Disclaimer: HB owns the JQ lot, not me.   I'm making no money off this, so don't
sue me, unless you wanna waste a bit of time on lil' ol' me.  It's created out
of (a lot) of love and respect for the series.

Archivers: Suze can have it, of course.  Everyone else ask and it's yours.

Categories: Angst, mature language, violence, J-J HR.  If it's not in the series
now, it will be eventually.

Summary: This isn't particularly subtle, but I hope to surprise some people...

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Benton paced the living room frantically.  This wasn't the first time...but he
had a growing feeling of unease, and after what the I-1 agent had just told
him...

The door opened, and Benton's head snapped round.  He smiled out of relief.

"Thank God..."

He embraced her strongly.  The woman looked up and smiled quizically, and
Benton's heart melted.

"Ben, is something wrong?"

He grimaced.

"You know we're not supposed to leave the mansion, Barone has men trying to get
the information *any* way possible, and you're one of those ways."

The woman sighed.

"Ben, I will not waste my life in this mansion.  We have already talked about
this...I will not run and hide everytime some nutter gets it into his head that
you have something they want."

Ben tried to relax.  He wanted to be angry at her for endangering herself like
this, but whenever he looked into those sky blue eyes...he blushed.

"I just don't want you to get hurt, especially because of me."

She smiled.

"I understand.  But I will not stay cooped up in here."

Benton nodded sadly.  It was obvious that she wouldn't budge on this.  Then a
thought suddenly occured to him.

"How did you get past the I-1 agents?"

The smile turned to an infectious lopsided grin.

"Those morons?  It was *so* easy..."

The door opened again.  A boy about 5 years old entered and looked oddly at the
couple.  Then he grinned.

"Mom's back!"

"'Course I am, honey."

She gathered him up in her arms as he ran up.  Benton thought for a moment.

"Jonny, how did you know your mother had left?"

The boy grinned.  It matched his mother's, and Benton chuckled.  Sometimes they
were *too* alike.

"'Cause  I saw her bodyguard following her through the bushes."

"Bodyguard?"  Rachel looked at her son.  Benton saw her face drop.

Jonny nodded.  "The big man.  When you tricked the guards and broke the fence,
he followed you."

Sudden realization dawned.

"Get the I-1 agents now!  Jesus, Barone's men must have been waiting outside the
fence.  I gave them a way in!"

Benton grabbed at the phone the I-1 agents had given him.

"Get in here, NOW!"

The agent was well trained.  He didn't hesitate, but withdrew all his men
immediately back to the mansion.

Benton looked back at his wife.  She was calmly talking to Jonny.

"Jonny, I want you to go back to your room and..."

"No!  What's happening?  Don't leave me on my own!"

"Jonny, please."  She stared into her son's eyes.  He seemed to understand.

"Mom, don't leave me!"

She sighed.  "Okay, I'll stay with you."

The window exploded in a shower of glass.  Rachel crouched protectively over her
son, covering him in her arms.  The man walked over to her, pulled her off Jonny
and pointed a gun at her head.

"Dr. Quest?  Give me the information or I'll shoot your wife."  The man said
simply, almost matter of factly.

"Go to Hell."  Rachel replied in the same tone of voice.  "If you shoot me, you
run out of hostages and Benton will never give you the data."

The man shot her.

"Rachel!"

Benton ran at the man, screaming.  The man grabbed Jonny and held the gun to his
head.

"I seriously suggest you don't do that."  His voice was grating, so damn calm.

"You'll pay you bastard..."  Benton was shaking in fury, hands clenched.  He
forced the pain of Rachel's death out of his mind.  First he'd kill this man,
with his bare hands if necessary.

He looked at his son, all that was left...

Jonny was limp in the larger man's arms.  His eyes were red rimmed, and he
couldn't tear his eyes off Rachel.  Benton felt a fresh wave of grief wash over
him.

The dark man sighed.

"Give me the blueprints or I'll kill your son.  It really is that simple."

Benton felt so helpless, so impotent.

Then the large man fell forward, on top of Jonny.

A large gaping wound was in the back of his head, where the I-1 sniper had shot
him.

Benton ran upto the dead man and kicked amd beat at the lifeless body.  He
continued for a few minutes, then crumpled into a foetal postion.  He cried.

Jonny hadn't moved.  All he could hear was the crack of the gun, all he could
see was his mother as she died.

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Comments?  Suggestions?  Flames?  High praise?  Send 'em all to
SchmittVanDean@hotmail.com

Yes, this is another "How Rachel copped it" fic.

-Schmitt

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Don't delegate.  They'll only
do it wrong.-Ronan Candappa
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