Walk on the Wild Side
By Sapphire
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Chapter 12: A Déjà Vu Moment
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Not far from the ridge where Thunderbird 1 was parked and Thunderbird 2's pod rested, lay the edge of the Eureka National Forest. Two hundred and fifty-two square miles of almost wilderness were protected by the law from any form of construction or human habitation. Only a few roads led through this wilderness, access ways for the loggers - for there was a limited amount of timber industry allowed - and for the forest rangers.
Now, as the Hood with his prisoner was cutting his way through the dense woods, the master criminal cursed the National Protection Act, the Forest Ranger Service and most of all the idiot who had planned the roads through the forest and forced him to park his car so far away from the place where he had made his ambush.
"Move faster," he pushed his prisoner on. He had tied the engineer's hand behind his back, and without the balance the arms normally provided, the idiot stumbled and almost fell, slowing him down even further.
He had already lost too much time and it wouldn't be long until International Rescue realized that he had kidnapped one of them. It wasn't very likely that they could find him between those trees, at least not from the air, but it was better not to take any risks.
In the beginning, when he had started his war against those stupid fools who wasted their time, energy and technology to help other people, he had thought it would be easy to take their wondrous machines and use them for more useful endeavours. But through a combination of sheer luck and some meagre skills, they had foiled his plans again and again. Even the control he had over his weakling of a half-brother, who worked as a servant for his enemies, had not been enough to learn their secrets.
The memory of those failed attempts boiled within him and now he regretted that he hadn't taken the time to kill the pilot he had had in his grasp. The Hood hadn't wanted to risk a shot, as this certainly would have alerted the others who were working on the rescue. Still, it would have felt so sweet.
"What do you w-w-want from me?" his prisoner stammered. The man couldn't even talk right.
"Move," he commanded, pushing him again.
Oh, how he would enjoy taking the knowledge from him. Safely locked away in his hiding place, he would take his time pulling from him the information he wanted. And when he finally had the knowledge he desired, he would take his final revenge on Jeff Tracy and his family.
Where was that stupid car? It couldn't be far now.
The forest cleared up a little to his right hand side, and finally he could see the road ahead.
Not far. It wasn't far now.
Suddenly a sound from behind him made him turn around and curse aloud.
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Virgil had driven the hover cycle as fast as he dared through the dense forest. John had explained to him how to set his wrist communicator to track the signal from Brains' watch, and he had tried to follow the blinking dot that indicated the direction Brains was going as directly as possible.
He had scratches in his face from small branches he had seen too late, and one particular branch had almost unseated him, though he had managed to duck out of the way at the last possible moment.
Even though the chase had taken no more than five minutes so far, he felt exhausted and he didn't know if he could take much more of it.
A blue flash from ahead alerted him that he finally had caught up with his quarry. It was the same blue that his uniform had, the blue of Brains' uniform.
He slowed the hover cycle, trying to catch a look of the Hood who had to be not far away.
Suddenly he heard a shot and from a tree next to him splinters exploded outwards.
Immediately he ditched the hover cycle and dove behind the tree, hoping that it would provide him with enough cover.
He pulled his gun, hating the feeling of the weapon in his hand, but knowing that he had no alternative. Of the nine minutes Scott had given him, only two remained. In two minutes the others would be here and then he would have help. All he needed to do was to delay the Hood for so long. Two minutes. That couldn't be too hard.
"Hood," he called out. "Let your prisoner go!"
"I do not think so, Tracy," came the reply from ahead.
Virgil peeked around the tree, and immediately regretted it. The Hood had taken Brains and had pushed him to his knees. He was holding his weapon to Brains head.
"If I cannot have him, nobody else will. Now come out from behind there, or I will kill him."
Unbidden the memories of yesterday's events came to the surface of Virgil's mind. Yesterday, a petty criminal, a money-craving pirate had held his father hostage. He had taken his gun and had pressed it against his father's temples, much like the Hood now was doing with Brains. In order to save his father, the other Virgil, the one that originally came from this world, had come out of his safe hiding place, and he had paid the price.
He himself had arrived when it had been too late, when the criminal had already pulled the trigger of his gun and almost had killed the other Virgil.
Not this time. This time it was his turn. There was nobody but him to save Brains' life.
He took a deep breath and stepped around the tree. Holding up his hands, he tried to look as unthreatening as he could. Which, considering how scared he was, shouldn't be too hard.
"Come here," the Hood commanded, a sense of glee in his voice. "I should have killed you earlier. But this is an error I will soon rectify."
Slowly, searching his steps carefully, he moved forwards, attempting to keep trees or bushes between himself and the criminal, even though they were giving him no real cover, as they were too small to be of any real use. He was stalling for time. He only hoped that the Hood didn't realize it.
"Move faster, Tracy," the Hood said, changing the spot where his gun was pointing at from Brains' head to Virgil.
One minute, that was all that he needed.
He was about twenty yards from the Hood, and he was running out of any kind of cover. Close to the access road, the forest was somewhat less dense than further inside, and he was now in direct line of sight of the other man.
Suddenly a by now familiar sound came from up above.
Thunderbird 2's engines.
The cavalry had finally arrived.
Brains, who had seemingly knelt meekly at the Hood side, used the momentary distraction of the criminal. He pushed his body aside, into the Hood's legs, causing the master criminal to stumble.
The Hood cursed then swung his gun around, pointing the weapon again at the engineer's head.
A shot rang out, but it wasn't the Hood that had fired. Virgil had used the distraction and discharged his weapon, but he had missed.
Again the Hood changed his tactics.
In rapid session he fired twice, then he turned heel and ran.
Virgil felt something impact with his left shoulder, a hot something that threw him backwards against a tree. The collision pushed all the air out of his lungs and caused stars to burst in his vision, but in light of the pain that exploded in his shoulder, he almost didn't notice.
Slowly, he slid down the tree trunk, until he was sitting with his back against it. Each draw of breath was a shock wave of hurt.
He heard voices calling his name, but they came from a distance, and they seemed to move further away by the minute. Everything was moving away from him, and then they were all gone.
The last thought that he had before the darkness finally took him was that he should have expected this.
TBC