#bob thorne is the same bob who co-piloted the fireflash gordon rescued in operation crash dive

[skymaiden32]

Secrets In L.A.

Tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality @janetm74 @thundergeek59 (Please ask if you would like to be alerted when I update or write new stories)

May's calendar story.

The London to Los Angeles flight on Fireflash touches down at dusk. What was originally a regularly scheduled commercial flight became a VIP exclusive when Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward purchases every last seat on board. Her party, even more mysteriously, is made up of only herself, her right hand man, and a Sir Jeremy Hodge. But what business do they have that requires absolute secrecy? (One-shot)

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*phew!* 2000+ words with which I finally catch up with all the months I lost XD

This is a one-shot, although I hope the extra length makes up for that. This is intended to be a direct sequel/interquel to my previous story in the series, Dangerous Waters, tying up all the little loose ends, so I recommend reading that before this, or you may not know what's going on... I hope you enjoy! :3

Chapter 1

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward put her faithful teapot aside, ruminating on what Virgil had just told her. She hummed, pushing herself up out of her chair before reaching to pull on the rope on the other side her sitting room. A bell rang as she did so. Her companion, who had previously been content reading his newspaper, looked up from it, alert.

“A mission then?” Sir Jeremy Hodge grinned slyly, always up for a bit of action.

“I’m very much afraid so, Sir Jeremy.” Both spoke with the accent of the British aristocracy, both clipped and stoic, but held a concealed excitement for their craft. “And I would be thrilled to have your assistance in this case.”

Jeremy smiled at her. “The pleasure is all mine, m’lady.” Penelope nodded as the double doors of the sitting room swung open, revealing the Creighton-Ward manservant, and ex-con by the name of Aloysius Parker. His accent was by no means upper class, but it also screamed of a British heritage, thoroughly Cockney and trained to speak with respect to his employer. 

“You rang, m’lady?”

“Yes Parker. Get the Rolls Royce, and arrange phone calls to Air Terrainean and London Airport. We have a mission, and Sir Jeremy will accompany us.

“Very good, m’lady. Will you require h’any assistance with your bags?” The Lady shook her head. 

“Thank you, Parker. But that won’t be necessary. This will be a short trip, so any bags I may take, I can handle myself.” Parker bowed before leaving to make the necessary arrangements, and they were soon trundling in FAB 1, the faithful Rolls Royce, to London Airport. They had a flight to catch…

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Captain Hansen stared at how many passengers were in the cabin. Then at how many seats were booked. Then back at the cabin. He scratched his head, puzzled by the whole thing. Why, the whole plane had been fully booked. Yet here they were, five minutes before take-off, and there were only three passengers on board. He exchanged looks with Bob Thorne, his co-pilot, who also had a similar reaction to the passenger situation.

The transmission from London Airport Control reminded the Captain and his co-pilot to focus on the task at hand. They had a plane to fly. “Four minutes to take off.” Bob hummed in his seat as he completed final checks on his side of the cockpit. Hansen did the same before turning his head to his friend. 

“So, what do you think is going on back there?” 

Bob shook his head. “I haven’t the foggiest. But I do recognise two of them. Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward and Sir Jeremy Hodge. The third is dressed in a chauffeur’s uniform; maybe he works for one of them…”

Hansen hummed, thoughtful. “They would certainly have the money to buy all the seats; make sure no-one was on the plane but them, us, and the cabin crew.”

Bob frowned. “What reason could they possibly have to need a whole plane pretty much to themselves?”

Behind him, Captain Hansen heard the cabin supervisor give the passengers the safety demonstrations. The green light to head to the runway flashed in front of them, and the two of them guided the plane towards the long strip of concrete. “I don’t know. But I suppose it’s not our concern for now. We have a job to do, and that’s flying this plane to LAX.”

Bob nodded, frowning as his grip tightened on the wheel. Soon, Fireflash soared above the clouds, cruising at it’s top speed of Mach 6. At this rate, they would touch down at LAX in just over an hour.

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Penelope frowned. “We have an hour to decipher who the counter-agent on the East Zephyr may be, so let’s get to it. It will not be an easy task, which is why the more people who can help us, the better.” Her two male companions nodded, looking at the list of information on the four suspects in the case.

Parker looked curiously at his employer. “Just ‘ow did you gather all this h’information so quickly, m’lady?” The noblewoman grinned.

“Now, Parker, you should know by now to allow a lady a few secrets, but I did acquire the information through a dear friend with connections to the WASPs, however tenuous those connections are.” She pointed at the first candidate. “Artem Zhuk. The lowest ranking in the ship’s hierarchy, and the last person to check the line before the dive.”

Jeremy hummed. “He has the means…”

Parker continued the thought. “But does ‘e ‘ave a motive?”

“He does not.” Penny answered. “He hasn’t met any IR agents before, but his family were saved from the wreckage of the last major earthquake in Ukraine by International Rescue. Why would he attempt to lure the organisation that saved his loved ones into what may very well be a trap? It doesn’t make sense…”

Jeremy huffed. “Neither does the next suspect, Peter Meddings. He’s never met any of International Rescue before, nor has he or his family been saved by them, but he has always spoken highly of them.”

Penelope took a puff of her cigarette. “He may be lying.” Parker shook his head.

“I’m h’afraid not m’lady. ‘e ‘as been a WASP for years before this, h’and they require regular lie detector tests to h’ensure they h’are fit for service. H’according to your source, h’one h’of the questions h’is their h’opinion h’on h’other h’organisations such h’as Spectrum and H’International Rescue.”

Sir Jeremy continued. “His opinion is the same every time. He agrees these fellow organisations dedicated to the protection of humankind be protected. Not only that, but he was on Gordon’s bathyscape crew.”

“So it isn’t him either…” Penelope sighed, looking at the remaining files. “That leaves two people. Otis Akers, and Tara Summers.”

Jeremy frowned. “Both of whom know the identities of International Rescue.” Parker shared his employer’s gaze.

“People they trust…”

The Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, London Agent and Head of International Rescue’s agent network, looked sadly at the choice between the two allies. For perhaps the first time since she became a secret agent, she felt completely hopeless. “Whatever shall we do to detangle this whole mess?”

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Captain Hansen frowned as he stood some ways away from the trio, having heard the last few sentences of the conversation. He knew he really shouldn’t eavesdrop, but the second he’d heard the words International Rescue, he couldn’t exactly walk away. Twice, the organisation had saved his life, along with the people in his care. He had always made a private promise to return the favour one day. Maybe that was a debt he could never repay, but helping the supposed agents in front of him was a start. He discreetly approached before clearing his throat. “If I may, m’lady, I believe I could give you an answer to your problem…”

Lady Penelope looked up quickly, frowning at the intrusion. “And who are you?”

Hansen frowned. “My name is Captain Hansen, the pilot of this aircraft. I also piloted the Fireflash’s maiden flight, when it was sabotaged by that bomb in the landing. It was their very first rescue, if I recall.” Penelope looked curious, as did her companions, but he knew he had to say everything he could to convenience them he was on their side. “International Rescue saved my life not just that day, but also when we were attempting to figure out why the Fireflash fleet kept crashing at precisely the same location into the ocean last year.”

Penelope nodded, smiling. “Yes, I remember both those incidents. I also remember your name.” She grinned at him, gesturing for him to sit with them. He did so, glad he had their trust. “The pilot of Thunderbird 1 has spoken highly of you, Captain Hansen.”

Hansen smiled. “And I speak highly of him, Lady Penelope. He and the rest of the Thunderbirds pilots are brave men.” He laid his hand over his chest as a show of sincerity. “Your secrets as agents of International Rescue are safe with me, I assure you.”

“I expected nothing less of you, Captain.” Penelope hummed. “So, what can you tell us about these two people?”

Hansen carefully studied the files that the noblewoman turned secret agent handed him, humming as he recognised the names. “The names are familiar to me. Otis Akers was an old family friend shortly before he left for WASP. He had a sister who we were also close to.” He paused. “Tara Summers was also a dear friend of mine. We met through Otis, as a matter of fact. She trained with me to become a pilot for Air Terrainean before changing her career path and joining the aquanauts instead. I’m still in contact with both. They’re both officially out of WASP ranks, but still work for them on occasion.” He sighed. “I can hardly believe one of them would betray International Rescue, but between them, I have a suspicion.”

Lady Penelope motioned for him to continue. “Go on.”

“Summers has led a fairly regular life, even in WASP. No tragedy or threat until the incident a few months ago. She has no major qualms about International Rescue.” He let the information sink in. For both them, and himself. “There is a key piece of information missing from this file,” He held up Otis’s folder. “Akers’ sister is… no longer with us.” The three agents in front of him froze up. “She passed away in a landslide last year. A landslide that International Rescue attended…”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “He has a motive for hating International Rescue then…”

“They failed to pull ‘er h’out h’alive…” It clicked for Parker as well. 

Penelope sighed, standing. Captain Hansen did the same. The agent laid a hand on his shoulder, smiling sympathetically. “Thank you, Captain. I know this was not an easy thing to tell us, but we appreciate your honesty in this matter.”

Hansen folded his arms, saddened beyond belief. “You think you know a guy…” He shook his head, banishing his tears before they even truly appeared. “I… better get back to the cockpit. We’re landing in 20 minutes.” He smiled sadly. “I suggest you prepare for landing, m’lady, sirs.” 

He turned to leave, before Sir Jeremy’s voice called out to him. “Wait!” He spun back to the trio. “Would you like to come with us to apprehend Akers at the L.A. docks? We wouldn’t have been able to work this out without you…”

Hansen sighed. “That’s very nice of you, and I would quite like to see Scott again, but I unfortunately have another flight after this, so I can’t leave after post-flight checks.” He smiled. “Besides, I don’t think I could handle facing Otis right now…”

Penelope nodded. “That’s fair enough Captain, but please, allow me to get in contact with you when we both return to London. I believe we have more to discuss…”

The Captain nodded, returning to the cockpit. Bob just stared at him. “Where have you been? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Just talking to the passengers. Nothing to worry about.” It would take a while before he recovered from the betrayal of his friend, but for now, he could put those feelings aside. Bob hummed, knowing there was more to it, but didn’t press him. They flew in silence before Hansen’s eyes widened in realisation. “Wait. She never got my number… How can she get in contact with me?!”

Bob just looked more and more concerned by the minute.

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“So… it’s true then?” Gordon asked, pure betrayal in his tone. “Otis did all this?”

Scott nodded, just as saddened as he flew Thunderbird 1 with an expert hand. They saw no reason to stick around once they had arrived in L.A. and Otis Akers was arrested by Lady Penelope, revealing his true colours by sending several curses at the IR operatives as he was dragged to Thunderbird 2 to be transported to the nearest secret agency with a mountain of evidence, much to Tara’s shock. They would remain in contact with the Captain. Gordon, having had enough trauma for one day, had decided to skip the trip to L.A.’s FBI branch by flying with Scott straight home. Virgil had been extremely understanding. 

“Apparently, they heard it from Captain Hansen, who was the pilot of their Fireflash, that Otis had a solid motive for it. His sister died on one of our rescues…”

Gordon was dumbfounded. “But why? Why endanger innocent lives when he could’ve just confronted us about it?”

Scott sighed. “I’m not sure, Gords. But I’ve got a feeling there’s more to this than we originally anticipated. This isn’t over. Not by a long shot…” His eyes narrowed. If whoever was behind this even tried to hurt his family, they’d be meeting his fist…

Gordon grinned after a while despite what had happened. A grin that was audible in his voice. It made his older brother perk up just that little bit as well. “You think Virgil will be okay with Akers on board Thunderbird 2? He might try something…”

Scott chanced a look back at his water-loving brother. “With Lady Penelope to protect him? No way is anything gonna happen to him.”

The two brothers laughed for a while at the thought, their chuckles eventually dying down. Gordon spoke up again after a while. “Are you okay? With what happened to Ryan?” His brother froze in his seat. “Scooter?”

“Not really.” He admitted. “But I will be. I could ask you the same thing, what with the anniversary coming up and all…”

Gordon cleared his throat. He had gotten an answer from Scott. Now he had to give his own. “I’ll be honest, I’ve almost had a few panic attacks today…”

“Gords…”

“But I’ll be fine, Scotty. Whatever we have to go through…”

Scott finished for him, Tracy Island appearing in front of them as they got closer to home. “We’ll get through together…”