The Hood has learnt that International Rescue are doing something at Lake Anasta in the Middle East, something he believes involves treasure. The Hood wants that treasure, and via the power he has, he contacts his half-brother Kyrano on Tracy Island. Kyrano was cooking, but drops to the floor suddenly. The Hood manages to get some information out of him about the International Rescue expedition, and that it starts tomorrow, where they are going to make a survey of a temple.
Elsewhere, Tin-Tin and Brains are actually the only International Rescue members going on the expedition, and Tin-Tin is asking Scott and John what kind of gems they would like. Jeff asks if they really think they will find stuff like that there, and Brains thinks they will. Jeff says that it will at least be a vacation for them, as they both could do with a break. A little later on, Virgil, Tin-Tin and Brains blast off in Thunderbird 2.
Jeff has watched the launch and tells Kyrano his daughter will be back in 10 days. Kyrano says he cannot help but have these fears, but Jeff tells him there is nothing to worry about. However, he doesn't know that the Hood is already on his way to the lake, and is not happy -he has seen nothing but sand for a while, and wonders how much further it will be until he gets to this lake.
He finally finds it and comes to a stop on a hill. Meanwhile, Virgil is nearly at the drop-off point, and reminds Tin-Tin and Brains not to let Professor Blakely know that they are with International Rescue. They'll need to drive out of the pod quickly once he drops it. They come up to the landing zone, and Virgil lands Thunderbird 2.
The pod door opens, and out rolls an all-terrain vehicle which tugs two caravans with it. Brains is in the drivers seat, and hopes that their secret landing went down secretly. With his job done, Virgil takes off and heads back to Tracy Island, Brains and Tin-Tin head towards the place they are meant to be meeting the Professor. Professor Blakely is also on the way, but he doesn't have his own ride, and has instead used a very good taxi firm to get there.
Brains and Tin-Tin arrive first and wait. Blakely soon arrives, and after some small talk he says that today is the day they find out if Brains' theories are correct. He suggests they go down to the lake now, but Brains convinces him to have a drink first. Blakely agrees, as it isn't like anyone is going to steal the potential treasure from under their noses.
What he doesn't know is that the Hood is already there, as he opens up his truck to reveal a small submarine. He has it launched into the lake, and then drives off to go and hide his truck. A little later on, Brains and crew see a pipeline, which means they must be close. They head over a hill and see the lake.
The Hood had already returned and gotten into his submarine, which is under the water. He sees the new arrivals park thanks to the sub's periscope and says they have arrived on time -dead on time. Brains and Tin-Tin have decided to enter the lake, as they know that there is an old temple in it that they want to check out. Blakely tells them to be careful as it might not be safe, but hopes they can bring him back something interesting.
The two enter the lake, and start swimming to the bottom. There they soon find the temple, although it has been heavily damaged and Brains says it does not look that stable, so they'd better be careful. They enter it and start to look around, as the treasure they've heard about was meant to have been hidden in one of the larger columns inside.
Tin-Tin points one of the columns out and the two swim to it. Brains thinks it could be the one, but decides to take a rock sample from it first. He collects one by chipping away at the column with a pickaxe, and then tells the Professor what they are bringing back. He tells them to come back up here so they can have a look at it before it goes dark.
The Hood watches Brains and Tin-Tin head back, and sees that Brains is carrying something. He believes that the two have found the treasure, but he doesn't know where they found it. So he decides to persuade them to tell him. Later on, Brains and Tin-Tin are back in the caravan, and have a look at the sample with the Professor. Brains picks something out and passes it to him, and he tells them that they've done it -they've found the treasure!
Day turns to night, and Brains is excited as he can't wait for tomorrow, as he can collect more samples. He then hears a knock at the door and goes to open it. As he does, he reveals another man just standing in the doorway.
Brains asks who he is, but he does not answer, and instead his eyes begin to glow. Brains ends up losing consciousness, whilst the man pulls off a mask and reveals that he is actually the Hood.
Meanwhile on Tracy Island, Scott tells everyone that Brains has found the lost treasure -he reported in via radio last night. Grandma Tracy just doesn't get why Tin-Tin would go after that treasure, she has enough jewelry already. Scott explains that they haven't gone there to rob the place -anything valuable they do find is going back with Professor Blakely to the International Museum of Archeology. Jeff says Brains should be reporting in again soon, so he'll go up to the lounge to wait for the transmission to come through.
Back at Lake Anasta, Brains wakes up and finds himself buried in the sand, a short distance away from their camp. He tries shouting out to the others, but they do not answer him, mainly because they can't -the Hood has used his hypnosis on Tin-Tin and has knocked out the Professor. The Hood then appears by Brains, and knows that he is with International Rescue. He wants some information from him -where is the treasure concealed in the underwater temple?
Brains wants water, but the Hood demands an answer. He knows Brains knows where the treasure is, as he saw him come out with some of the treasure earlier. At Tracy Island, Jeff is concerned, as Brains hasn't reported in, and he's never been late before. He tries to contact him again, but again gets no answer from anyone. Jeff tells Kyrano to go and get Scott, and when he arrives in the room, Jeff asks him if there was anything strange about the call Brains made last night. Scott says there wasn't, and he was in high spirits.
The two then hear an emergency signal come through one of the speakers, and Jeff says that settles it -something is wrong. He has Scott blast off in Thunderbird 1 immediately, whilst Virgil and Gordon take off in Thunderbird 2. Back at the lake, the Hood has just left Brains in the sand, who's condition gets worse and worse. The Hood has gotten back into his sub, as he intends to wait a little while and then go check on Brains again -he will surely want to talk to him by then, if he wants to live.
However that plan goes haywire when he sees that International Rescue have arrived. Scott circles the lake, but doesn't see any signs of a disaster. The caravans are down there, but he can't see any signs of life. Thunderbird 2 is about 2 and a half minutes away, when Scott says he can see Brains -he has been buried in the sand! He tells his father he's going down to land. The Hood sees Thunderbird 1 touching down, but he still believes he can get that treasure -and he will also destroy International Rescue whilst he is at it.
Scott gets to Brains and tells him to gold on whilst he gets him out of there. As he does this, he is unaware that Thunderbird 1's automatic camera detector alarm has gone off -the Hood has started taking pictures via his sub's periscope. Thunderbird 2 arrives, and as Gordon helps Scott, Virgil goes to check on the caravans.
He finds Tin-Tin and after waking her up, he asks her about what happened. She says that some stranger came here, and he had terrible eyes that she couldn't look away from. She says she had never seen him before, but somehow felt that she knew him. Virgil tells her to take it easy whilst Scott contacts base. Scott tells Jeff what has happened, and that everyone is safe. Jeff says he wants all International Rescue members to return to base in the morning, as soon as the helijet has collected the Professor to take him to hospital. Scott asks about the expedition, but Jeff tells him to forget about it, they aren't around to go and look for treasure.
Scott tells the others of what Jeff wants them to do, although he also tells them that he has found out that someone has been taking pictures of Thunderbird 1. Brains says he gets it now -one of their enemies has set a trap, and has lured out International Rescue. Later that night, Brains wakes Tin-Tin to tell her that he couldn't sleep with worry, as he feels guilty over the amount of trouble this has caused International Rescue. He wants to try and make amends, and he intends to go down into the lake now, as he believes that is where that stranger must be hiding. He asks Tin-Tin to keep in contact with him, and he is soon in the waters alone.
Tin-Tin has her communicator on as Brains goes back into the temple. He goes to the column they were at earlier and breaks off another part of it, revealing more jewels, proving that it definitely was the correct column. However, Brains then uncovers some kind of wire, which leads away from the column. He tells Tin-Tin of this and then starts to follow the wire. Tin-Tin is going to go and wake Scott and the others, but Brains tells her not to bother as there is nobody else around here.
What Brains isn't aware of is that the wire is actually part of an alarm system the Hood has set up, and when he touched one of the wires, it alerted the Hood. He leaves his sub as Brains continues to follow the wire. Brains comes to a stop when he sees another man -that stranger from earlier! The Hood starts using his powers again, and Brains loses consciousness.
As the sun rises, Tin-Tin tells the others, and that she told Brains not to go, but he still did. The Hood decides to get the treasure, but also decides to make things more difficult for International Rescue, and detonates some explosives he planted which destroy the temple. Back above the waters, Gordon gets in Thunderbird 4 and launches his craft.
Gordon reaches the temple, but reports to Scott that it has been destroyed and it is unlikely that Brains would have survived if he was in it. He can't seem to see him anywhere, but Scott tells him to keep looking as Brains will still have around 5 minutes of oxygen left. As Gordon makes another pass, the Hood moves in.
Gordon sees some air bubbles coming out of some debris, and believes that if Brains is anywhere, he'll be there. He tells Scott to get down here with the hydrostatic hoist, just as the Hood arrives. The Hood says he'll destroy International Rescue and then get the treasure, and starts firing torpedoes at Thunderbird 4.
Gordon tells Virgil he's under attack and he needs to tell Scott to not come down here yet. Thunderbird 4 then takes a hit, but the craft does not receive much damage and Gordon turns it around to go after his attacker. He chases after the Hood's smaller sub and fires on it.
The torpedo hits, and the Hood finds out that the motors are damaged and there is also a leak. He loses control and his sub ends up crashing, but he gets out of it before it explodes. Gordon can't follow up on it though as time is running out, and he heads back to the temple to try and find Brains. He tells Virgil to send Scott down.
Scott arrives at where Gordon is, and they set up the hoist. Is inflates like a balloon and picks up a pillar it has been tied to, and drags it upwards. This gives Gordon the chance to get to Brains and move him out.
Later on, the helijet takes the Professor to the nearest hospital. Tin-Tin and Brains go to visit him, and he seems OK. Now that the world knows about their discoveries at the lake, Tin-Tin asks him how he feels about being a celebrity. He seems to take it in his stride, but then asks how the two of them are fixed up over the next few months, as he has a new expedition planned already -some treasure lost in a sunken ship off the Caribbean 400 years a go.
Tin-Tin and Brains get up and leave, saying that visiting hours are over. The Professor thinks the two are odd to leave in such a hurry, but he guesses the excitement got too much for them. Outside, Tin-Tin tells Brains they should return to base -after all they've been through, a nice, relaxing rescue mission would be suited better for them! As they leave, the Professor goes back to his book -Treasure: The Easy Way.
NOTES