The Ransom (Part 13)

By Jenny Taylor

After a few minutes of silence, Virgil gathers his thoughts so he can put more pieces of the complex puzzle together.

So…I've been the Hood's prisoner for at least 23 hours now, plus another 22 and a half hours, until my…demise. After that… I'm his. So…the water torture was just for show to deceive my family and my possible…demise. Also…he has contacted family and chosen Scott for that horrible and fateful decision. Oh Scott…Everyone…I'm so sorry…I'm really am…Please…Forgive me.

He pauses as the gut wrenching and knot tying feeling of disappointment and sadness as well as feeling sorry for himself, for putting his own and beloved family through this horrible and wretched ordeal, by letting his guard down and getting himself captured by the world's most wanted villain of all time, the Hood.

Tears start to form in his forced-closed eyes at the negative feelings about himself and the horrible pressure that he put his beloved family in. His shoulder slumps into his restrained medical bed and sighs. He knows that there's nothing he can do to prevent the inevitable from happening. But…at least he try and find out more from the villain about his evil-scheming plans, just to pass the time.

"So…" Virgil began slowly, feeling worried, which caught the attention of his captor, still sitting beside him. "How…are you going to fake my…demise to my family?" The Hood smiles and gives out a slight chuckle, which made his victim even more worried.

"I wondered how long until you asked me that question." He leans back into his chair, removes his hand from his prisoner's forehead, crosses his legs and raises his hands level with his chin, with his fingertips tapping each other in a motion of a Mexican wave, smiling gleefully at his worried, bound and helpless prisoner.

"Well…" He deliberately pauses for a dramatic effect so he can make the blind Tracy uncomfortable. "In order to deceive your family of your…demise is…to make your death more…realistic."

"What…do you mean…realistic?" Virgil asks, frightened. "You're going to use me as part of your plan of my…demise?"

"Of course..." The mastermind smiled slyly. "AND…as part of your…demise, it WILL involve water."

"WATER?!" Virgil exclaims in shock. He breathes deeply and rapidly in fear. His last experience with one of Mother Nature's creations nearly killed him. On the very same ship that he's still held prisoner in, which had led up to him into the medical bay, still as a prisoner to the evil mastermind sitting next to him, in the same room.

"WHAT?" The three International Rescue members said in shocked and stunned in unison at Doctor Jaycee Anderson's answer.

"You can't be serious? Are you?" Alan asked looking at the doctor in disbelief. Jaycee bowed her head in sadness, an indication to the team that what she just said is true. Alan and Gordon turned to look at Scott, faces filled with worry and concern for her.

"Jaycee." His voice, filled with sympathy and compassion, breaks through to the young doctor. It was that same voice that she used on Virgil when she and the Tracy's were at Hunter College Elementary School in Manhattan, New York City, which she received by the same voice that the older two brothers used back to her, and now, she's receiving that voice, which she hasn't heard for nearly 13 years.

She smiled at her older cousin, tears are threatening to fall, but this time, these are not tears of sadness, but of joy, happiness and relief. Scott can see the twinkle of life, relief and comfort in her eyes and pulled her into a hug as he smiled.

"Thank you, Speedy Gonzalez." She spoke quietly as she embraced and accepted the hug that she so desperately needed. Scott smile disappeared into an open mouth of shock and pulled himself out of the hug to look again at her face, closely. He could not believe was he had just heard, and memories of the past came flooding back.

There's only one person in the world who only called him by that nickname. But doubts then floods his mind, because they only person who called him by that nickname is dead, she died on-board the King William V on its last and fateful voyage as it sank in the storm in the middle of the Pacific and no-one survived!

From what he was told at the time, she was kidnapped and was taken out of the country, against her will. "Scott." The said person snapped out of his mind by his baby brother, who was worried about him, he turned to look at him.

"You okay, dude? You had us worried." The aquanaut knelt down awkwardly next to his commander, concerned. Scott looked at the two youngest members of the family and then looked at Jaycee. After a few seconds the realisation hits him. He couldn't believe it, but the evidence was sitting next to him as she is holding her confused, young patient.

"I wondered how long it took for you to recognise me…Speedy Gonzalez." She smiled. Alan and Gordon were taken aback from what she called their leader, looked at each other and then looked at their eldest brother in confusion.

"Do you know her Scott?" Alan asked.

"Yeah Scott, you look like that you've seen a ghost." Commented Gordon. Scott turned to look at them after regaining some of his breath before he spoke.

"We all know her! She's Virgil's girlfriend!" He pants out the answer, tried to contain his shock and excitement. Alan and Gordon mouths dropped in shock and stared at both their brother and the doctor in silence, until John, who overheard and saw the whole thing, broke the silence with the presence of his hologram emitting from Scott's holographic emitters.

"You mean to say that she's…" He paused to look at her, he too open mouthed in shock as she started to address them by their nicknames, nicknames that they haven't heard for over 10 years.

"Hello Ginger Wolf, Clown Fish, Monkey Boy. It's been a long time." She smiled. Gordon stood up in shock.

"NO. WAY!" The aquanaut gasped. "But… I thought…" He was interrupted by Jaycee raising her hand.

"Yes. I know what you guys thought, but I'm well and truly alive." She said sadly. "But…Can you please not tell them about this, because… I don't want you guys to go through what I've been through, plus…if they found out and got their way… I'll never see you guys again."

Tears threaten to fall. The brothers then knew what's going on, well not all of it, but enough to know that she's having serious problems with the GDF and she wants to escape from them. Scott goes back into big brother mode and speaks to his remaining brothers.

"We need to sort this out when this mission is over, for Virgil's sake."

"Err…bro. We still have one problem." Scott tilts his head in confusion at the aquanaut's statement. "We need to rescue Virgil from the Hood first and time's running out!" Scott bows his head. He'd forgotten about Virgil's kidnapping and that his intermediate brother is in the hands of International Rescue's arch-nemesis.