Sometimes when I post a chapter I say that it didn't go the way I expected it to.
This one was always meant to be.
Chapter Six
Alan's fingers closed around the flashlight and he felt for the switch. The resulting light showed him just how lucky he'd been - and why he hadn't got any response from Scott. The floor where his brother had been standing had given way, a hole about three metres wide left in its place.
"Scott!" He took a few steps towards the opening, backing away hurriedly when the edge began to crumble, sending a shower of debris down into the hole.
"Ow!"
"Scott?" Alan had never been so glad to hear his brother's voice. Mindful of the fragility of the ground he crawled forward, lying on his stomach so he could lean over the edge, shining his light down and taking in the sight of his brother lying in a heap at the bottom. The hole wasn't spectacularly deep, but it would have been a hard enough fall to cause Scott some real damage. "Are you okay?"
Scott yelped and covered his eyes as the light hit him full in the face. "I'm fine. Blinded, maybe..." He blinked as Alan apologised and moved the beam away.
"Anything broken?"
Scott moved gingerly. "No. I guess I was lucky. I didn't actually fall, I think I just slid most of the way." Getting to his feet he looked down at himself. "That's another uniform ruined..."
"As long as that's all that's damaged. You're sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, just a few cuts and bruises. I'd like to get out of here, though." He surveyed the sides of the hole as Alan moved the beam of the flashlight around. "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to climb up unaided - it doesn't look too stable. Can you get a line down to me?"
"Hang on a minute." Alan left his brother in darkness for a moment as he moved away from the edge of the hole, pulling a rope out of his pack and looking around for somewhere to attach it. He and Scott had been lucky, he thought - beyond the hole was another rock fall, cutting off any escape route. He wondered if the people they'd been on their way to save had survived. The piles of rock they'd been working their way through seemed undisturbed so maybe they'd been lucky too.
Scott's voice floated up to Alan as he called John and his father. Then Gordon came through, expressing his relief that his two brothers were okay. He reported that he'd successfully rescued the men he'd been trying to reach and was now back in the Mole and on his way to the surface. As soon as he'd dropped off his passengers he'd be down to help his brothers.
"Virgil and Tin-Tin?" he asked.
"Nothing yet." John couldn't keep the worry out of his voice.
It was only then that Alan realised that he hadn't given Tin-Tin a thought, so focused had he been on Scott. Giving the rope a final tug to check it would hold he threw it down to his brother without any warning, oblivious to Scott's cry of surprise as it landed on his head.
"Tin-Tin? Come in Tin-Tin."
There was a long pause. Then Tin-Tin's voice came through, little more than a whisper.
"Alan?" She sounded breathless.
"What's wrong? What's happened to you?"
"N-nothing. I'm okay. I'm just... Give me a minute."
Alan fretted for a minute or two. He'd been so relieved to hear his girlfriend's voice but something was clearly wrong and there had still been no word from his brother. He was about to call Tin-Tin back when Scott's hand on his shoulder made him start - he'd been listening so intently for another message that he hadn't realised his brother had finally managed to get himself out of the hole.
"What's going on?" Scott asked.
But before Alan could answer, the sudden shifting of a pile of debris to the side of them drew their attention. A small trickle of water began to wind its way from under the rubble towards them and even as they watched, the rate of the flow increased, larger rocks now being forced aside by the pressure of the water. They instinctively took a step backwards.
"The reservoir," Scott muttered. "The blast must have weakened the damaged wall some more. We need to know what's going on there, Alan. Now!"
Tin-Tin had been grateful for Virgil's solid bulk when he'd forced the control room door open and when he'd protected her from the collapsing ceiling. Now, though, it was something of a problem as she lay underneath him, nearly crushed by his weight and that of the rubble on top of him. She'd had a hard enough job moving her wrist close enough to her face to be able to answer Alan. Getting herself out from under Virgil was going to be a far more difficult job, made worse by the concern she felt for her still and silent friend.
Finally she managed to wriggle free. She didn't spare a thought for the wrecked control room or the reservoir itself, focusing all her attention on Virgil. He was cut and bruised, but she didn't think any bones had been broken. He'd taken a hard knock to the head, though, the lump above his left ear and the blood in his hair telling her all she needed to know.
"Tin-Tin?" Alan's urgent voice came in. "What's happening there?"
Taking a moment to consider how to break the news, Tin-Tin gave her assessment of the situation.
"I'm sure he'll be alright when he wakes up," she assured them, hoping she was right.
"Do what you can for him, Tin-Tin. But we've got another problem." Scott's voice came through. "Take a look at the reservoir, will you?"
Patting Virgil's shoulder gently as she got to her feet, Tin-Tin edged carefully towards the shattered remains of the window. Her eyes widened as she realised that the crack in the damaged wall had got a whole lot bigger. Now it was a massive hole which was getting larger by the second. Thousands of gallons of water were pouring out. The drainage gates weren't going to get rid of the water fast enough - Alan and Scott, not to mention the men they had been trying to rescue, were now directly in the path of the raging water.
There was only one thing to do, Tin-Tin thought. She and Virgil had discussed various scenarios with Brains during the flight and they'd been prepared for something like this. In the backpacks the pair had carried were a number of explosive charges. They were only to be used as a last resort due to the presence of gas in the complex, but that was a risk Tin-Tin was prepared to take. If the drainage gates weren't big enough to divert enough water to stop Alan from drowning, then she was going to make them bigger, whatever the cost to herself. She knew Virgil would feel the same way.
Quickly announcing what she intended to do, she ignored Alan's protests that it was too dangerous, calling in Brains to hesitantly explain that it was the only possible solution and one with a strong chance of success - if there was no trace of gas and if Tin-Tin could get the charges set and detonated in time.
"Virgil?" she called, patting his shoulder, gently. "I have to leave you for a while. You'll be okay."
To her relief he stirred and moaned, his eyelids fluttering as he muttered something she couldn't make out.
Switching his watch on and ordering the others to keep talking to him, she made her way over to the backpacks which lay where they'd left them, thankfully untouched by the fallen debris. Slinging them over her shoulder she returned to the window, picking up a nearby piece of metal in order to clear the edge of jagged glass before climbing through and out onto the steel gantry which ran along the sides of the reservoir.
Scott and Alan huddled between the edge of the hole and the rock fall, having opted to jump across in order to avoid being swept down it by the force of the water. The flow was rapid now and the space they were trapped in was filling quickly. At first they'd hoped that the water would run down the hole and drain away but it hadn't worked out that way - clearly the bottom of the hole was blocked and although they'd had a short respite as it had filled up, the water was now up to their waists with no sign of stopping.
John was preoccupied with trying to keep a groggy Virgil awake, so it was Jeff who kept in contact with them, putting a swift end to the argument which broke out when Alan - supported by Scott - insisted that Tin-Tin should forget climbing around an unstable reservoir to set explosives in favour of getting herself and Virgil as far away from danger as she could. His father's reminder that Tin-Tin was a member of International Rescue with a job to do and that Alan himself had recommended the girl for the mission, insisting she was as capable as any of the brothers, had shut the young man up. Now he stood sullenly, watching the water level rise while Scott tried to reassure him that his girlfriend knew what she was doing.
Then Tin-Tin's voice came over the comm. "How are things with you, Alan?"
"We're doing fine," Alan lied, trying to stop his teeth from chattering as the water level grew ever higher."Gordon's on his way. Just get yourself and Virg away from there."
"Guys, I'm too far away," Gordon chipped in. "You don't have time. Tin-Tin, do what you have to do."
"I will." Tin-Tin ignored Alan's protests. "I've almost finished placing the explosives around the drainage gates. You and Scott had better brace yourselves - the shockwaves might bring down more of the corridor. I'm setting the charges to go off in five minutes."
"We can hold out longer," Alan told her. He wanted to say more but a sudden swell of water took him by surprise, splashing his face and making him cough.
"Alan?" Tin-Tin sounded panicked.
"He's still here." It was Scott who replied whilst Alan coughed some more.
"Good. I don't want him going anywhere. Or you, Scott."
"We're okay, right Alan?"
Alan - between coughs - agreed.
Okay, I'm nearly done here. I'm going to head back to Virgil. Five minutes, okay?"
The water level was higher now and the brothers found themselves having to tread water, thankful that the roof of the corridor was high and that they wouldn't drown just yet. Alan was trying to stay afloat using only one arm so that he could keep using his wrist-comm. There was another sudden surge and, just as he opened his mouth for a final word to Tin-Tin, he slipped under the water. It was a moment before he resurfaced, coughing and spluttering as he reassured Tin-Tin, John and his father that he really was okay.
"Five... minutes," he reminded them. "It's going to be... fine."
When the explosives detonated just two minutes later, everyone except Tin-Tin was taken completely by surprise.
Tin-Tin had had only one thought in mind as she placed the explosives - to save Alan. She'd known that time was short so she'd placed all the charges around the two drainage gates directly below the control room. Ideally she'd have blown the opposite wall of the reservoir, but the gantry which ran around it had been damaged and there was no way she was going to risk climbing down the access ladders and making her way across the crumbling wall that was the cause of all the trouble. It looked as though it might give way at any moment and if that happened, Alan was finished. Scott too, she reminded herself, forcing herself to stay professional.
She knew she had enough explosives to make a massive hole between the two drainage gates. It wouldn't stop the flow of water towards Alan and Scott, but it would lessen it considerably, giving Gordon enough time to get to them in the Mole. She was confident the pair would be safe. No, the real problem she had now was in ensuring that she and Virgil didn't get caught up in the blast. If Virgil had been fit then it wouldn't have been a problem, but there was no way she could carry him.
She called in to John and was relieved to hear that Virgil was a little more coherent, even making shaky attempts to get to his feet, despite John's pleas to him to stay where he was. Maybe the situation wasn't as bad as she'd anticipated. At least if Virgil could walk she could get him to safety. Signing off with John, she called Alan to let him and Scott know that she'd soon finish placing the charges. It was a relief to talk to him, even though there were so many things she'd have liked to say but couldn't, not when she knew that Jeff Tracy and possibly even her father were listening too. When Alan went under the water for a second time she'd panicked, almost dropping the last of the charges. She'd had to stop for a moment to let her pounding heart settle, not sure whether to believe him when he promised her everything was going to be fine. Five minutes, she thought, fixing the last lot of explosives and connecting the timer. Then she started to push the button which would set the countdown. One minute ... Two...
She froze. What if Alan didn't have five minutes? But less than that would mean her chances of getting Virgil away safely would be seriously compromised. She'd die with him, of course - there was no way she'd leave him in order to save herself. Wondering if Alan would ever forgive her, she made up her mind. There was no further change to the timer. Pressing the button to start the countdown, she scrambled back up the access ladder as quickly as she could. It took her almost a minute to get back to the control room where she found Virgil, pale and shaking, leaning against a wall. He took an unsteady step towards her before staggering back, clearly only able to stay upright if he had something to support him.
"T-Tin-Tin?" His eyes weren't focusing properly as he looked at her.
"Come, on, we've got to go." Dashing across, she slipped an arm around him and began to steer him towards the door. Biting back the cry of frustration she wanted to let out at his slow pace, she forced herself to murmur encouragement to him, but soon ran out of breath. He was leaning on her more and more heavily the closer they got to the door, and she knew they weren't going to be able to go much further.
But as it turned out, they couldn't go any further. Behind the door was a high pile of rubble they wouldn't be able to shift any time soon. They were trapped. Tin-Tin glanced at her watch. Thirty seconds to go. She could override the countdown of course, but that would almost certainly condemn Alan and Scott to death.
"Sorry, Virgil," she whispered, lowering him to the floor and crouching down next to him. At least he didn't seem too aware of what was about to happen. Probably for the best, she thought.
Then the charges detonated.
Just like last time the control room shook and the damaged ceiling caved in some more. Tin-Tin clutched onto Virgil's hand tightly, glad of the company in what might be her last moments, even though she hated herself for putting him in danger. Then everything was still again. Tin-Tin barely dared breathe for a moment, let alone open her eyes. Finally though, she allowed herself to believe it really was all over. She'd done it! She left her companion for a moment and hurried over to the space where the window had been, letting out a cry of delight when she saw the wall crumbling away as water rushed out through the huge hole the explosives had made.
"What happened?" Jeff Tracy's voice came over the wrist-comm. "Why did the explosives go off early? Tin-Tin, come in."
"It's alright," she told him. "I set the timer for two minutes. I couldn't risk losing Alan."
"What about losing you?" Alan sounded furious. "Of all the stupid things to do! You could have been killed."
"Well I wasn't. You know, a 'thank you' would be nice. I take it you're not dead either." Tin-Tin couldn't help snapping. She'd known she'd be in trouble with Jeff, but the Tracy brothers did this kind of thing all the time and got away with it. Surely Alan should have understood that she'd had to do what she did in order to save him. She knew he wouldn't have reacted like this if Virgil had been the one to set the timer. Well, he would if she'd been in danger as a result, she thought, but under any other circumstances Alan would have been congratulating his brother on a job well done. Maybe he hadn't changed as much as she'd hoped...
As Jeff interrupted Alan's continued rant, coldly telling her that her actions had been irresponsible and that he'd discuss the matter further at the debriefing, she wondered if she'd just written off her chances of securing the new job for good. On the other hand, of course, he might think a safe backseat role running the engineering side would be just the thing to keep her out of trouble.
"I'm coming up in the Mole now." Gordon's voice cut through the others. "Get ready, Scott."
Sighing with relief, Tin-Tin turned back to Virgil. "You'll be alright now," she told him. "We'll just have to wait for Gordon to pick us up."
Tin-Tin didn't fully relax until Gordon called in to say that he'd picked up two half-frozen, soaking wet brothers and was on his way to collect her and Virgil. It would take a while - the Mole wasn't the easiest to turn underground, but he'd be there as soon as he could. He at least seemed pleased with the outcome and she assured him that the pair of them would be fine.
Virgil definitely seemed to be on the mend, complaining of a headache and double vision, but generally alert even if his thought processes were torturously slow. Tin-Tin told him what she'd done, apologising for putting him in danger, but, after a long pause as he carefully thought it through, he admitted that he'd have done the same.
"Five minutes, guys," Gordon called. "You might want to move away from the door if that's where you still are - I'm a bit worried the vibrations from the Mole might cause the ceiling to collapse."
"Good idea," Tin-Tin said. The rumbling of the Mole's engines was evident now and several showers of debris had already fallen. She managed to pull an unsteady Virgil to his feet and walked him across to the window.
It was just as well they'd heeded Gordon's warning. Even though the aquanaut had informed them that he'd dropped the vehicle to its lowest speed, the vibrations were indeed enough to cause another collapse. This time the whole room seemed to be about to give way and Tin-Tin could think of no other course of action than to half-push, half-drag Virgil through the window. The pilot did his best to help himself but his movements were slow and the deafening roar of falling rock was doing nothing to help his head.
"We've got to get away from here," Tin-Tin said once she'd finished yelling at Gordon. The gantry was wobbling far more than it had earlier, though whether it had been further damaged when the explosives had detonated or when the control room had fallen in, she didn't know. She looked around frantically for some means of escape. The reservoir below them was little more than a third full now, but she still didn't want to risk going anywhere near it.
"This way!" Shoving a stumbling Virgil forward she got them to a ladder some twenty metres away from the control room. The gantry was swaying violently now and it was surely only a matter of moments before it gave way completely. The ladder seemed securely attached to the rock face, apparently leading up to an observation platform. She looked doubtfully at Virgil who, only now realising what she had in mind, painfully raised his head to look upwards. He immediately staggered and Tin-Tin only just caught him as he stumbled backwards towards the edge of the walkway. She knew this wasn't going to be easy.
"You can do this, Virgil," she told him. "Just a few feet up, just to be safe."
Virgil, hampered by his double vision, put out a hand to the first rung, missing it completely the first time. Tin-Tin, thankful that she was small and light, swung herself onto the ladder, working her way to the side, reaching down to catch Virgil's hands and guide them into position.
Scott and Alan were demanding to know what was going on but Tin-Tin didn't have the time or energy to tell them. It was enough to know that they were just a few minutes away. How they were going to get to them she didn't know, but they'd think of something. In the meantime, she had the job of coaxing a fading Virgil up the ladder to safety. They made slow progress but as the gantry collapsed beneath them, smashing against the wall and shattering into pieces as it fell, she got Virgil all the way onto the ladder and up a couple of rungs where he clung on the best he could, resting his head on the cold metal. His hold was precarious, though, and she knew she wouldn't be able to hang onto him if he fell. She reached into the backpack she still wore and pulled out a harness clip. Shifting position until she could reach Virgil's belt, she clipped him onto the ladder, finally allowing herself to relax in the knowledge that he was safe.
Exhaustion suddenly swept over her. She'd seen the boys come home with barely enough energy to get out of their 'birds and up to the lounge, but she'd never really appreciated how physically demanding a rescue could be. Still, she couldn't stay where she was - she barely had any space to hold on and she was practically sitting on Virgil. She'd just go up a few rungs and clip herself on as she'd done with the pilot. Then she could leave the rest to Alan and the others.
"Sorry, Virgil," she muttered as she accidentally kicked him in the ribs as she manoeuvred around him.
"Huh?" Virgil looked up at her blearily. He was barely hanging on to consciousness but Tin-Tin knew that in just a few minutes he'd be safely in the Mole, on his way back to Thunderbird Two and the medical treatment he needed.
How she lost her grip she couldn't say. Maybe it was the distraction of her wrist-comm vibrating as Alan called to let her know that the Mole was about to break through and he'd be with her in just a few minutes. Maybe it was the effort she was making not to hurt Virgil, but as she reached up for the next rung, she missed. One moment she was holding on securely, the next she was falling backwards, one hand clutching frantically at thin air whilst the other began to slip.
"Virgil!"
The sheer terror in her voice was enough to snap Virgil out of the daze he'd been in ever since Tin-Tin had got him onto the ladder. His muddled brain managed to make sense of what was going on and he reached out a hand to try to catch hold of the girl before she fell.
But the double-vision made him clumsy. Tin-Tin wasn't where he expected her to be and his fingertips simply brushed against hers.
Then she was gone.
Virgil did the only thing he could do. Babbling some garbled account of what had just happened to the Mole, Thunderbird Five and Base, he fumbled at the harness, his usually nimble fingers refusing to do what he wanted them to do at first. Then he was free. As Scott announced breathlessly that he and the others were on their way and that under no circumstances was he to do what Scott thought he was about to do, Virgil let himself fall off the ladder and into the reservoir.
The shock of hitting the freezing water was enough to jerk him back into full consciousness - just for a moment - and Virgil realised, too late, that he was too weak to do anything other than try to fight the current as it dragged him under. He couldn't help Tin-Tin - he couldn't even see her. All he could do was try to save himself. But he didn't have the strength. He couldn't keep his head above water for long and he felt himself being pulled below the surface.
Then someone grabbed him and pulled him back up. Tin-Tin, he thought, a wave of relief sweeping over him. She was okay.
"Hold on, Virg." It was Gordon's voice. So where was Tin-Tin? Relief was replaced by fear as Virgil realised the girl was still in danger. He tried to speak, to tell Gordon to leave him and go after Tin-Tin, but he couldn't get the words out. He felt himself being fastened into some sort of harness, his feeble attempts to push Gordon away from him and back to the search for the missing girl useless. Then he was out of the water and hanging in mid-air, slowly being pulled upwards. Dazed from the head injury, half-drowned and in shock now as well, it was all too much for him and he felt himself start to slip back into unconsciousness. Then he was being dragged onto a solid surface and he heard Scott's anxious voice. His brother was talking to him, but Virgil didn't know what he was saying. He just lay there, sprawled out, face-down, Scott's hand rubbing soothingly over his back as he gasped for breath. It took him a good few minutes to find the energy to sit up, and when he did, the effort made his head spin again. Scott was muttering something to him, but it wasn't his eldest brother who caught Virgil's attention, it was Alan. He stood at the edge of the wall staring down into the reservoir. He didn't need to say anything - his totally rigid posture made it clear that Gordon still hadn't found Tin-Tin.
Then their wrist-comms sparked into life. Gordon, sounding more panicked than they had ever heard him, ordered them to winch him up.
"He's got her." Alan didn't sound jubilant. They all knew Tin-Tin had been underwater for far too long.
Sure enough, when they pulled her onto the wall they knew at once it was probably too late. Not that it stopped Scott and Gordon from doing their best to revive her. As much as he wanted to, Alan could do nothing to help. His legs gave way and he dropped to the ground beside Virgil. The pilot managed to get an arm around Alan's shoulders but there was nothing else he could do to help his brother.
Finally - Virgil didn't know how long it had been but it seemed like forever - Scott and Gordon sat back, both staring at the girl's body unable to believe what had happened. It was Scott who finally looked up at Alan and shook his head.
For a moment Virgil thought he was six years old again, the desperate cry of despair coming from Scott as the boys were told that their mother was dead. It took him a moment to realise that it was Alan screaming this time and he knew that the sound would haunt his dreams again, just as it had over twenty years earlier. He tried to hold onto Alan but he was pushed away as his brother threw himself at Tin-Tin's body, shaking the girl by the shoulders, begging her to wake up, then, when that didn't work, turning to Scott and Gordon, insisting that they try again to help her. It took both brothers to drag him away, Scott pulling Alan to him and wrapping his arms around him tightly as he told him over and over that it was too late. She was gone.