Chapter Nineteen – Just Before They Came Undone

Some hours earlier…

Scott terminated the open communications channel between himself and Penelope, and rubbed at his temples. The mysterious Natasha missing, Parker missing and now his father, missing. If only his father could have left well alone. If only he, Scott, hadn't twisted things so that his father would go off on this adventure. But at the time, it had only seemed like something harmless that would get Jeff out from behind his desk. Now it had turned into something serious. His father had gotten too close to something or someone. Scott sighed. There could be no more pretence. It was time to tell the truth to the remainder of the Tracy clan.

He decided to talk to Virgil first, given that his russet-haired brother was also in on the real reasons behind their father's continuing absence from Tracy Island. Virgil was also extremely level headed and practical, just the sort of qualities that Scott needed at that point in time. He found the pilot of Thunderbird Two alone on the small beach in a cove that was situated to the north west of the island. It was one of Virgil's favourite places to find solitude, a precious commodity when you lived on a small South Pacific knoll with nine other people plus the occasional guest. Unfortunately, that solitude could be too easily interrupted as Virgil found out when he noticed Scott scrambling down the steep, rocky path into the cove. Heaving a small sigh, he put aside a board upon which he had been crafting an ocean view in oil pastels.

"Hey," he said, by way of a slightly unenthusiastic greeting.

"Sorry for the interruption, Virg," Scott acknowledged, knowing how much the artist of the family disliked unnecessary intrusion when in the midst of a creative period.

"What's up?" Virgil asked, seeing that Scott was obviously bothered about something, a fact that helped to quell his own annoyance at being disturbed.

"I've just been talking to Penelope," Scott told him.

"And?"

"And she didn't have the best of news. Dad's gone missing in Florida. She hasn't been able to communicate with him."

"Hmm." True to form, Virgil didn't launch into immediate histrionics. Instead, his hazel-brown eyes grew contemplative and his brow knit slightly. "What was he up to before Penelope lost contact?"

"He was trying to find out information about some guy – Teddington, I think… Damn… Well, I've got it written down back at the house. Anyway, it was after Dad began nosing around that he seems to have gotten into trouble."

"Have you tried contacting him?"

"No," Scott admitted. "I came straight here to find you."

"Right." Virgil turned and began packing up his kit. "We should head back and try and get in contact ourselves before anything else."

"Yes. Of course." Scott shook his head. "I'm completely dumb. I should have thought of that myself."

"Never mind, Scott. We can sort it in a few minutes," replied Virgil. He finished tidying everything into a satchel, and then the two of them began to make their way back up the path to the top of the small escarpment. The climb didn't leave them with much breath with which to talk, so no words were exchanged until they had reached the top.

"I'm going to have to tell Alan, Gordon and John," said Scott.

"Don't jump to conclusions," said Virgil. "We might be able to get hold of Dad ourselves and find out that he's okay."

"Yeah… We might," replied Scott, doubtfully.

"Now's a great time to be having doubts, Scott," Virgil told him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked, defensively, responding to the slight edge that had appeared in his brother's voice. Virgil stopped and faced him.

"As I recall, you were the one who confidently predicted that Dad would be a couple of days on a harmless excursion," he said.

"That's exactly what it seemed like at the time," Scott retorted.

"Yes, I know," said Virgil. He imitated Scott. "'Nothing's going to happen to him'. 'I've got it all under control'."

"Look, I didn't plan for him to go roaming," Scott replied. "If I thought for a moment that there was more to this…"

"We've known for days that there was more to it than mistaken identity," Virgil interrupted. Unlike Scott, he rarely raised his voice, instead using nuances to demonstate his feelings. The effect was that he remained the essence of calm whilst the person he argued against became louder as they grew angrier. This was exactly what was happening now, with Scott.

"Well, what would you have had me do, Virg? Stopped him from leaving and then have him going nuts here on the island? There's no way in hell that he'd sit still and forget about this Natasha. You know how he is about Mom." If the glare of Scott's bright blue eyes were capable of generating heat, then Virgil would have been in danger of having a hole burned through him. As it was, he remained unperturbed.

"Something should have been done sooner," he argued. "As soon as Parker and Natasha went missing, we should have intervened."

"For what reason? Could you imagine Dad's reaction? He was mad enough that Penelope turned up."

"And she should never have let Dad go off by himself," said Virgil.

"She was looking for Parker," retorted Scott. "And if she had gone with Dad, then maybe both of them could be in trouble right now and we'd be none the wiser until we realised that we hadn't heard from either of them, which would be a couple of days down the line." Virgil didn't reply, instead continuing to look unhappily at Scott. The eldest Tracy son took the opportunity to calm himself down.

"Virgil. Maybe I did make an error in judgement. If that's the case, then it's done. I can't do anything about what's already happened. All I can do is consider the current situation and make the best of it." He looked pleadingly at his brother. "I need your help in order to do that, Virg. If the worst happens…if I have to tell them… If Dad is… I have to know that I can count on you for support. 'Coz heaven knows I'm gonna need it." There was another silence. Then, to Scott's great relief, Virgil slowly nodded his head.

"Okay. I'll back you up. Dad's welfare is the important thing, and his situation's not going to be helped by us standing arguing over things we can't change." Scott grinned as they began making their way towards the house once again.

"You have no idea how pleased I am to hear you say that," he said.

"Don't be too pleased. I'm still annoyed," Virgil told him. He looked at his older brother out of the corner of his eye. "A little bit."

"We'll work it out later," Scott promised. The two of them usually settled things over a glass or two of their father's finest spirits. However, Scott was certain that they were all bound to need more then a glass or two of the good stuff after this mess was cleared up.

Once they were back at the house, Scott dug out the notebook in which he had jotted down everything relayed to him by either Lady Penelope or his father over the past few days. Virgil read through the latest offerings, whilst Scott tried to contact their father, without success. They sat and looked at each other; Scott seated behind the desk, whilst Virgil was perched on the edge.

"Grandma," Virgil said, suddenly. "How are you going to tell her?"

"Carefully," Scott replied. "But I won't keep it from her. She was good enough to bring this whole thing to my attention in the first place. It's only fair that I'm honest with her, even if it's not good news. First though, we need to try and track down Dad."

"Guess that means putting a call through to John, then," said Virgil. Scott nodded, reluctantly.

"I don't know if I'd rather that Alan was up there or not," he said.

"Well, neither of them is up there indefinitely," Virgil pointed out.

"Yeah, but you know exactly how Alan will react when he's upset. It can be nasty, but it's over quickly. John can hold it in for weeks and then when you think that it's been forgotten, he'll bring the issue up out of the blue. Even then, you don't know whether he'll laugh it off or make it into a big deal."

"You're procrastinating," Virgil told him.

"Alright." Scott pressed the button that activated the communications channel to Thunderbird Five, International Rescue's own space station and the lifeline for many a person in dire straits, wherever they were in the world.

"Base to Thunderbird Five." After a pause, a live image of John's blond-topped head replaced his portrait on the wall.

"Thunderbird Five here. Hiya, Scott. Virgil. What's up?" John seemed his usual cordial self.

"I need you to pinpoint Dad's location via his communicator's internal tracker," Scott said, without preamble.

"What for?" John asked.

"Just find him, John. I'll explain after."

"No need to get snappy, Scott. I'm onto it." He turned away in order to access the correct controls. "I've got the signal. He's…in Florida?" John's surprise was clear, even though they couldn't see him.

"Whereabouts in Florida?" Scott asked.

"He's moving in a roughly southerly direction… Let me overlay the city and road maps… According to this, he's on the I-95, heading towards Miami. What's he doing down there? I thought that he had business in New York?" John reappeared on the screen, looking rather bemused.

"He did have matters to tend to in New York, but events have taken him to Florida," said Scott, feeling relieved that at least they were able to track their father.

"Riiiight. So if you knew that he was in Florida, why'd you need me to tell you that?"

"Because there's more to Dad's trip to New York than I've told you about," Scott said, bracing himself.

"Oh? Is he starting up a new business venture or something?"

"No."

"Well, what then?" John eyed his brothers, carefully. "If this is some silly guessing game, then I'll tell you now that…"

"It's to do with Mom," Scott said, cutting him off. John's sky blue eyes narrowed slightly.

"In what way?" he asked. Scott took a deep breath…