“International Rescue, this is Thunderbird Five, we have a situation.”
Three heads snapped up as John’s hologram appeared in the middle of the lounge.
“What’s the situation, John?” Jeff asked from his spot at his desk. They had been back two days and this was their first emergency call. To say that everyone was on edge was an understatement.
“Unseasonably heavy rainfall over the last few days has caused a flash flood heading towards a village in the Highlands of Scotland that has a large number of retirement properties and elderly residents as well as families. A river has burst its banks and it’s already reached the lower houses of the town, some of which are already half under water and its rising fast. The local authority has sent in some help to try and evacuate the residents but some are being a little...difficult.”
“How deep is the flooding?” Gordon asked, drawn to the lounge from parts unknown by the mere mention of water.
“Not deep enough for Thunderbird Four to be needed,” John replied, pulling up a new visual display to show a map of the area. “The local authorities are already using motorised inflatable rafts to ferry the residents to a safe distance where they have shuttles on hand to take them into the city. But, as I said, there are a number that are refusing to leave and some that are further up the hillside that cannot be reached by land or by boat, that’s where we come in.”
“Better take Pod two and tell Brains to include those new inflatable life packs,” Virgil decided, already heading for his launch chute. “Gordon, Alan, come with me.”
Scott jogged in, hair wet from his recent shower, shirt clinging to his still damp shoulders. “What do we have?”
“Heavy rain and a flash flood in Scotland, you had better get going,” Jeff told him. Scott paused as if waiting for the inevitable. “John will brief you when you’re in the air,” Jeff finished and Selene knew she couldn’t be the only one who saw Scott visibly relax as he moved towards the spot on the wall which concealed his launch chute.
Gordon and Alan headed to the passenger chute with a cheery wave and suddenly it was just her and Jeff left in the room. Damn, this was awkward. She hadn’t been alone with him since they had returned and didn’t really know how to act around him. It was sobering to realise you didn’t know someone as well as you thought you did. The views of others will always colour your judgement no matter how hard you try to avoid it. John’s opinion of their father had been shocking to say the least. She might joke that John was one of the most judgemental people she had ever met, but in reality he was nothing of the sort. He was the type of person to look at a situation from all sides and always keep an open mind. He didn’t judge without reason, he used logic and all the information available to him before he made his mind up about anything. She knew that he had years of experience with Jeff and that had led her to believe him.
They sat in awkward silence, watching the feed from Five as it continued to show the progress of the water rushing the village and the attempts of the rescuers to help as many people as they could.
There was that low down base rumble as Thunderbird One’s engines started up. Every building on the Island including the hangars had been fitted with the very best soundproofing, so they didn’t hear much more until the rocket shot out of the recently revealed opening in the swimming pool and took to the skies. The second its jets kicked in they heard the muffled boom as it broke the sound barrier and was gone in the blink of an eye. Less than four minutes later they heard the same, but with a distinctly lower pitch, as Thunderbird Two launched from the other side of the Island, banking to the left to follow after Scott.
John popped back to give them an update, relaying the same information he’d given Scott and to let them know what Scott had planned. Selene noticed the way Jeff tensed, his fingers tightening on the handle of his coffee cup.. Obviously it was the kind of plan that he would have suggested but he restrained himself from saying a word.
Scott called in twenty-three minutes after leaving to tell them that he had arrived and was assessing the situation. The local authority had done all they could, managing to evacuate two hundred and thirty-six out of two hundred and forty-two houses before they had been beaten by the water and the steady incline of the hillside. It was calculated that there were eight people still in need of rescue, three couples and two widowers. More able bodied people that lived higher up the hillside had either walked down themselves to meet the boats or were high enough up and well stocked enough to wait it out.
Scott took One further up the hillside, hoping to locate and hopefully rescue them without needing to wait for Virgil in Thunderbird Two, who was less than five minutes behind him.
Jeff still hadn’t said a word, but his breathing had become a little heavier and was inching towards huffs of either exasperation or frustration, it was hard to tell which. He had the map feed from One projecting from the command center on his desk and was studying it from all angles. Honestly, he was starting to piss her off.
For lack of anything better to do and feeling the need to move, Selene got up, intending to go to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. She paused at the door, her inner British politeness taking over, leaving her unable to go without being nice.
“Would you like another cup of coffee?” he might be annoying, but he was still her father-in-law and she wasn’t that much of a bitch.
Jeff’s head jerked up as if noticing her for the first time.
“Oh,” he paused as if shocked by her offer. “Yes, that would be nice, thank you.”
Against her better judgement, she felt her heart softening a little. “Have you eaten yet today?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t really felt hungry the past week or so. I’ll get something later.” As if summoned by the thought of food and determined to rat him out, his stomach let out a loud growl.
She crossed her arms, giving him the same look she gave John when he ignored his body’s demands for food.
“You’ll have something now and you’ll eat it,” she ordered, her tone telling him it was useless to argue. “I’ll make you something while I do the coffee.”
"You don't ha- and she's gone."
As she was waiting for the milk to heat and froth in Virgil’s fancy machine that only she and John were allowed to touch, she grabbed a pan and scrambled some eggs, toasted some bread and loaded up a decent size portion onto a plate. She made the coffees, a latte for her and straight black (but sneakily decaf) for Jeff, arranging everything on a tray to carry back to the lounge.
Jeff moved aside his tablet to make room but she ignored the deliberate invitation and instead placed the tray on the coffee table, raising an eyebrow indicating that she wasn’t bringing it closer. He took the hint and left his desk to sit beside her on the couch. She handed him the tray, taking her mug and leaving him with the rest.
"You didn't have to make me anything, but thank you."
"No worries, I was going down there anyway, plus you needed to eat."
"Well, I appreciate it." He reached for the knife and fork and cut a small piece, hesitating before lifting it slowly to his mouth.
"It's not poisoned you know," she joked, feeling the need to break the tension.
It had the desired effect and she heard Jeff chuckle as he put the food in his mouth.
"I wouldn't have blamed you if it had been," he commented after he had swallowed.
Selene, in typical Selene style, had promptly forgotten the conversation the second it was over, had no clue what he was talking about, engrossed in watching the feed from the rescue. Virgil had left Alan in Two to keep it aloft and had taken Gordon out with him in the spider pod, its flexible but sturdy legs making short work of the hillside it was running up.
"Huh? Blame me for what?"
"Poisoning the eggs."
Selene snorted. "Nah, that's too much effort, they'd always suspect the witch of slipping you a potion, there's other ways."
Jeff echoed her amused snort and took another bite, this time bigger.
"Besides, we kinda need you," Selene continued. Jeff looked tired, almost as run down as when he had first been rescued. He looked heart sore and just by sitting near him she could feel the waves of anxiety and frustration flowing from him, but, in amongst all that, was a healthy dose of love and worry for his sons. She could understand that. How many times had she sat here, watching and waiting for them to come home? She knew exactly what that was like, to feel useless, unable to do anything to help.
"I don't think any of you have a need for me any more," Jeff snorted.
She rolled her eyes. Yes, she could understand his feelings, but that didn't mean she was going to allow him to wallow in his pity pool for much longer. Just as she had given herself a kick up the arse and carved her own place and purpose within the organisation, so would he have to.
"Can I be honest?"
"Of course."
"Good, not that it would have stopped me, I'm not known for being subtle or for sparing people's feelings."
"I'm aware of this fact, that's why I said yes."
"Ouch, the old dog still bites."
He narrowed his eyes at her but that didn't deter her one bit.
"You were there when I needed you to kick me up the arse, and since Lee isn't here I guess it's my job, so I'm returning the favour."
"Something tells me I'm not going to like this," he put down his fork in order to give her his full attention but picked it back up again when she bestowed upon him a level three Tempest glare, patent pending.
"The first thing I have to say is that we love you, because I think you need to remember that."
“Okay,” he mumbled around another mouthful, not liking the way this conversation was going.
“And in remembering that you will know that what I’m about to say comes from a place of deep love.”
“Okay," he repeated.
“Buck the fuck up.”
Jeff choked and she had to pat him on the back and force him to drink some water before his eyes stopped streaming and he could speak again.
“Well, you did warn me you would be blunt,” he coughed.
“Are you done dying yet?”
“I think so, yes.”
“Good, then I’ll continue. You need to get it out of your head that you aren’t needed, because nothing could be further from the truth.”
Jeff didn’t look convinced.
“You’re not getting the fact that we have a really important job.”
“We do?” he asked, forcing a smile, humouring her. She was trying to make him feel better, he knew that, it wasn’t her fault that she was doing a lousy job of it.
“Of course we do, we’re the ground crew.”
“The ground crew?”
“Yes, are you telling me you didn’t have that in the air force? You of all people should know how important the ground crew is, we’re the ones that take care of them, that look after them and we’re the ones that are always there when they need us. I felt the same way you do, though probably less so, I’ll admit, the first time I was up there with John. He was darting here and there, working on a million things at once and I just felt like a spare part. There was nothing I could physically do to help him.”
“So you understand how I feel.”
“Oh, I so do. But I soon realised that I could help in other ways, I jump in when they ask me to, when they do need me I’ll always be there. When they need a hug or to talk, I’m there. When they need babying and feeding and forcing to sleep, they have to deal with me fussing over them. That’s my job.”
Jeff nodded. He’d seen just how much she did for his boys, how much she cared for them and loved them.
“Your job will be the same, but with less babying. They need you to snap them out of it when they are having a crisis of confidence, they need you to kick their butts when they are being stupid, just like I am with you now. Your job is to give them the benefit of your wisdom when they ask for it and to know when to give it when they don’t. But we also have to trust in them to know what they are doing. They are smart boys, they will ask for help when they need it, they always do.”
Jeff raised an eyebrow at that as he put his tray down on the table in front of them.
“Well, when out on a rescue they do,” she amended. “At home it’s less likely, but not impossible. That’s usually the time when we have to help them when they need it but don’t know they need it. It’s a fine line but one I will help you find.”
She didn’t wait for him to answer, instead she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug just as he had done for her all those weeks ago. And just as it had for her it took Jeff a few moments before he responded, his arms creeping hesitantly around her middle to hug her back. They stayed that way for a few moments before he pulled back.
“Thanks, I didn’t realise I needed that.”
“That’s exactly what John said that first day up in Five, that’s what I mean by us being the ground crew, never underestimate how important we are and how much our support means to them. You just need to back off them and learn to trust them as they trust us.”
“I’m trying to do just that,” Jeff promised.
“I know and I know it’s not always going to be easy, but I’ll be here to help.”
“Thank you, I have a feeling I’m goi-”
“Thunderbird One from Thunderbird Two, Scott do you have a visual on the Mcdonald couple?” Virgil's voice floated out of the comms and they both stopped talking immediately to tune in.
“Negative Thunderbird Two, not a sign of them. According to the community care team they are both very active for their age and the husband insists on keeping a working car on the property. They think they may have taken it upon themselves to evacuate without waiting for assistance.”
Virgil swore quietly under his breath and was silent for a second before he appealed to a higher power. “John, can you do a scan and see if there is anything you can spot that might be them? The elderly residents have medical alert bracelets on them at all times with GPS trackers so you might be able to use that.”
“On it,” John responded immediately. He was back in less than a minute. “I’ve located two alert bracelets heading down the south side of the hill. It looks to me like they have driven around the village with the intention of trying to drive away from the flood, but it’s just as bad on the other side, the hill is like an island at the moment.”
“I’ll go after them,” Virgil told them, having already turned the Pod around to head back to his bird.
“How’s it going, Scott?” Selene asked, knowing that Jeff would be wanting a progress report but that he was probably hesitant to ask for one.
Scott’s holographic form popped out of his portrait.
“Not too badly, we picked up two of the couples and one widow, all were very grateful to be rescued. We didn’t need to drop any of the inflatable packs as they had done the sensible thing and stayed in their houses awaiting help. One of the ladies was reluctant to get in the Pod with Virgil and Gordon because it looked scary. She screamed the whole way down the hill and then while they were taken aboard Two but they are safe and sound now.”
“That’s great, son,” Jeff praised, earning himself an encouraging pat on the knee from Selene.
“Alan is receiving a lot of attention from the three ladies on board, they all think he’s adorable and such a clever wee boy for flying such a big ship by himself.”
“Well, it’s true, he is,” Selene grinned.
“I heard that,” Alan butted in, obviously listening over the comms. “I’ve also heard that pilots these days are getting younger and younger and my cheeks have been pinched so much I think I’ve got nerve damage. But one lady did get me some toffees from her bag.”
Jeff suppressed a laugh, Selene didn’t.
“Move over, Squirt, let the master take control,” Virgil ordered as Gordon secured the Pod, his hologram appearing next to Scott’s as he reclaimed his pilot's seat.
“Oh, look, Ted, it’s that nice young man who rescued us,” a quavering voice said.
“Isn’t he handsome?” an elderly lady could be heard over the comms. “Aye, if I were thirty years younger or he were five years older I’d be takin' a turn around the dance floor with him.”
“Help me,” Virgil mouthed, his hologram showing the fear on his face as the widowed lady behind him winked in his direction.
“Sending the coordinates now,” John interrupted, saving Virgil from his admirer.
“On our way!” Virgil yelped, moving Thunderbird Two in the right direction.
“Look, Molly, we’re moving!”
“I don’t want to look, I feel sick, Angus.”
“Uh oh,” Alan groaned as he moved to fetch a sick bag, just in case.
***
Jeff had done his best to hold his tongue throughout Virgil’s pick up of the missing McDonald's couple who were found stuck in their car, which had bottomed out in the flood water and conked out when water had invaded the engine. The car itself had probably been on its last legs too. According to Virgil, it was older than FAB Zero and almost rusted through. They were just lucky it had stayed in one piece while they had lifted it into Two’s Pod with the McDonald's inside.
Jeff had stopped himself from interrupting three times but when Virgil was arguing over the loudspeaker with the McDonald's, who refused to leave their car on the hillside, Selene had been forced to physically slap her hand over his mouth and glare him into submission. She didn't know if the boys had noticed any of the back at base drama that had been going on, but if they did they didn't let it phase them. She hoped that they knew they could trust her enough to keep Jeff from involving himself unnecessarily, because she was trying her best and they owed her, dammit.
“I’ve located the last resident, a Major Campbell,” John announced over the comms. “His medical alert was switched off but I managed to bypass the system and wake it up remotely, he’s still in his house.”
“But I checked there! I knocked on the door for three minutes, he never answered,” Scott told them.
“He could be hurt, maybe he couldn’t get to the door,” Gordon suggested.
“Are yer talking about the ol’ Major?” Angus asked.
“I suppose we are, yes,” Virgil answered him.
“Oh, ye willnae be getting no sense out of him, crazy as a coot he is.”
“Oh, no, he won’t open the door for anyone when he's in one o' his moods, not even you nice young men,” Virgil’s admirer finished.
“Thanks for letting us know,” Virgil smiled before turning back to his comms. “John, can you confirm?”
“One second,” John blinked out of sight, returning soon after. “Major Campbell is confirmed as suffering from diabetes and early stages dementia, his wife passed less than six months ago and he’s been receiving home nursing care but the storms of the last few days have made it difficult for them to reach him. It's in his notes that low blood sugar makes his dementia worse, leading to him becoming more confused and volatile.”
“I can’t go, Scott, I’ve got a full load here and need to drop them off before I do anything else,” Virgil regretfully informed them.
“It’s alright, I’ll go back and fetch him now that we know he’s there,” Scott said. His announcement was followed by a chorus of FAB's and the comms went silent apart from background chatter as everyone set about their designated tasks.
“I guess they’ll all be home soon,” Selene sighed, standing up to stretch. “What do you think they would like to eat? They’ll be hungry, they always are.”
“I know Alan loves your pizza,” Jeff smiled.
“Alan likes them or you like them?”
“Well, I suppose if you made them I’d be able to force down a few slic-”
“This is Thunderbird One to Tracy Island.”
“Go ahead, Scott, are you finished already?”
“Not even close,” Scott sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Selene asked, sitting back down to give him her full attention.
“It’s the Major, he’s refusing to leave his home.”
“Can you not talk him out of there?”
“I’ve tried, but he says that he won’t abandon his post.”
“His post?” Selene was thoroughly confused.
“He won’t even answer to his name, he’s obviously confused but I don’t know how to get through to him.”
“Are none of his nurses available to help?”
“John’s talking to them now.”
“That’s a negative, Thunderbird One, all the nursing staff are currently attending to other residents, there is no one available.”
“So I’m on my own? Great.”
“Of course you aren’t, don’t be such a twat, it was only yesterday you were bitching that you were always surrounded by people. If I was you I’d be making the most of it,” Selene huffed.
“You know I didn’t mean that, I meant that there’s no one here that can help me,” he replied in that overly patient tone sales people get when they are trying to make a customer understand that they can’t use an expired coupon.
“What are we then? Useless?”
“No, of course not!”
“Then get your arse back down there and let us see what the hell is going on, three heads are better than one.”
Scott looked like he wanted to argue but knew when he was beaten.
“Can you take over the controls for me, thunderbird Five?”
“On it,” John replied. “Thunderbird One is slaved to my control.”
“Going EVA now,” Scott informed them.
***
“Come on Campbell, please open the door!”
“Negative, my orders were to defend this compound and defend it I will.”
“And my orders are to fetch you to safety. Allow me to do my job.”
“Nothing out ranks the Queen’s orders.”
“This isn’t about their majesties, this is about your safety, sir!” Scott banged on the door again, Mini MAX hovering over his shoulder beaming the feed back to Tracy Island.
“That’s what they all say and it’s always a plot to take our base. Well not this time. I’ve barricaded the doors and will be denying you access.”
“Sir, as I have explained to you three times already, this is a dangerous situation. You are in danger. The river had burst its banks and there is a flood that is heading this way. Your nurses can’t reach you and you cannot stay here.”
“Nurses? I don’t need no nurses. I’m wise to you, you just want me to abandon my post, well that won’t be happening. I have never been lax in my duty and I won’t start now.”
“Sir, this is not an army base, this is your home and you need to come with me. Please open the door.”
“No, I will not.”
Scott was clearly getting frustrated, they could see it in the tense line of his shoulders and the twitching of the little muscle in his jaw.
“Check the perimeter, Son, maybe you can find a way in,” Jeff suggested gently.
“Alright.”
They watched Scott complete a circuit of the small cottage, but true to his word, Campbell had managed to block off every entry point, including the windows. There were nails hammered haphazardly into the window frames holding them shut and when MAX peeped in through the windows they could see that he had wedged kitchen chairs under all the door handles that led outside to prevent them being opened. For an old man with decreased mental capabilities he had certainly retained enough wits to effectively barricaded himself in.
“He certainly believes what he’s saying, doesn’t he?” Jeff mused.
“Yeah, he does,” Selene agreed, something pinging in her brain like a distant bell.
“Babe?” Selene called, trying to get John’s attention..
“Yes, honeybunch?” Scott answered.
“Not you, dumbass!”
Scott sniggered to himself and Selene caught sight of Jeff's amused smirk.
“Yes?” John answered, ignoring them as he so often did, nothing surprised him with them anymore.
“You know I usually don’t ask you to do anything illegal…”
“Not while I’m working, no.”
“What was that?” Jeff demanded to know.
“Ignoring that for now, like putting it aside for later,” Selene hurried on, ”can you hack into his army records and find out some information about where and when he served?”
“Of course, I’ll get EOS to do it while I’m in control of One.”
“Please, Mr Campbell,” Scott tried again, dropping the Major title as he seemed to be ignoring it anyway. “If you’d just allow me to come inside so I could show you that I'm genuine.”
“No! Go away or I’ll be forced to load up Brittany!”
“Brittany?” Gordon asked, clearly still listening in.
“I’ve no idea,” Scott admitted, “but it doesn’t sound good.”
“I’m warning you, I have a rifle and I’m not afraid to use it!”
“He has a gun?” Selene spluttered. “How the hell did he get that past the nurses?”
“We don’t know for sure if he even has one,” Jeff said, trying to keep her calm, aware that she could go off at any second into one of her dramatic tirades. “But either way, Scott has to be careful. Try reasoning with him again, Scott but don’t take any chances.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Scott promised, returning to the window that he had backed away from the second the old man had made his announcement. /p>
“It’s no good,” Scott told them ten minutes later. Jeff and Selene had been busily flicking between the information EOS had dug up and Scott's running commentary as he alternated between calling to the man inside and circling the building in the hopes of spotting some kind of entrance way that he had missed.
“He’s not even replying to me now. I don’t know what else to do, I don’t want to force my way, in his state of mind he could do something drastic in self defence or it could give him a bad shock. I don’t know what to do.”
“Want me to come back to help?” Virgil asked over the comms. “We’ve just dropped the last of our passengers off.”
“I don’t know what use you’ll be, Thunderbird Two, but sure.”
“Actually,” Selene spoke up. “We’ve got an idea.”
“You do?” Scott asked.
“Yes, don’t sound so shocked!” Selene grumbled. “Virg, how quickly can you get here and back?”
“Less than an hour.”
“Is the Major safe enough to wait that long?” Selene asked.
“The rising water has slowed but the rain is still coming down,” John answered. “Although he should be fine, he’s pretty high up and the water isn’t that close.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Virg, come home.”
***
“How did he do?” Selene asked Scott later that night after they had all showered, changed into dry clothes and been fed.
“He was amazing,” Scott admitted. “He did what we couldn’t, he got through to him.”
Selene handed him a cup of coffee. “Did the Major react as we predicted?”
Scott nodded, sipping his coffee. “The second he saw Dad in his uniform he stood to attention and opened the door for him. Dad went inside and spoke with him for a while, calming him down and then proceeded to give him his new orders, which was to accompany us to One.”
“Did he end up having a gun?”
“He did, but it was deactivated, it couldn’t have fired even if he had wanted it to. It was on his wall, along with a number of others, as a decoration according to the nurses.”
“Was he alright on the journey to the hospital?”
“Yeah, Dad spoke to him the entire time while Gordon examined him, checked his blood sugar and gave him some insulin. Dad listened to his war story, he was in Iraq as you know and when we asked him how long he’d been in the service he said only three years, so his dementia had regressed him to quite early in his career as you suspected. He saw Dad as a superior officer where he wouldn't have accepted it from me.” Scott sighed, looking quite disheartened.
“Babe, stop. You did your best, you did all you could, but you know as well as I do that you can’t do everything. You’ve told me enough times that you’ve all had to learn to adapt to different situations and sometimes take a more unorthodox approach. You made the right decision today.”
“You figured it out though, we didn’t.”
“You would have, you know you would, but this worked out better. Jeff got a chance to see that he can be useful, that he can help when needed and that you can all work together. He just needed to find his place again.”
“It was really nice, Sel, to be out there with him.”
“So he behaved, then?”
“He did, he didn’t try to take over once. Virgil dropped him off as close as possible and I met him in the garden, we went up together. He did everything right, we worked together. We were a team. He didn't give orders, he offered suggestions."
“As it should be,” she smiled, pulling him in for a hug. “Now let’s get these coffees to the others so we can finish debrief. I want to get to bed at some point tonight.”
Scott grabbed a couple of mugs and the coffee pot while she took the rest, letting her lead the way.
“At least we know that you can all work together when you need to,” she commented as they started up the stairs.
“You just don’t want us invading your apartment any more,” Scott laughed.
“Of course I don’t, you snore like a train.”
She almost dropped a cup when he aimed a kick at her backside.
“Cheeky!”
“You love me really,” she grinned, dodging out of the way as they entered the lounge.
“Children, please,” Jeff sighed wearily, but there was a hint of amusement in his words and a sparkle in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
Selene served up coffees and settled beside Gordon on the couch, listening with half an ear as everyone ran through the events of the day.
This was good, this was progress, she just hoped that it stayed that way.