Tom Prescott is driving home from work when he sees some guy at the edge of the road waving. He stops and the guy asks if he is going anywhere near Prinston Avenue. Tom says he is, and tells the guy to get in as he'll give him a ride down there. As they drive, the guy says that he is going to see his wife at a doctors, as she is sick. His car battery has gone flat so he's been forced to hitchhike. Tom asks why he didn't try phoning, but then the guy says he can be dropped off here as the doctors is not far away.



As the car stops, the guy suddenly puts a bracelet on Tom's wrist and pulls out a gun! He knows Tom's surname and tells him to listen carefully. He knows he works at the Hudson building, room 19-72. He tells Tom to go into that building and go into the top drawer of the cabinet in that room, where he will find a key that he can use to get the bracelet off. After he does that, he must leave the bracelet in the cabinet, as it will explode and destroy the entire building. He will just about be able to make it if he goes now -as the bracelet is set to explode in 21 minutes. He gets out of the car and Tom speeds off.



Tom goes at high speeds, which soon attract the attention of the police. They set up a road block in a street, but Tom manages to ram through it and keep going. He arrives at the Hudson building and goes inside, as a police car arrives outside. Tom calls an elevator and heads up several floors, with only 5 minutes left.



He gets to the floor he needs to be on and goes into the room with the filing cabinet. After some frantic searching he finds the key, and uses it to get the bracelet off. He puts the bracelet into the cabinet as he was told to do, and then heads back down in the elevator. However as he does this, the bracelet detonates, causing a massive explosion.



The elevator cables snap, sending the elevator plummeting to the basement level at the bottom of the building, with Tom still in it. Meanwhile the police have seen everything, and a large fire has started. Office Flanagan reports to his superior, who tells him to try and keep the building secure as it is owned by the Government and has all kinds of sensitive information inside it. He says he will, but the fire is getting worse. Out in space, their conversation has been picked up by Thunderbird 5, and John calls Tracy Island.



John says what has gone on at the Hudson building, and that the fire department is not having much success putting out the blaze. Another news report is then broadcast, stating that the janitor of the building saw Tom Prescott, an employee, walk into the building before the explosion happened. A police commissioner has said he intends to make several charges against Prescott, but only if they ever get him out of the building, and rescue attempts have so far failed. Jeff says this is a rescue call for them, and says they can test out the new fire fighting equipment they have. He has Thunderbirds 1 and 2 launched, whilst telling Tin-Tin to monitor any more news updates so she can keep Scott and Virgil informed over what is going on. Meanwhile, the fire department continues to try and put the fire out.



Officer Flanagan reports to Commissioner Garfield, and says that the safety doors automatically shut when the fire started, but they have jammed and the rescue crews cannot get them open. It is unlikely they can get to the man in the elevator. Meanwhile Tin-Tin reports to Scott that the fire crews are managing to control the fire somewhat, but have found out that the automatic sprinklers inside the building did not go off -because the water supply to them had been cut off. Scott thinks there is more to this than meets the eye.



Back at the Hudson building, Commissioner Garfield arrives at the scene and is told by Flanagan that they have managed to establish contact with Tom Prescott via the elevator's radio, but he seems to be in a bad way. He also says that International Rescue have just contacted them to say that they are on their way. Garfield talks to Scott, and says that their are 10 basement levels, and the safety doors have jammed, although some of his guys are trying to cut through them. Scott tells him to withdraw his men and have a place cleared for him to land. Scott lands around the back of the Hudson building, and Virgil arrives not long after.



30 minutes later, International Rescue have set up their dicetylene cage. As Scott waits on the ground floor, Virgil and Alan move down in the cage, which sprays dicetylene everywhere. Alan is pleased to see that dicetylene is putting out the flames, but Virgil worries they don't have a big enough tank of the stuff. They reach the bottom and get into contact with Tom, who says he is OK, although the elevator he is in has flooded.



Using a clamp from their cage, Virgil and Alan hoist the elevator upwards. But as they move up, they run out of dicetylene and the flames still around may cause a problem. The two elevators continue to move up, and go through a particularly fiery area, but make it through OK. Tom's elevator makes it to where Scott is.



The next morning, Flanagan reports to Garfield, and says that Prescott is still sticking to his story about the explosive bracelet. Garfield says that he believes Prescott, as the guy has a spotless record and has never been in trouble before. The Hudson building had all kinds of files on some of the most vicious gangs around, and clearly someone else was involved, what with the sprinklers being sabotaged. Just then Officer Jones walks in with some evidence -some fragments of the bracelet. Garfield tells them that they will get to the bottom of this, even if it means employing a little deception. The headlines in the papers read that Prescott has died.



Of course, International Rescue know the truth, and Alan wants to know why this story was made up. Jeff says someone must be scheming up something, but they shouldn't get involved. The FBI may be trying to make it look like it is safe for whoever was responsible for the explosion to try the same thing again. Meanwhile, in London, the British Security Service have gotten involved with the whole thing, and agent Southern is sent out to a castle Glen Carrick in Scotland. He is given a special pen to use on his mission.



A few days later, Southern is in the castle, posing as a gang member. He is with two other gang members, Dempsey and Kenyon, and all three of them have bracelets on their wrists. They have been waiting for over a day for instructions, when a voice suddenly tells them what they must do. Referring to himself only as "The Leader", the voice says they must leave the castle and break into the plutonium storage facility nearby. The facility is guarded only by robots, but they have been given a special ray gun which can disable them.



They are to move deeper into the facility, through 3 sealed doors which are guarded by 3 robots. The alarms have already been sabotaged, so the only troubles they should have are with the robots. Once they are clear, they must set the explosives at the main storeroom and then retreat, heading back to where a helijet will be waiting to pick them up. The helijet will then leave the country, and only then will they be paid. They will also have the honor of meeting him. Timing is crucial, as they will need to be long gone before the explosives detonate -they are set to go off at 12:30, and the amount of damage the blast will do shall be catastrophic.



Southern then asks where the explosives are. The Leader says they already have them -they are the bracelets they have on their wrists. As a precautionary measure to make sure they carry out this mission successfully, he has chosen to do it this way. The key to unlock them is the same key that unlocks the plutonium store, and it is inside the facility itself. They will need to find it to get the bracelets off and plant them, if they don't, they will all be blown to kingdom come. The three men quickly move out and arrive at the facility.



They see the first robot and Southern takes it out. After destroying the locks on the front gate, the three men move inside and come across the first door. Kenyon gets it open and Southern takes down the robot waiting behind it. They go through the next door without a problem and then come to the last one, with everything going to plan.



However, when they open the last door, there is no robot. Kenyon doesn't care, as he just wants to find this key and get these bracelets off. Southern finds it, but he also pulls out a gun and tells Kenyon and Dempsey that there has been a change of plan. They are going to go and meet The Leader, but they are to capture him and bring him here. Only then will they get the bracelets off. Dempsey says he never liked Southern and that he should have done a background check on him...



...but his talk is just to distract Southern whilst the missing robot appears and grabs him. He drops his gun and the key, which Dempsey takes and gets his and Kenyon's bracelets off. He also takes Southern's bracelet off, but only to set it up with the others -in 3 hours time this place will explode, taking Southern with it. They find no radio on Southern, but believe he may be working with someone, who may try and come and rescue him. Kenyon says they will shut and jam all three of the doors they came through, so nobody can get through to him in time.



He and Dempsey then leave, unaware that Southern has got a way of communicating -his pen. He gets in contact with William Frazer, one of his allies who is codenamed Two-One, and tells them to evacuate the area, as in 3 hours this place will be destroyed in the largest explosion the world has ever seen. However, he is told that they might be able to save him -they will contact International Rescue. John soon finds out about what has happened and lets his Dad know. Jeff sends Scott and Virgil out immediately, as they are really going to be tight on time for this one. Brains asks if they will do anything about the crooks, as they have been told about where they are going, but Jeff says it isn't for them to deal with -but it is the kind of thing their London agent will do.



Jeff contacts Penelope and tells her to intercept the crooks, and tells her where they will be. She and Parker head out in the Rolls-Royce, whilst Scott arrives in Thunderbird 1. He finds out by the time Virgil gets here, they will have only 20 minutes to carry out the rescue. He contacts Southern on his frequency, and whilst he tells them to get clear from here, Scott tells him they came here to rescue him, and that is what they are going to do.



Thunderbird 2 lands and pod 5 is revealed. Virgil has the pod doors opened and he rolls out in a vehicle with a laser cutter on it. He asks Scott if they should try blasting their way in instead, but Scott says no. Explosions could set the bracelets off, not to mention the plutonium. They get to the first door and Virgil starts to use the laser to cut through it.



He cuts through the first door in 5 minutes, and with 2 doors left, they will be cutting it really close to get to Southern. They cut through the last door and use a concentrated blast of air to knock it down. With just 5 minutes to go, Scott grabs the bracelets, which are starting to smoke, and tells Virgil to deal with the robot.



Scott quickly gets back to Thunderbird 1 and takes off. Flying over the ocean, he dumps the bracelets into the sea and they explode under the water.



Meanwhile, Kenyon and Dempsey have reached the helijet, and are already inside it with The Leader. They are pleased how things have turned out, as without Southern, they will each receive more money. The Leader says all they have to do now is escape, and they take off. However, Parker and Penelope arrive in FAB 1 and start shooting.



The helijet takes several hits and crashes. Back at the facility, Virgil has defeated the robot, but Southern is unconscious from it holding him so tight. Penelope arrives and says she has completed her mission, and will taken Southern to the nearest hospital.



Later on Southern recovers, and Penelope has him over at her manor for tea. He says his career as a secret agent is over, as his cover is blown and secret agent guys are only able to operate if they remain strictly incognito. Not that she'd understand that. Penelope says she wouldn't, as she doesn't give anything away to him that she herself is a secret agent. As she asks for him to tell her more stories about his career, he says it is a dangerous game, and that someone like her just wouldn't be cut out for it -she should just stay being what she is, a very beautiful lady.


NOTES

The security robots seen in this episode are actually modified versions of the Braman puppet, which appeared in "Sun Probe".

Speaking of the security robots, they appear to be incredibly stupid. The one that grabs Southern makes no attempt to attack Dempsey or Kenyon, and doesn't even move when Virgil opens a panel on it's back to shut him down!

Some music first used in Stingray, the series Gerry Anderson created before Thunderbirds, can be briefly heard a couple of times in this episode.

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