Somewhere in Monte Carlo, a Captain is in his boat doing some paperwork when suddenly someone comes in and shoots him!



The someone is a diver, who searches through the room and finds a small tube with some papers in it -which is what he wanted. He dives back into the water and sets a bomb up to the side of the boat before swimming away. Moments later, the bomb explodes and destroys the ship.



Nearby, another boat was on the way, but the two people inside it see the explosion. One of the men, Bondson, says he needs those papers and wants to find out if Captain Blacker is still alive. He gets his colleague, Tidman, to move the ship closer before he puts on his own diving suit and goes down to inspect the wreckage. He finds Blacker's body, but he also finds out that Blacker did not die in the explosion -after moving a file cabinet off him, he sees several gunshot wounds. He then finds the tube which should have the papers in it -but it is empty. That explosion was no accident.



On Tracy Island, Brains is testing out a remote control submarine in the pool, but then Alan accidentally ruins things by jumping in for a swim. This ends the test as Brains was using some kind of sonic beam to control the sub, and Alan jumping in badly disrupts the waters.



John then contacts Tracy Island, and Jeff answers. He has had an unusual call from a guy called Bondson, who works for the British Secret Service. Jeff is wary as the BSS have their own way of doing things, but Bondson told John that the entire world could be destroyed if they don't help. Jeff says they will send one of their agents to contact him. Some time later, a Fireflash plane is on the way to Monte Carlo, with Penelope on it.



Parker has gone out in their yacht, and meets Penelope at the airport. As they drive back to the docks, Penelope contacts Bondson, using the sound only option. She says she is an International Rescue agent, and he needs to go to a forest at midnight tonight. He wants more info as he hasn't got enough from her to go off, but she tells him that they can just forget the whole thing if he wants. Bondson decides to go with her instructions.



Later on that night, Bondson goes to the meeting location, and is taken by surprise by Penelope. She makes him face forward so he can't see her face and tells him to explain anything. Bondson says that a fellow agent, Blacker, got some plans for a nuclear device. These plans could cause doom for the entire world if they fell into the wrong hands, which is what has happened. Blacker was murdered and the plans he had were taken. He has contacted International Rescue because he knows they have the most advanced equipment in the world, and are his only hope. Penelope says she will contact him and then leaves.



The next morning Penelope and Parker are on their yacht. Penelope tells Parker to go into town and letter the newspaper offices know that fashion model Gale Williams, has arrived on her yacht. She is going to expose the murders who destroyed Blacker's boat. Parker asks who Gale is, and Penelope says she is going to be Gale. Later on, Carl, one of the men responsible for Blacker's death, reads a paper and learns of Gale Williams.



Carl moves his small boat out to another smaller dock not far away, and then enters the waters. At the bottom of the sea there is a small red submarine, which he gets into. He meets up with two of the other men responsible for blowing up Blacker's boat, and shows them the newspaper story. Ritter, one of the men, says it doesn't matter, as this Gale Williams is just a fashion model. Carl says there is more to it than that as the report states what kind of gun was used and how many times Blacker was shot. He decided they must take care of her, and to do that, she is going to die.



Later on that night, Penelope tells Parker she is expecting a visitor, and he can have the evening off. Parker feels that is unwise now that story has gone out, but Penelope insists. As he leaves, Penelope contacts Jeff via her compact communicator and lets him know to what is going on, and she will call him later. He tells her to take care.



Parker decides to go into Monte Carlo and wants to visit a casino. As he moves off, a few minutes later, Carl brings a boat up and boards Penelope's.



He enters Penelope's room, and tells her she is coming with him. Penelope starts pretending to be fashion model Gale Williams and says she'll come when she's ready. Carl proves he is serious by shooting her mirror, and he tells her to get on his boat now.



He takes her to his small boathouse and explains that this is it -he has a bomb he is going to blow her and this place up with. He and his friends, who will be in their sub when they detonate it, can then make a clean getaway with the plans as the patrol boats will come to check the explosion out. The patrol boat of this area passes around at 10:00pm, so they will blow the bomb up then to make sure they get the crew's attention. Penelope asks if she could just freshen up before he ties her up, and since he's got the time, he lets her. She takes out her compact and contacts Jeff, but she can't just speak what is going to happen. She instead waves her hand around in a way that is a hidden code, and Jeff takes some details down.



However Carl smacks the compact out of Penelope's hand, and it lands on the floor, with the camera now pointing towards the side of a ship. Scott says they should try and contact her but Jeff tells him that is too dangerous, if someone else is in their with her they could kill her if they heard them. He instead tries the emergency signal, and the compact makes several quiet beeps. Carl asks what that noise is, but the beeps then stop. Penelope asks if it was rats, and if they will get clear before the bomb goes off. Carl thinks she is trying to be funny, but on Tracy Island, everyone now knows that Penelope is in danger and there is a bomb ready to go off.



Jeff tells Scott they know the location, so he has him take off in Thunderbird 1. He then tells Virgil and Gordon to go out in Thunderbird 2, and to take Thunderbird 4 with them, as it sounds like the bad guys have got a sub for them to make a getaway with. Carl tells Penelope that he has to go now, and sets up the bomb. Back on Tracy Island, Thunderbirds are go.



Penelope tries to contact Jeff, but her voice isn't loud enough to be picked up clearly by the compact. Jeff can hear a mumbling sound but can't work out the words being spoken, and tells Penelope to try and get closer to the compact if she can. Penelope shuffles over.



On the sub, Carl returns and tells his fellow crooks that in 40 minutes the bomb he has planted will explode, and they can finally get out of here. Meanwhile Scott tells his Dad that he is about 15 minutes away from the danger zone and asks for any updates. Jeff says he hasn't heard anything yet.



Penelope gets as close as she can and then tips her chair over deliberately, so she lands right next to the compact. She tells Jeff that the bad guys are in their sub, although she doesn't know where it is, and that there is a bomb on this boat she is on. Jeff says Scott is on the way and he can use his sonar equipment to find the crooks. Minutes later, Scott arrives over the sea.



He deploys Thunderbird 1's sonar equipment into the water, but can't find anything. Jeff tells him to cover a wider area as he's got to find that sub. Scott starts moving Thunderbird 1 around the waters. After a few minutes, the sonar picks something up. Scott lets Virgil and Gordon know the location he has, which gives a rough idea to where this submarine is.



Virgil releases the pod, and Thunderbird 4 is launched. Gordon has only got 5 minutes to locate that sub and as Gordon takes a look around, his sonar gives him a slightly better signal and he heads towards it. Scott tells him he needs to cripple that sub as he's only got 4 minutes until the bomb goes off.



Gordon finds the sub and attaches a line to it, which starts to drill. The drill creates a small hole in the sub, and before Carl and the others can do anything about it, the hole dispenses some tranquilizers which takes them all out. Carl tries to detonate the bomb but collapses before he can do so.



Scott moves Thunderbird 1 around to the small boathouse and lands. He finds Penelope and frees her, saying she took a chance with those murderers. Penelope just says that is what makes life interesting. Meanwhile Gordon has gone over to the other sub and enters it. He finds the crew unconscious, but also finds the plans Bondson was after.



Later on, Bondson has once again been told to go to the same forest, where Penelope calls to him over a loudspeaker. She tells him to leave his car and go to the large tree ahead. He does so and finds the papers he was after. He thanks International Rescue for their help.



Penelope says she will accept his thanks on behalf of her organization, and then leaves in FAB 1. It is time for them to go back to England, but as they drive, Penelope asks how Parker went on at the casino. Turns out he lost, so Penelope asks how much. Parker says it isn't so much how much he lost, but what he lost. Penelope asks him what he means, and finds out what he lost: her yacht!


NOTES

Usually Thunderbird 2 just drops pod 4 into the water, but in this episode, Thunderbird 2 hovers just above water and releases the pod from an extremely small height.

The submarine Brains is testing out is a small model of the submarine The Hood used in "Desperate Intruder".

This episode is also the first one to show Thunderbird 4 being launched from inside the pod.

Only 2 of the 3 criminals are named -Carl and Ritter.

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