Prologue
The year is 2015. The world as we know it no longer exists.
In 2003, Ezekial Rage launched nuclear bombs from China at Cairo, London, Moscow, and Tokyo. The targeted cities retaliated before asking questions. By 2005, the world economy had collapsed, and the United States government fell apart. The former superpower has split into two warring halves, Dulab and Zinja.
The new America is one of hardships and struggles. Warfare has decimated most of the population between the ages of 35 and 65 and has drained the continent of its natural resources. The young and hardy have quickly risen through the ranks to become the new leaders. They are strong, smart, and willing to do anything they have to if it means the end of the war.
Dulab, consisting of the former states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, and Montana, is dedicated to upholding life as they knew it before the war. They are led by Commander Bennett and Roger "Race" Bannon, men well acquainted with military expeditions. Zinja, made of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, has fallen under the rule of a madman named Dr. Zin. Zin's ultimate goal is global domination, starting with the fall of Dulab.
The Dulabian's fight back courageously. They have organized Task Forces composed of their best young freedom fighters. As Quinque, the most elite Task Force, Jonathan Quest, Jessica Bannon, Alexander Anderson, Ashley Ray, and Dion Jennings fight to defend and expand the Dulab territory against Zin. Quinque is passionately determined to resurrect the world they once knew.
Ashley Ray leaned back in her chair, smiling to herself. Thoughts of her parents' reactions when her missing sister, Laurie, walked into their house ran through her head. They had been unbelieving at first and then ecstatic. Their mother had even found something good to say about Bannon and the Task Forces. She shook her head in amusement at that particular memory. Her mother had nearly disowned her when she had told her parents she wanted to join Quinque. But her father, good old dependable Dad, had made her mother see that no matter what, Ashley was going to become part of a Task Force. Eventually her mother had begun to understand, though not fully accept, why she had wanted to join Quinque.
"Hey, Ash." Ashley turned to see a young woman with red hair and sparkling green eyes nearing. "How are you coming along on those watches?"
Ashley glanced down at the black, Q-faced watch that sat on the table in front of her. "They're coming, Jess," she replied. "But I'm having a touch of trouble trying to decide if there's enough room to put in a batarang."
Jessie Bannon laughed. "Well, if a playboy millionaire can make all those toys, you shouldn't have a problem."
Ashley grinned. "Jess, Bruce Wayne was a cartoon character. This is reality."
"Picky, picky." Still smiling, Jessie looked at the watch Ashley was working on. "What have you done so far?"
"Not too much," she admitted. "So far I've been able to work in a small enclosure that can contain powder, liquid, you name it, anything up to the size of a pill."
"What did you think about Xander's explosives idea?"
Ashley slightly frowned. "That's going to be a little harder. These watches are getting pretty full. If we keep putting stuff in here we might have to take some stuff out. You know as well as I do that we're not good enough to put fifteen million escape tools into one little watch."
Jessie nodded. "It's all just a matter of priorities, I suppose." She stretched, yawning. "Boy, I'm tired. I've been up all night in the labs, working on a project with some of the other scientists."
"What are you guys up to this time?" Ashley raised an eyebrow.
"Actually we were wandering around Questworld for some of the time. There's a lot of stuff in there, we just have to figure out how to pull it out."
"Won't Jonny help you?"
"I'm sure he would if we knew where he was."
Ashley turned concerned brown eyes on Jessie. "He's missing?"
Jessie gave her a quick half smile. "No, not really. He's just been spending a lot of time with your sister recently."
"Really? I haven't been home too much since we've gotten back. Reworking these watches became a really big project, but . . . Jonny and Laurie?" She blinked.
"Yep." Jessie shook her head. "I can't say that I ever thought Jonny would fall for someone this hard. When he's not with her, which isn't very often, he locks himself away with Xander. He barely says two words to me anymore."
"That doesn't sound like him."
"I know," Jessie agreed. "But I've asked him time and time again if something's going on and he just stays silent. It's pretty hard to pry a secret out of someone who won't talk to you." She shrugged. "Oh, well. I'm going home to take a nap. I'll talk to you later."
"Sleep well, Jess," Ashley replied, her mind already back on the watch in front of her.
* * *
"Sabrina, do you remember my teammate, Xander?" Dion Jennings signed.
His sister, Sabrina, turned to smile at the two. "Of course." She held out a hand that Xander promptly took. "It's good to see you again."
"You, too," Xander returned.
"So does Quinque have some time off this week?" Sabrina wondered as she picked up another dish.
Dion grabbed a towel and started helping his sister.
"For a little while," Xander replied. "Let's put it this way -- Bannon hasn't called us in for any great emergency yet." He paused. "It's actually been fairly quiet recently on the borders."
"And Jessie and Ashley are living it up in their labs," Dion added. "We might have to literally use a lever to get them back into the field."
Sabrina laughed. "And Jonny? Hopefully he's been able to stay out of trouble."
Xander's face tightened. "He's been working on some angle that he thinks might give us a backdoor into Zin's plans."
Dion caught the expression on his friend's face. "Do you know what he's doing?"
Hesitantly Xander nodded. "But we'd both prefer not to say anything at this time. Sorry."
There was a long, uncomfortable silence.
"Dion, do you remember Ferris Haldewheel?" Sabrina asked.
"Is he the man who lives across the street?" Dion wondered.
"That's him. He's in the hospital."
Dion raised an eyebrow. "Really? What happened?"
"From what I've heard, he went to work yesterday like normal. When he didn't come home after lunch like he usually does, his wife got worried and started searching for him. She found him about four hours later, and so beat up that it was amazing he was still alive. He has four broken ribs, a broken arm, a torn ligament in one leg, and a major concussion. The last I heard he was still unconscious."
"That sounds pretty serious," Xander commented. "I wonder who did it and why?"
Sabrina shrugged. "No one knows. He's a nice man, didn't have any enemies."
"Where did they find him?" Dion put down his towel.
"In one of the loading docks up at the old Ohio State campus." She glanced at her younger brother. "Oh, Dion, you don't have to do this. There are Task Forces who deal with domestic problems. You don't have to do everything yourself."
"I know, Sabrina," Dion replied. "But this one hits a little too close to home." He looked at Xander. "You want to come with me?"
Xander grinned. "Wouldn't miss it."
Thirty minutes later, they were at the loading docks. A few uniformed policemen wandered around, trying to look important. As Xander looked at the area, he recognized one of his friends, Aaron McMillian.
"Aaron," Xander called.
A young man in a black trench coat, who had been kneeling down beside something, turned to look at who was calling. His face broke out into a smile. "Xander Anderson, I don't believe it. What are you doing here?"
Dion and Xander made their way to Aaron.
"The same thing you are by the look of things, Aaron," Xander replied, grinning.
Aaron stood and shook hands with Xander. "Who's your friend?"
"Oh, Aaron McMillian, meet Dion Jennings. Dion, meet Aaron," Xander introduced.
Dion flashed a few signs and Aaron looked at Xander. "What did he say?"
"He's said he's glad to meet you," Xander translated.
"Nice to meet you as well, Dion. So, did some Task Force finally take you, Xand?"
Xander laughed. "You could say that. Dion and I are both part of Quinque."
"Quinque? Really? Boy, some people get all the luck."
"You wouldn't be saying that if you'd been along on some of our adventures," Xander said. "And how about yourself? I'm guessing you're on a Task Force if you're here, looking into this attack."
Aaron nodded. "I'm part of Peacekeeper."
"That's great." Xander smiled. "How many members does Peacekeepers have now?"
"At the moment, about thirty. It takes quite a number of people to keep the peace in the city. I mean, I know it isn't as bad as it was before the fall, but there are still a lot of people who don't want to play by the rules."
Xander nodded. "So, what can you tell me about what happened here? The victim is a friend of Dion's."
Aaron shrugged. "It seems about as cut and dry as they come, I'm afraid. Someone took offense to his being here."
Dion narrowed his eyes. "What I'm wondering is what was he doing here? He doesn't even work on the campus. He's got a job down near Intelligence Command headquarters."
"Maybe he came by here on his way to work," Aaron suggested.
Dion shook his head. "Sort of the roundabout way. I don't think he'd do it."
"So you think this wasn't a chance happening?" Aaron asked.
"No, I don't. Ferris had no reason for coming this way. So how did he end up here?"
Aaron tilted his head, studying the black young man. "You're right, Dion, something is wrong. Do either of you notice anything wrong about this site?"
Xander and Dion glanced around, trying to figure out what Aaron had seen.
"There's surprisingly little blood," Xander noted.
"Exactly." Aaron nodded. "Think of how badly Mr. Haldewheel was beaten up. With all those injuries you'd expect to see blood sprayed everywhere."
"So are you saying someone brought him here?" Dion asked.
"Or he dragged himself here afterwards. Regardless, he was not here when he was attacked," Aaron replied.
"Then where was he?" Xander questioned.
"And if we knew that, we might have our attacker." Aaron again kneeled down, tracing a footstep with his finger. "Whoever it is has a chunk out of the sole of their right shoe."
"Nike," Xander said, catching sight of the check mark impression.
Aaron nodded. "And that's about all the clues we have right now."
Dion tapped Xander on the shoulder. "Want to go to the hospital and see how Ferris is doing?"
"Sure." Xander turned toward Aaron. "It was good seeing you again."
"You, too. We'll have to get together sometime. Is there some number I can reach you at?"
"Yeah. Let me give you the number to my cell phone. I never go anywhere without it." He quickly gave his friend the number. "What about you?"
"The same." Aaron rolled off a number. "Let me know if you two get any information from Mr. Haldewheel, will you?"
Xander nodded. "We sure will."
* * *
Jonny sat in a chair, thinking. He had been following Laurie Ray ever since she had returned to Columbus three days ago. When Quinque had helped her escape from the Zinja prison she had been in, both Xander and him had felt that something was not quite right. All of Quinque had been amazed at how little fight the guards had put up, but only the two of them thought that Zin had purposely allowed them to get away with Laurie. And he knew Ashley probably would not hear a bad word spoken about her sister, not after all they went through to get her back.
But so far he had not found anything against Laurie. Thus Xander and him kept quiet, not wanting to get the rest of Quinque drawn into the matter. All he could do was keep watching and wait.
* * *
"I'm afraid he's still unconscious, boys," the nurse declared.
"Do you have any idea when he might wake up?" Xander wondered as Dion peered into the hospital room to glance at Ferris.
The nurse shook her head. "I'm afraid not. He'll wake up when he wakes up. At this point in time, there's nothing we can do for him. I'm sorry."
"Thank you very much, nurse," Xander said. He turned toward Dion. "Ready to go?"
"Just a moment. I want to talk to Susannah."
"Who's Susannah?" Xander asked as they slipped into Ferris' room. A tired looking woman glanced up at them from Ferris' bedside. "Oh."
"Hello, Dion." Susannah, Ferris' wife, slightly smiled.
"Hello, Suze," Dion greeted with Xander translating for him. "I was sorry to hear about Ferris."
Susannah nodded and turned to look back at her husband. "I don't know why anybody would want to hurt him. He's the nicest man. He wouldn't hurt anybody."
Dion laid a comforting hand on Susannah's shoulder. "I know. My friend and I are looking into this for you, Suze, but we need your help."
"Anything, just name it."
"If Ferris says anything while he's unconscious, let us know. I'll leave Xander's cell phone number with you. I don't care how stupid it sounds or how highly unlikely it is to help, but we need to know. Will you call him?"
Susannah looked back at Xander and then nodded. "Anything."
Dion smiled. "Thank you, Suze. We've got to go now."
"I understand. Thank you, both of you. Ferris never had better friends." She wiped away a single tear.
"Where to now?" Xander wondered after they had left the room.
"Well, if Ferris wasn't attacked at the loading dock, I think we need to figure out where he was jumped."
"Do you which roads he was most likely to use to get to work?"
Dion grinned. "Uh huh."
An hour later they were standing in front of Ferris' house. As they started down the street, Xander watched their surroundings.
"All right, here's the question of the hour. Why would someone want to beat him up?" Xander mused.
"Mugging?" Dion wondered.
"I don't know. No one's mentioned that his wallet, or anything else, is missing. Besides, that sort of thing just isn't as profitable now as it was before the fall. Money isn't worth that much anymore."
"Maybe someone didn't like the shirt he was wearing."
"Perhaps, but that's still pretty weak. Hate crimes were one of the things that mainly died with the fall. Why should we start fighting each other when we can fight Zin?"
"That doesn't mean it's stopped altogether," Dion reminded.
"Oh, I know, Pudge, I know. But could something else have happened on his way to work?"
Dion glanced around them, taking in the run down buildings and closed shops. Who knew what, or who, was hiding in any of them? So many things happened in the shadows . . .
"Maybe he saw something he wasn't supposed to," Dion said slowly.
Xander nodded. "Or heard something. I'd thought of that, too."
They exchanged looks.
"But what?" Dion wondered and Xander could only shrug.
* * *
"Good to see you again, Beanbag." Race motioned for Laurie to sit down. "I'm glad Quinque was able to get you back to Columbus."
"Not as glad as I am, Bannon." Laurie smiled.
Race gave a small laugh. "I can imagine. Look, I'm sure you know why I called you up here this afternoon."
"You want to know if I want to rejoin a Task Force."
Race nodded. "And feel free to reject the offer. You've earned the rest. And we all know how your mother feels about Task Forces."
"I wouldn't have to be part of Omega, would I?" Laurie grimaced.
"Absolutely not. You can be on something quite a bit less . . . adventurous. We could always use more people in the Peacekeeper force. But as I said, you're more than welcome to turn all this down."
"Can I think about it?"
"Sure. There's no rush, Beanbag."
"Thanks, Bannon." Laurie stood and pulled on her gloves. The weather had turned cold in the past few days. "I'll get back to you."
They shook hands.
"It's nice to have you back," Race said.
"It's good to be back," Laurie grinned. "I'll be in touch with you by next week at the latest."
Race nodded. "Like I said, there's no rush. If you need more time to think it through, go ahead."
"All right. Thanks again." She left Race's office with a small smile on her face. And just like that, you're dead, Bannon
* * *
"What if he heard someone moving around in one of these abandoned buildings and went to check it out?" Xander questioned. "They are so many choices that our chances of finding the one he went into are slim."
Dion paused, his eyes skimming the shopping on the street. "Do you think your friend Aaron would help us look?"
"Well, sure, but even he's not going to be enough."
"Even one more is better than just us two," Dion said.
"You're right," Xander agreed as he pulled out his cell phone. "I'll call him."
Thirty minutes later, Aaron joined them. The two quickly went over everything they had deduced since they had last seen the Peacekeeper.
"You two have done a good job," Aaron praised. "You sure don't want to think about joining my Task Force?"
Dion and Xander shook their heads.
"Nah, I think we're both happy with Quinque. At least until the next time Jonny sends us into the fire," Xander quipped.
Aaron laughed. "I was just wondering, did you know he was Jonny Quest before he said something at his father's funeral?"
They both nodded.
"Is it weird not having to call him Apollo all the time any more?" Aaron asked.
"Sometimes," Dion admitted. "Every once in a while it just slips out."
"So, Xand, what's your call sign?" Aaron turned to look at his friend.
"I'm Stick. Dion's Pudge."
"Pudge?" Aaron chuckled.
"Sure, why not?" Dion grinned. "Didn't you ever hear of Ivan 'Pudge' Rodriguez? He won eight straight Golden Glove awards before the fall."
Aaron blinked. "That's quite impressive."
"He was my hero growing up," Dion admitted. "I wanted to play baseball like him. It was my dream to shatter every single one of his records."
"I guess that's not going to happen," Aaron sadly replied. "No thanks to Rage and ruthless dictators like Zin."
Dion's mouth grew tight. "I know. But someday we'll get our world back. And then, Pudge watch out, because I'm going to be going after those records."
The three men laughed.
* * *
Jessie's cell phone rang, pulling her concentration away from the chemicals before her. She silently cursed at the person's ill timing as she carefully placed a flask down on a Bunsen Burner. After five rings, she finally picked the phone up.
"Caroline," she snapped.
"It's Bennett," said the voice on the other end of the phone.
"Oh." Jessie's temper vanished. "What can I do for you, sir?"
"Caroline, I hate to be calling you like this, but something's happened to Race."
Jessie went pale. "What?"
"The doctors aren't sure at this point in time. About twenty minutes ago we were meeting in his office and he went into convulsions. I called the hospital and they sent paramedics to pick him up. I'm sorry, Caroline, but right now it doesn't look good for him."
She blinked back tears. "I'll be right there, sir." Grabbing her coat, she started out the laboratory door.
Less than ten minutes later she was at her father's side. He was pale, shaking, and sweating even in unconsciousness. She laid a hand on his cheek and felt the heat pulsating off his skin.
"Have you discovered anything yet?" She turned toward a doctor.
The doctor shook his head. "We're still running tests, Miss Bannon." He paused. "By the way, I'm Dr. Hernandez."
"Nice to meet you," Jessie said distractedly. "Do you have any ideas on what happened?"
"At this time I'd rather not say, Miss Bannon. I have a few theories and we're busy looking into them."
"Don't worry, Caroline." Bennett's voice filled the room. "He's in the best of hands here." He came to stand next to her. "Have you told Apollo or Sultan yet?"
"Oh!" Jessie's hand flew up to her mouth. "I was in such a hurry to get over here that I completely forgot to call them." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Hadji's number.
"Sultan."
"It's Caroline."
"Caroline, are you crying? What's wrong?" Hadji's voice was full of concern.
"It's Bannon. He's in the hospital."
"I'll be right there," Hadji replied.
She hung up the phone and hit Jonny's number.
"Apollo."
"It's Caroline. Bannon's in the hospital."
"What? When?"
"The doctor's aren't sure what happened, but Bennett said it started about thirty minutes ago. Are you going to come by?"
"I'll be there as soon as I can, Caroline." His voice sounded grim. "There's something I need to do first."
"All right. Sultan and I will be waiting for you."
As she hung up, she grabbed her father's left hand, as if by touching him, she could keep him in the world of flesh and blood with her.
* * *
Jonny resisted the urge to throw his cell phone across the living room. It was a good machine and deserved a better death than being broken during a fit of rage. Once he had gotten his anger under control, he dialed the number to Laurie's apartment. He gave up after ten rings and no answer. Good
He picked up his coat from the back of the chair and headed out into the frosty weather.
* * *
"How much longer are we going to keep looking before we call it a night?" Xander wondered.
"Just one more store," Dion said. "Then we can go home and come back tomorrow." He looked around. "Let's try that old CVS Pharmacy."
Aaron and Xander followed Dion into the building. As they walked in, their eyes grew wide.
"What tornado hit this place?" Xander whispered.
Most of the stores they had entered still looked neat and tidy, as if they were just waiting for their owner to walk back in, if you could discount the cobwebs and dust. Some had been looted through the years. But this place looked as if two Titans had battled within it.
Aaron walked down a few aisles, looking for clues as to what had happened. He suddenly stopped.
"Hey, I think we found the right place." He waved the two over.
Xander and Dion sprinted to his side and then stopped, staring down at the footstep in the puddle of blood. They all could see the perfectly imprinted Nike check mark.
Xander took a few steps back, looking at the items around them. "Okay. So what do we know so far? Ferris was walking to work, hears or sees something coming from this store, comes in to investigate, gets clobbered, and then dragged down to the old OSU campus. Why? Doesn't that seem a bit much for a simple burglar?"
"Why take him down to the campus at all?" Aaron wondered as he pulled out a small camera and took a few pictures. "Why not just leave him here?"
"To throw off suspicion?" Dion said. "Because if his body was found here, then there was a chance that something else could be discovered as well."
"Like what the thief was doing here?" Xander asked. "But how would anyone know if something was missing? There's not exactly someone here to watch the shop."
Aaron looked over at the pharmacy counter. "Because his mother was sick?"
"What?" Both Dion and Xander turned to look at him.
Aaron was already heading over to the counter, his eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of the puzzle. "Whoever Ferris interrupted was making something over here."
Xander and Dion followed Aaron, finally noticing the white powder. Dion was about to touch some of it with a finger when Xander grabbed his hand.
"Don't touch it," Xander warned.
"Why?" Dion asked.
"See those blue flecks?"
Xander and Aaron nodded as they warily eyed the powder.
"It's a chemical developed right before the fall. I don't remember right off hand what it's called, but I'm sure Jessie could tell you more about it if you asked her. But pretty much it's a conductor of sorts."
"Of sorts?" Aaron questioned.
"It helps other chemicals be absorbed into a person's skin."
Dion's eyes grew wide. "That doesn't sound good."
"It's not," Xander replied. "It's not good at all. We've got to get some of this back to Intelligence Command headquarters. Some of the scientist will be able to make heads and tails of this stuff."
"And how exactly are we to do that if we can't touch it?" Aaron wondered.
Xander looked around a swiftly located a plastic spoon and bag. He scooped up a small amount of powder with the spoon and then dumped it all into the bag that Dion held out to him. Dion carefully sealed the bag and then placed it in his jacket pocket.
"Back to IC headquarters?" Dion looked at his teammate.
Xander nodded. "I have the feeling that the sooner we figure out what this stuff is, the better it will be for us all."
The three men headed out into the night.
* * *
Jonny silently thanked Race as he picked the locks on Laurie's apartment. It was completely dark when he entered, and he turned on the flashlight on his watch. You know, you're going to feel really stupid if you're wrong about all this
After a quick cursory glance around the place, he saw nothing odd. But that did not mean anything, not when he had seen as much as he had in his young life. Now where would someone keep a stash of poison? That was the only answer he could think of to Race's sudden "sickness." And he knew that Laurie had had a meeting with Race right before he had fallen ill. The coincidences were just too great.
He made his way to the kitchen, panning the flashlight over the clear, labeled canisters on the counters. Flour, sugar, yeast . . . he stopped. Sugar? The sweet ingredient had been a rarity since the fall. How had Laurie gotten some of it? Pulling the canister closer to him, he looked at the white powder. White powder that had blue specks in it. A feeling of glee went through Jonny's body and he grinned in the darkness. Here was his poison. Now he just had to get back to Intelligence Command with it so they could figure out an antidote.
The sound of Laurie's key in the lock froze him. Immediately he pushed the canister back into place and bolted into the washer and dryer closet, which happened to be at the opposite end of the kitchen. He closed the folding doors just as Laurie walked into the apartment.
She came into the kitchen and Jonny opened the folding doors about a quarter of an inch, just enough that he could see a little. Picking up the phone, she dialed a number, long distance by the number of digits.
"This is Beanbag. I've taken care of Bannon."
Internally, Jonny seethed. Bannon had ordered Quinque to rescue this person only to have her try to kill him? What had happened to her in that prison?
"No, Quinque doesn't suspect a thing. Quest had been dogging my steps, but even he couldn't be with me during the meeting this afternoon." She paused as whoever on the other end of the line said something. "He might suspect, but he has no proof." She paused again. "I know, I'll be careful. I'll give it a few weeks to die down and then go after Bennett. It shouldn't be hard; he's nowhere as cautious as Bannon was. Dulab will fall within the next three months."
Jonny's eyes narrowed. Dulab would fall, would it? He would just have to see about that. And the moment he was out of this apartment, he would go to warn Bennett about Laurie's duplicity.
"Uh huh . . . All right. Beanbag out." She replaced the receiver.
Opening the refrigerator, she pulled out a carrot and headed toward her bedroom. Once she was out of sight, Jonny opened the doors and quietly made his way across the kitchen. He was about to grab the sugar canister again when a noise made him look up at the entrance to the kitchen. Laurie stood in front of him, a gun pointed in his direction.
"I thought I heard a rat," she sneered. "Back away from that, Quest."
Jonny raised his hands and slowly turned toward her. "What happened to you, Laurie? Why are you working for Zin?"
"Give me your watch, Quest." Laurie held out her free hand. "And no tricks."
With a sigh, Jonny removed his watch and put it in her hand. Immediately, Laurie let it fall to the floor and then she stepped on it, breaking it into pieces that skittered across the kitchen floor.
"Hey." Jonny could not hold in the cry.
"Stay right there," Laurie commanded. "You want to know why I'm working for Zin?"
Jonny nodded.
"You can keep wondering, then. Maybe I'll tell you someday. But right now we're leaving this apartment before someone notices your tracker isn't functioning anymore." She paused. "Turn around." He stayed still. "Turn around, Quest."
Reluctantly he did as ordered. He tensed when he heard her nearing. And then all went black as she hit him in the back of the head with the butt of her gun.
* * *
Xander, Dion, and Aaron walked through the double white doors of the laboratory. Two guards on the other side immediately turned toward them, their hands automatically moving toward their guns.
"State your call sign and Task Force," the guard on the right commanded.
"Stick, Quinque."
"Pudge, Quinque."
"Big Mac, Peacekeeper."
Xander and Dion chuckled at Aaron's call sign. Aaron shot them both a dark look and they quieted.
"Is Jessie Bannon here?" Xander asked the guards. "We need to talk to her."
The guard on the right shook his head. "No, she bolted out of here about forty minutes ago. Would you like to talk to someone else?"
Dion pulled out the bag with the powder in it.
"We need to find someone who can help us identify what this is," Xander said, taking the bag from his teammate.
The guards looked at the bag and then at each other.
"Dr. Kensington?" The other guard suggested.
The one who had spoken to them first nodded. "He'd be a good choice." He looked back at the three men. "Stay here, I'll go find Dr. Kensington for you."
Xander and Dion exchanged quick glances as the guard rounded a corner.
"Why do you think Jessie took off? I thought she would spend as much time in here as she could before we were called out on a mission again," Xander said. "I wonder what could have happened to make her change her mind."
Dion shrugged. "Why don't you give her a call?"
Xander nodded. "Good idea." Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out his cell phone. He was just about to dial her number when the guard returned with a tall, black haired man in tow.
"This is Dr. Kensington," the guard introduced.
"Hi. I understand you have something to show me?"
"Yes." Xander handed him the bag. "We found this and were wondering exactly what it was. And even more important than that perhaps, we want to know what it does."
The doctor took the bag and peered at its contents. After a few moments, he looked back at the three.
"Where did you find this?" He wondered.
Quickly Xander told the doctor about the pharmacy.
The doctor scratched his chin. "I'll have to run a few tests to make sure, but right off hand I'd say it's some sort of poison."
Xander, Dion, and Aaron went pale.
"I think now would definitely be a good time to call Caroline," Dion stated.
* * *
Jessie sighed and rubbed one side of her face. The doctors still claimed to be running tests on Race's blood. In other words, they had no idea as to what was wrong with him. She closed her eyes and allowed herself the faint hope that when she opened them, she would also see her father sitting up.
Hadji laid a hand on her shoulder, lending her quiet strength.
"He'll be all right, Jessie," he said, trying to comfort her. "He's been through worse than this before."
Jessie nodded and opened her eyes. "I know."
Suddenly, alarms split the air as the lines monitoring Race Bannon's heartbeat went completely flat.