RUN

By Jules

CHAPTER ONE - A CHANCE ENCOUNTER

Author's Note: Thank you for all those people out there that let me know you still read my stories. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your support – especially with the short piece HIGH STAKES. Wanted to do another chapter – but can't come up with an idea yet.

This idea – came to me in about 5 minutes. I have had this scene in my head about the shopping centre for ages. I was even going to include it in BREATHE and have Murray make a come back there – but didn't and the idea is still hanging around.

Was thinking about it today and wondering – okay – he is supposed to be running – WHY is he running – and then the idea just seemed to write itself. Unfortunately my fingers are not as fast as my brain.

and now ……… the beginning

Lucas was looking in the mirror of his small bathroom, taking in the young man that was staring back at him. Lucas Wolenczak was the name he gave to everyone. Hidden deep under the surface however, was someone else.

He knew he would never be able to reveal his true identity though. Not if he wanted to protect the ones he cared about, like the members of the crew, including the man that had adopted him and called him 'son', Captain Bridger.

"What are you doing in there, Lucas?" came the call from Ben Krieg.

"Coming!" Lucas shouted back in response. As he exited the door, he took a fleeting glance back at the mirror. No, I can never tell them he repeated.

"Well, it's about time, Cinderella," Krieg said sarcastically as he looked at his watch and noted the time.

The rest of the crew had been waiting outside the SeaQuest for ten minutes now. In the blazing heat, everyone's nerves were a little on edge and becoming easily frustrated.

"Shut Up, Krieg," Lucas threw back. "I can't help it if I am the last out of the showers."

"Yeah, but you were the first or second on in there," a casually dressed Ford commented.

"What can I say, this look takes time," the teenager said and flashed a smile. He saw the crew eyeing his shirt that was two times too big that was worn over an equally too big t-shirt. His jeans were loose and the legs folded up at the bottom, either a fashion statement of the times, or they were too long.

The partially worn sneakers finished off the ensemble. His blond hair was a touch on the long side and occasionally would fall over his forehead, much to the annoyance of Kristin Westphalen. She was forever suggesting he get a haircut, but that had not taken place as yet.

"I knew there was a reason I didn't keep up with the trends," Bridger said as he joked at the teenager's somewhat twisted sense of good taste. He tried to think back when he was a teenager, but knew that he still hadn't dressed like Lucas was now.

"Why do we have to go anyway?" Krieg whined ten minutes into their journey.

There was only the five of them on this excursion. Lucas and Ben. Bridger and Kristen, and then Commander Ford who came along out of necessity for the boat, not for a social reason.

"Because, I said you had to," Bridger said, looking back at the Lieutenant through the rear-view mirror. Besides, you are the Supply Officer aboard the boat and it is your job to inspect all of the equipment and goods that are brought on SeaQuest."

"Couldn't I have looked at them when you came back?" Krieg tried to negotiate. Shopping was not a favourite pastime of Ben's. At least not in the idea of actually going out to the large supermarket chain stores and buying goods off shelves. That was so manual and labour intensive.

When they were out to sea all he had to do was call up Murray and he could have anything he wanted. So much more practical when you didn't have to dress up for the occasion and could order the galley supplies laying down on your bed in your boxer shorts.

"No, Krieg," Ford said in frustration.

"If I have to come along on this little trip, then so do you. And Lucas. Might be a learning curb for the two of you, being away from your computer screens for more than an hour each day."

"Hey!" Lucas said in his own defence.

"I am the Chief Computer Analyst. I've got a legitimate excuse for being on my computer 22.75 hours a day. Leaves the other 1.25 for sleeping," he added, immediately realising his mistake and receiving a rather stern look from Westphalen at his admittance of how much sleep he missed each night. He was sure to be reminded of this little slip-up when they returned to the boat.

"Okay, we are here now, so let's get the stuff we need and we can all go home and everyone will be happy again," Bridger said, stepping in to be the peace-offerer.

Taking Bridger's words literally, Ben decided to make the trip fun. More for Lucas's sake than his own. The kid just didn't get out as much as he should. Your teenage years were for being out with your friends and partying until all hours of the night or until your father knocked down the door anyway.

Being aboard SeaQuest for 9 months of the year, Lucas didn't get the opportunities that may be afforded other young people his age. Today, Ben was determined to make Lucas laugh and have a good time.

Bridger was glad to have the Lieutenant tagging along, even if he had to persevere with the endless jokes and silly one-liners. Lucas was more relaxed around Ben and seemed to be having a good time. Lately there seemed to be a shadow over the boy and as yet, Lucas hadn't been very forthcoming with the reason for the withdrawal.

Much to Ford's disdain, the first shop they paused at while on their way to the larger chain store, sold novelty items for birthdays and nick-knacks. Ben's own heaven. He had taken a pair of Groucho Marx looking glasses from a stand and placed them on his face, giving his best voice impersonation and setting Lucas off into wails of laughter.

Bridger also seemed to get a kick out of the gag and laughed along with the pair. A few passer-by's, gave the group strange looks as they watched the performance. Ford and Westphalen tried unsuccessfully to act as though they were not part of the charade.

In a crowded shopping centre the size of a city block, the last thing anyone suspected was to be recognized. Especially Lucas, but as destiny or fate would have it, that is exactly what was about to happen.

The group had left the novelty shop and were headed down one of the less crowded corridors, Lucas on the outer edge, and a few steps ahead of the others. He had spotted a computer store upon looking at the various speciality shops and was trying to think of a plausible way to get out of going to the chain store and going off on his own tangent to look at the latest gadgets technology had to offer.

"Lucas!" a voice shouted in surprise from somewhere nearby. The teenager snapped his head up just in time to see someone coming towards him that he had hoped he would avoid for the rest of his life.

It was a young woman, probably late twenties, pleasant looking and seemingly only interested in approaching Lucas for the moment. Lucas on the other hand, had other ideas and was quickly trying to find an escape route to avoid her.

"No way, Diana, leave me the hell alone," Lucas said sharply and turned abruptly to begin heading in the direction they had just came from.

"Oh come on, Lucas, it's me. Don't tell me you haven't thought about me once this whole time," she accused him, grabbing a hold of his shirt sleeve and trying to halt his progress.

"I know, that's why I said no," Lucas shot back, jerking his arm violently to avoid any sort of contact with the attractive woman. The woman wasn't to be deterred however and continued to followed him in the chance of them striking some sort of common ground.

"Okay, have it your way, I won't tell you," Lucas said sarcastically.

"But I didn't," he remarked. The young woman's immediate reaction was a stinging slap to his face in front of shocked onlookers and an even more shocked Bridger and crew.

"I am sorry," Diana said as she held back tears at what she had just done. He definitely didn't deserve that. She headed down the corridor as if they had never met at all.

Lucas stood and watched her leave for a minute, rubbing aimlessly at the reddened mark on his face. He looked back to see the questioning looks from his family and friends.

"Do you want to tell me about her, Lucas?" Ben joked trying to clear the tension in the air.

"No, I don't Krieg, so just drop it okay," Lucas said, a little more harshly to Ben than he really intended.

"Lucas who was that woman and why did she hit you?" Kristin asked, walking over to him a little closer, trying to see if there was any injury. Lucas wasn't exactly a willing participant and didn't let her get a good look at his face. She assumed that it was his pride that was stinging more than his face.

"Someone you would rather not know, and she hit me because she is pissed at me," Lucas offered, deliberately walking away from the probing conversation. He really didn't want to talk to them about what had just happened.

Kristin was about to tear strips of him for his use of foul language, but given the circumstances, could see that something was bothering him about the mysterious encounter. She let it slid for the moment, mentally reminding herself to take him to task for it later.

For the next half an hour, the conversation between the group all but dried up entirely. Nobody was wanting to set the teenager off again, who now appeared sullen and angry at something. They chose to sit at a cafeteria and have a cup of coffee.

No sooner had they sat down and ordered, then Lucas spotted the woman known as Diana, standing a few hundred metres away, but directing her attention at the teenager. The crew looked to Lucas to see what he intended to do.

At first, he tried his best to ignore her gestures for him to come and talk to her. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to be persuaded otherwise, he got up from his chair and walked towards her.

Bridger and Westphalen were not entirely happy about this situation at all, but Lucas was 18 now and adult enough to choose who he spoke to and who he didn't. There was obviously some past recognition between the two, whether Lucas was willing to admit it or not.

From where they were seated, they couldn't hear any conversations that may take place between them, but they could certainly make sure that things didn't get out of hand as they had a little earlier when Lucas was slapped.

When Lucas first approached the young woman, his waved his arms animatedly in front of her as if to show how ticked off he was at her showing up at this stage in his life. The young woman was equally as animated, though she was a little shorter than Lucas, poking a finger into his chest to indicate her response.

Just when it appeared that all of the angry and heated words had been exchanged and Lucas was ready to walk away from the woman a second time, the woman burst into tears. Lucas stopped walking away and then proceeded to wrap his arms around her in an embrace and comfort her and offer an apology.

"Way to go Lucas," Ben said in excitement for his friend. "She gets over being angry at him real quick," he added with a smile.

Ford gave him a stare of disapproval and looked as confused and concerned as Bridger and Westphalen were about who this woman was and how Lucas came to know her. From the looks of things, they were a lot closer than everyone first thought.

Lucas and Diana pulled apart from each other and began a much more civilised conversation, even to the point of taking up a seat at a table in front of a neighbouring café to his friends. The two seemed deep in conversation when Lucas's attention was drawn away from the girl to someone else in the crowded supermarket.

Diana turned around with fear on her face as she heard Lucas say something to identify who he had seen. In a moment of seconds, they were both now standing in front of the table, wondering what the next rational thing to do was.

Bridger spotted a large black man, standing quite a distance in front of Lucas and the young woman. He seemed interested in Lucas and the woman, whispering something to two large set men who stood either side of them. All had long trench coats on and dark glasses, hands in their pockets as though concealing weapons.

"Lucas, RUN!" Diana shouted, and the pair split from each other, running in different direction, trying to confuse the men that sought them.

Diana ran back towards Ben and the others, and upon spotting them as being with Lucas before, cried out to them to help. Lucas had run in the opposite direction, with the three men now definitely concentrating their efforts on catching him rather than her.

"You gotta help him," the young woman screamed, taking a hold of Ford's shirt for emphasis.

"If they catch Lucas, they will kill him..."

to be continued …………………….

JULES