Title: Checkpoint

Author: Allie Stillwell

Summary: After one of his top employees goes missing, Dr Quest is forced to send Jonny and Jessie in undercover to save the man and his family.

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Usually whenever anyone walked into Dr Quest's mahogany-walled office, he or she would be offered a smile and a seat, and before the good doctor got down to whatever business was at hand, the visitor and he would have a delightful conversation about lighter topics as they looked out onto Avalon Harbour before getting to the subject of the visit. It was always a nice ice-breaker, and it took some of the sting away from whatever terrible news he had, be it as innocuous as a slightly bad financial quarter or as horrifying as a chemical plant meltdown that was sure to engulf the entire Los Angeles area. He was always the most dignified of businessmen.

Today, however, it was different. The three of them walked in, Race prohibiting Bandit from following, and Dr Quest was grimly sitting at his desk. There were no smiles, no offers of cushy chairs or lemonade, and definitely no gleeful delaying conversations. Jonny was more than slightly taken aback and showed it, but Jessie quickly adopted a decidedly militaristic attitude. Her face became as serious as her father's as she took a seat across from Dr Quest, looking him in the eyes as Jonny concentrated more on his steepled fingers. Once Race pulled a chair up for himself, all were seated and Dr Quest looked between the children before speaking.

'What does the name "Davenport" mean to you?' he asked them both.

'There's a mathematician named Harold Davenport,' said Jonny after a long gap of silence.

'I don't think that a mathematician whose been dead for over forty years is a good reason to call a meeting,' said Jessie with a snarky tone.

Jonny gave her a dirty look which she returned in kind, but Dr Quest nodded his head a bit.

'You're close,' replied Dr Quest, relaxing his shoulders a bit. 'The mathematician's great-niece is who I'm concerned with, or more specifically, her husband.'

Jonny raised an eyebrow. 'But what does--'

'John Davenport,' interrupted Jessie suddenly, and in his peripheral vision, Jonny could see Race smile a bit. 'The former head of the Central Intelligence Agency. He has a daughter named Hannah.'

Jonny gaped at her as she turned to look at him with a little, nervous smile and a shrug.

'She used to baby-sit me.'

'Several years ago, we sent a team of Quest Enterprises research scientists to work with the CIA on the development of espionage equipment for use in detecting and examining terrorist plans,' said Dr Quest, opening a file that sat on the desk in front of him. 'The head scientist of the group was Dr William Kunstler, who was at that time stationed in our laboratories in the Tsushima Islands doing work with both the Japanese and Korean governments. He went to Langley and began work on the project with the aid of his team and Hannah Davenport, who helped with research and was additionally the head of security for the project.'

'I remember Dr Kunstler,' said Jonny, glancing at Jessie quickly as though it were some sort of contest between the two; she didn't bite.

'Because they worked together so intimately, they became very well-acquainted and were married when the contract was fulfilled,' Dr Quest continued. 'They had a daughter before disappearing over night a little over two years ago.'

'Hannah was able to avoid our detection for about sixteen months, but ten months ago, her name flashed up in the database of a Berlin hospital,' explained Race as he lounged in his chair. 'Benton sent one of his European employees to investigate and he was able to determine that the Kunstlers are the victims of a kidnapping, but rather than the kidnappers demanding money for the safety of their daughter, they're wanting to be paid in kind.'

'They have Dr Kunstler working with them to develop weapons systems for use against an unknown target,' explained Dr Quest, leaning on his elbows on the smooth surface of his desk. 'The last dossier we received from our contact said that Hannah Kunstler was living alone in Berlin with her husband dropping by infrequently; every three weeks, her husband comes home and they leave together by train to Geneva. The latest time, three days ago, our contact followed them from the train station and has not been heard from since. We did, however, receive this at our New York City offices early this morning.'

Dr Quest turned a couple of pages in the folder and picked up a photograph, hesitating before handing it to Jonny. He leaned towards Jessie as they looked at the photograph together, Jessie gasping a little as Jonny simply stared blankly at the image of a human hand with a wedding band affixed firmly to the ring finger.

'Our contact's wife identified that as his wedding band,' Dr Quest said, vocalising what they all already knew.

'But Dad,' Jonny asked, looking up from the photo. 'What does this have to do with us?'

Dr Quest hesitated and Race quickly picked up the slack. 'You two are going to Berlin.'

'What?' exclaimed Jessie, snapping her head around to look at her father. 'You show us a picture of our predecessor's severed hand and then expect us to go in?'

'Yes, I expect you to go in,' Race replied harshly. 'And I expect you to do a much more careful job than the last person.'

'We can't just go to Berlin,' Jonny said in an odd tone. 'They know us. We're highly identifiable in both name and physique.'

'We have disguise experts coming in to redesign your looks,' said Race. 'And we already have your new identities.'

Leaning, he fished two passports out of his pocket, one in dark blue embossed with the ornate gold seal of the government of Canada and the other rich red with the seal of the government of Colombia etched in silver. He handed the blue to Jonny and the red to Jessie, and each opened their respective document to example the front page.

'Inez Arboleda,' muttered Jessie, running her finger over the laminated surface of the information page.

'Benjamin Nathaniel Crew,' said Jonny in response, looking over to check out Jessie's photograph on the page. 'I guess this is how you're expecting us to look?'

'It's exactly how you'll look,' replied a voice from across the room, and Race immediately stood and strode over to shake hands with the man.

'This is Robert Nilsson. He is a former disguise master for the Agency,' said Race in introduction before turning back to the man. 'Glad you could make it.'

'Happy to be of service,' Robert said sadly. 'Hannah's a good girl, and I know her father misses her very much. I think that any of us who know her and her family would be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to recover her safely.'

There was heavy silence before Robert's gaze moved to the two twenty-somethings and he cleared his throat before motioning to them.

'Come on, you two. Time is a factor here.'

They stood and followed him, Jonny giving a backward glance to his father, who seemed more nervous than when they had first entered his office. As the heavy doors closed after the group of three leaving the room, Jonny saw his father pinch the bridge of his nose as Race stood motionlessly, the two fathers torn between what they wanted to do and what they had to do.