The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
Play Against Danger
By: Sapphire
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Chapter 3: Safety in Numbers
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Thursday Afternoon
At lunch, the Quests were hesitant to discuss the strangler in the public arena of the lodge restaurant. As a result, conversation was awkward and stilted. The uneasiness that resulted was still with them when they returned to the slopes. The group of seven stood around at the bottom of the ski lift, ready to go. However, everyone seemed reluctant to hitch a ride and head up the mountain. Jonny decided enough was enough.
"So," he said, "someone clearly wants us dead, and we have no idea who or why."
"Are they trying to take out just one of us? A few of us? All of us?" Jessie mused.
"It was Jonny who got shot at through the window, Jonny who the sniper was trying to shoot on the slopes, and I was starting to think the bad guy was out to get Jonny," Ryan said, "but this last time it was Hadji who was the target."
"Whoever is behind all this obviously isn't afraid to stalk us in broad daylight," Maggie added. "That puts Scott, Blain, and Ryan at definite risk. Bystanders, too."
"Agreed," Jessie said, looking at Blain, Ryan, and Scott. "The attacker will figure out you're close to us, and might use you to get to us." Blain winced.
"Dr. Quest and Race would want us to return home," Hadji pointed out. "That is most definitely the safest course of action."
"No way," Jonny and Jessie both said, adamant.
"Since when do we run away from trouble?" Jonny asked.
"I was afraid you would say that," Hadji sighed. "We are going to need a plan."
"All we can do is guess what this guy will try next," Scott pointed out.
"Well, I was right in front of the window," Jonny said, ticking each incident off on his fingers. "I was separated from everyone else coming down the mountain. Hadji was alone in the men's room. It sounds like our bad guy is looking for easy targets."
"Okay, so you're saying no making ourselves easy targets," Blain agreed. "That sounds simple enough. None of us should go anywhere alone."
"I hate to say it, but I think we should take that a step farther. We should stay together in groups," Maggie sighed. "Safety in numbers, I hope."
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"I think I'm getting the hang of the Lower South run," Maggie said as she, Jonny, and Scott slid off the lift at the top of the mountain late that afternoon. "I can do the run without falling," she cast an accusing glance at Jonny, "so long as I take the run at a leisurely pace."
"I can do leisurely," Jonny said with a crooked grin. Maggie shot him a dubious look as he pushed off, Scott following right behind him. Scott glanced back at Maggie and flashed her a brilliant smile.
"Behave yourselves!" Maggie shouted, scrambling to chase after them. To her relief, they were holding back until she caught up with them, then matched their speed to hers, Scott on her left and Jonny on her right. That's when she caught Scott shooting Jonny a mischievous grin, and Jonny grinning back. Maggie rolled her eyes, and was helpless to stop the two of them and their weird antics as they started switching places, back and forth, passing each other just in front of her as she continued her leisurely downhill slide.
As they came to the final bend, Scott was on the inside curve. Unbeknownst to them, two skiers were coming down behind them at a swift speed. Just as the two skiers were about to pass between the trio, a lone skier suddenly flew out from the trees right into everyone's path, making some kind of collision unavoidable.
Swerving away from the lone skier to avoid being hit, Scott skied right into one of the passing pair, crashing into him with an impact that made Maggie flinch as she stopped the quickest way she knew: falling on her rear. Jonny managed to stop with a swish of snow, avoiding the other of the pair as that one skidded out and landed in the snow. The lone skier disappeared into the trees on the other side of the run.
"Scott!" Maggie shouted as Jonny headed towards the skier that had skidded out. "Scott! Are you okay?" He was lying in a heap, unmoving, tangled with the other skier. Maggie released her bindings, and pushed through the snow, dropping to her knees beside him when she reached him.
"Maggie," He managed to say, spitting snow from his mouth. He lay still while she set to removing his skis. "Help me up," he asked, and she obliged, pulling him up to a sitting position. "Ow," he groaned.
"Jessie!?" Jonny's shout caught Maggie's attention. The skier who had skidded out was sitting up and had taken off her goggles and hat. "Are you all right?"
"I'm okay," she answered. "Did Ryan hit Scott?" she asked worriedly.
Maggie turned to the skier who had hit Scott, laying a few feet away, his skis akimbo. Now that she took a second look, she realized she should have recognized his ski suit with the electric blue stripes across the chest and down the outside of the legs. She scrambled over the snow to his side.
"I couldn't avoid crashing," Ryan mumbled with a groan.
"I know, I saw," Maggie assured, helping him get his goggles off his face as Jonny and Jessie waded through the snow toward them. "Are you hurt? Do you have any pain in an ankle or a wrist…?" Ryan just lay there staring up at the sky for a moment. Maggie figured he was taking inventory of all his limbs and joints. "How about you, Scott?" Maggie asked, glancing his way.
"Nothing broken or sprained," Scott said. "I think I feel a headache coming on, so I might have knocked my head."
"I think I'm about the same," Ryan added as Jessie and Jonny arrived and helped him sit up. "You know, we were lucky. Really, really lucky."
"I'll say," Jonny agreed, plodding through the snow around the pair to help Scott get up on his feet.
"Did anyone see who that was that came out of nowhere?" Maggie asked. Jessie, Ryan, and Scott shook their heads.
"It was definitely a man," Jonny offered, trying to recall. "I think he was wearing the same grey ski jacket as the sniper in the trees this morning, but I can't be positive."
"Come on. Let's get down the slope," Scott said when no one else had anything to add. He and Ryan were shaky on their feet after their collision. They weren't getting to the bottom on their skis, that was for sure. Luckily it wasn't far. They could walk.
Jonny sighed, watching as Jessie pulled Ryan's arm over her shoulders to help steady him and Maggie let Scott lean on her. It looked like he was stuck collecting skis and poles. Not that he was the least surprised. He just didn't like it, and not because he was stuck carrying the gear.
"Do you think this was a deliberate attack?" Ryan asked as they trudged through the snow in their hard ski boots. "The run ends just up ahead. Someone could be waiting to finish the job." The others exchanged a glance.
"He took off across the run and into the woods on the other side," Jonny said. "I don't think he can make it to the bottom to set up another attack."
"But I would say it was deliberate," Jessie added.
"Why would target me, though?" Scott countered.
"Well, there is that," Jessie replied thoughtfully.
"Wait," Maggie said, suddenly stopping in her tracks. Scott stumbled, unprepared for her abrupt halt. The others stopped to wait. "Maybe that skier was targeting Jonny." She pointed first to Scott, then to Jonny. "You're both tall and blonde and wearing black…" The only difference in their ski suits being Jonny's had green accents and Scott's had white. "And the way you two were criss-crossing in front of me, you could have easily confused anyone watching from below." It was a very sober group that came off the run on foot.
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Scott and Ryan went straight to the infirmary to see Dr. Mansfield, the rest of the group following as soon as they caught up with Hadji and Blain. The infirmary waiting room was unoccupied, the office empty, except for the doctor who appeared within moments.
"You again!" Dr. Mansfield exclaimed, surprised to see Jonny. "More trouble?"
"Not me," Jonny said with a crooked grin, pointing at Scott and Ryan. "Them."
"Ah," Dr. Mansfield said, turning to Ryan and Scott. "What can I do for you?" The doctor glanced back at Jonny before focusing on his patients.
"Well, we were coming down a run and ended up crashing into each other to avoid another skier," Ryan said.
"Nothing's broken, but we're worried about concussions," Scott added.
"And the other skier?" Dr. Mansfield asked, concerned.
"Skied off without even knowing what happened," Ryan said.
"In that case," Dr. Mansfield said, all business, "why don't the two of you follow me back and I'll give you both a quick check." Scott and Ryan got up and followed. Fifteen minutes later they were back in the waiting area, a clean bill of health. "Now you kids go have fun, and try to stay out of trouble."
"We will," Hadji promised.
"Yeah," Jonny agreed. "We'd rather be out there on the mountain than sitting in your office. No offense." Dr. Mansfield chuckled, shooing them out the door.
"None taken."
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They met at the Quest suite for dinner. Ryan and Scott still looked sleepy from the nap they'd gotten after leaving the infirmary. Jonny had a crackling fire going in the suite's fireplace, and they more or less gathered around it as they ate their room service.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Scott asked Maggie, watching her pick at her food. Maggie was slow to realize someone had spoken to her.
"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. It quickly faded. "That's four incidents in less than twenty-four hours. It's getting out of hand. I don't want to cut our weekend short, but a part of me thinks maybe we should go home."
"No way," Jonny said with a shake of his head. "Someone is targeting us. We can't let them get away with it. We gotta figure out who, and we gotta put a stop to it."
"Okay," Jessie said, "let's put our heads together. Who's targeting us, and why?"
"There's the usual list of suspects," Jonny said, "but this doesn't seem to fit with any of them. Call it a gut feeling. We have to come at it from a different angle."
"Well," Maggie said thoughtfully, "aside from today's incident with Scott and Ryan, the only people who have been targeted are you and Hadji. And like I said earlier, Scott could easily have been mistaken for you, Jonny."
"It is curious that only Jonny and I have been targeted, but not Jessie or Maggie," Hadji observed.
"That is strange," Jessie agreed.
"Furthermore," Hadji continued, "if the person behind these attacks means to strike at Dr. Quest or Race, why follow us to Vermont when they could just as easily follow them to Chicago?"
"So…" Blain said, thinking aloud, "They're after you? They want you dead? Why?"
"I don't have any real enemies," Jonny answered. "Neither does Hadji."
"That is not to say there are not people who would like to see us dead," Hadji added.
"Maybe the question isn't who wants you dead, but what would someone gain with your deaths," Scott suggested. "Knowing the motive might lead you to the bad guy."
"Actually," Maggie said, a spark of an idea hitting her. "Have you ever seen Uncle Benton looking at photographs of Rachel?" she asked.
"My mom?" Jonny sat up, curious where this was going.
"Jonny and Hadji have been for sure targeted. Uncle Benton's sons," Maggie said.
"Ohhhh," Jessie breathed, understanding hitting her as she recalled a moment a year ago when they'd had a fire at the compound. Jessie had been watching when Dr. Quest found a portrait of his wife while picking through the debris. "If Jonny or Hadji died- Dr. Quest would be devastated." Both girls glanced between the brothers who looked stunned. "And if both were dead…"
"It would destroy our father," Hadji said quietly. "It is the most diabolical way I can think of to take the Quest family down."
"Now we're definitely not going anywhere until we figure out who's behind this," Jonny said, determination in his eyes.
"Then we stay, too," Scott said, looking between Maggie and Jessie.
"Like I said, we owe you one for Montana," Blain said, "even though no one's keeping score."
"Decision made," Ryan agreed with a nod. "And yes, we understand what we're getting into. The guy has a couple of guns, tried to strangle Hadji, and didn't care who he hurt on the slopes today. We're still staying."
"Then it's settled," Jessie said. "It's going to be hard work keeping the two of you safe," Jessie sighed. "Especially you, Hot Shot."
"He's going to be a handful," Maggie agreed. "Worse than a pack of toddlers."
"Hey! I resent that!" Jonny complained. Maggie and Jessie just sighed. "Hadji's just as bad," he added lamely.
"Don't we know it!" Jessie retorted.
"But don't forget," Ryan said with a grin. "You girls have the three of us to help."
"Great. Just great," Jonny said with a sigh.
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Friday morning, they met for breakfast outside the restaurant. It was the breakfast rush, so they were sitting near the floor to ceiling windows, waiting. Maggie didn't notice at first that Scott was standing right beside her, watching her as she watched the shadows on the mountain recede as the sun slowly climbed in the sky.
"You know I can tell something is bothering you, right?" Scott asked quietly.
"Observant. Right," Maggie returned with a faint smile.
"So…" Scott prompted. Maggie sighed.
"Uncle Benton is the glue that holds this family together," Maggie confided. "They're all I have. It makes me sick to think…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "And… I meant it when I said I didn't want you to get hurt, and you got hurt yesterday."
"Ryan, too," Scott added with a faint smile.
"Ryan, too," Maggie agreed, a little confused as to what was so amusing.
"Do you think it would be best to end the ski weekend now and go home?" Scott asked in earnest, "Because we can."
"If I thought I could get Jonny and Jessie to go along with that, yes," Maggie admitted. "The trouble is, they're determined to catch the person targeting us, and once they set their minds on something…" She sighed. "You and Ryan and Blain aren't much better." Scott couldn't help a chuckle at that.
"It's true," he agreed. "But it isn't as bad as you think it is. For one thing, we're not the targets."
"Maybe not, but whoever this guy is, he doesn't seem to care if innocent people get hurt," Maggie pointed out.
"And the decision of whether or not to accept that risk is up to us, and I'm staying as long as you are," Scott said.
Maggie wasn't sure what to make of that. She didn't really get the chance to think about it or question Scott, because at that moment their group was called to be seated for breakfast. Scott took her hand and led her into the lodge restaurant, and Maggie followed.
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Determined to keep Jonny and Hadji safe, they hit the slopes that morning in a large group, skiing in a flock down the mountain. They were limited to taking runs that Maggie was able to cope with as she was the least skilled skier among them. While skiing was no longer exciting for the more advanced skiers, the group on the whole had to admit it would be hard to target one single member of their group with all of them crowded together.
"Hey," Ryan said to Jessie, pulling her a bit away from the others, "is it just me or is there someone lurking in the woods to the right of the run?" Jessie cast a surreptitious glance to the right. Sure enough, there was a figure standing among the dense trees. Almost, but not quite, camouflaged by the winter underbrush.
"It's not just you," Jessie replied so only Ryan could hear.
"Do you want to do something about them?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah," Jessie answered with a nod. "Let's talk to the others." Jessie and Ryan quickly quelled an escalating 'discussion' over which run to tackle next. "We've got bigger problems right now," she said. The urgency in her voice certainly got everyone's attention. "We've got a suspicious person lurking in the woods to the right of the run we just finished."
"Don't everyone look at once!" Ryan exclaimed in a low tone, stopping half the others from doing just that.
"I can see him from here," Blain said. Standing opposite Jessie and Ryan, he could see right past their shoulders to the trees in question. "If I were a betting man, I'd bet he's the same guy we saw yesterday with the gun."
"I'm sick of being his target," Jonny said. "We need to make a play against this guy, one he won't see coming."
"If we play our cards right, maybe we can corner him and find out who he is," Jessie said. "He's essentially a sitting duck now that we've spotted him."
"Those trees are located between the ends of two runs," Hadji said thoughtfully.
"I'm thinking an ambush is in order," Jonny said, "We're going to have to split up."
"I'm thinking three groups," Jessie said. "One to close in from the bottom of the slope, and two that will hit from above."
"Well," Maggie said with a sigh. "I volunteer for the first group. Who wants the unglamorous job of pairing up with me?"
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To be continued…
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