Chapter 6

Sergeant Lee knocked tentatively on General Yang's door.

"ENTER!" A voice boomed from within.

The sergeant slowly stepped inside and stood in the doorway, ready to report to his boss.

"Well?" Inquired the general, "did you eliminate them?"

"Yes sir, they've been eliminated."

"Excellent! Well done sergeant, nothing can stop me now! Soon I will have complete control of all the militaries, and very soon the world!"

"Yes sir."

"Go and get Dr White and ask him if he has finished with the you-know-what."

"Yes sir," Sergeant Lee slipped quietly out of the door.

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The hospital at Hong Kong was a flurry of medics, nurses and surgeons.

Jeff Tracy had radioed the hospital to inform them that International Rescue would be bringing in the two plane crash victims, and to make room for them when they landed.

This request had been carried out, and now Gordon and Virgil watched as their two brothers were rushed down the hospital corridors and into theatre.

They were sitting on the leather couches in the waiting room when their father arrived with, surprisingly, John.

"John!" Gordon jumped up and hugged his older brother, Virgil followed suit. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad came and got me," John replied. "He thought I should be down here with my family."

Jeff smiled and nodded at his middle son, then turned to the other two. "How are Scott and Alan?"

"They've been taken into theatre; they both need blood transfusions and surgery to remove the bullets." Virgil gave his father what little information the doctor had given him.

"They're going to be ok though, aren't they?" John asked anxiously.

It was Gordon who answered. "Scott's going to be fine, hopefully. He came round on the mountain." His eyes became sad as he looked down the corridor, as if following the path his brothers had took, when they were taken away. "But Alan seems worse, he hasn't come round yet, he was shot in the chest."

"But who would want to shoot them?"

Gordon shrugged. "Maybe the same person who shot the plane down."

"Someone shot down the jet!" Jeff cried, aghast.

Virgil and Gordon nodded. "Yeah, they were flying over Mount Everest when suddenly they were fired upon. It came as such a surprise that they didn't have time to respond," Virgil said.

The four men were silent for a while, trying to picture what Scott and Alan must have went through: Shot down, stranded on a mountain for hours then shot again. And what for, none of them knew.

"I'll tell you one thing though," John replied after a while. "If they find out who did this, I'm going to be the first in line to teach the bastard a lesson!"

"Well I'm going to be first with you!" Gordon said, his normally cheery eyes blazing in anger.

"Me too," Virgil added.

"Now boys, you know full well I don't like violence from you. It will just mean that you have sunk to their level," Jeff chided them.

"Whose level?" Gordon asked, "we don't even know who shot them."

"Exactly," Jeff replied. "There will be a full investigation on this, then we'll find out who tried to kill Scott and Alan, but what they won't want is us stirring things up."

Before his sons could say anything, a surgeon appeared, carrying a clipboard. He was wearing a surgical mask which he removed when he spoke to Jeff.

"Mr Tracy," the man spoke with a typical Asian accent. "My name is Doctor Ling, I'm Scott's surgeon, thankyou for waiting."

"How is he?" Jeff asked.

"He will survive. We removed the bullet and replaced the blood he lost. We also set him arm and leg; the arm will need to be in a cast for a month and the leg, three months, he's in recovery now. He should come round in about an hour, you can go and see him then."

"I don't think Scott's not going to like that," John surmised.

"Excuse me?" The doctor looked at him, confused.

"Our brother hates keeping still for any amount of time. He's very active."

The doctor smiled. "Well Scott will just have to learn to be inactive for a while."

"What about Alan?" The question came from Virgil.

"I'm afraid I don't know much about Alan, all I know is that he is still in surgery. If you will wait a few more minutes, I will go and fetch Doctor Nam-he's Alan's surgeon."

With that he turned and walked down the corridor.

The four Tracy's watched him go.

"Well that's the first piece of good news," Gordon said when he had gone. "Let's hope that Alan's surgeon has the second."

His brothers and father nodded in unison.

They didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later Doctor Nam appeared, he was also wearing a surgical mask.

Doctor Nam removed his mask. "Mr Tracy, I'm Doctor Nam, Alan's surgeon. I'm afraid Alan is still in surgery. Is condition is a bit more extreme than Scotts. Alan is a very lucky young man, someone up there must really like him."

Jeff heard John lean towards his brothers and whisper softly: "Mom."

Virgil and Gordon smiled and nodded.

Doctor Nam failed to notice, and continued with Alan's assessment. "The bullet missed Alan's heart by three centimeters, we're working to remove it now. However, because of its position the procedure will take a while."

"can we see him?" Gordon asked anxiously.

"I'm afraid not," the doctor replied. "It is pretty hectic in there, why do you not go down to the café, and I will come and get you"

"Ok," Jeff replied, "Come on boys." He turned back to Doctor Nam, "promise you'll come and get me if anything goes wrong, with Alan or Scott."

"I promise," Doctor Nam smiled.

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Ruth Tracy sat at a round wooden table in the hospitals café. She absently stirred her Chinese tea, while she waited for her son and grandsons to return.

This wasn't the first time that Ruth had been to the hospital, though she had never been to a hospital in China. But of course because of the risks her grandsons took in rescues, it was pretty obvious that she would be making a few hospital visits.

Ruth looked up when she saw Jeff come in, followed be John, Gordon and Virgil. She stood up and waved them over.

"How are they?" She asked as Jeff sat down.

"Scott's out of surgery, but Alan's still in there. They say his operation is a bit more complicated because of the position of the bullet."

"Do we know what happened to them?"

Gordon answered her. "We still don't know, Grandma. While we were at the rescue Scott told me that they were shot down."

"Oh my! Why?"

"They don't know. Neither Scott nor Alan saw them, just like they didn't see who shot them."

"I really hope they find that person. There certainly are a lot of evil beings in this world."

The four Tracy men agreed.

Just over an hour later, Virgil glanced at his watch and stood up. "I'm going to find Scott, I want to be there for when he wakes up. Are you guys coming?"

"Yeah!" Gordon said enthusiastically.

They left the café and walked down to the main reception area. A woman behind the desk pointed the way to the ward Scott was on. It was easy to find, due to all the helpful arrows on the wall, and pretty soon they found themselves at Scott's room.

Surprisingly, Scott was already awake.

"Hi guys," he groaned. He was still in pain and normal volume of speech seemed inadequate.

"How are you, son?" Jeff asked, coming to sit in a comfortable chair at the head of the bed.

"Well apart from the broken arm, broken leg, my gunshot wound, plus the cuts and bruises, I'm fine!"

"Ok….. Now tell me the truth," Jeff folded his arms and gave his eldest a look that said: 'you can't fool me.'

Scott groaned. "What do you want me to say Dad? That I ache all over, I have pains in places I didn't even know I had and even my muscle cramps have cramps?"

"Yes!" Jeff shook his head and sighed. "Why do you do that Scott? You're permitted to feel pain too, you're only human after all."

Scott ignored the question. "How's Alan?"

"Alan's still in surgery," John answered. "They're still working to remove the bullet. Don't you remember anything of what happened to you?"

"Not much. We were flying over Mount Everest, Alan was annoying me with his constant questions: "Are we there yet Scott?" "What's that Scott?" Suddenly there was a loud explosion and I lost control of the plane. The next thing I knew we were on the mountain."

"What about when you were shot?"

That's a bigger mystery. All I remember is feeling a searing pain in my arm, then I must have passed out."

Scott noticed Ruth. "Hey Grandma, what are you doing here?"

"Where did you think I would be?" Ruth wanted to know. "At home, knitting?"

"No Grandma," Scott smiled. "Besides, you don't like knitting."

"No I don't. The day you see me sitting in the corner of the lounge knitting, is the day you can pack me off to a retirement home!"

"Or a mental asylum for the elderly," Gordon added cheekily. "If I know you Grandma, you won't just use those needles for knitting!"

"Oi! Watch it, young man!" She reached up and hit him on the back of the head.

Gordon grinned at her, while rubbing it with the palm of his hand.

"Just think Scott," John laughed "It's your turn to go through Grandma's recovery routine! Think about it, doing absolutely nothing all day. Now it's my turn to fuss over you, and I mean fuss. What's your favourite bedtime story Scott? I'll read it to you if you like."

Scott groaned and made a face at his younger brother, then he turned to his grandma. "You're not going to make me go through that 'broken leg routine' are you?"

"No dear, you don't have to go through the 'broken leg routine.'"

Scott emitted a sigh of relief and grinned at John, his smile saying 'nice try little brother'.

However his grandma continued. "You're going to go through the 'Ruth Tracy routine'"

Scott's face dropped. "What's the 'Ruth Tracy routine?'

"It's the next stage up, the ultimate of my routines, guaranteed to get you up and about again faster than you can say "penicillin""

"Penicillin" Gordon muttered. Beside him Vigil and John giggled quietly.

"What does the routine involve?" Scott asked, knowing instantly that he wouldn't like it.

"It involves you staying in bed all day, doing absolutely nothing. I mean nothing young man. No helping out with you-know-what, no sugary stuff we don't want you upsetting your stomach, no swimming- you won't be doing that anyway, no messing about with your brothers," she looked at her younger grandsons as she said this. They nodded their heads vigorously in agreement. "And most of all no working or moving about! You got me?"

Scott stared at his grandma, trying to contemplate what she had just said. Was she kidding! He couldn't stay in bed all day! Imagine how bored he'd be! But there was one thing his grandma had said that Scott really didn't like.

"Why can't I have sugary stuff, Grandma? I didn't hurt my stomach."

Virgil, Gordon and John burst out laughing.

"Oh God, Scott!" Virgil shook his head and grinned. "You always think of food first! But don't worry, I'm sure if you beg Grandma might let you have something. Though I don't think you'll be able to go on two knees for a while."

"If I had my crutches, I'd give you such a belting." Scott scowled, an action which only made his brothers laugh harder.

"Haven't you told Grandma about your little sundae incident?" Gordon asked, through tears of laughter.

"What are you talking about, young man?" Ruth asked.

"I'd like to know as well," Jeff added.

Before Scott could protest, Gordon began telling his grandma about Alan, Scott and the sundae.

"Oh Scott," Ruth shook her head sympathetically. "If you really wanted one of my sundaes, you could have come and asked me."

"Though she'll probably make you scrub the floor in return," Jeff said good naturedly.

"Jeff Tracy, don't be so cheeky!" Ruth scolded her son, smacking him lightly on the wrist.

"Yes Mother," Jeff muttered. He lightly rubbed his wrist.

At that moment a doctor ran into the room, wearing a frantic look on his face. Neither Jeff nor the boys recognised him.

"Here you are! Mr Tracy, you must come, something is wrong with Alan!"

Jeff spun round. "Boys stay here." He began to follow the doctor out of the room.

Gordon, wanting to know what was wrong with his one and only little brother, ignored his father's orders and followed.

In the surgery room, there were doctors everywhere fussing around Alan.

"BP is dropping!"

"He's gone into cardiac arrest!"

"Bring me the defibrillators!"

Outside the surgical room, Gordon and Jeff watched as the doctors crowded around Alan.

"What are they doing?" Gordon asked anxiously, pressing his hands against the glass window.

"I thought I told you to stay behind," Jeff responded.

"I couldn't, not when I know that there's something wrong with Alan!" Gordon cried, "what is wrong with him anyway?"

"He's gone into cardiac arrest," the doctor said. "They're currently trying to get his heart to function again, using the defibrillators."

Above the noise of the surgeons, Gordon could hear the heart monitor. But instead of the usual rhythm of the heart pumping, indicated by the steady beeping, the heart monitor was emitting one long line, indicating the lack of a heartbeat.

"Please help him," Gordon had never heard his father sound so desperate. "How did this happen?"

"We don't know yet, sometimes patients can go into cardiac arrest for no reason. However we knew there could be a risk of this due to how close the bullet was to the heart. We'll do some tests. All you can do is hope for the best, we are doing everything we can to revive your son."

Gordon and Jeff watched as Alan's body jolted up and down with each shock emitted.

"Charge 300, stand clear!"

Nothing

"Charge 300 again, stand clear!"

The monitor stayed the same.

"Again! Stand clear!"

Gordon and Jeff watched as Alan fought for his life, having no concept of time passing.

Eventually Doctor Nam put down the defibrillators, and came outside to meet the two Tracys who had been observing the scene.

When he looked at Jeff, his eyes were sad and lost. "We have been trying for half an hour, Mr Tracy. I think we should stop."

NOTE: My deepest apologies for the delay in this chapter and I beg forgiveness from my faithful readers.

Once again thankyou to everyone who has reviewed. I really appreciate it. Give yourselves a pat on the back!