Chapter 8 – A New Day

"Milady?"

Lady Penelope stirred slightly at the inquiry and opened one eye. Daylight flooded in brilliantly from the windows of her study, almost making her close her eyes again, but after a moment she reluctantly opened her eyes. Her whole body ached, and she realized that had been the result of spending the whole night in her study, researching any possible leads in the kidnapping of the Prime Minister. She had even been in contact with Jeff, who had nothing new to report but had promised to let her know if International Rescue found out anything more.

She found herself slumped forward in her chair, her head resting on her desk near her keyboard.

As she straightened and stretched out the kinks that had developed overnight, she noticed Parker's worried look and gave him a wry smile. "I am sorry Parker, it looks like I didn't keep that promise of finding my own bed last night. Dare I ask what time it is?"

Parker, dressed in his traditional black and white butler attire, returned her wry smile. "I'm afraid it is well past nine, milady. Miss Tin-tin has been awake for some time, has already partaken of breakfast, and has even gone for an early morning swim."

"Ah, the energy of youth," she replied as she got her feet. Looking back at her computer, Penelope still had on her screen an inquiry that she had meant to send off to MI-5. She leaned over her keyboard for a moment, quickly typing in the command to send off her request then turned back to Parker. "Right then, lead me to some breakfast, and then we shall go from there."

John stood at the view window of the station, watching as Thunderbird 3 established geo-synchronous orbit with Thunderbird 5. It was always a slow, laborious process, but as many times as he has seen that done, it never grew old.

He felt a slight bump as the ship docked. John grinned - another successful docking down on the books. It had taken close to a year and a couple of spacewalks by him and his brothers to get Thunderbird 5 ship shape again after what the Hood had done to it, and John was fiercely protective of the space station.

Gordon's voice then came through loud and clear through the station's intercom. "Thunderbird 3 to Thunderbird 5: Docking procedure is complete, please open the outer airlock."

John smiled as he hit the controls for the airlock. "FAB."

A hiss of air, and moments later Gordon walked onto deck with his duffel bag in tow. He grinned as he walked forward, dropping his duffel bag and giving his brother a quick hug before launching into his normal spiel. "You know, John, if you are feeling comfortable up here-"

Yes, it never failed. Grinning, John knew what Gordon was trying to do and he shook his head. "Nothing doing. I have had more than my fill of three months up here. Suck it up Gordon, you know Alan is having his choice of summer activities."

Gordon sighed. "It figures the Sprout would want to become a speed demon. Oh all right, go have fun. Just don't come crying to me when things get rough down there."

John stopped. Something about the way he had said that worried him. "Have there been any more Shadow Force sightings?"

Gordon nodded reluctantly. "The Prime Minister of Britain has been kidnapped, what do you expect? Though the authorities didn't mention them, according to Lady Penelope, it looks to have all of the earmarks of a Shadow Force hit. Take care, okay?"

John nodded as he grabbed for his bag and headed towards the airlock. "I promise. Just take care of my station, okay?"

Mock saluting, Gordon grinned. "Just go already. Keep Scott waiting any longer and he will probably dock you for the mileage."

Polonica Speedway sat on the border of a forest in Massachusetts. It was only an hour away from the academy and an hour and a half away from where Alan was staying with Fermat. It had been named curiously after a chain of auto parts stores that had taken up residence on the Eastern seaboard about five years ago. Most of the small racing circuits used them for their league racing, but for the summertime, the Pan-America Racing series uses their track as a jump off point for a league championship.

Alan rode up on his motorcycle and marveled at how little the raceway had changed since he had seen it last. Funded mostly by the ticket sales, the seating was enough for ten thousand people comfortably with the odd box seats overlooking the entire track.

The last time he had been able to come here, John was down from his rotation on Thunderbird 5 and had decided to come visit him on his own. Both brothers cheered on the cars and ate enough junk food to feel the effects the next day.

Backpack in hand, Alan parked his motorcycle near the entrance and grabbed for his special keycard that Mr. Edwards had sent to him by courier, along with a note that read clearly. "They believe in security at Polonica, Alan. Make sure you have your keycard or they will not let you near the pit area."

Keycard in hand, Alan reached the main gate. After checking in with the guard, and verified against a computer database of listed pit workers, he was directed to a metal door that apparently led him into the heart of the Polonica Complex. The sponsors influence was not lost on him: The Polonica logo had been painted on almost everything that he could see. After one long hallway and another door, Alan found himself outside, but this time he stood in front of the pits.

Polonica had been designed for high volume racing, so Alan had to check through various pit crews checking their vehicles before he found the space reserved for the Edwards racing group.

It was a small space to Alan and seemed no bigger than Brain's laboratory on the island, but the two cars he knew that Mr. Edwards raced were sitting there, a testament to their glory. The red and black models emblazoned with the Edwards racing logo were non-descript at best, but Alan could tell that a lot of care had been placed into each car.

"Alan my boy, it's good to see that you have made it!"

Alan heard Mr. Edwards, but could not see him, at least until he saw him slide from in under one of the two cars. The man was clad in jeans and a red shirt with one of his race logos. He sat up and grabbed for a towel that he had nearby, taking off a layer of grease that he had accumulated on his hands, all the while explaining. "I'm afraid you are the first one to have arrived. I had invited three other Wharton students to come and be interns as well. One has cancelled on me, but hopefully the others will show up soon enough. Tell you what, stow what gear you have in one of those lockers in the corner and we will get to work. I can catch the others up once they get here."

Alan found the lockers easily enough to stow his backpack, and soon Mr. Edwards was showing him the finer parts of the engines in each one of the machines. It had been nearly a half hour before the other two guys showed up that Mr. Edwards had mentioned. Alan recognized one of them as a member of the Academy's science team. He was nearly as tall as Alan, decked out in jeans and a blue t-shirt that contrasted against his red hair. The other guy was a head shorter and wore jeans and a black t-shirt that blended in with his dark brown hair. Alan had seen around the school grounds, but he did not know much about.

"Alan, I would like for you to meet Derrick James and Stanton Williams, the other two interns that you will be working with."

Alan extended his hand to each of his counterparts, and they exchanged handshakes. eagerly.

The three then turned back to Mr. Edwards, who in turn smiled at all of them.

"This is great. I finally have my whole pit crew, and hopefully after you learn what will be required, we will be able to win a few races. Ok, let's get started on what kind of maintenance these engines will need."

That evening, Jeff sat in his lounge at the command and control center, studying the computer readouts of the news around the world. Since the successful kidnapping of Britain's Prime Minister, there had been two other kidnappings. Japan's Prime Minister was taken during a daring invasion of his residence and the Prime Minister of Australia had been taken while in route to a cabinet meeting.

Along with the information that he had been receiving from Lady Penelope, the outlook was beginning to look grim. This Shadow Force or whatever they called themselves seemed to be making a massive power play, and if the Hood was truly helping them, then potential government secrets were more than ready to go into the wrong hands.

He didn't even want to think about those implications. Jeff had already spoke to Gordon while he was in route to Thunderbird 5, making sure that when he was situated that he would double the normal scans of any media or communications normally used around the world. International Rescue was meant to be just that, rescuing people from dangerous situations. However, when there was no sign of the kidnapped victims and their own scans couldn't add anything that the authorities had already tried, there wasn't much else they could do but wait for Shadow Force to make their next move.

With a yawn, Jeff checked the time and realized that Alan was to have completed his first day of training today. He contemplated calling his son, and then realized what time it would be there. He could always check in on him later.

After powering down the command and control center, Jeff got to his feet and headed off to bed.

So Shadow Force has been a bit busy, and Alan's first day at the track seems to be going off without a hitch. Next Chapter? John's home, Tin-Tin learns what her uncle has been up to, and Alan finds out how long it'll be before he gets to try his hand at the track.

This has been one interesting learning experience so far, and I am just barely getting started. I appreciate the reviews, and by all means, please keep them coming. It helps to let me know if I am on the right track (no pun intended :P ).

Hope to see you next time,

Time Guardian