LANCE looked across at the freighter from where he sat in the cockpit. It had been at least fifteen minutes since Ridley had entered it, and yet there was no sign of her returning. Nor had he heard anything from her. He began to get worried.

One of the guards entered the cockpit. "What's taking so long?" he asked.

"I don't know," Lance replied. "I've not heard anything from the Captain."

"I know I have no jurisdiction on this ship, but you might want to tell her to hurry up," said the Guard. "I don't need Colonel Jennings breathing down my neck wanting to know why we're late."

Lance understood, but he'd been told by Ridley to stay put and that's what he was going to do. "She's probably busy," he said after the Guard had left the cockpit. "But I hope she's not too much longer."

Lance couldn't have known what had happened after Ridley had entered the freighter. As she regained consciousness, she found herself sitting on the floor of the spaceship's cockpit. Her hands were bound behind her back and her feet together in front. A thick white cloth was wrapped around her head, preventing her from speaking.

Her captors were none other than Boris and Gloria Anderson - also known as The Space-Spies. They stood over the bound Ridley feeling rather pleased with themselves.

"Well hello, Captain O'Bannon," said Gloria. "We meet again. You've no idea how long we've waited to get even with you."

Ridley tried to speak but the gag muffled her words.

"Now what do we do with her?" asked Boris.

"We take what we want from her ship whilst she watches helplessly," said Gloria with a smile. "Keep your eyes on her. I'm going across."

As Gloria exited the cockpit, Ridley tried to protest but Boris kicked her in the ankle. "Please be quiet," he said.

Gloria made her way over to the Transporter. Lance could see her coming, but due to the spacesuit looking nearly identical to what Ridley was wearing, he unfortunately presumed it was Ridley herself. When he went to greet her at the airlock, he got a nasty shock when he found a gun being pointed at him. "What the?! Who are-"

"Be quiet and do as you're told!" Gloria ordered.

Lance raised his hands, too afraid to try and draw his own weapon.

"Where's your cargo?" Gloria demanded.

"We're not carrying any," said Lance. "There's nothing here that would be of any use to you."

"I'll be the judge of that," said Gloria. "Now take me to your cargo bay. NOW!"

"Where's Captain O'Bannon?" Lance asked as they headed towards the rear of the Transporter.

"On our ship and alive…for now," said Gloria. "So long as you do as you're told, she'll stay that way."

Lance trembled as he walked Gloria to the cargo bay. The doors opened and they entered, to find themselves looking straight at the two guards who realised something was immediately wrong when they saw Lance had his hands up.

"What the hell is this?' asked the Guard who'd come to see Lance in the cockpit earlier.

Both tried to draw their weapons, but they didn't get a chance to even get them out of their holsters. Gloria shoved Lance to the floor before shooting guards in quick succession. Mortally wounded, they fell to the floor, lifeless.

Lance cried out in terror. "NO!" he wailed. He stared up at Gloria, whose gun was now trained on him. "W-W-W-Why did you do that?!"

"The GDF arrested me and my husband once before," said Gloria, without the slightest bit of remorse. "No way am I allowing that to happen again."

"OI! WHAT'S GOING ON OUT THERE?!"

Lance and Gloria looked up at the large metal crate that stood at the far end of the cargo bay.

"Who's in there?" Gloria asked. But Lance was too scared to answer. "Get up!" She pulled him to his feet and forced him over to the crate. She then looked for a way to open it. "How does this open?" she asked.

Lance was supposed to have been trained to resist interrogation. But his fear got the better of him and he instead told her everything. "Two keys," he whimpered. "The guards have one each. Only they can open it."

Gloria looked at the bodies of the two deceased guards. She went and checked them over and soon found an identical key on each of them. She then forced one into Lance's hand. "I'll do one and you the other," she said. "No tricks."

Lance became even more scared. Not because of Gloria's threat, but because of what he knew was likely going to happen once the door was opened.

On the count of three, they turned the keys and the complex mechanism for the door unlocked. The door slowly opened revealing the restrained Johnny Cuba. Gloria stared at him. He stared back at her. "What the hell are you looking at?" he growled.

Gloria raised her gun a little. "Who are you?" she asked.

"What do you mean who am I?" he growled. "Everyone on Earth knows my name!"

"I haven't been on Earth for many years now," said Gloria. "So forgive me if I don't know who you are."

"I'M JOHNNY CUBA, DAMN IT!" he roared. "HOW HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF ME!"

Gloria's eyes widened. "J-Johnny Cuba? The Johnny Cuba?"

Johnny's eyes rolled. "Oh, so you HAVE heard of me!" he snarled. "Funny. Real funny. Get me out of this, will ya?"

Gloria found the button that released the metallic clamps that were holding Johnny in place. He got up, slowly and uneasily. Despite his tough-looking exterior, his arms and legs were very stiff from having been sat still for several hours. Gloria was waiting for a 'Thank you'. But instead she got nothing, to her disgust.

"And you are?" Johnny asked.

"Gloria Anderson. But you can call me Mrs Space-Spy."

"Yeah…I ain't calling you that," said Johnny. Then he heard some kind of breathing sounds coming from round the side of the crate. He walked around to look and found a very pale-looking Lance trying to hide. He grabbed the terrified young Lieutenant and effortlessly pulled him out. "Think you can hide from me, pipsqueak?" he asked. "Hasn't worked for you, has it?"

"Please…" whimpered Lance. "I've got a kid. You don't have to-AARGH!"

Johnny slammed him into the wall of the cargo bay. "You got a kid, huh?" he said uncaringly. "How cute is that? Let me tell you something. I had two kids as well. They didn't know about my true self. I tried to put that all behind me. And then people like you turned up and took them away from me. FORCED ME INTO GOING ON THE RUN! I will never see them again. And your kid will never see you again." He then slammed his fist across Lance's face and he fell to the floor, knocked clear out. A small trickle of blood began to seep out from the gash on his forehead.

Gloria had taken a few steps back. She hadn't realised how cold and violent Johnny Cuba was. She was starting to have second thoughts about what she was there doing.

Johnny turned back round to face her. "Why are you wearing a spacesuit?" he asked.

"Er…because we're in space?" Gloria replied.

Johnny stared at her. Then he stormed out of the cargo bay, through the middle section of the Transporter and into the cockpit. He stared out of the windows at Gloria's spaceship and the blackness with many stars beyond it. "They tried to imprison me in space?!" he realised. "Dang. That's cold. Even for me." He then looked at the other craft. "That heap of junk yours?" he asked.

Gloria tried her best to ignore the insult made on her ship. "Yes," she answered.

"Good," said Johnny. "Find me a suit. I'm gonna need your help to hide out for a while before I go back to Earth. People need to think that I'm gone for good and then forget about me."

Gloria didn't like being bossed around. She decided to try and stand her ground. "Listen, Cuba. My husband and I will provide you sanctuary until you decide you're ready to go back to Earth. But may I point out that that ship out there is ours. I'm in command of it. Do not try to take control of it from me." She raised her gun a little to show that she meant it. Secretly, she was a little worried that Johnny might go berserk on her like he had done with Lance.

Johnny however did not lash out at Gloria. Instead, he nodded. "I'm impressed, Mrs Space-Spy," he said. "Nobody has ever been able to convince me to go along with anything they've suggested. I will respect your chain of command aboard your ship."

Gloria felt uneasy, unsure whether Johnny was trying to make her lower her guard or not. "I'll find you a spacesuit," she said and headed out of the cockpit, leaving Johnny feeling very pleased at his new freedom.

John was feeling restless. He was watching the hologram radar image of the GDF Transporter and the mystery freighter. He'd watched a life icon move from one to the other, and then another back again. Yet nothing had happened for several minutes.

EOS observed that John was looking concerned. "John, my sensors detect that your heartbeat is slightly erratic," she said. "That would indicate something is wrong, am I right?"

"Not a lot gets past you, EOS, does it?" remarked John. "Ridley said this wouldn't take long. But they've been there for well over thirty minutes now. Something isn't right. I just have this feeling."

"Maybe you should contact them?" EOS suggested.

"I don't want to interrupt her if she's busy," John said. Then as he looked back at the screen, he was surprised to see two icons moving across to the other ship. "Strange. What's going on here?" he asked out loud. "How many are on these two ships?" He performed a scan of the two space ships. In addition to the two life-signs that were moving between the two, two more were detected inside the smaller ship whilst a somewhat weak signal was coming from the Transporter. "Something's very wrong here," he said. "I'm calling it in." He pressed the IR icon on his sash. "Thunderbird 5 to International Rescue. We have a situation!"

Boris blinked in surprise when Gloria returned and he saw someone he didn't recognise with her. "Who is this?" he asked.

"Our new partner, my love," said Gloria. "Boris. Meet Johnny Cuba."

Boris's eyes went very wide indeed. "Johnny…Cuba?"

Ridley, still bound and gagged, looked up at the sound of Johnny's name. Then when she saw the criminal she was meant to deliver to The Hex, she began shouting furiously from behind the gag and trying to shake herself loose from the bonds.

"Be QUIET!" Gloria thundered, kicking Ridley in the face to knock her out again.

Johnny was more impressed than before. "She our hostage?" he asked.

"She is now," said Gloria. She turned to Boris. "A change of plans, my darling. We must hide Mr Cuba from the law until they think he's lost forever. Take us somewhere nobody would think to look."

Boris grinned broadly. "At once, my love," he said. "But first, I shall get rid of the camouflage."

At the touch of a button, parts of the freighter began shifting to reveal its real identity of the Space-Spy Thor II. Then its booster fired and it began to move off, leaving Transporter 28 behind.

Jeff listened as John filled him in. "And you're saying nothing's happened up there for over thirty minutes?" he said.

"That's right, Dad," said John. "And I'm only detecting one lift sign now on the Transporter."

EOS then interrupted. "John, the freighter's moving away."

John looked back at the screen and saw that it was. "Huh? And yet the transporter remains where it is." He turned back to Jeff. "Something's wrong, Dad. I just know it."

Jeff scratched the back of his head. "Very well, John. We'll go check it out. Alan!"

Alan looked up from his video game. He hadn't failed to notice the sharp tone in his father's voice. "Y-Yes, Dad?"

"We're going into space," said Jeff.

"We?"

"Yes, I'm coming as well. Scott and Virgil are out on call. Kayo's out on patrol, and I'm not going to leave you and Gordon alone with each other, so I'm coming along with you."

Alan was pleased, but wouldn't admit it.

"I want to come too, Dad," said John.

Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Because it's Captain O'Bannon?"

"No, er, well, er," John stammered.

"Actually, as we don't know what we're dealing with, perhaps more the merrier," said Jeff. "We'll pick you up after we launch. Whilst we do that, you might want to let Colonel Jennings know what we're doing."

"F-A-B."

Alan and Jeff sat on the chairs which lowered them down through the floor of the lounge before taking them to the changing rooms. Once in their suits they were then hoisted into Thunderbird 3 by the big yellow hydraulic arm. Soon they were at the controls and ready for launch.

5! 4! 3! 2! 1!

The chemical rockets fired and the great red rocket was launched from the island, picking up speed as it headed towards space.

"Thunderbird 3 is GO!" announced Alan.

John hadn't been sure what to say to Colonel Jennings about the stationary transporter. However he found that he wouldn't have to say anything as it was Hayley who answered his call.

"Hello, John. What can I do for you?"

"Hayley? I, er, wasn't expecting you to answer."

"I'm just covering for Colonel Jennings whilst she's off the base," said Hayley. "She's gone to inspect the repairs being made at The Nest."

"Oh…I see," said John.

"Is something wrong?" Hayley asked, noticing the look on John's face and the tone of his voice.

"There's something strange going on with one of your space transports," said John. "It went to answer a distress call and has been stationary for over half an hour now. And the other ship has left it behind."

Hayley frowned. "Strange," she said. "Which ship of ours is it?"

"Transporter 28, I think," said John. "Piloted by Captain O'Bannon."

Hayley had been about to use the computer on Colonel Jennings's desk to check, but went very still at the mention of Ridley's name.

John frowned with concern as he saw the colour drain from Hayley's face. "Hayley? What is it?"

Hayley's lip quivered. "Sorry, John, I have to call Colonel Jennings immediately," she said. "I'll get her to call you!" And she ended the call before John could say a word.

"That was unexpected," remarked EOS.

"You don't say," said John. "There's something very off about all this."

"Thunderbird 3 has just left Earth's atmosphere and is heading towards us," EOS added. "You'd better get suited up."

"Okay," said John. "EOS, when Colonel Jennings does call back, forward it to Thunderbird 3. Dad will want to talk to her."

"Understood," said EOS. "Good luck and be careful."

Alan brought Thunderbird 3's speed down to a crawl as they approached Thunderbird 5. Jeff and Alan watched as they saw the tiny speck that was John leave the airlock on his EXO-Suit and fly over to them. So that they didn't need to put their helmets on just for John to enter the cockpit, Alan instead opened the cargo bay doors so he could enter the rocket that way. He then waited for John to join them.

"Good to see you, son," said Jeff. "Did you inform Colonel Jennings?"

"Negative," John replied. "She wasn't at GDF HQ. I spoke to Hayley instead. She said she'll get the Colonel to contact us as a matter of urgency."

"Very well," said Jeff. "Alan, light the candle."

"F-A-B," said Alan. "Firing ion engine…now!"

With a whoosh and a roar, Thunderbird 3's ion-fusion engine ignited and the red rockets shot away from the Earth like a bullet from a gun.

"What did Hayley have to say about it?" Jeff asked John once they'd settled into the journey.

"Not a lot," John replied. "But when I told her the identity of the Transporter, she went very white."

"Like she knew something was up?" asked Alan.

"Exactly," said John. "I have a bad feeling there was something on that Transport that we weren't supposed to know about."

Jeff's eyes narrowed. "Or someone…"

The two brothers looked over at each other before looking at their father.

"Dad?" said Alan. "You're kind of creeping me out with that look. What are you thinking?"

"I don't want to say in case I'm wrong," said Jeff. "And Alan?"

"Yeah?" Alan felt his stomach tighten, expecting to get yet another stern talking to.

"I can't tell you how much I'm hoping I am wrong." Jeff looked back out into space, leaving both Alan and John rather perplexed.

Thunderbirds 1 and 2 returned to Tracy Island not too long after Thunderbird 3 had left. Scott and Virgil entered a very quiet and empty lounge.

"That's strange," said Scott. "Is Dad asleep I wonder?"

"I hope he is," said Virgil. "Even after all this time, he's up far too much longer than he should be."

"Your father has gone into space, boys." The brothers turned to see Grandma approaching them with a mug of coffee in each hand. "Here," she said. "You both look like crap. Get that down you."

Scott and Virgil drank the coffee quite quickly, not realising how thirsty they both were.

"Woo!" said Scott when he'd finished. "Thanks, Grandma."

Penelope then walked in. "Morning, boys."

"Morning, Lady P," said Scott.

"Have you left Gordon sleeping?" asked Virgil.

"Actually no," said Penelope. "I thought he might have gone on the rescue with you?"

Virgil and Scott shook their heads. "No, it was just us," said Scott.

Penelope frowned. "Odd."

"I did see him about an hour ago out in the garden," said Grandma. "Perhaps he's gone for a jog around the island." She headed back down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Yeah, he must have done," said Penelope. She gave the two eldest brothers a smile and then headed down after Grandma to have some breakfast.

Thunderbird 3's ion-engine was cut and the retro rockets were fired to slow the huge ship down as it approached its destination. Through the cockpit windows, Jeff, John and Alan could see Transporter 28 still sitting where it had been left by the Space-Spy Thor II.

"Well, boys. There she is," said Jeff. "Alan, bring us alongside."

"F-A-B."

"What's the plan of action, Dad?" asked John.

"You and I will go and check it out," said Jeff. "Alan, stand-by in case we need you."

"Okay, Dad."

Putting on their helmets, Jeff and John left Thunderbird 3 and John carried his father as he used his EXO-suit to fly them over to the Transporter. They soon found the airlock and managed to make their way inside.

"How do you know the codes to get inside, John?" Jeff asked his son.

"Ridley shared them with me in confidence," John replied. "For emergency use only."

"Fair enough," said Jeff as the inner lock opened.

Keeping their helmets on, both father and son drew their stun guns and moved cautiously into the middle section of the ship.

"Do we split up or stick together?" John asked.

"Safety in numbers, son," Jeff answered.

That answers that, John thought to himself.

They made their way to the cockpit first and opened the door to look inside. It was empty.

"Nobody here," said Jeff.

"Dad, there's an empty locker here," said John. "Any idea what might have been in there?"

Jeff looked inside the locker. "My guess is probably a spacesuit," he said. "You did say you saw two icons head from here to that other ship?"

"Yeah, I did," said John. "But who I wouldn't have a clue."

"Come on, let's check the cargo bay," said Jeff.

They made their way through the middle section of the Transporter again until they reached the doors of the cargo bay. Jeff opened them and they went inside, only to be met with a truly disturbing sight.

"Oh, my God…" Jeff said in a low voice.

"Oh…no…" John said.

Both men lowered their weapons and went to check on the three bodies that were lying on the floor.

Jeff checked one of the guards. "He's gone," he said grimly.

"So's this one," said John. "Looks like they've been shot." He then went to check on the third man. "Wait a second, this guy's alive!"

"Really?!" exclaimed Jeff coming over.

Sure enough, as John carefully gave the man a shake, Lance started to open his eyes. Despite the hit he'd taken, he hadn't lost his life. But he had lost some blood.

"Hey, buddy," said John. "Woah, don't get up. Take it easy."

"Who…are…you?" Lance asked weakly.

"International Rescue," said Jeff. "Can you tell us what happened here?"

But Lance only groaned. His head was groggy. "Got…water?" he asked, sounding hoarse.

"Sure," said John as he pulled out a bottle. He and Jeff helped sit Lance up against the wall and then John began to give him sips of the water.

Jeff left them to take a look at the large metal crate and the seat with metal clamps inside of it. "What was in here?" he asked.

Lance looked up after softening his sickly dry throat with the water. "Has…he gone?" he asked.

"Has who gone?" asked John.

Lance looked at him with fear in his eyes. "C…C…Cuba…"

John's eyes widened and he turned to look in shock at his father and noticed immediately that Jeff didn't look shocked, but annoyed. "Was that your hunch?" he asked.

Jeff only had to slowly nod in response.

"Johnny Cuba?!" exclaimed Alan once they were all safely back aboard Thunderbird 3. John had brought Lance over as well with a spare spacesuit so he could get some medical treatment and then be taken back to Earth. They had also recovered the bodies of the two deceased guards and then set demolition charges to destroy the Transporter so that it wouldn't become a hazard to space traffic.

"I'm afraid so, son," replied Jeff grimly. "Although why he was being brought out here I have no idea."

Alan thought for a moment. "I bet Kayo knew," he said.

"More than likely," said Jeff. "But I could understand why Colonel Jennings would not want her to tell anyone. You know what damage security leaks can cause - especially with what happened with Penelope and Gordon."

Alan flinched at the sound of Gordon's name. He hadn't said a word to either of them, not even to Lady Penelope about the incident, or about his feud with Gordon. He didn't have the courage to either. Although he was not at all afraid to confront his brother, he couldn't bring himself to tell Penelope about his feelings. It wasn't something he could explain to himself let alone to anyone else.

John then entered the cockpit. "Lance is stable for now," he said. "I've patched him up and made him as comfortable as possible. Cuba gave him a heck of a whack though. He's lucky he survived."

"Very lucky," said Jeff.

Just then the radio beeped and EOS spoke up. "Thunderbird 3 from Thunderbird 5. I have Colonel Jennings on the line for you."

"Put her through, EOS," said John. "And see if you can locate that other ship that was here."

"Will do," said EOS.

EOS's icon disappeared from the holo-projector and was replaced by a rather stern-looking Colonel Jennings. "Mr Tracy."

"Colonel," said Jeff.

"What's the status of the Transporter and crew?" asked Colonel Jennings.

"Transporter now empty," said Jeff. "One survivor and two deceased located."

"Then I presume you've been told about who the Transporter was carrying?"

"Yes, Colonel. We have," said Jeff.

Colonel Jennings let out a heavy sigh. "I really didn't want to get you guys involved with this."

"It's too late for that now," said Jeff. "Wherever he's now going in that other ship, we're likely to be your only hope of catching up with him."

"Maybe, but he's too dangerous for you to handle," said Colonel Jennings. "Is Kyrano with you?"

"Unfortunately not," said Jeff. "She was out on her own patrol when we took off."

"We don't have to confront him," said Alan. "All we need to do is disable the ship and watch over him and whoever else is on that ship until back-up arrives."

"Alan, whoever has helped Cuba to escape, they have Rid, er, Captain O'Bannon on board, likely as a hostage," said John. "If Cuba even sees us, he won't hesitate to kill her like he did the others."

"How he was even let out is what I want to know," said Colonel Jennings. "O'Bannon had strict orders not to stop for anything! She should have gotten you guys to deal with the SOS."

"Even though it turned out to be a trap by the looks of it?" Jeff asked.

Colonel Jennings fell silent. "You…have a point," she said. "Sorry, I'm just really mad about what has happened."

"I understand," said Jeff. "We'll find him for you."

Colonel Jennings sighed again, but this time with gratitude. "Thanks, Mr Tracy," she said. "I will owe you all big time if you can pull this off. Jennings, out."

No sooner had Colonel Jennings signed off when EOS spoke up again. "Thunderbird 3, I have a positive fix on the other ship. I'm sending you an intercept course from your current position."

Alan locked what EOS had sent into Thunderbird 3's navigation computer. "Got it!" he said. "Thanks, EOS."

"You're welcome."

Alan fired the ion-fusion engine again and Thunderbird 3 set off in pursuit of the Space-Spy Thor II. Less than a minute after it had gone, the demolition charges inside Transporter 28 detonated, destroying it and removing the threat to any other space traffic that might be in the area.

As Thunderbird 3 made its way through space along the course EOS had sent them, Scott called from Earth. "Base from Thunderbird 3. How's the space rescue going?"

"Not quite done yet, Scott," answered Jeff. "I can't give an ETA on when we'll be back."

"Oh, okay," said Scott. "Hope it's nothing too serious that you need to handle?"

Jeff had to think carefully before answering. "Nothing we can't handle, son," he said. "You can all relax. We'll be back before you know it."

"F-A-B," said Scott. "Oh, by the way. Is Gordon with you?"

Jeff, Alan and John exchanged confused looks.

"No…Why?" asked Alan.

"We can't seem to find him anywhere on the island," said Scott. "Mind you, we've not searched it fully yet but we wondered if perhaps he'd gone with you?"

"No, he's not here, Scott," said Jeff. "It's just myself, Alan and John."

"I see," said Scott. "Never mind. Just wondered. See you when you get back."

After Scott's hologram had gone, an awkward silence filled the cockpit of Thunderbird 3.

"Where the heck could he be?" asked John. "It's not like Gordon to go off on his own."

"He does like to explore," said Jeff. "He's probably gone inside the caves to have some him time."

At least he's not with us, Alan thought darkly to himself.

Far ahead of Thunderbird 3, the Space-Spy Thor II was continuing on its course, with its occupants unaware that they were being followed. Ridley was still bound and gagged on the floor of the cockpit. She had been trying to loosen them, but they were tight so she was unable to. Although she knew that if she did manage to break free, she was still outnumbered three to one.

"Where exactly are we going?" Cuba asked Boris and Gloria.

"To a place nobody would think to look for us," said Boris.

"And where's that?" asked Cuba.

Gloria flicked a switch which opened up the cockpit window shields so that they could see outside.

Cuba was stunned by what he saw. "Well swipe me!" he exclaimed. "I've always wanted to visit Mars!"