Chapter 3
Scott and Gordon ran into command and control, awaiting the report from Jeff.
"Where are your brothers, boys?" Jeff asked with a hint of anger in his voice. Scott and Gordon looked at each other when Virgil and John ran into command and control.
"Virgil, John, nice of you boys to join us! Now, we have a collapsed cave in Perth, Australia. At the moment the only details we got is there are 3 people trapped below ground. I'll give you more details when you're airbourne. Virgil, Gordon and John you boys will fly in Thunderbirds 2 and you'll need pod 5 with the mole."
The boys nodded and went to their respective portraits. John took a deep breath, this was his first rescue mission in a very long time. Would he be able to cope?
"Thunderbirds are go" Jeff smiled at the boys and they went to their silos.
A collapsed cave in Perth, Western Australia. Should be textbook rescue John thought to himself. But rescues were never that easy!
"Thunderbird 2 to Thunderbird 1 we're approaching the danger zone. We'll be with you in 5 minutes." Virgil announced to Scott, he looked over at John who was staring out of the window of thunderbird 2.
"John, we're preparing for landing, you and Gordon get ready to move in the mole." Virgil ordered, he still knew something was up with his brother but people needed rescuing quickly. Luckily, there were only three people trapped in the collapsed cave. They had enough air to last for a few hours but after that they wouldn't be able to survive. John and Gordon made their way into the Mole and got prepared to drill into the ground.
"Mole from Scott, this is the plan guys. When Virgil releases the pod, you will wait for Virgil to get into the Mole, then drill down to the cave and meet the guys that are trapped underground. Then, assess them for any injuries. Got it?"
"FAB Scott, We're two minutes away, we're getting ready in the Mole now." John replied, his heart was thumping in his chest, he could feel sweat on his forehead already. Thunderbird 2 landed safely and Virgil released the pod ready to drill down to the cave. Virgil ran quickly down to the pod to meet John and Gordon.
The Mole started drilling down through the ground, John wiped the sweat from his forehead as the heat increased in the machine, he could feel his cheeks getting redder as he got hotter. He definitely knew something was wrong with him, but 3 people needed rescuing, this wasn't the time to be sick.
After about 15 minutes of drilling, The mole finally got to an opening that would lead the boys to a walkway up to the entrance of the collapsed cave. John, Virgil and Gordon got their equipment on and made their way to the mole.
Back on Tracy Island, Jeff paced around his office clutching his third cup of coffee in 30 minutes. He hadn't heard a word from the rescue site and he was still anxious about letting John go on the rescue after his random collapse earlier.
"Tracy Island calling Thunderbird 5, come in Alan" Jeff sighed deeply, he remembered when there was a communication outage on the island and he was praying it wasn;t another one. He wouldn;t be able to cope, his heart wouldn't be able to cope. But within a few seconds, Alan appeared on the screen.
"Dad, what can I do for you?" Alan smiled at his dad, he could see the Tracy patriarch looking stressed.
"Have you heard anything from the rescue site? They haven't kept in contact!" Jeff was annoyed but also concerned.
"I have their location dad, looks like they're nearly in the cave. I've got the signs of life readings coming through as well, heart rates are normal apart from Johns." Jeff shot up straight, dropping his coffee in the process.
"What's wrong with john?" At this point, Jeff's heart was raised.
"His heart rate is elevated, it could be the stress of the rescue but also…." Jeff cut him off mid sentence.
"Could also be what Alan?"
"He wasn't very well earlier Dad, he was looking flushed and he was burning up. We were going to warn Virgil but he didn't want us to. I know I should have told you dad and I'm sorry but…" Jeff raised his hand to stop his son. It wasn't Alan's fault, John could be stubborn and the family knew it, the whole family could be stubborn.
"Alan, please don't panic. I know about John. If you hear from the rescue site, please put the call through to me as well." Alan nodded and smiled. It was unusual for the rescue team not to keep in contact with Jeff but if they're busy then they have no time to call in.
Back at the rescue site, John, Virgil and Gordon had arrived at the entrance to the collapsed cave.
"HELLO? It's international rescue, can you guys hear us?" Gordon shouted through the rocks.
"International rescue, thank goodness! There's three of us down behind the rocks, I think Adrian has broken his leg, Bob has a cut to his head and is unconscious but i'm ok. I'm Jerry by the way"
"Ok Jerry, how much air do you have left?" Gordon asked, he knew that they didn't have a lot of time left and needed to work quickly.
"We have 30 minutes ro go. Please hurry!" Jerry shouted. Virgil got onto his wrist comm.
"Virgil to Scott, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear Virgil"
"I'm coming back up in the Mole, I need you to get Hoverstretchers ready for transportation back down."
"FAB Virgil, be ready for you in 5 minutes" Scott replied, he ran off to Thunderbird 2 to get the hover stretchers ready for Virgil. John and Gordon started to remove the fallen debris to create an opening to the trapped men. Virgil was only away for 15 minutes and returned to the entrance with 2 hover stretchers and Scott, who jumped straight in with assisting John and Gordon with removing debris.
"We're through!" John shouted happily as he created a gap big enough to pass through with the equipment. The boys climbed through the gap and went straight to assessing the trapped men.
"I think Bob is lucky enough to escape with just a concussion and a laceration to his head" Virgil looked into Bob's eyes,he was conscious but his pupils were slow to react.
"How's Adrian John?" Virgil shouted.
"Looks like a broken left fib. I've strapped it up ready for transportation to the hospital." Virgil nodded in agreement and pressed his watch communication to get through to Alan in the satellite.
"Thunderbird 5 come in"
"Reading you loud Virge, how are you getting on?"
"Rescue is nearly finished, we've got 2 injured and needing hospital treatment and 1 that is medically ok. They're just being transported to the Mole now and John is just collecting the oxygen." Virgil climbed through the opening as Scott and Gordon got into the Mole. Suddenly Alan frowned as he looked at the screens in front of him.
"Al, what's wrong?" Virgil started getting nervous. Suddenly, he heard a loud groan from back inside the cave. Virgil shot around to find John clutching his head in pain.
"John? What's happening? Talk to me!" Just as Virgil went to go back into the cave, a low rumbling went through the cave. John collapsed and Virgil jumped out of the way just as the rocks started falling down.
"EARTHQUAKE!" Alan shouted.