24 - DAY 2 by TB's LMC RATED FRT

It's been two years since Acronym and the Hood tried to put an end to International Rescue. Now, an evil force is gathering once more. His wife and son have been kidnapped, and the patriarch of the Tracy family may be the reason. His name is Jeff Tracy, and this is the second longest day of his life.

Hour Thirteen

The following takes place between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

8:00:48

John hadn't realized until that moment how tired he was. And how much pain he was in. Every inch of his arms...his legs...his ass...his back and front...everywhere hurt. He looked down at Esunge who, other than being quite dirty, seemed none the worse for wear.

He stared at the brutish men around him. He also stared at their weapons, which looked like state-of-the-art miniature laser cannons. Boy, the damage those could do.

"Guì xìng?"

That guy's the biggest one of all.

"I'm sorry, I—I don't speak Chinese."

"What is your name?" the man repeated in English.

John looked the man in the eye. He didn't mind admitting to himself that he was scared shitless.

And naked.

He groaned inwardly.

"Name!" the man said louder, taking a menacing step forward.

"John," he replied. His voice sounded shaky even to him. "I-I'm John."

"Who is the child?"

"His name is Esunge."

The large Asian man's eyes widened. He turned and said something to the man directly behind him. The second man nodded enthusiastically and came forward with arms outstretched.

"No!" John yelled, taking a step back. "Don't you touch him!"

The men all raised their guns level with his chest. John gulped.

"Not yours," the first man grunted. "Is child of Gaat."

"Yes," John nodded. "But what do you want with him?"

"We," the first man said, gesturing to those with him as they all lowered their weapons, "are of the House of T'ang. Khai was to bring the child to us today."

"You...you're the House of T'ang?"

"Not all of it. Where is Khai?"

"He...didn't make it out. Ebony captured him."

"So you have brought the child on Khai's behalf?"

"Not exactly," John muttered. "I didn't really have a choice. Khai would only free me if I agreed to help him escape with Esunge."

"Free you?" the man repeated. John nodded. "Free you from whom?"

"Ebony. She kidnapped me and has been holding me prisoner for the last...I don't know how long," he suddenly realized. "A long time."

"This is why you wear only that?" he asked, pointing to the lavender sarong which was pretty much torn to shreds.

John blushed and nodded. "It was all I could get my hands on before we escaped."

"You are John Tracy."

He nodded, wondering how it was his identity was known, as the man turned to speak to his cronies again. A wave of dizziness hit him and he stumbled forward. The large man caught his arms and steadied him.

"You are in poor health."

"Yeah, no kidding," John replied as he tried to wipe the dirt from his face with an even dirtier hand.

"Come with us, John Tracy. We will take care of you and the child."

John hesitated. But really, what choice did he have? He couldn't very well get away from six men with laser cannons. He was hurting and he had no food – eventually Esunge would be hungry.

"You're not with Ebony? Not from the temple?"

"No!" the large man spat. "The House of Gaat is our enemy."

"Then what are you going to do with Esunge?"

He just grunted in reply. "Come or be left to your fate here in the jungle."

John sighed. "Okay, but Esunge doesn't leave my sight. Deal?"

"Deal."

Three of the men turned and led the way along what didn't appear to be any sort of path at all, shoving the surrounding flora into submission with their big arms and bodies. The first man walked next to John, with two more following behind.

"Our camp is not far, John Tracy. There you will eat and rest."

"Thank you."

I think.

"My name is Li Yuan T'ang," he bowed slightly as he pushed plants out of John's way. "You may address me as Li."

I hope I haven't just stepped out of the frying pan into the fire.

8:17:14

"We're about ready to take off, Penny. Are you and Parker ready?"

"Yes, Jeff." Penelope's voice wafted through the speakers in Thunderbird 1's cockpit.

"Okay. Ten minutes, then."

"F.A.B."

Jeff watched several indicators as the nuclear reactor started powering up thanks to the atoms Brains had provided for just such an occasion. The pre-flight check was already done. Now all he had to do was think.

And that was not good. Not given what Brains had told him.

Jeff had demanded proof of the genius' claim.

He'd been given it.

Jeff had denied it was possible.

But truthfully, and technically, it was.

Jeff had refused to believe he didn't know everything there was to know about his wife.

Yet it was entirely possible he did not. After all, she was a professional spy. Secrets were what she lived day in and day out.

Their marriage, he reminded himself, had been no exception. Only Scott knew they were husband and wife, and his knowledge had only come about in a moment of despair on Jeff's part.

Jeff twisted the ring he normally wore on a necklace, but which now sat snugly upon his left-hand ring finger. A token of their love. Their devotion. 'Til death do part them. Jeff's heart skipped a beat when he remembered the sorrow he'd felt talking to Sir Jeremy...hearing him die...wondering where Penny had been...wondering if he'd lost her as he'd lost Lucille.

But this...it just overshadowed everything. He supposed if Ebony had never come into contact with the Tracy family, and he'd never found out Penny had at some point borne a child, he would've gone on blissfully happy until the end of his days.

But now he had the knowledge. Kyrano had been right.

Thorough knowledge is not always necessary, nor desirable, Jeff. With knowledge comes the conundrum of using it wisely. Many men are not up to this task.

He was always right.

What he wouldn't give to have his friend here for some advice.

Nope. Going to have to handle this one on your own, Jeff.

There had to be some reasonable explanation. Perhaps she had been married at a young age. Perhaps she'd been raped. And what, the infant had gone with its father? Or she'd given it up for adoption.

Well, he couldn't very well bring it up on their way to Malaysia. This was a highly personal issue, and Parker would be there with them. Jeff just wasn't comfortable with him listening to something like this.

Then again...maybe Parker knew about it? He knew Penny better than anyone, he reasoned – himself included.

But why the big secret? Why had she not told him? She'd had a child, for God's sake! A child who was now holding his middle son hostage – in exchange for Jeff himself! Who was Penny's child that she'd become Gaat's lover? And for God's sake, why?

Maybe if he'd known before...if Penny had been honest with him about it...maybe they could've found out about all this years ago, and stopped it before it got to the point it was at today. Anger seeped into his thoughts. Penny keeping this secret from him may very well cost both he and John their lives today. It had already cost Jeremy's.

He slammed his fist down on the arm of the pilot's chair.

Why didn't she tell me, goddammit? Why?

"Jeff?"

He jumped when her voice came through. "Yes, Penny?"

"We're ready to board now."

"F.A.B. We're all set."

He heard them approach the hatch at the center of One's fuselage. He had to get himself under control. Now was not the time or place. Brains was doing more research. Jeff would wait for further facts before saying anything to Penelope. It was the right thing to do.

It was.

After all, he thought as she crawled into the cockpit, looking up to smile at him briefly, I'm in love with her.

8:18:19

"Thunderbird Two to Thunderbird One."

"Thunderbird One here," Jeff replied.

Scott winced slightly at his father's words. Megan got the idea it wasn't his leg bothering him.

"Father, we've got a problem. The hull inside VTOL B's shaft was cracked during the attack and we've had rocket fuel leaking through that crack since then. I can't fire the VTOL rockets, I'm completely out of fuel."

"Alternatives?"

"We've been discussing that," Virgil replied. "I think I should put Megan and Scott in the pod and drop it with the 'chute. Then I can try to rough-land Two without placing them in danger."

"And I told you that was not going to happen!" Scott barked over his shoulder.

"Scott, I need alternatives, not arguments," was Jeff's crisp reply. "What else?"

"We could, of course, try the rough-land with the pod intact," Virgil responded. "We could also attempt a mid-air refuel, but without fixing the crack, it isn't going help much. Plus with the fuel still leaking, firing the VTOLs might send us into the sky like a giant Molotov cocktail."

"Is there any chance of repairing it while in the air?"

Virgil frowned as he studied the schematics on his computer screen. "Well, we have the compound to seal it well enough until it can be properly repaired, but the only way to actually get in there and do it is for one of us to get on the outside of the hull and go in from under her." He turned and eyed Scott's leg before continuing. "I'm the only one with enough physical capacity to do it, Father."

"Why?" Jeff 's voice was suddenly urgent. "What's wrong with Scott?"

Scott shook his head at Virgil, who hesitated before replying. "He'll be all right, Father. He just has a flesh wound on his leg."

They could hear their father's sigh. "Chances of success?"

"It depends. We can't hover without the VTOLs, so Scott would have to keep Thunderbird 2 going as slow as possible without stalling her out, which is still at least 600 miles per hour. The wind sheer will make it difficult to effect the repairs very quickly, to say the least."

Not to mention that I already spent part of today dangling alongside my 'bird.

They were silent as their father considered what he'd been told.

"Scott? What do you recommend?"

"Not going with Number One," he replied gruffly.

"As Field Commander, son. Not as brother."

Scott frowned. He and Virgil exchanged looks. "I think a rough-land of the entire craft is too risky, both to us and Thunderbird herself. Dropping the pod is also risky for the simple fact that we'll lose our equipment to wherever we drop it and it will therefore most likely be unavailable to us when we really need it. Not to mention the danger of being recovered by someone outside our organization."

"And the third option?"

Scott swallowed hard. Megan knew that although his professional opinion told him one thing, his brotherly heart was telling him another. She could see it in his stricken eyes.

"I think our best chance for success rests with Virgil trying to effect repairs while we're still in motion, and then going for a mid-air refuel with One. We've got the electromagnetic gear that Brains invented, the compound we need and the ability to secure him to Two in the event the magnets give out for any reason. We won't lose him."

And in those final words, Megan heard a solemn vow from one brother to another. We won't lose you, Virgil, no matter what. Not if I have anything to say about it. echoed in her mind.

"Virgil? Do you concur?"

"Yes, Father."

"Then do it. I refueled at Penny's, so I've got enough for us both. And before I forget, we actually have a good piece of news."

"Really?"

"Yes. Parker didn't die after all. He's alive, saved by Brains' newly designed bulletproof vest. And he's here in the cockpit with us."

"You're kidding!" Virgil exclaimed. "That's great!"

"I agree, son. How far out are you from Malaysia?"

"We've actually just come upon the Gulf of Siam."

"All right. I think it would be best if you turn and start heading back towards me. You'll be slow-going while Virgil's effecting the repairs."

"Yes, and I should be nearly finished by the time we meet up, Father."

"Right, Virgil. And then it's on to Malaysia."

"Dad, you still haven't told us why we're going there."

There was a moment's silence before he responded. "Because Ebony has offered to exchange John, Scott."

"For what?"

"Not what. Who."

"All right, then. Who?"

"Me."

Scott and Virgil turned and stared at one another.

"No," Scott whispered. "Dad..."

8:29:40

"This is the date you talked of keeping?" Penelope asked in shock as she stared up at her husband.

"Yes, Penny. Ebony contacted me several hours ago. She said John was alive, and that she would release him only if she got me in exchange."

"Surely you're not thinking of—!"

"No, Penny, I'm not." Jeff heard the sighs of relief from Thunderbird Two. "Listen, boys, I'm desperate, but not stupid. I don't think she intends to release John any more than you do. And I have no idea what she wants with me. What I do know is that saving John's life is the most important thing on our plate today, and if that means temporarily allowing myself to be imprisoned, then so be it."

"You sound like you have a plan," Scott said.

"I was hoping you boys would help me out with that one."

Virgil's face grinned from the video screen. "Are you saying you actually need our help, Dad?"

Jeff grunted, but couldn't hold the scowl he was attempting. "Of course I do. I may be many things, but a one-man army isn't one of them."

They laughed.

"You're all with me on this, right?" Jeff continued, serious once more.

"He's our brother, Dad," Scott replied as though aghast Jeff would even ask such a thing.

Jeff smiled. "I know, but I don't ever presume to speak for any of you."

"Don't worry, Dad," Virgil chimed in. "We're with you all the way."

"I'll help if I can, Jeff."

"Thank you, Megan. I'm sure we'll need all the help we can get. Now, get to work, boys. I want that 'bird ready for fueling as soon as possible."

"F.A.B."

With that, Virgil turned in his seat. "Okay, Scott, time for me to get ready. She's all yours."

"F.A.B., Virgil. And...be careful."

He flashed him a smile. "Nothing but. Megan, would you mind giving me a hand?"

"Uh...sure. What do you need?"

Scott watched them walk out of the cockpit, sat back in the seat and quickly refamiliarized himself with Two's console layout. He slowed her to 4,500 miles per hour...4,000...3,500...his mind drifted.

What the hell was that kiss about?

...

Is John still alive?

...

Is Virgil's head really okay enough for him to attempt what he's attempting?

...

Why did Dad and Penny get married without telling us?

...

How did someone like Nishan infiltrate us? How could we not know?

...

What if we can't get John back?

...

...

Too many questions. Scott rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Dammit," he whispered, slowing her to 3,000...2,500...2,000.

Too many questions. Too many uncertainties. Too many variables to predict what will happen to us. If we'll survive...if we'll lose one...or more...

Cobalt blue eyes stared out the cockpit window reflective...unseeing...troubled.

8:41:22

John had been given a tub of water in which to bathe Esunge and himself. The child had enjoyed bath time immensely, but his own had probably been the most painful bath John had ever taken in his life. The camp was filled with over twenty men, most not as large as the ones who'd found him after the tunnel caved in. One of them brought some first aid supplies over as soon as he stepped out of the tub and methodically began bandaging his scraped-off skin.

This had the result of John looking quite a bit like a mummy.

But at least he wasn't wearing the lavender sarong anymore.

Thank God.

Esunge was clothed in brand-new apparel that fit him just right. John had to wonder what the hell was going on. What was the House of T'ang and why was Gaat's family its mortal enemy? As such, wasn't Esunge in grave danger? He still hadn't been told anything. As the medicine man finished with his bandages, the smells of food cooking wafted to him. His mouth watered, his stomach growling.

Suddenly Li appeared, motioning with his hand. "Come, John Tracy, with the child."

John picked Esunge up and followed Li along a narrow path into a clearing where a good number of the camp sat around with plates of hot, steaming food.

"Eat," Li said. "Both of you."

John smiled gratefully when he was handed a large metal bowl. "Thank you." He moved to the large pot over a burning fire and scooped out what looked to be a mixture of rice, vegetables and meat, though he couldn't identify much beyond that. He didn't care if it was roadside vermin at this point. He was starving.

Most of the men ignored John and his charge, but some stared alternately at him and the baby. John shifted uncomfortably in the open space he'd cleared and shoveled food into his mouth with the spoon he'd been provided. Just as he was wondering what to do about Esunge's hungry tummy, a woman...the only one he'd seen since arriving in the camp...appeared before him with a baby bottle and another bowl, this one looking like it was filled with mush.

"Wèi hái," she said, nodding toward Esunge, then indicating the bottle and bowl. "Wèi hái."

"You want to feed him?" John asked, wishing Li wasn't the only one who seemed to speak English.

The woman nodded and he took a good look at her as she sat down. She was probably about twenty-five or thirty. Her long, black hair was tied into a bun on the top of her head and she wore camouflage clothing like the men did. Esunge seemed to like her...either that or he was so hungry he didn't care...and climbed into her lap with no prodding at all.

The baby squealed with delight as the woman spooned mush into his mouth. Once he'd had his fill, she cradled him in her arms and gave him the bottle. John watched as he finished the last bits of his meal.

They look beautiful together.

Okay, where did that come from?

He started feeling a bit guilty for having separated Esunge from his real mother. Then again, Ebony was nothing if not a complete and total bitch. Still...she was his mother. John frowned as he recalled how vehemently Esunge didn't want to return to her. So much so that, as far as John could tell, he'd made the tunnel shake.

Which is what had caused the rock to crack. And the tunnel to collapse. He looked warily at the boy, now lying half asleep in the woman's arms.

That kid is dangerous in more ways than one.

"I see you have met my daughter."

John looked over as Li came and sat down next to the woman.

"Well, she spoke to me in a language I don't understand and I did the same to her. If you call that meeting then yes, we have met."

Li actually laughed. "John Tracy, this is my daughter, Zi T'ang."

At the sound of her name, Zi bowed as much as she could with a now-sleeping baby in her arms.

"Pleased to meet you, Miss T'ang," John said, nodding his head.

"John Tracy zhè wèi," Li said to her.

"Ni hao," Zi said.

John smiled. "Ni hao." His smile grew even broader when she surreptitiously looked at him through her lashes and all-out grinned.

Guess she doesn't mind a guy wrapped almost completely in gauze.

He almost laughed out loud, but considered that might be inappropriate under the circumstances.

"John Tracy, we must talk of the future."

"The future?" he repeated, Zi no longer even on his radar.

"Indeed. You see, John Tracy, now that you and the child are with us, the plans must change. But the end result must be the same."

"And what is the end result you're after?"

"Total annihilation of the House of Gaat."

John glanced at Esunge.

"Do not fear for the child, John Tracy. For he is not the son of Radzi Belah."

"But...Ebony said he was!"

"She lies." Li reached out and lifted the boy's pant leg, turning his foot so John could see the instep. "All men of the family Gaat have a mark here between the arch and ankle."

"He doesn't have one."

"No."

"But...it's just genetics. What if he just didn't get the gene for the birthmark?"

"All male members of the House of Gaat have borne this mark for generations, John Tracy. The fact that he does not bear the mark of Zhang-Fei means he is not a descendant of that bloodline."

"Zhang-Fei?"

"Ancient God of Butchers. And we do not mean butchers of animals, John Tracy. The House of Gaat has borne this symbol since Zhang-Fei's defeat at the hands of his own men. He was immortalized for his misdeeds."

John looked down at Esunge's foot and back up at Li. "He's not Gaat's child."

"No. Apparently she lied to keep her good status with him. But then he died, and her claim allowed her to take over his wealth and work."

John smiled in relief. Li nodded, as if sharing in the sentiment. "Now that we are aware of this fact, the only one left is Ebony. She is a dangerous woman. We fear she will liaise with a demon in an attempt to overthrow us."

"A demon?" Li nodded. "But...I don't understand why she wanted me."

"To get to your father."

"My father? But why him?"

"You do not yet know, John Tracy?"

John shook his head.

"The spirit of Gaat has returned." Li looked him directly in the eyes. "He wishes to take over your father's body."

What?

Before he could reply, there was a whizzing sound. Right before his eyes, something smacked into Li's head. He barely had time to register that it was an arrow before Li stiffened and fell sideways.

Zi screamed as an arrow headed straight for John.

8:59:58

8:59:59

9:00:00

Hour Fourteen

The following takes place between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

9:02:11

"How do I look?" Virgil flashed a smile.

"Like a cross between a commando and a fighter pilot," Megan replied thoughtfully. "Those magno-things are going to keep you on the hull?"

"That's the plan," he replied. "Let Scott know I'm ready to go out."

"Okay."

Virgil tugged at the apparatus he wore, first checking the belts that held the electromagnetic gear on him, then the compact parachute he wore on his back...just in case...the two small oxygen containers strapped on his back either side of the parachute, and finally the small mask that led to them, ensuring he wouldn't pass out due to the lack of oxygen that high in the atmosphere.

Hanging out there twice in one day. That's a record.

He checked the four canisters of compound he'd have to use to seal the cracked hull in the VTOL shaft.

This is going to be messy.

His mind wandered to John. To Penelope. To Parker and Sir Jeremy.

I'm glad Parker made it.

A frown settled onto his face.

But will the rest of us?

9:05:47

Master, you must come to me. I need you. I have...failed.

Dark eyes closed, mouth hanging slightly open.

I have lost our son in the jungles.

Incense wafted around her glistening skin.

Please, Master. What is thy bidding?

Above the abyss it rose, twining and swirling like tendrils of smoke as it wove its way from the depths. Blue flashes of light began sparking in each tendril as they slowly came together to form a single teardrop-shaped cloud above her.

She opened her eyes and looked up in time to see the smoke form two glowing red eyes.

Her hands flew to her mouth as Ebony screamed.

9:08:16

Kyrano's eyes fluttered open. He looked around as he rose to a sitting position.

I am in the hospital ward.

He slid off the bed and padded across the room, through the door and into the hall. There wasn't a soul in sight.

Where has everyone gone?

In order to get to the elevator that would take him to the main floor of the villa, Kyrano had to pass by Brains' laboratory. There was Broadway music playing, as was the norm when Brains was hard at work, but it played softly instead of unbearably loud, as it usually did.

Kyrano entered to find Brains hunched over a mobile computer with papers scattered everywhere and a pencil between his lips.

"Mr. Brains? What are you doing?"

"Kyrano!" the engineer squeaked, jumping to his feet. Papers went everywhere. "How are you?"

"I am better now, thank you." Kyrano waved a hand at the computer and papers. "What is all this for?"

"I discovered something that Jeff is i-insisting I look further into before he says a-anything to Lady Penelope."

Kyrano frowned. "What have you discovered?"

Brains shrugged. He saw no reason not to tell Kyrano. It wouldn't have surprised him if he already knew. He always seemed to know everything, yet disclose very little.

"Everything I can find is indicating that Lady Penelope is Ebony's birth mother."

Kyrano's eyebrows shot up. "Where is the evidence for this?"

Brains showed him some files and pictures he had on the computer, one of which was a reconstructed birth certificate showing a child born as Victoria Emily Creighton-Ward. The space for a father's name was blank, but the mother was very clearly listed as Penelope Jane Creighton-Ward.

A little too clearly.

"Brains? Why is the mother's name written so much more clearly than most of the rest of that certificate?"

"There was a fire in the hall that held birth and death records for that area about four years after Ebony was born. They saved almost every record, but some had to be reconstructed. This is one of the reconstructed documents."

Kyrano looked at the certificate again. "What if it was not reconstructed correctly?"

Brains frowned. "What are you saying?"

"What if Lady Penelope isn't the Creighton-Ward Ebony was born to?"

"What? But then who..." Brains stopped and stared at Kyrano. "You don't mean...?"

"Yes. I do," he nodded. "Amelia Creighton-Ward."

"So Penelope's not her mother, she's her...sister?"

"Half-sister," Kyrano corrected.

Brains looked at him suspiciously. "What do you know, Kyrano?"

"I know now that the child called Esunge is not my half-brother's son. I also know that Ebony is Amelia's daughter." He froze, eyes widening in horror. "I also know that Belah," he continued in a soft whisper, "has returned."

9:17:20

John huddled over Zi, covering her with his body. Esunge clung to her shirt, cocooned in the protective circle of her arms.

"Bà!" Zi cried as she saw her father lying dead where they'd all sat happily minutes ago. "Bà!"

"No, Zi," John whispered into her ear. "Be quiet."

Arrows whizzed. Laser pistols fired. There were hollers, yells, shouts...general melee broke out not fifteen feet away.

"We have to get out of here," John said. "Come with me, Zi."

Her name was the only word she understood. She turned and looked up at him.

His heart skipped a beat.

"Zi, we have to go," he said, his fingers making like two legs walking. "We're in danger." She shook her head. He pointed to her dead father, then drew her attention back to himself as his finger mimicked an arrow shooting into Esunge's head.

Zi grew alarmed and shook her head 'no' vehemently.

"That's what I thought," he said, taking Esunge from her arms and grabbing her hand. "Come on!"

The jungle was thick with overgrowth. He could vaguely make out a trail leaving the other side of the clearing and ran as fast as he could, Zi in tow. Esunge, who'd been awakened by Zi's screams, clung to John's neck as he was becoming used to doing.

Who the fuck is attacking them? John wondered. Just as quickly he answered himself. Ebony. Ebony and her damn goons.

She must have found them. They weren't far enough from the temple. She'd come to take Esunge back and when she found John...he mentally shivered at the thought of what she'd do to him.

And what of Zi? Not a word of English from her, her father dead...killed right in front of her...John couldn't fathom how that felt. He briefly thought of his father as they slammed through vines and leaves, bending small saplings and large ferns as they ran. Boughs whipped back into Zi's face, but she didn't complain. She didn't have time to. She'd never run so fast in her life!

They came upon another small clearing, most likely one that had also been cleared at some point by Li and his men not long ago. Crouching on the edge of it, John and Zi's lungs heaved as they tried to catch their breath while scoping out the situation.

It seemed quiet and harmless.

Which is always when it's not, John reminded himself.

Tentatively he rose from his crouched position and sneaked into the clearing, arms wrapped protectively around the baby. Just as he'd feared, he wasn't alone. Three men sprang into the clearing and raised their guns. He was surrounded.

He was trapped.

9:29:54

Virgil crawled down the outside of Two's hull. Having come out a hatch on top of the pod, he allowed the winch to slowly give him a lead as he made his way down Two's side just in front of the wing. Even from there he could feel the intense pull of the ram-jet air intake.

Boy, if I get sucked into that baby, it's all over.

Just like a jet engine intake...it'd make hamburger meat out of Virgil as surely as it would any flying creature that happened to get too close.

Ground up like hamburger.

Virgil snorted.

At this very moment he was hanging completely upside-down on the bottom of his Thunderbird. Going 600 miles per hour. At 15,000 feet. And somehow he had to get four containers of compound up into a shaft to repair a cracked hull. Virgil smiled as he came upon the VTOL shaft.

All in a day's work.

9:35:39

Ebony's eyes glittered as she descended the large staircase into the Great Room. The captain of her army bowed before her. "Mistress Ebony. Tell us thy bidding."

"You will no longer address me as such," she said.

But the voice that came from her mouth wasn't hers. It was deeper. It was a man's voice. It was... The soldier jumped to his feet and stepped warily back, drawing his sword. "What sort of trickery is this?"

"It is no trickery, you fool!" she snapped.

The captain took two steps closer, peering into her eyes as he drew near. "It cannot be! Master?"

A smile appeared on her face. "Yes, Cong. It is your master."

"How can this be?" Cong exclaimed, falling to his knees to genuflect as required.

"It can be," Ebony replied, placing her hand on Cong's head and looking about the cavernous room. "At last," she sighed, an accent marring the deep voice. "Belah Gaat has come home."

9:41:25

"Yes, Jeff. I said he has returned."

"But Kyrano, that makes no sense. I saw Penny blow Gaat's head off myself. It happened mere feet from where you're standing, for God's sake!"

Serene brown eyes gazed at blazing blue-gray ones. "I did not say Belah survived. I said he had returned."

"You mean his...what, soul? Spirit?"

"I doubt his soul belongs to him, Jeff. Spirit might be the better term for our purposes."

"Is that who's behind Ebony kidnapping John?"

"I believe so. Mister Brains has told me of Ebony's offer to exchange Mr. John for you."

"Yes," Jeff nodded. "That was her deal."

"I believe that was always her purpose."

"What, to get me down there?"

Kyrano nodded. "Yes, but not because she wanted you. Because my half-brother did."

"To what end? If he's a spirit, what the hell does he still care about..." Jeff's eyes widened. "Oh, my."

"Yes, Jeff. He wanted you there because—"

"He wants to steal my body."

"Precisely."

"Well, how would he do that, exactly?"

"In order for the union to be successful, it would have to be done properly, made permanent through a strict ritual of dark magick there at the place where the world of below meets the world of above."

"But if I don't go down there..."

"I would imagine that he would take John."

"But John's younger than I am. Any of my sons are. I understand him choosing a Tracy, but why me?"

"You are the head of both Tracy Corporation and International Rescue," Kyrano replied. "What better position of power to enter if your wish is to return to life and take over the world?"

"My God," Jeff breathed, looking down briefly to find both Penelope and Parker staring at him. "Even in death he's a madman."

"Yes, Jeff. And there is another matter, of Ebony's parentage."

Jeff shook his head 'no.' But Kyrano paid no heed.

"I found the true story when I was unconscious," he continued. "It is involved, but I will attempt to keep it brief. The woman we know as Ebony was born Victoria Emily, that much is true. And it is also true she was born to a Creighton-Ward." Kyrano heard Penelope's gasp of surprise and chose to ignore it. Now was not the time for anything but fact. "But it is Amelia who bore this child after a heinous act on the part of a visiting dignitary from Madagascar by the name of Babechi."

Jeff swallowed hard. In his peripheral vision he could see Penny's ashen face.

"Babechi descends from Queen Ranavalona the Third, who was deposed in 1897 and sent to the French-owned island of Reunion off the coast of Africa. She met and fell in love with a man of my country, as the island was the site of much immigration for those of Malay and Chinese descent, to name a few. Babechi was the first of his family since Ranavalona was dishonored to regain honor with the government of Madagascar. He was on his first assignment as ambassador to London, staying at the same hotel Penelope's mother was staying at."

"Don't say anything more!" Penny cried over the airwaves. "Please!"

9:53:55

"Let me tell it," she said to Parker and Jeff's twin looks of astonishment. "After all, I was there when it happened."

"You were there?" Jeff repeated.

"Well, I wasn't present that awful night, no. But upon Mother's return home I found her crying many nights in her room and she and my father had many fights. Several months passed and it became apparent she was with child. I was so excited to have a little sister. They'd told me she was a girl, that I would have a sister!" Penelope smiled as she recalled the memory with fondness.

"Mother and I went shopping all over London for the perfect furniture and clothing for little Victoria. That's what she was to be named, as you say, Kyrano. Little Victoria. When the time came, I remember Mother being rushed to hospital but three days later she returned with no baby. During the night before Mother returned, Father had stayed awake all night covering all Victoria's possessions with sheets. That's how you found them today, Jeff. They have remained that way for thirty-two years."

"So you knew you had a sister?"

"I only knew I was supposed to have a sister. Mother and Father told me she had died shortly after being born. Father asked me never to speak of it or it would break Mother's heart. Victoria was never talked of again," Penelope finished, looking up at Jeff. "Until today."

"Victoria, as you call her," Kyrano said from the video screen, "is Ebony. They are one and the same. Apparently your parents did not speak truth. She did not die, Lady Penelope."

"And now she has your son," Penelope said sadly, looking away from her husband. "Jeff, I'm so sorry."

"Dad! Dad! Quick!"

"Alan?" Jeff said as Alan's face overrode Kyrano's on his video screen. "What is it?"

"It's Gordon!" Alan cried, looking sideways at something out of Jeff's view. "Oh, my God...Dad, he's gone! He's gone!"

9:59:58

9:59:59

10:00:00

Hour Fifteen

The following takes place between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.

10:00:34

"What the hell do you mean he's gone, Alan?" Jeff barked.

"Father, I picked up a kidnapping from Hospital Kuala Lumpur, and within minutes I found out it was Gordon!"

"Are you telling me someone has kidnapped another of my sons?"

Alan shrank back from the screen. Even at 240-some-odd thousand miles from Earth, Jeff Tracy enraged was a frightening sight.

"I want information, Alan." Jeff's voice was now deathly quiet.

"Father, all I have is that a group of five men dressed as doctors took him from the hospital at gunpoint. They're saying he was unconscious. Wait! Wait! I've been buzzing Tin-Tin for over half-an-hour. She's coming through!"

The relief was evident in Alan's voice as he patched Tin-Tin through to everyone.

But the face on the screen didn't belong to Kyrano's daughter.

10:02:16

"We meet again, Jeff Tracy."

The face was Ebony's. But the voice...

Cold tingles ran up and down Jeff's spine. His face remained impassive as he studied the face coming through the video feed.

"I can see you know who I am."

"Wrong sex," Jeff deadpanned.

"Ebony's" eyes narrowed. "You are not in a position of levity."

"Oh, no? And why not?"

"I have two of your sons. Seems to me you found yourself in a similar predicament two years ago, Jeff, did you not?"

Jeff's jaw worked as a warning light signaled he had reached Thunderbird 2's position. "And as I recall, Gaat, we settled that situation rather effectively. What makes you think this time will be any different?"

Belah laughed, nodding to someone off-screen. Jeff watched as two of Ebony's...or Gaat's...soldiers half-dragged someone into the room. He tried to rise out of One's gimbal-slung chair before remembering exactly where he was.

"John!"

Belah nodded again, and two more soldiers half-dragged in yet another man.

"Gordon!" He glared at Gaat. "What do you want?"

"The same thing I wanted when you were dealing with my former lover, Tracy. I want you. Here. Now."

"And if I say no?"

Jeff cringed as one of the soldiers sucker-punched John.

"Then your boys will die. Make no mistake."

With that, he was gone.

10:09:41

I do not like the look of those clouds.

Scott peered out the cockpit window, wincing just a little when he bumped the wound on his leg.

"Cumulonimbus," Megan said quietly from behind him.

He turned. "I thought you were watching Virgil on the screen back there for me?"

"He's out of sight. I don't know how to work that thing, you know."

"Oh. Yeah. Right. I forgot. Sorry."

Scott turned a worried eye back out the window. "I really don't like...hey, how'd you know I was looking at the clouds?"

"Well," Megan said, sidling up next to him, "it was either that or you were frowning at imaginary birds." Off his confused look, she continued. "Scott, there's nothing out there right now but clouds."

He grinned. "Got me again." He tapped the video screen and a weather radar appeared. "I'm not showing any lightning activity here."

"Lightning? Is that what you're worried about?"

"Yes. Ordinarily it wouldn't make a difference, but with Virgil out there..."

Megan nodded, turning to look at the clouds herself.

A bright flash of light nearly blinded her.

10:13:28

"Thunderbird One to Thunderbird—shit!"

"What the—Dad, what was that?"

"Alan, get me a reading on storm activity here!"

"Jeff?"

"Not now, Penny. Thunderbird Two, come in! Come in!"

"Dad, hang on, we've got to check on Virgil!"

"Damn," Jeff swore, sliding forward until he was literally on the edge of the seat.

Not Virgil. Not him, too.

10:14:59

He remembered saying "Almost finished," to himself as he smoothed the last of the compound in place. His thickly gloved hand had stuck momentarily. Just as he'd gone to give it a tug...what?

He wasn't exactly in a spot to contemplate it.

Clinging to his winch line for dear life, Virgil tossed and turned, twisting impossibly this way and that as it whipped him beneath Two's wing.

Not the wing again!

He tucked himself into the fetal position just as his back slammed into the bottom of her wing. The force crushed both his oxygen tanks, and as one of the tanks scraped the bottom of the wing, it created a spark.

Virgil didn't even know what hit him.

10:18:45

"I've got him!" Jeff nearly yelled, eyes glued to the view screen in front of him. "He...dammit! Thunderbird Two, come in!"

"I'm here, Dad, I'm here! We can't get Virgil on the externals!"

"I have him, Scott. He's unconscious! His line is tangled in the undercarriage wheels and he keeps hitting the wing and bottom of the 'bird!"

"Shit! That means we can't winch him up! I have to do something!"

"But what? Megan can't fly her while you rescue Virgil!"

"I know, Dad, I know!"

Jeff was about ready to jump out of his skin. He looked down. All he had with him were Penny and Parker. Neither of them could fly Two or One, which meant Jeff himself couldn't leave One while in the air.

"May I make a suggestion, Jeff?" Penny asked quietly.

"I'll take anything."

"Perhaps Brains would be of some assistance."

Jeff looked at her in surprise, then grimaced. "Let's hope so. Thunderbird One to Base."

"Jeff! We wondered what happened to the transmission. How did we get cut o-off?"

"Not now, Brains, listen to me. Virgil's over the side of Two hanging by the winch line, but the line's T'angled in the undercarriage. Two can't hover with Virgil down there and Megan's the only one on board besides Scott. I've got Penny and Parker here, so I can't leave One. I need suggestions!"

"Has Thunderbird Two refueled yet?"

"No."

"O-Okay. First order of business is to refuel her."

"But Virgil!"

"I-I know, Mr. Tracy. But we're going to need to be able to fire at least one VTOL to even a-attempt to save Virgil."

"F.A.B. Thunderbird Two to Thunderbird One."

"I heard, Dad. I'm opening the rear fuel hatch now."

"Coming in above you."

Jeff rose to twenty thousand feet, circled around Two and came over top of her from behind. "Lowering fuel hose now."

A small hatch opened in the middle of One's fuselage and a metal telescopic tube accordioned out from her belly. "Holding her steady, Father," Scott said as he watched the tube approach Two.

There was an audible clank as the tube latched into place on Thunderbird 2's tail just beneath her fin. "I show all systems green."

"Confirmed, Father. Release."

Jeff pressed a button and fuel began to flow.

"Scott will need a-at least half of One's supply for this maneuver."

"F.A.B., Brains."

Please let Virgil be okay.

Jeff prayed his own piloting skills weren't too rusty. 600 mph wasn't that fast as aircraft went, but it was fast enough that the smallest mistake might spell disaster.

For all of them.

10:32:26

"What have you done with Esunge?"

"Don't call him that! He is no child of mine!"

John struggled against the metal shackles that held him in place on what could only be described as an altar made of marble. "Where is he?"

"Why do you care so much for the child of this traitor?" Belah bellowed, indicating the body he occupied.

"Just because his mother was a bitch doesn't mean he's bad."

"The child is not your concern. However, I am willing to provide you with a demonstration of what happens to those who become...out of line."

John looked over to where his brother lay similarly strapped on an identical altar. Beyond, Zi cowered in the corner of the sacrificial chamber. His attention was diverted by two soldiers leading in a Malaysian man dressed like the slaves John had seen before.

"Bring him to me!" Belah boomed.

The slave fell to his knees before his master. "Ampunkan rendah-hati orang gaji, Tauke."

"Rendah-hati?" Belah roared. He snapped his fingers and the soldiers ripped the man's beige tunic away, leaving him naked, pulling him to his feet at the same time. They shoved him closer to Belah.

"This man is the father of that child," Belah said menacingly, pulling a knife from his waistband.

The servant panicked and struggled against his captors, crying out in Malay as he tried desperately to get away.

"Watch, Tracys. And pray I show you and your father greater mercy."

Without blinking an eye, the knife swooped down through the air, severing the slave's penis from his body. The slave howled in agony, blood gushing from his groin.

John's eyes squeezed shut and Gordon looked as though he might hurl.

Zi could only scream.

10:40:19

"Fueling complete. Unlock tube, Scott."

"F.A.B. Unlocking tube now."

The electromagnetic clamps sealing the tube to Two released and Jeff slowed just enough to get the tube clear of her tail. Slowly it retracted into One's hull as Scott sealed Two's fueling tank and slid its hatch closed.

"Base from Thunderbird Two. Brains, I've got the fuel. What's the next step?"

"Well, uh, Scott, this i-is going to prove quite risky, but with Virgil's lead stuck i-in Two's undercarriage, y-you're first going to have to, uh, dislodge it."

"Dislodge it? How?"

"By firing, uh, VTOL rockets A and D, Scott. Just a short burst to tip Thunderbird Two, uh, sideways."

"Okay. I'll give it a try."

"Oh, uh, Scott? Stay on your side once you're there."

Scott turned to Megan. "You get airsick?"

"Not so far."

"Strap in. This is gonna suck."

Megan quickly strapped herself into a passenger seat, checking and rechecking the straps, her eyes wide.

Scott also checked his straps. "Okay. Here goes nothing."

10:43:02

Gordon watched as a black woman...with an Asian man's voice...walked over to where the Chinese woman he'd heard John call Zi stood screaming. He was thoroughly confused. He shifted uncomfortably, his back stinging where the goons who'd grabbed him had been a bit too rough with him.

Damn laser rifles.

He hadn't been able to speak to John at all, having seen him for the first time when dragged in while the woman-with-a-man's-voice had been talking with their father.

Gordon had breathed a sigh of relief. That meant at least Jeff was still alive.

And as long as Dad's alive, we'll stay alive.

But now, he cringed as Belah backhanded the woman into silence.

"Stop that!" John bellowed. "Come over here and pick on someone..." He was about to say someone Belah's own size, but at the moment, in Ebony's body, he really was Zi's size...

Oh, fuck that line of thought.

Gordon looked at John and shrugged in question.

"Ah, John Tracy. You are a feisty one, are you not? Too bad I've not had the pleasure until now. If your father decides not to come to your aid, I will choose your body."

"Like hell you will, you bastard," John ground out.

"What in the hell is going on?" Gordon asked finally, pulling his arms and legs to no avail.

Belah just laughed. "I have preparations to make," he said to John. "Perhaps while I am gone you can explain to your brother why, at the ceremony of the Joining, he will be dying."

John's and Gordon's eyes grew large. A soldier grabbed Zi, who cried out, reaching an arm out toward John and babbling in Chinese.

"Zi!" John yelled. "Zi!"

10:48:40

Scott fired the two VTOLs as instructed by Brains. Since they were on the same side of the giant transporter, Thunderbird Two rolled quickly to her side. Scott and Megan heard some things falling, but it couldn't be helped as they both struggled against gravity pulling them to their right.

"Hang on," Scott ground out. "Dad, can you get a visual on Virgil?"

"F.A.B., I have him. Scott, it worked! The lead's not caught in the undercarriage now!"

"Okay, Brains," Scott said, fighting the yoke as Two's systems tried to right her. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead, dripping onto the console at his side. "What's next?"

"Uh, good job, Scott. N-Now what you have to do is start the winch. Pull him very slowly. With that wind sheer, one wrong move could rocket him right i-into the hull."

"F.A.B. Starting winch now."

10:50:07

Jeff watched the view screen like a hawk. At first he couldn't even tell Virgil was moving, but slowly the distance between his second eldest and the green plane became smaller.

Come on, come on. You can do it. Nice and slow.

His muscles tensed as his son continued twisting in the wind. And there was nothing he could do but sit there. Sit there and watch.

Dammit, it's not supposed to be like this.

You said that once before, Jeff. Yet here you are again. All of you. Only this time without Ned and Sir Jeremy.

And almost without Parker.

And if this doesn't go right...without Virgil, John or Gordon.

His hands squeezed the levers. Knuckles whitened as his grip became even more intense. He felt that vein on his temple beginning to throb.

Suddenly there was a hand on his foot and he jumped, looking down. He couldn't even smile.

"Jeff," was all she said. Her large eyes looked up at his and suddenly he remembered having thought she'd lied to him, lied about having a child...when it hadn't been her child at all, but her mother's! He smiled apologetically. "It will be all right, Jeff. Believe that." She took her seat next to Parker once more and strapped in.

Damn, she knows.

He smiled.

She always knows just when I need her most.

Jeff's eyes returned to the view screen, and he stretched his fingers, palms remaining on One's control levers. Virgil was getting closer to the hull. Closer. Closer. Closer...

10:54:58

Flying Thunderbird Two sideways was just not something Scott was prepared for. He'd never done that in Two. He doubted Virgil ever had either. The yoke fought him and fought him. His muscles strained with the effort, perspiration streaming from his head and neck.

He was so tired.

But this was Virgil!

"Father, is he almost up?" He hoped the strain in his voice didn't show.

"Almost, Scott. He'll be against the pod hull in just a few seconds. Hang in there, son."

Hang in there.

Were John and Gordon hanging in there?

The yoke jerked. Scott held it.

"O-Okay, Scott. You can fire B and C now to right her."

Relieved, Scott flipped the switches for the right-side VTOL rockets. They fired, and Two moved slowly back into place, horizontal with the earth below. "Megan, I'm landing. I'll need your help back there to pull Virgil into the pod once we're down."

Megan nodded.

"Scott, we'll land with—"

He was cut off in mid-sentence by an alarm blaring across the airwaves.

"Dad?"

"We've got a helijet on our tail," Jeff said.

"ID?"

"Standard issue," Jeff replied. "Wait a minute...it's transmitting hard copy code. It can't be...Tin-Tin?"

"Tin-Tin?" Scott asked incredulously.

10:58:09

Tin-Tin maneuvered the helijet to follow the Thunderbirds, tears streaming down her face. When she was finished transmitting the code, she waited for what she knew would be next.

"Thunderbird One from International Rescue. Please identify yourself."

Tin-Tin bit her lip, but felt something nudge her from behind. She knew what that something was.

"This is Tin-Tin," she replied. "Will you be landing here?"

"Yes," Jeff replied. "Good to hear from you, we weren't sure what happened to you! Are you okay?"

"Okay," she replied. "Request permission to land with you."

"Granted, Tin-Tin! Just follow us down!"

"F.A.B.," she said softly. She turned sadly to look at the man who was behind her. His gun pressed harder into her neck.

I'm so sorry, Mr. Tracy. I'm so sorry.

10:59:58

10:59:59

11:00:00

Hour Sixteen

The following takes place between 11:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m.

11:01:53

"Jesus, John. You slept with her...him...her...whatever!"

John rolled his eyes. "All the things I told you and that is what you choose to focus on?"

"Well, she's a...he!"

"No, she's not, and I didn't fucking sleep with her of my own free will."

"See, I don't get that. You're saying she made you do...you know..."

"Yes. Gordon, you don't fuck with these people. One look in their eyes and you're gone."

Gordon thought for a moment. "I think I know what you're talking about. Seems Gaat did that to me a couple years ago. I think."

"Any luck with getting loose?"

"Do I look loose?"

"Gordon, we've got to get out of here. If we're not here, Dad won't come. Dammit! I can't believe they caught me."

"So wait, what about the rest of the T'ang house...or whatever you called them."

"Li's men," John replied, nodding. "I don't know anything about why they hate Gaat so much, but this is what Li was afraid of...Ebony and Gaat. Now they're joined together somehow...and I've gotten his daughter caught..."

"Hey, don't worry about it, John. We'll get out of this."

"How? We can't even get off these damn tables!"

Gordon's eyes lit up. "I have an idea!"

"What?"

"Kyrano!"

John turned his head and looked skeptically at his brother. "Kyrano?"

"Yes!" Gordon nodded enthusiastically. "I used to be able to talk to him in my head."

"Hey, wait...I can do that, too! I've talked to him today!"

"You...you have? I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I...wait...you...earlier today, didn't I...hear you...or something?"

"Yes, you did. I contacted you. I thought you were...I mean, you were falling backwards."

John nodded. "The abyss. I almost went head-over-ass into that thing."

There was a moment's silence as each contemplated his own thoughts.

"So? What do you say, Gordo? Should we give it a try?"

"Can't hurt. Just relax. Deep breaths in and out. Concentrate on Kyrano's face. Just keep saying his name. We'll get him. We have to!"

John nodded and closed his eyes.

Kyrano...

Gordon turned his head back to its normal resting position and closed his eyes as well.

Kyrano...

11:05:33

"Thunderbirds have landed."

"Very well. We shall meet them."

A group of twenty-four men, some bloodied and beaten, trudged through the jungle to the edge of the Batang Baleh. Across the river was a large area free of jungle growth thanks to extensive deforestation in recent years. In that area sat a large, green, hulking plane and a more sleek silver one with a red nose. They watched as a third craft landed near them, a helijet. They knew it wasn't a Thunderbird.

The man who seemed to be in charge turned to his comrades. "We will have difficulty getting them to believe us. Approach with caution. We must remain calm at all costs. Remember the Evil One has Li's daughter." He looked toward the clearing again as the green Thunderbird rose high above her midsection on four tall legs.

Surely men with technology such as this can help us.

11:08:15

Jeff was out of the hatch and running to Thunderbird 2 before her pod door had even reached the ground. He jumped up onto it and ran into the pod, staring up at where Scott and Megan were already on the catwalk high above him.

"Do you have him?" Jeff called up.

"Think so!" Scott yelled back.

Penelope and Parker soon joined him. Jeff turned to them. "Do you have your weapons?"

"Yes, Jeff. We're ready," Penny replied.

"All right. You know what to do."

The two nodded and headed back out of the pod. Jeff looked back up to the top of it where it looked like Virgil was finally being pulled through the hatch. He keyed something into the control pad to the right of the pod door and, without a look back, jumped down to the ground.

The door began to swing upwards.

11:12:21

"What the—Father? Father!"

Scott struggled under Virgil's weight. His leg was killing him and Virgil was...

Oh, my God.

Scott got his first good look at his brother. Megan swallowed hard as he laid Virgil gently on the catwalk's scaffold. The back of his uniform was scorched, half-blown away oxygen tanks hanging by threads from his back. The lower quarter of his hair just above the nape of his neck was singed away, his skin burned. They could both already see where large blisters had begun to form on his neck, back and shoulders.

"Shit," Scott said, his voice unsteady. "Virgil?"

Megan quickly checked for a pulse. She nodded at Scott before whispering, "We've got to get him some medical attention."

Scott swiped a hand over his eyes. "I'll need your help. My leg is almost gone."

"Sure."

"I'll take his upper half, you get his feet."

"Okay." Megan waited until Scott had his arms wrapped under Virgil's armpits and around the front of his chest, hands locked in one giant fist just over his solar plexis. She hoisted Virgil's booted feet into the air and slowly followed him to the small cage elevator on the side of the pod.

"Only one of us can go with him in this. It's not stable enough for all three."

"I'll stay," Megan said.

"But you're the doctor."

"Just tell me how to make it go and I'll be down as soon as you two are out."

He flashed her a tired but grateful smile, pulling Virgil all the way into the lift. She pulled the cage door closed and watched as Scott showed her what how to operate it. Then he pushed one of the buttons and they started down.

Why did Father close the pod door?

Scott looked down at his brother's tranquil face. Virgil's breath came quickly through a slightly open mouth. A lump formed in Scott's throat.

Virgil, please...

Virgil stirred.

Scott watched.

Virgil's eyelids fluttered open slowly. So slowly.

They were halfway down the side of the pod.

Virgil tried to speak as he focused on Scott's face, but it came out as more of a croak.

"Virg?" Scott whispered, pulling his brother up and turning him so their faces were closer together.

Virgil's head rolled to the right, but then he seemed to get his neck muscles under control. His eyelids kept closing, but he kept forcing them open.

"Scott..."

"Virgil," Scott breathed, putting his forehead on his brother's.

"Scott," Virgil said, his voice small like a child's. "Please...it hurts, Scott."

"I know, Virg. I know."

They were almost to the pod floor.

Tears welled up in Virgil's eyes. "Make it stop. Scott...it hurts."

Matching tears rose in Scott's own eyes. "I know, Virg, I know."

"Scott...help me..." With that, Virgil's eyes rolled back into his head.

A tear rolled down Scott's cheek as he pulled Virgil's head into his chest. "I'm trying, Virgil. I'm trying."

11:23:38

Jeff peeked around the corner of the pod. He watched as Parker approached the helijet from the far side while Penny approached it from the near. He raised his watch to his face. "Thunderbird 5 from Jeff Tracy."

"Thunderbird 5 here. Everything proceeding as planned?"

Jeff nodded. "Thanks again, Alan. I was so happy to hear from Tin-Tin, I didn't even think of scanning the 'jet."

"I could hear in her voice something was wrong," Alan replied, shrugging.

Jeff regarded his youngest son. "You really ought to do something about how you feel."

"Oh, you're the expert on feelings," Alan retorted. He looked instantly sorry for it. "Dad, I—"

"Don't worry about it. You're right. We'll have to talk once this is all over. In the meantime, feed the heat sensor information to me. I want to keep an eye on whoever's in there with her."

"F.A.B.," Alan replied, and his live feed was replaced by an infrared scanner-like picture which showed the outline of the helijet and the four people inside in red, green and yellow relief. One figure moved closer to the door, two others behind that one in a straight line. He could tell just by the way the second one was holding their arm they had a gun to the first one's back. There was one more in the cockpit, that one he could see clearly with his own eyes. The pilot. Was he in cahoots with the others or not?

"Penny, can you hear me?"

He looked up. Penelope raised her right arm up, then brought it down.

"Good. Parker?"

He saluted from the back of the helijet.

"Okay, looks like they're ready to come out. I'm wagering Tin-Tin is first. She's got a gun in her back and one more behind that one. Get ready."

11:30:51

The helijet door slid open. Tin-Tin's eyes were red as she looked out at the Thunderbirds. A slight movement from the direction of 2's pod caught her eye and she forced herself not to smile.

I knew Mr. Tracy would know.

Tin-Tin stepped out onto the small ramp that had unfolded at her feet. Her arms were raised. Next thing to come out was the gun wedged between her shoulder blades. She turned slightly and saw Penelope put her finger to her lips.

Now Tin-Tin all-out grinned. She kept walking.

"Down!" she heard Parker yell.

Parker? Isn't he dead?

But there wasn't time for questions. Tin-Tin hopped off the ramp and rolled beneath the helijet as gunfire broke out above her. She scurried out the other side and rose to her feet as a machine pistol flew from Penny's hand to her own.

She whirled on the helijet cockpit, leveling her gun with the man seated behind the controls. He raised his hands as Penelope circled to the door. One of the men had been killed, and Parker was holding the other at gunpoint. Penny walked cautiously up the ramp, her gun aimed at the pilot's seat. She motioned for him to come out slowly. He complied.

Jeff came running up, his gun trained also on the man Penny had backing out of the helijet. Tin-Tin came around to join them, Jeff's arm coming around to rest on her shoulders.

"I'm glad you're okay, Tin-Tin."

"Me too. How'd you figure out I wasn't alone?"

"It wasn't me. We owe that to Alan."

"Alan?"

"Yes. He said your voice didn't sound right."

"He could...tell?"

Jeff chuckled. "I think you'd be surprised what he notices about you."

She blushed.

"Now, did these men tell you why they wanted to follow us?" he asked, removing his arm from her shoulders.

"Yes," she nodded. "They said they were of the House of T'ang and had to make sure you didn't make it to the temple."

"You must not go," the man Parker had at gunpoint said in a thickly accented voice.

Jeff walked over to him. "Who are you?"

"Hakuyu T'ang, Mr. Tracy."

"You know me."

He nodded. "We all are familiar with your family."

"Why? Are you in this with Ebony?"

"No!" he spat. "She is of the House of Gaat and is my enemy!"

"Do you know she's holding my sons hostage?"

"Sons? We were only aware that she took one called John."

Jeff nodded. "Well, she's got both him and Gordon now."

Hakuyu shook his head. "But that does not make sense. Our camp here had John along with the Gaat child."

"What? That's impossible, we just saw them for ourselves, inside the temple when Gaat contacted us."

"Gaat...contacted you?"

Jeff nodded. "Well, more or less. He has apparently...taken over Ebony's body."

"No," Hakuyu shook his head sadly. "Perhaps we are too late."

"What are you talking about?"

"If Gaat has fused with Ebony, he will need to move quickly to another host, for without a permanent Joining ceremony, the bond cannot last." Hakuyu looked at Jeff, his eyes full of sorrow. "We lost contact with our camp some time ago. It seems from what you say that they must have been attacked, and your son recaptured. It would explain much."

"I know you don't want me to go to the temple. Believe me, I don't want that sonofabitch possessing me any more than you do." Jeff thought for a moment. His eyes happened to land on the pod. "Oh, my God! Virgil!" With that, he took off running.

11:44:12

Scott watched from his seat near where Megan was desperately tending to Virgil's burns. She'd managed to cut the tethers and oxygen tanks from around his torso and had just gotten most of the uniform cut away from his back. Now she was gently sponging the areas to clean them as much as possible before she started applying medicinal gel.

She looked at Scott, her heart full of empathy for this man who was so clearly in pain himself, made more profound by the state in which they'd found his brother. That old pang came back to her chest when she realized just how close these two were. She re-wet the sponge and squeezed most of the water out of it before returning to dab at the back of Virgil's head.

Megan shuddered when she recalled the gut-wrenching cry she'd heard when Scott and Virgil had reached the pod floor. It seemed like forever 'til she got down there, but she'd discovered that in trying to get Virgil out of the lift, Scott had pulled his brother across his pant leg, ripping at the gauze that covered his own wound.

Now he sat there bleeding through his uniform pants, staring intently at Virgil as though through sheer force of will he could miraculously make him better. So intent was he upon his target she was sure he didn't hear the click resonate throughout the pod, and the resulting creak as the pod door began to swing down. Only when it was halfway did he react.

11:49:29

"It's not working," John finally said aloud.

"I know," Gordon responded, opening his eyes. "I wonder why not."

"Maybe it's because we're here in this place. Kyrano's always had trouble where his half-brother's concerned."

"I guess it could be. Damn. He was the only idea I had."

They were silent for a few moments.

"Hey, John?"

"Yeah?"

"Why...why did Gaat...Ebony...Gaat say I was going to die at the ceremony?"

"I don't know. I guess...a sacrifice?"

The brothers looked at each other. Fifteen feet separated them, but they could read each other's eyes as clearly as if they were standing nose-to-nose.

"I see you have failed to escape," boomed a voice that startled both Gordon and John. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, such a poor tribute to mighty International Rescue."

"Go to hell," Gordon replied.

"Oh, I have been there already," Belah laughed. "It is not a place in which I wish to remain."

John's eyes widened as a soldier came in with Zi, a chain in his hand attached to a metal collar she wore around her neck. Belah's grin was evil as the soldier handed him the lead.

"What do you think of my new pet, John?" he asked, pulling the woman over to the altar. "She is unspoiled and will make a fine first conquest once I have obtained your father's body."

John struggled against the bonds. "Damn you," he seethed. "Let her go."

"Wouldn't you like to watch your father making love to this sweet Lotus flower?" he asked, running a finger down Zi's cheek.

"Stop it!" John cried.

Gordon spotted something and his eyes widened.

John! he cried out in his mind. The bolt! Jerk again, jerk again!

John's head whipped around toward his brother, eyes wide. He then looked down at the shackle holding his leg to the altar. Sure enough, it was now loosened. He looked back up at Belah, a smug look upon his face.

"Leave her alone or so help me, you'll wish you'd stayed in hell."

Belah laughed. "You and your invisible army are frightening me, boy."

John jerked once...twice...and his leg was free. He swung it toward Belah, catching him off-guard on the side of the head. He dropped Zi's chain, and she ran forward to undo the other leg shackle as Belah howled and went sprawling on the floor. Zi moved quickly to John's right hand, then his left.

John vaulted off the table just as Belah rose to his feet. But John knew that even though the spirit belonged to the most evil man they'd ever met, the body was still Ebony's. And Ebony had hurt him. Roaring like a lion protecting its pride, John made a beeline for the face of the woman who had caused him so much pain and humiliation.

He had murder in his eyes.

11:58:46

Jeff ran up the pod door-turned-ramp as soon as it reached the ground. He raced to the back corner of the pod where Scott sat rigid upon a chair and Megan worked desperately on Virgil, who was stretched out on the floor face-down.

"Oh, no," Jeff breathed as he took in the extent of Virgil's injuries. He placed a hand on Scott's shoulder, but Scott didn't even acknowledge him.

They stood and watched as Megan spread gel over the last of the burns down near his tailbone. "I need to get him into a bed, face-down," she said. "I'd like to make him comfortable."

"Let's get him to sick bay, and I want you to fix Scott up, too."

"I don't need to get fixed up. Virgil's more important."

"You're both important, son," Jeff said. "I'm lowering 2." He walked to a control panel on the wall and started raising the pod door.

"Wait, Scott!" he heard Megan cry. He froze and looked over to where they stood. "He's not breathing! He's not breathing!"

11:59:58

11:59:59

12:00:00

Hour Seventeen

The following takes place between 12:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m.

12:00:41

John slammed right into Ebony's body. They tumbled to the floor, rolling over and over as Zi ran to Gordon's side. She fumbled with his first shackle as she heard Belah yell from across the room.

"Hurry!" Gordon said, trying to see what was happening.

Ebony's hands went around John's throat as Belah flipped them so he was sitting on top of John. His face turned red. He grabbed Ebony's forearms.

Then he looked into her eyes.

His eyes.

The eyes of Belah Gaat.

"John!" Gordon cried as he rose to a sitting position and struggled to help Zi remove his shackles. "John!"

At last he was free. Gordon and Zi ran around the second altar and skidded to a halt as they took in the sight before them.

Ebony's body and John were both bathed in a gray-blue bubble. Zi tried to run toward them, but Gordon grabbed her arm, pulling her back flush with his body as what looked like a puff of gray smoke left Ebony and settled over John's face.

"No," Gordon whispered. "John."

12:02:59

"Megan!" Jeff yelled as he skirted the Mole to get back to where they were.

Virgil was flat on his back, Megan puffing air into his mouth as Scott pumped his chest. The puddle of blood beneath Scott's leg went unnoticed as Jeff knelt at Virgil's feet.

"One and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and nine and ten and eleven and twelve and thirteen and fourteen and fifteen!" Scott breathed as he tried desperately to restart his brother's heart. Megan gave two puffs of air into Virgil's mouth and Scott began again. "One and two and three...!"

Jeff scooted closer and grabbed Virgil's wrist. No pulse.

Virgil...no. Come on, Virgil. Come on.

Scott pumped. Fifteen reps. Megan puffed twice.

Breathe, Virgil.

Fifteen more.

Two puffs.

Virgil!

"Wait!" Jeff barked. "I think I have a pulse!"

Scott and Megan froze.

"Yes. It's not strong, but it's steady enough." Jeff wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

Thank you, God.

12:04:17

Scott's heart had nearly stopped as well and his lungs heaved as waves of relief washed over him. He bowed over Virgil, head nearly touching the spot where he'd just been performing CPR. Suddenly he was...so cold...he swayed as a wave of dizziness followed the relief. And swayed again as his world started spinning...spinning...around and around, color blurring...

The last thing he saw clearly was the front of Virgil's uniform as it seemed to come nearer. Then he fell forward, eyes closed. He just wanted to sleep.

Sleep...

12:05:04

"Scott!" Megan cried. Jeff jumped to his feet and lifted his eldest off Virgil. Scott was a couple inches taller than he and had considerably more bulk to add to it. It was all Jeff could do to get him to the front of the pod.

"Megan! Open the door!"

She ran to the regular-sized door on the left of the pod's larger door, where she was faced with yet another small control panel. She frowned and looked at Jeff.

"One-one-three-four-seven!" he barked.

She keyed the sequence in and the door slid open. Jeff strained under Scott's weight. Megan noticed him stagger and ran up to them, sliding her arms under Scott's body and next to Jeff's arms to try and help him support the unconscious man.

"Thank you," Jeff gasped. "Just go backwards, I-I'll tell you when to stop."

Their faces wore matching frowns as they moved through a short hall into Thunderbird Two's sick bay.

"Stop!" Jeff said, indicating a spot to his right with a nod of his head. "Bed."

She looked at it and realized the bulkhead was actually a fold-out bed. A single button to the left meant she could operate this one without instructions. She pressed it and the bed slowly came out and down, clicking into place once it was horizontal.

Jeff rather unceremoniously dropped Scott onto the bed. "I've got to get Virgil."

"Alone?" Megan asked, eyebrows shooting up. "He's bigger than Scott!"

Jeff grabbed a towel from the small bedroom at the back of the sick bay and proceeded to mop his face with it. "You have a point. How is Scott?"

"I think he passed out from blood loss. Of course, all my patients look this pale by the time I get to them."

Jeff stared at her for a moment then burst out laughing. "Oh, God," he said through his laughter. "Megan!"

She grinned. "I've got him strapped in. You wouldn't happen to have any blood matching his type on board, would you?"

"We have syntheblood that's a perfect match for each of us."

"Why does that not surprise me?" she asked, winking at him. "He'll be okay for a few minutes, let's get Virgil first."

Jeff nodded and indicated she should exit before him. "Megan, I have to get to that temple. I have to try and rescue my sons."

"Do you want me to stay here with these two?" she asked as they entered the pod again. "I think they'll both be all right as long as I keep a close eye on them, and I can get Scott that transfusion."

"Could you? I...I don't want to leave you alone here."

She flashed a smile, quickly checking Virgil's carotid. She felt an even stronger pulse than before. "Don't worry, Jeff. Just lock us up tight. This thing can cloak, can't it? I remember something about that..."

"Yes. Okay, Megan," Jeff replied, picking Virgil up under his armpits. "Thanks."

She nodded, lifting his feet.

God, can this family handle any more of this shit?

They laid Virgil on a second bed across from Scott. Jeff showed Megan where to find all medical supplies including the syntheblood. Before he left, he stopped to look at his two eldest. "Be well, boys," he whispered. To Megan, he said, "Take care of them for me. Please."

"I'm going to do my best, Sir. After all, I'm in love with one of them," she finished softly, her eyes on Scott.

12:11:23

Gordon and Zi backed away as John rose to his full height, silk crimson robe clinging to his sweat-soaked body. He seemed to falter for a moment before his eyes settled on Gordon's face.

"Hello. Brother."

Gordon jumped.

Belah

Zi's eyes grew wide as John approached them.

From the floor behind him, Ebony moaned. In her own voice. She tried to raise herself up to a sitting position. In a flash, John's foot was on her chest, holding her down. She struggled against it and managed to scratch his leg. Belah's voice cried out. He reached down with one hand, wrapped it around her neck and squeezed, raising her into the air as he did so.

She fought, her arms and legs flailing wildly. Gordon stared in horror at the sight of his own brother trying to kill someone.

Ebony's arms and legs went limp.

Correction...as he killed someone.

My God. John.

John dropped Ebony's body to the floor and turned to face them. "And now," came Belah's voice, so incongruous with the Nordic features of John Tracy. "Now it's time to soil the perfection that is this Lotus blossom," he finished, reaching a hand out toward Zi.

She squealed and ran behind Gordon, grabbing his purple silk robe. He brought his hands backward slightly as if to somehow pull her into his body in an effort to hide her.

"John," he said softly. "John, it's me. It's Gordo."

"John is no longer here!" Belah spat as blue eyes flashed and turned nearly black.

"John, I know you're in there!"

"Dai!" Zi cried from her hiding place. "Dai!"

"John Tracy no longer exists," Belah said menacingly as he moved several steps closer. "You shall be joining him."

Oh, God, somebody help us.

Gordon looked around the chamber. On the wall...two huge swords. But no, they were too high. He couldn't reach them. Besides, what was he going to do, gut his own brother? He backed away, Zi moving in time with his steps.

We have to get out of here.

Gordon glanced over at the entryway. He poked Zi with his left hand and waved in that direction, praying she understood. His muscles tensed as he rose to the balls of his feet. Glancing one more time at John advancing upon them, he whirled, grabbed Zi's hand and ran for the archway.

We have to get out of here! We have to get to Dad!

12:16:56

Megan had been busy getting the syntheblood hooked into an IV line and preparing to clean and dress Scott's leg wound, which looked like it might now be infected. She went past him to grab an antibiotic and filled a syringe. When she turned to give him the injection, she jumped in surprise at the two cobalt eyes looking right at her.

"Scott, you're awake!"

"Have been," he said, smiling weakly.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I'm running on E. You?"

"Scared out of my wits," she replied. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to hear what you said to Dad."

Megan blushed crimson. "Oh," she replied, daubing his arm with an alcohol swab. She gave him the injection and covered the entry point with a cotton ball, applying pressure for a moment.

He reached his other hand over and placed it over hers. "Did you mean what you said?"

"Oh, I-I don't...uh..."

"Meg?"

She looked into his eyes and melted. "Yeah," she smiled. "I did."

He smiled as well, but his smile faded as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. "I..." he faltered, closing his eyes. "Me...too..."

"Scott?"

But he'd lost consciousness again.

Helluva time to fall in love, Crawford. Jesus, your timing sucks.

Who are you kidding? she thought in response to her inner voice. I fell in love with this man two years ago.

Oh. Yeah. Right.

She took the transfusion needle and pressed it into his arm. "Time for that blood, Scott," she whispered. "I love you."

12:21:35

Jeff stood under Two's nose and stared at the scene before him. Standing and sitting beneath Thunderbird One's red tip were at least twenty Asian men. He gripped the butt of his pistol, but then noticed that Penelope and Parker were standing in the middle of them and Penny was talking.

He walked over, all senses on alert.

"Jeff!" she called when he was but feet away.

"Penny? What's going on?" he asked, joining her at the center of the group.

"These men are all members of the ancient Chinese family known as T'ang," she replied, nodding to the men surrounding them. "They wish to assist us in rescuing Gordon and John."

"They do?" Some of the men nodded. "But why?"

"Because," one of them said, stepping forward. "The Gaat and T'ang families have long been at war, Jeff Tracy. Ever since Beker Gaat, Radzi Belah's grandfather, killed his grandmother, Tsenden T'ang and her four sisters as revenge for our family wanting a share of the profits he was making in slave trading."

"Slave trading?"

The man nodded. "I am Sukh T'ang, named for our ancestor who descended directly from the House of T'ang which ruled ancient China for many years. We have never forgiven the dishonorable deed of Beker Gaat and later, his son Heng-Suan."

Jeff shook his head, confused.

"Heng-Suan was Radzi Belah's father. He killed my brother and my son. The youngest surviving member of the T'ang Dynasty descendants is Zi T'ang. She was helping take care of your son and the child when we were attacked by temple guards. Her father Li was killed. We can only assume she was taken with your son and the child, back to Gaat's temple."

"So you want to help us rescue Gordon and John...in exchange for us helping you rescue...Zi?"

Sukh nodded. "It is time to end the reign of terror that has been in place for far too long. The House of Gaat must fall once and for all. From what I know of your dealings with Gaat, I would have to believe you concur."

"I don't condone killing," Jeff said automatically. "The whole point of International Rescue is to save lives."

"Then you need not participate in their deaths. Simply help us gain entrance with your technology. We will save your sons and Zi and we will handle the eradication of the Gaat disease."

Jeff looked at Penny, who nodded slightly.

"Well, I have to admit that twenty or so people storming the temple makes for a lot better odds than three."

"Scott and Virgil?" Penny breathed.

"Alive, but injured. Megan's attending to them."

Penny nodded. "What do you think, Jeff?"

Jeff eyed Sukh warily. "How do I know you are who you say you are? That my son and that child were with you at some point?"

Sukh reached into his pocket and pulled out a shredded piece of lavender fabric. "This is all John Tracy was wearing at the time we found him in the jungle. He had escaped with Esunge, whom we later determined was not the son of Gaat. We allowed him to bathe, gave him a change of clothes and fed him. I found this shortly after we were attacked."

He handed it to Jeff, who stared at what had obviously once been a sarong. "It's not enough. I don't know that someone else wasn't wearing this besides John."

Sukh nodded. "I can only tell you that when we found him, the tunnel he'd crawled through to escape the temple had collapsed. He had covered the baby with his body to protect him. And he would not let him out of his sight, standing up to all of us when I tried to take him."

Jeff's ears perked up. It sure sounded like something John would do.

But can I trust them?

He looked back to where Thunderbird 2 sat silently. Where inside, two of his sons were seriously hurt.

Without them...I don't have a choice.

"Okay," Jeff finally said, rubbing the remains of the sarong between his thumb and forefinger. "But we need a plan."

"I agree," Sukh nodded eagerly. "We have an idea."

Penny walked over and grasped Jeff's hand as Parker, Jeff, Sukh and one other man gathered around a piece of paper Sukh produced from his pocket and spread on the ground.

"Here we are, here," Sukh said, jabbing his finger at a spot on the map. "The temple is a twenty-five minute walk that way," he said, looking up and pointing to the south. I have twenty-four men. You, the Lady and Parker make twenty-seven. I propose we use the tunnel your son used to escape. We can dig through the rubble to gain access. That way we will be able to enter the temple undetected. We will have the element of surprise in our favor."

"It's a sound plan, provided we can get through that tunnel," Jeff agreed. "Okay, before we go, do you need anything?"

"We have only a handful of weapons left," Sukh said. "And it is dark. We have but one lantern remaining."

"No problem," Jeff said, heading for Thunderbird One's rear hatch. "Sukh, I have something here that I want you and me to use to scout ahead." He pulled out Scott's hover bike.

Sukh nodded appreciatively.

Jeff actually smiled as he, Penny and Parker distributed weapons to the others. Scott and Virgil, though injured, were in good hands with Megan and safe inside Thunderbird 2, which was harder to get into than any bank vault when she was locked up tight. And now instead of just a meager group going in to get John and Gordon, he had a small army at his back, with a commander who seemed to have a good head for this type of thing.

For the first time in over sixteen hours, Jeff's spirits began to rise.

12:39:00

"I know you are here, Gordon Tracy. I can sense your thoughts."

Gordon held his breath, his arm around Zi. He'd managed to get her collar and chain off only minutes before, and cursed himself for his clumsiness in letting it drop only feet from where they now hid.

He tried to remember their surroundings. It was evidently the temple's kitchen, manned by at least twenty slaves. Two older women had stuffed them into a large wicker basket in one corner, then dumped towels on top of them and covered them with a lid. Gordon was mildly surprised they'd helped him. Any other slave they'd encountered running through the temple had either looked up at them only briefly or not looked at all.

He could hear Gaat barking something in Malay. If only Kyrano were here to translate!

Things started crashing and he tensed. Did Gaat suspect their hiding place? Gordon listened as he continued to yell and could hear the footsteps of slaves scurrying out of the way.

"You are here, Gordon!"

"Sir!" a different voice cried.

"Why do you interrupt me?" Belah bellowed.

"Your Excellency," the voice continued. "Your periphery guard has just returned from patrol. Thunderbirds landed and a force is mobilizing not more than twenty minutes away. And Sir..."

"What is it?"

"They bear the emblem of the House of T'ang."

Gordon all-out grinned. His family was here. Soon enough, this would all be over. He squeezed Zi tighter with his arm.

"Come!" Belah barked, and Gordon heard his footsteps retreating.

Within a few seconds, the two older women returned and helped them out of the basket. They pointed to a small recession in the wall nearby. One of them motioned for them to go 'up' while the other made a circle with her thumb and forefinger, then made like her fingers of her hand were walking through the circle.

"A way out?" Gordon whispered. "Through there?" He pointed to the recessed wall as one of the women grabbed his hand and pulled him to it. She pointed up and there he saw it. A wooden trap door. He turned and held the woman's hands briefly. "Thank you," he smiled. She nodded and smiled in return. "Come on, Zi," he said.

But Zi wouldn't move, and shook her head. "Esunge," was all she said.

"What? The baby? No, Zi, we have to go now!"

Zi shook her head even harder. "Esunge!"

Gordon knew how important the baby was to his brother...well, before Belah had taken his body over. If John did make it out of this unscathed and Gordon hadn't saved the child when he'd had the chance...

"Esunge," Zi pleaded with one of the women. Suddenly the slave turned and hurried out of the room.

Gordon balked. "We can't, Zi. If Gaat returns and finds us...we won't be able to get out!"

They were both startled by the sound of a child squealing. Looking up, the second older slave who'd helped them ran forward with a dark-haired, light-skinned baby in her arms. Zi lit up when she saw his face.

"Esunge!" she cried.

The boy giggled as she grabbed him from the woman's arms. She spoke softly in Chinese, cradling him close to her body.

Gordon looked relieved. "Can we go now?"

Zi turned to face him, her face radiant. "Wei chuán."

"I'll take that as a yes," Gordon grinned. "Now, come on!" He grabbed a chair and stood on it. Pulling at the door, he found it was stuck tight. He pulled and pulled until finally it began to creak. He gave one last, huge yank and the entire door crumbled, falling all over him and coating him in splinters of wood and dust. He coughed and choked. Zi giggled.

He looked down at her and frowned. "Very funny. Come here."

Gordon stepped down and took Esunge from her arms, then helped her onto the chair. She reached up and pulled herself through the opening, finding metal rungs to hold onto. Zi began to climb as Gordon looked down at Esunge.

"Can you put your arms around my neck?" he asked the baby.

Esunge frowned, clearly not understanding. Gordon grabbed his hands and wrapped the small arms around his neck. "Like this."

The child grinned and squealed. "Monkey! Monkey!"

Gordon laughed. "Yes, monkey. Now hold on!"

He reached up and grabbed a metal rung, pulling himself and Esunge into the dark crawlspace.

Where the hell are we headed?

12:51:32

Belah-in-John's-body watched the view screen in front of him. His control room was as large as the sacrificial chamber in which he'd held John and Gordon, but instead of altars and eternal flames, it was adorned with every conceivable type of computer and monitoring device in existence.

He recognized Jeff Tracy immediately in the group and almost salivated. "He is on his way," he said, smiling. "Soon the Joining ceremony will begin." He frowned as he looked at the rest of the group. "House of T'ang. You have never been able to defeat a Gaat. This night shall be no different."

He turned and strode out of the room, crimson robe fluttering in the breeze he created. "I no longer need Gordon or that stupid Zi," he growled, heading for the rear entrance of his temple. "Jeff Tracy is on my doorstep. I merely need to...welcome him."

12:52:49

Zi hollered something down to him. Then he heard her grunting and surmised she'd reached some sort of exit at the other end of the shaft.

"Can you get it?" he called up to her as he continued to climb. Then he heard her give a yelp before a breeze of fresh air wafted down to him. "Great job, Zi!"

It was only a few short feet before he reached what he realized was the roof of the temple. They were near the back of it, a large, domed portion rising up before them. He looked and saw a chunk of rock broken into three pieces lying next to the hole he'd just emerged from.

Gordon's eyes widened as he pointed to the pieces of rock. "Did you do that, Zi?"

She smiled shyly.

"How?"

Zi's right leg went back as she took up warrior stance, her arms in front of her in an offensive posture. "Da ji!" she cried, and executed a perfect karate chop.

Gordon laughed. "Damn, I'm glad you're on my side!"

She placed the palms of her hands together and bowed to him.

"Come on," he said, handing the baby to her. "We've got to find a way off this roof."

Gordon walked to the edge and looked over the half-wall that surrounded the top of the temple roof. Moving toward the very back, he stopped at intervals to scan what was below. He got to the end and turned the corner, looking down as he went. He was just in time to see his brother get into a Jeep with three soldiers and drive away. They were followed by six more Jeeps full of even more soldiers.

"He's leaving," Gordon whispered.

He heard Esunge let out a cry and turned to see what had caused it. As he did so, he leaned back into the wall. He heard a crack. Something hit the ground below and he froze.

And the wall gave way.

12:59:58

12:59:59

1:00:00

Hour Eighteen

The following takes place between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m.

1:00:01

"Wú! Dang xin! Wú!" Zi screamed, putting Esunge down on the roof as she ran towards Gordon.

Gordon's eyes grew wide as he tumbled backwards, stretching one hand out toward Zi, scrambling for purchase where there was none to be had.

Zi reached out, but he was gone.

And then suddenly...not.

Zi stared open-mouthed as Gordon floated up into her line of sight, up still higher and moved over her head.

"Zi?" Gordon called down tentatively, eyes as wide as hers. She shook her head, evidently having no more idea how this was happening than he did.

And then Gordon looked down to the baby. His eyes were closed, his hands held before him, fingers pointed up toward Gordon. Gordon swallowed hard.

My life is in the hands of an infant?

Esunge's hands slowly moved down, and Gordon right along with them until at last Gordon's feet were firmly upon the rooftop. He stood there and stared as the baby opened his eyes and smiled widely. Zi's eyes followed Gordon's and suddenly she, too, realized what had happened.

"I don't believe it," Gordon breathed, walking over and picking up the child. "Did you just save my life?"

He giggled and wrapped his arms around Gordon's neck. "Monkey! Monkey!"

Gordon held him close. "Thank you," he whispered.

Zi approached them, a look of surprise still on her face. She pointed to herself and said, "Zi." Then she pointed to Gordon and cocked her head.

"Gordon," he said, smiling at her. "I'm Gordon. I'm John's brother."

"Goh-done."

He laughed. "Close enough." He took a minute to look around the roof, trying to figure out how they were going to get to the ground...without the aid of a crumbling wall, that was. That's when he noticed something in the corner. He handed the baby to Zi and walked over to where a large block of stone had been raised nearly four feet above the surface of the roof. It was suspended on four metal rods above an opening that looked to be a chute of some sort.

Without any light, he couldn't make out what was or wasn't in the tunnel, but he figured that was their only chance of escaping safely. He pointed it out to Zi, who peered into it, then nodded in understanding. She handed Esunge to him and gingerly let herself down into the opening.

"Monkey," Gordon said to the baby. He nodded solemnly, suddenly seeming so much older than his short years, and wrapped his arms around Gordon's neck. Slowly, Gordon followed Zi into the tunnel, and his thoughts strayed to the baby clinging to his chest.

How in the hell had the kid made him levitate?

And did he really want to know?

1:10:05

Belah-in-John's-body barked a command and his Jeep came to a screeching halt, the others following suit. A hand-held heat sensor told him...he frowned...what in the hell was this?

He watched as a line of what was evidently people seem to crouch down and then slowly disappear from the indicator altogether. "They're going underground," he said aloud. He pointed to their left, and the Jeeps were in motion once more.

Soon, Jeff Tracy. Soon we will become one.

1:12:18

Sukh led the way through the tunnel, with Jeff, Parker and Penny following him. The remainder of Sukh's men were still entering the tunnel when they heard the approaching vehicles. One yelled to the man in front of him, who yelled to the man in front of him, and on up the line until it reached Penelope's ears.

"Jeff!" she yelled.

"What?"

"The man behind me says someone is back at the tunnel entrance!"

"Who?"

"I don't know!"

"Damn," Jeff swore.

"He has found us."

"He?"

"Gaat," Sukh replied. "It could be no other now. We must be quick!"

"But your men!"

Sukh shook his head as he crawled forward on hands and knees. "Some sacrifice cannot be helped, Jeff Tracy. We all knew that going in, as did the head of the House of T'ang, the honorable Li, may he rest with our ancestors."

Jeff's mouth was a tight line of acknowledgement as they picked up their pace. "Hurry, Parker, Penny," he called back. "We've got to get to the temple before Gaat's men get us all."

He wondered how Scott and Virgil were, praying that with Gaat's men on the loose out in the jungle, they and Megan would be safe.

1:21:48

Megan watched as the fourth pint of blood drained into Scott's body. She had stripped him of his uniform, leaving him only in his underwear before covering him with a thermal blanket, and as a result of the heat and new blood, his sallow coloring was slowly turning to pink. His pulse was strong and steady, but he was very clearly dehydrated. She worked at setting up a saline solution IV in his other arm, made slightly more difficult by the fact that it was between his body and the ship's bulkhead.

"You need help?"

Megan squealed and nearly stuck to the ceiling, she jumped so high. Whirling, she saw Virgil leaning up on his elbow, large honey-like eyes boring into hers.

"My God, warn a girl, would you?" she squeaked. "I nearly joined you in heart-stop city!"

"Heart-stop city?" Virgil inquired. "Ow!" He sucked a breath of air in through his teeth as he lowered himself back down to the bed. "What the hell happened to me?"

"Well, as near as I can tell," she replied, finally getting the IV line into Scott's arm and fastening it down with tape, "you've been flapping around outside this ship like you think you're a bird, what...twice now?"

Virgil grinned wryly. "Sounds about right. Why am I on my stomach?"

"You got burned on the back of your head and neck, and about half of your back when your oxygen canisters exploded."

His hand whipped to the back of his head, but it was covered by gauze. "Why doesn't it hurt?"

"Lots and lots of pain meds. In fact, how the hell is it you're talking coherently?"

"Guess I'm used to 'em," he mumbled, frowning at the strange hairline he was feeling with his fingertips. "My hair."

"Yep. Singed. It'll grow back, though. I guess you guys get shot up with meds a lot in this line of work, huh?"

"More than I care to remember," was his reply. "You fix me up?"

"Yes. Scott's been getting a transfusion." She saw the look of concern as Virgil looked over to where Scott lay across from him. "Don't worry, Virgil. He's going to be okay. His color's really coming back. Anyway, I applied some syntheskin to the worst areas of burn, right between your shoulder blades. The rest should heal up fine, so it's covered with burn gel and gauze. I'm a little concerned about your ribs, though."

"My ribs?"

"You broke a couple, I'm sure of it. So don't move around too much. I can't do a whole lot with having to keep you on your stomach."

Virgil nodded. "I have a feeling that I'm going to be one hurting unit once these meds wear off." He stopped and watched Scott as Megan took Virgil's pulse and flicked a penlight into his eyes. "Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

"Yes. You both are. Now, you have a concussion, Virgil, and two nasty lumps on your head. I really think you ought to go back to sleep."

"Where's Dad?"

"He went to rescue John and Gordon from the temple."

"Gordon? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh," Megan's face fell. "I'm sorry, Virgil. I forgot you didn't know. That Ebony apparently had Gordon kidnapped from the hospital in Kuala Lumpur, and has both him and John now."

"I have to—aaaaaa!" Virgil cried out when he tried to move. "Unstrap me!" he ground out.

"Virgil, I promised your father I would look after you while he went to get your brothers. Besides, Scott needs you here."

"What are you talking about, he's unconscious," Virgil spat, glaring daggers at her.

"Yes, but you're close and he knows that. I think it's helping." She stared right back at him. "And glaring at me isn't getting you anywhere. You couldn't walk a straight line even if I did let you up, you stubborn—"

Her words were cut off by a loud BOOM outside.

Suddenly Megan's sure-of-herself attitude was gone, her eyes widening in fright. "What was that?" she asked in a small voice.

"Give me that small remote against the wall over there," Virgil ordered. She dutifully brought it to him and watched as he was able to flip a video monitor down from the ceiling above Scott's bed. A few button-pushes later and they could see outside Thunderbird 2 to the jungle surrounding them. "Did Dad cloak us?"

Megan nodded. "I believe so, yes. We talked about it."

"Dammit, I need to get to the cockpit."

Megan swallowed and hesitated only a moment before nodding. She moved to undo the straps holding Virgil to the bed and watched as he struggled to stand, pain etching lines into his face with every movement.

"Help me," he gasped as pain shot through his torso.

She moved in and put his arm around her shoulders, sagging as he leant heavily on her. She'd been right – he was unsteady on his feet at best. She glanced back at Scott, who was only halfway through the next pint of blood before slowly helping Virgil move toward the cockpit.

1:39:50

Gordon had given up thinking about how a little kid could make him float, instead just being grateful that somehow it had indeed been possible. He coughed and choked a bit as Zi kicked dust up into his face. Grimacing with each movement of hands and knees, Gordon cursed the fact that the tunnel they'd found at the end of the vertical chute was made completely of stone. Hell on the joints.

"Zhong zhi!" Zi whispered fiercely. "Mou wù ting jiàn!"

He stopped just short of her hind end as she crouched in silence. Gordon, too, strained to hear, assuming she must've heard something, wishing she spoke English for about the umpteenth time.

And then he heard it. Scraping. Sliding. There was definitely something...or someone ahead of them. Gordon squeezed up next to Zi and handed Esunge off to her before scooting ahead of her. "Stay here," he whispered before crawling on.

He kept moving until his head banged into the wall. Evidently, the tunnel had taken a turn. In the darkness, he couldn't hope to have seen any changes like that. Rubbing his head and cursing silently, he reached out and felt along the wall to make sure it didn't happen again.

And that's when he saw the flash of light.

1:46:22

"Stop, Jeff Tracy."

The line of people behind Sukh all came to a halt.

"What is it?"

"I hear something up ahead." Sukh moved his head so the lamp he wore on the hardhat provided by Jeff was pointing straight ahead of them. He squinted, certain he'd seen something move. "There is a bend in the tunnel," he whispered to Jeff. "I believe I saw someone there."

"Let's you and I investigate," Jeff said as Sukh nodded. "Parker, Penny, let the others know we're checking something out ahead. Stay here, and watch your flank!"

"Yessir," Parker responded.

Jeff and Penny locked eyes before Jeff turned to follow Sukh ahead into the tunnel. "Lights off," he said. Sukh nodded and they extinguished their headlamps.

Slowly they moved forward, listening to hear anything above the sound of their own shuffling. They reached the bend in the tunnel. Just as they did, there was a loud shout and Jeff felt Sukh being knocked back into him.

I know that voice!

"Gordon!"

All movement ceased as suddenly as it had begun. "Dad?"

"Gordon?" Jeff shoved his way past Sukh, turning his light on as he moved. "Gordon?"

"Dad!" Gordon blinked in the blinding light, but felt the warm, comforting hand on his shoulder. "Dad, is that you?"

"Gordon, thank God!" Jeff squeezed his shoulder in the cramped space as Sukh looked on, quite confused. "This is my son, Gordon. One of the two Gaat was holding." He turned his attention back to Gordon as he heard a sound behind him. "Is that John? Have you both--?"

Gordon shook his head sadly. "No, Dad. This is Zi."

"Zi!" Sukh exclaimed as the woman came scooting forward. "Why do you have the child?"

"She wouldn't leave without him," Gordon replied. He noticed Zi looking strangely at Jeff. "This is our father," Gordon said slowly. He motioned toward Esunge, then indicated a small person next to a larger person with his hands. He then pointed at himself, making the small person gesture again, and to his father, making the larger person gesture.

Her face lit up. "Bà!"

Sukh nodded. "Wei, bà a John Tracy. Ben jia Jeff Tracy."

Zi's face fell as she held Esunge tight. "Jaun Tracy bào you dai. Dai a zhòng yì Gaat."

"No," Sukh breathed.

Gordon nodded. "I'm afraid so. Father, it's...it's John. He's..."

"He's what, son?" Jeff frowned, looking from Gordon to Zi and back again. "What about him?"

"Gaat's in his body," Gordon finally said. "First he was in Ebony and then..." He nodded toward Zi. "...then we saw this cloud thing go from Ebony into John. After that, when John talked, he sounded like..."

"Like Gaat."

Gordon nodded at Sukh's statement. "They left, him and a bunch of guards, in Jeeps."

"That must be who found the other end of this tunnel," Jeff said. "But Sukh, didn't you say he couldn't stay in a body for very long?"

"Not without the Joining ceremony."

"He wants you for that, Father. He was coming out here to get you."

1:58:11

Penelope was half-turned, whispering to the man behind her when a flash of something behind them caught her eye. She frowned and looked over and around the men lined up behind her. "What was that?" she whispered.

Parker sidled up next to her. "Wot was wot, milady?"

"A flash of something, back there," she replied. "Everyone, turn off your torches!"

A few mumbled words in Chinese later, and that part of the tunnel was dark. Penelope held her breath as she stared behind them. Then were was another flash, this time accompanied by a red laser blast. The man at the back of the line screamed in agony before falling silent.

"We're h'under h'attack, milady!" Parker cried, shielding her with his body. "Move h'up, move h'up!"

"Come on, everyone!" Penelope yelled to them. She switched her headlamp back on and began scrambling forward, Parker following suit. Another laser blast and another cry of pain. She moved even faster.

Soon they could see the lamps from the other party ahead. "Jeff!" she called out.

"Penny!" His face appeared around the corner. "Penny, was that--?"

"Yes! Quickly, we must move ahead now!"

Parker stumbled and fell on his chin, bringing the chain behind Penny to a banging stop. Another laser blast was fired.

Lady Penelope screamed.

Jeff's stomach flopped. "Penny! No!"

1:59:58

1:59:59

2:00:00

Hour Nineteen

The following takes place between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m.

2:02:33

"According to my scanners, there's a large group of people down there – can you see them out the cockpit window?"

Megan leaned over the right side of 2's control panel, craning her neck to see what she could. "Yes, I see a few."

"Shit," Virgil breathed as he tried to rise but fell back into his chair. "I can't—tell me what they look like."

"They're all dressed alike," Megan offered. "They've got partial armor on. It's like a dark brown with black...I don't know...stuff...engraved in it."

"And they're all dressed that way?"

She nodded. "Yes." Then she peered to her right. "Oh! Wait! No! There's another one over there, he...oh, my God. Oh, my God, Virgil, it's...it's John!"

"It's what?" Virgil sprang to his feet, completely ignoring the pain it caused him. "Where?"

"There!" Megan pointed, backing out of the way.

Virgil looked. Sure enough, there stood his brother dressed in a long, crimson robe that fluttered in the breeze. He was holding something up toward Thunderbird 2. Virgil watched as John seemed to study whatever was in his hand, alternately looking up as he did so. Then his hand swung over 'til it was pointed directly at the cockpit. Before Virgil's eyes, his own brother picked up a rocket launcher, steadied it on his shoulder and took aim at the exact spot Virgil watched from.

"No," he breathed. "No, John, what...what are you doing?"

Virgil's legs began to shake. Then his arms. Then his entire body. There was nothing to grab on the control panel and he began to collapse.

"Virgil!" Megan cried, trying to prop him up. But his weight was far too much for her to handle alone, and they fell to the cockpit floor.

"Megan, stop...stop him!" He was shaking so hard now he couldn't even see straight. "Comm...outside comm..."

"How?" Megan asked, struggling to pull her legs out from under his back. "I don't know how!"

"Bottom...left," he ground out through chattering teeth. "Box of nine..."

Megan finally extricated herself and went to the opposite side of the pilot's chair. She looked at the complex operating console in front of her, fingertips brushing lightly over the lower left portion until she saw nine small, flat buttons in the shape of a square.

"Got it!"

"Lef...lef...shi..."

Megan frowned and looked down at him. He was leaving the t's off his words.

Oh, no.

"Lef...'wice...'op...mih'le...one..." Virgil stuttered. He closed his mouth, working his jaw as though he didn't quite have control of it.

Oh, God, Virgil.

"I have it. Left twice, top middle once. What next?"

"Mih'le 'hree..." His eyes widened. "Wha—'egan, 'ell him 'op, 'ell Ch...cho...Chon...'op..." Virgil's eyes rolled back, only the whites showing as he collapsed completely.

"Virgil! Oh, God, no!" Megan tapped the last buttons and there was a small beep. "John!" she yelled into the air. "John, stop! Please! Don't shoot, it's Scott and Virgil, please don't shoot!"

She stepped up into the pilot's chair and looked out the window. Then a menacing voice reached her ears.

"Good. Then I shall have two more brothers out of the way."

And he fired.

2:22:40

In the confusion that followed, Jeff hadn't realized the tunnel wall between him and Penelope had been hit by the last laser blast. He'd shoved past Sukh, but the man had pulled him back just in time. Now, as they all choked on the resulting dust, it was all Jeff could do to remain calm enough to check on the well-being of those nearest him.

Gordon had pushed Esunge and Zi to the floor, covering them with his body. All three were relatively unharmed save a couple of bumps and bruises. Sukh was coughing harder than any of them, and when Jeff pointed his light toward Sukh's eyes, he found them bulging, and Sukh's lips turning blue.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked, shaking his newfound friend. "Talk to me, Sukh, come on!"

The man grabbed his own throat. "A—" he coughed. "A—a—as—"

"Asthma?" Jeff asked.

Sukh nodded.

"Oh, God. Inhaler. Do you have an inhaler?"

Sukh indicated a pocket on the leg of his pants. Jeff unsnapped the pocket and reached in, but his face fell as his fingers found their target. Slowly he pulled the object into view.

It was the inhaler. But it was smashed. The small metal portion containing the medicine Sukh badly needed to open his airways had been punctured by falling rock, emptying it of its contents.

"God, Sukh, I-I'm so sorry."

Sukh's wheezing grew worse when Jeff showed him the useless inhaler. It was then that Zi and Gordon realized what was happening.

"Wú! Sukh shang wú, Sukh shang wú!" Zi cried, handing Esunge to Gordon. The child had begun to cry and Gordon cradled him, trying to keep him calm as he looked sadly upon this man his father and Zi evidently held a great respect for. Zi scrambled to hold Sukh's head in her arms.

"Bù xíng le," Sukh gasped as Zi smoothed his hair. "Wo de chà nà. Zi." He reached up and touched her forehead. "Guai wan er. Shuài ling...bèi fèn T'ang."

"Bù jiù xù."

"Zhi néng," Sukh gasped. "Zi...yí liú. Bù dào huáng...hé xin bù si."

Tears streamed down Zi's face. "Zhuàng liè Sukh," she whispered. "Gào bié."

Sukh's breath came in short gasps now. Jeff reached out and grabbed his hand. "Thank you, Sukh."

Sukh nodded and the ghost of a smile graced his lips as the last breath escaped them. Zi bowed over him as Jeff's eyes squeezed shut. He felt Sukh's hand release his. "Good-bye, my friend."

2:34:17

Megan had no idea what had happened.

Just as John looked like he might fire on Thunderbird 2, the craft had sprung to life, rockets firing and shooting them into the air so fast she'd been thrown from the chair, hitting her head on the back wall of the cockpit.

Now, as she looked around, she realized Virgil was still on the floor near the console...but someone else was in the pilot's seat. Rubbing her head, she managed to pull herself to her feet. When she got a look at the pilot, her heart skipped several beats.

"Scott!"

"Nice of you to join me," he quipped, his eyes not leaving 2's console. "Damn!"

"What the—what happened?"

"I woke up in the back there," Scott said, his voice strong and steady. "The video monitor screen was on and I saw John lift a rocket launcher – what the hell was he doing?"

"I-I don't know, Scott," Megan replied, grabbing the back of the chair to steady herself. "But how...did Thunderbird 2 go...up?"

"I accessed remote console control from back there and shot her into the air. Just in time, too." Scott pounded his fist on the console. "Why the fuck was my brother trying to blow us to smithereens?"

Megan dropped down on her knees. "Where are you taking us?"

"I haven't got a clue. I'm going to have to move farther away in order to get a spot big enough to land." Scott looked down and to his right. "I didn't have a chance to check on him," he whispered. "Is he...?"

"No," Megan replied, finger over Virgil's carotid. "His pulse is strong, but..."

"But what?"

"I'm very worried, Scott. Just before he passed out he was shaking uncontrollably. He didn't look like he had control over his own body, and...he..."

"What? Meg, spit it out!"

You didn't argue with that tone of voice.

"It was his speech. He started dropping letters and was having a very difficult time trying to form words."

"So? What does that mean?"

Megan looked up, eyes meeting his. "Brain damage."

Scott turned away just in time to keep Megan from seeing the tears that formed in his eyes. "I'm going for a hospital," he said gruffly.

Megan nodded. She didn't dare move Virgil. Who knew what all was wrong with his body? After what he'd been through today it was amazing he was still alive at all. That's when she noticed the left side of his head. She remembered having seen a lump there earlier, when he'd been back in the sick bay, but now...

"Oh, no. Scott!"

"What?"

"How long 'til we reach the hospital?"

"I won't take him to KL. That's where Gordo was kidnapped from. There could still be men there. Let me see..." He started to punch up a map of the area.

"Scott, there's no time."

He looked down at her. "What are you talking about?"

"I know what the problem is." She pointed to the side of his head. "Hematoma. His brain might be swelling or at the very least getting damaged by internal bleeding."

"Can you stop it?" Scott asked, barely concealing his panic.

"I...dammit, I don't know! I'm a pathologist, Scott, not a brain surgeon!"

"You have to try!"

"But what if I do something wrong? I could kill him!"

"If you don't try, my brother is going to die!" Scott bellowed.

She looked up at him again. "I can't remove a section of his skull safely, Scott. Not here." A tear trickled out the corner of Scott's eye as Megan softly stroked Virgil's cheek.

He can't die. Not after everything we've done to keep him alive. Just look at him. And look at Scott. He'll...he'll die, too, if his brother does. She squeezed her eyes closed, then opened them again as she took a deep breath. He's right. I have to try.

"What about Brains?" Megan asked. "Can he help me? Isn't he a doctor?"

"Yes!" Scott crowed, slamming his hand down on the control panel. "Base! Come in! Base!"

2:46:56

Penelope struggled to get out from under Parker, who wouldn't move no matter what she said to him. But he was so heavy! Why wouldn't he move? Parker wasn't that big, surely she should be able to...

She heard someone speaking in Chinese and Parker began moving. Before long she was freed, and she turned to thank Parker for protecting her. The T'ang man now holding Parker looked at her apologetically. She frowned, guessing he probably felt bad for the tunnel having caved in above...above them.

Penny looked up. Instead of the tunnel's rock ceiling, she saw jungle canopy surrounding them. And heard the shouts of men in the distance.

That's when she looked back down.

That's when she saw her butler. Her friend.

"Parker?"

The man holding him shook his head.

It can't be...it can't be...

She reached out and picked up his limp arm. She placed her fingers over his wrist. There was no pulse.

"I am sorry, Lady Penelope," the man holding him said. "But his back was broken by the rock. He saved your life."

"Again," she breathed, the lump in her throat causing an involuntary sob.

But there was no time for tears. Voices outside above-ground grew nearer. The Chinese man laid Parker gently on the tunnel floor.

"Where..." Penelope took a deep breath. "Where are your men?"

"Gone. Captured or dead now. Tunnel collapsed behind us."

"Jeff?" Penny turned and saw the way in front of them was blocked as well. "What's your name?" she asked the man.

"Lao-tzu. You may call me Lao." He raised his laser rifle over his head as he rose to his full height and peered into the jungle. "Turn off your lamp."

Penelope complied. "I have to find Jeff."

"No time. They are almost here. Those are Gaat's men."

"How do you know?"

"They speak the language of the Malay. Come. Quickly!"

Penelope turned her headlamp back on and gazed down upon the face of the man who had saved her life twice now in one day. A man she'd thought she'd lost, only to find again...and lose one last time.

"Thank you, Parker," she whispered, placing a kiss on his cheek. "You shall always be remembered." She looked up and grabbed the hand Lao held out to her just as a shot rang out overhead.

2:56:24

"That's the situation, Brains," Scott said, his voice showing none of the emotion he'd felt minutes earlier. "Megan's just gotten him back to the bay, but she can't do this alone."

"A-All right, Scott. Patch me through to her. There i-isn't a moment to, uh, lose."

Please, Brains. Please help him.

Scott's breath came haltingly as he tried to keep the panic at bay.

God, please let Megan's hands be steady. Save him. Please don't let him die.

Tears welled up in his eyes, spilling over onto his cheeks, dripping off his jaw into the hair on his bare chest.

I love him so much...

2:58:00

"What do I do first?"

Brains could hear the soft beep-beep of a mobile heart rate monitor. "I-I see you have the oxygen in place a-and the pulse monitor o-on his finger."

Megan nodded.

"Uh, that's good. Now, you have to shave the hair away from the area that's swelling. You, uh, won't have to do any cutting, Megan, so don't w-worry."

"I won't?" she asked, fetching the small electric razor from a nearby drawer. She switched it on and began shaving the affected area. "But how will we stop the swelling?"

"Y-You'll see. Just get the area shaved completely a-and clean it with alcohol."

In no time, the entire left side of Virgil's head above his ear had been shaved clean. Megan opened a bottle of alcohol, pouring a generous amount on a sterile towel. Just as she touched his head, Virgil's entire body jerked off the bed, completely rigid.

"No! Shit! Brains!"

Suddenly Scott was standing in the doorway. "What is it? What's happened?"

"He's seizing!" she cried.

"Virgil!"

Brains' brow furrowed as Virgil's body relaxed back onto the bed, but continued to shake. Scott ran to his brother's side, barely missing Megan as she backed away. His left hand cupped Virgil's face.

"Virg! Come on! Let it go, come on!"

The next sound heard made everyone freeze.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

2:59:58

2:59:59

3:00:00

Hour Twenty

The following takes place between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.

3:00:04

No.

The same word thought by three different people. It was Brains who sprang into action first.

"Scott! Start CPR! Megan, quickly, the third cabinet on your right!"

Megan pulled the door open and found something wrapped in sterile plastic.

"Cut it open, you must use this on Virgil's head immediately!"

Megan grabbed a scalpel and tore the cover off it, then used it to cut the wrap off the object she held. It was a pliable rectangle with a keypad on one side and a strange material she could not identify on the other.

"What is it?"

"It will scan that area of his head and determine the cause of the swelling. Place it over where you shaved and press the far left, top button."

Megan did as instructed and was horrified when the unit attached itself to his head. Blood trickled down onto the bed below.

"What the hell is it doing?"

"Sending small electrodes inside to give me a scan," Brains replied, looking at something down and to his left.

Megan turned and watched as Scott pumped his brother's chest for the second time that day, then puffed air into his mouth.

"Got it!" Brains exclaimed. "He's got internal bleeding and a skull fracture is allowing the blood to leak out of his skull. I-It must have put pressure on his speech center before it finally pushed through the bone."

"What do I do?"

"You just need to remove the scan unit to allow the blood to drain through the holes created by its electrodes, and help Scott get his heart started again!"

Megan nodded and grabbed a large towel from the first cabinet next to the bed. She rolled it and placed it under Virgil's left ear, the entire length of his head. Scott came to the end of his next round of fifteen compressions. Megan leaned in and puffed two breaths of air into Virgil's mouth.

Compressions.

Brains watched with concern.

Puffs.

Megan stared as the blood poured from four small holes in Virgil's head.

Compressions.

"VIRGIL!" Scott cried. In frustration, he balled his hands together into one giant fist, raised it into the air and came down hard on his brother's chest.

Beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...

Scott let out a sob of relief, collapsing onto Virgil's legs, hands gathering the material of his brother's uniform as he fought to control himself. Brains beamed from the video screen as Megan wiped her eyes. She laid a hand on Scott's trembling back.

"You did it," she said softly. "Again."

He raised himself up and looked at her, then Brains. "Thank you," he breathed. They heard an insistent beeping from the front of the plane. "I have to get back to the cockpit. We're nearly at the hospital."

Though shaky, Scott managed to get to his feet without assistance. Brains and Megan watched him go, both wondering how in the hell he was still standing at all.

Only when he was safely out of everyone's sight did Scott sag against the bulkhead. One shaking hand wiped moist eyes. The beeping continued and he managed to look out the cockpit window as he moved to take the pilot's seat.

Thank you, God.

Scott turned 2's autopilot off.

Thank you.

3:07:37

Jeff, Gordon, Zi and Esunge had continued along the tunnel toward the temple. He'd agonized over whether to look for Penelope, but the sounds of weapons had reached their ears, and reluctantly he admitted that they needed to head for their original destination. They had to save John...somehow.

And Jeff knew the only way to do that was to offer himself to Gaat in exchange for his son. He'd rather Zi, Gordon and the baby weren't along for this. After all, what could they do against one as powerful as a man who could return from the dead?

What could any of them do?

Finally, they'd reached a point at which they could go nowhere but up.

"It's a chute that leads to the roof," Gordon explained, disbelieving the fact that he was about to go back to the place he'd just escaped from. "But Dad...you can't go."

"Of course I can."

"Dad, he'll capture you and then what? Possess you? Permanently! Is that what you want?"

"Of course it's not!" Jeff yelled, the events of the day taking their toll. "What am I supposed to do? Let him keep bouncing from person to person indefinitely?"

"We could just leave!" Gordon pleaded. Then he realized the implications of that statement. "No, I...of course we couldn't," he whispered. "Not without John."

"Exactly. And that bastard's got him. The only way I can handle this is to face Gaat myself."

Jeff's comm watch suddenly lit up. He looked down to find the face of Kyrano looking serenely back at him.

"You will not be alone, Jeff," his friend said softly. "The only way to stop what Evil has begun is for us to face him. Together."

"Kyrano? How?"

"You must allow me into your mind."

"I...how?"

When the moment is right, Jeff, you will know."

"Gordon," Jeff said firmly, "You stay well behind me. Keep the woman and child safe."

"No way, Dad. I'm going with you."

"Gordon--!"

"Who's going to get John out of there if something happens to you?"

Jeff stared back at him and sighed. "I just...this is an impossible situation."

"Never give up," Gordon whispered, grasping his father's forearm.

Finally, Jeff nodded. "At any cost." He sighed again. "Fine. But I go first."

Jeff began climbing up the chute, using the small metal rungs as both hand and footholds. He felt the night air as they got closer and closer to the roof. At last they reached their destination, and he popped his head through the opening. The coast was clear. He hoisted himself up onto the roof and helped Gordon up, then turned to survey their surroundings as Gordon helped Esunge and Zi.

"How'd you get up here before?" he asked as Gordon came to his side and they walked together toward the raised, dome portion of the roof.

A cold laugh froze them in their tracks.

"Ah, Jeff Tracy. At last."

3:19:11

Penelope ran as fast as she could, Lao close behind. Large leaves reached out and whipped against her body, slicing through her clothing and into her skin, but she ignored them. A vine nearly tripped her, but Lao's strong hands lifted her and put her down again, feet still running.

If it hadn't been for her headlamp, she would've ran smack-dab into the temple wall.

Startled, she skidded to a halt on the slippery undergrowth, Lao nearly ramming right into her. They both stared up and realized it was the side wall. There was a clearing near them along the rear of the temple, and Penny sprinted for it. She and Lao broke out of the jungle into an open space and Lao gasped, pointing up to where his eyes were looking.

High above them, atop the temple's roof, stood a figure with crimson robes fluttering in the breeze. Penny extinguished her headlamp as she and Lao retreated back into the cover of the jungle.

"That was John!" she whispered fiercely to her companion.

Lao nodded and opened his mouth to reply. But he was cut off by a scream from above.

3:25:41

Zi's eyes were wide with horror as Belah pushed her over the low wall along the roof's edge. Gordon roared and made to head-butt his brother as her screams filled the night. But John held his hand out and an invisible barrier threw Gordon sprawling onto his back. He howled as the syntheskin tore away, pebbles and dirt grinding into raw flesh.

"Damn you!" Jeff cried. "Get out of my son's body!"

"Gladly," Belah purred, twisting John's face into a sickening smile. "Come with me and your son shall soon be free."

"Dad! No!" Gordon cried as Esunge crawled over to him.

"Gordon! Get out of here while you can! Now!"

"Dad, no!" He shot to his feet as John grabbed Jeff's arm and led him away. "Dad!"

John turned and, with a flip of his hand, swiped Gordon's feet out from under him. He landed hard on his ass, barely missing Esunge's head. He scrambled back up to his feet...but they were gone.

"Dad!" Gordon cried, lifting the baby and running to the other corner of the roof. "Dad, where are you?"

Jeff and Belah had vanished.

3:29:06

"Good catch!" Penelope enthused as Lao lowered the young Chinese lady to her feet. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Zi!" Lao exclaimed. He turned to Penny. "This is Li's daughter! The one Ebony held captive with your John Tracy!"

"Zi, listen to me," Penelope said, looking earnestly into her eyes. "Where is John? Did you see John?"

She began speaking rapidly in Chinese, and Penny looked to Lao for help.

"She says," he began as Zi continued her story, "that John Tracy is possessed by Gaat, and that one called Goh-done and Jeff Tracy are upon the roof with him. The child of Ebony is there as well."

"Jeff?" Penny cried. "Jeff is there?" She craned her neck back to try and see the rooftop.

Zi continued to babble.

"She, Esunge and Goh-done met Jeff and Sukh in the tunnel as they made their escape. The tunnel collapsed and they made their way back to the roof. Sukh..." Lao faltered. "Sukh died in the tunnel."

"I'm so sorry," Penelope said, placing a hand on the girl's arm. "Lao, we must do something. If we don't, Gaat is going to take over Jeff's body and we won't be able to do anything about it!"

"I know," Lao replied. He spoke to Zi rapidly and received just as fast a response. "She knows where the ceremony is to take place. We must enter. There is a door here."

"Won't there be guards?"

"There should have been guards already. I would guess those chasing us back there were the bulk of Gaat's soldiers. It would explain why we have not yet been killed."

"Good point," Penny nodded. "Right, then let's get in there!"

Lao nodded and crept to the back door. Just as he reached for the latch, it swung open.

3:36:16

"Gordon!" Penelope cried out.

"Esunge!" Zi exclaimed, rushing to grab the baby from Gordon's arms. "Goh-done!"

"That's Goh-done?" Penelope asked, very nearly laughing. "Gordon!" she said, and Lao chuckled.

"Language barrier," he said, staring at the Chinese woman. "How in the hell is she still alive?"

"Lao caught her. Where...where are they?"

He turned to look at her, eyes serious. "They've disappeared, I-I don't know where they are, I don't know what happened, we were on the roof and then...Dad, he took Dad, Penny! John took Dad!"

"John? Yes, I saw him on the roof. What do you mean he took your father?"

"He's...he's not himself, Penny. Gaat's in him."

Lao shook his head. "We must hurry. If Gaat is allowed to complete the Joining ceremony, neither John Tracy nor Jeff Tracy stand a chance." He turned and said something to Zi, who nodded and, with one last look at Gordon, turned and walked into the jungle.

"Where is she going?" he asked.

"I have told her to keep safely hidden," Lao replied. "She is the last surviving blood relative of the House of T'ang. She must not die."

Gordon nodded as he and Penelope followed Lao into the temple.

3:38:52

Megan watched as the doctors worked on Virgil. Then she moved to the ER bay next to his and watched the doctors trying to work on Scott, who was having none of it.

"I don't need any doctors!" he proclaimed. "I've already had the best care I could!"

She blushed in spite of herself.

"Now let me see my brother!"

"Sir, if you don't stay out of their way, they won't be able to do their jobs!"

"Scott, he's right, you know," Megan said as a nurse came up to take her pulse.

Scowling, it was all he could do not to jump off the bed. "Well, then, hurry it up so I can get to Virgil."

Megan grinned as the doctor pushed Scott back on the bed and brought over a mobile X-ray machine.

"What's that for?"

"Well, Dr. Crawford here says you were shot. I see only an entrance wound. That means you've got a bullet stuck in your leg."

His scowl deepened. "Well, then, get it out," he grumbled.

Megan stifled a laugh as she wandered back to check on Virgil. "Who's his brother?" one of the doctors tending to him called out.

"I am!" Scott said, jumping off his bed and running into Virgil's bay.

"We have to just patch his head up a bit, but I'd rather take him to the OR for it. He also has some broken bones we have to fix and I have a neural team standing by to check out his brain."

"Okay."

"Oh, and his sternum appears to be cracked."

Scott turned crimson. "Oops."

Megan peeked around the curtain. "You'd better hope he doesn't find out you did that!"

"What? It was to start his heart, for God's sake!" He clamped his mouth shut as he took in her teasing face. "You're right. He's never going to let me live this down."

"Scott!"

He turned as he heard that damnable doctor call his name from the next bay over. "Just a minute!" He turned back to Virgil's doctor. "Is he...I mean, will he...?"

"He's going to be fine. Whatever you did for him before you got here did the trick. It seems the bleeding from his head has stopped completely. Now why don't you get over there where you belong? Dr. Craven has been known to get a bit...brutal with unruly patients."

"Unruly?" Scott repeated. Then he turned to see the doctor staring him down. "Damn."

Megan laughed.

3:45:33

Jeff had allowed himself to be bathed by six female slaves. The process sickened him, how the women did what John...Belah...commanded, without question. He wasn't keen on so many women not only seeing him naked but also touching him everywhere, but they didn't even seem to notice his body. It was something they did by rote, he surmised.

John...Belah....stood nearby, not daring to leave Jeff alone long enough for him to try and escape. That was the scrutiny that greatly bothered Jeff. Especially when Belah chose to bring it out into the open.

"For a man of your age, Jeff Tracy, I must say you are fit." John's face grinned menacingly. "I believe I shall enjoy being in possession of that body. And as long as I am careful, your wife..." Here he fingered the wedding ring he'd taken from Jeff's hand. "My wife will never know the difference, and I shall have an English lady in my bed."

"You bastard," Jeff seethed. "She'll know the difference. She'll know it immediately."

"It is no longer of your concern, Jeff Tracy. Soon you shall join those below and forever be lost to those you love!" He spat the word as though it burned his tongue to say it.

Finally the women finished bathing him, and led him up the stone steps and out of the huge bath. While three toweled him dry, the other three began rubbing warm oil everywhere their fingers could reach. Jeff squirmed both under their ministrations and under the watchful eye of his son-turned-captor.

"John, I know you're still in there," he said softly, looking at the familiar, but now so different face. "I know you can hear me."

"You proceed under a false assumption."

"What's that?"

"That your son's soul is still in existence."

Jeff raised his chin defiantly. "Of course it is. You couldn't join with him permanently, which means his soul is still his."

"Conceded," John's face smirked. "For now." Belah's voice barked something in Malay and the women slipped a golden robe over Jeff's head, helping him get his arms into the proper holes. "Come, Jeff Tracy," Belah said, turning on heel. "It is time."

God, John, what has he done to you? Jeff closed his eyes, allowing the women to lead him through the temple. Kyrano, what do I do? When do I do it? He could hear nothing in his mind like he had two years ago...when Kyrano had contacted him before. Kyrano, how? How will I know when it's right? How?

3:52:46

Gordon, Penny and Lao made it halfway across the great cavernous room before they heard anything. The three of them stopped, backing against one another to form a triangle of safety, facing all possible points. Gordon was facing the front of the room, and stared curiously as a beaded curtain parted to reveal a life-sized statue of someone he knew all too well.

"Kyrano?" he said softly.

The statue was made of darkened bronze. Shadows created by the eternal flames dancing 'round its based flickered across the smooth surface. Gordon blinked. He could've sworn he saw the facial expression change.

"I see nothing," Lao said, startling Gordon. "You?"

"No," Penelope responded. "Gordon?"

"Nothing except..."

"Except what?" Penelope asked, turning to face him.

"Look up there," Gordon said, pointing up to the head of the Kyrano statue. "Watch it and tell me if you see anything strange."

"It's Kyrano."

"I know. Just watch it. Watch the face."

Penelope watched. Lao turned and watched. Gordon kept on watching, his eyes never leaving their target.

Nothing happened.

"What is it you think you saw, Gordon?"

"I...oh, never mind. It has to be my mind playing tricks on me."

"From what Zi told me," Lao said, scanning their surroundings, "I believe I know where the ceremony will occur."

"Good. Lead the way," Penny said.

Lao moved across the floor in front of the statue. Penelope followed. They were all the way to the opposite wall and had just begun moving down a long hall when Penny realized Gordon was no longer behind her. She grabbed the back of Lao's shirt.

"Wait," she said, turning around. "Where's Gordon?"

They walked back to the mouth of the hall. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, no," Penny whispered. "You don't think someone's grabbed him, do you?" A sharp gasp surprised her and she looked at Lao's face. "What?"

Lao's mouth opened but no sound emerged. He could do nothing but point. She followed his arm and finger up into the air.

There, suspended in mid-air more than fourteen feet above the floor, was Gordon Tracy.

He looked...dead.

3:59:58

3:59:59

4:00:00

Hour Twenty-One

The following takes place between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.

4:01:32

Penelope and Lao stared in wonder.

"Gordon?" she whispered as loudly as she dared. It was then she noticed the ring on her right fourth finger blink rapidly three times before going dark again. In spite of Gordon's curious current state of being, Penny smiled.

"Did your ring just light up?"

"It did."

"What does it mean?"

"That our Ace in the Hole has arrived."

Lao cocked an eyebrow at her. "Ace...in...the Hole?" he repeated slowly. "What does this mean?"

"It means we're not yet dead in the water."

Thoroughly confused, Lao looked back up toward Gordon just as he slowly began floating downward. "I do not know about water, Lady, but your Gordon is returning."

Penny raced over as Gordon's body became level with her face. He turned slightly so his legs were pointed more toward the floor, then continued his descent. She reached out and grabbed his hands as Lao moved behind him and supported his back. Whatever had been holding him up suddenly disappeared.

The two held him upright as Penny checked his carotid. "Steady pulse," she breathed. "Thank God. I wonder what happened to him?"

"I would suspect magick," Lao replied. She looked around Gordon's body at him, surprised to find that he looked quite serious.

"Gordon," she said, squeezing his hands. "Gordon, wake up."

His eyelids fluttered, but he didn't move.

"Gordon, please. Wake up for me. We have to get your father and John. Please, Gordon."

"I'll help him, Penelope," a female voice echoed in the cavernous room.

Lao jumped, nearly dropping Gordon in the process. They turned to see a thin figure clad all in black from head to toe. Only her eyes were visible, and they were hazel.

"Tin-Tin, thank heavens. I wasn't certain you were coming."

"Right on schedule, Penny," she replied, staring for a moment at the statue of her father on the nearby dais. "Tell me, what happened here?"

"He just floated into the air," Penny reported. "Right in front of this statue."

"Excuse me. Who is she?"

"Oh, forgive me, Lao. This is Tin-Tin Kyrano."

"The half-niece of Gaat?"

Penny nodded, turning her attention back to Tin-Tin. "This is Lao. He and a woman named Zi are the sole remaining members of the House of T'ang."

"Sworn enemies of my half-uncle," Tin-Tin breathed. "Yes. Father told me of you. I am pleased you are here."

Lao bowed as Tin-Tin did the same.

"Penny, tell me," Tin-Tin continued as she righted herself, "did he say anything at all?"

"No. We were headed into the hall to find the ceremonial room when I realized he'd disappeared. Then we saw him floating high above the ground."

Tin-Tin nodded. "Please lay him flat." Once they'd done that, she knelt next to him, closed her eyes and placed one hand palm-flat on his forehead.

Lao and Penelope exchanged looks.

"You may go to find the chamber," Tin-Tin said softly. "Gordon will be quite well with me. We will join you shortly."

Penny nodded as she and Lao rose to their feet, continuing upon their previously-walked path toward the hall.

"What is she doing?" Lao asked.

"She's Kyrano's daughter," Penny replied. "She could be doing anything."

4:12:14

So far Jeff had complied with everything asked of him. He stood by silently and watched as John lit various bowls of incense and extinguished certain candles while leaving others lit. He sprinkled some sort of water-like substance on an altar made of black onyx near the front of the rectangular room and, to Jeff's disgust, proceeded to rip a chicken's head from its body. He took the blood and smeared it all over the room's two other altars, both made of marble.

It didn't just surprise him that anyone still did this kind of thing in today's day and age...it surprised him that his son somehow didn't react to what Gaat was doing in his body. Killing...smearing blood...shoving an innocent woman off a roof...Jeff couldn't fathom that his John could still be in there somewhere given everything he was doing.

And yet he knew he had to still be in there. The whole point was that Gaat had to perform what was looking to be a sick cult-like ritual or he wouldn't be able to take permanent control of any body, be it Jeff's or John's.

When John...or what looked like John...drained the last of the chicken's blood into a cup and drank it, Jeff could stand it no longer. He closed his eyes and turned his face away.

John, come back to me, he thought, trying desperately to swallow his fear. Please.

4:17:01

"Scott? What on Earth?"

Megan hurried into the hall outside Operating Room 1 on the hospital's fifth floor. "Dr. Craven told me he barely got the bullet out of your leg before you bolted up here on him. What were you thinking?"

Scott nodded toward the OR. "I just had to check on him."

It sounded for all the world like a big brother just mentioning checking out his little brother after night-night time. Megan couldn't help but smile fondly. "You guys sure have been through the wringer. Do you have days like this often?"

"No," he responded, then turned and looked at her, narrowing his eyes. "And it seems awfully funny that you're around whenever we do."

"You know, Scott Tracy, if you don't get your ass back into that bed they assigned you, I'm going to have to call your father and—"

"Oh!" Scott exclaimed, eyes widening.

"Oh, what? Scott?"

"Dad! My God, I didn't...he doesn't...shit!"

"What?"

"We've got to contact him, and fast!" He clapped a hand to his wrist. "My comm watch...where the hell is it?"

"I-I took it off in sick bay."

"Okay...we've got to get back to Two." Scott looked back up at the OR, then back at Megan, surreptitiously biting his lip.

"You want me to stay with him?"

He opened his mouth as if to reply, then clamped it shut again. "He'll be okay. Right?"

Megan nodded. "From what I hear, so far he's checking out. They're running the final scans on him, but it looks like he'll be back to your Virgil in no time."

Scott half-smiled, looking once more toward the operating room.

I'll be back, Virg. I promise.

"Come on, let's go."

"Scott, you've got a hospital gown on!"

"Well...oh, shit, who cares?"

Megan's face turned beet red as the two of them ran through the hospital halls, rode down the elevator and went as fast as Scott's leg allowed out through the ER automatic doors. Scott apparently didn't remember that the backs of hospital gowns...didn't close...

4:21:36

Lao and Penny crept down a hall filled with smoky incense and the smell of blood. Penelope's nose wrinkled as they drew closer to the room at the end of it. Just as they were about to peer inside, her ring lit up. She shrank back against the wall, Lao mimicking her movements. Hurriedly she ran back the way they'd come. Finally she stopped and twisted the gem of her ring so that it was perpendicular to the band.

"Penny here," she said softly.

"Thank God! Penny, it's Scott! I can't raise Dad, what's going on?"

"Oh, Scott, where are you? Where's Virgil?"

"He's in the hospital here in Kuala Lumpur. We've just gotten back into Two. Penny, what's happening over there?"

"We made it to the temple, Scott, but we were separated. Gaat has taken over John's body and he's preparing for the Joining ceremony with Jeff as we speak. Lao and I were just entering the chamber when you contacted me."

"Lao?"

"He's a friend," she replied, flashing a smile at her companion. He nodded in reverence. "Tin-Tin's with Gordon...hang on, here they come."

"Penny, is that all you have? You, Lao, Gordon and Tin-Tin? Against Gaat?"

"Well, yes, at the moment." She heard Scott's frustrated sigh. "I don't know, Scott. I'm uncertain as to our chances for success."

"I have an idea. How long can you stall before you try taking Gaat on?"

"I don't think we have much time."

"I'm going to send for reinforcements and then we'll be on our way to help."

"F.A.B., Scott. Penny out."

"How are they?" Tin-Tin asked as she and Gordon approached. "The way Thunderbird Two took off from that clearing, I wasn't sure any of them had survived."

"Virgil's in hospital, but Scott sounded okay and I gather Megan's with him unharmed as well. How's Gordon?" she asked, peering into the copper-haired man's eyes.

"I am fine," Gordon said softly, with just a hint of an accent.

"Penny, right now Gordon's only about half himself."

"Who's the other half?"

"My father."

"Kyrano?" she asked incredulously.

Tin-Tin nodded. "He is using Gordon temporarily for transport. You must safely get him into the ceremonial chamber or he can be of no assistance to Mr. Tracy."

Penelope nodded. "Right, let's be off, then. Lao and I know exactly where it is."

4:28:44

As his son approached, Jeff's nerves started to fray. What if something happened and Kyrano wasn't able to help? What if Gaat successfully summoned whatever dark powers he needed and moved from John's body to his? John would surely be killed as soon as the ceremony was completed, and all would have been for naught.

Not to mention the damage that would be done to millions as the supposed head of both Tracy Corp and International Rescue used his wealth and power to take over the world. He had to resist. As John approached, Jeff's mind raced.

What would John want me to do?

He knew the answer without question.

Save yourself, Father.

He could almost hear John's voice in his head.

There's no reason for both of us to die.

I can't, John.

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, staring at the face of his son...a man who had, over the years, become somewhat of a confidante as well. The time they'd spent together...time spent in discussion, talking about business, working through Corp paperwork...

John, I can't just leave you here.

Father, go.

No...

Go. Go now!

Just as Belah was within arm's reach of him, Jeff turned on heel to run. The sight that greeted him at the chamber entry made his heart lurch, and he skidded to a halt. For there stood Penelope, Gordon, a tall Chinese man and a woman clad all in black. He knew from her eyes who she was.

Belah roared in fury as Tin-Tin darted to the left, Penny to the right and Lao, straight ahead. Not knowing where to look, Belah first watched Tin-Tin, who catapulted up onto the wall, defying gravity itself until she reached a red velvet curtain and used it to swing along the wall down to the floor. Quickly she approached the onyx altar.

He looked ahead of him and growled when he saw the emblem of the House of T'ang. "I killed the rest of your repulsive family!" he yelled, raising his hands into the air. "Now you shall perish too, mongrel!"

Lao raced past Jeff and lunged for John, who rolled out of his way and sprang back to his feet, cat-like, as Lao skidded to a halt behind him. John reached out and grabbed Jeff's arm just as Penny circled in from behind him. He whirled on her, yanking Jeff into his body.

"Try anything and he dies," he snarled at them, daring anyone to test his mettle.

"You can't kill him," Penelope said, still approaching. "If you do, your dreams of heading International Rescue are dead in the water."

"Ah!" came a voice from behind him as he continued to turn in a circle. "Dead in the water! Now I understand the meaning!" Lao was grinning as he, too, drew closer.

Belah stopped when he saw that Gordon had somehow gotten close enough that he could actually touch him. Jeff's eyes widened when his son spoke.

"Radzi Belah, you have no power on this plane."

Is it just me, or does he sound a lot like...Kyrano?

Gordon gave him a quick wink and Jeff nearly laughed out loud.

He said I'd know!

"Your ceremony is doomed," came Tin-Tin's voice. "Release John Tracy and be gone back to Hell!"

Belah whipped back in her direction. "I don't know how you have managed this, Kyrano," he said over his shoulder to Gordon, "but you have failed. The incantation has already been read. The rest of the ritual doesn't matter!"

With that, Belah swiveled Jeff so their eyes were locked.

What? I...no...John...John! I see you...I see...what's happening...colors...the colors...

Jeff's eyes closed and he went limp in John's arms.

"Move in!" Tin-Tin yelled.

John swung his arm around and a shockwave sent them hurtling across the chamber, slamming into walls and altars with thuds and oofs of pain. Only Gordon stood steadfastly, unaffected by the display of dark magick.

"You shall not win this day, Radzi."

"Don't call me that!" Belah spat. "I have already won...brother."

John lifted Jeff, carrying him to the onyx altar. He stood next to him and grasped Jeff's hand. "Kurnaiai jasad, gelap kudrat. Beralah Jeff Tracy. Jasad hak saya!"

"Father! Do something!" Tin-Tin cried.

Gordon moved slowly across the chamber until he stood right next to John. John's head rolled back, oblivious to those around him. Belah continued to mumble in Malay, his hand firmly holding Jeff's. A bluish-white light came from nowhere, surrounding Jeff, Belah-in-John and Kyrano/Gordon in its protective bubble.

That's when Kyrano...and Gordon...struck.

4:41:16

Jeff's eyes opened to find two of his sons above him. John had hold of his hand and he just barely caught the glint of metal as Gordon unsheathed a knife and raised it in the air.

"No!" Jeff cried, using John's grip to pull himself up.

"Jeff, no!" Penny cried.

But all Jeff saw was one of his sons trying to kill the other. He launched off the table, tackling Gordon to the floor. John's eyes snapped open. Tin-Tin moved closer and cried out. "No! John!"

A gray puff of smoke hanging above John's head dissipated rapidly back into his mouth and the crystal blue eyes that had just been there turned black once more. Belah's voice laughed heartily.

"Tracy, you fool!" he crowed. "You have just sealed your doom!"

"What?" Jeff gasped, rising from the floor while Gordon rose to his feet.

"I am here as promised," Gordon said.

Jeff's eyes widened. "Oh, dear God, what have I done?"

Gordon pulled his father close. At six feet even, the two were eye-to-eye, noses nearly touching. Their eyes bored into one another's, Gordon's arms holding his father as close as possible.

"Jeff," Gordon whispered. "Let me in. Gordon is injured and too weak to fight him."

Jeff gulped. He could almost see Kyrano behind Gordon's eyes. "It's time?"

Gordon nodded, the ghost of a smile on his face. "It is time, Jeff."

Jeff nodded and placed his hands on Gordon's shoulders. "Then do it."

"No!" Belah cried, lunging for them.

Lao came at him from the back, Tin-Tin from his left and Penny from his right, tackling him to the floor as his hand swished along Jeff's golden robe. They struggled to hold him down, Penny getting one hand, Tin-Tin the other as Lao literally sat right down on his back.

"Get off me!" Gaat nearly screamed, fighting for all he was worth. "Get off!"

Jeff and Gordon stared into one another's eyes. Jeff had never felt anything like it. Ever.

It's so beautiful...it's Heaven...this is what Heaven must be like...look at the beauty, golds and silvers...blues and greens...this is where Lucy lives...this is...Kyrano...

He heard his old friend's voice in his head...I enter now, Jeff...

Suddenly Jeff was filled with so much joy, so much compassion...so much strength...he couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up within him. He backed away from his son's arms, lowering Gordon gently to the floor as he collapsed from the effort. He turned to face Radzi Belah Gaat, no longer alone in his own body.

Belah screamed the scream of a banshee, freeing his arms enough to slap Tin-Tin and Penny roughly to the sides and buck Lao from his back. He rose to his feet, flinging one arm toward Tin-Tin, who screamed as she flew into the front wall, hanging against it as though from a hook...yet nothing held her. Nothing visible.

"Tin-Tin!" Penny cried as she, too, was lifted off her feet with a fling of John's arm. His eyes glowed red as she slammed into the opposite wall. Without a second thought, he whirled on Lao and twisted his neck with a sickening crunch. The man dropped to the floor.

"You need not have killed him," Jeff said.

"So you have taken my prize, brother," Belah spat. "You think Jeff Tracy's body is any match for his son's? In this body, I am the younger and stronger one."

Jeff smiled knowingly. "We shall see."

Infuriated, John lunged for Jeff, managing to get one hand around his throat. "I'll crush your windpipe just as I did to that bitch Ebony!"

Jeff's hands clawed at the back of John's before he swung his leg, hooked it around his adversary's robes, and took his feet out from under him. The men fell to the floor, simultaneously recovering themselves and springing back up to their feet.

"This is a picture," Belah said sarcastically. "Jeff Tracy trying to kill his middle son."

"Not kill," came a voice that sounded much too much like Kyrano's. "Save."

"You will not prevail, Kyrano. For as I banish Tracy's soul, so shall I banish yours!"

His eyes glowed red again and he raised his arms level with Jeff's chest. Jeff dropped down on all fours as a shockwave left John's fingertips. He cursed as Jeff rolled to the side then scrambled on all fours to John's legs, effectively pulling him off-balance once more.

Belah howled as Jeff elbowed him in the gut, his arm in a chokehold around John's neck. "Give it up, Gaat," he growled. "Let my son go!"

"Not without a replacement!" Belah ground out as he felt his airway constricted further. "Kill me...kill your son!"

Jeff's grip released just enough for Belah to land a punch square on his jaw. He reeled back, letting go of John completely. Belah took the opportunity to fling his arm at Jeff, but Kyrano reacted just as quickly, holding his hands palm-out toward his half-brother. Their forces clashed in the air between them, sending sparks shooting up and out like a fireworks display.

Both men's chests heaved as Tin-Tin and Penelope watched from where they were stuck against opposite walls of the chamber. Neither woman could believe what they were seeing. Penelope was horrified that son was pitted against father while Tin-Tin began to wonder if her father really could beat her uncle once and for all.

"You will release John now," Jeff said quietly, standing straight. "You cannot win, my brother."

Belah roared and his eyes started glowing red. They became brighter...and brighter...and brighter. His face turned heavenward and the howl he emitted slowly turned into a snarling scream. Hands raised toward the ceiling, fingers curved like claws as a wind came from nowhere, swirling around John's body. The crimson robe whipped against him in its ferocity. John's head suddenly began to expand and bubble, fingers disappearing as claws took their place...legs turning into scaly haunches...mouth elongating into dragon-like chops.

A forked tongue hissed from between his lips as the crimson robe ripped, black-gray skin tearing through it and shedding it like a discarded rag. What stood before them was neither John Tracy nor Belah Gaat, but...a creature.

A creature from Hell.

It opened its mouth and cried out a scream that was heard for miles. With one three-fingered and clawed hand, it reached out and swiped Jeff's face, the force of the blow throwing him across the room into the onyx altar. There was an audible crack as his back struck the edge.

Jeff Tracy stopped moving.

4:59:58

4:59:59

5:00:00

Hour Twenty-Two

The following takes place between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.

5:00:22

Scott careened around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, pulling Megan back into the shadows of the hall.

"My God, what is that thing?" Megan asked, trembling.

"Hell if I know," Scott replied, staring open-mouthed at the creature before them. It had its winged back toward them, a long, serpent-like tail swinging to and fro. His eyes moved and he let go Megan's hand, crying, "Father!"

Penelope and Tin-Tin struggled against the unseen force holding them up against the walls as the creature threw back its head and screamed again, eyes glowing bright red. It whirled toward the chamber entrance.

"Stay here!" Scott hissed, eyes narrowing. The demon filled most of that end of the room, but Scott saw an opening and took off at a dead run. What had once been John and Belah swung its tail around, but Scott took a flying leap, barely staying on his feet as he landed on the other side of it. "Dad!" he cried, skidding to a stop as he sank to his knees next to Jeff's prone form.

"Father!" Tin-Tin screamed, arms and legs flailing. She let out a wild whoop and arched her back away from the wall as the demon made its way toward the onyx altar. The force released Tin-Tin and she pushed off the wall, double-somersaulting through the air, and landing a flying kick in the creature's eye before bouncing back down to the floor.

The demon cried out in pain and Penny began falling from her spot on the opposite wall, She was surprised when a pair of arms caught her and she found herself looking into the eyes of Zi. The young woman lowered her to her feet and looked toward the entry hall where a completely confused Megan held a sleeping Esunge. Then she turned to face her enemy down.

"Belah Gaat!" she said in a deadly voice. "Jaun shì fang! Yun nín," she growled, rocking back into a kung fu-style stance.

The demon only roared, turning away from where Scott was lifting his father from the floor. It garbled something unintelligible in its high-pitched voice as its eyes lit up again. Penelope raced around the edge of the room, joining Tin-Tin at Scott's side.

"Place him on the altar," came a soft, tired-sounding voice from behind them. They turned to find Gordon, who barely looked able to stand. "Kyrano left me with instructions."

Scott nodded and placed his dad on the altar, then turned his attention to where Zi was effectively out-maneuvering the beast, though not doing much to stop it. "Where's John?" he asked.

"That is John," Penny replied as the creature lunged for Zi. "Or, at least, it was."

"He's still in there," Tin-Tin said, her eyes closed, one hand raised toward the demon. "He must be freed."

"But how?" Penny asked. "Kyrano was in Jeff. Without him, we haven't a prayer of defeating that thing without killing John in the process."

"Yes we do," Gordon said, walking to the altar and nearly falling before catching himself on it. Tin-Tin immediately reached out and held him steady. "The child."

"What? Who, Ebony's baby?" Scott asked, frowning.

Gordon nodded. "We have to work fast to save Dad. I'll need Tin-Tin. You two," he nodded at Scott and Penelope, "have to get Esunge. He has powers." Gordon leaned heavily on Tin-Tin. "We have to hurry. I don't know how much longer I'll make it. Here's what you should do..."

5:17:28

Megan had inched her way back to the main hall and stood holding the child handed to her by the Chinese-only-speaking woman she guessed was only a few years younger than herself. Heart pounding, she was startled when Scott suddenly came running down the hall.

"Scott?"

"Megan, I need the baby."

She willingly handed him off to Scott, who turned back to run down the hall. She couldn't resist. She had to follow him. Even though she was scared shitless.

Megan watched, eyes wide, as Scott gently woke Esunge. The baby yawned as it looked into this stranger's eyes. "Esunge, listen to me," he said, just as the demon backhanded Zi across the room. "You have to stop the demon, do you understand?"

He turned Esunge to face the creature, who in turn moved to face them. "He's got John in there," Scott said into Esunge's ear. "Monkey go bye-bye."

"Monkey!" Esunge yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Yes, Monkey!" Scott replied, repeating what Gordon had told them. "That demon has Monkey!"

"MONKEY!" Esunge screamed. Scott's eyes widened as it felt like someone was tugging the baby away. He hesitated, then let go, startled when Esunge rose into the air above his head.

In his peripheral, he saw Penelope circling behind the creature, silver glinting in her hand. He unzipped his uniform tunic and reached inside, grabbing hold of the ceremonial knife Gordon had handed him. "Okay, kid," he whispered, looking back up at the child one last time. "Do your stuff."

The demon moved toward Esunge, snarling as it reached out to flick the boy away. Esunge cried out and levitated nearer the creature's head, moving in and out quickly as it tried to grab him.

Thus distracted, Penelope moved closer to its back while Scott stole toward its belly.

Please let this work.

"Now!" Scott cried, lunging forward. Knife raised, he leapt as high as he could, sinking the blade into the creature's soft underbelly. Simultaneously Penny scrambled up its tail and sank her knife into its back, right between two hard, gray scales.

The demon howled, its cries deafening as it reared back, throwing Penelope to the floor. It swung around and this time Scott didn't move fast enough. Its tail slammed right into him, sending him sprawling back near the hall.

"Scott!" Megan cried, running into the chamber. She heard a loud cry from across the room and looked up to find Jeff floating in mid-air and Gordon crumpling to the floor.

There's no way out of this, she thought as she caught a glimpse of Penelope's unmoving form against the other wall.

There was a high-pitched squeal of mixed joy and fright as Esunge came floating down near her. She reached out and caught him as the demon tried in vain to remove the knives from its back and front. It continued screaming in agony, steam beginning to rise from its skin.

Megan grabbed Scott's limp hand with one of hers while holding the baby close with the other. She cowered on the floor, curled into the man she loved with her eyes squeezed shut.

Oh, God. We're going to die.

5:28:16

Jeff opened his eyes just as his body came to rest on the onyx altar. Tin-Tin stumbled backward, completely spent, and tripped over Gordon's body, landing hard on her ass. Jeff sat up and swung his legs over the altar's edge, his gaze serene as his eyes came to rest on the demon sinking to the floor.

He stood up and walked across the room, not even flinching when the demon let out another howl. Its head drooped as its scales began to smoke in earnest, creating a cloud so thick as to make it almost impossible to see. Jeff approached the demon, raised his hands, closed his eyes and began to speak. It was Kyrano's voice that emerged.

"Pergilah, binatang dari neraka jahim! Pergilah dan John Tracy balik ke jasad betul!"

Zi seemed to come from nowhere. She sailed from behind Jeff, landing on the demon's back and drove the knife deeper into the scales. The demon's eyes glowed red for a brief moment before it collapsed to the floor in silence.

Jeff moved forward as Zi scrambled to the floor. He laid his hands upon the creature's elongated mouth and closed his eyes, murmuring softly as Tin-Tin neared them. Megan looked up as the smoke begin to clear. All three women gasped when they saw what now lay where the demon had fallen.

"Jaun!" Zi cried, running to kneel next to him.

For John Tracy, looking fully like his human self once more, lay naked on the cold stone floor beneath his father's hands. Jeff opened his eyes as Zi pulled John into her arms. He looked down upon them and smiled before turning to face Tin-Tin.

"I must go now, my daughter," he whispered, dark brown eyes flickering to Jeff's gray ones before turning brown again. "You must leave quickly, for the demons are not pleased."

With that, Jeff's eyes rolled back in his head and he sank to the floor.

"Dad?" came a choked sound. Tin-Tin turned to find Gordon standing weakly behind her. She reached out and he took her hand as he came forward. They watched as Jeff wrapped his arms around himself and rocked slowly to and fro. A full minute passed before he finally looked up at them.

"I'm back," he said hoarsely.

"Dad," Gordon smiled. Then he looked across the room. "Penny!"

Jeff pushed himself to his feet, following his son's eyes. Then he turned and saw Scott lying unconscious, Megan clinging to both him and Esunge. "Scott?"

Megan let go Scott's hand long enough to feel for a pulse. "He's okay, Jeff," she said. She placed Esunge on the floor next to Scott and headed for John, body trembling with fear. "How about him?"

Zi looked up. "Jaun," she said simply, imploring Megan's eyes with her own. Megan knew that look and nodded as she knelt next to him.

"He's got a good, steady pulse," she reported, sinking to the floor in relief.

Jeff moved across the room to Penny, who had just begun to moan. He grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, locking her in a tight embrace. "Penny, talk to me," he said roughly into her ear.

She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around him just as tightly. "Jeff," she whispered. "Thank God."

A sudden breeze kicked up, chilling everyone in the room. It was as though a giant window had been opened on a cold Autumn day and it sent shivers up and down their spines.

"We must try to get everyone out now," Tin-Tin advised, running to pick Esunge up from the floor. "Father warned me."

"What's going to happen?" Megan asked as she rose to her feet.

An ear-piercing screech made their hands fly up to cover their ears.

"All hell's about to break loose," Jeff answered, pushing Penny away and steadying her on her feet.

"Literally," Gordon said. "But how are we going to get out?"

"You have a point," Megan chimed in. "Scott and John are both injured and unconscious and Gordon, no offense, but you look like you're about to pass out."

"I am," he replied. "And none taken."

"We can't leave anyone behind," Jeff stated. "It just isn't safe here."

"What are we going to do?" Penny asked.

The ground shook slightly beneath their feet and they looked at one another, fear etched into all their faces.

5:39:09

"We're almost at the Danger Zone if those coordinates Scott gave us are on-target," Alan said to Brains, who sat next to him at the helm of Thunderbird Three.

"O-Oh, I've no doubt they are," Brains replied. He opened a channel. "Mrs. Tracy, a-are you comfortable?"

"Oh, yes, Brains, just waiting for you two to bring the rest of our family here so I can properly tend to them."

Alan grinned. "Don't worry, Grandma. We're going to be landing soon and I'm going to make damn sure we don't leave without every one of them."

"You do that, Alan," she said, her face showing her worry. "You do that."

"Before I forget, thanks for getting me off Five, Brains. I was going nuts."

"Well, you can, uh, thank Scott for that," Brains replied. "When he called, he made it quite clear that you and I had to get here, a-and fast. We're the, uh, cavalry."

Alan smiled wryly. "That's Scott for you." Then he frowned. "I just hope we're not too late."

5:40:57

Jeff struggled with John slung over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He'd wrapped what little remained of the crimson robe John had once worn around his groin to afford him some semblance of decency in a desperate situation. Megan had Scott under his armpits while Zi had her arms under his waist and Penelope had his feet. Tin-Tin carried Esunge, Gordon's hand on her shoulder as he shuffled along behind her, and the group slowly made its way to the rear of the temple.

They were hearing the strangest noises any of them had ever heard.

Faint whistles and groans, howls and screeches. It reminded Gordon of a Halloween haunted house he'd once been in several years back. Sound effects, he kept telling himself as he tried to look everywhere at once while still keep walking. It's just sound effects.

But they all knew it wasn't.

Every now and then the wind would whip up, chilling and heartless like it had hands groping and searching their bodies as it whirled around them. But they plodded on, steady as they could. They had to make it out. It was either that...or die.

5:42:21

"Okay, Brains, keep her hovering here. Am exiting hatch now."

"F.A.B., Alan." Brains sat at the controls watching all the gauges as the external camera showed him the surrounding area, microphones bringing odd noises into Thunderbird 3's cockpit. "What a-are those sounds?"

"No idea," Alan replied as he fired up the jet pack on his back and stepped out of 3's nose hatch into thin air. Hands on the pack's two handles, he guided himself away from the horizontally hovering spacecraft and toward the ground below. He and Brains had determined the most life signs showing from inside the grand structure were near the rear, and so he landed thirty feet or so from the back entrance. No sooner had he switched the jet pack off and laid the other three he'd brought on the ground than the heavy wooden door creaked open. He looked up and nearly sobbed in relief.

"Tin-Tin!"

"Alan!"

Tin-Tin ran forward as Alan enveloped her in his arms, nearly crushing Esunge, who let his discontent be known quite loudly.

"Who the hell is--?" he began to ask, but was cut off at the sight of his father emerging. "Dad! John!" Alan left Tin-Tin and the baby and ran to help his father, just barely getting John off his shoulder before Jeff collapsed to his knees. "Dad!"

Jeff waved his son away. "Get John aboard," he panted, hands on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath.

Zi, Megan and Penny emerged with Scott and laid him gently on the ground as Zi stared up at Thunderbird 3 hovering high above them.

"Jeff!" Penny said, running to his side. "Are you all right?"

"Dammit, Penny," he said, chest heaving. "I'm getting too old for this shit."

"You're not old, you're—"

"Don't say it!" he said, holding a hand up to silence her. "For Christ's sake, I'm 68, Penny. This is ridiculous!"

She gathered his face in her hands and kissed him softly. "I don't care if you're one hundred and sixty-eight. The fact remains that you are Jeff Tracy." She moved so her lips touched his ear. "And you're my husband. And I love you."

Jeff smiled at her as she backed away and rose to her feet, pulling him with her. "Besides," she continued, "we still have to shock your family with that little fact. You wouldn't want to miss that, would you?"

He grinned. "Not for anything," he replied, grasping her hand. He looked up to where Alan was returning from having gotten John on board, and Tin-Tin was moving up past him with the baby in her arms.

"Who the hell is that?" Alan asked as they passed one another.

"An amazing child," Tin-Tin smiled.

She'd just made it to Three's hatch when they heard a deep rumble and the ground shook beneath them. Everyone turned to face the temple as the sky above them suddenly clouded over. Lightning began dancing from cloud to cloud as the rumbling sound grew louder.

"Oh, no," Tin-Tin breathed. "Hurry!" she called down as Grandma reached through the hatch to take Esunge from her arms. "It's beginning!"

5:53:43

Penelope and Jeff each hurried to strap a jet pack to their bodies. He lifted Gordon into his arms while Penelope gestured for Zi to grab hold. She wrapped herself around Penny's body and simultaneously both parties took off.

"Hurry!" came Brains' voice through Alan's watch as he landed back on the ground. "I-I don't like the electrical a-activity up here."

Alan nodded and looked up as lightning flashed above them even more insistently. He headed for where Scott had just regained consciousness and rolled onto his side. Within seconds Scott was heaving the contents of his stomach all over the place, body convulsing violently as he desperately tried to make it stop.

"Shit," Alan muttered. "Concussion." He gestured for Megan and she met him halfway. "Dad'll take you up to Three," he said, leading her to where Jeff was descending after having left Gordon with his mother.

"But Scott..."

"Don't worry," Alan said, "As soon as he's done puking, I'll bring him up."

Megan looked back at Scott, whose heaving seemed to have subsided, and nodded. "Thank you," she said, squeezing his arm.

Alan had a bemused look on his face as Tin-Tin returned. "I think she likes Scott," he said.

She elbowed him. "Duh," she said.

"Ow, what was that for?"

Before she could reply, they both felt a tingling sensation, like tiny pinpricks on their skin. Their faces turned upward toward the heavens just as Brains' voice called out from Alan's watch.

But neither of them heard what he said.

A thick bolt of lightning streaked down from the large, dark, swirling cloud, entering Alan at the nape of his neck. Tin-Tin screamed as the bolt forked, one jagged side exiting his thigh and entering her leg. The other shot out of his left hip and bounced off the ground across the fifteen feet between him and his eldest brother.

Scott had just staggered to his feet when the bolt jumped off the dirt and right into his stomach. Breath knocked out of him, his face was frozen in terror as it threw him off his feet and into the back wall of the temple.

"Alan!" Brains cried through the watch.

"Scott!" Jeff yelled from his position mid-air.

"Tin-Tin!" Penny screamed as she ditched the jet pack and ran towards the motionless trio.

A low, evil laugh froze them in their tracks.

5:59:58

5:59:59

6:00:00

Hour Twenty-Three

The following takes place between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.

6:01:18

Jeff landed as the wind picked up even more. He looked up into the sky where swirling clouds had become a black mass moving downward in a vortex lit with streaks of lightning and fireballs. The tornado-like funnel extended downward to the roof of the temple as the wind nearly pushed him off-balance. He tried to yell to the others, but the sudden vacuum stole his voice before it had even left his lips.

He ran toward Scott, silently praying all the way. The front of his uniform had been blackened by the lightning bolt and Jeff's heart froze in fear as he reached down and scooped his son into his arms. Scott groaned but Jeff didn't have time to even sigh in relief that he was still alive. The wind became more fierce, his hair being blown upward as the suction from above increased.

Penelope was giving Alan CPR as best she could, but she wound up doing little more than holding herself down by grabbing fistfuls of his uniform. Jeff looked around them trying desperately to figure out what to do. The jet packs would be useless in this wind. They'd all end up crashing if they even attempted to lift off now. Then he looked up as a blast was heard from above.

His heart sank as he watched Thunderbird 3 disappear above the cloud cover.

They were alone.

6:04:30

"What are they going to do?" Megan asked as she approached Brains in Three's cockpit.

"I-I can't raise them on Scott's or Alan's communicators," Brains said. "They probably went out when they were hit by the, uh, lightning."

"Brains, you're not...I mean, are you going to...leave them there?"

"We had to get out of there, Megan," he replied. "I was losing attitude control in that, uh, wind."

"What about Thunderbirds One and Two?"

"If they can get to them," Brains said, "it's the only chance they have." But even as he said the words, he knew the chances of anyone other than Scott or Virgil trying to pilot either 'bird out of a tornado were next to nil. Jeff Tracy was an excellent pilot, but...

What have I done?

His shoulders sagged as 3 rocketed out of the atmosphere.

I've left them alone in that storm.

Megan sat down silently in the chair next to him.

I hope I did the right thing.

He looked at it on the satellite feed coming through in front of them. His eyes widened and without warning he slammed his hand down on the retros.

"Holy—what the hell?" Megan screeched, grabbing hold of the console.

Brains rose to his feet, jabbing his finger at the center of the twisting mass in the center of the screen. "That," he said, a tinge of fear in his voice, "is no storm."

Megan came closer. "It's not? Then what is it?"

"I..." Brains faltered, then turned to look at her, his large blue eyes clouded with worry. "I have no idea."

6:06:12

Jeff had gotten both Scott and Tin-Tin into the temple's back hall. When he ran back outside, he had to grab the wooden door to keep from being knocked to the ground. Leaves and vines, dirt and debris flew through the air, pelting his face as he peered into the distance. Finally he caught a glimpse of Penny doing everything she could to half-drag a semi-conscious Alan toward the temple. He took a deep breath and ran out to them, taking up Alan's other side. Between them they managed to lift him enough to get him inside as well. Jeff turned and slammed the door shut behind them.

"Jeff," Penny asked breathlessly, "what on Earth is this? A tornado?" she panted. "In the jungle?"

"There's something...ungodly...about this," Jeff gasped in return. He leaned down to check on all three who'd been hit by lightning. Alan was fading in and out of consciousness while Scott lay there, his breathing shallow, moaning softly now and then. Tin-Tin had yet to move and her pulse was erratic. "They need a hospital," he said, shaking his head. "We've got to get them to the Thunderbirds."

"Jeff, you don't think you can take off in this wind, do you? Three barely made it and she was hovering."

Jeff leaned back against the wall, shaking his head.

They heard the low, evil laugh again.

"What is that?" Penelope breathed. Then they heard footsteps. Penny moved to Jeff's side, back against the wall. "Jeff?"

"I see you haven't left yet," a loud, booming voice echoed.

"It can't be!" Penny exclaimed.

"Oh," the voice chuckled, "but it can."

The sound of footsteps returned, growing louder and louder until finally two throngs of people headed right for them from either end of the hall. Jeff looked up one way and Penny looked the other.

"It's his slaves!" Penelope cried above the frightened voices. "They're running!"

Jeff...

Jeff's eyes grew wide.

You must leave...

Jeff swallowed hard.

He will take you.

"Kyrano," Jeff whispered. "Penny, we have to get out of here. Now!"

Both groups of slaves stopped short when they saw Jeff, Penny and the three prone figures on the floor. They stared at Jeff and, moving as one unit, fell to both knees and bowed.

"What's this about?"

Penny frowned and looked at the slaves, then back to Jeff. "The robe?"

Jeff looked down, having all but forgotten he was still wearing the golden robes John...Belah...had had the slaves put him in. "Why would a robe make them bow?"

The voice boomed around them, speaking Malay, and the slaves cowered on the floor.

"Help us!" Jeff said firmly, drawing up off the wall to his full height. "Help us!" he repeated.

Two slaves from the left and two from the right looked up at him. He motioned toward the bodies on the floor, then pretended to pick them up. Belah's voice growled and spoke again. The two on the left cowered back down but the two on the right said something to one another before rising to their feet. They moved forward, one picking up Tin-Tin, the other picking up Alan.

Jeff nodded to them and grabbed hold of Scott's arm, hauling him up and over his shoulder. "Let's go."

"Where, Jeff?" Penny asked as the slaves parted to let them through. When he didn't answer, she knew he hadn't any more idea than she did.

6:11:42

"I don't understand," Megan said as she gathered the items Brains had requested down in Thunderbird 3's entry room.

"That isn't a tornado, Megan. I-It's a vortex that's opened directly from far beneath the Earth through a hole that goes right down the center of that temple. But there's a void of some sort beneath it."

"A void?"

"Yes. The imagery just completely winks out beyond a certain point."

"Are you saying that's some kind of...gateway to Hell or something?"

He stopped and looked her in the eyes. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Megan gulped. This was so beyond her realm of experience.

"How are they up there?" Brains asked, nodding toward the elevator she'd just emerged from.

"Everyone's stable. John's drifting in and out and Gordon's on enough painkillers to make him Cheech and Chong comfortable."

Brains half-smiled as he looked through the various containers she'd brought. "Yes, I think this should do it."

"Do what? I still don't get it."

"I'm making a bomb."

"A bomb? Are you kidding?"

"No. The way I figure it, the only way that vortex is going to stop is either if Gaat and his demons win or the entryway is sealed."

Her eyes widened as it finally became clear. "You're going to drop a bomb down there to try and close up the portal to...wherever."

"Precisely."

"But...what about Scott and Jeff? And the others?"

"As long as they're nowhere near that opening when it explodes, they'll be fine, I should think."

Megan hoped he was right. Her heart ached already, knowing they'd left Scott down there injured at the very least, possibly dead at the worst. But she didn't let her mind go down that path. She just clung to the belief she had in his strength, and in Tracy resourcefulness. They'd been through hell before and survived.

But...if Brains was right...this was the real Hell.

She closed her eyes took a deep breath. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Just sit up in the cockpit and monitor those three screens like I showed you," Brains said as he brought a capsule-shaped metal container out from a cabinet. "The line's open. Tell me if any of those readings change."

"Okay," she replied, heading back for the elevator.

What the hell am I doing sitting in the cockpit of a spaceship?

Megan prayed that none of the readings would change.

6:14:01

They had made it to the cavernous main room, but the wind was so strong here they could make it no further than the giant Anubis-like statue in the middle of it. They all pressed against the statue to shelter themselves as the beads around Kyrano's statue ripped away one by one, sailing right at them. They covered their heads, but one line of beads struck Penny's face like the end of a whip and a red line of blood appeared. She hastened to wipe it off, screaming at Jeff just to make herself heard above the ferocity around them.

"Jeff! Where to?"

Jeff peered around the statue and noted that directly to the right of Kyrano's statue, there didn't seem to be any disturbance at all. He frowned and craned his neck to look upward, but his vision was blocked by the second floor.

"There's no wind over there!" he yelled back, pointing toward the dais.

"You shall pay for trying to escape!" Belah's voice came loud and strong through the storm's fury. "Jeff Tracy, you are mine!"

Jeff felt a force tug at his robe. He jumped back in fear, nearly dropping Scott. Then the tug came again. Penny saw it this time. She grabbed Jeff's arm. "What's happening?"

He felt Scott moving, too late realizing it was not his son at all but something actually pushing Scott off his shoulder. He cried out as he slipped from his grasp, and the force tugged harder on his body.

"Jeff!" Penny cried.

The slaves stared in horror, clinging to the injured they carried as, with one last pull, the golden robe was ripped clean away. It flew up into the air leaving Jeff completely naked. Penny yelled something unintelligible, nails digging into the flesh of his arm to keep him in place.

But her efforts were useless.

He's come for me.

He looked at Scott, Alan and Tin-Tin so helpless before him. He thought of Virgil and John, what they'd been through. Of Brains and Ruth and his closest friend, Kyrano. Gordon, the baby, and their new friend Zi. Of all the people who'd died today, and all the people who would die if he let Belah Gaat have his way.

Suddenly, he knew there was only one thing to do. It was the only way he could see to keep his family safe. To keep the world safe from this terrible evil that had plagued them for so long. He had no choice. He looked at his wife.

And no regrets.

Invisible hands pulled at him so hard that this time he almost went with them.

God give me strength.

Jeff turned, grabbed Penny by the back of the head and kissed her deeply. He pulled away and looked upon her with the most tender look she'd ever seen. "Get my boys home," he said as his legs were pulled out from under him. His hand held hers, body parallel with the floor. His eyes held hers, for a second more. "I love you, Penelope Tracy." Then his hand was ripped away.

"Jeff!"

He was gone.

"No!" she cried, fingers closing around nothing. "No!"

6:17:12

"How is it up there, Megan?"

"Fine," he heard her voice waft back through the speakers. "No changes."

Brains carefully poured a yellowish liquid from a beaker into the small metal box in front of him. Gently he closed the lid and lifted the box, placing it in the far right side of the metal capsule. All told, the bomb would measure just over one foot in length and about the same in diameter. Each of the three smaller metal boxes, one at each side and one in the center, held enough explosives to bring the entire temple down if its purpose had been to be set off above-ground.

The engineer checked his handiwork three times before he was satisfied, and lowered the top of the canister into place. He pressed a command into the small screen on the capsule body and heard the internal clamps snap. He then grabbed the wool blanket Megan had also gathered and carefully cocooned the capsule within it. Finally, he took two long strips of Velcro, just enough to hold the entire thing closed for the ride down to Earth, and pulled them tightly around the blanket. He laid his hand on the homemade bomb and closed his eyes, face turned upward.

Whatever's up there, please make sure they're not around when this goes off.

He agonized all the way back up to the cockpit. If their aim was off by even so much as a foot...if there was some obstacle his scans had not accounted for...if anything didn't go right? He could very well become responsible for killing half the Tracy family.

The elevator door opened into the cockpit. Megan looked up from the screens and saw the fear so evident on his face. Her heart went out to this man, this genius she barely knew, but could so easily tell loved this family so much. She herself could understand completely. As another outsider, as one who'd been around the Tracys for such a short time, she already held them all in high regard, respecting each of them more than she could ever put into words. To do what they did...to face the seemingly insurmountable challenges they had, and still be so close, so willing to die not only for strangers, but for one another above all else...she had never borne witness to such love, such binding faithfulness, such incredible fortitude.

They were amazing and inspired loyalty and commitment without question. That much she had learned when she'd met Jeff so many years ago. Instantly drawn to the man, she had sensed something within him that compelled her to want to help, though at the time she couldn't have fathomed how a forensic pathologist could've helped an organization like International Rescue. Even now she didn't really know what she'd done for them other than fall in love with their field commander.

And yet she felt so welcomed, so accepted, as though her being there with them were the most normal of circumstances. Like she belonged, without question. She'd never been that accepted even in her own family. As Brains sank into the chair next to her, she reached out and placed a hand on his. He looked up at her and felt an odd sort of kinship, smiling in spite of the situation. She looked at him like she trusted him implicitly.

I only hope I prove worthy of that trust. Of all their trust.

Brains took a deep breath and turned toward the controls. Punching open a line to the sleeping quarters, he said with a steady voice, "Mrs. Tracy, make sure everyone is secure. It might get a little bumpy."

"Okay, Brains," Ruth's voice came back. Then, more quietly, "Godspeed."

6:28:16

Jeff found himself sailing up over the stairs leading to the second floor, coming to a stop above what could only be described as an abyss deep into the earth. Flames leapt from its depths, licking at his skin as sweat rolled off his body, sizzling as the droplets met fire. Here there was no wind. No movement save the flames licking his back and ass, singeing the hair on his legs as the invisible hands turned him over to face the sky above.

He stared in awe as what looked like black liquid surrounded him, moving up and up until the black cloud above it parted to reveal nothing but a black sky devoid of stars, devoid of light of any kind. It was as though the backwards whirlpool led to...nothing.

And that's when he understood.

This is exactly what Gaat intended for him. What had the bastard said when Kyrano had been inside Jeff?

For as I banish Tracy's soul, so shall I banish yours!

Banish. Jeff looked back up at the nothing above him. That's what he'd meant. Jeff's soul...once Gaat took him, his own soul would be gone. Gone into the void, the ether. Gone forever.

All Kyrano had taught him of life, of death, of souls and reincarnation, of things sometimes beyond his comprehension, all came together now.

A life in human form is but a drop in the pool of the soul's experience...

Jeff wondered for the first time what his previous experiences had been. What past lives had he led? He'd never bothered to find out, never quite buying what Kyrano said about it all. But now, as finality stared him in the face, he wondered...

The person doesn't die, Jeff. Simply the body they'd taken for this life. The soul goes on...

But his soul wouldn't be going on. Fear gripped his heart. What would "nothing" be like? Long ago he'd thought death meant this very thing, this winking out of existence. That it was the end of a person, the end of everything they'd been, everything they'd thought or laughed about, what they knew...the love they'd felt throughout their lives.

And he realized that although he'd stubbornly refused to admit it, he had begun to believe Kyrano's words.

You will see her again one day, Jeff. Your souls will meet upon the Plane.

But in Jeff's case, he'd been wrong.

The inky blackness moved closer.

"Jeff Tracy," Belah's voice seemed to be coming through water. "Now, you die. Say good-bye to your body...your family...your soul!"

Good conquers Evil because it can, Jeff. Evil exists to help us learn our lessons. To help us all move toward that last goal of perfection, when we will at last take our place with the Masters.

"Lessons," Jeff whispered. He managed to turn his head enough to find Penelope, hair standing at all odd angles, just cresting the top step.

Evil exists to help us learn our lessons.

Belah laughed. "Watch your husband be extinguished forever!" he chortled as Penelope's eyes looked up into the vortex.

There is no such thing as second chances, Jeff. The chances we are given to attain perfection are infinite.

"Jeff!" Penelope cried, approaching the steps leading up to the abyss.

Lessons...

The frown left Jeff's face.

That's it.

He'd never believed. Not fully. He'd wanted to, and even accepted some of what Kyrano told him as fact, though mostly to soothe his own aching heart. But deep inside there had always been that tug of war between two factions...the side of him that wanted desperately to believe in the eternality of souls and reincarnation, of the reality of other places, times, dimensions...of beings that moved among them though they could not be seen...of demons and angels, Good and Evil.

And the other side, the stubbornly logical, Midwestern farm boy who'd been raised on fire and brimstone sermons, who'd seen so much pain and suffering he refused to believe in benevolence, in the Universe helping those who help themselves. He'd done all he could for mankind thinking that without being saved, the people would just be gone...that he and his sons were giving them a longer life without ever really believing he was actually extending this go-round in their soul's long, long existence.

And now, here he was at Hell's door with Evil only seconds away from taking everything. Doubt melted away as he remembered seeing his own son possessed by one who'd been dead for two years, taken and used for his own evil purposes. Doubt seeped through the chinks in his armor as his mind's eye replayed John's perfect face and body turning into that of the most horrible creature he'd ever laid eyes on. Doubt fizzled completely as he turned over in mid-air and looked down at his wife's dirty and bloody but never-more-beautiful face.

Second chances...many chances.

And he believed.

Jeff's eyes closed as a smile broke forth. He took a deep breath. As he exhaled, though the fire threatened to burn his chest and face, he let all fear, all worry...all doubt...fall away. When his eyes opened again, they were clearer; brighter. One hand reached out toward Penny, who balanced as close as she dared to the edge of the chasm beneath him.

"Jeff!" she called out, staring in wonder as the man before her seemed to shift slightly, as though he was a hologram who wasn't quite coming through clearly. He grew brighter, and almost seemed to glow as his smile grew. He winked down at her, gave a great yell and bucked, arching back toward the heavens before beginning to fall.

He was headed right for the abyss. Penny screamed.

6:40:19

Brains had Thunderbird 3 in place. Hovering vertical to the temple, she hung effortlessly in the vortex's eye as Brains fastened the bomb to a mesh basket he'd fashioned at the end of 3's winch. He recalled how he and John had nearly met their deaths hanging from the end of this winch line down the long tunnel beneath them, how they'd clung to each other in desperation...how John now clung to life after an ordeal Brains could not even begin to fathom.

Brains turned to Zi, whom he'd asked to help, and requested that she hold the basket over the opening while he operate the winch. He recalled how stunned Ruth Tracy had been to see him walk into the sleeping quarters, go over to Zi and begin speaking perfect Chinese to her. He wondered briefly if she'd picked her jaw up off the floor yet or not.

Well, he was, after all, a genius. He could learn any language in a matter of hours and, indeed, had. He and John had spent countless hours speaking to one another in a variety of languages, ending with John being frustrated that although he knew so many, he didn't know half the ones Brains knew.

He couldn't remember what had possessed him to learn Chinese, but right now it was coming in damn handy as he and Zi went back and forth over the bomb and the winch. Slowly the winch line lowered until Zi had to let go of the basket. The bomb moved downward. Lower and lower it went as Zi and Brains peered over the side. It was so dark below they could see nothing at all. Only Thunderbird Three's instruments told Brains he was in the right spot.

At last the bomb reached the bottom of Three's long entry tunnel. Being the only person aboard her who could successfully pilot her...well, the only conscious person...Brains had to trust the actual release of the bomb to Zi, a woman he'd never met until a few minutes ago. But the way she'd been sitting at John's bedside, hands folded palm-flat above him, whispering a quiet prayer for his mind, body and soul...he had no choice. Megan knew the screens enough to monitor Three while on auto-hover. No one else did. So now, the fate of the temple...of the Tracys...was in Zi's hands.

"Deng dài wú mìng ling," he ordered, and she nodded. She would wait for his command.

Brains looked down the shaft one more time. Sail true, he thought, then moved toward the elevator. Please sail true.

6:43:52

Penny caught Jeff's hand and with a strength she'd never before possessed, hauled him out of the flames as he fell, yanking him so hard they both tumbled down the three altar steps and went sprawling onto the stone floor. Belah shrieked so loud the walls around them shook with his unparalleled fury.

"You shall not escape!" he roared.

"You won't be taking my soul," Jeff said confidently as he rose and pulled Penelope to her feet. "I'm not finished with it yet!"

"Jeff?" she stared as the white glow she'd seen over the abyss seemed to settle into him like an aura. He grabbed her hand and looked right into her eyes. Her own blue eyes widened then her face broke into a grin. "Jeff?" she repeated, seeing nothing but pure love and joy behind those blue-gray eyes she'd come to know so well. "What on Earth...?"

"That's just it, Penny," he said. "It's not of Earth. We're not of Earth." With that confounding statement, he grasped her hand and began pulling her toward the steps. "Where are the boys and Tin-Tin?" he called over his shoulder.

"The slaves and I got them to Thunderbird Two," Penny replied. "Then the other slaves all started coming. You have a pod full of them, Jeff."

He smiled as they rounded the landing and started down the second flight of stairs. "Good," he said. "They'll be free."

Anything else he might have said was cut off as an explosion rocked the entire temple. They lost their balance and tumbled to the ground as a nearby jade statue wobbled. Jeff looked up just in time to see it falling right toward Penny's face. He grunted and wound his arm around her body, pulling her to safety just in the nick of time as the statue hit the floor and smashed to pieces.

Bits of stone and pieces of artwork and ancient weaponry rattled and began falling as the ground continued to shake...a sword clanking, a piece of the temple cracking and thudding to the floor below. "Let's go, Penny!" Jeff said, hauling her to her feet.

She didn't know what had come over him, but Penelope liked it.

6:47:39

Hissing, snarling sounds emerged as those demons who'd not been in their realm at the time the bomb hit found they were trapped. The bomb had collapsed the abyss, the entry to Darkness imploding before bursting outward, sending demons and fire spewing high into the air. Just like that, the vortex seemed to dissipate, leaving a star-filled sky. The temple roof began caving into the floors below as Belah's voice cried out, filling the jungle with a mournful wail.

Jeff and Penny emerged from the giant front doors and ran down the steps as one column to their right slowly began to crumble. A hover bike waited on the edge of the clearing and they made a mad dash for it.

Something came screaming up behind them. Something neither of them was expecting.

6:49:01

Brains watched his satellite imagery screen and gasped as something suddenly appeared. They'd blasted safely into the mesosphere high above the planet's surface and had been waiting to find out if anyone in the temple had survived. Brains had been thankful to see a large group of people inside Thunderbird Two – he only wished he could tell if any of them were the family. Two more inside the temple had sent a wave of relief washing over him.

Until he saw this.

"What in the...what in God's name is that?" he nearly screeched, staring at the screen.

Megan looked as well, her eyes growing as wide as the engineer's. "It looks like...nothing. Like a big...black...thing."

Brains nodded. "That's exactly what it looks like."

"What in the world could it be?"

"Nothing," Brains breathed, remembering something Kyrano and he had once discussed. "Oh, God. No."

6:52:45

Scott moaned, raising a hand to his head. Then it immediately went to his belly. He winced as he touched his burned uniform. Wondering where he was, he managed to get his eyes open enough to recognize the bulkhead of Thunderbird 2's sick bay. He turned his head to the right to find Tin-Tin sleeping on the top bunk across from him, Alan on the bottom.

He barely had time to wonder where his father, John and Gordon were before pain seared through his abdomen. He gasped and squeezed his eyes shut.

What the hell happened?

But the pain was so intense he could barely stand it. Another wave hit him, coupled with nausea and dizziness. Air hissed through his teeth as his world spun. "I have...to get...up...have to..."

6:54:48

It howled upon them. Instinctively, Jeff dropped to the ground, pulling Penny down with him. He felt it rake along his naked back and butt and shivered. It was cold.

Deathly cold.

He looked up and could almost see the shapeless blackness rise up above them, then come screaming down again. He pulled Penelope back up to her feet, shoving her toward the hover bike. "Go!" he yelled.

"Jeff, no!"

He picked her up and practically threw her onto the bike, then jabbed the "on" button. "Go, Penny! I'll be okay!"

She placed her hands on the handlebars, eyes filling with tears as she looked back at him.

"I promise," he whispered before heading back to the temple.

"Jeff," she whispered. She looked up. The black smudge that seemed to be a rip in the very fabric of the night swirled for a moment before Belah's voice could clearly be heard. Then it took off, screaming after Jeff.

He was on the front steps.

She couldn't tear herself away.

He was at the front door.

She revved the bike.

The Nothing moved even faster. Jeff stopped and turned to face it, raising his arms up to the sky, his face turned upward as well. He opened his mouth as its blackness reared up to face him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa!" he cried.

He disappeared from view.

Penny let out a sob.

Jeff was gone.

6:59:58

6:59:59

7:00:00

Hour Twenty-Four

The following takes place between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.

7:00:14

In the split second he looked up, he realized too late that there was something between him and the black nothing. Faintly glowing eyes...he could not react other than to cry out as the Nothing stopped. The eyes slammed into him.

He was aware of reeling backwards from the blow, but instead of sprawling to the floor, Jeff didn't feel a thing. Why hadn't he fallen? He looked up and saw his own naked back...he was...

Oh...oh, no...

He raised his hands. Or tried to.

I have no arms.

He tried to run.

I have no legs.

Jeff looked down.

I have...no body.

He heard a chilling laugh and watched his own self turn to face him.

What's happening?

"I have won."

It was his body. His face. His mouth. But the eyes...were not his eyes.

"Good-bye, Jeff Tracy."

The horror of the situation became clear when Jeff's body waved an arm back toward the black Nothing behind and above it. Jeff realized that Belah had won. His soul had been in front of the Nothing...that was it...it was Gaat who'd been chasing them...the Nothing was actually chasing Gaat, not him and Penny! And when Jeff had stopped and turned to confront the void, Gaat had struck.

I'm outside my body.

The darkness rose slightly higher as Jeff looked on in despair.

I don't know how to get back in.

"You cannot," Belah sneered.

How odd to see my face twisted so.

"You no longer exist, Jeff Tracy. This face is mine forevermore."

The Nothing floated over where Jeff's soul hovered.

No. Not yet...I...no...

It moved lower until he could feel the cold chill surround him.

I'm leaving them. I've failed everyone.

If Jeff had been inside his body, he would have wept.

7:03:26

The hover bike engine hummed idly beneath her but she was glued to the spot, unable to move. She knew what was happening. She was powerless to stop it.

And then a screaming sound reached her ears. So high-pitched that within seconds it sent a sharp jab of pain through her head as the sound penetrated her eardrums. Her hands left the hover bike handles and flew to her ears. Penelope cried out in pain and then shock as something came over the top of the temple...something...what the hell...?

Oh, my God.

Eight somethings, each more frightening than the last.

They looked very much like the creature John had morphed into. The demon...they were demons! All were of the same varying shades of gray but the last, whose scales bore a reddish-orange tinge. Penny's hands slowly lowered, her mouth hanging open as she sat frozen in time, unable to tear her eyes away as the demons surrounded Jeff's body.

Jeff...please God, please...oh, Jeff...

7:05:40

Belah snarled as the demons surrounded him. They snarled in return, baring their teeth, serpent-like tails twitching to and fro, paper-thin wings flapped slowly to keep them still.

"Why are you here?"

The reddish creature approached him. He knew her. She was his own primary demon...or at least, she had been when he had been in his own body before dying at the hands of International Rescue.

"I ask again, Jinn-tanah, why are you here?"

"Radzi Belah, you know why we have come."

"Begone! I have no longer the need for your services."

"Silence, servant!" she hissed. "It is not your place to command."

He snorted in disgust. "I have commanded the Hampa to appear and have taken the body I have chosen. I command all."

"You were given too much leeway by the Master," Jinn-tanah growled. "I warned him of your intentions but he did not believe. Now you have sealed this entry to our world."

"I did not do that!" he cried. "It was International Rescue!"

"Ah, yes," she purred, rocking back onto her haunches in mid-air. "Those whom you have tried to use us to kill for years, Radzi. You failed. You were brought to dwell with those to whom you rightfully gave your soul and it was there you were to remain for eternity! Yet you chose to violate the most sacred law of Darkness; one which cannot ever be broken. Ever!"

"My soul is mine to take. I have taken it and once again I live upon this plane!"

"No, Radzi Belah," she whispered fiercely, moving her face so close to his that he could feel her heated breath. "You do not live on this plane." Jinn-tanah rose back into the air to join the other seven demons, all hissing and snarling, chops snapping ominously. "You no longer live on any plane."

"What?" he asked, eyes widening in fear. "What do you mean?"

"For violation of the sacred pact you made with our Master, it is you who shall be banished."

"What? No!" Belah stumbled backwards, falling ass-over-head down the steps before scrambling to his feet. "No! I will reseal the pact! I will join you below!"

"It is too late!" she howled, throwing her head back. "You cannot be trusted and now, you shall be extinguished forever!"

"No!" Belah cried as the demons rose even higher and circled overhead. He backed away, eyes glued to Jinn-tanah's magnificent body as she swooped down. "Noo!"

She rocketed for Jeff's soul, the other demons following in a straight line. Belah turned to run.

7:12:16

Jeff was only vaguely aware of things around him. He felt so sleepy...not altogether there...like he was fading...dissipating...he thought if a breeze wafted near he might just dissolve in it, molecules taken away into space.

He heard something but couldn't place it...couldn't think...a sound...screaming, hissing...loud...interrupting his calm...his serenity.

Prepare, Jeff.

The voice...he should know it...

You are returning.

Suddenly the world spun 'round and 'round, everything spiraling out of control. He saw colors whizzing by at light-speed, then his own face filled his field of vision. A white wall-like object shot up between him and his body and he felt like he was covering his face with his arms as he hit the barrier.

He turned all around and saw nothing but black.

Where am I?

The Nothing? He must be in there. He was gone, that was the only explanation. He'd been banished. This was it. Alone here in Nothing forever and ever.

A bluish mist appeared in the distance. He watched as it came nearer, growing larger with every inch it advanced. Soon he was aware there was something within the mist, and he peered into the distance to discern what it might be. Nearer...nearer...it felt so familiar...what was it? And then...then he knew!

"Kyrano?"

A flash of light and he solidified. The man he trusted implicitly, someone he knew he needed right now though he couldn't fathom why.

Jeff, you are safe.

"Safe? How can I be safe? I'm in the Nothing."

No, he smiled, holding one hand out toward him. Reach for me, Jeff.

Perplexed, Jeff reached out, surprised to find that he did, indeed, have an arm. "I'm whole," he whispered as his hand met Kyrano's. Their fingers entwined as he stared at the two hands in awe. "I can feel you."

Yes, we are real. You are not in the Hampa which my half-brother summoned. You are in the Great Void.

"Am I extinguished?"

No. Your body and soul are re-energizing. They must re-meld after being separated so violently. This will take some time. Just relax and rest, Jeff.

"You won't leave me."

No, Kyrano answered, smiling softly and squeezing Jeff's hand. I will remain until it is time for your return. I am here to ensure your path home is true.

"My sons...Penny..."

Do not worry, Jeff. You must remain calm to speed the reunification of mind, body and soul.

Jeff looked around, wishing he were home, back on Tracy Island in the comfort and safety of the place he loved so much. And just like that, his mansion's Lounge appeared around him looking exactly as it had the last time he'd seen it.

"How...how is this possible?"

In the Great Void, you can see or be anything you wish.

Jeff let go Kyrano's hand and walked to his desk, running his hand along the smooth wood surface. "But it seems so real."

It is as real as you believe it to be.

Jeff stared around him in wonder. Then he looked up in surprise as the eyes of Scott's portrait began to blink accompanied by a beeping sound. "How can this be?" he asked aloud as he moved to open the comm link.

No! Jeff, you mustn't!

As he opened the channel, Scott's portrait exploded, shooting sparks across the room. Then John's portrait blew outward, and Gordon's, and Alan's. Suddenly fear filled Jeff so completely from head to toe that he reeled back against the console behind his desk. His breath came fast and hard, chest heaving. Lightheaded and confused, he groped at the air in front of him. Everything was fading around him, like a chalk picture on a sidewalk dissolving in the rain. Melting away as the fear consumed him.

Jeff!

He sank to his knees. He couldn't breathe. Blackness moved into the edges of his vision.

Come to me.

He heard Kyrano but he couldn't find him, why couldn't he find him?

I am here. You must reach out to me.

He could barely hold himself up on all fours and lost his balance as his hand reached out one more time.

This time it found fabric.

Jeff grasped the satin robes and felt Kyrano's hands upon his shoulders. He shoved himself forward, wrapping his arms around his friend's legs, clinging to him, eyes wide with fright as he buried his head in the other man's essence.

It will be all right, Jeff.

"What...what...?" he gasped.

Your mind has confronted your greatest fear and forced your soul to move through it.

"My...greatest...fear?" Jeff leaned back to look up, but found he couldn't properly see Kyrano.

He reached down and took Jeff's hands, slowly helping him rise to his feet.

Yes. Loss of control.

Jeff frowned, his breathing slowing enough so his vision began returning to normal.

You have never realized that you are in control of nothing and yet everything. Until now.

"I don't...I don't understand," he whispered, nearly losing his balance. His hands went up and landed on Kyrano's chest as Kyrano grasped his arms to steady him. Their eyes met.

You have always sought to control every aspect of your life. Time and time again the Universe has shown you that although you cannot control your life, you can control how you live this life.

Jeff shook his head, mesmerized by the swirling colors and sparks behind Kyrano's chocolate irises.

You see, Jeff, you should have learned you cannot control Fate when you lost Lucille.

"Lucy..."

And you could not keep bad things from happening to your family no matter what, which you should have seen when Gordon was in the accident.

"The hydrofoil..."

When you worked so hard to build your companies and focused on creation for the benefit of others...for the benefit of your sons...the Universe rewarded you with billions. Rewarded you by helping you because you helped yourself.

"Tracy Corp."

Kyrano nodded.

When Acronym struck, you were shown the value of your life and the lives of your family members. And once again shown you could not control every situation.

He finally began to understand. "But still I didn't see."

No. And though you now understand what I have taught you, about our lives and souls, about the lessons we must learn, this was the one that your soul refused to learn.

"That I am not in control."

And yet, that you are. Control for the sake of being in control is not possible. Control over your own actions, over how you live your life, is the key. And Jeff, this day...everything that has happened...

"I've...I've finally learned it."

Kyrano smiled broadly, the biggest smile Jeff had ever seen on his best friend's face.

You have, Jeff. You have.

Jeff felt a lump rise in his throat. "How can I ever thank you?" he choked out.

Kyrano gathered him in his arms, holding him close.

This is all the thanks I require, Jeff Tracy.

Then he released him. And this time, he spoke not in thought, but with his mouth. "Now go. It is time to return to your life."

"You'll be there, won't you?"

Kyrano nodded. "I, too, have used this opportunity to repair myself after what happened earlier. I will be waiting for you when you return home."

Jeff opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't think of the right thing to say. He smiled as Kyrano began to fade. He watched as his friend nodded, closed his eyes and bowed. Then he was gone.

Jeff reached up and wiped wetness from his cheeks. He heard a sound behind him and turned.

"Jeff...Jeff!"

There was a faint glow coming from the other direction now. He knew that voice...

"Jeff!"

He knew that voice!

"Penny!" He began running toward the whitish glow. "Penny!"

"Jeff! Jeff, come back!"

"Penny, I'm coming!" he cried, grinning for all he was worth. Suddenly the white glow enveloped him.

"Oof!" he pounded out, air whooshing from his lungs as he slammed into something solid head-first.

7:31:02

"Scott! Oh, thank God!"

"Penny!" Scott gasped as he broke into the clearing. "Dad! My God, is he...?"

"No," Penny cried, her eyes filling with tears. "I thought he was, but he...he just came back, he's just started breathing again!" She looked up and gasped when she took in Jeff's eldest son. "Scott, what—you shouldn't be up and about, look at you!"

"I'm fine," he panted. His eyes widened as the ground started to shake. "What happened?"

"It's...they were...Jeff..." She clamped her mouth shut. "I have no idea," she finally said as the shaking grew worse.

They heard several loud shrieks and looked up at the temple. From every conceivable direction, the demon creatures swooped down upon it, ramming headfirst into the walls and pillars.

"What are they doing?"

"Destroying it," Penny replied, the sounds of crumbling and cracking stone reaching their ears. "We have to leave. We have to leave now!" She crouched down and grabbed Jeff's legs. "Help me!"

Scott tore his eyes away from the demons, who'd returned to the sky and were circling overhead. He grabbed his father around the stomach and, with Penny's help, lifted him onto the hover bike, sliding in behind him. His father's head rolled back onto his shoulder and Scott leaned into him, so grateful he was still alive.

But he knew they weren't out of hot water yet. Not with a bunch of demons flying around.

Penny squeezed in front of Jeff's legs, revved the hover bike and took off into the jungle. The earth shook again, sending leaves, trees and vines falling everywhere around them. Scott squeezed his legs on either side of the bike seat as hard as he could to keep him and Jeff in place. Large leaves and thorns ripped at his uniform, face, legs and hair as they whipped along faster and faster. His arms tightened around his dad's body.

His head spun.

No, not now. Not yet. Please, not yet.

He struggled to remain coherent, quite well aware that things around him were becoming less than clear.

I have to...nobody else can...I have to fly...

His thoughts swam together, jumbling in a mass of words and pictures he just couldn't separate.

And then they broke through one last bunch of undergrowth into the clearing where the Thunderbirds sat awaiting their arrival. Penny slowed the hover bike and pulled herself off it as the ground began to shake even harder.

"We have to get out of here!" she cried, turning to face the two men still on the bike. "No, oh, no you don't!" she yelled, grabbing Scott's arm and shaking him. "Scott, wake up! Wake up!"

He shook his head. Had they stopped?

"Scott, please! We need you! I can't fly this thing!" she said, gesturing behind herself to Thunderbird 2's great green bulk.

The earth beneath her feet lurched, throwing her off-balance.

We need you...

Scott shook his head, cobwebs seeming to clear enough for him to realize where they were and what was happening. Howling screams filled the air and there was an explosion...he knew the temple was being destroyed...yes...Gaat's temple...demons...

"Dad!" Scott gasped as he opened his eyes to find his father in his arms. He jerked himself into action, swinging his leg over the back of the bike, hauling his father off it to drag him over to Two's nose. He reached up and pressed the unlock command, and the hatch opened above his head.

Penny ran up. "Boost me," she panted. Scott knelt down, bracing his good leg. She stepped on it just behind his knee, reached up and grabbed the edge of 2's open hatch. With a grunt, she pulled herself up into the nose, then turned around and hung the front of her body out, extending her arms. "Give me his hands!"

A roaring sound stopped Scott dead in his tracks. He turned to face the jungle. It sounded like a locomotive was barreling through the foliage right at them. He hurriedly raised his dad's arms until Penny had him by the wrists, then crouched down, grabbed Jeff's legs and lifted him up.

Penelope struggled to pull Jeff all the way into the hatch when it hit.

7:40:51

Scott felt the heat before he saw it. The "locomotive" roared into the clearing, and he turned to see a gigantic fireball headed right for...

"NO!" Scott cried, taking off across the clearing at a dead run.

"Scott!" Penny cried. "Come back!"

The ball of fire rolled faster than Scott ran. His heart clenched.

No, it can't, it can't, it can't, not her—please not her, please not her...

"SCOTT!"

And it hit.

The explosion created a shockwave that hurtled Scott right back the way he'd come. He landed with a thud just in front of Two's nose as a mushroom of smoke and fire rose into the sky.

Just like that, Thunderbird One was gone.

He rose to his feet, mouth wide open, leaning heavily against Thunderbird Two as he stared in disbelief at the charred black ground where his beautiful rocket plane had been standing mere seconds before. His chest heaved as an actual, physical pain filled his body. His baby...she was gone. Destroyed.

"Scott! There's another one!"

Fire spread into the jungle, flames rising at least forty feet high. Scott stared at the fire for a few seconds before his mind snapped back into itself. And he realized Penny was right as the rumbling of another "freight train" reached his ears.

He sprang into action, turning and hauling himself up into Two's nose. He closed the hatch and darted into the elevator. It rose and he was out of it and across the cockpit before the elevator even locked into place. He plopped into the pilot's chair and brought Thunderbird Two on line, powering her engines as fast as they'd go.

Even from inside the protective metal, he could still hear the fireball approaching. "Come on baby," he said, staring at the VTOL readout on the console in front of him. "Come on..."

The indicator rose to forty percent.

Come on...

Forty-five percent.

"Scott!" Penny cried, finally arriving in the elevator. She came to stand next to him and noticed the gauge as well.

Fifty percent.

"It's not enough," Scott growled as the entire ship shook with the ground beneath it.

Fifty-five percent.

This can't all have been for nothing. We didn't make it this far to die now.

Sixty percent.

Come on, girl, come on. Make Virgil proud.

Scott thought of his brother...and then of Megan...

Sixty-five.

Penelope gripped the back of the pilot's chair so hard her knuckles turned white.

Seventy.

Scott looked to his left. Out the cockpit window he saw it approaching.

Seventy-five.

Now!

There was no time left. Scott punched the VTOLs to life just as the indicator reached eighty percent. Two hiccoughed, only two of her rockets responding as she tried to rise.

"Come on!" Scott cried, hands manipulating three different areas at once. Penelope's eyes squeezed shut.

A third VTOL sputtered to life just as the ball of fire reached Two's left wing. Scott and Penny braced themselves...to die.

Suddenly the fourth VTOL roared to life and Scott yanked back on the steering yoke, Two's nose rearing up and back as she finally got off the ground. The fire grazed her belly and right wing as Scott rocketed her up as fast as she could go. Imbalanced bursts of power threw her into a backwards curve.

Scott yelped in surprise as she reeled back. He could hear the fireball crunching through the jungle below them as Two's tail knocked back into the tops of some of the tallest trees. Quickly he hit attitude and tried desperately to balance the VTOL power, throwing it all into the two rear ones and punching the booster rockets. Flames spewed from her red nacelles as Two shot higher into the air, singeing the top of the jungle cover as Penny flew back into the bulkhead.

And just like that, it was quiet.

Silence enveloped them. The only sound was the whine of Thunderbird Two's engines as she rose higher and higher into the atmosphere. Scott deflated into the pilot's chair as he slowly leveled her out into straight horizontal flight. He turned as Penny approached from behind, groaning and rubbing her head.

"And Jeff said you were the best pilot he had," she grumbled.

Scott turned to look at her, his eyes wide. Then he saw the look on her face and burst out laughing. "Yeah," he said, allowing relief to consume him at last. "If only he could've seen that."

She laid a hand on his shoulder. "You are the best," she said softly. "You just saved over three hundred lives." Off his questioning look, she continued. "You have a pod full of Gaat's slaves as well as us, Alan and Tin-Tin."

Scott turned back to face the window in front of him. He was startled when the comm link beeped.

"Thunderbird Three calling Thunderbird Two!"

"Thunderbird Two here," Scott replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Scott! I-It's Brains! I-I'm so glad you made it!"

"Same...same..." Scott's eyes closed slightly before popping back open.

"Just stay awake," Penny said, moving to his left. "Brains, we have injured on board, Scott included."

"Right. I'm feeding coordinates through now. If Scott can make it there, we have a group o-of our agents standing by to help us offload and get back on our feet."

"I..." Scott faltered. He just felt so tired. So tired. But then he recalled Penny's words.

You just saved over three hundred lives.

He straightened in the chair. He wasn't about to let them die now.

"I can make it, Brains," he finally said, his voice sounding surprisingly strong. "How is everyone?"

"John hasn't regained consciousness, but the knife wounds we were, uh, expecting, seem to only be surface gashes. I-It makes no sense, but it's better for him than what we thought we'd find."

"And Gordon?"

"He's still in some pain, but overall I think most of his trouble is e-exhaustion."

"Okay, thanks, Brains. We should be arriving at the coordinates you gave me in approximately fifteen minutes."

"F.A.B. See you there, Scott."

"F.A.B."

"O-Oh. Uh, Scott? Megan says to tell you she'll see you there as well."

Scott grinned. "You tell her she damn well better."

Brains chuckled. "And, Scott?"

"Yeah?"

"That was some fantastic flying."

A lopsided smile graced his face. "Thanks, Brains. Thunderbird Two out." He closed the channel and jumped when another voice came from behind him.

"He's right, Scott."

He turned to find his father standing in front of the elevator, a blanket wrapped around his middle.

"I was in the nose. I felt the heat and the thrashing of this ship. I don't think even Virgil could've righted her like you did."

He grinned. "Don't ever tell him that."

"I don't plan on it."

"How are you, Dad?"

Jeff wrapped his arm around Penelope, who leaned into him. "You know, son, I think I'm actually all right."

Scott took in the sight of his father as Penelope leaned up and kissed his cheek. He smiled. They'd made it. Once again, they had survived. And, he thought as he contemplated his father's face which looked different somehow...he knew they'd come out better for it, all things told.

Wounds would heal in time. And he? Scott smiled. He was a man in love. He barely managed to keep in a laugh as he steered Thunderbird Two into the clouds.

7:58:48

Nestled into a basket Ruth had filled with blankets, the light-skinned, dark-haired boy wailed uncontrollably. Nothing she'd tried, none of the tricks she'd used with her own son and then, later, her grandsons, had worked. Esunge simply would not be silenced.

"Monkey!" was the single word he screamed over and over. "Monkey!"

Finally, at her wits' end, Ruth picked him up and walked out to where John lay in one of the beds. He was sleeping soundly and it took a moment as she watched the rise and fall of his chest for her to realize it was suddenly silent.

Esunge rubbed the tears from his eyes, held his arms out toward John and hiccupped, "Monkey."

"That's Monkey?" she asked, raising a brow. "John?"

"Monkey, Monkey!" Esunge repeated, trying to lunge out of her arms.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, if you keep that up, you'll wake him!" she admonished. She knew the child had been through an awful lot, though she didn't know all the details. Figuring peace to be better than continued crying, Ruth gave in and laid Esunge in the crook of John's arm. He stirred, but didn't wake.

Within seconds, Esunge was asleep.

"Well, I'll be," she whispered, caressing his cheek with her finger. "Good night, little one." To her surprise, John's mouth curved into a smile as he pulled the baby closer to his body. "I think I may have just gotten myself a great-grandson."

7:59:58

7:59:59

8:00:00

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