Chapter 12 - Discoveries

Alan froze as he heard the familiar yet chilling voice. The Hood!

Memories washed over him as he remembered the encounters when the Hood invaded Tracy Island. A wave of fresh anger threatened to overtake him until he heard Mr. Edwards speak.

"Our plans are in place. The main league race will happen in a few days, along with a few surprises. The Governor and the President of the United States will be here as promised."

When Alan heard the Hood's voice again, he realized that the criminal was talking through some sort of video communicator.

The Hood's voice was slightly muted and had a digital quality to it. "General X cannot afford any delays. Make sure the plan goes off without a hitch. Do you still have Alan Tracy under surveillance?"

"Yes."

The Hood's voice held an amused tone this time. "Good, keep him close at hand. If anything should happen to put our plans in jeopardy, he will be of use to us."

Of use? Alan didn't like those possibilities. He held his position until he heard Mr. Edwards acknowledge the transmission and then walked out of the pit area. After waiting for nearly ten minutes, Alan was satisfied that the coast was clear, and he pushed himself from out under the car he was working on.

What he had just heard did nothing but unsettle him. From what he knew, Shadow Force had been the ones to free the Hood. What could they be planning?

Alan's thoughts continued a mile a minute as he rode back to the complex and rode the elevator up to the dorm room. As he entered, he threw his backpack over beside the couch and headed to the small kitchen. It was functional enough to fix almost any type of food desired, but all Alan wanted right now was some liquid refreshment.

Grabbing a soda from the small fridge, Alan took a seat at one of the stools near the counter and pondered his options. He could follow this, but if this turned out bad, his summer would be over. However, if he didn't and this turned out bad - sigh.

Decision made, Alan brought up his wrist and checked out the Tele-com that his dad had given him. It took a few minutes of fiddling with the dial, but he managed to open a communications channel and decided to follow through on his intent. "Alan to Thunderbird 5, come in please."

--

Gordon Tracy was a man who was extremely bored. He leaned back in his seat in front of the communication console of Thunderbird 5 and mentally checked off his to-do list: Call in to Tracy Island - check, manual check of communication systems - check, space station defenses - check. Cleaning? I could always do that later.

A beep issued from the comm panel made Gordon sit up and take notice. It had come from one of the latest editions to the panel in order to indicate someone using one of the Tele-com units.

Gordon sat straight up in his chair and pressed a button, and surprised to see Alan's face come up on his video screen. "Hey Sprout, receiving you loud and clear."

He grinned as he saw Alan sputter in surprise. "Gordon? What are you doing up there? Where's John?"

"It is rotation time again, what do you expect when there's no one else to rotate with for now?"

Alan laughed. "Can you blame me? It's pretty cool playing grease monkey down here for the summer."

Gordon leaned back in his chair and grinned. "I guess not. Getting pretty close to something of interest eh? What about Tin-Tin? I thought you two had a thing going, eh?"

"Gordon-"

He laughed. It was clear from Alan's red face that his comment had hit home. "Alan, up here you take whatever entertainment you can get in-between the work. So I don't suppose this was just a social call?"

He watched in some confusion as Alan's face took on a serious tone. "Gordon, could you run a check on Mike Edwards for me?"

"The man you are working for at the race track?" Gordon frowned. Between dad and Scott, he had been apprised of his brother's adventures, but something about this request seemed wrong. "Look, if something's wrong maybe dad-"

"Dad has his hands full with rescues and keeping tabs on the Hood," Alan interrupted. "Besides, all I have are suspicions anyway. If I go to dad I want something solid."

Gordon was unconvinced, but if something had his brother spooked, he wasn't going to let it slide. "Ok, I should have something for you in a couple of hours then. Alan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Gordon, drop it will ya?"

Gordon flinched mockingly. "Ok, Ok. touch-y. Just watch yourself and promise to call if there's any trouble, okay?"

Alan smiled. "FAB. Alan out."

As Alan's image disappeared from the screen, Gordon turned to a nearby computer keyboard and began his search.

Okay Alan, let's see why Mr. Edwards has you spooked.

--

General X stormed into the quarters that he had assigned to the Hood and was more than a little irritated to see him sitting cross-legged on top of the bed with eyes closed and arms outstretched.

"Hood!"

The Hood didn't open his eyes, which enraged the General even more. "Fine, meditate all you want, but know this: Once our American operative takes over the White House, I will need the information you have gathered from the other government prisoners we have. If you do not have that for me by that time, your life is forfeit."

And with that, the General turned and walked out.

Once it was silent in his room again, the Hood opened his eyes and smiled. He had heard every word that the General had said, and it had taken quite a bit of self control not to kill the General right there.

Assuming the dampening field would keep him in line, the General had left the Hood mostly to his own devices over the days with the provision that he worked on the prisoners that were brought in. It had taken a few days and sneaking into different parts of the base, but in addition to gathering useful information from the prisoners, he had found out many other things, including how the dampening field worked.

Just wait General; we will soon see who is taking orders around here.