FAMILY TIES
      By Spense
 

Chapter Fourteen

Jonny could hear vague voices from the patio at the back of the
house.  As usual, he was odd man out, and life was going on just like
normal without him.  He wasn't even missed.  How typical, he thought
bitterly.  Right then, he knew what he was going to do.  Going back
into his room, he fished his message pager from its hiding place,
then took it back to the balcony.  Resuming his seat, he sent a
message to Rachel.

To his gratification, she acknowledged his message immediately.

<<Yes Jonny?>>

"Mom, I need you to meet me right away at the front gates," he spoke
quietly into the little device, and watched as his spoken words were
translated to written characters.

<<Now?>>

Jonny could pick up her surprise in that one word.

"Yes.  Now.  Please mom."

<<All right.  Front Gate ASAP.  Love you.  Rachel.>>

"Thanks.  Love you too.  Jonny."

Jonny turned the device off, shoved it into his pocket, and suited
words to action.  Without a look back, he threw his leg over the
stone balustrade, and proceeded to shimmy down the side of the
house.  Knowing everyone was at dinner on the back patio, he
hurriedly crossed the lawn to the cover of the trees.  Once out of
sight of the house, he trotted determinedly down the long drive in
the cooling spring air.  He'd had it.  He could hardly wait to get
out.

He didn't have to wait long for the car to pull up.  He hardly let it
stop before he was in the passenger side, and motioning Rachel to
drive on.

Rachel looked at him in concern.  "Honey, what is it?  You look
upset."

"Oh, yeah." Jonny comment grimly.  "Can we just go out to the bluff?
You know, the one we met at a couple of times."

Rachel looked briefly at him, and nodded slowly, turning her
attention back to the road.  "Of course," she commented quietly, as
Jonny slumped down in the seat next to her, brooding in silence.

Rachel let him be silent until they had arrived at their destination,
and climbed up the slight rise, and rounded the clump of rocks to the
spot Jonny had mentioned.  Rachel sat down, and hugged her knees as
she watched her son.

"Jonny, what's wrong?"  She asked in concern.

Jonny stared out at the ocean, occasionally pitching a rock out to
the depths.  He then turned to his mother and came back and sat
beside her.

"Can I come live with you?"  He asked abruptly.

Rachel drew in a quick breath.  "Why?"  She asked carefully.

"Because I hate Dad.  I hate Will.  I have nothing there anymore."
He answered sullenly.

"Jonny, you do not hate your father.  What a thing to say," Rachel
commented in amazement.

"Yes I do.  He always takes Will's side in everything.  I've had it."

"Jonny, what sparked this?  You were doing okay up until now.  I've
never heard you like this," she asked in concern.

"I told Will to mind her own business, then I called her a whore."
Jonny shrugged.  "Dad didn't deny it, or ask why.  He just demanded
that I apologize to her.  When I wouldn't, he drug me to my room.  I
told him I had told the truth, just like he'd always told me too."
Jonny turned suddenly to Rachel, betrayal overtaking anger in a
flash.  "I thought he was going to hit me, Mom.  He was that mad."
Jonny turned back to face the water, and finished quietly.  "He's
never been that mad in my defense, ever.  I just don't matter
anymore.  He has Hadji and Rae.  I've been discarded, just like he
did to you."

"Oh, Jonny," Rachel said in quiet compassion.  "Oh, Son, of course
you can come live with me.  I'd love it.  But think about what you're
giving up.  My lifestyle is a lot more hand to mouth.  I'm not
wealthy like you're father.  Sometimes I'm not sure where my next
meal is coming from."

Jonny turned suddenly to her.  "I don't care, Mom.  I want to be with
you.  I can't live there anymore."

"Is there anything you need?  When do you want to leave?" Rachel
asked with dawning hope.

"Now.  There isn't anything there I want," Jonny said
stubbornly.  "I'll miss Bandit, but he'll be fine with Hadji."

"Ok.  We'll need to leave town quickly," Rachel warned.  "And we're
going to be on the run.  Your father has a long reach.  It will be
precarious."

Jonny nodded.  He understood perfectly.  The two began to make
plans.

Suddenly, Race Bannon's voice broke the companionable
planning.  "Jonny, get back."

Jonny looked up in shocked surprise to see Will and Race, armed to
the teeth, Glocks extended and focused on Rachel.  Jonny and Rachel
both sprung to their feet, in stunned surprise.

"FREEZE!"  Race's voice was a whip crack, and froze Jonny to the
spot.  He looked in horror at the grim expressions on both agents'
faces as they carefully moved into position.  Jonny and Rachel had
their backs to the cliff edge, 100 feet down to the water.  Race and
Will moved slowly until they had blocked any avenues of escape.

"Ok, Jonny, now move over to my left," Race's voice instructed, his
eyes never leaving Rachel's face.  She stood calmly, stoically,
almost as though she had been expecting this.

`No, Race!"  Jonny raised his voice.  "Its my Mom!"

Benton's voice added to the explosive situation.  "Jonny," he called,
his voice strained, "Come to me, Son."

Jonny looked over to the path that led around the rocks.  Benton was
standing there holding his hand out to his son.  Jonny was stunned at
the tense statement on his father's face.  The anger that Jonny had
last seen was completely erased, replaced by . . . fear?  Jonny just
stared in dumbfounded amazement.

"Please, Son," the tension in Benton's voice was clearly
evident.  "I'm not angry with you.  Please.  Come here to me."

"No Dad!  It's Mom!"  Jonny said in agitation.

"No Jonny, she is not your mother.  She's an imposter."  Benton
looked with loathing at the woman standing impassively next to his
son.  "Rachel is dead," he finished bluntly.

"Go to your father, Jonny," Race voice broke in firmly.

"NO!"  Jonny shook his head in disagreement.

Rachel spoke for the first time.  "Benton, tell Jonny the truth," she
pleaded.

Benton replied with distaste clear in his voice.  "I am, Andrea."
His statement was that of total hatred.

Jonny was completely confused, and getting more so with each passing
second.  He could see his father looking with an statement of
complete abhorrence at the woman he believed to be his mother.  Race
and Will are in full Agent mode, holding guns to her, all business.
Jonny was nearly in tears.  "Mom, tell him!"

`Rachel' smiled sweetly at Jonny, then said to Benton, "I've told him
the truth, Benton.  It's time to admit what really happened.  I can
understand you wanting to remarry.  But you owe Jonny the real truth."

Will spoke for the first time, and it was a snarl.  "Dr. Lainer, you
are the one who owes Jonny the truth.  About the fact that you are
using him to destroy everything he knows and cares about.  You're a
fine one to talk about the truth!"  All through her tirade, her gun
never wavered.  "Let him go to his father!" she snapped in conclusion.

Rachel began to laugh softly.  "Well, well . . ."  she trailed off
with a smile of surprise at Will.  She had not expected Will to have
such teeth!  Especially in defense of this particular stepson, who
had made her life so miserable lately.  "Oh, Agent Harkness, let's be
real about this . . . Wouldn't you just jump at the chance to get rid
of the living memory of your rival?  Don't you get sick of having to
look at him day after day and know that no matter what, Benton will
always love me more than he does you?  I know I'd want to ship the
little bastard off somewhere, if I were you.  I'm offering you the
chance!"

Jonny looked at the woman next to him in shocked surprise.  In all
their meetings and discussions, he had never heard that tone of
voice, or that manner of speaking before.  Much less the crass, blunt
terms he was hearing come out of her mouth right now.

"Jonny!"  Race ordered, breaking his stare.  "Go to your father!"
Jonny unthinkingly did as ordered by the tone of command he had
obeyed for a good part of his life.  He moved a single step towards
him, then stopped suddenly as he realized what he was doing.

As Jonny halted, Benton called again, agonized, "PLEASE, Son!  Come
here," he pleaded frantically.

Rachel looked at Jonny and said in desperation of her own, "Jonny, oh
please, I've lost everything.  I can't lose you too."  Suddenly she
grabbed him from behind, wrapping her arms around him in a
surprisingly strong hold, and backed them towards the cliff.

"NO!"  Benton yelled in abject horror, nearly beside himself.

"Back off," Rachel instructed coolly.

Jonny struggled to get free.  "Let me go!"

"No, Jonny.  I'm not going to leave you."  Rachel said calmly,
holding him firmly.  "I'm not letting you go ever again."

Will broke the standoff by quietly setting her gun down on the grass
and raising her hands in front of her in a gesture of pleading and
surrender.  "Please, let go of the boy, Dr. Lainer.  If you want to
hurt someone, then hurt me.  I'm the one who has what you want.  I'm
Benton's wife.  Just don't hurt Jonny."

Benton was speechless in shock for a moment, then shouted "NO!"  His
world was crumbling rapidly.  Now both his son, and his wife, were in
peril.

Rachel considered Will's comments for a moment, then shook her head
firmly, "I must say, that is a tempting offer, Agent Harkness.  And I
may regret that I didn't consider it more fully.  But no, I'm afraid
that if I can't have Jonny, then neither can any of you."

Jonny struggled harder.  This was definitely not the woman he had
been talking to, and was nothing like the mother he remembered.  Had
he made a mistake?  Dear God, he wasn't sure what to think anymore.

The tense standoff continued, as Will maneuvered ever
closer.  "Please, Dr. Lainer.  You know I'm really the one you want."

Rachel backed up right to the very edge of the cliff, still holding
Jonny firmly.  The ground crumbled slightly and dropped to the sea
far below, bouncing audibly off the rock wall on it's journey to the
water.  Jonny froze as he looked over the edge and registered how
close they were, and how unstable the earth was.  Any movement could
send them over.

Rachel seemed perfectly calm, however.  "Humm, Agent Harkness, or
should I say `Mrs. Quest', you do propose an excellent bargain, don't
you think Benton?"

Benton was staying his distance; afraid that if he made a single
move, the two most important people in his life would die suddenly
together.  He was terrified to even breathe, lest he sway the
situation.  "No," he whispered.  "Let them go, please."

Rachel turned her attention to him, and smiled an ugly little
smile.  "Well now, you don't look so arrogant now, do you Benton
Quest?  Can't make a simple choice like this?  Your wife or your
son.  Which will it be?"  She paused for a moment waiting for an
answer Benton could not make, then shrugged.  "Ok, I'll keep Jonny
then."

"Andrea!"  Will's voice caught the woman attention, once
again.  "It's me you want, and you know it."

At that moment, Jonny felt his world go dark.  Hands grabbed him,
pulling him from Andrea and away from the edge of the cliff.  He
began to cough violently.  A confusion of voices and hands pulled at
him from all directions, and suddenly he couldn't breathe.  He tried
to draw a breath, and his lungs didn't work.  The voices intruded
relentlessly, an indistinct rumble of sound.

"He's stopped breathing!  No!"

"Breathe!  Damit, BREATHE!

Then the voices faded out, and Jonny let go into darkness.