Chapter 21: Family
Jonny finished telling Hadji and Jessie about the abduction and they gazed at him, round-eyed for a moment. "So they really stitched you up on the kitchen table?" Jessie asked quietly.
"Yeah," Jonny said.
"What happened next?" she asked.
Jonny shrugged. "I don't know. They gave me morphine, so I was out of it. I don't even know how we left the compound."
"There was a boat," Hadji said. "Race and Mr. Corvin tracked it down to Nova Scotia."
"Wow." Jonny wondered how long that had taken.
"But the reason it was so hard to find you was that the boat took you to a plane out in the middle of the ocean," Hadji explained. "They tracked the plane through satellite photos."
"Yeah, that took forever," Jessie said. "And they wouldn't let us do anything but look through government records trying to find traces of the corporation."
"Well, I thought you were in Argentina, anyway," Jonny said. "When did you come back?"
"Dad called and told Mom that you and your dad had been kidnapped, and I wanted to come back right away and help find you."
"She bought an airplane ticket online and stole a canoe," Hadji said in an undertone.
"I got caught stealing the canoe," Jessie admitted. "But Mom decided that we should fly back to the States. I think there might have been people watching us."
Jonny got a tight feeling in his throat. "When was that?"
"Right after I got there, really," Jessie said. "I think they must have already been in the country, because we came back the day after I arrived."
If they'd already been watching Jessie and her mother, maybe what Jonny had said really hadn't made that much of a difference. Even so, Jonny thought, he hadn't known that when he answered Crandall's questions.
"Jonny?" Hadji said. He looked at his brother, raising an eyebrow. "What did they ask Dr. Quest to do that he wouldn't cooperate?"
Jonny's stomach clenched. "Dad did cooperate," he said, looking down at the game board, not meeting their eyes. "The guy they had in charge of us was sick."
"What do you mean?" Hadji asked.
Jonny shrugged again, not looking up. "Dad did everything he said. Sometimes he didn't answer questions as fast as the guy wanted, but he always answered them."
"Why did he hit you then?" Jessie asked.
"Because he liked it, I guess," Jonny said. He force his face and his voice to brightness. "So, what did you guys find out?"
"Jonny!" Jessie exclaimed quietly, glancing over to make sure that they hadn't attracted parental attention. His dad and Race were talking quietly on the sofa, not looking their way. "What happened? Aren't you going to tell us?"
"Yes, Jonny," Hadji said. "Please tell us."
Jonny looked back and forth at the two earnest, almost eager faces, and looked down at his hands, which were clenching into fists. "You want me to tell you all about my adventure, don't you?" he asked, looking up.
Hadji's eyes widened, and Jonny could see that he knew something was wrong, but Jessie just said, "Well, yeah!"
Jonny got to his feet, ignoring the twinges from his ribs. "It wasn't an adventure," he said flatly. "I wasn't brave, and I have no exciting stories to tell." He turned his back on them and walked into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
Benton watched the door shut behind his son, and looked over at the other two kids. Jessie looked completely perplexed, and Hadji looked worried. "What happened?" he asked. Both kids turned to look at him, startled.
"I don't know," Jessie said. "We were just asking him what happened to him, and he got upset."
Benton heard Race counting slowly to ten under his breath, and gestured for Jessie and Hadji to come over to him. They walked over and sat down on the floor. "What happened to Jonny was pretty bad, kids," he said. "I would prefer you not ask him about it. If he brings it up and wants to talk, that's a different story, but don't press him."
"But Dr. Quest –" Hadji started, then he looked down at the floor. "Can you tell us what happened? So we do not say or do the wrong thing."
Jonny opened the door again and came out, looking stiff and alarmed. Benton leapt up and walked over to him. "Are you okay, son?" he asked quietly.
"There's a gun in there," Jonny said, looking embarrassed but upset. He wouldn't meet his father's eyes. "I know it's Race's, but I – can you get Race to come in and get it?"
Benton tousled his hair. "Of course, Jonny. Why don't I just ask Race to come and talk to you, and you can tell him what you want. How does that sound?" Jonny glanced at the other kids and then shot him a grateful look. Benton rested a hand lightly on his shoulder, then went over to the sofa again. "Race, Jonny would like a word with you." Raising his eyebrows slightly, Race stood. Benton gave him a neutral look that he knew Race would read like a book, and he nodded and went over to Jonny. Talking quietly, they went into Jonny's room.
Estella's phone call had apparently ended, and she was sitting, watching the goings on with a worried look in her eyes.
"Dr. Quest," Jessie said. "Hadji's right. It would be better if we knew, so we can be aware of what might upset him."
Benton raised his eyes to Estella's face again. "It's not really up to me what to tell you, Jessie. Your mother and father might feel you're too young to be –"
"Her mother thinks she needs to know," Estella said suddenly from across the room. She got up and crossed to sit beside him on the sofa. "And I don't think her father would disagree."
Benton nodded. "All right, then." He told them the events of the past week in as neutral terms as he could manage, trying to keep his voice calm. The bare facts would disturb them enough, he felt, he didn't need to add another layer of distress by being emotional. Estella, too, kept her emotions under control, though he could see that she was upset by the tale.
His attempt at neutrality failed dismally, at least with Hadji. He'd always been a perceptive boy, and, by now, they knew each other far too well for Benton to fool him about something like this. Jessie seemed to pick up on it as well. The kids wound up leaning against their respective parents as Benton's narration progressed.
When he came to the moment when Crandall had threatened him with the gun and broken Jonny's arm, however, he faltered to a stop. After a moment, Estella put a hand on his knee. "If it's too much for you, Benton, you don't have to tell us."
Benton closed his eyes, feeling like a fool. He opened them again and went on, attempting to think of the incident in purely scientific terms, and thus divorce himself from it. However, he didn't look at the kids' faces, not wanting to see the dismay he knew would be there.
When he was done, there was silence that was broken for Benton only by the sound of his heart beating. After a long pause, Jessie said, "Why does he think he wasn't brave?"
"Because he was afraid," Hadji said. "Really, badly frightened. I do not think he has ever felt that way before, not like Dr. Quest just described."
Jessie still looked puzzled. Her youth wouldn't allow her to understand just yet, Benton thought. He didn't think she'd ever been that scared either, and hoped she never would be. He found himself wondering if Hadji had been, and if that was why he was so perceptive. The boy hadn't talked a great deal about his life before he met up with the Pasha Peddler, and Benton suddenly felt he had neglected him by not asking.
Estella said, "Thank you, Benton. I think we all needed to know that." She smiled sympathetically at him. "It's late, and I think Jessie and I had better be getting to bed so that you folks can."
Jessie stood up with her mother, looking uncertain and confused. Estella draped an arm around her shoulders and they walked out of the room. Hadji watched them go for a minute, then turned to Benton. "She is very young," he said.
"She's only a year younger than you," Benton pointed out. Hadji gave him a look that told him in no uncertain terms that he was being foolish, and Benton snorted. "Well, son, does that explain Jonny's reactions better for you?"
"It does," Hadji said slowly. "I do not know what to do, though. He does not know that I know, and it will probably embarrass him when he finds out."
"Just be there for him, Hadji. He needs his brother's support, though he won't ask for it." Hadji nodded. "He talked about you a lot while we were gone, and I know he missed you." They were silent for a moment, and then Benton added, "We both did."
"I missed you, too," Hadji said. Looking down at his hands, he said, "You are my father. I do not know what I would do without you."
Touched to the quick, Benton gathered Hadji into his arms and gave him a bear hug. "I love you, Hadji, you know that, don't you?"
"I love you, too," Hadji said somewhere in the vicinity of his armpit.
Race followed Jonny into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. Jonny was very quiet, and Race wondered what was wrong. Benton had given him a clear message indicating that something was upsetting the boy, not that he needed it.
Finally, Jonny said, "You left your gun in the chair." His face turned scarlet as he said it, and Race went down on one knee beside him.
"What's up, Jonny?"
"I'm being stupid, I know. It's okay when you're wearing it, but not just sitting there." Race stood immediately and swiftly holstered the pistol.
"You're not being stupid. You're having perfectly normal anxiety."
"Well, I feel stupid." Jonny said. "You've had that gun the entire time I've known you and it's never bothered me before."
"No one's ever acted like they were shooting your dad in front of you before, either, though. It makes a difference."
"I don't see why." Jonny turned away and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I guess I'm just a coward."
Race pulled up a chair facing him and sat down. "You're not a coward. Crandall was terrifying."
"You wouldn't have been scared," Jonny said.
"Yes, I would have. I was." Race didn't want to alarm him, so he caught Jonny's eye and then reached out to put his hand on his shoulders. "Do you know what I do when I get scared?" Jonny shook his head. "I get really angry. I've had to learn to control it over the years, because it can get me into a lot of trouble."
"I guess it could," Jonny said.
"And when I was watching that video of Crandall hurting you, I got as angry as I've ever been."
"But that wasn't because you were scared, was it?"
"I was petrified. You have every right to be scared of Crandall, Jonny. That man is sick in a way that makes him very dangerous."
"But he's gone. I mean, he's in the corporation, and I'm not anymore. I don't have to worry about him now."
"That won't stop you from being scared of him, sport," Race said sympathetically. "I'll let you in on a secret. I was scared of my uncle right up until the end of that visit."
"Really?"
"Really. I hid it even from myself by being angry, but it was fear."
"But I cowered. After I threw him, I was afraid he was going to kill me, and I crouched down on the floor and apologized over and over again."
"That's not cowardice, Jonny, that's common sense. Getting yourself killed isn't brave, it's foolish."
Jonny ducked his head again, looking embarrassed. "I know. I shouldn't have thrown him."
"No, you probably shouldn't have," Race agreed. "Though I would have been hard pressed not to myself, so I can't fault you on that. But I'm very serious when I tell you all not to antagonize the bad guys. A lot of people confuse rashness with bravery. There are times when it's braver to back down from a fight than to join one." He looked Jonny in the eye, though he had to tilt his head very far down to do so. Jonny looked up, looking embarrassed again. "I promised myself that I was going to hug the stuffing out of you when you came back, but I think that might hurt more than it would help right now."
Jonny grinned ruefully. "You're probably right." He raised an eyebrow innocently. "Can I take a rain check, though?"
"Sure you can," Race said, giving Jonny's hair a tousle. "In the meantime, I think we'd all better keep combs on us, because the safest place to touch you seems to be your head." Jonny laughed out loud at that, and Race smiled. "Now, I don't know if you're sleepy. You've slept a lot over the last twenty-four hours."
"I think I could sleep," Jonny said. "I'm sorry I yelled at Jessie and Hadji."
Race shrugged. "I'm not worried about it."
Jonny looked around suddenly. "Do I have to sleep in here alone?"
"I think we could arrange for someone to sleep in here with you," Race said. He went to the door and opened it, gesturing for Benton and Hadji to come in. In very short order it was determined that Hadji would sleep in here with Jonny because the bed was plenty wide enough for two skinny kids. He and Benton got them to bed and then left the room.
"Is he okay?" Benton asked once the door was shut.
"He's going to be," Race assured him. "He's just feeling a little uncertain right now. He's never – well, you know what happened."
"He was particularly worried that you would be ashamed of him, so I'm glad that you're spending so much time reassuring him."
"Ashamed of him?" Race exclaimed. "What on earth makes him think I'd be ashamed of him?"
"No matter what I said, I could not persuade him that his reactions were normal under the circumstances." Benton shook his head. "Maybe you'll have more success."
"Maybe." Race wrinkled his brow, trying to think. "It just makes me wonder what I might have done or said that would have given him that impression."
"It's not you, Race," Benton said. "And I keep telling myself that it's not me, either. I just wish I understood why Jonny believes anything that bastard said about him."
Race put a hand on Benton's shoulder. "You look absolutely exhausted, old friend. It's time you went to bed yourself."
"Does this suite have another bedroom?" Benton asked, glancing around.
Race shook his head and walked over to the couch. "'Fraid not. We're stuck with this," he said as he folded out the bed. "I can sleep on the floor if you'd prefer."
"Don't be an ass."
They made the bed and went to sleep, and Race hoped things would look brighter in the morning.
The days that followed had their ups and downs, but Jonny seemed to grow calmer and more confident. They had to be debriefed, of course, and Benton was glad to see that Corvin found an older woman with grey hair and a grandmotherly smile to speak with Jonny. He had his conversation with Phil himself, but it was reasonably painless, considering that Phil had already seen most of what happened on the security video they had seized from both facilities. Jonny returned from his interview very quiet and withdrawn, but between them, Hadji and Jessie managed to cheer him up.
After that, Benton's focus was on fixing the Maine house and getting the Florida house ready for habitation again, so they'd have somewhere to live in the meantime. Estella stayed with them at I-1 HQ for a week, but she had to return to her dig. Before she left, however, the three adults met with Benton's lawyer and got the complex guardianship arrangements worked out.
Jessie opted to stay behind when her mother left, but Estella didn't seem to mind. Race did some work updating the security arrangements at the Florida house, increasing the protections against EM pulses, as well as installing more cameras and new alarms to let them know if a boat approached.
It was with evident reluctance that Corvin let them leave after two weeks. Benton knew that Jonny was uncomfortable in the unfamiliar environment, and the high security felt to both of them like they were still in the corporation. Benton kept expecting to see Marcus waiting outside the door to their suite in the morning, and if he felt that way, how much more must Jonny?
No, they needed to return to a familiar, homey environment, one where they could feel at ease, and not like they were being observed by strangers.
The moment they landed, Jonny and Hadji dragged Jessie off to show her over the island. She'd been to Palm Key before, for short visits, but that had been before the three kids had gotten as close as they had since she had moved in with her father. There were undoubtedly things they hadn't bothered to show her back then, when she was just a visitor and a 'girl' to boot.
Benton smiled as he watched them run off across the beach.
"There sure is a lot more freedom here than at I-1 Headquarters," Race commented, coming up beside him. "This'll be good for them."
"Yes. Jonny hasn't had space to run like that for a while."
"Of course, we'll have to cook for ourselves, unless we can persuade Mrs. Evans and her husband to come down to Florida for –" Race broke off as he saw Mrs. Evans emerge from the house wearing her usual apron and a big smile.
"Martin is already out fishing," she said, walking over to them. "Dinner will be ready at six."
"I appreciate your willingness to come down to help us out, Mrs. Evans," Benton said, smiling. "And your husband's tolerance."
"Tolerance, hah!" Mrs. Evans said wryly. "Give Martin the chance to fish waters he's never seen before, and he'll tolerate anything."
Benton and Race both laughed. "I take it I was right that he and Larry Jeffers would get along well?" Benton asked.
"Oh yes. Well, I'd better check on the roast."
She bustled back inside, and Benton turned to Race. "You were saying?"
"I should have known you'd have everything under control." Benton smiled and they carried the luggage inside. Ordinarily, the kids would have stayed to help, but Benton didn't begrudge them this time. For one thing, it would only frustrate Jonny, who couldn't help much with his arm in a cast.
Their things had been retrieved from the island, much to both his and Jonny's relief. The pictures of Rachel were replaceable, but not without a great deal of effort, and there were other precious things that the corporation had taken, not to mention much of their clothing.
After dinner that night, Jessie and Hadji sat down on the floor to play chess, Race pulled out a book and started reading, and Benton glanced around to see where Jonny was. After a moment, Hadji caught his eye and nodded at the door out toward the dock. Benton smiled and went out.
Jonny was sitting on the edge of the dock, staring out across the water. Benton walked up and sat down next to him, also looking out. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Jonny said. "Do you miss living out here?"
"Sometimes, but I like Maine, too."
"It's sure cooler there at this time of year."
"Yes, it certainly is." They were silent for a moment, then Jonny leaned up against him and he put his arm around his son's shoulders. "How are you feeling, son?" he asked.
"I don't know," Jonny said. "Sometimes I feel like normal, but then other times I –" He shrugged and looked down.
"You feel like you want to hide in a corner?"
Jonny turned his head and looked up at him. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Because I feel that way sometimes, too. It will pass." Benton squeezed him gently. "If you feel like you need to talk about it, you know you can always come to me, or to Race."
"I know." Jonny sighed. "I've been talking to Race sometimes. Who do you talk to when you feel that bad?" When Benton didn't answer, Jonny looked up at him again. "Dad? Who do you talk to? I mean, you do talk to someone, don't you?"
"Well –" Benton didn't know what to say. Race had been applying gentle pressure to get him to open up, but he hadn't yet. It was difficult.
"Can't you talk to Race?" Jonny asked. "He's pretty good to talk to about this stuff."
"Probably. I just haven't."
"Maybe you should."
They were quiet for a while longer, staring out over the open expanse of ocean under the starry sky. There was no moon tonight, so the sky was very dark indeed.
"Maybe I should," Benton replied finally. "I'll give it a shot."
"Good." Jonny settled more comfortably up against him. "We've got a great family, even if some people think it's a little odd."
"Yes, Jonny, we do."
Benton and Jonny sat for a long while, just enjoying each other's company. Eventually, Race came out and made the suggestion that bed might be a good idea. Benton and Jonny got up and went in.
Yes, they did have a great family, Benton reflected, watching the kids get ready for bed, and Race going with them to tuck them in. It was good to be home.
