The office was quiet, the bright greys and whites of the images on the security monitors flicking around the room and rolling eerily over John's pale face. Kayo swung a chair over beside him and sat down, for the first time in a long time unsure what to say. Gone was the fiery bravado and her angry determination had left her. Suddenly she was frightened and she needed him not to ask the questions she knew he must be thinking.

"What is it that you're not telling me?" John muttered under his breath.

Kayo closed her eyes, sighing out the breath she had been holding.

"What have you found out, Kayo?" John continued quietly, "Who is this guy?"

The opportunity to lie now presented itself and Kayo had already thought of a few elaborate tales, ready for an occasion such as this. But knowing that one lie would only lead to a hundred more, and a hundred more after that, she found herself starting to consider offering him the truth.

It was inevitable that her secret would have to see the light of day at some point but she had always pictured being in control of the situation, sitting them all down and unburdening herself. There would be anger, no doubt some shouting, perhaps a few tears and she had been gradually preparing herself for all of it. But not like this. Not here among strangers, in the midst of a security nightmare, with a reporter sitting not ten feet away.

"I know you've been following leads. What do you know?"

Kayo looked back up at John and could see concern, not betrayal, beneath his gentle frown. And hope began to stir somewhere within her. Hope that he had not in fact seen the family resemblance that she herself could not avoid seeing. She glanced at the grainy image of The Hood and took a deep breath. "Some other time." She answered at last, nodding towards the reporter and glad for the excuse he presented.

Apparently content with this, if only for now, John leaned back from her and his frown lifted a little.

"We need to get ahead of this." Kayo offered, sitting up straight and easing out the tension in her shoulders before then peering up at the monitors above them. "We need to know if he really has hacked the feed." She then noticed the computer set back in the centre of the desk and turned back to John. "Can you securely access Five from here?"

"Yup."

Kayo moved aside to allow John to slide his chair in front of the terminal. He placed his hand on her arm as he passed her and gently squeezed. It was all the reassurance she needed and she felt the knot of a lump in her throat as she nodded a reply.

Getting to her feet, Kayo opened the office door and asked the two MPs to come back inside. They did so in a hurry, evidently glad to see that the reporter was unharmed.

"What?" Kayo smiled, "Did you think I brought him up here to beat him up, or something?"

Martinez shrugged, "We didn't know what your plan was, boss."

"We just didn't figure being accessories." Jameson offered lightly.

Kayo gave a small laugh and moved back to stand beside John as the door was closed and the two MPs watched her expectantly. She pointed to the monitors and frowned. "We need to know whether there's been a hack into the camera feed."

"Copy that." Jameson nodded, "I'll go take a look at the hardware and see if any devices have been clipped in."

Martinez watched his colleague head to the bank of servers behind the wall of monitors and then turned back to Kayo. "It's a closed system but an external hack is technically possible. If they get round the firewall."

"On it." John announced, apparently very pleased to be doing something proactive. "And we'll need to trace Ned's cellphone when the call comes in. I've already cloned it."

"Yeah?" Martinez raised his eyebrows in interest. "Using our system?"

"No." John replied. "Mine."

Aware of Martinez watching the pair of them in intrigue, Kayo gave John's shoulder a nudge with her hip and saw his quick nod of confirmation; he was being cautious. The IR logo had only flashed momentarily on the computer screen as John accessed their systems, his hands moving rapidly over the touch screen mounted in the top of the desk. Once connected with Five, he had immediately camouflaged the interface and now gave Kayo a discreet thumbs up.

Realising she had been completely remiss with her introductions, Kayo quickly explained to Martinez just who her red-headed companion was and watched him smile in delight. The two men shook hands briefly, John eager to turn his full attention back to his task.

"Which Thunderbird?" Martinez enthused quietly behind John's back.

Kayo turned her attention on Ned and saw him quickly raise his hands in submission. His family were relying on her, getting an exclusive story was apparently way down on his list of priorities. She smiled and spun back to Martinez. "Five. Satellite communications." Kayo caught the smile on John's face, highlighted by the light from the screen before him. "Which means he's in control of the whole operation. Y'know, basically the boss."

John grinned in delight, "Oh god, don't let Thunderbird One ever hear you say that!" He then leaned back a little from the screen, quirking an eyebrow in surprise. "Hmm. That was easy."

Kayo saw the camera footage that appeared on the computer screen and smiled in amusement as she glanced up at the identical images on the monitors above them. "You just hacked the GDF. Again."

"It's becoming something of a weekly occurrence." John sniggered, glancing at Martinez and shrugging an apology.

"Your secret's safe with me." Martinez smiled, taking a seat beside John.

"The feed is being accessed by another party." John confirmed, "But the location is well hidden."

"For now." Kayo offered.

John grinned up at her, clearly in his element, his previous misgivings forgotten for now. "Yeah … give us a minute."

By 'us' he of course meant EOS. Kayo could not get her head around the idea of the presence of the AI on the station and the potential threat it still presented. But she and Scott had lost the argument and the AI remained, apparently safely contained within Five's systems. Kayo found talking to the childlike voice a very creepy experience but right now the mindbogglingly super 'super-computer' (who hated being called that) was analysing all the data John was sending and Kayo was very grateful for it's help.

"We've recently been working on a new software recognition programme to isolate and disable short-wave transmitters." John murmured, intense in his concentration.

Kayo leaned in close to him. "A signal jammer?"

"Yes, but not as clumsy. More specific."

"Is that possible?" Kayo urged, very aware that he was suggesting the potential ability to disable The Hood's remote device, preventing him from disguising himself or controlling his equipment. It was exciting, to say the least.

"It is if I can isolate his frequency, link with some of his hardware." He paused and gave a visible shudder. "So I'm kind of hoping he is nearby. Which is unsettling."

Kayo patted John's shoulder and watched as a 3D floor plan of the hospital appeared on the screen and started to fill with various flashing and static icons.

"Right … there are 4,974 life signs registering in and around the building."

"Yeah?" Martinez enthused, shuffling his chair closer to them. He peered at the screen and raised his eyebrows in intrigue.

"Okay …" John entered another instruction and the icons changed. "There are thousands of individual data signals. If we discount the wireless connections from the telemetry monitors and medical devices …" He continued under his breath, entering more commands, "Pings from staff pagers, cellphone networks, various internet connections … that leaves … 68 short wave radio signals."

Kayo watched Martinez nodding in interest. "41 active military personnel." He offered, tapping the handheld radio clipped to his uniform shirt and pre-empting John's query as he told him the bandwidth they used. "Still the most reliable system after all this time."

John nodded in agreement, "27 radio signals." He recalculated quietly, "And 18 of those are police or EMS."

"Nine unknowns." Kayo confirmed, tapping her wrist comm. "Send the information across to me." She stepped away from John and headed for the door.

"Wait!"

Kayo turned and watched Martinez getting to his feet.

"I'll come with you."

About to offer a protest somewhere along the lines of her not needing any back-up, Kayo then saw the look on John's face and she nodded slowly. "Thanks."

Jameson then reappeared and shook his head firmly. "There's nothing out of place among the servers. If someone's accessing the feed, it's definitely from outside."

"Or inside." Kayo offered, her heart racing at the notion that The Hood could very well be in the building.

"Do you have a plan?" John asked quietly.

"Stay out of camera range." Kayo replied, nodding towards the wall of monitors. "You two need to watch Ned. And keep a close eye on the 'museum' and the ICU."

"Will do." John acknowledged. "I'll patch you in if Ned receives a call."

"FAB." Kayo agreed, aware of Martinez grinning at the code. She turned and opened the office door but spun back before she stepped into the corridor. "Tell the others to be cautious. But maybe don't tell Scott exactly what we're up to just yet."

"Right." John quirked an eyebrow. "Cos he's just gonna love this."

Kayo nodded and left, Martinez close at her side. The two of them then made their way around the wards and various departments of the large building to confirm the signals that John had isolated. Five of them turned out to be actual old-fashioned radios that some older patients were listening to, two of them were remote controlled cars being played with on the small children's ward and one was a handheld radio being used by a visitor in the car park. The remaining signal was as yet unknown and had been broadcasting in the lobby but was now silent.

The two of them hurried back down to the front entrance and sat together on the narrow plastic chairs just inside the entrance to the west corridor. Short of doing a stop and search on everyone in the vicinity, all they could do was wait for the signal to reappear and for John to isolate who or what it was associated with. Aware of every person that moved past them or walked through the lobby, her senses on high alert, Kayo also listened to Martinez chatting idly to her. The young officer was probably just a year or two older than her and was easy to talk to, which was a good thing because for ten minutes that was all the two of them did.

"Is The Hood really as bad as they say he is?"

"Yep." Kayo turned to nod in reply and then smiled up at him. "All the worst Bond villains rolled into one. But no cat."

Martinez laughed. "D'you know, the security release we received a few months back did sound just like the plot of a bad movie."

"Except Bond isn't bad."

"I think you'll find it is."

"It's classic!" Kayo defended. "It's engrained in our culture."

"So are selfies." Martinez dead-panned, enjoying her frustration.

Kayo slapped the back of her hand against his arm and smiled as he winced. This was the sort of back and forth that she enjoyed with her brothers. Or rather had done before they had become so busy and so serious. Even Alan and Gordon had calmed down of late. It was probably a side effect of having a megalomaniac in the wings and of being so damned tired. This added tension was also why she argued with Scott so much and she hated that she could not confide in him as she once had.

"Maybe we should go for a drink." Martinez offered with a shrug, "You know, once all this is over."

Kayo smiled, "I'd like that."

"Great! There's this awesome place in Waikiki that has great views and some of the best cocktails."

Kayo listened to him enthuse about his favourite bar and laughed as he remarked that Jameson would be unbearable to live with if they didn't let him tag along. She liked Martinez; physically he was a lot like Scott but he had dark brown eyes like Virgil and Gordon's energy and enthusiasm. It amused her that her only frame of reference when it came to men was her five adopted brothers and Grandma had often remarked that Kayo ought to spend some time away from the Tracy brood. A military police officer wasn't a huge leap away from that but it was a start.

Martinez's banter was then interrupted by the sudden chirping of her comm and they both looked down at the unknown origin of the call that was displayed, the cloned cellphone signal linked with her comm. Kayo held her breath as she opened the link and heard Ned answer the phone.

"Hello, Tanusha. I know you're listening."

Kayo could not stop the shudder that went through her. This was the voice of her early memories with her family. The voice that had once soothed her after the death of her mother. The voice of her former confidante, her sensei.

She took a steadying breath and lifted her comm closer to her mouth. "Where is Ned's family?" She asked carefully, quietly. "They'd better not be harmed."

"They are quite well, Tanusha. And will remain so as long as my demands are met."

Balling her free hand into a tight fist, Kayo tried to stay calm and to reflect as much in her voice but her contempt for him was something she was not in a hurry to hide. "What do you want?"

"I need you to tell the world the truth, Tanusha. The insidious, almighty GDF are not the saviours everyone thinks they are."

"And you are?"

"No. Nor have I ever claimed to be. Don't be so narrow minded. I am simply a businessman, Tanusha. And right now, having Jeff Tracy's death hanging over me is bad for business."

Kayo paused, her mouth dry. "It never bothered you before. Why now?"

"I have my reasons."

"So tell the reporter your story." Kayo sighed in frustration, "Let the world read it in the morning paper. Why involve us?" She closed her eyes as the gentle laugh that used to be a fond memory now sent a shiver down her spine.

"Oh, Tanusha. Surely it's obvious. You have all the Tracy's in one, rather exposed location. How could I resist …?"

"Resist what?" Kayo husked, grateful for Martinez's gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Proving a point. International Rescue think they can hide behind their allies in the GDF, hide behind their anonymity and their security. I am going to bring down the GDF, expose your family and take away everything they hold dear."

"Why?"

Another laugh, this one the kind that entered her nightmares.

"Because I'm the bad guy."

The call ended abruptly and Kayo could not help the small groan that left her throat. She quickly opened a new channel and heard John reply. "Tell me you traced him."

"Sorry. No."

"Shit!" Leaping to her feet and dragging her hands back through her hair, Kayo could feel tears forming and she palmed her eyes angrily. Aware of Martinez standing and moving close to her, she let her hands fall down to rest on her hips and sighed loudly.

"Kayo?"

The comm line was still open and Kayo looked down at the device. "John."

"The signal." John urged, "It's transmitting again."

Kayo gasped, spinning towards the lobby, her heart thudding loud in her ears as she scanned the small crowd in the lobby. "Where?"

"South-east corner, by the window."

Instantly hurrying out into the lobby, Martinez close behind her, Kayo entered the throng of people and ignored their confused protests as she pushed past them and jogged towards the window. The seating area in the corner of the atrium was empty and Kayo skidded to a halt. "There's no one here, John!" She shouted in frustration.

"Wait." Martinez slipped past her and crouched down. He peered under the row of chairs beside the window and suddenly froze.

Kayo stepped closer to him, gasping as he quickly stood back up. Martinez shook his head at her in a stern warning before instantly addressing everyone in the lobby and ordering an immediate evacuation of the area. She could hardly breathe as she sank to one knee and looked under the chairs for herself.

The oblong device was familiar; black corrugated edges and ominous blinking red lights. She had seen the same design on the sabotaged Fireflash and Estrella Grand Hotel. Praying that it was some kind of comm array of The Hood's own making, perhaps even the means he had accessed the security footage, she leaned in closer. Kayo activated the holographic imager on her wrist comm and aimed the camera at at the device. "John?"

"Scanning." John confirmed.

On both previous occasions when she had discovered a device such as this, she had simply unplugged it and it was tempting to take that chance now. But it would only take a moment for John and EOS to use the spectrometry software to detect any explosive materials and Kayo waited, her heart racing.

"Kayo, get back!"

Martinez was back at her side and had grabbed her by the shoulders to pull her away from the device. "We need to get out of here."

Kayo stood back up and moved away from the device's location, aware of Martinez calling for reinforcements on his radio. She heard something about the bomb squad being mobilised and Kayo smiled, knowing John and his supercomputer friend were already on the case.

"No explosives detected, Kayo."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kayo paused at the edge of the lobby. "Any idea what it is?"

"Hang on, we're gonna try something."

There was no sound or further warning, just an odd buzzing sensation coming from the comm device at her wrist and the sharp pop of the device bursting. The frightened shrieks of the staff and visitors fleeing from the lobby was then followed by the smell of burning. Kayo saw smoke and the first small flames that rose from under the seats by the window and shrugged free of Martinez to grab a fire extinguisher. Wanting to preserve the device for further study as much as preventing the fire spreading, she blasted the area with CO2.

It was only a second later that the fire alarm burst into shrieking life around them and Martinez then grabbed her arm. Not taking no for an answer this time, he glared a caution at her before pulling her from the lobby and she let him lead her out into the light drizzle and warm air of the growing storm.

Moving off to the edge of the small crowd that had gathered away from the lobby in the loading bay, she looked down at her wrist comm and saw the channel was still open. "John, what did you just do?"

"Feedback loop. Should have fried the thing."

"It certainly looked like it did." Kayo smiled but her relief was short lived. "We need to know who put that thing there."

"We're already reviewing the footage."

"Best start from the moment you first called Tripler."

"I know." A pause and John sighed. "And you'd better go find Scott."

"Ugh, great." Kayo groaned. She closed the comm link and turned to find Martinez on the other side of the parking bay, liaising with his newly arrived colleagues. Looking back at the front entrance and it's lack of security, she decided to take a chance and hurried back inside.

The lobby was empty now, the squeal of the fire alarm echoing around the front entrance. Kayo's ears were throbbing as she ran over to the large window at the front of the atrium and dropped to her knees. The small black box was still smoking and she reached out a tentative hand to see if it was hot. There was a small cable leading between the device and an electrical outlet and she held her breath as she unplugged it and then pulled it from the wall. Some of the surrounding charred plaster came with it and Kayo sat back on her heels as she stared at the device in her hands.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Kayo gasped and quickly got to her feet, turning towards the voice. She sighed in relief as she saw Martinez hurrying towards her. Crossing the lobby to meet him, she hugged the device to her chest and leaned close to him to speak over the noise of the alarm. "My people need to look at this."

"But the bomb squad - "

"It was an electrical fire." Kayo countered quickly, managing a small smile. "Please."

Martinez studied her face for a moment and then slowly nodded. She knew he had already figured out that her role within International Rescue extended a little further than 'security' but had not as yet asked her to clarify. Her heart was racing as she watched him consider his options and then suddenly he nodded.

"Go."

"Thank you."

Kayo broke into a run across the lobby, into the east corridor and inside the stairwell. She took the steps two at a time and was out of breath as she emerged back out onto the third floor. Steadying her breathing as she walked quickly along to Dr Fletcher's office, she opened the door and almost fell over Alan and Gordon's outstretched legs as she hurried inside. Stepping over them and nodding a curt greeting to Scott as he stood up from the chair behind the desk, she planted the device on the desktop between them and wiped her face with her hand.

"Kayo?" Scott frowned, stepping back away from the ominous looking black box.

"Guys." Kayo sighed loudly, glancing at Alan and Gordon as they got to their feet. "We have a very serious problem."

"It was him!" Alan gasped.

Kayo nodded, her ears still ringing from the fire alarm and her heart thumping against her chest.

Gordon stepped closer to her and frowned down at the device. "He was here?"

"I don't know." Kayo husked, her mouth dry. "John's going back over the security feed but - " She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "Guys, you need to get out of here."

"I think you're right."

Kayo spun back to look at Scott and could not help the smile of relief that pulled at her mouth. On her way to the office she had run through all his possible reactions and the inevitable argument that would follow but had not considered that he would simply agree.

The worry, and perhaps fear, that lined Scott's face did not change but he gave her a small nod. "We need to go."

"But, Virgil - " Gordon began.

"Is too sick to move." Scott countered firmly. "We'll come back for him as soon as he's stable."

"And I'll keep Grandma safe." Kayo confirmed. She watched the frightened glances Alan was giving Gordon and she reached out to place a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Alan. You just need to get back to the island. You'll be safe there."

Gordon gave a short laugh and shook his head. "It's the getting there that's the scary part."

"Yeah." Alan groaned, "Back through the hive of reporters at the airport."

Kayo smiled, "I think my new friends can help us with that."

"Oh really?" Alan grinned, instantly intrigued and glad for the distraction. "Do tell."

"Later." Kayo chuckled, helping them gather together the rucksacks and bags of various dirty and broken uniforms. She grabbed the device from the desk and tucked it inside one of the rucksacks.

"You sure that thing's not going to go off?" Scott asked warily.

Kayo nodded, "John scanned it for any explosives before he fried it." She patted the edge of the box that was sticking out of the top of the rucksack. "It's dead. But I'm hoping Brains can still get something from it."

"Where is John?" Scott asked, stepping into line as the four of them headed out into the corridor.

"In the security office. I still need his help."

"Understood."

"I'll arrange for transport to meet you at the rear entrance." Kayo instructed hurriedly, guiding them away from the elevators and towards the fire escape. "And please remember to do a security sweep of the Condor before you take her to the island."

"I will." Scott paused inside the entrance to the stairwell and took the rucksack from her. "You be careful."

"FAB." Kayo nodded firmly. "Go."

Tbc …