The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

Back from the Dead

By: Sapphire

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Chapter Four: Intruder

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Rudely awakened by Bandit's yips, Jonny sat up on the floor, pushing the blankets of his makeshift bed out of his way. He looked up at the bed to tell his dog to shut up when he saw a tall man with dark hair keeping his cousin pinned down on the bed with his knee on her chest, holding a pillow to her face.

"Get off of her!" Jonny shouted as he sprang on top of the intruder. He grabbed him by the neck, and pulled back hard, toppling them both onto the floor. Bandit, loyal to his master, bit into the intruder's ankle. "Get him, boy!" Jonny encouraged as he wiggled out from under the heavy man's body.

Maggie felt a rush of fresh air on her face. The pillow was gone. She took a deep breath, and was quickly revived. She sat up and shook her head, clearing her mind. She saw Jonny struggling on the floor with the intruder.

"Leave him alone!" she demanded. She reached out and grabbed the man's dark hair, pulling his head back, giving Jonny the opportunity to escape the man's grasp. She was stunned to see the gunman from the train station staring back at her. She screamed and let him go in terror.

The intruder stood slowly and stared at the cousins, each in turn. That look turned Maggie's blood cold with fear. Jonny saw it too, but he didn't flinch. Instead, Jonny rushed the man in black. The man shoved Jonny into the wall, easily fending off the attack, and ran toward the window. "You two may have escaped, but I got one of you!" he shouted as he went right through the window, glass and splintered wood flying everywhere.

The cousins watched as the man leaped. Jonny dragged himself from the floor where he was slumped against the wall, and ran to the window. He looked down at the ground and saw the dark figure below get up and run into the trees. He was gone. For now.

"What did he mean, he got one of us?" Maggie wondered as Jonny turned back to face her. He shrugged. They both looked down at Bandit who was dashing back and fourth between them, barking like mad.

"What is it boy?" Jonny asked. Bandit ran to the door and stood waiting for Jonny and Maggie to follow. Maggie got off the bed and opened the door for Bandit. He ran into the dark, open doorway of the room directly across from Jonny's. Ignoring the pain in her knee, Maggie followed Bandit and Jonny. "That's Price's room," Jonny said, confused. Maggie nodded. They followed Bandit inside.

"Price!" she gasped when she saw him lying in a heap on the floor. As quickly as she could, she was beside him, lowering herself onto her uninjured knee while Jonny turned Price onto his back.

In the dim light from the window, several cuts were visible on his face; one particularly large gash above his eye, and a bleeding split lower lip. Also visible were the newly forming bruises along his jaw, under his eye, and the side of one cheek. He'd been badly beaten. And, they both saw, he didn't appear to be breathing. Maggie started to feel a lump of fear rise in her throat. Jonny carefully shifted Price to make sure his airway was open.

"He's alive," Jonny said, checking for a pulse. Maggie let out a relieved breath. Jonny caught Maggie's gaze. "Will you be all right here by yourself?" he asked. "I'm going to get Jessie. I need to check on something."

"Be careful, Jonny," Maggie warned, looking at him suspiciously.

"Hey, this is me we're talking about," Jonny said. "I'm always careful."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Maggie said with a forced laugh. Jonny flashed her his famous crooked grin, and left. Bandit, who had watched the whole exchange, trotted up to Maggie and sat down beside her. She gave him an affectionate pat on the head. If Jonny's faithful little dog wasn't worried about his master, Maggie decided there wasn't anything for her to worry about, either.

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Jonny ran down the hall to Jessie's room. He opened her door as quietly as he could. Silently, he approached the bed where Jessie lay sleeping.

"Jess!" Jonny whispered loudly. "Wake up!" Jessie's eyes opened, and she stared at Jonny in bewilderment.

"This had better be good, Jonny," she warned when she realized it wasn't morning. "I was having a really good dream."

"Get up. We've got trouble. Someone got inside the compound. He beat Price up pretty bad, then tried to kill Maggie. She's with Price right now." Jonny backed away while he spoke when Jessie flung her covers aside. "Let's get our boots and coats. We're going to follow that guy."

Jessie followed Jonny quietly down the stairs. They collected their outdoor clothes from the hooks by the kitchen door before slipping outside into the moonlit night. Jonny led Jessie around to the back of the house. They would pick up the intruder's trail below Maggie's window. If they were very lucky, they might find something. Both of them knew it was risky, but it was also dangerous to let the man run free. He might try something again, and the next time, he might just succeed.

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Once Jonny was gone, Maggie managed to get up and hobble into the bathroom Price shared with the empty room next door. Blindly, she felt for the light switch, but when she flipped it on, nothing happened. Maggie tried turning it off and on again. Nothing. She crossed Price's room and tried the switch by the bedroom door. Still nothing.

"There's no storm to knock the power out," Maggie mumbled to herself uneasily. "Maybe there's a blown fuse?" Somehow, she didn't think so. She went back into the bathroom and pulled a washcloth from the linen closet, then wet it in the sink. She returned to Price's side and carefully wiped the blood away from his face. Getting up again, she went back into the bathroom to rinse out the cloth, then returned to clean Price's cuts. He looked much better for her efforts, and he was beginning to wake. Maggie sat next to him on the floor, petting Bandit, letting her thoughts drift, waiting for Price to come to. She felt a gentle touch. Turning, she saw Price looking up at her, his hand resting in the crook of her arm.

"I'm so glad you decided to rejoin the world," she told him. He smiled, then grimaced, holding his hand to his head. "Don't try to move around too much," Maggie advised, "You were beaten pretty badly."

"I need to sit up. Help me sit up," Price said. Maggie held onto him as he sat up slowly and leaned against the side of the bed. He rested for a few moments, holding his side, before he spoke again. "The man from the train station- he's here."

"I know," Maggie said. "He tried to kill me again. Jonny stopped him, but he got away."

"Are you all right?" Price asked her with concern.

"Compared to you, I got off easy," she said with a faint smile. Price patted the floor beside him, and Maggie scooted over to sit with him against the bed. Slowly, Price slipped his arm around her waist and leaned against her.

"If anything had happened to you…" he whispered, unable to finish his sentence. Maggie leaned into him, too.

"I'm just glad you're okay," she whispered. Their eyes locked, and Price leaned closer. Maggie was sure he was going to kiss her. Her heart was racing in anticipation, and more, when the corners of Price's mouth turned up in a slight smile. Bandit suddenly started to bark excitedly, breaking the spell. Price quickly pulled away from Maggie. She sighed, resigned, as Bandit ran to the open door. Maggie and Price heard a familiar voice greet Bandit.

"Hey, boy. What were you doing in Price's room?" Race Bannon asked the little dog. Bandit ran back into the room and stood barking in front of Maggie and Price. Race was right behind him. "What the Sam Hill happened to you?" he exclaimed when he saw Price's face in his flashlight beam.

"There was a break-in," Maggie said. "It was the same guy who tried to shoot me in Acosta. He did this to Price," she indicated his cut and bruised face, "then he went into my room and tried to kill me. Didn't Jonny tell you?"

"No, he didn't. Where is he, anyway?" Race asked her.

"He said he was going to wake up Jessie. I thought he'd wake you up, too," Maggie said, concerned. Race shook his head, a scowl on his face.

"If I know Jonny, he and Jessie went after that guy," Race said quietly. "In fact, I know they did. They must have made the noise that woke me up. They might be biting off more than they can chew this time."

"Are you going after them?" Price asked, struggling to get to his feet. Maggie pulled herself up using the bed, then she and Race helped Price stand.

"You gonna be okay?" Race asked Price, unsure if he should let go of the young man's arm.

"Yeah, fine," Price said with a grimace and a nod. Race let go of him, but Price continued to lean on Maggie for a few moments. Finally he straightened. "I gather the power is out," he said, glancing at Race's flashlight. Both Race and Maggie nodded. "Is there a backup generator?" Race nodded.

"You two head out to the lighthouse, if you can manage it," Race said with a worried sideways glance at both Price and Maggie, "The generators are in the basement. I'm going after Jessie and Jonny."

"Check my room," Maggie suggested. "The attacker escaped through my window. If they followed him, you'll see three sets of tracks in the snow." Race nodded, then hurried out of the room.

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"He went in that direction," Jonny said pointing toward the trees. "I watched from the window until he was gone." He and Jessie trudged through the seven-inch-deep snow along side the tracks made by the intruder.

"He's in really good shape," Jonny commented, breathing hard from the exertion of chasing after him. "Judging by the space between footprints, I'd say he was still running when he got to this point, and it looks like he kept on running."

"Any ideas where he might be headed?" Jessie asked. "There's nothing out here. There's no place to go."

"That's not what I'm wondering, not where, but how," Jonny stated thoughtfully. "How did this guy get past security? Iris should have detected him long before he could have reached the house."

"Good question," Jessie agreed. "I'd like to know the answer to that myself."

"Maybe we should stop by the lighthouse on the way back," Jonny said. "I wonder if someone's been tampering with the mainframe." Jessie nodded, her own thoughts echoing Jonny's.

In the distance, they heard the sound of an engine start. A second engine started right after the first. Jonny and Jessie looked to one another.

"They're getting away!" Jonny shouted. They started to run. The engines revved, and started to drive off.

"It sounds like they're on snowmobiles," Jessie shouted. They put on more speed, but it was useless. The sound of the engines grew faint as the machines got farther away. There was no hope of catching them.

"Man!" Jonny exclaimed in disappointment. "They got away."

"We should still keep going," Jessie said. "They might have left us a clue."

"Or something nasty," Jonny pointed out. Jessie shrugged.

Soon, they came to a small clearing. The footprints ended right next to the track of a snowmobile. Not more than ten feet away was another track. Both of the tracks made a loop in the clearing and headed back the way they had come. But next to the second set of treads was something more interesting. A second set of footprints heading toward the house. Jessie and Jonny stared at each other. There hadn't been one intruder, there had been two.

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Getting around wasn't much trouble for Price now that he was up off the floor. Sure, his head still ached and his face still hurt, and he could still feel where every blow had landed, but it didn't hinder his ability to get around…much. Maggie, on the other hand, was clearly in pain as she hobbled down the front stairs, forcing herself to walk on her injured knee. Price wished he could carry her downstairs, like he'd done so easily the day before, but he knew he just couldn't do it right now. He tried to content himself with supporting some of her weight while she helped steady his wobbly balance as they took the stairs together. Race caught up to them in the kitchen.

"Jonny and Jessie did go after the assassin," Race said abruptly. "He handed Price a flashlight. "Get to the lighthouse as quickly as you can," he instructed. "Lock yourselves in, then get those generators going. Maggie, see if you can get Iris on line, and get the security turned back on." Maggie nodded, watching him while he pulled on his boots and coat. Then he unlocked a special cabinet just inside the garage and pulled out a tranquilizer gun and some darts. When he stepped back into the kitchen, he saw Maggie and Price staring at him. "Those kids don't know what they might be up against," he said. Then he walked out the kitchen door, not bothering to close it behind him.

"He's wrong, you know," Maggie said softly to Price. "Jonny and Jessie do know what they're up against. That man who tried to kill me, he's killed before. I saw it in his eyes, and Jonny saw it, too. I swear Jonny's seen it before."

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Race followed Jonny and Jessie's tracks from the kitchen door out to the back of the house. He saw where the intruder had landed after vaulting out Maggie's window. Shaking his head at the stupidity of Jonny and Jessie's chase, he pressed on, following the three sets of fresh tracks in the snow.

Entering into the woods, Race could hear the distant sound of snowmobiles starting up and racing through the trees. Worry weighing on his mind, he took off at a run. In a minute, the sound of the snowmobiles faded completely away. All he could think about was finding his daughter and Jonny Quest safe and sound.

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Once inside the lighthouse, Maggie and Price locked the door and barricaded it with a desk. No one was getting in without them knowing it. Maggie knew more about Questworld and Iris than Price did, but what she knew wasn't a whole lot. She limped around the room on her knee, holding a flashlight to the many computer panels lining a section of the wall.

"Here," Maggie said. "This panel turns the whole system on. But there's no power. The indicator lights are all dark. We need to get the generators on." She looked around the big room. "There's just one problem," she said. "I don't know how to get to the basement." Price laughed, then groaned because it hurt.

"If we look around, we'll find it," he said. Maggie nodded, and they started searching. "What's behind this door?" Price asked tiredly, holding the flashlight up to illuminate door in question. Maggie shrugged.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "Open it and see."

"I can't," Price admitted reluctantly. "There's an electronic number pad on the lock. No power, of course."

"Then that probably isn't the place they keep the backup generators," Maggie said cynically. "Keep looking." After covering every inch of the room, they still had no idea how to get down into the basement. Maggie limped dejectedly toward the VR bubble to sit in one of the chairs. She hadn't taken more than two steps, and she tripped over a mat on the floor. Luckily, she managed to land on her hip and catch herself with her right hand without injuring herself again. A look of irritation crossed her face as she picked herself up off the floor, careful of her arm. "Damn knee," she thought to herself in total frustration. Then an idea struck her. "Price! Help me move this mat out of the way." Price gave her a look that implied she was losing it.

"What for?" he asked.

"Just help me," she said in a no-nonsense way. Price shrugged and went to help. "As Jonny would say, Slammin!" Maggie shouted in triumph as a trap door was revealed. "I give you the way into the basement!" She indicated the trap door with a flourish of her hand.

"How did you know it was there?" Price asked.

"I didn't, but when I tripped over the mat, I wondered." Maggie stopped talking as she put her fingers into the groove of the grip, and pulled, sliding the trap door open to reveal a flight of stairs going down. Price led the way with his flashlight, and Maggie followed slowly, having trouble with her knee. Once at the bottom, Price and Maggie looked around in awe with the flashlight.

"There must be enough power generators down here to light an entire city," Price said amazed. "How the hell do we turn all this on?" he was very relieved they had found the generators, but all the various control panels and switches and levers brought all the frustration flooding back.

"How about the 'on' switch," Maggie suggested laughing, pointing to the control panel by the stairs.

"Oh, of course," Price complained, "It just had to be that obvious. I was expecting something more complex, knowing your uncle." Maggie laughed again, and Price went and flipped the switch. The generators began to hum, and in a few seconds, the lights in the basement came on.

"Now we just have to turn on the power in the areas we want," Maggie said indicating a row of labeled buttons. "Let's get the computers up and running first." Price pushed the button labeled 'lighthouse' and they could hear the computers kick in on the floor above them.

"Okay," Price said. "What next? The main house?" Maggie agreed, and he pressed that button. "Security is a must. Then I say we get power to the garage. That should do for the night. If Race wants anything more, he can turn it on himself."

Finished with that, Price helped Maggie up the steps and into Questworld Center. Maggie sat down at the main console, and logged into the main computers, starting up the whole system.

"Identify user," came the voice of Iris.

"It's good to hear that voice again," Maggie said with relief. "Authorization, Maggie Hardy," She said to the computer.

"Verifying voice patterns," Iris stated. Maggie waited a few seconds for Iris to run the check. "Voice patterns confirmed."

"Activate security, level two," Maggie said.

"Level two security, initiated," Iris said.

"Now all we can do is wait," Maggie said.

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It seemed to Race that he had been running through the snow for hours chasing after the two teenagers. Out of nowhere they appeared, walking side by side, heading back toward the house.

"Where the Sam Hill have you two been?" Race demanded. "Are you two crazy, chasing after a murderer?" Jessie ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"We didn't mean to worry you, Dad," Jessie apologized. "We were just following him, to see where he was going."

"I know," Race said, glad that they were alright. "Next time you should come get me before trying anything dangerous."

"We promise, Race," Jonny said.

"Come on," Race said, motioning for the two teens to follow him. "It looks like the power was cut. That's how out intruder got in. Maggie and Price should have the backup generators running about now. They're waiting for us in the lighthouse."

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Maggie was watching for them when Race, Jessie, and Jonny appeared on the path from the house. She greeted Jonny and Jessie with hugs, then they followed Race to the main computers. Jessie sat down at the console and made sure everything was running properly, then Race took over to modify some of the security specifications. Once that was done, Race and Jonny went to the garage for a large piece of plywood and some tools to cover Maggie's broken window. Jessie, Maggie, and Price headed back to the house ahead of them.

With no other pressing matters that needed immediate attention, and three hours left until morning, everyone went back to bed. Maggie slept in Jessie's room, not comfortable being alone after the most recent attempt on her life. She was not the only member of the household who did not sleep easily.

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Location: Camden-Rockport Depot, Maine

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"That was the longest trip I have ever taken," Dr. Quest said to Hadji as he and the young man stepped down onto the platform at the train station. "I'll be glad to get home. That is, if noting serious is wrong."

"That message was quite vague," Hadji agreed. "I wonder why Race asked us to return home so early?"

"We'll find out soon enough," Dr. Quest said. "Let's go get a cab." Dr. Quest and Hadji walked away from the train they had just disembarked and headed for the taxi lane out in front of the station. When they got there, there were several taxis waiting for passengers to hire them.

"Need a ride?" asked one of the drivers.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Dr. Quest said.

"Hop in, I'll take you where you wanna go," the driver said hitching his thumb over his shoulder toward his cab. He stowed the luggage in the trunk and went around to the driver's side door and climbed in. Hadji and Benton were already waiting for him.

"Take us to the Quest Compound, off the coastal highway on the east side of Rockport," Dr. Quest instructed the driver as the car started in motion.

"We'll just see about that," the driver said. He reached over and pressed a button on a console on the dashboard. A plate of bulletproof glass slid up between the front and back seats.

"What are you doing?" Hadji asked as the glass sealed tightly into the roof. Both he and Dr. Quest watched helplessly as the driver reached over and pressed another button. Suddenly, the backseat started to fill with some kind of gas.

"Hurry! Try the doors!" Dr. Quest shouted. He and Hadji pulled at the door handles. They were locked in and the gas was getting thicker. Struggling to get out, they tried not to breathe in the gas, but it was no use. Soon, they were both slumped over in the backseat, unconscious.

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To be continued…

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