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				EXPOSURE by Fran Lavery Chapter Ten       After calling a red alert and summoning everyone to the lounge, Jeff had gone to check on Scott. He found him fast asleep, due to the sleep tablets he'd taken before the mail plane arrived. He stroked his hair, wished him good night, and hurried back to the lounge.       By now the whole household was there. He went to his desk, opened communications with Alan and Lady Penelope, and began.       "We have had some very serious news, everybody," he said quickly, his face grave. "Today, Scott received this in the mail." He turned to his second youngest son, still clutching the letter. "Read it out, Gordon."       Gordon's voice wavered slightly as he spoke. "It says, 'International Rescue. Do you delude yourselves into thinking that I do not know the location of your secret base? Well, do not think yourselves so clever, for the only reason I have not destroyed you and your precious island already is that such a fate to those incredible Thunderbirds is quite unthinkable, don't you agree?       'Since you have strangled my efforts so often, I have decided to look for my prize elsewhere. However, once again, you stand in my way. I think we should meet and discuss a little boy called Matthew Kelly, whose father was quite a genius and could help me, even beyond his grave.       'To help persuade you, I have brought another player into our little game. Well, Scott Tracy, I applaud your taste. Jessica Howe is a feisty beauty. It would be a dreadful shame if I should have to hurt her more than I already have, merely because your organisation places the safety of some child over the safety of your girlfriend. If we do not meet, I promise you, I will enjoy killing her the way I have longed to kill you and your family.       'I shall be in the third warehouse of your Tracy Corporation Headquarters in two days. Do not try anything that may damage me, because the beautiful Jessica will be worse for it, I assure you.       'Who am I? I believe you like to refer to me as The Hood.'"       The room fell into silence.       The Hood was in a bad mood.       This girl had been more trouble than she was worth. Mind, she had been naïve enough to cautiously open her apartment door in the middle of the night. When she hadn't recognised him in his mask and blue uniform through her peephole, he'd insisted that he were a policeman, to ask her some questions about a Scott Tracy. She'd been anxious then, of course, and the crack she'd opened the door in order to see his identification badge was enough to knock her off her feet and force his way in.       She had recovered quickly though. The little woman, dwarfed by his size, had shouted at him, attacked him with obvious martial arts training in her past, and made him curse with little jolts of pain every time he went near her.       And the worst thing about it was that hypnotising her was near impossible. Maybe she was related to a mystic, a psychic or some other kind of student of mind power, for every time his eyes flashed in her direction in an attempt to render her unconscious, she would look away instantly, even before he'd done it on one occasion. That was more than luck. She had an instinct. In the end he'd been reduced to clubbing her about the head with a lamp, like any common intruder, and carrying her away, past the hypnotised security guards and to his plane.       When she'd recovered in his temple, he'd have thought that her obvious headache would be enough to shut her up. But no. As the time ticked by to his meeting with International Rescue, she gave him not a minute's peace. Tied up in the corner of his communications room, she shouted at him non-stop, in her 'extremely-irritating-when-high-pitched' voice.       "You're never gonna get away with this, you loser. As soon as I get free I'm gonna kick your ass! That's why you tied me up, you wuss. You're scared! What a coward! How dare you, anyway? What gives you the right to break into my home in the middle of the night and carry me off to this place? It looks like a reject from 'Batman Forever'! That is so sad! Don't you understand, you piece of crap? Don't you get it?! Not to get all cliché on you, but you cannot get away with this! I don't know what the hell you want me for, but may I suggest you start looking for an armoured bodyguard sometime soon? You're gonna need one, buddy!"       Was this what it was like to be married?       Eventually, he had managed to use his concentrated efforts to hypnotise her into a shallow unconsciousness. The power it took, both physically and mentally, exhausted him, but it was worth it for a day of peace, before he travelled by sea aeroplane to Kansas, to Tracy Corporation HQ. He would drive in easily; (although, he'd thought that kidnapping this Jessica would be easy too, and she was had been his toughest opponent in a while! He couldn't become complacent again, he scolded himself.) He would hypnotise the security guards and, as with that foolish Anne-Marie woman who's meeting had first given him the name of Scott Tracy's sweetheart, they would radio 'all clear' to the barrier operators under his instruction, and barely remember him after.       Then it would be easy.       Virgil shifted uncomfortably in the pilot seat of Thunderbird Two. The whole family had a lot on their mind at the moment, and to get comfortable anywhere, to eat much, to laugh at something on TV was all near impossible. He had no doubts in his mind that The Hood had given them until the Saturday just to stew in it. He knew that anxiety was a powerful emotion. Maybe he was hoping that it'd soften them up enough to disclose information about Matthew now. Not going to happen, buddy!       Still, it was dreadful to be a part of.       Scott had barely started recovering from that fever when this crushing blow had struck him. Virgil and TinTin had taken him a late breakfast when he didn't come down the next morning, and he just looked so pale and strained that TinTin had tears running down her face by the time they left him. His words had been strong and determined as he was explained the plan, but even his voice didn't seem his, he was so racked with worry.       Virgil was very close to Scott, perhaps closer than he was to any of his other brothers, and knew that the anxiety was only affecting him so badly because there was nothing he could do. He was a man of action, and needed to do something when problems struck. Something, anything, to feel like he was helping to rectify the situation. Here he could do nothing to help, not least because his Father had refused to let him off the island until he was fully recovered. Anxiety had never had a chance to flatten Scott Tracy like this before now, and with his sickness, he was left too weak to really go anywhere.       "I've never felt so helpless Virg," Scott had confided before Virgil left, "I can't chill out, thinking what he might be doing to her." His brother's words rang in his ears now.       Virgil hoped with all his heart, as Thunderbird Two was angled to the skies and he triggered the rocket motors, that he, John and Penelope would not fail Scott or Jessica now, when they needed them most.       Virgil piloted Thunderbird Two in near silence. Penelope studied the view from the observation windows and John studied his fingernails. As yet, there was nothing to say. But they smiled encouragingly at one another when they caught someone's eye. They were a strong team, they all realised, and would tough to beat. It was a strengthening thought for them all. By the time they arrived near Tracy Corps and landed the Thunderbird in the shelter of a wood well-known to the brothers, since they'd grown up close by, they were all brimming with adrenaline and energy, impatient to face The Hood and make him pay for what he was.       Stealthily, the brothers used their extensive knowledge of their company to find one of the gates to the courtyard unguarded but with code pads instead, and to gain access using a common company code. Then, they went to warehouse three, currently unoccupied, but used like all the others for assembling projects approved by Tracy Corps, that could reap interesting results.       "After you, John," smiled Virgil, as they pressed themselves against the side of the warehouse where security guards couldn't yet see them. It would really be no good to be recognised, (they were well known at Tracy Corps, obviously,) wearing International Rescue uniforms. Goodbye security!       "Thanks a lot!" muttered John, a grim smile on his face as he slid round to the side maintenance door, keyed in another code and signalled to Virgil and Penny to follow as he entered. On to Chapter Eleven.