A/N I'm a dog person so easily distracted by the likes of Crufts 2011, the worlds biggest dog show. 22,000 dogs, one winner. Ah, dog heaven… unfortunately closely followed by a "quick" trip to the garage for a new tire which basically results in me living of gruel for the next year thanks to needing the whole wheel mechanism replaced. Still need to service, MOT, and tax the damn thing and next year the government have got on the band wagon for the whole equal rights sexism brigade so women will no longer be charged less than men. My thinking on the whole thing is that being young results in high insurance so surely ageism should be tackled? Yeah right! I won't even get onto the subject of ridiculous petrol prices!
Anyhoot. Thanks for being so patient with me, the reviews are so nice to read and get me back on track. I wish I could sit down and get a chapter out over a few hours but I get nit picky and have to read it through a good ten times, even then I seem to miss half the mistakes. Just imagine how bad it would be without my constant checks!
I don't own the Thunderbirds, chances are you don't either.
(In the last chapter Gordon has just dropped the bomb that it is in fact Alan that they're rescuing from the burning building, the fire fighters are making little progress against the flames. Scott, Virgil and Jeff are still at the police station awaiting news of his disappearance and a grief stricken Taio Zucco is looking to take his hurt and anguish out on Jeff, or more precisely, his sons.)
"What?" John stepped back, shaking his head as he let the words sink in, it took him a few seconds before he knelt down beside Gordon, gently taking Alan's shoulders in his hands and moving him upright so his head rolled forward, sweat sticking his hair to his head and leaving clean trails as it pooled and ran down his face. "Alan?" His youngest brother's blonde hair had turned ashen colored with the smoke, his skin to had darkened and was marked with the smoke that hung in the air, not just the smoke, as John took him in he noticed blood on the arm that hung limply besides him. "Shit Gordon, is he bleeding?"
Gordon had frozen, his eyes drifting over his only younger brother whose rescue he hadn't even wanted to be on. If he'd had it his way Alan could have died, the guilt crashed down on him as he realized the implications of such a selfish act he'd been so close to committing… if it wasn't for John, no, he didn't want to even thinking about that what ifs.
Blinking past what had already been done he leant across and took Alan's left hand in his own, squeezing gently in the hope of a response which he failed to receive. His eyes unwillingly fell from Alan's face down to where John stared, blood caked the blonde's hand and had run up his arm slightly. Some had dried, mixing with the dirty smoke and leaving black trails on pale skin. "Get the oxygen on him." He muttered, trying to find where Alan had bled from, turning his hand over but finding no injury.
John fumbled with the spare oxygen tank and mask, unraveling the tubes connecting the mask to the small tank on his back he attached the mask to Alan's face, running a hand through the back of his hair as he pulled the elastic behind his ears. His heart thumped in his chest as each second passed, he could hear his own blood pumping in his ears as he tried to distance the fact that it was Alan from his mind. Slowly and carefully he withdrew his hand and after a glance of confirmation held it up for Gordon to see, the smoke and darkness didn't help but the sticky red substance was apparent.
"Possible concussion, might be why he blacked out." He muttered solemnly, once again leaning Alan forwards with an arm he looked at the radiator he'd been leaning on, there was a patch where Alan's head had rested but it was small, the heat and pressure had probably inadvertently helped stop the bleed. "Doesn't tally with what's on his arm though…"
The radio in their ears beeped, for a moment they'd forgotten Brains on the other end. "Ch…check his sto… stom… abdomen."
Brains had worked on the infirmary on the island before Virgil had qualified, Virgil had quickly overtaken the scientist on his medical knowledge and qualifications yet Brains often still worked on them when they received injuries on rescues, it might not have been as good as having one of the two medics on sight but having the eyes and ears would have to do, it was better than nothing.
Lifting Alan's jumper mindful of potential injuries Gordon hissed and almost let it drop back down, sympathy for his brother merging with anger and hate for Taio Zucco. Lifting the jumper higher and shining his light down on the exposed skin John shared the thought, eyes widening as getting Alan out of the building suddenly seemed a lot more complicated.
Blood marred his stomach and the small movement sent a couple of new trails down his skin, the blood itself leaving Alan's body where one of his ribs had broken and punctured through the skin. As he drew in each slow breath - although stronger now John had attached the oxygen mask - they were staggered and hitched slightly as his lungs struggled with the pressure. From their darkened view in the smoky corridor John and Gordon couldn't fully assess how much damage had been done so moving him would have to be slow and as steady as possible. He didn't seem to have punctured a lung but the slightest movement could add to their problems, movement would need to be slow and steady.
"Ok." John wanted to run a hand through his hair but his hand landed half heartedly on his helmet. He withdrew a penlight from his belt, removing his gloves once more he lifted Alan's head and proceeded to check his pupil's responses. "Get the stretcher ready and we can prepare to move him, we can't hang around here too long."
"Firefighters on the gr… ground have kept the f…fire from spreading too much." Now and then a click could be heard on Brain's line as he put their feed on silent so he could speak on the emergency services lines and communicate with the ground, he was relaying the boys progress through so they didn't have to worry about it whilst in the building. It was always easier to deal with someone you knew and understood the meaning behind their words, people always seemed to be saying one thing and meaning another. "Don't move too fa… fa… quickly boys. You've got time, concentrate on Alan, only mo… move him when you're ready."
Gordon nodded to himself as he tried to let the words sink in and continued readying the stretcher, he knew his priority was to bring Alan home in one piece but he couldn't help but worry as to the damage already done, his brother needed proper medical care which he couldn't receive laying in a corridor full of smoke. The firefighters might have been keeping the blaze from spreading but they couldn't prevent the damage it was doing to the structure of the building or the amount of smoke that still found its way upwards and thickened by the second. He knew Brains knew that and was just trying to keep them positive and their minds on what they needed to do but there were too many things to worry about.
Stretcher at the ready he turned back to Alan, coming round to his other side as John fussed over his stomach and muttered to himself as he gently felt along his ribs assessing the damage. "If we move him down so he's flat it'll be the easiest and less damaging movement to get him onto the stretcher." John paused, looking up at Gordon. "How's he on your side?"
Checking his legs first Gordon saw that Alan's ankle setting had been broken, the cast around his foot was hanging off and his foot had twisted awkwardly and lay in a position it should never had known. Moving up his body there was a large swelling on his opposite knee, it felt disjointed but there may have been a small break to worry about, he preferred to think it was disjointed so moved on. Bypassing his brother's stomach he ran his hands gently behind Alan's back and felt along his spine, it felt straight and there were no cuts or swellings that he could feel. "Ankle will need seeing to, definitely done more damage there, his cast is coming off as whatever impact it's absorbed has gone straight through. Knee looks disjointed, don't think it's going to pop back in here though and I couldn't say for sure... Spine feels good."
He moved his hands up to Alan's shoulders and then down the right arm, noticing how it was curled behind Alan and hidden by his body, in the darkness he hadn't noticed. The smoke had worsened and seemed to be gathering in the hallway, the doors were closed so other than going up through the stairwell the smoke had been trapped and had nowhere else to go. Opening any of the doors would speed up the spread of the fire so it was yet another problem they had to cope with.
Carefully maneuvering his brother's arm towards him he was met with resistance and the clang of metal on metal.
"What is it?" John peered over, frowning down following Gordon's eye line. "Broken wrist?"
"Since when are broken wrists metallic?" Gordon failed to hide the stress in his voice or his harsh tone, confusion for a second marred his judgment and he moved the arm again, once more receiving the same clang of metal on metal. "Can you shift him towards you slightly?" Looking up at John he saw him nod shortly and get a firm grip on Alan's belt buckle and left shoulder, in one fluid motion moving him half a foot towards himself. "Thanks John."
He shone his penlight down on the newly exposed area, frowning even more as he realized why Alan had been by the radiator, Alan was, in fact, attached to it.
"He's handcuffed to the damn thing!"
John again leant over in confusion before growling under his breath. He knew he should have come to the conclusion before but he'd been so taken aback by Alan's presence that he hadn't allowed the thought. "Taio must have set the fire. Brains? Does Taio Zucco own this building?"
Both Gordon and John stopped what they were doing, pausing as they waited for a response from Brains, they could hear typing on the end of the line followed by a long pause. "Ye…yes. I should have realized earlier." More typing followed. "He'd kn… know how the ga… gas could be stopped. Prob… probably why we can't do anything.""
"Well isn't that just peachy!" Taking out the small pickax from his kit Gordon took deep breaths trying to calm himself. "No doubt he's vanished again?"
"No trace. I'll run a satellite track on his ce… ce… phone." They'd all be amazed if that showed anything, the guy was as easy to get hold of as it would be to catch the smoke in your hand.
Using the small pickax Gordon slid one end into the part of the handcuff attached to the radiator, his hands were still bare and as he brushed past the cuff he flinched, it was burning hot. He didn't want to dwell on the pain it must have been causing Alan so didn't tell John straight away, instead he levered the ax against the cuff in an attempt of breaking it. "It's not giving." He took a deep breath and put his whole strength into it but still it wouldn't budge, not even a dent in the metal. "Any chance you've got cutters John?"
John disregarded the protocol of equipment care on rescue sites and quickly began emptying his belt and pockets onto the blackened carpet besides him, he couldn't remember picking up any of the cutters on Thunderbird Two when he'd geared up so was hoping that some had been left in his uniform. He mumbled through a list of what he emptied onto the ground - a notepad, a spare torch and penlight, his own pickax and flat headed ax, a short knife, wire cutters, a temperature gauge, other bits and pieces that he couldn't see them needing. He was debating the wire cutters until finally he pulled out the cutters he'd been hoping for, a silent prayer sent it's way upwards as he passed them to Gordon. His younger brother fumbled with them for a moment before they cut through the cuff connecting Alan to the radiator.
"It's cut and burnt into his wrist." Gordon admitted, carefully pulling the hand forward and shining the light down to take a closer look he tried to keep his heartbeat steady so he didn't shake, the more he saw the more angry he became, he knew his anger wouldn't help right now, it could wait till later. "Let's get him out of here."
As they prepared to pull Alan from either side in a steady motion down onto the stretcher he let out a moan, his unhurt wrist and hand moving momentarily as he weakly swatted at his face, trying to remove the oxygen mask. His eyes remained closed but the movement or pain, maybe both, woke him.
"Al?" John paused, begging for more of a reaction from his baby brother, wanting to see the spark in his eyes that would tell him things were going to be fine. Alan always gave you belief, he was hot headed and impulsive but it made him who he was and who they so desperately loved. "It's your two favorite, handsomest, elder brothers, we're going to be moving you ok?"
Gordon smiled at John's poor attempt at humor, gently squeezing one of Alan's hands and wishing he didn't have all the equipment on and that he could whisper reassurances to him as they moved him. "We're the ones who are going to get you out of here. You got that?"
Alan's response was another quiet moan, he moved his head towards Gordon's voice and his eyes cracked only slightly, blinking for a moment before a smile crept to his lips. "'Bout time."
Down on the ground Justice was trying his best to keep in control of the situation, the majority of the fire fighters were dowsing the flames they could reach from just within the cordoned area. He didn't want them too close because the risk of explosion was still there, he'd given up trying to find the correct terminal and was now trying to get the entire area's gas link severed. More than one life was at risk now that the operatives from International Rescue had gone in, life always outweighed inconvenience so things had to slow down and be done even more carefully.
Every now and then one of the unexploded canisters who start to scream as the contents heated and threatened to burst through their metal casings, they'd been lucky that those that had already exploded had either done so before arrival when the fire had started or the explosions had been relatively small. Though the unknown aspect loomed as there was no way of telling how much gas each canister contained.
The shell of the car that had been in the centre of the blaze had burnt down to a smoldering heap, the constant shower of water from the hoses of the fire engines had won out against the flames and were trying to reclaim the ground one inch at a time. It was lucky so many crews could be called in, it had seemed useless to even try fighting it at first but with constant effort and dedication the fire had began to shrink.
He wouldn't allow himself a smile just yet though, there was a bigger picture, smiles could wait until the building was clear.
Every now and then his radio buzzed with the connection he had to the Thunderbird's controller up on Thunderbird Five, keeping him informed as to the progress of the rescue and any details the operative on the satellite had traced on the gas terminals for the building. He was relieved to hear that the casualty was still alive but the call that came through shortly afterwards made his heart skip a beat.
It was Jeff Tracy's son, Alan.
He had heard through the cops on the ground that the boy had been kidnapped but not much had been known as to the details other than a hit and run was involved someway or other, he hadn't really paid much mind to it, why would he? He didn't like to speculate over the result in a missing person enquiry, it did no good to presume the worse and did nothing for the moral of his crew.
He'd never paid much mind to the rich and famous, a life was a life and each was equal to another, money didn't buy you a rescue, timing and circumstances of the emergency did. That being said he did feel a larger sense of relief that it was Jeff Tracy's son alive in there, at least for now. He didn't want to think about what a man of such high standing could do to the fire department if he so wished, an investigation would be on the cards anyway, no one wanted a death adding to their worries. Jeff Tracy had money and people in high places, he was known for his strong manner and work tactics.
Justice was thankful not to be the police officer tasked with breaking the news to the man, he was tasked with the job of informing the cops on the ground who had sent word back to the down town station. There was already a pool going around of how quickly the man would be on scene, the option of him not turning up had not even been discussed as the man's love for his sons was common knowledge. His sons followed in his legacy, joining the family business and working closely with their father in all projects undertaken.
For a while Justice had allowed his mind to concentrate back on the blaze before him, for the countless time he wiped the rain from his eyes and blinked up at the building, illuminated by the fire below with the dark contrast of smoke leaving the cracked and shattered lower windows. The gas wasn't the main worry anymore, the structure and integrity of the building was. The heat would be eating away at the support beams and lower foundations, if they fell than the rest of the building was sure to follow.
The International Rescue operative he'd been relaying details through had told him that the men inside the building were on the move and were heading back towards the ladders, because of the casualties injuries they had to move slowly but should soon be beginning their decent. The sooner they were out the sooner Justice felt the fluttering worry in his chest would stop, he'd seen many a death in his time with the fire department but you never became accustomed to it, you couldn't erase the images from your mind or forget how quickly a human life could end. No, the sooner those boys were out of there the better.
John smiled in pure relief with Gordon as Alan blinked up at them and frowned.
"Didn't keep you waiting too long did we?" As they paused midway along the corridor John spared a hand and ran his fingers down Alan's cheek, mindful of how the oxygen was bringing his brother round and how it would also be bringing a lot of the pain Alan felt to the surface.
Sure enough Alan grimaced as he tried to look up from his flat out position on the stretcher, John lay a firm hand to the teen's shoulder. "Keep still for us Sprout, we'll have you out of here in no time."
Gordon looked away as he spoke into his radio to the emergency services on the ground. They needed to go back down to the floor below and then down the ladder, it was going to be incredibly difficult with Alan in the condition he was in but the ladders were built to carry stretchers and it was the fire crews' job to rescue people from burning buildings, John kept reminding himself that it was easier than it sounded, in most cases it always was but protocol had to be followed and the link to the ground and with command and control had to be constant, it was tough keeping your head in the game when you didn't know the casualty, let alone when the casualty was your baby brother.
The smoke was getting thicker as they moved and the blackness stuck to their uniforms and apparatus creating a dark, dirty layer. Unlike John and Gordon, Alan hadn't been covered in protective clothing, his blonde hair was almost indistinguishable and his skin had turned grey and streaked with blood and the little moisture that still hung in the air, sweat had left trails of pale skin down Alan's face and neck.
"Where's Scott?" Alan asked, concern noted on his tone.
Looking down at his little brother John smiled, the hope and belief of Scott always coming to the rescue was so strong and fierce that he didn't know whether to be envious or proud. Scott had almost raised Alan as his own when his father had been unable to do so himself, the relationship they shared was one of a kind.
"He's on his way with Dad and Virg." His smile wavered, he'd expected there to be relief from the reassurance but Alan's eyes darted away and back again, mind working over something John couldn't fathom. He looked fearful. "What's wrong Sprout?" They'd started moving again but John couldn't tear himself away from the look on his brother's face.
Alan frowned, he seemed confused which could have been down to the lack of oxygen, he blinked owlishly as his eyes continued to water as the smoke stung them. Blinking away the moisture he stared up at John with a fierceness that took him aback.
"He can't come here John, none of them can!" He tried to shift up but the blanket and safety harnesses held him down. His eyes darted to Gordon who was still speaking into his radio, his eyes meeting his red haired brother in fear as he looked back to John. "You've got to send them away John!"
John kept him hand on Alan's shoulder, squeezing as he tried to give what reassurance he could. "Why? They want to be with you and see that you're alright Al, they're worried about you."
Coughing for a moment tears fell down his cheeks, John wasn't sure whether they were actual tears or moisture from the air stinging his brother's eyes but from the wide eyed expression he felt it could have been both. "Taio said he'd bring Dad to his knees and he's going to use us to do it." Eyes met eyes as Alan pleaded. "You've got to send them back to the island John, if they come here Taio will find them... He'll kill them, John."
Taio smirked to himself as he watched the firefighters tackling the blaze, he was a few hundred meters away in the shadow of one of the surrounding buildings, the cold rain melted down his cheeks as the heat from the fire warmed his skin. The satisfaction was more than he could have hoped for, International Rescue had gone in and there'd been a rush of police not long after. They must have found the body of Alan Tracy.
He was going to let Jeff come to him, it was really all too easy. Jeff and his sons would come running when the police told them the fate of their youngest, they'd be angry and grieving and they wouldn't be prepared for what came next.
One by one Taio would bring them down, like dominos now one was out of the picture the others would fall so easily. Grief still bit so harshly at his own shattered heart but the pieces thudded on, each Tracy he brought down would surely take more of the weight of grief he had been forced to feel alone. He would share the grief, he would pass it on as life passed to death, hand in hand. It hadn't made sense to him before but now everything seemed so impossibly clear, work didn't matter, what mattered was family. Jeff Tracy knew that, Jeff Tracy would come to understand.
A/N - Sorry this is a shorter chapter, it means you get them quicker... also kind of worked for what's going to happen in the next one ¬_¬
Let me know what you think of Taio and his dastardly scheme to bring down the Tracy boys, would love to hear what you think!