2

'Scott come in. Silence. Scott do you copy?' Virgil looked towards Alan in concern. They had successfully rounded up the casualties and were trying to inform Scott. They were experiencing ground tremors from above which were also worrying as it could potentially destabilise the cavern they were in even more. All of a sudden, a beacon flashed up that indicated that TB5 or base was trying to contact them. 'Go ahead.'

John appeared on the screen before them his usual calm collected demeanour was obviously shaken. 'Where are you?' John's eyes continued to rove over the screens in front of him as he was typing furiously.

'Still underground we have just started the course back to the surface. Should surface in five minutes or so' –

'Don't!' John looked panicked.

'John what's going on? You're worrying us.' Alan looked at him intently, searching for the truth on John's expression.

'There has been an attack on the surface at your location, a shooting to be precise. Initial reports indicate that we were the target.'

'Oh god! Scott! We've got to get up there!' Virgil started to increase the mole's speed.

'No! Just give me five minutes and I should be able to tell you more, we don't know if the attacker is still present, then you could all be in danger!'

Virgil slowed the mole. 'Two minutes, or I go after him'.

John just sighed in exasperation. Of course, Virgil wasn't going to listen and he was meant to be the calm one! Alan didn't need an excuse to go rushing in. luckily John had ways of extracting information quickly. He just prayed that Scott was ok.

Back on the surface crowd control had been lost rapidly and hundreds of people were desperately trying to flee the area. Some of the police had retreated towards the thunderbirds and formed a protective cordon around them. It was a nightmare; people were being pushed under each other and being trampled, any hope of finding the suspect was quickly diminishing for there was no way to follow him through the pandemonium he had created. People were screaming and running in panic for their lives. Some were trying to video it as everyone has to these days. It was lucky that Brains had devised a new paint for the birds that would make them appear distorted if you tried to digitally capture their image.

Scott had regained his composure and was on his knees assessing the situation quickly. He had dragged the girl behind mobile control to protect them from any further attack. He was worried about spinal injuries but had no choice. Now he was in relative safety he could see the state of things. The poor girl that had bravely pushed him to safety was bleeding out, a crumpled doll at his feet. She was face down how she had landed. Scott couldn't let her die, he owed her too much. She was still conscious but had a hole in her back near her right shoulder blade; when he gently lifted her, he saw a ragged exit wound out the front of her shoulder. Shit! what a mess! He scrambled for the med kit kept in the control unit and slammed down next to her ripping it open as he did so. Professionalism told him to shut the adrenaline coursing through his body down; he needed his hands to stop shaking to be of use! 'Hey, you came barrelling out of nowhere, I don't think I had a chance to catch your name?' He was already shaking the expanding medic foam to project into the wound. It was going to hurt so it was best there was no warning. 'Yeah sorry about that! I'm Rose.' Trust the English to apologise for saving your life thought Scott. He thrust the foam into the wound. She screamed and flailed in agony. Scott had to hold her down tight. He felt awful. 'I'm sorry this will hopefully stop you bleeding, it's super absorbent and clogs the wound, I didn't have time for painkillers I'm afraid.' He was already now applying a pad and expertly and deftly bandaging the wound up. 'Can you sit up?' he asked gently. She nodded and despite the pain started to push herself up. He gently propped her into place so he could wrap it around under her arm too. 'You're bleeding' she nodded to his face.

He hadn't noticed so it couldn't be that bad. 'Somehow I think I will be ok and you will be too. I'm going get you help so wait here.'

The man disappeared from her peripheral view. She didn't know if she was just hallucinating on the pain and the pain drugs that he had just pumped into her but he was really handsome! She smiled but it looked macabre, her face was now white from the blood loss and her lips tinged blue with the oncoming shock. She was starting to wonder if she did the right thing…She was going to be in so much trouble. Christ! the pain was unbelievable!

Someone was tapping her shoulder, rudely interrupting her foggy musings; she stared at him, the handsome one. Why was he talking to his wrist? She giggled.

'Virgil, look I'm fine. Are you airborne? Don't worry about me I'm a veteran ok? I've seen much worse action and survived! Good now go!... No I can't! This girl is barely conscious and I don't think the emergency services can get her to hospital in time. She saved my life; I owe it to her… I'll catch up ok?'

'Rose?'

'Um' she was still slumped where he left her but she was blue. This was bad. He didn't want her to know that though.

'Rose it's your lucky day, you get to ride in Thunderbird one.'

He had been checking her vitals, they were poor, her vision unfocused. He didn't have much time. He gently scooped her up, the police had quickly packed the last of his equipment and John was liaising with them to reassure them that IR would cooperate with the investigation fully. Scott rushed over to TB1 and gently deposited her on a stretcher in the cargo bay. He then leapt into the cockpit and punched in the coordinates of the nearest A&E that John had relayed.

He settled back into his seat as he took off, it would take just two minutes with TB1 to arrive, the hospital was already prepped and they had granted permission to use the Heli-pad. The adrenaline had surpassed but Scott still didn't have time to process what had just happened his thoughts were consumed with Rose's chances of survival. He willed her to pull through, she was obviously a brave woman he just hoped that she was a strong one too. He was now also noticing the pain in his check and the amount of blood congealed on his face. Stitches most likely he thought but that could be done later.

He landed and greeted the trauma team. He read off her vitals for them and the drugs he had given. They nodded curtly and rushed her off leaving Scott on the empty rooftop. He remained there until he saw the doors swing and her disappear from view. He wanted to wait for her to come out of surgery but Father had been adamant that they all return to base for fear of being attacked again. This was a code Red. Scott sighed and turned to fly back home.