With much thanks to Waterfowl, Sineater and MariaShadow for all the discussions

'Scott, it is the only way.'

'I don't like it. I don't like it at all.'

'We don't like it either, Scott, but Le Vautour is in hiding and will stay in hiding for several months before he – or she – resurfaces to sell the plans they stole.'

Scott ran his hands through his hair and ground his teeth.

'But undercover work is you and Penny, Kayo. I'm not – I'm not trained for this.'

Kayo sat beside Scott and placed a hand on his knee before pulling him close and kissing his forehead. He rested on her for a moment before sitting up again.

'You and I both know that's not true, love. You may be rusty but you are not a novice.'

'You promised you would never mention that.'

'And I would have kept that promise if I could have, you know that. But both Penny and I are well known in the kind of circles that Le Vautour is known in, and Gordon is known because of the Olympics. You are the only one who can pull this off.'

'What about John?'

'Hun, you're grasping at straws. You know full well that John, while he could pull off undercover work, will freeze the moment someone speaks to him. And before you suggest him – no, Virgil couldn't pull this off at all.'

'* sigh* I know. I know. So…hit me with the intel again and exactly what I have to do.'

Kayo knocked shoulders with him.

'I think we should eat first. This is going to be a long night, and it will give Penny some time to finish her mission and join us.'

He nodded in agreement and they left their room and headed for the kitchen and the meal that had been left warming for them. Scott didn't taste anything as he ate, his mind whirring on what was being asked of him.

One month ago someone hacked their network and stole the blueprints of Thunderbird One. They were in for only a couple of seconds before EOS had locked them out, but they were exceptional professionals. They had installed a worm that even EOS struggled to contain. It was only once she'd killed the infection that they realised what had been taken.

Penny and Kayo had deep dived into their underworld contacts and still it took a couple of weeks to find any information at all. By the time that the name Le Vautour was whispered there had been a very close shave for both women which put both of them out of further undercover work.

They had spent the last week compiling as much information on Le Vautour. It wasn't much. People didn't even know whether the aptly named Le Vautour was male or female or other. All they knew was that Le Vautour was French, they were known to have a yacht and they were into any kind of information theft. Once they had stolen something they would go to ground for several months before resurfacing to sell the information.

The only other information they could find was that Le Vautour was known to frequent a nightclub called Saxo, famous for its dancing girls. And the only source they could find that knew that information was vocal in how much Le Vautour enjoyed the girls, had been known to do business in a private booth while being entertained at the high-class nightclub Saxo in St Tropez.

'So – let me get this straight. You want me to go undercover in Saxo? As what? A waiter?'

'No, Scott. Saxo's dancers are both male and female, even if they both dress as women.'

'Wait – you want me to be a – a *pole dancer*?'