Alex watched the three of them talking quietly out by the pool. She was too far from them to make out their words and lip reading was hard when they kept insisting on turning away from her. She stayed in the shadows, trying to decide what to do. Onaha's appearance at the end of the corridor then startled her and she saw the kind woman jump slightly in equal surprise.

"What are you doing lurking back here!" Onaha chuckled, pressing her hand against her chest as she calmed her nerves.

"Who is that?" Alex nodded towards the pool area.

Onaha frowned and glanced behind her. "I believe one of Jeff's doctor friends from the mainland." She smiled slightly, "For John."

"I thought that was a man?"

"Perhaps he couldn't come and this is another." Onaha's concern grew, "Are you alright?"

Alex forced a smile and nodded an affirmative.

Onaha seemed to want to ask more but then shrugged and headed off into the hall. "What is that husband of mine up to …?"

Alex watched her disappear from sight and then turned back to the pool scene. Her heart leapt as she watched Penny stand and she saw her chance.

Penny strode across to the kitchen, smiling a greeting as Alex appeared. "Come join us." She offered lightly, "Want some tea?"

Alex hurried up beside her and grabbed her arm. "Who is that?" She whispered urgently.

Penny laughed and glanced up at the closed office door, "Why, Eva, of course!" She answered quietly.

"I've seen her before."

"Indeed you have. She was at the RAF base in London."

"Oh … oh yeah …" Alex considered this, her face calming and the first hint of a relieved smile appearing. But she then gasped and shook her head. "No. There was so much going on that day. It's not then that I remember her from it's … god, I can't quite …" She closed her eyes, "It's before …"

Penny stopped and took in Alex's worried expression. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." Alex groaned, "I just …" She sighed and shook her head. "There's something …"

Penny waited for her to continue, her trepidation growing.

Alex then shuddered with the arrival of further dread. "Oh shit, Penny! Can you get me access to the police network?"

"I have already done several background checks. You cannot think -"

"Please? I can't explain. I just …" She saw the doubt in Penny's eyes and nodded eagerly, her gaze then drifting back out to the woman chatting with Parker.

"Okay." Penny agreed, too intrigued now. She led Alex through to the hall into the main house and hurried to Jeff's bedroom.

Alex perched on the end of the as yet unmade double bed and watched Penny pull a small laptop computer from one of the bedside cabinets.

"Being an operative does give me a few privileges, even here." Penny commented as she switched on the laptop and sat beside Alex. "Including being able to uplink to the IR network without going through the main systems."

Alex nodded, "I know. Scott showed me."

Penny recalled the covert operation out to her car to get a private message out to Eva and shook her head. "It feels wrong to sneak about … but … with John the way he is … well, let us not give him any more cause to freak out."

"Mmm." Alex agreed, "Here's hoping."

Penny uploaded the files and passed the computer to Alex.

Alex paused suddenly, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. "Accessing this won't betray my whereabouts, will it?"

Penny smiled, "Not with the quadrillioned firewall system that Brains has created."

Taking a deep breath, Alex located the Scotland Yard database and worked her way inside. Entering Eva's details brought up a confirmed CIA-linked file and she frowned in confusion.

"There." Penny breathed a sigh of relief.

Alex shook her head slowly and entered in more commands. She copied the standard corporate photograph from the file and split the image, opening several new programs and entering the data into multiple searches. The screen darkened and small white text asking them to wait a moment appeared, the shadowy data behind blurring as thousands of images scrolled across the screen.

"Honestly." Penny offered gently, "I have already checked and double checked."

Alex shrugged a response and watched the screen in silence. The result then arrived with a bleep that startled them both and they huddled over the laptop to see the words 'NO MATCH' glaring up at them.

Penny smiled and turned to Alex. "Feel better now?"

Alex shook her head and groaned in frustration. "I can't explain it … I just …" She closed her eyes and frowned as she tried to think back and find whatever it was that was shouting a warning in her mind.

"Listen," Penny slipped an arm around Alex's shoulders and hugged her briefly. "It has been a tough time for all of us. The lines are easily blurred and stress can make you see all kinds of - "

"I'm not making this up!" Alex argued suddenly, shrugging free of Penny's embrace. "There's something about her that's not right! I just can't – oh crap!" Alex groaned angrily and put aside the laptop to stand from the bed. She held her head in her hands and sighed loudly. "I wish I could remember … I've seen her before … I know it …"

Penny watched Alex in concern. "Maybe you saw a file on her or …" She shrugged her shoulders, "Your DCI was working with MI5 and they with her. Perhaps the link is there."

Alex shook her head, "I wasn't party to all that. I only discovered all that after I'd met you. And the DCI's links with you guys and everything else is something that's only making sense now!" She turned and laughed gently, "God, I even thought he was working with the enemy at one point – whoever that might be." Her smile grew and she shook her head in amusement. "I wasn't exactly at my best when I first got into all this. Completely oblivious to everything around me. That's why I'm just a glorified traffic warden and not some great detective!"

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself." Penny countered softly.

Alex's smile faded. "You know … I wish I could turn back time." She turned away from Penny's sympathetic frown and looked out at the bright day beyond the window. "Know John as I did at first and be blissfully unaware of all of this … or maybe … maybe even go back to before that …"

Penny got to her feet and crossed the slight distance to place her hand on Alex's shoulder. "You don't mean that."

"Don't I?"

"No." Penny assured firmly. "Because you love him."

Tears welled in Alex's eyes and she bit down on her trembling lower lip to keep the threatening sobs at bay.

"God, I'm so sorry." Penny sighed, "But I had no choice but to tell you. You had to change your statement. Jeff was under arrest and …" She stepped closer. "You know, John said the very same thing."

Alex turned back to her.

"He was happy in the knowledge that you had no idea who he was and he could just be himself." Penny continued, "He was angry with me for bringing you into all this."

Alex placed her hand over Penny's, "But, like you said, you had no choice. I saw Thunderbird 1 attack the convoy and …"

Penny watched her pause and saw the colour drain from her face.

"Oh my god …" Alex murmured. "Convoy …"

"What?"

Alex flew back to the laptop and hurriedly typed in more commands, watching the screen with dread. She scrolled through the images that appeared and then spun back to Penny, confusion and fear filling her pale face.

Penny crossed back to join her and hardly dared look at the file. Her heart was pounding as Alex turned the laptop round for her to see the answer and she took in the information.

"They said he had to be accompanied because of the sedation." Alex explained quietly, her voice trembling. "We never gave it a second thought."

Penny stepped a little closer and stared at the hospital personnel file.

"They said she was killed when the prison van crashed." Alex continued. "I guess that's why the files were never linked. She shouldn't exist."

Penny sat down heavily on the bed beside Alex and groaned in dismay as she stared at the photograph. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's an alias." She then offered softly. "She must have been there to ensure his incarceration."

"Yeah." Alex scoffed, "And how bloody convenient!"

Penny looked back up at Alex and shook her head slowly. "It has to be …" She groaned and her face crumpled with the sudden threat of tears. "Not possible …"

"Oh please!" Alex countered with sarcasm, "After everything that's happened, you really want to chance it? No bloody way! She was there, Pen! She was with the Hood in London and again in Kazakhstan! And look at the name!"

Penny blinked away tears and again shook her head.

Alex groaned in annoyance and stood quickly. She gasped as Penny grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. "Pen, she's out there and she's - "

Penny nodded silently.

Alex watched her with growing dread and tried to prize her wrist free of her tight grasp. "Let go of me! You're hurting me!"

Penny quickly released her grip, raising her hands in an apology.

Alex clutched at her smarting wrist and edged back warily towards the door.

"Alex, wait! If this is true," Penny nodded back at the file on display. "She could be very dangerous."

Alex paused respectfully, praying that Penny could solve all this in a heartbeat.

Penny took her phone from her jacket pocket and her hands were shaking as she dialled a number. She looked back up at Alex and held her worried gaze as she waited for a response.

"Parker, it's me, don't say anything. Take her out."

Penny closed the phone and stood quickly. She told Alex to stay put, husked a few profanities and hurried out into the hall.

Parker was hotfooting it across the lounge in her direction, flushed and breathless as they almost collided into one another.

Penny peered behind him and saw the crumpled body lying out beside the pool.

"You want to explain just what the bloody hell is going on?" Parker demanded in a fluster, "M'lady." He added quickly.

Penny shook her head, "There is no time." She nodded towards the unconscious form beyond the doors. "Make sure she is secure." She ordered hurriedly and stepped past him to fly up the ramp towards the office. "Quickly, Parker!"

"Yes, m'lady!" Parker agreed, moving into the kitchen to find something to use to tie up their apparent hostage.

Penny flew up the ramp, almost tripping in her haste, and hurried inside. "John, we have a serious problem!" She blurted in a panic.

John looked up and seemed to laugh in response.

Penny took in his pale, tearstained face and his heavy lean on the console and hurried forward. "God, what's wrong?"

Tbc …