Thanks to everyone for the feedback on the last chapter. Whirlgirl, I really appreciate all your comments, sorry I can't reply personally. Things are much more settled now, thankfully! Guest, thanks very much for the review, it means a lot.

Chapter Seventeen

Sahara had been frustratingly quiet all through the long car journey. Penny found the drug was gradually wearing off, allowing her to move her arms and legs, although the actions were sluggish and uncoordinated. She assumed she'd be capable of speech, too, but one thing she'd learned about Sahara was that whilst the woman was perfectly prepared to talk, she liked to choose both the time and the place. Penny would find out her plans eventually, she was sure, but in the meantime she was prepared to wait it out. If she was honest with herself, she was scared about what she'd find out. Sahara and Eric had spoken about a body. She had a horrible feeling, based upon the other bits of information she'd managed to accumulate, that they'd been talking about Parker, and she really couldn't bear to have that suspicion confirmed. No, better to hold onto that last little bit of hope than to discover that the man who had been her rock for years now - far more of a fixture in her life than either Simon or Scott - was gone. What she would do without him, she didn't know - assuming she survived this, of course, which was far from guaranteed.

The news reports she'd listened to on the radio hadn't given her any more information. There were rumours that the police had a suspect, that an arrest had been made, but the authorities weren't giving anything away just yet, although a statement was due to be made later that morning by no less a person than the Home Secretary, such was the importance of the matter and the personalities involved.

"We're here." Sahara finally spoke, jarring Penny out of her thoughts.

'Here' turned out to be an abandoned industrial unit. Penny had no idea where they were - they'd kept to the back roads and the few placenames she'd spotted on signposts hadn't rung any bells with her. She wondered what fate lay ahead of her in the rundown building, but to her surprise, as Sahara rounded a corner, what actually awaited her was a helicopter. Penny was no expert, but she knew enough about these sort of things after spending time with Scott to appreciate that the machine was pretty much at the top of the range, capable of travelling thousands of miles without the need for refuelling and equipped with quite an elaborate array of weaponry.

"Out you get," Sahara said, grabbing Penny roughly with one arm whilst the other held a gun to her head. Penny found to her dismay that the drug still hadn't worn off completely. She could move well enough to struggle inelegantly out of the car, but not enough to make any escape attempt viable. She'd beaten Sahara easily the last time the pair had engaged in combat, but the odds were so far against her now that she didn't even bother to try.

"I took flying lessons," Sahara told her once she'd handcuffed Penny to the frame of her seat and strapped her in. "It helped to pass the time. Amongst other things."

"The plastic surgery?" Penny asked. "I'm flattered."

Sahara shrugged. "One look was as good as another and you were on my mind at the time. It took months. All that lying around waiting to heal. It gave me a lot of time to think. To put the all pieces together."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

She ignored Penny whilst she brought the helicopter to life, lifting off smoothly and rising high into the air before checking her course and sending the craft surging forward.

They sat in silence for the next twenty minutes or so until they were over the sea. Penny itched to ask about their destination, wondering if she was to be taken back to the island dictatorship where Sahara and Eric Younger had been hiding out all this time. The insignia on the yoke suggested that the craft was part of the General's fleet, but the conversation she'd overheard earlier had clearly implied that whatever Sahara wanted with her, it wasn't part of the overall plan.

A thought struck her: the last time she'd met Sahara the world had been told that she - or at least, the character she was pretending to be - had been killed in a helicopter crash. Maybe this was Sahara's revenge, to throw her out into the sea to a certain death. It would certainly be an appropriate end, and yet it seemed too easy, too obvious. No, Penny was sure there had to be something else.

Sahara finally spoke, after several ever more thoughtful glances in Penny's direction, but her words certainly weren't the ones the aristocrat had been anticipating.

"Did Freddy suffer?"

Penny turned towards her captor in surprise. She'd been thinking a lot about her first encounter with the disgraced former agent, but Freddy McAllister hadn't figured largely in those memories. After all, the man had been shot dead, surely he'd have had little relevance right now. It took her a few moments to recall the details of his death, by which time Sahara seemed to have assumed that she wasn't going to answer. There was a real note of pleading in her voice as she asked again.

"When he was shot. How long until...?"

"Not long," Penny said shortly, refusing to be swayed by the woman's unexpected display of emotion. "And no, he didn't suffer, not really."

"Did he mention me?"

Penny had to laugh. "Mention you? You ran off and left him, remember? Why would he waste his dying breath asking about you?" She had to admit she was pleased when Sahara flinched.

"There was nothing I could have done," she insisted, and Penny got the impression that the woman was voicing aloud something she'd often thought about. "There was no point me sacrificing myself. Anyway, I didn't let Sir Reuben get away with it, did I? I left him behind. For Freddy. But I've always wondered if he died blaming me."

"He never mentioned you," Penny said once again. "He was more concerned with making sure we knew that he was the one who came up with the only successful scheme to steal a Thunderbird. He was rather proud."

Sahara managed a misty smile. "Poor Freddy. I did care about him, you know."

"I'm sure you did, in your own way," Penny said, her tone implying that Sahara's way was less than adequate.

"He'd be alive now if it wasn't for you," Sahara said bitterly. "Why did you have to interfere?"

"Do you really need to ask? I was just doing my duty as an agent of MI5," Penny told her. Not as an agent of International Rescue, of course. Sahara would never know about that part of her life. "So is this whole thing really just because you blame me for Freddy's death?"

It was Sahara's turn to laugh. "Don't kid yourself, Penny. Do you really think I'd go to all this trouble, risk spending the rest of my life in prison, just to get back at you? You really do have a high opinion of yourself, don't you? Oh, I admit, it's going to be very satisfying to make you pay for what you did, but that's just a welcome bonus. No, there's my own private venture, of course, but the kidnappings, well, they're all for the General."

"Really?"

"Oh yes. You see, he was only willing to shelter me as long as I could offer him something useful. I'd exhausted all my options. He'd had all the RMC technology I could give him, all the intelligence information I could get my hands on. Then Sebastian Swayne turned up. I knew him through Freddy. He'd had this mad idea of recruiting him. I didn't believe in any of it, of course. But before anything could happen there, you and the others spoilt it all." She was silent for a moment. "Anyway, he visited the island as part of his travels and we ran into each other in the market. The General loves that kind of thing so I thought he'd like a demonstration - even if Sebastian had been outed as a fake he could still put on a good show. But he was different this time, and when I saw him in action, I couldn't help but think that Freddy was right, that Sebastian really could do as he said. Anyway, the General certainly believed it and saw an opportunity, so I got this mission."

"And the General gets...?"

"Acceptance, amongst other things. He's tired of being a pariah. The Archbishop and Prince Louis have a great deal of influence. They can do a lot to change the general perception of him. He's quite looking forward to an invitation to the Palace, for example. Then there's Irving Ross, of course."

"You think you can control MI5? You do realise Irving will have to resign after this, don't you?"

"Yes, but the General will have got access to all MI5's security secrets, plus he'll be able to discover the identity of any agents who have been sent to infiltrate his organisation."

"Irving won't break that easily."

"Everyone breaks in the end, Penny. Just like your Parker."

Penny could still feel the hurt of believing that Parker had betrayed her. She couldn't argue with Sahara when she had that kind of proof of Sebastian Swayne's abilities. Still, she wouldn't give her the satisfaction of showing the other woman how she felt.

"What about Mr Mantle? He doesn't have any influence on the international stage."

Sahara shot her a curious look, one which Penny couldn't make any sense of. There was a definite hesitation before she replied airily, "Oh, he was just taken to make it look as if it was all about money."

Penny wasn't so sure about that, but given the way Sahara was determinedly studying the helicopter's controls, she knew the woman wasn't going to enlighten her any further. She returned to the topic Sahara did seem willing to discuss. "So, you'll have Irving under your control. Are you planning to take me over as well?"

"Oh no!" Sahara actually laughed. "I don't want Sebastian anywhere near you. I took enough of a risk letting him work on Parker, but that was unavoidable. You see, there's something else I want. Something that's going to set me up for life. I don't quite trust the General, you see. If he should turn against me... well, I've seen it with my own eyes. Death by firing squad isn't pleasant, you know, Penny. No, I want a little more security. You'll be impressed, I guarantee it."

Penny wasn't exactly filled with positivity at the news that she wasn't going to have her mind taken over by her enemies. After all, if Sahara was willing to confide her plans to her, it almost certainly meant that she didn't intend for Penny to live to tell anyone else about them. It was an effort to keep an expression of utter disinterest on her face even as her brain raced to find a way out of all this.

Sahara didn't elaborate, however, instead checking her instruments and giving a nod of satisfaction.

This is as good a position as any," she informed Penny as she activated the autopilot and the helicopter began to hover. She pressed a few more buttons, smiling as green lights came on, then, reaching under her seat, she pulled out some device Penny couldn't identify, switching it on before picking up the radio.

Her eyes didn't leave Penny's face as she pressed the 'send' button. It was clearly hard for her to keep herself under control and she made a visible effort to compose herself before she began to speak.

"International Rescue? Come in, International Rescue."

As practised as Penny was in concealing her feelings and reactions, the shock of Sahara's words was too much for her. To her dismay she watched Sahara's gleeful smile grow ever-wider in response to her involuntary gasp of surprise.

Alan's voice came over the airwaves, professional and calm - and clearly oblivious to the identity of the caller. "This is International Rescue. How can we help you?"

"Hello, International Rescue." Sahara's gaze left Penny for a moment and she studied the information that was flashing up on the gadget she held. If she'd been smiling before, now she was positively beaming. "I'd like to speak to the man in charge, please."

There was a relatively long pause. Penny could picture the look of confusion on Alan's face, just as she could predict his next words.

"If you need assistance I can help you."

"Actually," Sahara said, her tone increasingly sharp and business-like, " I think you might be the one in need of help. I'll ask again: let me speak to the man in charge. Put me through to Jeff Tracy."

Penny had gone white, staring at Sahara in absolute horror. Sahara nodded at her, her smile still broad, but now with a much more sinister edge.

As for Alan, his splutter of shock was clearly audible before he tried to cover it up. "Who? I -"

Sahara cut across him. "Don't waste your breath, Alan. Let me speak to your father."