VIRGIL hurried through the trees. The woodland was thick and there were no clear paths that he could find at first. He then used the head's up display in his helmet to look around. Then he spotted a structure not far away. "There!" he said, and started to make his way through the brush, using the jaws to rip through. He then came out in a clearing and stopped dead in surprise. There was the house, but it was intact. There was no tree lying on it at all. "Well that's…odd," Virgil remarked out loud as he moved in for a closer look. "Thunderbird 5 - are you sure this is the right place, John? John?" No reply came. "Huh? My own radio isn't working either? But…how can that be? It was Thunderbird 2 that got hit by lightning - not me." He moved in closer to the house, noticing there was a strange looking antenne dish on the top. Then as he reached it, he noticed that the front door was wide open. Curiosity got the better of him and he went up to peer inside. It was dark and he couldn't see much. "Hello?" he called out into the house. "Is anybody there?"

"HELP!"

Virgil charged in without thinking, turning sideways so as to fit the Jaws of Life through the doorway and almost knocked the wooden dining table over. "CALL OUT!" he shouted. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

SLAM! Virgil jumped and turned around to see the front door had slammed shut. And there, standing with one hand against the door and looking rather smug, was the last person he expected to see.

"Hello, sweetheart," said Nina.

Virgil blinked in surprise. "N-Nina?!"

"Awh, you do remember me?" she said with a loving tone in her voice as she walked towards him. "I am so touched."

"I, er, didn't expect to see you," Virgil began. When suddenly Nina sprung up and kicked him in the chest causing him to topple back and the weight of his equipment caused him to fall over. "What the?!"

"Got you now, beautiful," said Nina, licking her lips after she'd jumped onto his chest and pinned him down. "Now take that helmet off so I can snog you."

Virgil was horrified. "W-W-WHAT?!" he exclaimed. "GET OFF!" He pushed himself up causing Nina to fall off. He then pulled himself up only for Nina to quickly recover and push him down again.

She got back on his front and squeezed his ribs between her knees as she grabbed his helmet as she tried to pull the helmet off. "Come on! Stupid thing," she growled. "Come off!"

Virgil felt the pull on his head as she tried to get the helmet off. "STOP!" he yelled and managed to hit her with one of the Jaws of Life arms. This time he was able to get up before she lunged at him again. He was able to catch her and then shove against the side wall. "ENOUGH!" he thundered. "Now talk! What is this all about? I was told there was a tree down on a house and someone was trapped inside?"

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that," said Nina, not sounding sorry at all. "Amazing how a little white lie can get someone what they want."

"LIE?!" thundered Virgil. "YOU FAKED THE CALL TO GET SOMEONE OUT HERE?! WHY?!"

"BECAUSE I WANT YOU, VIRGIL TRACY!" Nina shouted back as she struggled to get her out of his grip. "I LOVE YOU!"

Virgil was stunned into silence. "What?!"

Nina's eyes filled with tears. "You never rang me!" she said miserably. "I gave you my number. I've waited every SINGLE day for you to call me. Every day I waited for you to contact me. And you never did! WHY?!"

Virgil found his tongue was tied as he tried to get his words out. "I, er, erm, forgot," he said. "I'm sorry. Things were so busy. It just slipped my mind." He released her from the grip.

Nina glared at him. "That's not all," she said. "You rescued me from the fire in my flat the other day - and you DIDN'T EVEN SPEAK TO ME?!"

"I didn't realise it was you!" Virgil said. "It wasn't until after I got home that I realised the cries for help you were making matched the ones you made when you were stuck in the crane!"

"But you KNEW that I'd fallen in love with you!" Nina said. "You SHOULDN'T HAVE BROKEN YOUR PROMISE!"

Virgil frowned. "I never made any promise," he said. "You asked me to call you. I forgot. And you've wasted the valuable time and resources of International Rescue by making this false alarm!"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT INTERNATIONAL RESCUE!" screamed Nina as she advanced.. "ALL I WANT IS TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE WITH THE MAN I LOVE! AND THAT IS YOU!"

Virgil was disturbed as he backed away then used the Jaws to hold her back. "I'm sorry, Nina," he said. "But doing this isn't going to get you what you want. And besides, I already have a girl in my life. I don't need you to-"
"You…have…WHAT?!" screeched Nina, her eyes suddenly burning with fury. She pushed the Jaws out of the way and thrust herself upon Virgil, pinning him up against the wall. "You chose someone else over me?! HOW COULD YOU?!"

Virgil had had enough. He pushed back, using the suit's strength to break free and knock Nina over onto the wooden floor. "You may have had feelings for me, Nina," he said. "But I don't have any for you. Now, I need to go. You've wasted enough of my time. Goodbye and-"

"NO!" shrieked Nina, grabbing onto his leg. "YOU'RE NOT LEAVING ME AGAIN! I WON'T LET YOU!"

Virgil shook her off his leg. "I won't tell you again!" he snapped. "Get off and back off before I have the GDF come and arrest you!"

Nina just bellowed as she sprang up to her feet and charged at him again with her arms outstretched in order to try and grab him by the throat. Virgil reacted without thinking and swung one of his arms around, hitting Nina and sending her flying across the room where she crashed hard into a wooden shelving unit. It then fell and collapsed all around her with pieces of china crockery falling and smashing as it hit the floor. "Owww!" Nina groaned.

Virgil was alarmed by what he'd done. He came hurrying over. "Nina! I'm so sorry!" he said. "I didn't mean to-" He broke off, suddenly noticing the look of boiling rage on Nina's face.

Nina's face was now bright red also and she looked like she was about to explode. "These…were VALUABLES!" she screamed, pointing at the destroyed crockery that now littered the floor. "AND YOU'VE BROKEN THEM! RAAAAGH!" She jumped up and threw herself on him, causing him to fall over once more. She then grabbed the helmet again and tried to pull it off harder than before. They landed by the kitchen cabinet and whilst Nina struggled to hold Virgil down, she reached up for one of the draws and pulled it open before reaching inside for something.

Virgil grunted loudly and shook Nina off once more before picking himself up and making for the front door. But Nina was able to block off the door by pushing the wooden table up against the door, preventing him from reaching it. "What are you doing?"

"I told you, Tracy," said Nina, as she suddenly grabbed a large knife from the nearby knife-rack. "You…are…not…leaving!" She then lunged at Virgil who this time dived out of the way.

I need to get out of here, Virgil said quietly to himself as he dodged Nina's attacks. The window would be quickest, but the suit's gonna slow me down. I also won't fit through without it. He dodged another attack as Nina tried swiping at him with the sharp knife. "Screw it. I'll make it!"

"Make what?" snapped Nina.

Virgil reached out and grabbed her before picking her up off the floor. "Make my exit!" he said firmly and threw her across the room again where she knocked over a lamp and collided painfully with the table that blocked off the front door. Before she had time to recover, Virgil made his move. He ran towards the nearby window and dived through it. The glass and window frame shattered as he went through it. He summersaulted and then landed with a crash in a bush just outside.

"NO!" shrieked Nina, she scrambled to her feet and ran to the window only to see a damaged bush where Virgil had landed and then a few more ripped ones where he'd made his escape through. "NO!" she said again and tried to climb out after him, only to place her hand on a piece of broken glass and cut it. "OUCH!" she screeched before running to grab some kitchen towel to wrap it in. She then pulled the table out of the way of the door and burst out into the open, still clutching the knife. She looked around to see where Virgil had gone, but he was nowhere in sight. "VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL!" she screamed, her voice echoing around the trees. "COME BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

Thunderbird 1 crossed the South Coast of England near Beachy Head with Scott using Thunderbird 2's beacon to guide them in. "Thunderbird 5. We're almost at Thunderbird 2's position," he said. "Any luck contacting Virgil?"

"Negative," replied John. "But I think I might know why we can't contact him. There's some kind of jamming signal coming from within that forest."

"Jamming signal?" repeated Kayo. "What could be causing that?"

"I did some research and found this," said John, bringing a secret holographic document. "There's been an old cottage located deep within the woodlands for a number of years. It was requisitioned by the British Army as a top secret base during the Cold War where Project Cloak & Dagger was set up."

"Project Cloak & Dagger?" said Scott. "Can't say I've ever heard of that."

"Neither have I," agreed Kayo.

"It was an experimental device used to locate and disable nuclear missiles should they ever be launched at the United Kingdom," explained John. "However it never got used and was abandoned. Guess they didn't take down the equipment when they left it."

"Any idea who owns the place now?" asked Scott.

"No," said John. "But whoever is there now has it turned on again."

"It must be the woman who's been after Virgil," said Kayo.

"Would make sense," agreed Scott. "And Virgil's in there all alone."

"Not for long," said Kayo.

"Guys, that jamming signal covers the entire forest," said John. "Once you get there, it's likely we'll lose contact."

"Don't worry, John," said Scott. "We'll find Virgil and get him out. You'd better send the GDF over here though. They're gonna probably want to question the person responsible and potentially even disable the equipment."

"F-A-B," said John. "And for Pete's sake, be careful."

"We will, John," promised Kayo.

John nodded and signed off.

Scott checked his monitor screen. "There's Thunderbird 2," he said.

"Any sign of Virgil?" asked Kayo.

Scott looked around. "No, he must be already in the trees."

"Take us down and we'll go find him," said Kayo.

"It's a big place," said Scott, looking at the trees. "How are we supposed to find him if we can't use our tech?"

"He's a big man, Scott," said Kayo. "He'll probably have left a trail behind. We'll follow that."

Scott smiled. "F-A-B," he said as he brought Thunderbird 1 down into land next to where Thunderbird 2 was.

Scott and Kayo exited the craft and donned their helmets before looking towards the trees.

"There!" said Kayo, pointing. "That bush has been broken through. That has to be Virgil."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Scott, moving forwards.

But Kayo stopped him. "Wait a second. I want to try something," she said and flipped down the heads-up display on her helmet. Looking at Scott and the surrounding fields all was visible, but when she looked at the trees, everything was fuzzy. "As I thought. John was right. That signal is only affecting the woods."

"We don't need our gear to find Virgil," said Scott. "Come on!" He ran forwards into the trees with Kayo close behind him.

Nina walked through the forest, checking behind trees and in bushes for Virgil. "I don't know where you are, Virgil Tracy. But I will find you! Nobody rejects me! Do you hear me? NOBODY!" Then she stopped as her eyes caught sight of something. Something blue and yellow poking out of one of the bushes. Her eyes lit up and a malicious grin spread across her face. She raised the knife and advanced menacingly. "Thought you could hide, big man?" she asked. "Your equipment slows you down. And gives you away. Now you're MINE!" She lunged into the bush, grabbed the thing she could see and pulled it back. It came out a lot easier than she was expecting and then stopped suddenly to realise that it wasn't Virgil, but the Jaws of Life. "What?! AAARGH! DAMN IT!" she said angrily. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Virgil himself was hiding a short distance away, observing Nina through the bushes. "She's crazy," he whispered to himself. "I have to get back to Thunderbird 2 and get the radio working. I need back up." He began to move away as quickly and quietly as he could. But he didn't see a twig which went under his foot and SNAP it went when he trod on it.

Nina heard the snap and looked in the direction. "Oh, so you're near!" she called out.

"Ahh, shi-" Virgil said and knew it was now or never if he was to make his escape. He got to his feet and bolted through the trees and shrubbery with Nina following a short distance behind.

"HA-HA-HA!" said Nina loudly. "YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE, MY LOVER! I'LL GET YOU INTO MY BED YET! JUST YOU WAIT!"

Scott and Kayo weren't far away. They heard Nina's voice and were alarmed.

"Did you hear that?" asked Scott.

"I sure did," said Kayo. "And it came from over there. Come on!" She ran off into the brush with Scott now the one following.

Virgil came out of the bushes into a path. He thought he was in the clear. He was wrong.

"GOTCHA!" yelled Nina, bursting out from another bush and jumping on top of him. Virgil yelped and fell face-down on the ground. He'd had probably broken his nose if his helmet wasn't there to protect him. Nina pinned him down with the knife raised in her right hand. "No escape now, hun," she sneered. "Time for you to give me what you've owed me all these years - a night of passion."

Before Virgil could reply, a grapple came shooting out from down the path and grabbed onto Nina's right arm.

"What the?!" Nina exclaimed as the grapple then retracted and pulled off Virgil. "WHAAAA?!" She hit the ground and rolled along a few times before coming to rest in front of a pair of blue boots. As she'd stopped on her back, she looked up to find herself looking at some dressed similarly to Virgil, but taller and slimmer. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"I'm Scott. Virgil's brother. And your sick and twisted game ends now."

Nina gritted her teeth. She grabbed the dropped knife and tried to swipe at Scott's legs but he jumped back. She scrambled to her feet and went to lunge at him again only for Kayo to swing down from a tree and double-kick her across the path into another tree nearby. "UGH!" she groaned as she fell to the ground and the knife landed a few feet away. She tried to get up but Kayo placed her boot on Nina's back, pinning her down.

"Stay down," said Kayo.

Virgil picked himself up and came over. "Scott? Kayo? How did you-"

"Grandma told us to come out here, Virg," answered Scott. "She recognised this woman's voice. She's the one you saved from the fire last week?"

"And from the crane during the London blackout," said Virgil. "And…" he added sadly, "the person who I left hanging."

Nina growled furiously.

"There was no fallen tree on the house, was there?" Kayo said to Nina.

"No," replied Nina bitterly. "No, there wasn't."

"A trap," said Scott. "All because you wanted Virgil."

"Yes!" snapped Nina. "I've wanted absolutely nothing more than to make that man my own. I want to make his babies and all that. And I will not rest until I do."

Scott, Virgil and Kayo felt sick in their mouths at these words.

"Lady…you've got issues," said Scott.

Nina snarled at him. "You dare speak to me like that?" she spat.

"When you try to lure my brother into a trap and force him to do stuff against his will - I'll talk to you however the hell I want to," Scott said simply.

There then came a rumbling sound from above announcing the arrival of another aircraft. Looking up, they could just make out the shape of a GDF Flyer coming overhead.

"You called in the GDF?" Virgil asked.

"John said he was going to," smiled Kayo.

Nina was now suddenly looking worried. "The GDF? Why are they here?"

"Take a wild guess," said Kayo.

Nina thought. And then she realised. "No, no, NO!" she cried. She slipped out from under Kayo's boot, scrambled to her feet and began to flee through the trees. "I CAN'T BE TAKEN!"

"NINA, STOP!" Virgil shouted as he ran after her. "COME BACK!"

"VIRGIL!" Scott shouted and ran after his brother.

Kayo sighed heavily and followed on.

Nina was scared, and desperate. She continued to run through the trees and bushes, not having paid any attention to the direction that she was going. Suddenly she burst through a bush and found herself heading straight into danger. "AAAARRGGHH!" she screamed and fell down.

Virgil, Scott and Kayo heard the scream and sprinted as fast as they could. When they burst through the same bit of brush they had to stop themselves suddenly when they saw the danger. There was a ledge right in front of them that led down a deep drop into a fast-flowing stream coming from a powerful waterfall a few metres away.

"Where did she go?" asked Kayo.

"She can't have made that jump," agreed Scott, looking at how wide the gap was between the two sides of the stream.

"HEEEEEEEEELP!"

The trio looked down and saw Nina a few feet away, clinging desperately to a dead tree branch that was hanging out over the stream.

"Nina, hang on!" Virgil called as he hurried over towards the tree and the overhanging branch.

There was a crack. The branch was breaking. Nina squeaked in terror. "VIRGIL!" she cried, her eyes now full of fear again. "HELP ME!"

But it was too late. Before Virgil could even grab hold of the branch, it broke.

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" screamed Nina as she plunged towards the water below.

"NINA!" yelled Virgil. He almost jumped in but Scot and Kayo held him back as Nina splashed into the water followed by the branch.

The International Rescue trio hurried around to the other side of the tree to try and follow her in the current. But all they could see was the branch. There was no sign of Nina at all.

"NINA?!" Virgil yelled desperately. "NINA, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"VIRGIL, STOP!" said Kayo. "You can't help her. She's gone."

Virgil looked back down into the fast-flowing water. He fell to his knees and then took off his helmet as tears formed in his eyes. "My fault," he sniffled. "This is on me. I'm sorry."

Scott and Kayo wish they could give some words of encouragement, but they had none. None at all.

The GDF Lieutenant in charge of the squad that had come with the Flyer walked up to the two brothers and Kayo once they were back at the Thunderbird ships. Virgil was sitting on the ground with Scott and Kayo standing on opposite sides of him. "We found the controls to the antenna on the house," the Lieutenant said. "It's disabled. All communications should be back up for you now."

"Thanks," said Scott.

"Oh, and we found these," said the Lieutenant as two soldiers appeared carrying Virgil's Jaws of Life. "I believe they belong to you."

"They sure do," said Scott. He glanced at Kayo. Without speaking they decided now wasn't the time to ask Virgil why he'd abandoned them.

Lieutenant nodded in respect and then they headed back to the Flyer to head back to their base.

Scott pressed the icon on his sash. "Base and Thunderbird 5. Come in?"

"Loud and clear, Scott," said John.

"Scott! At last!" said Jeff. "Are you all okay?"

"We're fine, Dad," said Scott. "We found Virgil. He's safe."

Jeff, Grandma and John all breathed sighs of relief.

"What about the girl?" asked Grandma. "I trust she's in custody?"

"Errrrr, no," said Scott. "She's gone."

"What?!" said Jeff angrily. "You let her escape?"

"No, Dad," said Scott. "She tried running away when the GDF arrived. She fell into a ravine and was washed away by a torrent in a stream. A dead tree branch fell on top of her. There's no way she could have survived that."

Jeff's anger faded. "Oh…I see," he said. "Virgil?"

"Yes, Dad?" Virgil answered, looking up for the first time in a while

Jeff could see through the hologram how down his son looked. "Are you going to be okay, son?"

Virgil looked at his Dad. his eyes were red from where he'd been shedding tears. "I will be, Dad," he said. "I just need some time."

"Of course," said Jeff. "Take all the time you need. See you all back at base." He signed off.

Virgil lowered his head again and let out a deep and heavy sigh.

"Why are you so down about this, Virgil?" asked Scott. "The crazy lady tried to murder you."

"Her rage blinded her, Scott," Virgil replied. "I told her I already had someone. She did not like that. She felt betrayed. I let her down all those years ago. I should have gotten in touch with her like she asked."

Kayo bent down and put a comforting hand on Virgil's right shoulder. "Virgil, who's to say she wasn't going to be like that anyway?" she asked. "If you ask me, you did the right thing by not getting in touch. You didn't even know her."

"I didn't know Hayley either when she first asked me out," Virgil said.

"That's different," said Kayo. "Hayley made the effort to contact you directly. If Nina really wanted to be with you, she'd have gotten in touch with you, not waited for you to call her. I understand how you feel and I am not going to try and change how you feel about it. But, I know that Hayley is the right person for you."

Virgil looked into Kayo's amber eyes, and for the first time in a good few hours, he managed a small smile. "Thank you, Kayo," he said as he felt some weight lift from his shoulders.

Kayo leant in and gave him a little kiss on the cheek, which made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Scott raised some amused eyebrows, but decided to keep his mouth shut.

Upon returning to Tracy Island, Virgil tried to distract himself by playing the piano. It kind of worked well. Too well in fact. He didn't stop playing until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see it was Jeff.

"Still playing, son?" Jeff asked. "Never known you to play for this long before."

Virgil looked around and was surprised to see that not only was the lounge empty, but that the Sun had set and it was night-time outside. "W-What?" he said, startled. "How long have I been here?"

"Three and a half hours," said Jeff. "Am surprised you can still feel your fingers after that."

It was then that Virgil felt the numbness in his fingers from having played for so long. "Oh, gee," he said with a sigh. "Sorry, Dad."

"Why are you apologising, son?" asked Jeff. "You've done nothing wrong."

"I never thought that something that happened so long ago would come back to haunt me like that," said Virgil. "I never wanted to break Nina's heart-"

"You didn't intentionally," Jeff cut him off. "The whole thing was her problem. Did you ever have any feelings for her?"

"No, I didn't," said Virgil. "She was just another person in danger who needed to be rescued. And so I rescued her."

"And that's all you were meant to do, Virgil," said Jeff. "She was never meant for you. Hayley on the other hand was. And I wouldn't want that any other way. Would you?"

Virgil had no hesitation answering that. "No," he said. "No, I wouldn't."

"There we go then," said Jeff. "Let it go, Virgil. You won't help yourself by brooding over it. Nina made her choice and she paid the price for it. There's nothing you could have done to change that."

"If I'd managed to catch her before she fell, maybe I could have talked some sense into her," said Virgil.

"Maybe, but we'll never know," said Jeff. "Now come on, son. Off to bed with you. You've had a hell of a day."

Virgil smiled as he got up to head out of the lounge. "Yeah, you're right, Dad," he said. "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight, son," said Jeff. "Oh, one more thing. Have you told her?"

Virgil stopped and looked back. "Told who?"

"Hayley, of course," said Jeff. "Does she know about what's happened?"

"Er, no?" said Virgil awkwardly. "Should I?"

"I think you should, Virgil," said Jeff. "In the very unlikely chance that she did somehow manage to survive or someone found her, it might be awkward if you keep it from Hayley and she later pops up again."

Virgil looked nervous. "But what if she gets mad at me?" he asked.

"Oh, Virgil!" said Jeff sternly. "You didn't do anything to jeopardize your relationship. All Hayley needs to know is that a woman you rescued years ago who tried to get you to call her tried to set a trap for you and it failed. You tell her that it's sorted. That's all Hayley needs to know."

Virgil considered his father's words carefully. "Yeah. I'll do that," he said.

Jeff smiled. "Attaboy," he said. "Now, off to bed with you."

Virgil smiled. "Goodnight, Dad," he said. "Love you."

"Back at you, my boy," said Jeff. He watched his son leave the room, proud that he was overcoming his feelings of guilt.

But as Virgil headed up the stairs to his bedroom, he began to worry again. "If Nina is alive and she was found by someone, it better not be The Cabal," he said to himself.

Nina woke with a start, coughing and spluttering as she still had water in her lungs. She sat up to find herself on a table in a dark room with dimly-lit lights.

"Ah, you're awake," said a male voice. "Didn't think you were going to make it for a while."

Nina saw a snooker cue leaning against a nearby wall and grabbed it before pointing at the man who was in his mid-late forties by the look of him. "I don't know who you are," she said. "But why have you kidnapped me?"

"Kidnapped you?" said the man. "Please, please. We fished you out of the river you were drifting in."

Nina then remembered falling from the tree into the water. "Well, I guess I should thank you," she said. She then coughed again as she brought up more water. "God, I feel sick," she said.

"You can stay here to recover," said the man kindly. "And then if you want to join our cause, you are very welcome to."

Nina gave the man a look. "What cause do you have?" she asked curiously.

"We have something in common, Ms Gallagher," said the man. "We've both had our lives ruined - by him!" He pointed at a picture on the neighbouring wall. It was full of holes as it had been used as a dartboard.

Nina looked at the picture and gasped, for it was a screenshot from a TV news report. And the figure on it was Virgil.