FAMILY TIES
      By Spense
 

Chapter Ten

Jonny didn't breath easy until he was safe on the road, pedaling
hard, with Bandit loping alongside.  He figured it was too early to
contact Rachel, so he got a workout instead.  Finally, several miles
out of town, he stopped on the coast road for a breather, and
contacted his mother.  It was just after 7am, so he figured he was
safe.  She was up, and very happy to have a whole day to spend with
him.  They arranged a meeting place at an isolated State Park up the
highway a ways.  Jonny got back on the bike and headed for the
rendezvous.

When Jonny reached the park, he found his mother's Honda already
parked near a picnic shelter facing away from the road and towards
the beach.  With the heavy fog and chill early morning air, nobody
else was around.  She waved cheerfully to him, obviously watching for
him.  Jonny and Bandit headed their direction.

"Hi, Honey!  This is a very nice surprise.  How on earth did you
manage it?  And who is this?"  She asked as she bent down to pat the
bulldog who had decided that since Jonny seemed glad to see this
woman, then he was too.

Jonny leaned his bike against the shelter wall, and turned to his
mother who was smiling happily at him, and holding a hand out.  Jonny
felt all his self-control from the last 16 hours slip completely away
from him as he looked at her.  She was so happy to see him.  Nobody
had been that glad to see him for no other reason than it was just
him for a very long time.  He was horrified to feel tears begin
welling up.  His head hurt, he was hurt emotionally as well by his
father's actions, and for the first time since the scene in the
family room, the realization that his father had actually lifted his
hand against him in anger actually hit home.  Benton, and Race too,
for that matter, had spanked him occasionally, but never in a fit of
rage.  Jonny had never seen his father violent towards him, ever.

"Oh, Jonny, what's happened?"  Rachel asked in concern.  She
immediately put her arms around him and led him to a blanket that had
already been set out.  She sat down and drew him down beside
her.  "Go ahead and cry, Honey, you'll feel better.  It's all right
now."  She soothed him as Jonny finally gave way to his emotions of
the last afternoon and evening.

Jonny didn't even realize that he'd fallen asleep, until he woke up
with his head in his mother's lap, with her had gently stroking his
hair, and Bandit curled up next to him.  He sat up groggily and
rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning," his mother said with a laugh, setting aside the novel
she'd been reading.

"What time is it?" he asked as he remembered where he was.  The sky
was still dark gray, but the fog had burned off to general overcast.

"Oh, about 11.  Jonny, what on earth happened?"

Jonny looked over at his mother.  She was sitting back against the
wall of the picnic shelter, feet curled neatly up underneath her,
looking concerned.  Her short blond hair, the exact same shade as
Jonny's was cut in a breezy style, and she was athletically trim.
Anybody seeing them together would definitely know they were related.

Jonny glumly filled his mother in on the events of the last 18 or so
hours.   She was aghast.

"Jonny!" She gasped with wide eyes.  "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just a headache," he replied.

Rachel pulled him back against her, hugging him tight.  "Oh dear.  I
can't believe he lost control like that.  He has a temper,
but. . . "  She broke off.

Leaning against her, Jonny commented absently, "I've seen him lose it
with creeps like Zin, but never with me.  I still can't believe it.
Can you ever think of him doing anything like that?"

"Well . . ." Rachel began, but then seemed to think better of it and
broke off.

Jonny, regardless of what his grades were showing at the moment, was
blessed with a sharp intelligent mind, immediately sat up and
exclaimed, "Mom!  Did Dad ever hit you?"

"Not deliberately, honey.  But, well . . . he shook me, hard, like he
did you.  The same type of thing.  A couple of times."

Jonny looked livid.

Rachel continued soothingly, "It's nothing.  He shouldn't have done
it, and like you, as soon as he realized it, he stopped.  And it
sounds like his new wife has him well in control.  Now relax.  You're
father is not abusive, ok?"

Jonny subsided sullenly.

Rachel thought for a moment, then said, "And he didn't start shaking
you until you told, oh, what is her name," she paused, shook her
head, then continued," to back off?"

"Will, Wilhelmina Harkness," Jonny supplied, then continued.  "Yeah,
that's right.  Then he just exploded.  I told her it was none of her
business and basically that she wasn't my mom and to stay out of it."

"Oh, Jonny," Rachel said sadly, "you really shouldn't have said
that.  By marrying Benton, she does have a say in your upbringing."

"No.  She doesn't," Jonny said stubbornly.  "I didn't ask for her in
my life.  Dad didn't ask me before he married her.  He just did it.
One of those really quick things."

"How did it happen?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Do you really want to know?" Jonny asked, sitting up to look at her
carefully.  "I've tried not to talk about her, I don't want to hurt
you."

Rachel smiled at him, and smoothed his hair.  "Benton and I are over,
honey.  It won't hurt me.  It can't.  Benton doesn't have that power
over me anymore."

Jonny nodded and leaned back against her shoulder and began talking.
Rachel listened quietly, stroking his other shoulder gently.

"Dad was kidnapped, and I-1 sent Race and Will into rescue him.  I
knew something more had happened when Dad kissed her goodbye in front
of all of us.  I mean, it was one of those long, drawn out things.
Anyway, long story short, he married her two months later.  He seems
to really love her, but then again, I thought he really loved you."

"He did, at one time.  But love can die.  But back to Will; she's an
agent?"  Rachel asked.

"Uh-huh," Jonny responded.  "And she's tough.  She told me once that
if I didn't obey she'd kick my butt so hard my nose would bleed.  And
she meant it, too."  Jonny was gratified to feel Rachel stiffen in
silent protest at that comment.

"Anyway," Jonny continued, "Dad changed after that.  He really didn't
have any time for me after that, and once Rae was born, I've been a
second class citizen."

"Humm, that is interesting," Rachel commented.

"Why?"

Rachel responded.  "Well, you know for a good year and a half, I-1
kept pretty close tabs on me.  Oh, it was under the guise of helping
Benton discharge his responsibilities to me per our agreement, of
course, but regardless, they were always around.  Once, coming back
from a therapy session, they thought I was asleep, and they were
talking about Benton's remarriage.  I knew he had remarried.  There
are one or two agents that I can count as friends, and they had told
me.  But they hadn't told me his new wife was one of their own.
Anyway, my babysitters were laughing about how an I-1 agent was now
married to Dr. Quest, and that I-1 would now have him under their
thumb forever.  They had it made.  They had an inside agent."

"Whoa!  Would they do that?"  Jonny was incredulous.

"Well, given what I experienced with I-1 when you were small, and
what I heard after Benton and I divorced---it's well within their
operating scope to do such a thing.  They often pushed other women
agents on him from the very beginning, hoping to break up our
marriage and insert someone of their own choosing."

Jonny was amazed.  Rachel laughed at his reaction.  "Oh, yes.  The
government is very concerned about it's property---human or
technology.  It wouldn't surprise me to find out that they had
instigated it all . . . Will hooking up with Benton, then getting
pregnant to trap him, the whole thing.  And I've heard of Wilhelmina
Harkness. . "  She broke off her sentence, as though starting
something she thought better of.

"What?" Jonny asked curiously.

"Nothing," Rachel said with a smile and a shake of her head.

"Yeah, there is something.  What did you hear?"

"Well . . ." Rachel hesitantly began, then continued at Jonny's firm
nod.  "Wilhelmina Harkness has always had a `reputation' around the
agency.  She has always been considered, well, `fast'," she said
delicately.

"Mom!  You CAN say it out loud," Jonny laughed, as he rolled his
eyes.  "I've heard it before."

"All right, all right.  They said clearly that Agent Harkness was
an `easy lay'.  A whore," she finished deliberately, then
grinned.  "There, satisfied?  I said it."

Jonny just grinned in return.

Rachel continued, "It was the scuttlebutt in the agency that she had
been very carefully trained in the fine arts of pleasing a man, and
that not only had she used this personally, but for the agency who
made sure she got the training in the first place."

Jonny began, thinking out loud, "That would explain . . ." he
muttered.

"What?" Rachel encouraged.

"Well, Hadj, Jess and I have spied on them," Jonny rushed his
words.  "I mean, they'll have sex anywhere!  The kitchen, the
library, the cars, the pool, you name it."

Rachel laughed.  "What did I tell you?  Of course he's happy.
Remember what I said about needs?  They sound like they are being
satisfied quite nicely by the brazenness of performance.  Let me tell
you, your father isn't that much of an exhibitionist by nature.  He
was much more private when I was married to him, thank heavens.  A
little decorum and privacy, please!  She obviously has him thinking
with something other than his brain.  I-1 definitely has what it
wants."

"I'll say," Jonny muttered.

Rachel laughed and hugged him close.  "Your father loves you, Honey.
Your just learning that he's human after all.  Sometimes that's very
hard to see.  He isn't perfect, far from it.  But neither are any of
us."

"Well, it would be nice if he wouldn't lie to me," Jonny grumbled,
then thought a moment, "Hey!  You know, everybody in Rockport thinks
he's this high, upstanding, moral person, and they don't even know
he's married to Will, or he's her baby's father.  Heck, DAD didn't
even know he was the baby's father at first.  They had a big fight
one night when we were in New Orleans.  I overheard them.  The next
morning Dad was muttering about having a blood test done.  He was
really mad."  Jonny shrugged.  "I don't think he ever did it.  And
besides, Rae looks just like him.  There isn't any doubt that she is
his.  And maybe that's why he doesn't like me so much anymore.  I
look too much like you.  I used to think that was a good thing,"
Jonny finished, somewhat disgruntled.

"I think it's a good thing," Rachel laughed.

Jonny beamed back at her with his usual lightening change of mood,
then continued back on the original subject.  "Anyway, it's obvious
that I'm not the only one both of them are deceived in someway."

"That's right," Rachel said, "the agents were laughing about the fact
that the marriage was to be kept secret.  So, now you know.  He still
loves you, but now you just have your eyes open.  Are you feeling
better?"

Jonny nodded, definitely feeling more himself.

"How about onto more cheerful subjects.  That's quite a bike you
have.  It looks like a racing bike.  Is it?"

Jonny happily began elaborating on the sports he was involved in, and
the two spent the rest of the afternoon talking over a wide range of
subjects, getting to know each other better with each passing hour.