the extent of the damage.

Wellington stepped down from the jeep and wandered over to them. "We'll have to get a recovery vehicle to take it back to the station."

Virgil nodded, still examining the crushed front of the ambulance and guessing that it was beyond repair. He then heard Scott approaching and turned towards him. "You think we ought to leave an 'I.O.U.' on the front seat?"

Scott laughed gently, "Absolutely!" He jogged to the bottom of the ramp and then crouched down before the front of the ruined vehicle. "She's a goner."

"Ah. Did I kill the ambulance?"

Virgil turned and saw Alex heading out of the office towards them. He nodded sombrely, a small smile pulling at his mouth. "Yeah, poor thing. And what did she ever do to you?"

Alex hurried over to them, shaking her head in dismay. "Sorry, mate." She offered, moving past the two men to pat the front of the wrecked vehicle softly, "Nothing personal."

"Bit late for that." Virgil laughed, "She's dead."

Alex shot him a mock glare and sighed loudly. "What is it with blokes and assigning femininity to machinery?"

Wellington mumbled in agreement.

Scott glanced at Virgil, a cheeky grin forming. "Well," he shrugged, "They need a hell of lot of maintenance, they're temperamental, they're not happy unless they've got a skilled operator - "

"Wo!" Alex laughed loudly, "That's quite enough, thank you!" She grinned in delight at the welcome break in all the tension that had fallen around them and patted his arm. "You need to get out more."

"Couldn't agree more." Scott smiled merrily, "Name the place and the time, bud!" He turned to Wellington hopefully and raised one inquisitive eyebrow.

Wellington laughed nervously and shook her head. "Oh no … that way lays only trouble, I'm sure."

"With a capital T." Virgil chimed in.

Scott opened his mouth to protest and then decided not to bother. He smiled happily, nodded to indicate that he was filing all their cheek away to be paid back at some other point and turned back to the matter at hand. "I think a note would indeed be proper. I'll go get some paper from 'Chocks Away' in there."

Virgil watched Scott depart and frowned in amusement. "Chocks-a-what?"

Wellington giggled mischievously. "He means the C.O. of this squadron – he is something of an antique."

"Not like your planes." Virgil offered, pointing to somewhere beyond the closed hangar doors. "What are they? GR.9s?"

Wellington grinned in delight. "Yeah! Mark IVs." She stepped towards him and frowned in intrigue.

Virgil nodded with enthusiasm. "So they've got the new Pegasus Mk.109 engine?"

"Yeah." Wellington affirmed merrily. "They're amazing. Although," She nodded towards the giant green bulk of Thunderbird 2 and laughed gently, "Nothing compared to this beauty."

Virgil shrugged a thank you and glanced at his craft.

Alex watched in amusement as they wander off towards the front of the hangar, deep in jet-fuelled discussion as they headed off to look at the new RAF craft that were parked outside. She then glanced up into the gaping mouth of Thunderbird 2's open cargo bay and her smile faded.

John seemed to be sleeping as Alex approached the small makeshift med lab. She watched as the youngest of the four brothers fussed around John, checking the data on the monitoring equipment and adjusting the flow of one of the IV lines.

"How's he doing?" Alex asked carefully.

Gordon spun at her voice, glaring defensively. He then recognised her and relaxed, if but a little. "Oh … hi."

Alex smiled carefully, acutely aware that Gordon was still somewhat unsure about her. Not that she would not have been in his place.

Gordon turned to look at John and shook his head slowly. "I know you said there was little choice but … I don't think moving him helped much."

Alex couldn't help the immediate protest that sprung to mind but she kept the thought to herself and shrugged slightly.

"Gord."

They both turned and watched John shaking his head slowly. Alex stepped a little closer and was aware of Gordon watching her from the corner of his eye.

"I'm fine." John opened his eyes and looked up at his brother with a thin smile.

"Fine?" Gordon protested angrily, "Dude, you - "

"Gord!" John urged with a weary sigh.

"It's okay." Alex stepped closer to Gordon and could see him fighting back tears. "I know you're scared but - "

"No!" Gordon retreated from her and shook his head in angry defiance. "You don't know anything! And you can't know! Not now. Not after all this."

Alex nodded slowly, unable to argue with a fear and mistrust that she could well understand.

John pulled himself up to sit on the edge of the bed, biting his lip against the pain of the movement and taking a moment to catch his breath. "Gord, please …"

"What?" Gordon turned to his brother and his anger faded momentarily as he watched John struggling against exhaustion and discomfort. "John …" he continued, somewhat calmer, "I just want to go home."

"I know, buddy, I know." John smiled up at him. "So do I. But we need to wait until it's safe." He watched Gordon throw Alex a wary glance and John shook his head. "So you don't know Alex." He offered softly, "But I do."

Alex smiled and ventured closer to the bed. She could sense Gordon tensing and tried to ignore the hurt that his continued doubt caused. It was to be expected after all that had happened.

Gordon considered his brothers words for a moment and then nodded begrudgingly. "I'm gonna call in again. See when we can get the hell out of here."

John watched him leave and sighed in dismay. He turned to Alex and offered what he could of a shrug.

"It's okay." Alex carefully sat down on the bed beside him and took one of his hands in her own. "He's scared."

John's smile faded. "And, boy, do I get that …"

Alex reached her free hand up to stroke a tangled clump of hair back from his temple. "So … what are the chances of a long vacation?"

"Oh man …" John's smile made a welcome return. "I need to sleep for about a month!"

"Absolutely!" Alex laughed softly, "And I need a beach and an endless supply of sunshine, cocktails and no hassle for … well, forever, actually!"

John chuckled slightly, "Funny you should say that." He turned to her and raised one eyebrow in intrigue.

Alex's smile disappeared and she looked down at their entwined hands. "I can't."

"Why?"

"I can't just leave!" Alex urged.

"Why?"

Alex looked back up at him and saw the sincerity in his tired eyes. "Well, there's my job and the clearing up of all this mess. And my mum."

John considered this for a moment and then nodded slowly, unable to find a logical dispute to her reasoning.

"Besides …" Alex resumed the task of gently finger-combing his hair into some sort of order. "I think your family would be less than welcoming to a total stranger after all that's happened."

"You're not a stranger." John countered.

"You know what I mean."

John watched her for a moment and blinked away the sudden tears that had seized the opportunity to slip past his fatigue. "So … you're just going to leave?"

Alex was lost for words and could only shrug something of an apology and perhaps an affirmation. She watched in dismay as John closed his eyes and hung his head. Her heart pounding in her ears, she gently placed an arm around his waist and held her breath as he leaned into her embrace.

Hurried footfalls up the ramp and through the cargo hold then intrigued them both and they looked up to watch Scott and Virgil racing up to the door to the small lab.

"What?" Scott demanded breathlessly, "What's the panic?"

"Where's Gord?" Virgil echoed in equal distress.

"Here."

They all turned and watched Gordon emerging from the flight deck, his face clouded with worry.

"What is it?" Scott urged, "What's the emergency?"

"I just spoke to Alan." Gordon began with an eerie calm. "They know where we are. They're coming."

"What?" Scott and Virgil demanded together.

"Who?" Virgil asked quickly. "And how? I mean, we're shielded." He looked to his other brothers in alarm. "Aren't we?"

Gordon nodded slowly, "The anti-detection shield is on. It was a coded transmission." He turned his gaze to Alex and his face darkened. "On the police band."

Tbc …