Out of Place

AN – Hi! Thanks again to my lovely readers and reviewers, I really hope you enjoy this chapter. It's beginning to move along now, I love writing some of the action! For something that was supposed to be a study in culture it's got a bit more actiony – oh well, I hope you enjoy as much as I did writing it!

Disclaimer – I don't own Thunderbirds

Chapter Twelve – Rollercoaster

John sat tapping his fork against the tablecloth, the sound a repetitive irritation that mirrored the annoyance he was feeling. The main course had come and gone. The waiter was hovering, desperate to find out if John was actually going to order dessert or if he was going to settle up. The reality was, John wasn't able to do either. Angel's half eaten plate had long since been cleared away and John was sat staring at an empty chair. His grip against the fork tightened and he forced himself to put it down.

He knew that she had said she needed to have a quick discussion with a friend during dinner, but she'd been gone an incredibly long time now. The waiters all evidently thought he had been abandoned half way through his date and he couldn't contradict them.

Something vibrated in the pocket of the jeans he was wearing. With a frown, John pulled out the comm he had been given earlier to see a message typed in from Angel.

I've got what I need, settle up and I'll meet you out the front.

Settle up, well that was just great. It's not like he had any British currency with him. Or any currency at all, given that he lived in space.

Phone is loaded with credit, just swipe.

Now she tells him. John grit his teeth together to stop himself saying or doing something stupid as he requested the check from the relieved waiter. Why would he think they were using such an outdated method as phone loading of currency? Everything settled in record time, he made his way out of the restaurant whilst trying to ignore the sympathetic glances and whispers of the other customers. The staff took one look at his thunderous expression and wisely kept out of his way.

About five strides away from the door of the restaurant he saw Angel waiting in a small recess, a wooden gate behind her suggesting a back entrance. He considered just walking on, but wasn't entirely sure of how to get back to the hotel without her help. He strode over to her, still silently fuming. She fell into step beside him as they walked down the street.

"You're annoyed."

Way to point out the obvious. "Whatever gave you that impression?"

Angel didn't say anything. For a while they carried on walking, John silently stewing. Eventually, he changed course down a side street and stopped dead. She turned to face him, her expression unconcerned. If anything, this only served to increase his irritation.

"I've never been so embarrassed! You just left me in a restaurant for more than an hour, getting pitying looks from all the staff, unable even to pay my bill and leave! Of course I'm annoyed!"

"I was getting information," Angel told him coolly. "If it's getting too much for you, we can always tell John he needs to come and pick you up."

"That's not fair and you know it." John snapped back. "I've been dumped in a different dimension, knocked unconscious, dragged halfway across the country, been flirted with, had to lie and pretend and then stood up in a restaurant for over an hour! I haven't questioned what you are doing or why, despite the fact that you've given me no reasons or explanation most of the time, and I've been slaving away to try to get you the information that you're after!"

He only realised at the end of his rant that he was now so close to Angel he could see the faint freckles that dusted her nose and the different flecks of gold and brown in her eyes, which were narrowed at him dangerously.

Angel was about to counter but John wasn't quite done with his rant. "To top it all off, I don't even know who you are! Other than someone who is evidently married but still sleeping with my older brother."

"Scott isn't your brother," Angel bit back.

"He may as well be! Look, I honestly don't care what you're getting up to with Scott, but unless you start actually telling me what's going on and what we're doing then I can't help you!"

The stood in tense silence, neither prepared to give an inch. Tension crackled between them for the space of a heartbeat, but then just as John thought something was about to happen Angel stepped away with a sigh.

"You're right," she conceded quietly. "I haven't been fair. I'm sorry, Red." She hugged her arms across her chest and shrugged helplessly. "I just… I need him back."

"Scott?" John clarified, receiving a nod. "It's serious then."

"About as serious as it can be," Angel smiled wryly.

"Does he know you're married?"

Angel arched an eyebrow. "I bloody hope so. Otherwise it was a bit of a pointless exercise."

"Wait…" John held his hand up, brain whirring. "You're married to Scott?" A quick nod and things fell into place in John's mind. "But… no one else mentioned it." He'd been on the communicator to his counterpart and Brains a few times since arriving here.

"They don't know," Angel told him. "We eloped. Well, Brains and Tintin do as they were our witnesses, but no one else."

"Wow…" John took a moment or two to process. "So…what is the plan now?"

"The contact I met up with over dinner, which I am sorry about, suggested that there is something going on with the Asian crime syndicates. But it's all happening a very long way away from the UK… I think, if we really want to pursue this we'll need to get a flight. Probably to Bangkok to start with, though I'm not sure. I'll talk to John about arranging us a flight."

"Are you going to come up with a new cover?" John asked as they began their walk back to the hotel.

"I think so but I'm not sure what yet, if it is Bangkok we'll probably go for tourists. Has your research turned up anything yet?"

"No," a fact which frustrated John. "Though I set something else running before we came out… there is something there, I know there is. If I had Thunderbird 5 and Eos to help I'd have got there by now."

"Eos?" It was testimony to how little Angel and John had actually interacted that he hadn't already told her about Eos.

"An Artificial Intelligence that germinated from some code I wrote. I can't take the credit for her though, she evolved by herself."

"Right." Angel still looked blank, so John gave her a run down of the situation with Eos and how she came to be on Thunderbird 5 with him.

This took them all the way back to the hotel hallway with the garish carpet, where John hesitated briefly before inviting her into his room. Angel waited while John headed straight for the tablet, pulling some details up and sinking into the single chair in the corner of the room by a small round table.

"Any success?" she asked him curiously, seeing him frown in concentration.

"No…but…" John's eyes flickered across the lines of code he could see in front of him. "Wait… give me a sec."

It took far longer that a second, while John's fingers flew across the screen. Angel tired of waiting and made them both tea, setting John's down on the small table while looking for somewhere to sit herself. Deciding not to use John's bed, she sat down on the floor with her legs bent in front of her and her back leaning against the wall.

By the time John finished what he was doing, his tea had gone stone cold. That didn't bother him though as he gazed up with a triumphant grin. "I think I've got something!"

"Really?" Angel scrambled to her feet and peered over his shoulder, her hair falling about her face. With a annoyed grunt she pulled it all to one side, away from John and the tablet.

"Yes, look!" He exclaimed, pointing at some lines dotted around the code. Angel looked at him helplessly and he sighed. "It says something about the dragon on the Pearl River. It's the location of where you can set up assignments for the Phantom."

"That's it then," Angel breathed. "Dragon on the Pearl River…"

John frowned in concentration. "That doesn't ring a bell." He felt the euphoria ebb away. "So it isn't much of a lead."

"No, you're wrong!" Angel's voice was contained excitement. "It can only mean one place. John, we're going to Macau!"

She grinned happily at him, her whole face lighting up with jubilation. John swallowed uncomfortably as for the first time he realised how close she was. Angel turning back to the tablet, scanning the code to see if any other words jumped out at her. John's eyes tracked down the side of her face, her slightly upturned nose and her smile that transformed her face.

The next moment, she had straightened. "John, come in," she said loudly. John jumped before he realised she wasn't addressing him, she was speaking into a watch that he thought must belong to Scott.

"Hi Angel, how's the hunt?" Came the reply from the watch. John couldn't see his counterpart but knew that he would be standing in Thunderbird 5 in his International Rescue uniform.

"We've had a breakthrough," Angel was saying, flashing a smile at John again. "Can you find us seats on a flight to Macau?"

"Macau? Sure, I guess. I'm being picked up soon to return to the Island, but I'll be able to sort something out from there too. Is there anything else you need?" Angel looked over at John thoughtfully.

"We'll need to go shopping and some new identification. I can work on the latter, but if we're going to head to the casinos we're going to have to look like we're prepared to play to be noticed."

A chuckle came across the communicator from the still unseen John. "Don't worry about that, you get to London – I know just the person to help you with the rest."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The next afternoon they were in a car on their way to one of the International airports around London, John wasn't sure which. They'd gone into the city in the morning and upgraded their wardrobes, John wasn't sure how Angel was getting the money but he'd been deposited at a tailors on Saville row where he apparently had an appointment while she'd disappeared to find some gowns.

John managed to emerge with a set of suits that fitted so well they almost could have been made for him, but in far less time. They were much more his style than the white monstrosity Penelope had bullied him into wearing to a charity gala once, though admittedly didn't come with any of the bespoke Brains modifications. Hopefully he wouldn't need them this time. Angel had been waiting for him next to a car outside, a new suitcase at her feet holding her own supplies.

The car was no ordinary car, but a pink Rolls Royce driven by a very familiar face. Angel was sitting next to Lady Penelope in the usual seats, while John was using a fold down seat he didn't think existed to face them. The bags had been very carefully placed into the trunk by Parker, who didn't seem phased by the quantity of luggage at all.

John tried to pay attention to what Penelope was saying to him. "We came back to London yesterday as I had an event last night I simply couldn't miss. John's request to us certainly added some interest, I'm almost rather jealous. I'd offer to come with you but I fear you'll have more success without me. I've managed to procure you some new identification and passports, here you are John dear." She held out a small card to John, who took it and turned it over a couple of times.

"Jonathan Frakes," he murmured, looking at the name on the card. The image looked incredibly like a slightly younger version of himself.

"John had fun with a de-ager," Penelope commented on noticing where his attention lay. "Our John, I mean. Goodness, this is all a little confusing isn't it?"

"I've been calling him Red," Angel commented from where she was flicking through her own papers, gesturing at John.

Penelope sniffed a bit at that. "I've persuaded John to book you a first class cabin for your flight, they do small suites on this aircraft. If you are going to be persuading your audience that you are playing for high stakes then you can't travel in economy. You'll have to be the one actually play John dear, these things are still frightfully old fashioned I'm afraid and Angel wouldn't be taken seriously enough."

"What will we be playing?"

"Hopefully nothing," Angel informed him. "If we can flash the cash and get a buy in to one of the big games then that should attract attention. But to get information we may need to play further – big money in Macau used to be on Baccarat but nowadays it's a hybrid game using mahjong tiles called Tei Fuer."

"I've not heard of it," John frowned and pulled out his tablet.

"I'd be surprised if you had, Red. It's something that's almost exclusively played illegally as it doesn't have clearly defined rules. It's usually a front to launder money across international boundaries but has been attracting more and more of the big players. There should be information about how to play online, though you'll need to play close attention to any local rules they throw in."

"You are very informed about the Macau underworld." Penelope stated with an inquisitive glance.

Angel shrugged in reply. "A lot of the wealthy Asian criminals use it as a way of gathering and exchanging information, I've not been there myself but I know enough about how to negotiate it. There are hubs all around the world where the local criminals tend to congregate, all keeping a close eye on each other and trying to find out what they can."

"If it's that much of a suspicious community, how are we going to get in?"

"We're going to play on you being so naïve you don't realise you're in the 'wrong' casino." Angel told him. "You're a rich heir that's only just come into your fortune through the untimely death of your estranged father, and you have a slight gambling habit. You're not bad at it, so you haven't frittered all your money away yet. I'll be the trophy wife."

"Hence the suits and dresses," John noted.

"Exactly!" Another beaming smile that made John feel far too warm. "We need to look the part to even get close to the games. Anyone who is actually close to the Black Phantom will be where the money is, not in the low level games."

"So learn the rules, play well enough to get to the big table then lose spectacularly so that they don't come after us for our winnings." John skimmed through the tablet until he managed to find a comprehensive rule set for Tei Fuer. "While you flirt around and try to catch what you can about the Phantom or Hood."

"It sounds rather dangerous," Penelope frowned at the pair of them. "Are you sure that you can do this? Or that you want to? Brains will surely figure out the strange device and reverse its effects, this might not even be necessary."

"Even if Brains, either of them, does manage to work out how to reverse the device we found, we still need to make sure they can't do it again." John stated, not looking up from his tablet. "In many ways we're lucky we came here and have the ability to communicate between the dimensions and to reverse it. Had it been anyone else, they may not have been able to. This was clearly orchestrated to deliver technological advances to criminals, if that is allowed to continue then both our dimensions will be in serious trouble."

"I agree," Angel nodded firmly. "This is dangerous, but so is inaction. Ideally, we want to be in a position so that when the Brains do manage to reverse the effect and send John and his friends home, the Hood goes with them and we receive the Black Phantom in return. To do that, we need to find him. And John's family will need to apprehend the Black Phantom."

"I understand perfectly," Penelope told them both. "If you need any assistance at all, you know how to contact me. I would come with you but I fear we would be more of a hindrance than a help. I will, however, smooth things over with Jeff as far as I can. You may well need support from International Rescue if you manage to locate the Hood."

"Thank you Penelope," a look of understanding passed between the two women while John continued to work at his tablet.

"Well, it looks like we have arrived," Penelope stated, looking out at the airport terminal. "Good luck, remember it's perfectly reasonable to call for support. I suppose all that remains is to wish you good luck."

"Thanks, Lady Penelope," John replied as he exited the car and watched Parker find someone to take their bags. "I think we might need it."