Radly Johnson

by Dotti

Lucas's past is revealed when the SeaQuest resuces a shuttle.

Lucas Wolenczak sat staring at the metal framework of his room aboard seaQuest. As he lay on his bed, his mind wandered to his time spent on the SeaQuest. Lucas found himself putting his hand into the front pocket of his denim jeans, where he knew he would find his wallet… And with it, a lot of memories. Just then a beeping sound filled the room, snapping his mind back to reality. It was his PAL. Lucas forced the wallet back into his back pocket and slowly sat up.

    "Lucas here," Lucas called out into the PAL.

   "Lucas, we need you here on the Bridge. One of the computers has gone down again, can you come and fix it, if you're not too busy?" Lucas recognised the voice as the Captain of the UEO flagship, Nathan Bridger.

   "Yeah, I'm coming," Lucas spoke into the PAL.

   "Thanks, Lucas," Came the relived voice. "Bridger out!"

    Turning the PAL off, Lucas sighed and swung his leg over the side of the bunk, and landed in a heap of clothes and stuff that Lucas couldn't begin to guess was there. Fighting his way out of the 'organised chaos' Lucas called his room, he began making his way to the bridge.

    Lucas crept up to the Captain, who was talking to Commander Jonathon Ford. As Nathan Bridger had his back to Lucas, Lucas crept behind the Captain and said in a loud voice,

   "So what's the problem?"

   The Captain jumped, startled and Lucas tried very hard to stop the laughter that threatened to erupt inside of him.

"The main computer in C deck has gone down again, can you go and fix it, please?" the Captain asked a groggy-looking Lucas.

       Luca just yawned, nodded his head and Lucas plodded off to C deck. Nathan smiled at the sleepy teenager before turning to the rest of the bridge. Nathan opened his mouth to speak when a voice interrupted him; it was Tim O'Neill, the SeaQuest's communications expert.

    "Sir, we are picking up a distress call from a near-by sub." Tim looked at Bridger for his next instructions.

    "On screen, Mr O'Neill!" Bridger commanded.

    "Aye, aye, Sir" Was the response.

    Now everyone's attention was on the screen as a man came onto the screen. The man had mousy-brown hair and blue eyes; he was wearing black denim jeans and a black top, looking like a bank robber, or a terrorist of some sort. Across his head was a huge cut that was bleeding heavily.

  'He reminds me of someone, but I can't think who.' Nathan Bridger pondered, but he quickly dismissed the thought as the man started to speak.

    "My name is Radly Johnson and my crew and I are in desperate need of your help. We have some people who are very sick. Help us please, let us come aboard."

    "I am Nathan Bridger of the UEO Flagship, SeaQuest. We have your co-ordinates locked and we will guide you to our current position. How did your ship and crew become hurt?"

 To the SeaQuest he says, "Thank you, for your hospitality, and we have your co-ordinates. We will be boarding shortly."

    The vid-link closes and Nathan turns to his crew and says,

   "OK, people we have a situation. Get a med team and security team to Launch Bay 1, immediately."

   With that, Nathan left the Bridge, after making a mental note to see Lucas.

    Down at Launch Bay 1, the hatch opens and through it, the man from the vid-link comes down the stairs carrying a very sick boy. He looked to be 5 or 6 years old and was shivering a lot. Then it clicked in Nathan's mind why the man looked so familiar; he looked like an older version of Lucas, except Lucas had blonde hair, was a bit smaller than the man standing before him. Nathan gasped at the man before helping him along to med-bay.

      Questions raced around Nathan's mind, who were these people? Why were they so badly injured? Why did the man on the vid-link, Radly Johnson, look so much like Lucas?

    Nathan realised that there weren't many people aboard the ship they had rescued, there were only 4 people including Radly and the boy. Nathan made up his mind to see Radly, as he seemed to be the one in charge of the ship and the crew, and also how did the ship get to be so damaged, it certainly wasn't done by on a fishing accident. It looked more like someone had been ramming into the side of the sub.

*****

      Lucas made his way to C deck after seeing the Captain.

'Oh great, another computer failure, I thought I fixed one of those the other week.' Lucas shrugged his shoulders and found the computer he was looking for.

     3 hours later, Lucas had completed his task and headed back to his room. As he walked down the corridor, his mind began to wander again to the time spent on the SeaQuest and that eventually led to the time off the SeaQuest; his family. Lucas reached his room without him even realising he had done so. He entered his room and lay down on his bed, still thinking about his family.

'Why did they have to leave me? ALL of them! Why doesn't Radly trust me any more?  I didn't do anything wrong.'

     Lucas could fight off the tears no more and as he wept quietly, he reached into his pocket and found his one comforter, the one thing that would always cheer him up; it was a photo of a girl, a younger version of the pilot, a friend of Lucas's, a boy and himself, all, except the eldest boy, were smiling into the camera, there arms flung around each other, as though they had not a care in the world.

    The girl in the picture had blonde hair, like Lucas's, only hers went back into a ponytail. She was wearing denim jeans, a green T-shirt and an over shirt. She looked to be about 7 or 8. The other boy was wearing a blue shirt and white trousers and he had dark brown hair. He had his arms draped around the girl and Lucas. The friend was dressed similarly to the pilot. The other boy, who was the eldest, was different. Unlike the others, who were smiling, he wore a cold expression, and was wearing dark clothes. He stood apart from the others, as though he was allergic to them.

   Lucas suddenly felt very sleepy at that moment and, within five minutes, he had fallen asleep with the picture still in his hand.

*****

    Later on, Nathan Bridger got a call from med-bay announcing that Radly Johnson was up and about and wanted to talk to himself and the Bridge crew that was on the scene when the sub was brought onto the SeaQuest. On hearing this, Nathan called a meeting in the wardroom. Although the time was 12:00 in the morning, most of the crew were asleep and had to be awakened.

     When Nathan got to the wardroom, he found Radly already in the wardroom with all the Bridge crew minus Tony Piccolo and Ben Krieg. While they waited for the two remaining crewmembers, Nathan waltzed up to Radly and started to chat with him.

      "So, how's your head, Radly?" Nathan asked.

    "Much better, Sir, thank-you for asking," Radly replied, a bit nervously.

   Now that Radly was closer, he could see a definite resemblance to Lucas. He was going to question Radly further, when the door burst open and in burst the two late crewmembers. Nathan raised his eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

    "Now that everyone's here, we can begin." Nathan began. "Now you all know that Radly Johnson, here, has been rescued by the SeaQuest. Now Radly is going to tell you about what happened to him, but requested your presence." To Radly he says, "They're all yours!"

      Radly looked a bit paler than he did when he came into the room, but stood at the head of the table and began to speak.

     "Now, as you have heard, my names Radly and, although you may not believe it, I am a Secret Agent. Approximately a week ago, my headquarters assigned me a job.

  Flash-back (One week ago)

In an apartment, in LA, we can see Radly playing with his son, Josh (the boy who Radly was carrying down from Launch Bay). They both look happy and from behind a newspaper a man smiled at them. The phone rang in the other room and the man from behind the newspaper got up to answer it.

End of Flashback.

(Present day)

"After that phone call, nothing has been the same. It was Headquarters. They wanted me and Mackie, my co-pilot, were to go undercover. My wife, Sarah and my son, Josh was to go with me.

     We got to the base to collect data for Headquarters and we thought we had gotten away with it. There were some shady characters in that place but soon we had all the data we needed. We were all packed up and ready to leave ASAP.

But Mackie and my ex-partner, Logan who had defected close to a year ago, blew our cover. He saw us and recognised us immediately. We tried to escape but they just held us hostage for about a week, they tortured us, tried to make us talk. But we didn't and they kept on torturing us.

     We managed to escape but the enemy tried to bomb us, missed us but an inch. They constantly bashed into the side of the sub. We sent out a radio distress call and the rest, as they say, is history. The enemy retreated, probably thought we wouldn't survive for long with the fuel as low as it was.

    But now we need your help because the enemy are searching for us and we need to find out as much info as possible on this island as possible, and we can't do this on our own. I want none of the information I have just told you to leak out of this room, this is classified information, OK?"

     The Bridge crew looked at Radly in shock, not quite wanting to believe what they had just heard, but nodded anyway.

      "This base that you were held hostage in, where was it?" Nathan queried.

     "It is an island called Honolulu. Not many people have heard of, or know much about it, which is why the island made such a good cover for them." Radly replied, he had kept a poker face throughout the whole explanation.

   "Well I know someone on this ship that could help you, but he isn't in this room, he's usually on this bridge crew, too. Do you mind if we bring him into this?" Nathan was, of course, thinking of Lucas.

    "Is he good?" Radly looked unsure as he asked the question.

    "He's the best in his field." Nathan said, then he added, "You might know him, his name's Lucas Wolenczak."

    Radly stiffened at the name, as though he did know him but replied barely above a whisper,

    "No, I don't know anyone with that name. Dismissed."

   After everyone had left the room, he didn't notice one person still in the room until he started to speak.

     "I heard what you said about Lucas." Radly spun around, startled, but quickly regained his poker face when he saw who it was.

     "Mackie, don't do that to me! When did you get released from med-bay? I didn't hear you come in." Radly stated accusingly.

     "When are you gong to stop pretending he doesn't exist? It's been how long? 7 years now is it?" Mackie asked.

    "8 years today." Radly interrupted.

    "OK, 8 years and you two still…"

    "Listen, what I do with my life is my business, it's my problem and it's got nothing to do with you!" Radly shouted.

    "Well, if it's my problem or not, it's not fair on Lucas, he's the one getting hurt, he's the one…" Mackie shouted back.

    "He's the one who needs to apologise to me!" Radly shouted, he turned and stormed out of the room.

    Mackie looked at the door in which Radly had stormed out of and sighed.

    'When will he learn? Problems don't solve themselves, they need to be worked on before anyone can hope to achieve anything,' Mackie thought to himself, he couldn't help but add,    'Radly didn't half look like Lucas when he stormed out of here!' Chuckling slightly, Mackie left the room and headed back to his temporary quarters, relived to be resting.

****

      Lucas woke up, startled, wondering what had woken him up. Then he heard the sound that had woken him up; someone was knocking on the door. Lucas groaned and called out,

   "I'll be there in a sec!"

   Quickly getting changed, Lucas poked his head round the door. It was Nathan Bridger.

    "Can I come in?" Nathan asked.

    "Yeah, if your sure you can get out again." Lucas looked around the room. It was, as usual, a tip.

     Nathan looked in and grimaced.

     "I see what you mean," Nathan agreed.

     Nathan walked into the room, almost tripping over a buried object that lay in his path.

     "So, is this a social visit, or what?" Lucas asked, his mind thinking back to his recent hacking exploitations, he hadn't been caught, or even detected, well, as far as he could tell.

'Oh god, I hope I'm not in trouble' Lucas thought.

     "No, this time I need you to find out some information on an island called Honolulu." Nathan said. "Can you do it?"

     Lucas let a breath that he didn't even know he was holding, slowly out.

      "Honolulu? Doesn't sound too hard." Lucas thought over in his head. "Any particular reason, or is it classified?"

'Not that it would have made much difference if it was' Lucas thought.

      Nathan began to tell him of the happenings since he had left the Bridge that morning and about Radly's meeting in the wardroom, but he left the pilot's name out of it. When Nathan had finished, Lucas said

      "I'll get right on it. Anything else I should know?"

      "No, that's all, thanks, Lucas." Nathan turned to go, but then turned towards Lucas, who was already booting up the computer and said. "You know, Lucas there is something I forgot to mention, the pilot." At this Lucas gave the Captain his full attention. "He looked a looked a lot like you and his name was Radly Johnson."

  Lucas felt his blood run cold and his muscles tense up at the name. Lucas put on his expressionless face and replied,

      "Thanks, I'll see if it will help."

      With that, Lucas turned back to his computer and started to type. Nathan left Lucas's quarters, feeling like there was something missing; Lucas knew Radly and Radly knew Lucas, so why did they act like they didn't know each other? Nathan had some questions he wanted answered and decided next time he checked on Lucas's progress, he would ask him about Radly.

****

      Radly was mad. Why did Mackie need to sort out all his problems? He would deal with them in his own way and in his own time. The rational part of Radly reasoned that with him that Mackie only wanted to help, but the other side said that Mackie was being far too personal. Pushing all thoughts from his mind, Radly paced around his quarters.

     Going down to the Mess a couple of hours later, Radly met some of the Bridge crew that had been at the Ward room meeting, they were chatting and joking. Radly pushed all the memories that were creeping to the surface, away.

     The group spotted Radly and came over to him.

     "Hi," Radly said nervously.

     "Hi, my name's Katie and we were wondering, as you don't know anyone here, would you like to join us?" Katie asked.

      "Yeah, sure, er, why not?" Radly stammered and followed Katie to where her friends were seated.

      "OK, lets all introduce ourselves, folks. To my left is Ben, Miguel, Tim, Tony and Jonathon," Katie informed him.

      Radly was nervous at first, but as the group started to talk, he gradually eased up and was soon having the time of his life, laughing and joking. Just then he heard a voice calling his name.

      "Radly, there you are. I've been looking all over for you!" It was Mackie.

      "Oh hi, Mackie. Come here, I'd like to introduce you to some of the crew members I met today."

      Introductions were made and the conversation started up again.

      "So Radly, where are you from? I mean, if it isn't too personal," Ben asked, curiosity finally getting the better of him.

      "Nah, I don't mind answering most questions you ask, just not about my job," Radly chose his words carefully. "I'm from Buffalo, and I've lived there for a fair while."

      Nathan Bridger walked up to the group with a worried look on his face and asked

      "Has anyone seen Lucas recently?"

      Everyone shook their heads and Nathan rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

      Muttering under his breath, Nathan grabbed a tray full of food and walked off in the direction of Lucas's room. Jonathon happened to glance at his watch and almost did a double take.

      "Well, I don't know about anyone else but I've got a shift to go to, nice meeting you, Radly. See ya'." They shook hands and Jonathon left.

      "Hey that reminds me, I got a poker game on tonight, anyone wanna come?" Tony asked.

      There was a chorus of yes's and Tony and Katie left to go to there shift.

      "I better go and tell Lucas, anyone wanna come?" Ben asked.

      "Yeah, why not." Tim volunteered. "Do you two want to come with us, I don't think you've met Lucas yet?"

      "Yeah, come on. Then we can annoy him afterwards!" Miguel said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

      "I, er, I…I think I've got a head ache coming on, so I'd better not go," Radly stammered.

      "Radly, we need to talk, alone if you don't mind," Mackie said with a glance at the three remaining crewmembers.

      "Yeah, sure, no problemo." Ben stated, "Are you coming with us, Mackie?"

      "Yeah, I'll catch up with you." Mackie replied.

      When they had left, Mackie turned to Radly, with a look of disgust and said

      "You really are something, you know that? First of all you act like you don't know Lucas, who doesn't even know you're here and now you don't want to even see him. I mean come on, it's not like you don't know him, you just don't want to know him." Then he softened his tone and said "Why don't you just speak to him. Lucas is a brilliant kid, if you just trust him…"

      "You think it's that easy, don't you. Go up to him and say, 'Oh hi Lucas, sorry I haven't spoken to you in 8 years, it's just that I didn't, and still don't, want to know you'."

      "Well, it's your loss, but I'm just trying to look out for you and Lucas, cos I don't want to see either of you getting hurt, OK."

      Radly just grunted a reply, looking at everyone and everything, except Mackie.

      "Well, I gotta go. See ya'."

      "Yeah, see ya'."

      Mackie left Radly sitting at the table, sighing, he turned and went to catch up with the waiting crewmembers.

****

      Lucas watched the codes flash up in front of his eyes as he attempted to find some information on Honolulu. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten in a while. Lucas checked his watch and blanched. He had been working on this project for seven and a half hours!

'Wow, no wonder I'm so hungry.' Lucas thought. As if on que, there came a knock on the door.

      "Who is it?" Lucas called out.

     "Room service!" Came the sarcastic reply.

      "Come in," Lucas rolled his eyes at the answer.

      "I thought you might be hungry," the voice belonged to Nathan Bridger, of course.

      "Yeah, just a bit." Lucas looked at the food once before digging right in.

      "I'd best be off to my shift, now." Nathan told the teen.

      "Yeah, thanks for the food." Lucas had now finished the food; his attention was now refocused on the screen in front of him.

      He was concentrating too hard on Lucas and didn't notice Ben, Tim, Miguel and Mackie and crashed right into them outside Lucas's room.

      "Sorry about that. I wasn't concentrating on where I was going." Nathan hastily left the corridor and went to his own quarters to catch up on some urgently needed sleep.

      The foursome knocked loudly on Lucas's door and, after an eternity, heard a muffled 'Come in.'

      "Hey Luke, whatcha doing?" Ben asked.

      "Don't call me that." Was the gruff response.

      "Well, we got a poker game going on tonight, you wanna come?"

      "Maybe, if I can finish this work that Bridger asked me to do for him."

      Ben swung Lucas's chair around so Lucas was facing him and he couldn't see the computer.

      "There, that's better." Ben said.

      Before Ben could say anything, Mackie interrupted what Ben might have been about to say.

      "Hi, Lucas."

      Lucas looked at Mackie in shock as he remembered who he was.

     "Mackie? What are you doing here?" Lucas joyfully asked before running and hugging the man.

     Mackie, chuckling, said

     "Nice to see you too! Did you ear about the sub that went down from your Captain, that the SeaQuest helped to rescue?"

      "Yeah, that was yours?" Lucas said shocked.

      "Yep." Lucas looked down at this.

      "You two know each other?" Ben cut in.

      "Yeah, we lived next door to Lucas for a while, until I was called away." Mackie explained.

      "Anyway, I gotta go, I'm a bit tired and I wont be able to stay up for that poker game tonight, if I don't get some sleep!" Miguel explained after a few minutes chatting with his friends.

     Ben looked at his watch.

     "Yeah, I'd bet be off too, I'll see you two at the poker game later."

     After the two crewmembers left, Mackie turned to Lucas and said

      "What's wrong? And before you say nothing, I know there is so don't tell me otherwise," Mackie sternly told the teen, who seemed to take an interest at his shoelaces.

      "Well, does Radly know I'm here?" Lucas said, his face still turned towards his shoe.

      Mackie closed his eyes, this was the question he had been dreading the most.

      "Yeah he knows," Mackie spoke so softly, it was barely above a whisper.

      "Oh." Was Lucas's only response.

     "Did I tell you about him and Sarah?" Mackie asked, trying to get the teen to start a conversation.

      "No, what happened?" Lucas mumbled into the floor.

      "They had a boy, called him Josh. He's 6 years old now." Mackie said, matter of factly.

      "Figures they didn't tell me," Lucas muttered, then he looked up. "Why does Radly hate me?"

      Mackie walked up to where Lucas was sitting and gathered him into a bear-tight hug. Lucas couldn't fight the tears welling up inside of him anymore and gently let them spill over. Mackie murmured comforting remarks and gradually Lucas's breathing slowed up. Lucas looked up and murmured embarrassedly

      "Thanks."

      Mackie could have cried because the look Lucas gave him was heart breaking.

      "It's not your fault that Radly doesn't like you, it's his own fault. Radly needs a little time to sort things out…"

      "Little time? How long does he need? I've waited for 8 years; he doesn't want to speak to me, or anything. It's all my fault," Lucas whispered.

      "Not it's not…"

      "Yes it is, I think he still blames me for what happened to Matt." Lucas looked a bit angry, but more hurt than anything else.

      "That wasn't even your fault!" Mackie said consolingly.

      Just then an alarm went off and Lucas looked at it in astonishment.

      "Yikes! Listen, I gotta go, my shift starts now." Lucas quickly explained.

      "Yeah, I'll catch you later at the poker game." Mackie said leaving.

      "See ya' then. Bye." Lucas called as he ran down the corridor to the Bridge.

      'Well now, that was fun,' Mackie thought sarcastically, more seriously he thought, 'Oh Radly, what have you done?"

****

      At the poker game, Mackie noticed that Radly was all ready sitting down, chatting to various crewmembers when he came in. Mackie sat down next to him.

      "So, have you spoken to him yet." Mackie queried, knowing full well what the answer was.

      "No." Came the short reply.

      Mackie sighed and tried again.

      "When are you going to?" Mackie asked.

      "Listen, I don't see what business it is of yours. Lucas…" Radly began.

      "…Will be here tonight, so you can talk to him then." Mackie interrupted.

      The door opened again to reveal Lucas, Wendy, whom they had met when they were rushed down to med bay and Tony. Lucas was a bit surprised to see Radly there, but carried on chatting to Tony.

      "OK, are we all here? Good. Now, for the new people here, just say your name, right." Krieg stated. "I'll start, my name's Ben Krieg."

      "Jonathon Ford"

      "Lonnie Henderson"

      "Wendy Smith"

      "Lucas Wolenczak"

      "Tony Piccolo"

      "Miguel Ortiz"

      "Roy McKinnon, but everyone calls me Mackie"

      "Radly Johnson."

      "Katie Hitchcock"

      "Ok, so does everyone know how to play poker?" As no one said no, Ben continued. "OK, lets play poker!"

      Radly and Mackie weren't surprised to see the captain wasn't there, but didn't raise any objections. As the night went on and everyone overcame their shyness, the crew became more talkative and began to swap stories. Mackie tried to get Radly to talk to Lucas, but to no avail.

      After a while, alarms started to ring for various shifts. As Lucas, Tony and Wendy got up to leave, Mackie nudged Radly in the side, making the man gasp with pain. Mackie ignored the dark look that Radly was sending him and nodded his head at Lucas. He got the message and he and Mackie excused themselves and ran to catch up with Lucas.

      "Lucas, wait up," Radly called after Lucas.

      Lucas turned around and saw who it was calling his name. He turned to Tony and Wendy and said

      "See ya' later, I got a few things to sort out here."

      He waited for the pair to catch up.

      "What do you want?" Lucas asked Mackie, his guards well up.

      "To talk to you." Mackie reasoned. Lucas nodded and looked wearily at Radly, as if he was going to grow another head or something.

      "OK, you two haven't talked in 8 years and I think it's time you two apologised to each other," Mackie said in his best peacemaker voice. "Please?"

      "I'm not apologising till he does!" Radly sounded like a spoilt four years old.

      "And I'm not apologising till he does!" Lucas piped up.

      The tension between the pair was as thick a knife.

      "Why don't you want to apologise?" Mackie said trying to smooth things over. The question caught Radly and Lucas off their guard, but they recovered quickly.

      "It's his fault, he's the one who started it!" Radly exploded.

      "No, it's not." Lucas defended himself.

     "Is too."

     "Is not.

     "Is too."

     "Is not."

     "ALRIGHT that's enough! The both of you. You're behaving like a bunch of kids!" Mackie shouted. This shut them up.

      They waited until a group of people passed by, before continuing.

      "I'm fed up of everyone trying to control my life, everything I do…" Radly exploded.

      "Join the club," Lucas muttered.

      "And what are you even doing here Dizzy? I thought you were still in Buffalo." Radly continued as if he hadn't heard Lucas's comment. Lucas looked angry at the nickname.

      "Well, you can ask my 'so-called-father'. He's the one who dumped me here and don't call me that." Lucas retorted. "And if you think your so big, then what's this about?"

      Lucas showed Radly a photo that Mackie couldn't see, and Radly turned a deathly white and said

      "Where did you get these? You stole them from me didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" Radly was really mad now.

      "No, you left them lying in my room actually." Lucas said innocently. "And I've got copies so I could easily do some more."

      Mackie was trying not to crack up laughing, as he had a vague idea about what the photos contained and it was not a good thing for someone like Lucas to have. The captain down the corridor, alerted by the shouting.

      "Is everything alright?" Nathan said suspiciously.

      Radly looked VERY angry, Lucas looked sweet and innocent and Mackie was just trying not to laugh.

      "Oh, nothings wrong, we just had a… difference of opinion!" Lucas explained, looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. "Would you look at the time, I gotta get to the Bridge."

      The Captain went back into the rec. room and Lucas headed off to the Bridge, leaving a very angry looking Radly and a laughing Mackie. Radly turned to Mackie,

      "You think this is funny, don't you? Well, it's not. Those photos are very embarrassing." Radly demanded.

      "Of all the places you could have left them, you had to leave them in your kid brothers room!" Mackie spluttered with laughter.

      Radly scowled at him before replying

      "Don't remind me," and with that, he walked off to his quarters.

****

      Nathan walked to the Bridge after Lucas's shift was done to talk to the teen. Lucas was so involved in winding up Tony; he didn't notice the captain until he had bumped into him!

      "Sorry Captain, I didn't see you there!" Lucas asked embarrassed.

      "So I gathered." The Captain asked. "I need to speak to you, alone."

      "Sure, no prob." They stepped into Lucas's untidy quarters and Nathan sat on the chair while Lucas cleared a space on his bed. "What's it about this time? I'm still working on the island, but I should have some more info for you by the meeting tomorrow."

      "Thank you, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to talk to you about Radly Johnson. Now it's obvious to me and the rest of the crew that you know Radly, and he knows you, but what I can't understand why you don't admit to knowing Radly and vice versa."

       "Well, it's kind of hard for me to explain…" Lucas stumbled on. "You can't tell anyone what I am about to tell you. Promise?"

      "Promise."

      Lucas had begun to pace, but sat down when he started to explain. He sighed.

      "Well, it's like this. Radly's my brother, but there's more. The Wolenczaks aren't my parents either.

My parents are Marie and Stuart Jones. They live in Buffalo now, but they couldn't look after Radly, Matt, Lucy and me so they gave us up for adoption when Lucy and me (we were twins) was 3, Radly was 10 and Matt was 14 years old. They used to live in Pennsylvania.

So we were put into different homes and families. We still remembered each other, and Radly and Matt snuck out each weekend s that they could to see me in Buffalo.

Then Matt's foster parents were murdered and Matt moved in with Radly. But the people thought that Matt had murdered his foster parents, no thanks to his foster sister, Leanne, who said he was crazy.

She turned the whole city against him and in the end, he moved in with Radly's family. The violence escalated so much, that Radly's family had to move to Buffalo.

Well, Radly's family had no idea me and Lucy existed so they moved in next door to us. Lu and me were thrilled and we were more like a family than ever.

Then I introduced Mackie to the 'family'. He was the same age as Radly and they got on well together. When Matt came of age, Matt got a house and let the whole family, minus our parents, to stay there.

It was great, but we needed money so we got it by setting up our own detective agency. That was brilliant, and we made a great team, so great that Radly and Mackie got offered a position in the Secret Service.

After that Radly and Mackie hardly came back after that, we had been really close and suddenly the two of them had gone. Lucy and me had lived in the house for 4 years and Lucy missed them the most out of us all. She started going crazy with grief, so crazy that one night she disappeared altogether. We still haven't found any trace of her today, but I think she's still alive.

Radly and Mackie turned up briefly to the funeral; they had changed so much since the last time me and Matt had seen them. They didn't stay long though. Straight after the funeral, they too disappeared without a trace. We occasionally got a note from the pair, but that was on a very rare occasion.

Matt started to act strangely, a few months after Lucy's death. At first I ignored it, blamed it on the grief for Lucy, but after a while, he too started going crazy. He used to shout at me for no reason and then apologise later. I could tell something was wrong, but I didn't want to say anything. I'd gotten closer to Matt in the time spent without Radly and Mackie and I knew he was scared of losing me; after all, everyone else in his life had been killed or disappeared.

Matt grew crazier by the day and then he began to hit me. I didn't know what to do, so I didn't do anything. Big mistake. We used to argue a lot and it usually ended with me being pushed down the stairs, or something to that effect. But still I didn't tell anyone.

Until one night, Matt locked me in the basement for about three days. I got my dog to bring me food and stuff and eventually found an underground passage that because the house was so old, it still had an underground cavern that lead to the beach and the nearby cliff. I camped out therefore a while, but decided to go home. I got home and found that Matt had gone crazy. He started to hit me and wouldn't stop. I yelled for him to stop and he listened to me, but then Radly and Mackie came in that moment and they called the police. I never saw Matt again.

Radly and Mackie looked after me, but they weren't there most of the time. And then I did some thing that made Radly hate me and still haven't forgiven me for today.

I accidentally got involved with an underground version of the MOB that the government didn't even know about. They needed some information on a place and they were offering a large sum of money. I figured that Radly and Mackie wouldn't mind so I worked for them. I didn't know they were the bad guys, or else I wouldn't have worked for them.

I found out they were planning to assassinate the head of the CIA. I knew why they had recruited me then and I contacted Radly and Mackie as fast as I could and managed to stop the assassination with the help of Radly and Mackie's cronies. Radly still hasn't forgiven me today. These guys were professionals and had assassinated hundreds of people, it was an international gang and we cracked them wide open.

Radly hated me. He blamed me for the break up in our families and everything else that went wrong in his life. Except now he's got a wife and he doesn't even want to know me any more." Nathan could hear the bitterness and resentment in Lucas's voice. "I mean, Radly, he's changed. Mackie's still the same, luckily. When I tried to kill myself, Radly disowned me completely. That was before he put me in adoption and I got sent to the Wolenczaks."

Nathan was shocked at what he had just heard, but had to ask.

      "Lucas, you said 'I knew why they had recruited me', what did you mean by that and why didn't you go to the police when matt was…well, hitting you?"

      "Well, I'd been caught by the police 16 times before, I don't think they'd believe me, do you?" At Nathan's shocked look Lucas added, "The charges were dropped at least 10 times though."

      "What? Why didn't you tell me?" Nathan asked.

      "I thought you would have been ashamed of me, and…and…" Lucas's once confident voice turned into sobs, and as Nathan held him closer towards him, he could feel the teen tense up, but then relax.

      "I'm here for you kiddo, I would never leave you." Nathan comforted him and gradually Lucas's sobs softened and died.

      "You wont tell, will you?" Lucas asked wearily.

      "Not if you don't want me to, I wont." Nathan smiled and so did Lucas.

      Tim's voice echoed over the ship at that moment.

      "We have a code red, I repeat we have a code red!"

      Nathan and Lucas ran to the Bridge and joined Tim O'Neill at the station.

      "What's the situation, Mr O'Neill?" Nathan calmly asked.

      "We have a enemy ship within firing range, they have loaded their torpedoes, Sir." Tim replied.

      "Hail them." Nathan ordered.

      "Aye, aye, Sir." Was the response.

      Radly and Mackie came in just then. Commander Ford quickly briefed them of the SeaQuest's situation. Radly gave Lucas a long, hard look, which Lucas returned. Beside them Mackie sighed.

      A face came onto the central screen, which made Radly pale slightly and made Mackie and Lucas look shocked.

      "Matt." Was the only thing Lucas muttered.

      "Ah, Captain Nathan Bridger, I presume?"

      Nathan nodded.

      "Now, I hear you have two Secret Service agents that these people want back."

      Then Matt looked at the crew and was shocked to see Lucas, Radly and Mackie staring in shock at him.

      "Lucas? Radly? Mackie?" Matt asked confused. "Is that really you?"

      "Sure is, Matt!" Lucas had cheered up a lot. "What are you doing?"

      "Well, I'm just doing what these guys are telling me to. I don't actually want to be here, only they said that I could see you and Lucy if I do this. This is so cool!" Then he turned to Radly and Mackie and coldly said, "Well if so good of you two to join us. Why did you leave us?"

      "It was work, you see, we had commitments and…"

      Lucas started to mock Radly behind his back.      "What about family commitments? You left us and you promised not do that. You promised." Matt suddenly yelled.

      'This is bad. Matt's freaking out, he always listened to me when we were younger, maybe he still will.' Lucas thought.

      "I mean, don't you remember the detective agency, the pranks we used to play, the fun we used to have, the holidays we used to go on…" Matt sounded half mad with anger.

      "The roach hotel we stayed in.' Lucas laughed.

      Matt, Mackie and Lucas laughed, while Radly tried to explain,

      "That was not my fault. OK it had a few roaches in, what difference does a few roaches make?"

       "Oh, a few we could handle no problem, but that many was ridiculous." Mackie managed to get out.

      "OK, so I made a mistake, mistakes happen and anyone can make them. But you guys came out all right, right?"

      Lucas had sobered up and whispered something so that only Radly could hear. He turned to Lucas, his face a mixture of shock and angriness, but Lucas had moved to the other side of the Captain, away from the pair.

      "Anyway, these guys wanted me to say that we are coming aboard, OK. Oh and they've got guns, so be careful." Matt warned.

      "Will do, thanks for the warning. Out." Radly cut the connection.

      "Get a SWAT team and meet me outside Launch Bay 1, pronto." Mackie ordered.

      Walking down the corridor to the Launch Bay, the Captain thought back to what Lucas had told him. He still couldn't believe it, Lucas involved in an assassination attempt? Well, like the song goes, 'It's all bout the money'.

      As the crewmembers walked to the launch bay, they were a little afraid of what they might see. But they had a job to do, so they had to put all emotions behind them.

      At the Launch Bay, everyone was working as normal so Jonathon Ford evacuated everyone out of the bay, they couldn't afford to risk losing any lives. Lucas had been told to stay on the Bridge. The men positioned themselves by the hatch and blocked off the passage that led onto the twisting, turning corridors of the SeaQuest.

      As the hatch of the Launch Bay opened, everyone tensed and held their breath. It was utter chaos as the sound of shots being fired filled the air. Men were falling down everywhere, on both sides. Then the a voice shouted,

      "Nobody moves or he gets it!"

      The hostage was Mackie. Matt appeared from somewhere and stood by the hatch.

      "Get back in the hatch, now. That's an order!" The leader of this operation commanded from where he was holding Mackie.

      Matt faded into the hatch. Not a trace of emotion showed on Mackie's face as a gun was forced onto his temple. Not one person moved.

      "Now I want Radly Johnson over here now," he commanded.

      The leader was wearing clothes, like a burglar would, not one part of his body was showing. The others were similarly dressed and also held weapons in their hands. Radly moved over to where the leader was, and giving Mackie a thanks-a-lot look, placed his gun on the floor and turned to face the crew.

      "Now, I want the rest of you over there, quickly now! Move it, move it, move it!"

        The scared crewmembers backed up against the wall and sat down on the floor, after surrendering their weapons. The SeaQuest was in danger of being taken over, Nathan could only pray for a miracle. The mercenaries were guarding them too closely, and they had too many casualties to run. Nathan closed his eyes.

       The leader backed down the aisle he had created and carefully pointed the gun at Radly's head. He motioned for them both to follow him, but instead of heading into the shuttle, he headed towards the door leading to the many turning corridors and onto SeaQuest.

       He had his back to the door and so he didn't see the shadowy figure standing behind him, the fire extinguisher held in both hands. The leader didn't know what hit him. He crashed to the floor, unconscious.

      Radly and Mackie turned round and were amazed to see Lucas standing there, the fire extinguisher still in his hands.

      "So, ya' miss me yet?" Lucas grinned at them.

      Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, Radly grabbed Lucas and snarled

      "I thought you were told to stay on the Bridge?"

      Mackie was about to speak when a yell was heard and they turned round.

      "Leave him alone!" It was Matt and he looked mad.

      Radly dropped Lucas in surprise and Radly found himself slammed into the metal framework of the ship.

      "OOOOFFFFF!!" All the wind was knocked out of Radly.

      "Wait, stop!" It was Lucas.

      Matt looked at Lucas, as though he had grown another head and shouted

      "Why should I, Diz?" Lucas blushed at the nickname. "He was going to beat you up. He's your brother, why would he do that?"

      Ignoring the shocked looks his crew mates were giving him, Lucas spoke quietly,

      "Yeah, well I guess that runs in the family, doesn't it?"

      Matt looked at Lucas before running to him and hugging him. Lucas just laughed and hugged him back.

****

      Later in med bay.

      "…You gotta make up with him. You have changed so much since you two have fought, you're only fun to be with when you're with Sarah and Josh. You just blot everything you don't want to know or see. Radly, you've changed so much; I can probably make a list that's a mile long listing the changes in you. Will you PLEASE make up with Lucas? He's your kid brother for goodness sake and you have spoken about him to anyone in 8 years. He did save your life." Mackie was about to give up when a voice cut in. It was his wife, Sarah.

      "Well, if you wont do it for Mackie, will you do it for me, and for Josh. Please. Lucas is a sweet kid and anyone can see he wants to make up with you, it's obvious to everyone, including you."

      Radly burst into a flood of tears and Sarah rushed to comfort him. He kept repeating the one phrase over and over again.

      "I miss him so much, I miss him so much. I miss him so much."

      "Well, once you get out of this place, go and speak to him." Sarah comforted him, gently kissing the top of his head.

****

      Lucas was going over the events of the past day in his mind as he lay on top of his bed, clutching his two most precious items. He had visited Matt before he had left for prison and Matt had promised not to get into trouble and to get well soon.

       Lucas was so absorbed with his thoughts; he didn't hear the person enter his room until he felt someone poking his back. He turned around and saw his mysterious guest was actually Radly. Sighing, he asked

      "What do you want?" The bitterness and resentment could be plainly heard in his voice.

       "What you got there?" When Radly got no reply, he continued. "You know, it looked exactly like that Gizmo bear I gave you for Christmas when you were about 4 years old."

      "And the bonus prize goes to…" Lucas muttered sarcastically. More loudly he said, "Listen, do you want something, or are you going to criticize everything I do?"

      "Yeah, I came to apologise." This got Lucas's attention and he turned round to face Radly. "I've been acting like a total jerk for the past 8 years and I know I should have paid more attention to you… And Matt. I'm sorry, can you forgive me?"

      These were the words Lucas so desperately wanted to hear and he said, with tears in his eyes and voice,

       "I just want a family again. I'm sorry, too for accidentally joining that spy ring. Apology accepted"

      Lucas couldn't hold back the tears any longer and they wept together, nothing could break them apart.

Epilogue.

      "I'm going to miss you, guys," Lucas said as he stood watching Radly, Mackie and the rest of their family pack away.

      "There's still a couple of things I don't get. What about the group that held you hostage? What happened to them? And how did those mercenaries locate you?" Nathan asked Radly.

      "Well, the group that kidnapped us was the group of mercenaries that held us all hostage. They had a tracking device on the sub we stole and tracked us all the way here." Radly explained. "Of course, we weren't supposed to know about the guns, Matt added that in to try and warn Lucas of any danger he might be in." Radly chuckled at the memory.

      "So where are you headed now?" Nathan asked.

      "Well, we're going home." Turning to Lucas he said

"We're going to Buffalo, if you're ever in the area, look us up, will ya'?"

      "Yeah sure." Lucas replied, trying to keep the tears in his eyes from overflowing.

      They hugged and then Lucas remembered something.

      "I got something for you." Lucas held out the present to Radly, almost shyly. "It's for both of you from me and Matt."

      Radly looked shocked at the gift and then recovered. He thanked Lucas and then reached into the back pocket and gave Lucas a gift.

      "It was your sisters, she wanted me to give this to you, I haven't opened it, but she said that you'd know what to do with it."

      Lucas just nodded. As the shuttle left the Launch Bay, Lucas felt the calmest than he had in years. Lucas smiled and blinked back the tears, threatening to well up in his eyes.

      "Bye Radly, Mackie, Sarah, Josh, see ya' later!"

 THE END