SCOTT

This has been a nightmare few weeks, I'm tellin' ya'! John going missing, all of us pulling every string we can to get people searching for him, and when we find him, we find we've opened up the biggest can of worms in the history of the world!

This man known simply as "Bob", Claud Roberto Hogman. Intelligent, innovative, creative…almost as much a genius as Brains, and that's saying something. What a waste of intelligence! I am trying not to imagine the things that could have been achieved had he and Brains been able to collaborate. For International Rescue, of course. But this?

It is scary how much this man is reminding me of the Hood. The Hood wants to be `rich beyond the dreams of avarice' as I once heard someone say. He wants to own the whole world. Bob doesn't appear interested in wealth so much as power. If his plans had never been discovered, his network never closed down and his `contacts' arrested and charged with conspiracy (among other things), he would have ended up ruling the world! And I am certain from what Colonel Casey has told me, that we found out about him and his schemes just in time to prevent it going too far.

Imagine if he and the Hood had ever crossed paths! The whole thought scares me witless. Kayo and Rigsby are now re-checking every one of Bob's contacts, with Eos' help, just to make sure no one and nothing has been overlooked. Penny and Casey are debriefing Parker again and setting the wheels in motion for the whole lot of them, Bob and every one of his people to be charged. The list of charges is rather long, starting with conspiracy all the way up to and (apparently including) murder in the first degree! I'm glad we didn't know about that when John first went missing.

This gang really are…were ruthless!

Now I have another problem.

Langstrom Fischler.

There is very little official evidence against him in this instance. I could set the wheels in motion for a private prosecution, given that as far as Fischler is concerned, we have all the evidence we need to prove that the man is a menace to society, and yet…

The idiot really has had some pretty clever ideas. It is his creations themselves that are at fault. His habit of being in so much haste and refusing to take the time and money to make sure that safety comes first.

And of course, that unforgiveable "me first" attitude when it comes to being rescued from his disasters.

He needs someone else to…I need to talk this over with John.

When John next wakes up.

John did wake up, just a few hours ago now. This is the first time since he went missing that he has been awake and fully with it, if you know what I mean. He was no longer fuzzy-headed with sleep, or dopey from medication.

He has refused any pain medication other than the mild home-remedy varieties, because he says he can take those without losing his mental faculties.

Yep, our Johnny is back!

And yes, he is in pain. I mean, major league pain! A new shoulder joint, the pain from that operation was bad enough, without the complication of the emergency surgery to remove his dead left kidney. The right kidney has returned to its full strength, by the way.

He has finally finished his allotted antibiotics, the drip that was feeding him that vital medication was removed this morning, and he has been declared officially out of danger.

Phew!

The first thing he said to me today, after "Scott, stop snoring, you're rattling the windows!" was "I am never ever going to come to the mainland ever again without a full escort of bodyguards…or Kayo at least!"

At the moment, I fully agree with him. I mean, he was supposed to have been fully safe at that conference…forget it. I've been over this ground in my own mind a million times already. No doubt John will too, now that he's in the mind to think about it.

I updated him on the investigation. What we have discovered, and the fact that the entire operation is now closed down, and those being prosecuted have been separated and are being tried individually on every continent of the world. Bob is being deported to the US, being that he is an American citizen, and he is being tried there.

America still supports the death penalty. Perhaps that was why he argued so much for being tried In New Zealand rather than being deported?

John was impressed and appreciative of all the work that the girls have done, uncovering all of this and putting an end to it. It was when he asked me who it was that put `Bob' onto him in the first place that he stared at me in disbelief.

"Fischler? What does he have against me, Scott?"

I shook my head.

"He wanted IR to leave him alone to release his latest invention without interference. Bob monitors phone conversations, so Fischler has obviously complained about us more than once whilst on the phone, which meant Bob's algorithms picked up on it and started officially watching him. Bob approached him. All Fischler said to him was he wanted IR kept out of his way for a while so he could finish testing and release his new invention in peace. Clearly, Bob and his people decided that kidnapping a member of IR would be enough to get us out of the way."

"And they were right I imagine? You closed IR down?"

I nodded.

"Yes, but unbeknownst to Bob, we got wind of Fischler's involvement early on thanks to a contact of Parker's. Long story short, Parker heard from an old contact about Fischler trying to get IR out of the way about the same time you disappeared. We realised who was behind your abduction, but it did not help any in finding you. It was Parker we can thank for finding you."

John nodded, his eyes crinkling in painful memory.

"I remember him coming into the room where I was being held. I was out of my mind at the time, and it took me a while to remember him, but he…um… gave me one of Brains' edible transmitters. That's the last thing I remember before waking up here."

"We owe Parker a lot this time, John. But we still have Fischler to deal with. The man is like a snake. Weasels out of trouble every time. If he keeps on, one of us really will end up dead. They won't prosecute him this time. Not enough evidence, and Parker's contact was bugging Fischler's office for nefarious purposes. He won't agree to go to court for anything. So Fischler is still a loose end."

I sighed, and sat back on my seat, trying to visibly relax more.

"You're the one who has suffered the most, John. What do you think? Private prosecution? We have evidence enough from our previous encounters with him."

John frowned at that point.

"Do we really want a private prosecution as part of our official resumé?"

"I know what you mean. Any suggestions?"

John shuffled, shifting his painful shoulder more comfortably against his pillows.

"Buy him out. He has investors in his company. He must do, else how could he keep going the way he has? Buy them all out, so that Tracy Industries hold the controlling stock. Make TI the major stock-holder in his company."

"A hostile take-over?"

"If you like. Once TI has control of Fischler industries you can give him choices. Fischler industries is dissolved and becomes a part of TI, whereupon Fischler can be given a job as…I don't know, Creative Consultant or something. He comes up with good ideas at times, Scott. So long as TI are the ones developing his ideas with safety first, he can still take the credit for the innovation."

I frowned, uncertain.

"Or?"

"Or he remains exactly where he is, doing what he does, but he has to answer directly to a safety officer appointed by us. We supply the additional funds needed to ensure that full safety protocols are adhered to."

"And who did you have in mind to be Fischler's safety officer?"

John smiled.

"Me."