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				EXPOSURE by Fran Lavery Chapter Thirteen       Virgil emerged from the jet with Penelope and John close behind him. After finding them in the cargo hold, still in the sacks he had watched the mastermind bundle them into, he had wondered how on earth he would wake them. When shaking them and yelling hadn't worked, as he'd expected, Virgil had been surprised to find that regular smelling salts had done the trick. The Hood had just used his strange powers to knock them out, it seemed.       "Thank you again, Virgil," smiled Penelope. "Whatever would we do without you?"       "Aw, well aren't you nice to me," Virgil laughed back. "You're gonna make me blush!"       "Where's Scott headed again?" asked John, enjoying his turn at adventure for a change.       "He's gone the long way round to the jetty. They might not even be there yet…" Virgil was distracted from his answer as his watchful eyes spotted a moving figure up on the cliffs that surrounded the villa. "Say, who's that?" Penelope removed a small set of binoculars from her handbag to identify the man who was rapidly crossing the rocks.       "Why, it's your father! What is he up to?"       Virgil grabbed his watch radio.       "Dad? Dad this is Virgil. Come in."       No answer. Virgil became nervous.       "Dad, what are you playing at? We can see you on the cliffs. Weren't you supposed to be covering…." Virgil trailed off in sick realisation. "Dad was gonna cover that guy who has Jesse. He's got to him! He must be in a trance!" Penelope continued to stare through her binoculars.       "Given the way he seems so determined on reaching that ledge overlooking the sea, I'm afraid I'll have to agree with you Virgil," Penelope said quietly. They stared at each other in panicked silence a moment, before Virgil spoke, quick and determined.       "Okay, Penny. You scout around the villa and see if they're still there. John, you do the same round by the jetty. Go round the quick way on the beach, but stay outta sight, both of you. I'm gonna go after Dad."       "Be careful Virg," advised John.       "Likewise," Virgil instructed gruffly, before they all set off on their separate missions.       "Do you mind telling me exactly what you're up to, Kyrano?!" Grandma's voice was livid as he barricaded them in his bedroom.       "Please forgive me, Mrs Tracy," was her agitated reply. Kyrano was distracted and nervous. "I must try to protect you somehow." This was the wrong sort of phrase to say to an angry Grandma Tracy.       "Protect me?" she screeched. "I'll have you know that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Now step aside!" Kyrano was patient and soothing, if also hurried with panic.       "Mrs Tracy. While I appreciate that you are a strong and wilful woman… a very wilful woman… this man is more than a match for us two alone."       "You know the guy who's come here?"       "Perhaps 'know' is the wrong word. I recognised his presence as soon as he arrived. He is on the island now, and there is nothing that the two of us can do about it. We are far too weak, I promise. We may as well stay out of the way and safe, locked in here."       Grandma had no opportunity to argue. She could tell by Kyrano's face that nothing would budge him on this. He was politely insistent, but stubborn as a mule. She sat on the bed quietly as he stood listening by the door. And a moment later they were both aware of faint voices from outside, coming from the boardwalk far below the window.       Virgil was wheezing and red-faced by scaling the high rocks so quickly. Penelope was right; his father was heading for a section of the cliffs he'd always warned them about. Below them the rocks, reaching up out of the white spray, were sharp and deadly. The drop would kill, and he had to stop him.       Desperation gave Virgil new speed, and his climb to cut Jeff's direction off was a relatively quick, if exhausting one. Hauling himself onto the ledge, he saw his father approaching him. His eyes were blank and unseeing, and his walk, not his own. Virgil knew that this was proper hypnotism, and smelling salts wouldn't help him now.       He grabbed his father's shoulders and shook him.       "Father! Father! Wake up! Don't you know what you're doing? Fa…" Virgil's protests were cut abruptly as Jeff delivered a swift punch to his gut, winding him completely. He dropped to the ground, unable to breathe properly, and his dad continued to walk towards the cliff edge.       Virgil was totally stuck. He could hardly move as his eyes brimmed with tears borne of pain, and he hadn't a clue what to do. If only his father were knocked out, as John and Penny had been. He knew how to remedy that…       A crazy idea struck him. He was desperate, without another plan, and therefore left little time to consideration. Still gasping for breath, he pulled his gun from its holster wrapped around his jeans and took shaky aim at Jeff. 'Forgive me, Dad,' he thought grimly, before firing at the figure ahead of him.       The view from the boardwalk was always beautiful. Scott and Matthew sat on the wood, overlooking the jetty below, and in the sight of the villa, sitting snugly in the cliffs above. They watched the sun begin to turn the sky an incredible orange, tingeing the sea with dusk.       "I becha don't see the sun set like that at Penny's, huh Matthew."       Matthew signed that it was always too cloudy, and Scott agreed.       They had been sat there for about five minutes, to regain their breaths and to await their cue to escape. Although no alarm was a good sign, Scott was getting very worried that they had had no contact at all. It filled his jumpy mind with doubts, but he had so far managed to convince himself that he was paranoid. It wasn't going to work much longer.       Matthew was getting tired, and snuggled closer to Scott, who put his arm around him. Poor kid. No one should have to go through what he has, and he's not even six yet. He decided then that Matthew had had enough nerves and stress for one day. Even if it meant getting a bawling out from his dad for not awaiting orders and possibly drawing coastal attention to himself, he and Matthew were leaving now.       "Come on, chirpy," he said softly to Matthew. "Let's hit the waves." Lifting him into his arms. The little boy cuddled closer to him, but Scott felt him jump when a sudden voice rasped behind them.       "You're not going anywhere, Tracy!"       Virgil had managed to half-carry, half-drag his father back to the house. Considering the weight of the man and the difficult climb down the rocks, coupled with his constant watching for The Hood, Virgil was totally exhausted when he reached the steps to the villa.       He met Penelope inside, and they supported Jeff to the sick bay. Brains was in there with TinTin, as they had been all day, working on a new sleeping gas he was designing. When the door flew open and the trio staggered in, TinTin gasped.       "What happened?" her deep eyes were full of shock as she helped them lay the unconscious Jeff on a bed and began to examine him.       "There's a question!" gasped Virgil, collapsing on the bed beside his father's, trying to control his breathing. "Don't panic over him too much, TinTin. I just pumped a round of knock-out missiles into him. And totally for his own good, of course." He tried to smile the innocent smile of a guy who hadn't just shot his father six times.       "Everything's going so strange," Penelope paced the room, trying to work out what was going on. "Have you had any contact from Scott?"       "We h-haven't h-had any cont-tact from a-anyone, L-Lady Penelope," stammered Brains. "I-It's been a l-little too quiet for u-us since that guy l-landed, but Mr T-Tracy ran through earlier, y-yelling s-something a-about e-everything being u-under control."       As TinTin went for the first aid in the bedside cabinet, Virgil started to beat up his wrist-radio. She was sure he was going mad, but the outburst,       "Stupid thing never, ever works when you need it!!!" was all the explanation she really needed, so she continued trying to revive Jeff. But Penelope took his exclamation with dread.       "That's very worrying. A little too convenient to be accidental, don't you think? We can't contact each other. And my powder contact is on the same circuit." Sure enough, when she tried to contact Parker, who had flown off in a Tracy jet after dropping Matthew at Tracy Island to investigate for clues as to the guy's identity at the Tracy Corps' third warehouse, she received only static.       Virgil was getting confused. "Let's try to figure this. Scott's at the jetty. John's investigating the route to the jetty via the beach for signs of our intruder. Penny was doing the same in the house." He turned to her. "Any clues, Honey?"       "No Virgil. I didn't get any time for a proper search. All I could determine was that he isn't in any of the living rooms, out on the roof, on the patio or in the kitchen. I was heading for the bedrooms and games rooms when you came in, and decided that your need was greater."       "Thanks," he grinned.       "What about John?" TinTin asked with anxiety. "Anything could've happened down on the beach…"       "But couldn't contact anyone. Of course." Penelope was getting worried.       "Why aren't these things working?!" Virgil yelled.       "Because I blew up the link that contacts them to Thunderbird Five," came a small, pained voice. Tranquilliser antidote from TinTin's first aid had woken Jeff.       "Dad! Are you…? You did what?"       "Hypnosis, son." Jeff slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position, grimacing uncomfortably. "That guy was asking me stuff. I'm can't recall what, but then I remember taking my gun, blasting the small-transmitter connection and going to take a long walk off a short cliff." He looked at Virgil. "Thanks, son."       "Don't mention it." Virgil sat up to be greeted with a sore muscle spasm in his middle from his father's right-hook. He still had it; that was for damn sure!       "We have to find that man. We still don't know what's become of John or Grand-mama or Kyrano or Gordon or even Scott and Matthew." Penny's throat caught at mentioning Matthew's name. Now, more than ever before, she hoped that International Rescue would succeed in their rescue.       "It won't be easy, but there's five of us here. We could each spread and look for him." Virgil started to pace too. "It'll be really difficult if we can't contact one another. I mean, we can't even contact Alan in space! But if we each take a gun and just shoot on sight…"       Virgil's words were cut off by a voice from the house intercom.       "Tracy? Tracy? Is anyone there?"       Of course! The house intercom was a different system to the wrist radios! Beautiful!       "Kyrano! Are you okay?"       "Tracy! The man, the intruder on the island. He's out on the boardwalk. Mrs Tracy and I can hear him from my bedroom window." Jeff would normally ask his best friend what exactly he was doing with his mother in his bedroom, but there was too much on for that now.       "Perfect Kyrano! You're right on cue. Stay there and keep Brains posted on what's being said, in case you're both needed." Jeff swivelled on the bed. "I'm sure you're all aware of the implications of that guy being at the boardwalk. He's met Scott and Matthew there, and we have to get to them and help!       "Penny and TinTin: split and find Gordon. He's in the house somewhere. Tell him to suit up and remain on stand-by for launch of a Thunderbird. I'm not sure which one we'll need, but he's the only man we have available and that Hood guy is not gonna get away.       "Virgil, you come with me. We're gonna go down to the jetty the way John did and try to diffuse the situation. I don't know how, but we'll think of something."       "Improvisation," Virgil murmured as the group collected themselves. "Great!" On to Chapter Fourteen.