Ch 12

The surface of the pool on this late afternoon was like a sheet of glass, not a breath of wind stirred the water. Jeff was so used to Gordon ploughing up and down the pool that it was strange to see it so still. With all the boys gone it was too quiet on the island.

There was many a time when Jeff would yearn for peace and quiet; as an astronaut he had spent many hours in the silence of space. All that changed as soon as he met Lucille. Lucille was used to noise and chaos. His wife was in her element when surrounded by the whirlwind that was her sons. After giving birth to three boisterous boys, Jeff had hoped to high heaven the next child would be a quiet contented girl; instead they were blessed with Gordon. Red headed and turbo charged Gordon Cooper Tracy. Never wanted to sleep, screamed blue murder if he wasn't where the action was. The list of Gordon's 'adventures' was long. He was the kid with the scraped knee, the one who would fall out of the tree trying to get the last apple, nearly drowning when he said he could swim at the age of two, painting his younger brother weekly with whatever was on hand, be it toothpaste or shoe polish, and never giving up whatever challenge he was set. And now...Jeff sighed. He could only pray his son wasn't giving up on his latest challenge.

The sudden ring of his office phone jolted Jeff out of his reflections. Quickly he crossed to his desk and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Is this Jeff Tracy, head of Tracy Corporation?" The voice was male and heavily accented.

"Yes, may I ask who is calling?"

"I cannot give you my name, Mr Tracy. My life, I fear, is in danger but I have been entrusted to give you something. Something that will help you find your son"

Jeff clicked his fingers furiously to catch the attention of Brains working at a computer nearby. Brains looked up. Jeff mouthed "Trace this" to the younger man, who nodded his head and quickly set to work.

"Gordon? Do you know where he is? Is he all right?"

"Your son, unfortunately, was the victim of a silly game, Mr Tracy. The man who made up the game, I believe, is no longer with us but he passed on to me some information about where you can locate your son."

"Yes, yes, go on," Jeff couldn't contain his impatience.

"I have already sent the information you require to your office in Paris. It is addressed to you Mr Tracy. There is nothing more I can add other than I am sorry for your loss."

The line was disconnected.

Brains groaned in dismay at his desk. "C...couldn't get a tr...trace on it, Mr Tracy."

Jeff's mind was already racing ahead; he pushed a button to hail Scott's wrist com. "No matter, Brains. We have to get whatever the caller has sent to us in France."

Nearby on the wall, Scott's portrait faded into black and was replaced by the extreme close up vision of a bleary eyed Scott. He may have looked tired but his voice was alert. "Dad?"

"Scott, I received a call not five minutes ago. I need you to get to the Paris office ASAP. There should be an envelope addressed to me, apparently it contains information on Gordon's whereabouts."

"Gordon? Where's Gordon?" Alan's sleepy voice could be heard in the background.

"What if it is a hoax or a trap, Dad? A bomb wouldn't be impossible," Scott replied.

Slightly irritated, Jeff gritted his teeth. The need to find out whatever was in the envelope was overwhelming. "I want you to get to the office, Scott, now and to assess the situation when you get there."

Scott nodded. "FAB, Father. I'll brief you as soon as we have reached the office."

The morning had been quiet in the Tracy Corporation Parisian Office, with no meetings or visitors scheduled. The pretty red headed receptionist, Ines, was busy rearranging a vase of Tiger lillies when the glass front doors slid open. Thinking it was the arrival of a courier; the girl did not look up from her task immediately but was startled when she did so. Three tall young men stood at her desk. Ines felt her face redden; the men were very good-looking.

"Can I help you?" The girl asked.

The young man with the large brown eyes responded in flawless French albeit with an American accent, "Yes. We, that is, my brothers and I, are looking for an envelope. It's marked to Jeff Tracy."

The receptionist noted the man's accent and asked in English. "And you are?"

The man looked to his brothers at his side, the one with the dreamy blue eyes and dark wavy hair gave a curt nod in reply. The first man reached into his jeans pocket and produced a leather wallet. He took out a plastic card and handed it the girl. Ines looked at the photograph on the ID card and almost fell to the floor. Virgil Tracy! A real life Tracy in her office. No, not one Tracy but three! And they were so young and handsome, just wait till she told Emilie in Accounts.

Ines must have stood there for awhile with her mouth open, for the youngest looking man with the blonde hair fairly snarled at her when he said, "Could you get the letter now, please."

Ines jumped to attention, "Oh, I'm sorry. I usually put the letters addressed to Mr Tracy in the out box," the receptionist turned from the men and looked to two trays atop a slender bench behind her. She rummaged through the outbox tray piled high with letters. "There are several addressed to Mr Jeff Tracy." The girl placed three envelopes in front of the men.

One was from a company offering corporate seminars on motivation, another from a local engineering firm, and the third had no return address. Ines watched as Virgil picked up the third envelope and very gently shook it. Something rattled inside.

"That letter arrived this morning," Ines told them.

The men did not reply but examined the envelope closely. Seeing the intense looks on the men's faces as they studied the item, Ines became worried and took a step back from the receptionist desk. "Is there something wrong?" She asked nervously.

Taking his eyes from the envelope, Virgil gave the girl a dazzling smile and shook his head. "No, we'll take the envelope and be on our way. If you have any questions just ring head office, Okay?"

Still stunned by the smile, Ines managed a weak nod and half a wave as the men quickly exited the building. As soon as they had gone, the girl grabbed the phone.

"Emilie! You wouldn't believe who just came through the door!"

"What do you think?" Scott asked his brother as they stood on the pavement outside the office building.

Virgil held the envelope up to the light and tried to guess what was inside. "It's small, squarish..."

"Oh, come on!" Alan grabbed the envelope from his brother's hand and ripped it open. "And it's a memory stick."

Scott frowned at his brother's hastiness. 'Al..."

Alan held up a hand interrupting his elder brother. "I know, I know. Could I get the lecture later, Scott? I just want to get to a computer and plug this thing in."

Virgil noting anger rising in Scott's narrowed eyes quickly took the stick back from his blonde brother. "Alan, you have to have patience, we didn't know for sure what was in the envelope; you're right though we had better get to a computer."

Scott nodded at Virgil, and led the way to the car parked nearby.

It took a moment before Scott could digest everything he had read from the memory stick on the computer. His brothers were as equally quiet as they absorbed the information.

Alan broke the silence, his voice bitter. "It was a game. Gordon was kidnapped as part of a twisted millionaires' scavenger hunt. He was an item hunted, collected and then shipped off as stolen goods."

Scott closed the laptop. "It seems so, Al. At least now we know why Gordon was targeted, and even though we don't have any names of individuals, we now know where he was taken."

Virgil stood up from his chair and started to pace the apartment's lounge room. "Taken miles from here, an island in Malaysia. So much time wasted just criss-crossing the goddamn globe!"

Scott shared his younger brother's frustration. The pressure of the last few days was building up in each of the Tracys, and they were reaching boiling point. The thought of another long flight with no way of knowing whether Gordon would be found, was daunting. Scott knew, however, that they would endure crossing the world thousands of times if it meant they could find Gordon.

"Let's get going," Scott stood up from his chair. "I'll contact Dad and tell him we're on our way out of France. He would have seen the information from the memory stick by now, and we will need to details on where we go from here."

"Surely, we're flying straight to Malaysia?" Alan questioned.

'Oh, we're going to Malaysia, Alan. But we need to be prepared. I want to get Gordon but I also want to get the SOBs who took him," Scott's voice was steely in reply.

Gordon sat huddled on his bed in the semi darkness of his room. His eyes had travelled over every corner and angle of his prison, seeking ways to break out. The only opening, besides the door, to the outside world was a vent. Positioned above the door, it was too high and too narrow for Gordon to even contemplate using it as a means of escape.

No one had entered the room for what must have been hours since he received the tray of food. Gordon had put on the clothes offered; a white pair of cotton trousers, and a matching white cotton shirt several sizes too large, it hung loosely off his broad shoulders. The lack of activity started to niggle at the young aquanaut, and frustration was beginning to replace the initial fear he had felt. Several times he had paced out the room, and had called out. The silence was excruciating. The stone walls must be thick, as no sound penetrated the room.

He must have eventually dozed off, as he didn't hear the door open and someone enter the room until they were leaning over him on the bed. Gordon sat up with a gasp. It was the three men he had encountered earlier. The thin man took up the tray, bowed and scuttled out. Li stood and watched Gordon with that damn irritating expression, and the big Meat-head pointed the gun in the young man's face.

"It is time for you to meet the Master, Mr Gordon Tracy," Li said and gestured to his large companion.

With one hand still holding the weapon, the guard reached out with his other and yanked Gordon to his feet. Gordon winced at the man's vice-like grip.

"Hey, watch the..."

Gordon didn't finish his sentence as the guard swung the gun and slammed it into the young man's mouth. Gordon's head snapped back and he felt himself fall to the floor, blood welling in his mouth.

The guard's grip kept Gordon upright, however, and the aquanaut was propelled, stumbling, from the room.

"We will not tolerate the prisoner talking out of hand," Li rapped as he followed the guard and a disorientated Gordon out into the corridor.

Half dazed as he was, and shocked from the sudden show of violence, Gordon tried to focus on his surroundings. The corridor he was manhandled through was lit by torches, and appeared to be of the same stone as his room. A couple of times he stumbled to his knees only to be jerked to his feet by the thug with the gun. Eventually, they reached a large cavern-like area, also lit by dimmed lights, and a blazing fire in a hearth in one of the walls. Gordon was forced to sit in a crude wooden chair that faced a stone altar. Leather straps were tightened across his wrists, ankles, and chest, even his head was held into place by a painfully tight strap across his forehead.

The guard retreated back into the shadows of the room, and after testing the tightness of the young man's bonds, Li also disappeared, leaving Gordon alone in the room. A dark shadow loomed large in the doorway to the room, a robe of jewels glinting in the firelight.