"HE'S stable."

The relief that Alan and Jeff felt through their bodies was unlike anything they'd felt before.

"With a sigh like that, we all thought he was a goner," remarked Alan.

"My apologies," said Dr Travers. "I was just releasing the stress."

"Understandable," said Jeff. "Is he awake?"

"No. But you can go in and see him. Don't disturb him though please. He needs to rest."

"Understood," said Jeff.

Jeff and Alan walked through the door into the medical room. What they saw made them both stop dead.

"Holy…" Alan was too shocked to even finish the sentence.

Captain Taylor lay on the bed. His eyes were closed as he was asleep. A heart monitor device beeped a steady beep. He looked absolutely nothing like what he'd done the last time they'd seen him. All his hair was gone. His moustache was gone. His skin was wrinkly. His arms were thinner than what they were and he had various tubes inserted into different parts of his body.

"My God…" said Jeff in a hushed, depressed tone as he went to stand on the left side of his bed. "Why couldn't we have known about this sooner? I would have worked to make sure he got this treatment right from the off!"

Alan put a hand on his father's arm. "Don't beat yourself up, Dad," he said. "You didn't know."

"But I should have known!" said Jeff, feeling angry. Although the anger was directed at himself. "I'm supposed to be his best friend and I haven't been checking in regularly!" He screwed up his eyes and Alan felt sure he spotted some tears coming out. "I've failed him. Big time," he added in a hoarse whisper.

"You…fail? Never."

Jeff's eyes snapped open. Alan looked down at the bed. Captain Taylor's eyes were slowly opening and he turned his head slowly to the left to look at them. "Lee…?" Jeff said hoarsely.

"I'd recognise that voice anywhere," said Taylor, his voice sounding even hoarser than Jeff's did, but that was due to the illness. "You're here, aren't ya? That's hardly a failure."

Jeff felt his heart flutter as he shed a few more tears. He placed both his hands on his friend's arm. "It's so good to see you, old friend."


"Damn!" exclaimed Commander Wilbur when he was shown the damage inside the freighter once it had been brought back to Earth. "So that's how it's done."

"Y-Yes, Commander," said Brains. "And I f-found the reason why your ships weren't able to find any pieces of the previous freighters." He showed him the time bomb that Joe had forgotten to set.

"A dirty little bomb!" growled Wilbur. "Planted by the Briggs brothers to get rid of the evidence! Why, those slimy little-"

"They're n-not the ones planting the bombs on the freighters to disable them though," Brains cut in. "I do believe that whoever is behind that is s-someone on this base."

Wilbur growled again and gritted his teeth. "A saboteur amongst my people!" he fumed. "I only make sure that the best people work here!"

"M-My apologies, Commander," said Brains. "I understand your f-frustration, but can you think of any other way?"

Wilbur sighed heavily. "No. No, I can't," he said. "Lieutenant Bell! I want this base on full lockdown until we can determine who's behind this! I want every single person interrogated until we find the culprit!"

"But there's over five-hundred people working in and around the base, sir!" objected Bell. "It could take months to interrogate them all!"

"I DON'T CARE IF WE'VE GOT FIVE-THOUSAND PEOPLE HERE!" thundered Wilbur. "I WANT THE SNAKE FOUND!"

Brains then spoke again. "Actually, C-Commander. I may have a p-plan of how to catch the saboteur myself," he said. "If it works, we'll have the culprit by tonight."

Wilbur calmed himself a little. "Well, if it finds the person responsible and in a quick space of time then I'm game," he said. "What do you have in mind?"

"V-Very simple," said Brains. "Firstly, get another freighter on the l-launch pad and have Mr Mackay do his double check again."


Jock exited Freighter 9 several hours later. He was tired and more than a little fed up. "Och, this is getting tedious," he said out loud to himself. "All the freighter's checks read green. There's no sign of sabotage. There's no little bombs planted anywhere. Oh, it's a real mystery to me." And with that he walked away, sealing the doors of the freighter behind him.


Night fell, and all went quiet over Cape Canaveral save for work going on in the maintenance hangars. The pad where Freighter 9 was located was left alone. No security was placed nearby. Even though security cameras were in the vicinity, they had all somehow managed to miss the lone shadowy figure that had made its way into the freighter to plant the explosive device that had disabled them in space.

At around 2am, the shadowy figure emerged from the darkness and crept towards the freighter. They managed to get underneath and gain access through a secure maintenance hatch located underneath the hull. The saboteur then climbed up inside to the main hallway before heading for the power room. Although their choice of disguise-wear left something to be desired. They wore a brown paper bag over their head with a hole cut out for eyes and the body was draped in a black bin liner. They moved into the power room and up to the main computer console. Using the special key to unlock it, they pulled back the front cover and began to place the same kind of time bomb that had been used to disable the previous ones.

The saboteur worked with confidence, firm in the belief that they would get away with it like all of the previous times. Suddenly there came a tap on the right shoulder. The saboteur shrieked and jumped a foot in the air before losing their footing and falling flat on the floor before looking around with panicked breathing. There was nobody there. At least, it didn't look like there was anyone. The saboteur tried to get up but an invisible foot stopped them and pushed them back down onto the floor. Then a blue glow appeared as a figure in a stealth-suit appeared above them. "Well, hello there," said Kayo. "Let's see who you are." She bent down to pull the paper bag off.

"No! NO!" pleaded the saboteur but there was nothing they could do to prevent the bag being pulled off and revealing their identity.

"Hmmm," said Kayo. "Here's your saboteur, Brains."

Brains and Commander Wilbur had been watching via the video-link from Kayo's suit camera. "I knew it!" said Brains triumphantly. "Edmundo!"


The Briggs brothers were back on their island having returned to Earth empty-handed. The mood was not at all pleasant as Sim was still fuming over having been tricked. "Those accursed International Rescue people!" he said to Joe. "I'll get even with them. If it's the last thing I do!"

"Aren't we even already though, Sim?" asked Joe as he dealt out the cards on the table in front of him.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Sim.

"Well, we tricked them with that phoney distress call," said Joe. "Then they pulled the stunt on us by shifting the cargo whilst they came back and were alongside."

"Don't be stupid, you idiot!" snapped Sim. "They weren't alongside long enough to switch the cargo over! No. Those supplies were aboard that Thunderbird right from the off!"

"You mean the freighter was empty the whole time?" asked Joe.

"Precisely!" said Sim. "So no, Joe. We aren't even with them. Not by a long shot."

BANG! The door of the hut was suddenly kicked in. The two brothers jumped in surprise to see a woman in a blue armoured suit that they'd never seen before walk inside.

"Hey! What the?!" exclaimed Sim.

"Hello, boys," said Kayo in a flirty voice.

"A chick? Here?!" said the startled Joe.

"Who the hell are you?!" demanded Sim.

"International Rescue," said Kayo. "Get rid of those fags and grab your hats, boys. You're going on a little trip."

"Like hell we are!" spat Sim. He reached to grab a gun from the nearby table only for Kayo to use a grapple to snatch the gun before he could get it. Now she had hold of it and pointed it at them. They both tried to move forward to tackle her but she turned the gun on them instead. "Nice try, boys," she said. "But you'll have to do better than that to get one over me."


Commander Wilbur, Jock and Brains stood outside Freighter 9 which was on the launch pad. Two security men walked out and joined them. "The prisoner is secure inside as instructed, sir," said one.

"Very well," said Commander Wilbur. He turned to Brains. "What now?"

"We wait for t-two more passengers," said Brains. He looked across the open ground in the direction of the sea. "And h-here they come."

The others looked in surprise as Thunderbird Shadow appeared and came towards them, flying low and slow. Its landing legs were deployed and as it got closer, they saw that there was a struggling figure in each one of them. Sim was in the left claw and Joe in the right one.

"What the heck is this?!" asked Wilbur.

"All a p-part of the plan," said Brains. He turned to the security men. "When my c-colleague drops the two on the ground, please put them inside the freighter with the other."

"Yes, sir," said the security man, not once thinking to ask why.

"HEY, GET OFF OF ME!" Sim bellowed as he was released from Shadow's grip and into the hands of the security men. Two more took Joe and both were forcibly marched inside the freighter.

Kayo landed Thunderbird Shadow and took something off Brains before heading inside as well. She passed the four security men on their way out and after exchanging words, she went into the power room where she found the two brothers along with Edmundo handcuffed to various pipes around the room. Sim and Joe were about five metres apart from each other on one side whilst Edmundo was in a secure caged section on the other side.

"Perfect!" said Kayo with a sly smile. "Three rats in a trap."

"Let us go, Thunderbird!" snarled Sim. "You can't get away with this!"

"Yeah!" agreed Joe. "This is illegal!"

Edmundo on the other hand was in a state of panic. "Ohhhhhhhh, why did I ever get into this?" he whimpered.

"Okay, be quiet, all of you!" Kayo said, suddenly turning deadly serious. "We know what you've been up to and it's time to put an end to this. Sure, we have evidence that proves you three are behind the sabotages, but I think a judge would be a lot more lenient on you if you confessed." She then placed the black box that Brains had given her onto a table in the middle of the power room, just out reach of the three men. "This little box of tricks is going to help me," she continued. "Inside there is the bomb that I caught Edmundo trying to plant in the main computer. We've adjusted it so it's set to go off three hours after take-off. The only thing that will stop it is a remote-control that's located in the base's control tower. If I hear you confess, I'll throw the switch and it won't explode. So it's up to you."

"Pah!" scoffed Sim. "You're bluffing! You're a Thunderbird. Thunderbirds don't kill people!"

"Always a first time for everything," Kayo remarked. And with that, she turned and walked out of the room. "Remember, boys!" she called back. "You have three hours to confess."


The time for launch soon came. First a VTOL jet got Freighter 9 airborne and then the main booster was fired to send it soaring up through the atmosphere and out into space.

From his viewpoint aboard Thunderbird 5, John observed as the freighter passed by and headed out away from Earth. "Freighter's away," he reported. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Kayo?"

"Oh, I do, John," Kayo replied. "We just have to keep cool for three hours starting from now!"

Leaving the atmosphere was the signal to start the clock on the outside of the box.

The brothers and Edmundo were tugging hard at the handcuffs that secured them in place, but they had no means of breaking free of them.

Upon seeing the countdown clock start ticking, Edmundo was already beginning to feel the pressure. "Ohhhhh no…" he whimpered. "I do not like this!"

"Ah, shut up!" barked Joe.

"Yeah! Shut up!" added Sim. "I tell you, the girl was bluffing! She's got nothing on us!"

But all the same, they too were already beginning to sweat.


One hour and ninety minutes had passed since the freighter had left the Earth's atmosphere. Whilst the prisoners aboard had yet to crack, Commander Wilbur found himself starting to. "I wish you'd call this ridiculous game of yours off, Miss Kyrano!" he said. "We'll find another way to beat them."

"I can assure you, Commander, I am not playing any games," Kayo replied. "And, no. They're clever. They've gotten the best of you once too many. Today's the day we bring them down. My guess is they're already cracking up."

Kayo wasn't too far wrong. Edmundo was easily the one with the most fear in his body. "L-L-Look," he stammered to the Briggs brothers. "We only have ninety minutes to go!"

"Ah, will you pipe down?!" snapped Sim. "The girl was bluffing."

"Yeah, but, suppose she ain't?" asked Joe.

"You see?" Kayo said to Wilbur. "Two of them are heading in the right direction."


Another hour and twenty minutes passed but still no confession came from the freighter.

"They're not going to break, Miss Kyrano!" said Commander Wilbur. "They think you're bluffing! Now shut it off!"

"There's still time, Commander," said Kayo. "There's eight minutes left."

But Lieutenant Bell was starting to side with the Commander. "Miss Kyrano, with all due respect, I think you're taking far too much of a risk."

"I'm b-beginning to agree with them, too, Kayo," added Brains. "They w-won't talk now."

"They'll crack, I assure you," said Kayo with confidence.


Thunderbird 3 was on its way back to Earth with Jeff and Alan having spent a night there to recuperate and spend some time with Captain Taylor. Now they were passing the Moon, they caught sight of the freighter on the radar scope.

"Is Kayo really doing this?" Alan asked. He and Jeff had been informed by John of what Kayo was doing to try and get a confession.

"I guess she is, son," Jeff replied grimly.

"Can't you stop her?" asked Alan anxiously. "If they don't confess, they'll die!"

Jeff was surprisingly calm by this. "Then that's their fate," he said, leaving Alan speechless.


The timer on the bomb continued to count down. The atmosphere inside was extremely tense. All three men were sweating heavily as the fear flowed throughout their bodies.

"S-S-S-Sim," stammered Joe with a tremble in his voice. "There's only five minutes left!"

By now even Sim was starting to break. "The girl's just got to be bluffing!" he said, his voice sounding shaky. "They wouldn't blow us up."

"Come on. Come on," Kayo said with gritted teeth. "Confess, boys!"

"Miss Kyrano, will you turn that damn thing off?!" Commander Wilbur said, mopping his own head with a tissue. "I can't take much more of this!"

Two minutes were left and the three men were almost at breaking point.

"I d-d-d-don't like this!" wailed Edmundo.

"Sim! Sim, please!" pleaded Joe. "I can't stand it!"

"But the Thunderbird's bluffing, I tell you!" insisted Sim, although he didn't sound too convinced of it himself anymore.

One minute to go, and the terrified breaths of the three could be heard over the radios on Cape Canaveral, Thunderbird 3 and Thunderbird 5. Jeff, Alan, John, Kayo, Brains, Commander Wilbur and Lieutenant Bell all sat in silence, all starting to feel as afraid as the three in the freighter were.

"Tell them, Sim!" begged Joe. "Tell them!"

But Sim remained silent.

Eventually, it was Edmundo that cracked. "S-S-She's not bluffing. Okay, you s-s-shut if off, Miss Thunderbird. It was us! We sabotaged the freighters! We are the ones!"

"SHUT UP!" shrieked Sim, but Edmundo wasn't listening.

"Shut it off! SHUT IT OFF, pleeeeeease!"

"You did it, Miss Kyrano!" said Commander Wilbur. "We got a confession, now shut that damn thing off!"

"I can't, Commander," Kayo replied.

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T?!"

"K-Kayo's right!" Brains suddenly exclaimed. "I d-didn't have time to f-fix the remote control! That box will go off at n-noon anyway!"

Ten seconds on the clock, and the pressure had gotten to all three men now.

"Switch it off!" wailed Sim, tears of fear were mingled with his sweat. "SWITCH IT OFFFFFFFFFF!"

Five seconds. Four seconds. Three seconds. Two seconds. One second. The three men shut their eyes and waited to enter the afterlife.

CLICK! The lid of the box flipped upwards and a gentle jingle began to be heard.

One by one, Joe, Sim and Edmundo opened their eyes and stared in disbelief at the table. The box did not contain the bomb at all. Instead it contained a music box with a tiny little figurine of a woman twirling around in the middle to the sound of Waltzing Matilda.

After getting over the initial shock, Sim finally let out a nervous but relieved laugh. "You…You see?" he said with an equally nervous smile. "What did I tell you? I told you she was bluffing. Didn't I, Joe?"

"Er, yeah. Yeah, you did," said Joe, sounding somewhat bitter. "But Edmundo has just told everyone that we've been sabotaging freighters!" He fixed his brother with an expression of pure hatred. "This was all your idea, Sim! If I could get any closer I'd punch you on the nose!"

"Oh, YEAH?!" thundered Sim.

"YEAH!" bellowed Joe.

"YEAH?!"

"YEAH!"

"SHUT UP!" shouted Edmundo, silencing the bickering brothers. "Listen to the music…" The sound was entrancing him whilst the two brothers brooded in silence.


"I-I don't understand!" said Commander Wilbur. "Do you mean to tell me there was never a bomb in that box?!"

"That is correct," said Kayo. "All that was just to trick them into confessing. And it worked."

"Well, it worked all right!" snapped the Commander. "But my blood pressure's gone through the roof thanks to you!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Kayo. "But it was the only way to get the job done."

"WELL, IT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN!" thundered Commander Wilbur. "CALL YOURSELF A MEMBER OF INTERNATIONAL RESCUE?! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR COMING UP WITH A PLAN LIKE THAT! AND YOU!" he added, turning to Brains. "DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?!"

"Of c-course," replied Brains calmly.

"Unbelievable," said Wilbur. "UNBELIEVABLE! I SHALL BE MAKING A FORMAL COMPLAINT TO JEFF TRACY ABOUT THE BOTH OF YOU FOR COOKING UP SUCH A RIDICULOUS SCHEME!"

Kayo and Brains looked at each other. Then Kayo began to laugh.

"You think this is funny?" Wilbur scowled.

"Actually, yes," said Kayo. "Given that this ridiculous scheme was Mr Tracy's idea." She then turned to Brains. "I think we're done here, Brains. Let's go home."

"R-A-D," Brains answered. "Farewell, gentlemen." He then followed Kayo out of the control tower leaving a completely speechless Commander Wilbur and Lieutenant Bell behind.


Alan looked at his father. "Did you really come up with that plan, Dad?" he asked.

"I sure did," replied Jeff. "Nobody makes a fool out of International Rescue and gets away with it. A little extreme, I admit, but as I knew there wasn't really a bomb aboard, I wasn't at all worried. You see, Alan, if you want to catch a criminal, sometimes you have to think like one."

"Years of experience from dealing with The Hood, no doubt?" Alan asked.

Jeff nodded. "Although thankfully we won't have to deal with him or his little cabal again."

They were quiet for a moment before Alan spoke again. "Hey, did I pass?"

"Pass?"

"Well, I made it through the whole mission without any problems," said Alan.

It took Jeff a second to realise what his youngest son meant, and then he broke into a grin. "Yes! Of course, Alan!" he said. "Congratulations. Consider yourself fully reinstated to International Rescue. Now let's escort that freighter home."

"F-A-B!" said Alan as he brought Thunderbird 3 alongside the now turned Freighter 9 and together they made their way back towards the Earth.