26

Thank you so much for your reviews I am relieved! I wasn't sure how the last chapter would go down so I am pleased you all thought it was ok! Apologies this one is 4,500 words but its the birth of IR as we know it, naturally its detailed as a result! Big thank you to the eight of you following this story too :-)

Scott was pacing in Virgil's and John's room; the youngest pair had thankfully run off to the arcade in the mall to let off some steam. Virgil was sat on the bed and John was slumped in the arm chair. "Scott, you can't watch him all the time, he's been through a lot. He'll come and find us when he's ready." Virgil reasoned.

"I know, I know! I just can't help it. I worry after last time." Scott looked at the wall as if he could directly see into the room next door where he had left his father.

"Last time he was drunk and out of his mind with grief. He seems better today, still quiet but more like himself. There's a recognition of the situation that wasn't there before." John had observed a remarked change in his father from the one that left them over a week ago.

"Hmm I guess." Scott sat down. "Sooner we get home the better."

Just then there was a knock at the door. They glanced at each other before Virgil went to open it. His dad looked hesitant. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah sure."

Jeff surveyed the room. "Where are Gordon and Alan?"

"At the arcade." Scott supplied.

"Ah good, that should keep them amused for a while then. They must be pretty bored by now."

Jeff took a seat in the chair at the dressing table. This conversation would probably be easier without the youngest here anyway. Jeff knew trying to carry on as normal would be a disservice to his sons. It didn't mean he wasn't nervous though; he'd never felt this vulnerable around them before. He didn't know how to begin but he knew he needed to say something. "Look I know your probably wanting an explanation for my somewhat erratic behaviour of late." Scott made to protest but Jeff held up his hand to still him. If he stopped now he wouldn't say what he needed to. "To be honest… I don't remember much of the last month but I remember enough to know I must have been difficult to live with. I was just... lost." Jeff's eyes were starting to well but he refused to cry in front of his sons as he tried to tamper the burning at the corners of his eyes. He furiously tried not to blink. He looked at his lap for a moment before looking up again, his hands interlinked in between his knees. "Your mother was everything to me, there was never anyone else. I'd never envisioned not being with her. Then all of a sudden, I was alone. I might have got through it with your grandparent's support but then my father was gone too. I didn't want to burden my mother or my own children with my grief so I tried to shut it down. I got up, got dressed, went to work, came home. Did it again. Then it was the day of the funerals… seeing those coffins in front of me, it brought it all crashing back. Before I could pretend. Your mom and grandpa had just stayed on holiday a bit longer. When I was at work it was like your mother was just at home, she'd be there when I got back. It's why I avoided you all because seeing you all because if I saw your faces I couldn't pretend. Your grief was evident from the moment we left the hospital. Seeing those mahogany boxes and the fresh holes in the ground. That was real. Those coffins were where my wife and father had really ended up. I had nowhere to turn; there was no denying it now, it was final and something I could no longer ignore. They were gone for good." Jeff hung his head fully he couldn't take the grief and concern radiating back at him from his three children. None of the boys dared interrupt him as hard as it was for them to hear, their father needed to express this to process his bereavement. "I really don't remember anything from that day apart from the burial but I knew I had this terrible urge to flee. Reality had become a bad dream and one that I was desperate to wake up from. I was so scared of being alone and then suddenly it was all I wanted. That's why I took the plane and at some point, I must have passed out and crashed. When the Kyrano's found me, I was at the base of a tree where I had dragged myself injured and looking for water. I hadn't really eaten or drunk anything for days, I didn't know who or where I was but I knew I didn't have time to dwell on it. I was at death's door and ready to be taken. They found me with a raging fever and cut to ribbons by the tree canopy. They had to dig a shattered branch out of my thigh as there were no local hospitals or clinics where they are. Thankfully I pulled through thanks to their care but I still didn't know who I was but they found my ID so knew I was called Jeff. My memory came back when we saw a ship capsize killing some of the crew on board. We got a few to safety but most perished, for some reason that triggered my memory and well the rest you know."

Jeff took a shaky breath. "I am so sorry for getting wrapped up in my own grief, she wasn't just my wife she was your mother and I can't even begin to imagine losing my mother at your age and then your grandfather! You boys must be grieving too and I made it worse. I want you to know I will never abandon you again and I don't want you to bottle your emotions like I have. If you need to talk then don't ever feel afraid to talk to me. I understand I really do. I know life won't be the same but I promise you I will be a better parent. I know I can never replace your mother's love but I will be here for you. Always."

The boys were motionless. John was trying not to cry; Virgil was struggling to comprehend his father's suffering and Scott looked pained. Their father talking in this way only served to remind them of the hole in their lives at their mother and grandfathers passing. Scott had thought he'd processed it but sat here listening to his dad he realised he hadn't even scraped the surface. Virgil got up and placed a hand on his fathers' shoulder. "Father, please don't feel guilty at our expense. We don't blame you, sure it was hard to see you that way but it was only because we care. Rather than focusing on the guilt promise us you will keep talking to us and that you will let us support you. That's all we want."

"He's right." Said Scott.

John nodded too.

"I promise." Jeff croaked.

Dad really looked like he could do with a moment to compose himself. Scott was not the emotional huggy type but Virgil was. He would be able to comfort dad best. "Thank you for telling us dad, that took courage."

Jeff nodded. Still looking worn.

Scott checked his watch. "Look at the time, we ought to get dinner and find the other two. Fancy giving me a hand John?" Scott could tell his father needed a break.

"Yeah sure." John stood up and flowed Scott out both of them clapped a hand on their dad's shoulder as they left. There was a slightly awkward pause as Jeff tried to compose himself. He changed the subject rapidly whilst Virgil pulled the armchair closer to where his dad was sat.

"So, what happened while I was away, really? I noticed there was some clear tension between Scott and John on those calls?" Jeff looked at Virgil. He was glad he'd been left alone with the most honest one.

"That was perceptive of you." Virgil stalled. Oh, dear how and where to start? Maybe summarising the events quicker would mean he would be less angry? Surely it would be better if he delivered the news then he could gage his father's reaction and give his brothers some warning?

"Well you know you mentioned earlier you weren't yourself? Well…we weren't either although some of our actions were more out of character than others. I haven't been able to paint at all since the incident and my music has been so miserable the family can't stand to stay around when I play. So I threw myself into helping around the farm. Scott's been working himself into the ground with the company, the farm and trying to keep us all in line. I know he's doing it to keep his mind off of his emotions but he won't admit it. Gordon and Alan went underage drinking in town and got collared by Maggie but not before Scott pulled a drug dealer off of them and sustained a hand injury – but it's healed fine. Then John was really quiet - more so than usual so Scott had asked him to use his communication skills to listen out for any comms in regards to your whereabouts but John took that one step further by hacking a government satellite but he did actually locate your plane just before Tin-Tin called so we kind of knew where to start looking for you. Grandma didn't arrive until three-four days after you went missing because we didn't tell her initially. She has been looking after us since which I think has really helped her as we have kept her busy." Virgil watched his father intently. He hadn't spoken at all. He was still silent. As the silence dragged on Virgil was debated if it was a good or a bad thing.

Jeff sat for a minute contemplating what he had been told, so much to digest. Once upon a time Jeff would have been completely irate demanding to know more but he realised these actions most likely stemmed from the boy's grief and being left to manage on their own. He should have been there. He was worried to hear that Scott had been hurt. "I noticed Scott's hand wasn't quite gripping the yoke properly earlier. How bad was it, did he fall?"

"Err no. The man was bothering Alan, Gordon had tried to tell him to leave but he wouldn't when we turned up Scott could see they looked intimidated so he hauled the guy off but he had a knife." Jeff gasped. "It's ok! luckily Scott managed to keep the knife away but it slashed his hand quite badly. Gordon actually dragged the guy off and nearly broke his wrist." Jeff calmed a little. Sounded like too much of a close shave for his liking. "You said Maggie was there?" Jeff had avoided her at the funeral, he couldn't bear to talk to his wife's best friend who was also cut up over her loss. He knew he would have broken down there and then. "Yeah she had to charge Alan and Gordon with underage drinking but as it was a first-time offense it was just a fine and a twelve-month record that will be wiped if they don't reoffend." It seemed he owed Maggie a thank you for looking out for his boys in his absence.

Now onto the next concerning bit of news. "Did I hear you say John hacked a government satellite? Are you sure he wasn't exaggerating?" He knew John and his friend Brains were clever but really could they really hack systems that were so complex?

"It was the real deal, real enough for Scott to lose it with him, that's why they were fighting. Scott was worried we were going to get picked up by the feds and he wouldn't be able to stop them arresting John for treason. John was insulted that Scott didn't think that he would have taken adequate precautions."

"Wow. Anything else I should know about?" Jeff asked with trepidation. There couldn't be anything else surely?

"No, I don't think so"

"Well that's a relief!" Jeff replied.

"Will you go easy on them?" Virgil looked anxious.

"Don't you worry son; I can see why they have acted as they have. I can't blame them. If I had been here then things may have been different, especially the way John acted, he was looking for me after all. I'm amazed that he has the skill set to pull that off." John had always been one to watch.

Their conversation was interrupted by the growing ruckus in the corridor, it sounded like Scott and John had rounded up Gordon and Alan. Jeff smiled at Virgil "Thanks for bringing me up to speed son."

"Your welcome." Virgil grabbed the door. The lads spilled in with several brown bags between them of something that smelled divine. They headed straight out onto the veranda and opened the bags. There was fried rice, satay, beef rendang, ayam goreng, noodles and Prawn crackers and fries. Scott had chucked some paper plates around and was already helping himself to a bit of everything. Jeff smiled it was nice to see he still had a healthy appetite. Scott was renowned for it. Gordon swatted his older brothers hand off the satay "Hey! leave some for the rest of us, will you? it's no wonder I'm shorter than the rest of you, I don't get fed this far down the pecking order." Jeff chuckled. "Here son would you like some of the beef?" he passed the dish to Gordon. "Thank you." He chucked some on his plate. That was the only trouble with a buffet style dinner, it could easily result in world war three, if it came out on plates they couldn't argue or help themselves – they got what they were given. Once the main frenzy was over, they settled into a calmer state (Mostly because they were all busy eating. They were starving having not eaten much at breakfast). The veranda overlooked the lake and the landscaped gardens to the rear of the airport. The peace only disturbed by the regular flights out of the airport nearby but for Scott and Jeff in particular this was barely noticeable.

Once the food was finished, they all sat there a little bloated. It was the first meal they had eaten as a family since their mother had died. It was bittersweet but great to be together again. Their father was just on water tonight which was rare but it pleased Scott to see he was coping without the alcohol. He was however indulging in an after-dinner smoke. He had been craving one ever since his memory had returned so Virgil had brought him some cigars earlier, which he was now enjoying.

"It sure is good to have you back father. You were so lucky the Kyrano's found you. Scott had search teams out and they couldn't locate you at all." Said Alan.

"It's a really remote jungle out there, it would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack." Explained Jeff.

"Just to let you know dad; Lee will be calling you, he's one of the guys I had looking for you." Scott blew out a puff of smoke and knocked the ash off into the tray before leaning back.

"Lee couldn't find me, now that will have him riled him!" It was rare for Lee to fail a mission. He'd have to find a way to make up to his friend for wasting his time. Jeff was feeling more relaxed having had the difficult conversations earlier he felt somewhat relieved, like a weight had literally been lifted from his shoulders. He was debating if this was a good time to pitch his idea to the boys. He looked around at them thoughtfully as they joked with each other. The only flaw in his little project so far was how he was going to recruit, train and select his operatives. It was a bit hard to encourage emergency service personnel to apply for a secret job with a secret boss and the more strangers involved the less likely the organisation would remain secret. He'd have to create contacts and all sorts of legal papers. Jeff looked along the table at his five sons now nearly all adults. What if he didn't have to recruit from the outside at all? What if he could keep it in house as a family affair? Scott certainly had some transferable skills as did Gordon. With what he had heard about John earlier he would be perfect for one of the operative roles. Alan was young enough to adapt to anything he could put his mind to and Virgil well, Virgil was the best engineer Jeff had on his team for a long time. Yes, it could work but it might take some convincing them though.

Jeff cleared his throat. "You know while I was away, I witnessed a terrible disaster with a ship and it got me thinking." The boys looked at him expectantly not sure where this was leading. "Isn't it awful that people die in these disasters everyday just because the emergency services were too far away or too over stretched or that people had no way to ask for help? Now what if a global rescue service existed a bit like military alliances but an emergency services one that was outside the government and completely politically neutral. Their sole aim would be to rescue those in need anywhere across the world where normal emergency services couldn't."

"What like an international rescue force?" Quizzed Virgil.

"International rescue! that describes it perfectly in a nutshell!" Jeff grabbed a pen out of his pocket and wrote the name on a clean napkin. He liked the term. It fitted.

"That does sound like a great idea but how would one even go about getting an organisation like that started?" Alan asked.

"I'm glad you asked. Obviously, you would need investors or at least a good sum of money to launch it off the ground. My theory would be to start it up as a non-profit as once it grew in recognition people may start to support the service as a charitable cause such as the RLNI in the UK. We could entice some wealthy patrons to join too. It would also need to be based from somewhere that is considered neutral or private territory so the organisation was free to operate as they saw fit. Like an unchartered island for example."

"That's great father, but where are you going to find a plane that could get from an island to the rest of the world in time to rescue people?" Scott frowned.

"Well that's where Tracy industries comes in, think of the craft we have been producing of late. Velocity one is a prime example of that, when she's out of development she will be able to travel anywhere around the world within an hour." Scott shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the project. If his dad wanted that one off the ground, he was going to have to stump up the cash.

"What kind of rescues would they be part of?" Gordon asked.

"Natural disasters, man-made disasters. Search and rescue on land and sea in the most inhospitable places - anywhere realistically where local emergency services couldn't manage themselves and people's lives were in danger."

This was going well, Jeff was back in the bull pen fielding questions left, right and centre. Problems being presented, solutions being fired back. Jeff was a seasoned pitcher it was going to take stronger questions than this to buffer him. Having not engaged his brain in this way for quite some time he was relishing it. He was also proud of his son's astute lines of questioning, it seemed they had been listening to him over the years after all in regards to business.

"Wouldn't this outfit draw massive attention to themselves? How would you manage the governments, military and other organisations that may not be comfortable with a private company operating in this manner internationally?" John debated.

"Yes, they would. That's why they would need to remain secret. All operative identities hidden. Again, having a base on an uncharted island would help with this and keep the media at bay."

"They would need a hell of a communications system, most likely their own satellite to receive that kind of call volume on a global scale across all frequencies. Would probably need GPS locators and call tracking capabilities too." John pondered almost to himself. Jeff was writing it all down. Yes, John would be perfect in Jeff eyes. He made a note next to the empty five on his bullet point list.

"Yes, it would." Jeff replied. "but it could be done couldn't it?"

"Theoretically yes but you'd need a substantial amount of cash." John played with his empty glass at arm's length.

"Ok, say this operation is a goer who is going to operate it?" Scott was intrigued.

"I am." Jeff replied confidently.

There was silence around the table. The idea had sounded so plausible, and then… well. Scott was the first one to recover from that bombshell.

"Are you serious? You run a multi-million-pound company. How would you have time for that?"

"I can multi task Scott. I kind of have had to with five sons." He smirked at his own joke.

"Ok so who would your operatives be?" Virgil asked.

"Well that I debated about for quite some time but personally I think you would all make great operatives."

If their jaws weren't hanging on the floor before they were now. "But father that's absurd, we aren't emergency services trained!" Scott countered. His dad must have hit his head really hard. Maybe they should book an MRI scan when they got home.

"No but you all have transferable skills. Think about yourself Scott. You're a USAF pilot and first lieutenant. You already lead a team in the field under pressure, you have the piloting skills needed to manage a fast reconnaissance craft. You already assist in humanitarian aid as part of your operations. Look at when you assisted with those flash floods in Oxfordshire last year."

"Well when you put it like that…"

"Gordon. You've been deep sea diving instructing and trained as a lifeguard at the local pool so you are trained in water rescues to a degree and again you have managed small teams on missions and also learnt to keep your cool under pressure. You know everything there is to know about most submersibles on the market and you are aware of the kind of disasters that can befall people at sea. You already have a basic first aid qualification. Again, you have assisted on rescues already on occasion such as that ferry that capsized this winter. Your unit were the only ones in the area and you brought them in safely." Gordon shrugged. He couldn't argue with that.

"What about me? I don't have that kind of experience." John looked dejected.

"No but you're already a communications expert with a stronger skill set than half the men sat in the pentagon apparently and you haven't even finished your education." (John's glass rolled away where he had dropped it in shock. He shot a filthy glare at Scott who shrugged). Jeff didn't miss a beat. "Don't blame Scott I battered the truth out of Virgil. Anyway, those skills you could utilise for good John! you aspire to be an astronaut, right? How would you like your own satellite station. You would help rescue hundreds of people a day, even if we didn't assist with all the calls you could triage them and field them to the right services.

"Hmm, that would be a pretty interesting proposition." John was attentive now.

"The feds couldn't get you there either!" Added Gordon gleefully. It was his turn to be on the end of John's resting bitch face. Jeff looked sternly at Gordon. "John will be fine; it wasn't ideal but he was only trying to help in a tough situation." John looked relieved.

"What would I do?! I don't know if I fancy rescuing people." Alan thought aloud.

"Alan your young and barely started your education. The world is yours for the taking. If you wanted to be a paramedic or an astronaut you could, it's up to you. Although John would need relieving in space from time to time so another astronaut in the family wouldn't be a bad thing."

"Being an astronaut would be pretty cool but only if I get my own rocket." Alan bargained.

Jeff pondered for a moment. Not a bad idea either? They would need a rocket to launch them up there and back but what if it could be more than that? More and more civilians were gearing up to head into space there would be a need for rescues up there too surely. Hmmm Jeff added rocket next to his third bullet point with Alan?

"I guess you would need an engineer for all these fantastic machines?" Enquired Virgil.

"Exactly! And we would need a pilot for the main rescue craft. You've almost got your licence it would be perfect. You're an avid mountaineer too it would come in handy on a lot of rescues." Jeff jotted down Virgil's name next to the second bullet point and Scott next to the one with velocity one in capitals.

"Dad your serious about this aren't you?" Scott asked.

"I really am. Not a day goes by that I don't think about if your grandfather and mother would have been ok if someone had just got there in time. No one on that ship had to die the other day if a rescue had got there within the hour. Thousands of people experience the pain of loved ones not coming every day, lives torn apart by senseless tragedies that could have been avoided. I know we can't save everyone but I'd rest easier at night knowing we've tried. I have the resources and the funds to launch something like this, I've always strived to use my wealth for good. I want to honour your mother and grandfather in a meaningful way and I think this would be something they would approve of. No one should have to suffer what we have suffered."

The boys looked flummoxed; Jeff felt as though they thought he might have really cracked. He laughed out loud which surprised them. This was the most level headed he had been in weeks. "Look I know it's a big idea but you've got to admit it's a good one. Just do me a favour and consider it. Take a month and come back to me. Either way I will get this organisation up and running whether it be a family affair or not. It could work either way."

With that he got up and headed to the bathroom to give them a breather. He smiled as he heard the outbreak of rowdy conversation as he left. They would come round in time he was sure of it.