p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Several hours later everyone had gathered in Jeff's office for the formal debrief. No one had taken John's announcement well and most had spent the day wishing he'd misheard or that Jasmine was somehow mistaken./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Unfortunately, she wasn't./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"As there had been so many times since this whole mess started, there was a stunned silence in the Tracy household as Jasmine delivered her report. Everyone present wanted to ask the same question; why had Kyrano sent his only daughter into such a situation? It was Jeff who voiced it./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I have every confidence in my daughter" Kyrano said, his jutting chin his only act of defiance./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Damn it, Kyrano, you should have told us sooner!" Jeff exclaimed slamming a hand down on his desk and causing a few in the room to jump./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Not nice when you don't have all the information, is it?" Gordon sniped only to be silenced by a bark from his father./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Let me get this straight" Jeff said. "Instead of having one potential rescuee we now have 3. One of which is our own Tintin and one which is suffering serious blood loss?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes, sir" Jasmine said. "3? Who was the first one?" As she was only on voice she didn't see Virgil's pained look or John's resigned one, but she must have heard Scott's face palm./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine, your retrieval was discussed" Jeff said curtly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Retrieval yes" she agreed, "if at all possible. Rescue implies you're coming in whatever the situation and that's just stupid."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine please detail your understanding of tomorrows events" Jeff said, choosing not to address the comment. He deliberately kept his voice calm but noticed both Gordon and Alan wince at the tone - they both knew it meant they were in serious trouble but that it wasn't to be discussed now./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes sir" she said and launched into an explanation. There was no telling if Jeff's tone was effecting her in any way and he didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. "One question first, if I may; who is Tintin?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kayo" Scott answered./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""She has more names than me. That must be confusing for her." Jeff filed the curious comment for later. "Which one do I use?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kayo" Scott, John and Virgil said at the same time. Gordon raised an eyebrow but didn't comment./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Understood. Kayo should have about six hours sedation left, I've pushed to have both her and Nick situated in three. That way I can do some damage control. I've already issued her my locator and have a survival pack I intend to leave with her. It won't be much; a torch, some food and water, bandages and potentially a phone. At the moment I haven't found a way to provide her an exit."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What do you mean 'you've given her your locator?'" Virgil said alarmed./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Penny issued me with an emergency beacon in the form of a bracelet. Once activated it will you give you her exact location" Jasmine explained, missing the point entirely./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What Virgil means is that we now have no way of determining your exact location" John said./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I'm aware" she said curtly, "but her rescue is more important than my retrieval. I will be at the designated extraction" she finished. John and Virgil exchanged a brief look; she sounded like she meant it. But then she also sounded like it was a forgone conclusion and everyone in the room knew that was never the case once you'd reached the danger zone./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""And the man, Nick?" Jeff moved the conversation on./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Will most likely be dead by the time you get here. I was able to staunch the blood flow, but he has lost three fingers off his left hand. I was unable to render aid for nearly two hours. If I could have cauterised it then maybe he would last longer but it wasn't an option."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Information. That's all it was. Just information to her. No feelings, no sympathy, just facts. Jeff shuddered internally; this was what he was dreading when he'd realised what she was. What he was talking to now was the biomechanoid that had haunted his dreams as a child. One who would think nothing of killing and then not think about it again after. He'd begun to believe that Jasmine was different, his sons all seemed to think so and the short time he'd spent with her he'd seen a well hidden personality peaking through the cracks of what she called her training. But now? Nick was meant to be her friend and she'd announced his imminent death the way a cashier might tell you your change. His absence had allowed her to get close and dig feelers into his family - some deeper than others. He was about to say something when John stepped up./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine, what would you need to stabilise Nick now?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""10cc's of Noradrine, compression bandages, suture kit or cauteriser. That'll keep him for another six hours or so before we risk infection or sepsis. Longer term Noradrine won't be effective. We'd need something to slow his vital functions but the shock to his system means there's only a 50% chance he'd take to it."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Understood, I'll have all responders adequately prepared. Jasmine should we save Nick if we can?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes" she said without hesitation. "Nick turned because he got a crisis of conscience and wanted to help you." Just like that the biomechanoid was gone and in its place a young girl sick to the back teeth of the situation she'd found herself in and her inability to do anything about it. Jeff found himself relaxing and tensed at the realisation. This was what they were trained to do. Adapt to all and every situation to best be accepted until they could complete their mission. That's what she was doing. Wasn't it? But then why did she sound so sad as she explained; "I had to let him think I didn't agree to save my cover. He was also trying to save his own skin from prison but, when it comes down to it, he's not actually one of the bad ones."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"John nodded./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine spent over a year working as a nurse for Doctor Leonard before he was killed" John said. "Before he was disbarred Dr Leonard was a well respected trauma surgeon. He also had a reputation for breaking interns with his expectations. Jasmine managed to meet those expectations, therefore her medical knowledge and experience must be quite vast."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"John looked pointedly at his father. Jeff, however, didn't say anything. In the last few minutes he'd learned more and become more uncertain about Jasmine than he thought possible. He mentally reassessed her comment about having many names. Perhaps the only way she could keep things separate was to have Oracle filed away as who she was trained to be and Jasmine was now emerging as the person she wanted to be. Jeff hoped not. That was unsustainable and could only lead to an identity crisis and potential breakdown. If that happened there were three outcomes the best was a successful merge, the worst would see Jasmine vanish and only Oracle remain. Jeff's gaze settled on his dark haired son. Virgil was listening intently, sitting forward in his seat. He wasn't relaxed but neither was he tightly wound. If anything looked the same as he did for any IR briefing. Jeff sighed internally. Why had Scott sent Virgil for the initial meet up? She would have to be truly a terrible person before Virgil's radar went off. It wouldn't have occurred to him to keep a professional distance between them. Jeff knew his boys had had a terrible time coming to terms with the images they'd found in Johannesburg- as had he - but Gordon or even Scott himself had seen it before as part of their service. Either of them would have known how to talk to a survivor but keep things professional. With Virgil there wasn't a hope and now his son might very well be in love with someone who's very personality was unstable at best and a construct at worst./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Damn Jasmine" Gordon filled the pause. "You could be a doctor with knowledge like that."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I don't think so" she laughed. "The hippocratic other would be quite hypocritical for something like me. I might as well say I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Woah, hang on a minute. You've read Harry Potter?" /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""John sent it to me" she said as though that explained everything. Gordon swung round to his older brother who was now looking a little uncomfortable./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""You sent her Harry Potter? Out of everything you could have sent - after sending me Ulysses when I was training and said I wanted something to read - you chose Harry Potter?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I-" John /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""To be fair he did sent me Wuthering Heights first" Jasmine said. "Which was awful."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""It's a classic!" John exploded./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes and it would have been a lot better if Cathy had killed Heathcliff and had done with it. He was dreadful."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Not by the standards of the time!"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""So you said" Jasmine brushed him off having clearly had this argument before. "Doesn't make it right though."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"John sputtered and Gordon sat back to enjoy the show. He had no idea that Jasmine and John spoke outside of briefings enough for book recommendations. Then something else occurred to him. If /spanspan class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleItalicBody; font-style: italic; font-size: 17.41px;"he /spanspan class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"had no idea then how about…? He tried to look at Virgil without being obvious. Oh boy. No, Virgil didn't know either./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""We're straying off topic" Jeff cut through loudly. John cut himself off mid sentence and shrank back in his seat. "Jasmine is there anything else for you to report?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Just one thing. Steven lied to me. He said he had no access from the basements to the underground smuggling tunnels but Mikhael mentioned moving things to the basement through them - he clearly thought I knew already. There will be secondary access to the basements other than the entrance you cut with the mole. I don't know the significance yet and I can't guarantee another check-in after this evening. I have about an hour and a half before Salvatore has called a final briefing, I don't expect to be out of range of the jammer after that. My next call in will most likely be to IR direct."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Understood" Jeff replied. "We won't keep you. To be clear, your directives are as follows: Keep yourself from as much harm as possible. Keep Kayo and Nick alive. Report back as often as you are able with all and any updates."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes, sir" she replied crisply./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""God speed, Jasmine. International Rescue signing off." Jeff cut the line and took a very long, very measured breath which had the four of his sons currently in the room suddenly tenser than a piano string. Jeff Tracy only gathered himself like this for extreme dressings down. Like the time Scott got so drunk he fell in a fountain whilst singing La Cucaracha and ended up on the front page of Star Spotter. Or the time Gordon got caught quite literally with his pants down when he should have been home sick from school. Those were both immortalised in the Tracy hall of family moments best forgotten./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Let me be clear" Jeff said, his voice an icy calm. "From now on I will run this entire operation with full disclosure from all parties. Kyrano, you will forward me anything Tintin has sent you since she made contact. John, Virgil, sort it out, I don't care what it is or how you do it but you will both be on the same page. Gordon if you derail a briefing like that again you will not be invited in future and Scott you will give me a full rundown on how you intend to manage this situation from the ground in an hour and it had better include proper use of your manpower, do I make myself clear?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Four "yes sirs" echoed throughout the room, the owner of each feeling significantly mollified for their own part in causing so much undue stress for Jeff./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""John, you leave for Thunderbird Five in an hour and a half. Scott will pilot, Alan go get her ready."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Really?" the youngest squeaked in surprise. It broke the tension somewhat and at Jeff's nod he scrambled to the silo as fast as he could. The others followed at a more sedate pace. At least they thought they did. Jeff watched his boys bottle neck in the office door, the sight doing little to lift his mood./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Finally only himself, Kyrano and his mother remained./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""She wasn't ready" Jeff said and, for the first time in many years Kyrano didn't bow his head. There was no softly spoke agreement or even acknowledgement./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""If we waited for you to be ready for them to fly, International Rescue would never have been born" Kyrano said instead. "With your permission, Mr Tracy" he inclined his head towards the door and Jeff nodded his agreement before he realised what he'd done./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kyrano is right, son" his mother said from her chair./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""You can't be serious, mother! Tintin is barely older than Alan."br /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Not about that, dear" she corrected him. "But if we had waited until you thought the boys were ready, they'd still be in training."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Any rebuttal died on Jeff's lips. The truth was he'd used International Rescue to give Scott something to aim for. It had worked, fantastically well. Within a few months Scott had gone from verging on self destructive to fully focused. As Jeff had hoped Scott's laser focus had dragged his next two brothers along with him - though quite how Scott had convinced John it seemed Jeff would never know. When the time came for them to go he found he had run out of reasons to stop them from going. He could hardly say it had been a pipe dream to distract him from Lucile and to distract Scott from Bereznik. After Gordon's accident he couldn't admit he didn't actually want his sons out there, risking life and limb. Not when IR suddenly gave Gordon something to shoot for too. A reason to drag himself through rehab, gruelling physio sessions and… other things./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""It was always going to be something, son" his mother said gently, leaning forward and placing her hand on his. "It's not the first time someone has tried to take them, it's just the first time it's happened because of International Rescue."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""We agreed never to mention that" Jeff said./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I would never say anything around John, of course, I'm only saying it to you. They're your sons and that means the rough as well as the smooth. They never blamed you for it but your fortune caused problems for them, problems they weren't raised to deal with."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""That may be so, mother, but it doesn't mean-"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jefferson, honey, you'll never so able to stop your boys going out on rescues, just like you couldn't convince any of them to have a security detail after what happened to John. The difference between Kyrano and yourself is that Kyrano doesn't try. If Tanusha says she's ready, Kyrano let's her do it."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I never stopped my boys!" /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""So you'll be letting Alan be the primary on Thunderbird 3 today?" /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""No, he's not ready… oh."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Grandma Tracy didn't even try to hide her smirk. /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kyrano believed in his daughter enough to let her do this, even though he is more scared of the biomechanoids than you are."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""He has good reason" Jeff pointed out./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Does he? He told me about the man he met. It doesn't add up and I think Kyrano is now thinking the same way. Did you ask Jasmine about it?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""No, I didn't." Jeff hadn't told his mother the entire story from their meeting. As far as his mother knew Virgil had bought the girl and they had then made the discovery that she was indeed a biomech. After a fraught conversation she had agreed to stay with two sons vouching for her. His mother would be severely disappointed to learn of the control collar - something Jeff had pushed aside as merely his elderly mother not understanding properly. But now…/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What do you know of her son? Really? How much of what you know is influenced by your father, God rest him, and how much by the tv?" She gave him a searching look. "Your sons had to learn to watch their backs the day you made your first million. They had to learn some of those lessons the hard way. It didn't stop any of them doing what they wanted with their lives. Then they joined your 'little idea'." Jeff smiled at the in joke. His mother had thought International Rescue ludicrous and so had written off her son's 'little idea' for years. "Now they have two targets on their backs. God help us if the world every finds out who they are."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What's your point, mother?" he said gently, seeing the elderly woman beginning to get upset at the /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""My point" she said pulling herself together, "is that they work with people every day and yet they trust her. Scott can spot a charlatan a mile away, John can tell a liar from the tone in their voice and they both trust her."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Virgil does a little more than that" Jeff said darkly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Which should tell you everything you need to know" she said primly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Mother, Virgil isn't the best judge of character look at-"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""If you're about to say Caitlin, Jefferson, I might just come over there and tan that hide of yours. Caitlin was a mistake yes, but he learned from it and was far more hurt by it than you were. It also wouldn't have happened if you had handled it better. Don't glare at me son, you know I'm right."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""She was hardly the only one" Jeff said petulantly. "Every time I came home there seemed to be a different girl he was mooning over."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Virgil was a young attractive teenage boy, what did you expect? You were hardly any better and frankly Scott outdid both of you put together. I gave serious thought to getting that boy microchipped."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Jeff stared at his mothers serious expression unaware his mouth was hanging open. Scott hadn't been that bad, had he? Jeff only vaguely remembered meeting the odd girl or two. It was never the same girl though, was it? His mother must have seen realisation dawn./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Honestly Jefferson, you raise five boys but are surprised they have libidos and are more surprised that some are better at hiding them than others" she scoffed./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Jeff wanted to argue but he knew he wouldn't win. His mother did have a point. She probably had a point about Caitlin too. Perhaps if he hadn't gone in and demanded Virgil call it off, his son would have listened. Come to think of it, Scott might have tried to warn him at the time. Either way, it soured their relationship for well over a year. Was he being unfair to just assume Virgil would make a similar mistake again./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""You don't get to choose who they fall in love with, son" his mother said /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""He's not in love with her, mother."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Grandma Tracy shot him a look at was somewhere between pitying and thinking he was an idiot as she rose gracefully from her chair./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I'm going put some coffee on and then call Deborah" she said. "I want to find out if her little dog came out of its operation alright. Make sure you talk to John before he goes" she said fixing her son a firm look./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Just like that, Jeff was alone in his office. His mother had given him a lot to think about. An awful lot. Was he too restrictive with his sons? Had that caused the fight between Virgil and himself? Was he holding Alan back? Was Kyrano really rethinking his position on biomechanoids? Jeff thought back to the conversations he'd had with Jasmine and he realised that, though he'd asked her, she hadn't told him anything of her childhood (what there was of it) or her life before she'd broken herself and her brother out of the facility. Virgil might well now more than he did but Virgil was hardly impartial. /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"A thought occurred to Jeff then. One he'd later be ashamed he didn't question himself about before acting on./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Rising, Jeff went to find his second born son./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Unfortunately, she wasn't./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"As there had been so many times since this whole mess started, there was a stunned silence in the Tracy household as Jasmine delivered her report. Everyone present wanted to ask the same question; why had Kyrano sent his only daughter into such a situation? It was Jeff who voiced it./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I have every confidence in my daughter" Kyrano said, his jutting chin his only act of defiance./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Damn it, Kyrano, you should have told us sooner!" Jeff exclaimed slamming a hand down on his desk and causing a few in the room to jump./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Not nice when you don't have all the information, is it?" Gordon sniped only to be silenced by a bark from his father./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Let me get this straight" Jeff said. "Instead of having one potential rescuee we now have 3. One of which is our own Tintin and one which is suffering serious blood loss?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes, sir" Jasmine said. "3? Who was the first one?" As she was only on voice she didn't see Virgil's pained look or John's resigned one, but she must have heard Scott's face palm./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine, your retrieval was discussed" Jeff said curtly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Retrieval yes" she agreed, "if at all possible. Rescue implies you're coming in whatever the situation and that's just stupid."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine please detail your understanding of tomorrows events" Jeff said, choosing not to address the comment. He deliberately kept his voice calm but noticed both Gordon and Alan wince at the tone - they both knew it meant they were in serious trouble but that it wasn't to be discussed now./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes sir" she said and launched into an explanation. There was no telling if Jeff's tone was effecting her in any way and he didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. "One question first, if I may; who is Tintin?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kayo" Scott answered./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""She has more names than me. That must be confusing for her." Jeff filed the curious comment for later. "Which one do I use?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kayo" Scott, John and Virgil said at the same time. Gordon raised an eyebrow but didn't comment./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Understood. Kayo should have about six hours sedation left, I've pushed to have both her and Nick situated in three. That way I can do some damage control. I've already issued her my locator and have a survival pack I intend to leave with her. It won't be much; a torch, some food and water, bandages and potentially a phone. At the moment I haven't found a way to provide her an exit."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What do you mean 'you've given her your locator?'" Virgil said alarmed./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Penny issued me with an emergency beacon in the form of a bracelet. Once activated it will you give you her exact location" Jasmine explained, missing the point entirely./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What Virgil means is that we now have no way of determining your exact location" John said./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I'm aware" she said curtly, "but her rescue is more important than my retrieval. I will be at the designated extraction" she finished. John and Virgil exchanged a brief look; she sounded like she meant it. But then she also sounded like it was a forgone conclusion and everyone in the room knew that was never the case once you'd reached the danger zone./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""And the man, Nick?" Jeff moved the conversation on./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Will most likely be dead by the time you get here. I was able to staunch the blood flow, but he has lost three fingers off his left hand. I was unable to render aid for nearly two hours. If I could have cauterised it then maybe he would last longer but it wasn't an option."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Information. That's all it was. Just information to her. No feelings, no sympathy, just facts. Jeff shuddered internally; this was what he was dreading when he'd realised what she was. What he was talking to now was the biomechanoid that had haunted his dreams as a child. One who would think nothing of killing and then not think about it again after. He'd begun to believe that Jasmine was different, his sons all seemed to think so and the short time he'd spent with her he'd seen a well hidden personality peaking through the cracks of what she called her training. But now? Nick was meant to be her friend and she'd announced his imminent death the way a cashier might tell you your change. His absence had allowed her to get close and dig feelers into his family - some deeper than others. He was about to say something when John stepped up./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine, what would you need to stabilise Nick now?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""10cc's of Noradrine, compression bandages, suture kit or cauteriser. That'll keep him for another six hours or so before we risk infection or sepsis. Longer term Noradrine won't be effective. We'd need something to slow his vital functions but the shock to his system means there's only a 50% chance he'd take to it."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Understood, I'll have all responders adequately prepared. Jasmine should we save Nick if we can?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes" she said without hesitation. "Nick turned because he got a crisis of conscience and wanted to help you." Just like that the biomechanoid was gone and in its place a young girl sick to the back teeth of the situation she'd found herself in and her inability to do anything about it. Jeff found himself relaxing and tensed at the realisation. This was what they were trained to do. Adapt to all and every situation to best be accepted until they could complete their mission. That's what she was doing. Wasn't it? But then why did she sound so sad as she explained; "I had to let him think I didn't agree to save my cover. He was also trying to save his own skin from prison but, when it comes down to it, he's not actually one of the bad ones."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"John nodded./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jasmine spent over a year working as a nurse for Doctor Leonard before he was killed" John said. "Before he was disbarred Dr Leonard was a well respected trauma surgeon. He also had a reputation for breaking interns with his expectations. Jasmine managed to meet those expectations, therefore her medical knowledge and experience must be quite vast."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"John looked pointedly at his father. Jeff, however, didn't say anything. In the last few minutes he'd learned more and become more uncertain about Jasmine than he thought possible. He mentally reassessed her comment about having many names. Perhaps the only way she could keep things separate was to have Oracle filed away as who she was trained to be and Jasmine was now emerging as the person she wanted to be. Jeff hoped not. That was unsustainable and could only lead to an identity crisis and potential breakdown. If that happened there were three outcomes the best was a successful merge, the worst would see Jasmine vanish and only Oracle remain. Jeff's gaze settled on his dark haired son. Virgil was listening intently, sitting forward in his seat. He wasn't relaxed but neither was he tightly wound. If anything looked the same as he did for any IR briefing. Jeff sighed internally. Why had Scott sent Virgil for the initial meet up? She would have to be truly a terrible person before Virgil's radar went off. It wouldn't have occurred to him to keep a professional distance between them. Jeff knew his boys had had a terrible time coming to terms with the images they'd found in Johannesburg- as had he - but Gordon or even Scott himself had seen it before as part of their service. Either of them would have known how to talk to a survivor but keep things professional. With Virgil there wasn't a hope and now his son might very well be in love with someone who's very personality was unstable at best and a construct at worst./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Damn Jasmine" Gordon filled the pause. "You could be a doctor with knowledge like that."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I don't think so" she laughed. "The hippocratic other would be quite hypocritical for something like me. I might as well say I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Woah, hang on a minute. You've read Harry Potter?" /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""John sent it to me" she said as though that explained everything. Gordon swung round to his older brother who was now looking a little uncomfortable./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""You sent her Harry Potter? Out of everything you could have sent - after sending me Ulysses when I was training and said I wanted something to read - you chose Harry Potter?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I-" John /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""To be fair he did sent me Wuthering Heights first" Jasmine said. "Which was awful."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""It's a classic!" John exploded./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes and it would have been a lot better if Cathy had killed Heathcliff and had done with it. He was dreadful."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Not by the standards of the time!"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""So you said" Jasmine brushed him off having clearly had this argument before. "Doesn't make it right though."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"John sputtered and Gordon sat back to enjoy the show. He had no idea that Jasmine and John spoke outside of briefings enough for book recommendations. Then something else occurred to him. If /spanspan class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleItalicBody; font-style: italic; font-size: 17.41px;"he /spanspan class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"had no idea then how about…? He tried to look at Virgil without being obvious. Oh boy. No, Virgil didn't know either./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""We're straying off topic" Jeff cut through loudly. John cut himself off mid sentence and shrank back in his seat. "Jasmine is there anything else for you to report?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Just one thing. Steven lied to me. He said he had no access from the basements to the underground smuggling tunnels but Mikhael mentioned moving things to the basement through them - he clearly thought I knew already. There will be secondary access to the basements other than the entrance you cut with the mole. I don't know the significance yet and I can't guarantee another check-in after this evening. I have about an hour and a half before Salvatore has called a final briefing, I don't expect to be out of range of the jammer after that. My next call in will most likely be to IR direct."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Understood" Jeff replied. "We won't keep you. To be clear, your directives are as follows: Keep yourself from as much harm as possible. Keep Kayo and Nick alive. Report back as often as you are able with all and any updates."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Yes, sir" she replied crisply./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""God speed, Jasmine. International Rescue signing off." Jeff cut the line and took a very long, very measured breath which had the four of his sons currently in the room suddenly tenser than a piano string. Jeff Tracy only gathered himself like this for extreme dressings down. Like the time Scott got so drunk he fell in a fountain whilst singing La Cucaracha and ended up on the front page of Star Spotter. Or the time Gordon got caught quite literally with his pants down when he should have been home sick from school. Those were both immortalised in the Tracy hall of family moments best forgotten./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Let me be clear" Jeff said, his voice an icy calm. "From now on I will run this entire operation with full disclosure from all parties. Kyrano, you will forward me anything Tintin has sent you since she made contact. John, Virgil, sort it out, I don't care what it is or how you do it but you will both be on the same page. Gordon if you derail a briefing like that again you will not be invited in future and Scott you will give me a full rundown on how you intend to manage this situation from the ground in an hour and it had better include proper use of your manpower, do I make myself clear?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Four "yes sirs" echoed throughout the room, the owner of each feeling significantly mollified for their own part in causing so much undue stress for Jeff./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""John, you leave for Thunderbird Five in an hour and a half. Scott will pilot, Alan go get her ready."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Really?" the youngest squeaked in surprise. It broke the tension somewhat and at Jeff's nod he scrambled to the silo as fast as he could. The others followed at a more sedate pace. At least they thought they did. Jeff watched his boys bottle neck in the office door, the sight doing little to lift his mood./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Finally only himself, Kyrano and his mother remained./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""She wasn't ready" Jeff said and, for the first time in many years Kyrano didn't bow his head. There was no softly spoke agreement or even acknowledgement./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""If we waited for you to be ready for them to fly, International Rescue would never have been born" Kyrano said instead. "With your permission, Mr Tracy" he inclined his head towards the door and Jeff nodded his agreement before he realised what he'd done./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kyrano is right, son" his mother said from her chair./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""You can't be serious, mother! Tintin is barely older than Alan."br /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Not about that, dear" she corrected him. "But if we had waited until you thought the boys were ready, they'd still be in training."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Any rebuttal died on Jeff's lips. The truth was he'd used International Rescue to give Scott something to aim for. It had worked, fantastically well. Within a few months Scott had gone from verging on self destructive to fully focused. As Jeff had hoped Scott's laser focus had dragged his next two brothers along with him - though quite how Scott had convinced John it seemed Jeff would never know. When the time came for them to go he found he had run out of reasons to stop them from going. He could hardly say it had been a pipe dream to distract him from Lucile and to distract Scott from Bereznik. After Gordon's accident he couldn't admit he didn't actually want his sons out there, risking life and limb. Not when IR suddenly gave Gordon something to shoot for too. A reason to drag himself through rehab, gruelling physio sessions and… other things./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""It was always going to be something, son" his mother said gently, leaning forward and placing her hand on his. "It's not the first time someone has tried to take them, it's just the first time it's happened because of International Rescue."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""We agreed never to mention that" Jeff said./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I would never say anything around John, of course, I'm only saying it to you. They're your sons and that means the rough as well as the smooth. They never blamed you for it but your fortune caused problems for them, problems they weren't raised to deal with."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""That may be so, mother, but it doesn't mean-"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Jefferson, honey, you'll never so able to stop your boys going out on rescues, just like you couldn't convince any of them to have a security detail after what happened to John. The difference between Kyrano and yourself is that Kyrano doesn't try. If Tanusha says she's ready, Kyrano let's her do it."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I never stopped my boys!" /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""So you'll be letting Alan be the primary on Thunderbird 3 today?" /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""No, he's not ready… oh."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Grandma Tracy didn't even try to hide her smirk. /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Kyrano believed in his daughter enough to let her do this, even though he is more scared of the biomechanoids than you are."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""He has good reason" Jeff pointed out./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Does he? He told me about the man he met. It doesn't add up and I think Kyrano is now thinking the same way. Did you ask Jasmine about it?"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""No, I didn't." Jeff hadn't told his mother the entire story from their meeting. As far as his mother knew Virgil had bought the girl and they had then made the discovery that she was indeed a biomech. After a fraught conversation she had agreed to stay with two sons vouching for her. His mother would be severely disappointed to learn of the control collar - something Jeff had pushed aside as merely his elderly mother not understanding properly. But now…/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What do you know of her son? Really? How much of what you know is influenced by your father, God rest him, and how much by the tv?" She gave him a searching look. "Your sons had to learn to watch their backs the day you made your first million. They had to learn some of those lessons the hard way. It didn't stop any of them doing what they wanted with their lives. Then they joined your 'little idea'." Jeff smiled at the in joke. His mother had thought International Rescue ludicrous and so had written off her son's 'little idea' for years. "Now they have two targets on their backs. God help us if the world every finds out who they are."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""What's your point, mother?" he said gently, seeing the elderly woman beginning to get upset at the /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""My point" she said pulling herself together, "is that they work with people every day and yet they trust her. Scott can spot a charlatan a mile away, John can tell a liar from the tone in their voice and they both trust her."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Virgil does a little more than that" Jeff said darkly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Which should tell you everything you need to know" she said primly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Mother, Virgil isn't the best judge of character look at-"/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""If you're about to say Caitlin, Jefferson, I might just come over there and tan that hide of yours. Caitlin was a mistake yes, but he learned from it and was far more hurt by it than you were. It also wouldn't have happened if you had handled it better. Don't glare at me son, you know I'm right."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""She was hardly the only one" Jeff said petulantly. "Every time I came home there seemed to be a different girl he was mooning over."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Virgil was a young attractive teenage boy, what did you expect? You were hardly any better and frankly Scott outdid both of you put together. I gave serious thought to getting that boy microchipped."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Jeff stared at his mothers serious expression unaware his mouth was hanging open. Scott hadn't been that bad, had he? Jeff only vaguely remembered meeting the odd girl or two. It was never the same girl though, was it? His mother must have seen realisation dawn./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""Honestly Jefferson, you raise five boys but are surprised they have libidos and are more surprised that some are better at hiding them than others" she scoffed./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Jeff wanted to argue but he knew he wouldn't win. His mother did have a point. She probably had a point about Caitlin too. Perhaps if he hadn't gone in and demanded Virgil call it off, his son would have listened. Come to think of it, Scott might have tried to warn him at the time. Either way, it soured their relationship for well over a year. Was he being unfair to just assume Virgil would make a similar mistake again./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""You don't get to choose who they fall in love with, son" his mother said /br /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""He's not in love with her, mother."/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Grandma Tracy shot him a look at was somewhere between pitying and thinking he was an idiot as she rose gracefully from her chair./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;""I'm going put some coffee on and then call Deborah" she said. "I want to find out if her little dog came out of its operation alright. Make sure you talk to John before he goes" she said fixing her son a firm look./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Just like that, Jeff was alone in his office. His mother had given him a lot to think about. An awful lot. Was he too restrictive with his sons? Had that caused the fight between Virgil and himself? Was he holding Alan back? Was Kyrano really rethinking his position on biomechanoids? Jeff thought back to the conversations he'd had with Jasmine and he realised that, though he'd asked her, she hadn't told him anything of her childhood (what there was of it) or her life before she'd broken herself and her brother out of the facility. Virgil might well now more than he did but Virgil was hardly impartial. /span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"A thought occurred to Jeff then. One he'd later be ashamed he didn't question himself about before acting on./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 17.4px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17.41px;"Rising, Jeff went to find his second born son./span/p