DISCLAIMER: I just want to get this straight. Thunderbird DOES NOT belong to me. It belongs to a guy named Gary Andersen and his companions. Me, I'm just here to wreck the whole things up. Oh, and feedback, review, flames whatever you call it, are welcome ☺
SPYGAME: THE TRAITOR.
By Arayelle Lynn.
The phone rang the moment she stepped into her apartment. Knowing exactly who it would be, she dropped her gear onto the floor and made her way across the living room. She picked up the phone and listened for the person on the other end.
"It's me," the caller identified. "Report."
"I'm in," she reported over the secured line. "They never suspect anything once they've confirmed my identity. They were too busy being grateful that I'm still alive to be suspicious."
She could almost sense the caller smiled in satisfaction. "Good job. Do you have the item?"
Claire fished out a roll of film from her pocket. "Yeah, piece a cake."
"When will you make the drop?"
"Thursday afternoon. We're meeting at the coffee house."
"That means you have three days to do the necessary things." The caller paused. "Be careful, Claire. We've gone too long a way to just let all of this wash down the drain. So many things are at stake here."
She smiled at his concern. "Don't worry. You trained me too well to fail, remember?"
xxXxx
"So, what do you think, dad?" Gordon enquired, as soon as Scott and Virgil left to send off Claire.
"If it's about Dean's daughter being alive? I'm too overwhelmed to think further about it," Jeff Tracy answered. "If you're talking about Claire's warning? It's still too early to tell anything, aside for us to be more cautious from now on."
He walked over to his remaining sons. "No, what I'm more concern about is how a building as strong as that could collapse."
Gordon and Alan looked at each other. Building? "You mean the one we've been yesterday?" Alan prompted.
Jeff nodded at Brains. "Scott and Virgil mentioned the tenants' statements at the debriefing, remember? In fact, you supported them, Alan," said Brains.
"That's right. The tenants mentioned that there was something odd about the whole thing. They claimed to have heard a rumble minutes before the building collapses," Alan repeated for the sake of Tin Tin and Grandma Tracy, who had been entertaining Claire the day before.
"Well, Mr. Tracy have me ran a check on the building," said Brains. "And according to the result, there is no way that the building could've collapse. The foundation was too strong." Then his face was grim. "The only way for it to collapse like it did would be if someone made it to happen."
"You suspect sabotage?" Jeff inquired, carefully.
Brains nodded. "But why?" Alan wondered.
Gordon's eyes widened. "You don't think that… someone lured us out?"
They all looked at Gordon. But his speculation was too valid to be overridden. "But who? Who wants to lure us to that place? Who has enough resources to collapse a whole building and trapped the residents just to gain our attention?"
As soon as Alan said those words, they were hit by a sudden realization. "Mr. Tracy, I know she's family and all but can we trust Claire?" Brains asked his employer. He knew what could be going on even before Alan pointed them out. Only, he was a little hesitant to accuse one of the Tracy's family members.
"Absolutely not!" they were all startled by the strength in Jeff's voice. The way he had treated Claire earlier had indicate otherwise but this… "She may be family but we don't exactly know her for the past thirteen years. The only thing we know about her was what she had told us."
"So, what are we going to do about it?"
"Lady Penelope is already on it," Jeff replied. "I had her on the plane this morning. I sent Scott and Virgil so that it won't look so suspicious when they escorted her home. They're supposed to find out where she's staying so Penelope and Parker could set up a stakeout."
"You're not calling in our agents in the US to assist her?"
Jeff shook his head. "Claire's family. We can't risk our agents finding out her real identity and link it to us. The smaller the number of people who knew about the Tracys' involvement in International Rescue, the better."
"Gee, dad. You thought of everything," said Alan, sheepishly.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Tin Tin, who had been silent the whole time.
"We'll wait. Her next move will decide if my niece is indeed an ally or foe."
xxXxx
"This is wrong," said Virgil, breaking the silence. "I mean I know that it is necessary but god, Scott, we should be celebrating her return with a party. Not a stakeout."
Scott turned to his brother. He knew that, of all of them, he was the closest to Valerie since they were the same age and were born a month apart. However, they were not a normal family in a normal family business. They have to do this in order to ensure the safety of their operations.
"I understand, Virg, but think about all the things that we could lose if we're not careful," he said, gently. Then he reached over to pat his brother's shoulder. "Tell you what. When we get back, let's ask father if we could assist Penelope in her stakeout. Maybe that could ease up our nerves."
Virgil smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks, Scott. You don't know how much that means to me."
"I'm glad that settles it," said his brother, looking ahead. "Now, if you would be a good boy and strap yourself. We're almost there."
xxXxx
"She's up!" came a loud whisper, which startled Scott and Lady Penelope out of their slumber. They yawned and rose from their respective couches. They joined Virgil at the window. He was looking through a pair of binoculars.
"What did you see?" asked Scott, squinting to take a better look inside the opposite apartment. The sun was still rising and the street was dark. "What is she doing?"
"Uh, she seemed to be taking off her… oof," Virgil grunted when Lady Penelope dug her elbow into his stomach. She grabbed the binoculars and pushed him out of the way. "I never thought that you were a Peeping Tom, Virgil Tracy," she said.
Virgil scratched his head, chuckling. "I guess, I got caught in the moment. I rarely go for a stakeout."
Scott laughed, the sleep was completely gone. "I've heard Virgil been called by many names but never that. And never by a woman of your status, Lady Penelope."
Just then, the door opened and Parker came in with a box of donuts and four cups of coffee. He was scowling. "Not my favorite choice of breakfast but this is what Mr. Virgil insisted." He shook his head. "And it's the only edible thing I could find in this city. I swear, how the city folks could consume such stuff."
"That'll be fine, Parker," said Lady Penelope, watching Claire. The young woman was going into the shower. "When in America, do as the Americans do."
"Ahh… food!" Virgil rubbed his hands together. He licked his lips as his stomachs growled. Scott was already munching a chocolate flavored donut, his favorite. Parker looked at the donuts suspiciously at first. Then, when he saw Scott grabbed his second one, he decided that it was safe enough to eat.
Lady Penelope watched the whole thing in amusement. It had been two days since their first set their mission. Jeff managed to let the small apartment as their base of operation. The apartment was exactly opposite Claire Hudson's, which provide them a good view of her movements in her apartment. But it was far enough so that she wasn't aware of being watched.
So far, Claire hadn't done anything suspicious. She woke up very early in the morning, went to work and came back by dinnertime. She was just like an ordinary working girl. It made Penelope doubt if the girl's indeed working with an intelligence agency.
So, she decided to dig in deeper. And to do that, she would need to have someone inside.
"Parker, if you're quite finish with breakfast, I have a new job proposition for you," she said, turning to her chauffeur and right hand man. Three custard-smeared faces look up at her, blinking confusedly.
"Huh?"
She almost shook her head, amused. "What do you have in mind, milady?" asked the older man.
"Ever think about being a janitor?"
xxXxx
Claire walked down the lobby, towards the elevator. She spared a few smiles as she went along. She even greeted the young security guard, whom she knew had a crush on her since his first day. She also paused to listen to those who asked her about the new computer program that her department was working on and answered them patiently until she at last, reached the elevator.
Thankfully, there was no one there except for the janitor. She thanked her lucky stars. Being early gave her the benefit of riding the elevator without having to face the human jam. And it also provided her with a perfect cover because to the public eyes, the building that she's working in dealt with computers. However, unknown to many but a certain few, the top secret agency was based below the building in an underground headquarters. And the only way down was this particular elevator that she was standing before. Once the coast is clear, she would be taken down to her real working place.
Suddenly, she was aware of someone standing beside her. Casually, she greeted the man. "Good morning."
"Good morning," he replied.
There was silence.
"You have the plans?" he asked, softly. His nonchalance expression reflected his years of experience in the field.
"Yes," she said, knowing that this was the person she needed to contact. "But this isn't the right place to talk." She spied the janitor, who was working not far away.
"We'll continue this tomorrow then," he responded. "Be there."
"I will."
Just then, the elevator chimed and opened. They entered. Not a word was exchanged after that.
Once the elevator door was closed, the janitor tapped his microphone. "Got that, milady?"
"Yes." Was the response he got. "Looks like our patience has paid off. Something is going down tomorrow."
"You don't sound too happy."
"Indeed. It doesn't sound too good for the Tracys." She sighed. "Come along, Parker. Let the real janitor do his job."
xxXxx
Jeff listened to Penelope, his face grim. His eyes continued to study the screen, more precisely, his sons' faces as they stood behind the Englishwoman. "And you're certain that you saw Claire entering a room in her apartment with a roll of film?" he asked, just to make sure.
"Yes. Using Brains' high-tech binoculars, we were able to focus the image. And she had been having the film in the outfit that she was wearing when she dropped by at Tracy Island." Penelope paused, sparing a look at the two boys behind her. "And late last night, she had been studying something that she had taken from that room rather attentively."
Scott and Virgil looked up at that. It was obvious that they didn't know that bit of information because they were sleeping at the time.
He sighed. So much for a family reunion. He felt devastatingly disappointed that the one that would betray him had been none other than his own flesh and blood. "So, it's safe to assume that the room is where she developed her films. And that she's making a drop off sometime tomorrow."
"It's possible, yes."
'But it's also possible that they had just caught on something entirely different. Something that involves Claire's line of work,' he thought, but didn't say it aloud. He didn't want them to keep their hopes up. The word 'plans' in Claire's conversation itself was enough to incriminate her in having copies of the Thunderbirds' secret plans.
He glanced at Tin Tin, who was sitting next to Alan. She gave him an apologetic look which he acknowledged with a tiny smile. He had asked the Malay girl about the morning when Claire was asleep at the lounge with the boys. She had told him that Claire was already up.
'That would be the perfect time for her to act. Who knows if she was even asleep?' he thought, shaking his head mentally.
He forced himself back to reality. This time, his words were directed to Scott and Virgil. "You two alright about this?" he asked, worrying about how his two eldest were taking the whole thing.
"We're fine, dad," Scott answered for both them. "In fact, we had just discussed our next plan of action."
Virgil leaned in as Penelope slipped away. "We will tail Claire from her apartment. Penelope and Parker will go in their rental car while I'll be on a bike, undercover, of course."
"And I'll be staying here to keep things in order," said Scott. "It'll be like Mobile Control."
His brother threw him a teasing glance. "That's because he has forgotten how to ride a bike. Too much time in the air, I suppose."
Scott threw him a look that promised a great whack when they signed off. "Between Penelope and Virgil on the road, we will find where she was planning to make the drop off," he reported.
Jeff nodded, pleased with his sons' show of professionalism. They were not going to let personal feelings influenced their judgment. "Looks like you have everything covered. You may proceed as planned." He paused, looking at their faces. "Be careful."
xxXxx
"Okay, spot the fish and am ready with the line and hook," Virgil whispered to his watch.
"What the hell…" came the response that sounded suspiciously like Scott.
Virgil raised his watch again. "Penelope had just left with the boat."
"Virgil, I know you've been watching way too many spy movies but could you please talk in English," came Scott's irritated voice.
Virgil rolled his eyes. He swore that Scott never had a sense of adventure. "Claire's left the building. Penelope's off and I'm off too," he rephrased for his brother's benefit.
"There you go. You can really speak plain English, can't you?"
He stuck a tongue at his brother and signed off.
Virgil pedaled along the sidewalk, keeping his eyes closely on Claire's midnight blue convertible. Two cars behind her was Penelope's pink Rolls Royce. The streets of Washington were busy as always. They had barely left the block when they were trapped in traffic. That suited Virgil fine because then, he didn't have to struggle to keep up with the faster form of transportation.
The plan was pretty simple. He, Penelope and Parker were supposed to tail Claire to find out where she was heading to. The reason Virgil was on a bike was to ensure that at least someone keep a tail on Claire should she ditched the car. And besides, a bike is more appropriate on sidewalks and small alleys than a car. And it wouldn't draw as much attention as that of a pink Rolls Royce.
So Virgil rode on, pausing when Claire was trapped in traffic and occasionally, rode ahead only to duck behind an alley to wait until Claire's car passed him. It was slow but after nearly half an hour, the blue convertible left the lining cars and parked in front of a bank.
"She's on the move. I repeat, she's on the move," said Virgil, stopping a few blocks away from the bank.
"I'm not deaf, you don't have to repeat," came Scott's reply. But he could clearly detect a tone of excitement in his voice.
"Copy that," said Penelope as the pink Rolls Royce passed the bank. Virgil knew that she would be finding a parking space a few blocks ahead just to avoid suspicion.
Virgil pretended to tie his shoelace as he watched Claire climbed out of the car. She glanced about her for a moment, as if checking the perimeter and then walked away. She was holding nothing in her hands except for a handbag that was slung on her shoulder.
He followed her casually, pushing the bike with him. He was thankful that he decided to wear his riding gear. He knew that it would take Claire a long and closer look to determine who was following her. And his sunglasses made it hard for anyone to see who he was watching.
Claire stopped at a coffee house. Virgil nearly smacked his forehead at the familiarity of the trait here. He had expected a more complicated scenario, where Claire would slip something into someone's bag or something. He had expected something that resembles the spy movies that he watched in the past.
He saw Claire sat at a table, waiting. He craned his neck when a waiter came over, thinking that he was her contact. But the waiter proved to be a real waiter when Virgil saw him jotting down Claire's orders.
A few minutes later, he saw a man and a young woman approaching Claire's table. Virgil drew a sharp breath when the old man stumbled, nearly on top of Claire. The young woman steadied the old man, looking at Claire apologetically.
"I'm sorry. Without his glasses, my father couldn't see an elephant even if it was standing right before him," she said, her voice was heavily accented.
"That's alright," Virgil heard Claire reply as she watched father and daughter settled down at a table not far away.
Then Virgil heard a tap from his earpiece. "Is everything loud and clear?" asked a female voice.
"Sure is. Good job, Parker," said Scott. Virgil gave a thumb up to the father and daughter. He realized then that Parker had faked the stumble to slip a tiny microphone into Claire's pocket.
He waited some more.
"Claire?" a voice jarred Virgil out of reverie. He returned his attention back to Claire and saw two men and a woman standing before her. One of the men was carrying a bouquet of flowers.
Huh?
He frowned. Why would someone bring flowers to a secret meeting? Was that to throw anyone who might've been watching them off track? Or had they totally been wrong about the whole thing? And that Claire had been innocent the whole time?
"Larry!" Claire greeted, with the same enthusiasm as one would when greeting an old friend. She stood up and kissed the man's cheek, accepting the flowers. "It's been a long time. How have you been?" she asked, smiling.
"Fine," he said, and then turned to the other two, who were holding hands. "This is my friend Robert." The bald man, who in Virgil's personal opinion, look seriously like someone belonged to a spy movie, nodded. "And his wife, Lydia." The woman shook hands with Claire.
"We heard so much about you that we had to meet you right away," said the woman.
"What's this?" Virgil heard Scott said doubtfully. He himself was confused as well.
"Hold it," said Penelope, as the four seated. "Parker said he's the same man that Claire talked to yesterday. Let's keep watch."
And they did. It was then, they heard the tone of the conversation changed. The woman seemed to be watching the surroundings while the bald man studied Claire carefully. The man that Parker claimed he saw was the one doing the talking.
"Do you have the information?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Yes," said Claire, she sounded all professional-like and in control. From her purse, she fished out a mini disc. "See for yourself," she said, handing the disc to 'Larry'.
He took it without a word and handed it to the bald man. The man took out a device that looked a lot like a PDA and insert the disc into a slot. Then, he nodded, giving 'Larry' a look at the screen.
He looked at Claire, his eyes betrayed his admiration. "I don't know how you could've done it, Agent Hudson but you've done something even my best agents failed to do," he said to her. "Acquiring the blueprints of the International Rescue's Thunderbirds is nearly an impossible task to achieve."
Virgil drew a sharp breath. He felt as if something had stabbed his insides. So, Claire was a traitor!
"I hope this will seal our little arrangement?" Claire inquired her voice cool and calm. There wasn't even a trace of guilt in her voice.
"We'll cross that bridge once we've checked the validity of the information," said 'Larry'. "But I will say one thing to you. It looks promising," he said. "Indeed, Agent Allen had been right in his claim. You're good."
Claire shrugged at his compliment, nonchalantly.
Virgil started to fidget. He watched as the bald man removed the disc from the slot, preparing to store it in his briefcase. "This can't be happening. We must get the disc back before we're ruined."
"What are you planning, Virg?" asked Scott, warily. "Don't do anything stupid."
"I'll meet you back at the apartment," he said, ripping off the earpiece. He swung his legs on the bike and started to paddle, furiously. The bald man had the disc in his hand as he poised to place it into the briefcase.
Suddenly Virgil reached over and snatched the disc. He faltered a little as his eyes met the bald man's green ones. Something cold ran through his body as he felt the man's sharp gaze penetrated his disguise to see who he really was. Now that Virgil was face-to-face with him, he couldn't help but thought that the man was dangerous.
All that happened in seconds. Then, his legs pumped the paddle and the spell was over when their gazes broke. As he left the bewildered agents, he vaguely recalled someone shouting and someone chasing him.
For now, his family's secret was safe with him.
xxXxx
Claire entered her apartment wearily. She had spent the whole morning playing a dangerous spy game, chased an unknown biker, who stole something very important in her mission and spent the whole day trying to locate him and contemplating over what the new development meant.
All the efforts, all the sacrifices, the risks, went down the drain.
Now she couldn't think anymore. To appear with another set of information would draw suspicion in her part. To start back to the beginning would be a waste of time. Her only hope was to find the biker before they find him.
Just as she was about to reach for the light, her instincts warned her that she was not alone. Whipping up her gun, she aimed it at a corner as the room was flooded with lights.
"Scott!" she gasped, recognizing the intruder. "What are you doing here?"
Scott looked at her, his face grim. In his hands, she saw pieces of papers. Familiar pieces of papers. Her mouth opened then closed, her eyes narrowed. "How could you, Valerie? How could you betray our trust?"
"So, it was you?" she exclaimed, figuring out everything. "You had me followed?"
"You were going to sell us out. Us, your own family."
But Claire didn't seem to be listening to him. And the gun pointed unwavering at him. "You guys ruined everything! I've spent my whole life trying to cut a deal with these guys!"
"Yeah but you were selling us out, remember?" Scott responded, sarcastically. "So, forgive us for ruining your deal."
Claire's lips parted at his accusing words. Then something dawned on her. "What? You mean… you think… that I betrayed you?" she sputtered. Then she started to giggled maniacally before lowering the gun and slumped onto the couch, burying her head in her hands.
"I thought you trust me," she said, inhaling a gulpful of air to keep her anger from exploding.
"Luckily we didn't," Scott answered, a little startled by her reaction. He then looked at the blueprints and pictures. "It looks like you were planning to sell off everything about International Rescue." He held up some photographs. "Including our identity."
Claire stared at him. "They're all fake, Scott."
"What?"
She nodded at the blueprints. "Look carefully."
He did and once he was done, he looked up. More questions played in his mind. "What does this mean? Where are the real blueprints?"
"Tracy Island," she answered. "Safe in Brains' lab, if you'd bother to check."
"But how did you get these?"
She shrugged, standing up. "I took pictures of them while I was there," she said, disappearing into the dark room. "Then, I developed the film and scanned the photos into the computer. I had a friend make some changes, mostly on the essential parts, without making so much of a drastic change so it would not be noticeable." She appeared again. "And then, sell the false information to the people that I was dealing with."
"So, what happened to the original photos?"
She handed him a dustbin. There was something black and burnt in it. "Destroyed. The same with the information that I stored in my computer." She nodded at the notebook on the table. "The reason why I keep these false blueprints around was to make sure that they believed I sold them the real thing."
Scott looked at her, confused. "I don't understand. Why?"
Claire sighed. "I didn't want to tell you this earlier because I know that you people would try to stop me." She took a deep breath. "I was planning to infiltrate the bad guy group since day one. And the only way to do that was to deliver the information that they desperately want."
"And so, you high jacked my plane, broke through our secret files and lied to us all?"
She stared at him. "Don't take that tone on me. I was there to warn you as much as to gather the information." She shook her head. "In fact, everything that I do now is for all of you as well as your secret organization."
Before he could respond to that, his watch chimed. "Scott here."
"Scott! Thank god you're still safe," said Penelope, relief washed through her. "You had us worried when no one was waiting at the apartment."
Scott frowned. "What do you mean no one? Virgil said that he'd be there in five minutes and that's an hour ago."
Penelope frowned. "But he's not here. Not even his bike."
Scott's frown deepened as worry struck him. He looked at Claire and saw the spark of anxiety in her dark brown eyes. "Claire?"
"They have him," she whispered.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: Sorry for the delay. Got stuff to settle and a life to run. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Now, I'm turning my attention to my other fics (Wings of Destiny / Shattered Walls/ To Stand Alone) Ta!