Thank-you goes out to Spense for betaing this story! Thank-you!
 

Archivers: Sure just tell me where please!
 
 

The Promises We Make

Chapter 6

By Kara Estes
 

As time flickered down, so did the days. In little over a month, Kai had
settled down into his daily routine. He discovered that his new school was a
bit of a challenge for him, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He also learned
quickly what Jessie was meaning about traveling. They had only traveled once,
but what was suppose to be a short conference trip to London, turned into an
all out chase after someone tried to assassinate the Prime Minister. Of
course, being around Jonny, Hadji, and Jessie, that meant trying to chase
after the assassin, and getting in trouble with Race. But Kai, who was
becoming more and more like Jonny, was loving every moment of it. That is how
he and Jonny had really became friends; they both had the same theory, leap
first, then look.
 

"Kai Andrew Wilson, I was a late order." Kai said to the woman sitting behind
the desk.

"I don’t think your graduation invitations have arrived yet. Let me check,"
she said as she shifted through a bunch of papers.

As Kai waited on her, he could see his reflection in the trophy case behind
the woman. His hair was getting darker, and it was no longer blonde, but more
of a light brown. He could see that his roots were starting to get darker,
while his tan was getting lighter. In the reflection, he could also see the
bright red hair of his friend, Jessie. He turned around and stared at her.
She was in her normal group, a group that was mixed with different people of
different standards. They were in a circle, to the left of Jessie was her
friend Caitlin, who was a starter on the soccer team, to her right was Toby
Dawson, the one person in her group that was nice to him. Toby, the co-editor
of the newspaper, was also rumored to be her boyfriend, but a month into
living with Jess, he had yet to see any signs of that. The rest of the people
in Jessie's circle was made up by a girl who was a cheerleader, and another
guy, whom Kai had yet to meet. Her group wasn't the most popular group, but
almost everyone knew them. Kai then looked back at the woman, who was still
rummaging through a box. He then looked over to the right, as a group of
girls yelled his name. He simply waved back. Within a week of attending
Albert Einstein High, almost everyone knew his name, even though he didn’t
know theirs.
 

"Ah, Kai Wilson, you are in luck," she said as she stood up with a light blue
box in her hand, she then handed it to the boy.  "Here you go, all 50 of your
graduation invitations. Now if you could sign here saying you received them,
then your good to go!"

"Thanks," he said as he began to sign his name. As he was signing, he could
hear someone turning on one of the TV’s that hang from each corner of the
large student center of Albert Einstein High School. His ears picked up the
sound of a reporter in panic as she described the events. He then looked up
and saw that everyone was glued to the television. His eyes widen, and he
gasped as he saw the events that were unfolding on the newscast.

"Officials believe that this is not the acts of Osama Bin Laden, who
orchestrated the September 11th attacks, but by another well known National
Terrorist, Ezekiel Rage. If you can get a look behind me, you can see the
flames coming from what use to be the Golden Gate Bridge." The reporter said
as the camera panned behind her, to show flames bellowing out of what use to
be the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The view changed to boats in the
harbor trying to combat the fire from their boats.  "At this time, rescuers
are unsure of the death toll, but it is believed to be in the thousands, due
to the ceremony planed today for the 70th anniversary of the starting of the
construction of Golden Gate Bridge." The reported said. "I’m getting word
that their is some ground breaking footage..." she said getting cut off by an
unknown transmission.

"Greetings my fellow Americans. Today, you have seen what the Book of Rage
predicted five years ago, the coming of the Apocalypse. Little has been done
to prevent this coming doom." Rage said on TV. Behind him, Kai could see what
looked like a huge bomb, but wouldn’t believe that Rage could get his hands
on a bomb. He then heard the sound of dueling cell phones going off. The tone
that stood out from the two rings was the theme of Mission Imposable, which
Kai knew was Jessie’s cell phone, the other, which was more quiet, was his,
which was playing the song Surfing USA. Kai then dropped his backpack to the
floor and began rummaging through it, pulling out his blue phone.

"Hey." he answered.

"Hello," Jessie said a split second later after Kai answered. She quickly
walked over to the corner where Kai was standing. She then motioned for him
to walk towards the door with her.

"Let me guess, you two are standing next to each other." The voice on the
other end asked.

"We’re on our way out, Dad." Jessie said as she pushed the schools front door
open.

"Good. Get here as quick as you can. We’ve traced Rage’s transmission.  We’
re hoping it’ll lead us to the bomb."

"The bomb? You mean what he was standing in front of is a bomb?" Kai asked in
disbelief.

"The newest kind. He calls it the Iniquity. It’s the smartest of the smart
bombs out there today, but what makes it so different than the one’s we’re
using in Afghanistan is that this one also incorporates the use of Hydrogen."

"Is that what he used on the Golden Gate Bridge?" Kai asked as he neared the
Quest Jeep that they used to drive to school everyday.

"Nah, that was just your basic Daisy Cutter like they used in World War II,
only modernized. This one is 20 times more powerful than the one he released
in San Francisco. The best we can gather  is that he wants to insure that
everything in a 3000 square mile radius will be destroyed."

"He’s trying to finish what he couldn’t accomplish 5 years ago."

"That’s what it looks like. Just get here as fast as you can. As soon as you
get here, go to the hanger, we’ll be waiting for you." Race said as Jessie
and Kai climbed into the Quest Jeep. She then pushed her key into the
ignition and started the jeep.

"We’re on our way." Jessie said as she hung up her phone and tossed it into
the back of the jeep. She then pulled out of her parking space and speed out
of the parking lot.

"Uh... Jess. I know we are in a hurry, but, shouldn’t you at least get a bit
closer to the speed limit?" Kai asked as he tightened his grip on the jeeps
overhead bar.

"Speed limits? What were getting ready to do, no one cares if we follow the
speed limit. Besides, the Quest plates keep us legal if a cop should decide
to try and pull us over." Jessie said with a grin on her face. She then
pulled her sunglasses out of the glove box and continued to drive at her fast
pace until they reached the hanger at the compound.
 

"Hey! Where are we going?" Kai asked, trying to raise his voice higher than
the sound of the planes engines. Jessie and him had just arrived and was
running towards the cargo door of the plane. There they were greeted by Race
Bannon, who was making sure everything they needed was there, including a
Jeep, and numerous wooden boxes, which Kai guessed that they were filled with
the needed equipment.

"The transmissions all point to Panaqua." Race said as he closed the cargo
door. He then walked ahead of Jessie and Kai who were making their way
through the jet, and picked up his pace until he reached the cockpit.  He
reached the pilots chair just as Kai and Jessie reached their seats, with
Jessie sitting behind her father and next to Hadji, and Kai next to Jonny,
who was sitting on the left. In front of Jonny and Kai was Dr. Quest, who was
acting as copilot.  As Kai set down, Jonny lightly punched him in the ribs
and pointed to the seatbelt, which Kai quietly put on. The atmosphere of the
plane was quiet, with the only noise present was the sound of the jets
engines.

"Sets belts on?" Race asked breaking the silence, with everyone chirping in
their reply. "Air control, this is Quest Jet 589, gearing for take off from
Quest Air Field to Panaqua."
 
 

"Action is my middle name."

"Funny, I thought your middle name was Lanthrop."

"Well, it’s that too." Will said to Race as he cocked his gun, preparing for
action. "So, should we storm the castle from the left, or from the right?"

"You take left, I take right and we’ll meet in the middle." Race said with a
serious tone. Even though there wasn’t a castle to invade, there was a
warehouse that was heavily guarded by the madman’s goons.

"Isn’t it a little risky going solo?" Will nervously asked. This was his
first big adventure, while this was Race’s hundredth time. Well, maybe not
hundredth, Race was a former Navy Seal and working alone came natural to him.
While Will, who was once a Green Beret, had done everything in groups and was
never left alone. This was both Race’s and his first adventure with
Intelligence One, or better known as I-1. They had been in training with each
other for almost six months, and were considered the best of the best.

"As long as you got a gun, you’ll be fine." Race said in a sharp tone.

"You are the man, Bannon."
 

"So, why Panaqua?" Kai asked. He had been going over some of the information
he had gathered about Ezekiel Rage. He had heard of the man prior to living
with the Quest’s. He could remember hearing his dad mention that name when he
was younger as a man he use to work with, and he could also remember hearing
his dad say something later in his life about Rage‘s sanity. He also
remembered hearing the name in another situation, but he was unable to put
his finger on the exact details of that memory.

"Panaqua is supposable where Rage’s family was killed after a failed covert
operation." Race explained. "He was there spying on the Peruvian government
when he was caught, when he was trying to get away, he discovered his family
had came to visit him there, after that, the Panaqua Army chased him, and his
car fell off a cliff with his family inside." Race said, he then paused. "He
was presumed dead, but somehow he survived. Since then, he’s been trying to
get revenge to those who caused the death of his family."

"So, he’s willing to kill millions for the deaths of two people?" Kai asked.

"Seems that way."

"Does that mean that I can kill millions since I lost two important people in
my life?"

"Kai, your better than that." Jessie said jumping into the conversation.

"I’m sure before he lost his family, he was better than that. But I can see
where he’s coming from."

"See Jess, I can see where Kai’s coming from. I may have been young when my
Mom died, but it sure left an impact on my life." Jonny said trying to play
the devils advocate.

"Stay out of this, Quest." Jessie said.

"Fine!" Jonny said admiting defeat. He then looked at Kai and patted him on
the back, "Good luck."

"You just don’t understand what it’s like to loose your whole family, do
you?" Kai said as he stared at his opponents eyes .

"No, I don’t. But I also don’t see how anyone could be that bitter that
nothing else maters but revenge." Jessie countered back.

"Being bitter and seeking justice are two different things. Being bitter is
to carry on with the feelings of anger, seeking justice is wanting payback."
Kai said.

"Jessie, I do believe it’s time to let this battle go." Hadji said as he
tried to get the girl he was sitting next to, to relax. "Many battles are
lost because of hatred, while others are won when a truce can be reached."

"How about you two just focus on getting information on Rage’s ware bouts and
not arguing?" Dr. Quest asked, trying to gather some peace within the small
aircraft. He then looked at Race and said: "You know, this is the first trip
we’ve taken that were not yelling at Jonny and Jessie to stop arguing."

"There is hope after all." Race said with a grin.
 
 

"Hey Bannon, what's with all the sulking?" The man, who was sitting at the
long table, asked without looking up from his newspaper.

"How do you do it, Zeke?" Race Bannon asked as he pulled the plastic chair
out from the table.

"Your footsteps are a dead give away." Ezekiel Rage said. He knew that his
answer wasn't what his fellow agent wanted to hear, but at this moment, humor
was the best weapon a man could have.

"You know what I mean. How do you keep your marriage with Abby going? Stella
and I can hardly say "hi" to each other without having an argument."

Ezekiel paused as he pondered his friend's question. He sighed and said the
first thing that came to his mind: "I guess Abby is just more patient, plus,
not keeping her in the loop helps."

"You know buddy," Race said as he leaned over the table to be closer to his
friend, "someday that's going to catch up with you."

"And when it does, I'll deal with it then." Ezekiel said, as he glanced up
for the first time from his paper. His eyes were dark and had looked like
they had seen better days. His face looked far more mature than his physical
age of 30. Just as Ezekiel glanced back down to his paper, he heard the
footsteps of another agent entering the break room. He figured it had to be
Keith "Will" Wilson, the only other person, besides himself, who would be
brave enough to be in the same room as Race Bannon during one of his
depressed moods.

"Don’t tell me you two are having a pity party in here without me?" Will said
as he grabbed one of the stale donuts that sat in the corner.

"Will, you do realize those are two days old?" Ezekiel asked just as the
agent was about to take a bite out of it.

"Nope, their three days old. I’m the one who bought them." Will said just as
he took a bite out of the stale donut. "Yum, it’s starting to get crunchy."

"Will, will you ever grow up?" Race asked just as he pulled his head out of
his hands to get a look at his partner wiping powdered sugar off of his face.

"Probably not until Kai gets old enough to beg me to!" He said with a grin.
 

To Be Continued...

The last part was taken from my own fic A Promise Of Yet To Come,  I just
added to it and tweeked it to fit this story. What can I say, I plagiarized
myself!

--Kara--
"It's been a while since I flew on of these babies [Army Jet]. But, I guess
it's kinda like riding a horse. If you don't fall off for the first minute,
then maybe you're okay."
Race Bannon
"Attack From Within"--an unproduced Jonny Quest Script.