Winter Solace

by Jett Allyson

It's Christmas at the Quest Compound, but before long Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji are running for their lives after trying to escape a custody feud between Jessie's parents...

6. Wednesday, December 27

Wednesday, December 27th—The Longest Day

Jessie woke with a start. She glanced at her watch, which said 3:10 AM. She must have been asleep for several hours. She turned around in her place under the pine trees to look at the cabin. It was quiet. Earlier that evening, after she had returned to her hiding place from checking on Jonny and Hadji, she watched three of the people from the cabin leave: the youngest man, the woman, and one of the hulky men. The other two men stayed in the cabin, and Jessie was sure that they were still there. She had a feeling that originally the criminals had not intended to stay overnight—that they had only come to talk over whatever they were planning. But now they had prisoners, and since they knew that Jessie was still out there, they could not risk leaving Jonny and Hadji there, unguarded.

Even though there were only two men still left on guard, Jessie knew she could not take them, which is why she had remained in hiding. She had been planning on waiting until early morning to sneak up on the cabin. By that time the men would probably have dozed off, and she would at least have a chance of rescuing Jonny and Hadji. She stood up and stretched her legs. If she were going to approach the cabin, this would probably be the best time to do so.

She made her way to the edge of the forest and was about to step out into the open, when she noticed someone approaching from the left. She remained in the shadow of the trees and watched him. She could not decipher his features at first, but as he moved closer to the front window of the cabin, she realized that he was the young man who had been there earlier. Who was he, and why was he sneaking around in the middle of the night?

He moved up to the window, and peered through. This was her chance; she had to move quickly. If those men inside were asleep, and he knocked on the door and woke them up, she might never have this chance again. She strode purposefully but silently toward the man, as she pulled her pocketknife out of her coat. She clutched it in her right hand as she neared him, and coming up to him, on tiptoes, she immediately shoved the handle of the pocketknife into his back and said in a low voice,

"Freeze." He complied and inhaled in an attempt to speak, but she cut him off. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"My name is Scott Barnes. I'm not one of them. I saw you run away earlier. I'm trying to help your friends."

"How do I know you're not one of them," Jessie hissed at him, pushing the knife handle farther into his back." The young man flinched and took another breath.

"They kidnapped my father, Dr. Joseph Barnes. He invented a solution that they want, and they contacted me three days ago saying that they would kill my father if I didn't get the solution for them within five days. I had agreed to meet with them earlier today to tell them how it's coming, but I haven't been able to replicate the solution yet. My father shipped it off to California last week. I came back tonight to help your friends." He paused, and Jessie did not respond right away, as she gathered her thoughts. She did not know whether or not to believe him.

"Look," he said, turning his head slightly as if to try to see her out of the corner of his eye. "Those guys in there are asleep. Now would be the best time to get your friends out. I'll stand watch here, and you can go to the back window and get your friends out. If these two wake up, I'll knock on the door to distract them." Jessie almost rejected his plan entirely. She didn't know this guy; what if it was a trap? But there was no alternative. If she waited here as the lookout and sent Scott to rescue Jonny and Hadji, they might not trust him. And what would she do to distract the two guards inside? Furthermore, if Scott were lying about his involvement with these criminals, then he'd still be able to alert the bad guys from the back of the cabin. Jessie had to trust him. She had no choice. She and Scott could not take these two men with her pocketknife. So she removed the knife handle from his back and quickly returned it to her pocket.

"All right," said Jessie. "We'll meet you by the lake at the edge of the forest." She did not wait for an answer but ran toward the back of the cabin. As she rounded the corner, she stopped suddenly and peered back around the corner. Scott had returned to his position at the window. Something inside of Jessie told her that she could trust this man, so she turned around and hurried to the back window. She knelt down in the snow and gazed into the window, but the room was completely dark, so she could not see a thing. She knocked quietly on the window, not wanting to make too much noise and alert the bad guys. She waited a moment, but received no indication that Jonny or Hadji had heard her, so she knocked more loudly. Almost instantly a tiny light came on inside the room. Jessie knew that it must have been Jonny's Maglight, which he always had with him. She could barely make out his features in the light, but it was enough to know that he had managed to move his chair across the room from the window to sit next to Hadji near the door to the room. This was no small feat, either, because Jonny and Hadji's legs were tied to the legs of their chairs.

Jonny shifted the beam of his flashlight to the window, so he could see who was outside, but it probably only reflected off of the glass. Jessie was not sure how she would open the window. The window was one square pane of glass and seemed to open on the left side as she faced the window. She pushed firmly on the windowpane and was pleased to discover that the window frame gave way a little. If she applied enough pressure, she should be able to snap the lock on the window. She hoped that this would not make too much noise, but if it did, hopefully Scott would be able to convince those creeps that he had made the sound.

Without another thought, she backed up a few inches and then, by rocking forward on her knees, she lunged at the window and hit it with both hands. It gave way instantly and flew open. By some grace of God, the glass did not shatter, although it did crack slightly. Jessie lowered herself through the window and landed gently on the wooden floor. Then she rushed over to Jonny to untie him.

"Are you two all right? Did they hurt you"

"No," said Jonny, "we're fine. What happened to you? Where've you been?" Jessie explained about running away from the attackers and hiding for hours. She told them about the three people leaving and then about Scott returning.

"Are you sure that we can trust him?" Hadji asked Jessie, as he stretched his legs.

"I wasn't at first," Jessie replied, pulling one of the chairs over to the window. "But I really didn't have a choice. A lookout is a great ally. I didn't want those men to burst in here while we were all here." She stood on the chair and lifted herself out of the window. She looked around as she pulled her gloves on, searching for any sign of somebody watching. Jonny and Hadji pulled themselves up through the window, and the three of them ran down toward the lake. As they rounded the house and came in view of the front door, Jessie saw that Scott was talking with someone at the door. She, Jonny, and Hadji must have made too much noise in the cabin.

She continued toward the lake right behind the boys and joined them behind some trees. While they waited for Scott, Jonny and Hadji filled Jessie in on what they had overheard from conversations through the wall. The conversations confirmed Scott's story about his father.

"They wanted him to bring the solution tonight," said Jonny, "but he said that he wasn't able to get a replication of the formula yet."

"They were very upset," said Hadji. "They threatened to kill his father. He seems to be trying to buy himself time, but they told him that he has only two days left."

"We have to help him somehow," said Jessie. "Maybe Dr. Quest knows his father, Dr. Barnes."

"I've never heard of him, but maybe," said Jonny. "Hey, did you call home? Our parents must be freaking out."

"I tried, but no one was home, and there was too much static when I called my parents. Oh no!" she suddenly searched her pockets frantically.

"What's wrong?" asked Jonny.

"Oh," Jessie moaned. "I turned off my phone by mistake. I wondered why no one called me back." She turned the phone back on. "Well, there aren't any messages. I'll try calling again." It was then that Scott came running up.

"I saw them waking up, so I knocked on the door to distract them," he said, a little breathlessly. "I told them that I came back here because I had to go out of town to get the ingredients for the formula, so they wouldn't be able to reach me at the lab. I think they were suspicious, so we should get out of here quick." Jessie was just putting her phone away, as she said,

"I told my dad where we are and that we'll be home soon. I didn't really have time to tell him what happened, but we can tell him later. I did mention that you're coming with us, Scott."

"Well, let's get a move on," Jonny said, motioning toward the ski slopes from which they had journeyed so many hours before. He turned to Scott and said, "I'm Jonny, by the way. This is Hadji," and motioning to his right, "and Jessie." The two shook hands; Scott nodded to Hadji and Jessie, and they started toward the ski slope.

"I didn't know there was anything in this direction," Scott remarked. "I parked on the other side of the lake along the main road. By the way, Jessie, that was a nice trick trying to make me think your pocket knife was a gun." Jessie didn't have a chance to ask him how he knew that she did not really have a gun, because suddenly the door to the cabin burst open, and the two men dashed out. One of them pointed toward where the four teenagers had stopped short, and the two started running toward them.

"Come on," Jonny shouted, turning around and heading for the frozen lake. Without thinking twice, he stepped on the ice and moved as quickly as he could on ice with ski boots. Jessie, Hadji, and Scott followed suit. Halfway across the lake, still moving quickly, Jessie turned to look behind her. It had begun snowing; the sky was so overcast that there was no light to speak of, except for the tiny bounding lights of their pursuers' flashlights.

Jessie continued across the ice following the boys, when suddenly she heard the ice creak and before she could do anything else, the ice under her crumbled and she fell through. She uttered a scream of surprise as she felt the shock of icy water penetrate her heavy clothes. Luckily she was able to grab a hold of the solid ice to prevent her head from going under, and she struggled to find a grip on the ice.

She heard a rush of voices approaching and knew that it must have been her friends hurrying to her rescue. Jonny confirmed her assumption as he said,

"Jess, we're coming! Are you all right?"

"Uh, well not r-really," Jessie gasped. "I'm s-so c-cold."

"Take my hand," Scott said, reaching her first. Jessie grabbed his right hand with her left, still grasping at the ice with her right hand. Scott caught her right hand too, but he could not pull her out of the water from his position lying on his stomach on the ice. She saw Jonny and Hadji grab Scott's feet to pull him and Jessie away from the water, but by then, the two bad guys had caught up. The older man pulled out a gun and said,

"Freeze," which Jessie thought was an ironic choice of words. The man gestured with the gun to Jonny and Hadji. "All right, you two move away. Go!" Jonny and Hadji stood up slowly and took a few steps backwards, keeping their arms at their sides.

"We have to help her," Jonny said, glancing quickly at Jessie, but then returning his attention to the gun.

"Shut up!" said the older man. But he did seem concerned about Jessie's predicament. Jessie figured that he had not intended for things to go this far. "All right," the man said to no one in particular. After a moment, he pointed to his younger, stronger partner, "You and Barnes help the girl." Then shifting his attention back to Jonny and Hadji, who had been inching their way closer to Scott and Jessie, he said,

"Back away! Don't think that I won't shoot you. I don't need you for anything." The two teenagers backed away again. Jessie could feel her feet and legs going numb. She was now thoroughly soaked, and as the muscular man who had assaulted her earlier that night took hold of her left hand, she realized that she did not care. She wanted only to get out of this frigid water. The two men managed to pull her out of the water and as she gained her footing on solid ice, she clung to Scott for support. She hardly knew this man, but she trusted him anyway and prayed to God that the older men would not argue with this decision.

For a moment no one spoke as the teenagers wondered what was going to happen, and the bad guys decided what to do next. Finally the older man said,

"All right, Joey," and he looked at his partner, but kept the gun trained on Jonny and Hadji. "Call the boss and tell him to meet us at the van. We're gonna have to take these kids somewhere else." Then, as Joey pulled out his cell phone and dialed in some numbers, the older man said, "You three, get moving." He motioned toward the woods, where they had been heading before, while running away from the cabin. "The girl can stay with me." He grabbed Jessie's arm and yanked her away from Scott. She lost her balance and almost fell, but managed to regain her footing. Scott attempted to protest, but the man pointed the gun at him and said, through gritted teeth, "Don't even think about it. Now move."

Scott joined Jonny and Hadji, who hesitated before turning toward the woods. Jessie swallowed hard, her heart in her stomach. She was shivering almost uncontrollably, but she refused to allow her captor to see her fear. She was still with her friends; they would find a way out. When Joey turned off his cell phone, he took over walking with Jessie. The six of them walked through the forest for what seemed like hours, and every now and then Joey would glance at Jessie and smirk as though trying to figure out how he could get her all alone.

Jessie shuddered at the thought. She was in no position to fight this leering pervert, as she stumbled through the snow in ski boots, becoming colder and dizzier with every passing minute. But one thought did comfort her: when she and the guys did not arrive home in an hour or so, at least her dad would know where to start searching...



"Oh, thank God!" Estella said, falling into an armchair and laughing. Race had just hung up the phone after speaking with Jessie.

"They should be home in a little over an hour," Race said. "They went to that abandoned ski resort off of Route 3. I didn't think it was even operational."

"I'm sure those three found a way around that," Benton said, sighing, but smiling. "Did Jessie say what happen to them?"

"She didn't say much—only that Jonny and Hadji had been captured by a couple of maniacs, but that she rescued them with the help of a Scott Barnes, who father was kidnapped by these creeps. They're bringing Scott back here with them."

"I swear," Benton shook his head, "Those kids must look for trouble. We're going to have to have a long talk with them when they get back." He stopped talking and followed Race's gaze toward Estella, who had fallen asleep in the armchair.

"I guess all of the stress finally caught up to her. It is 5:00 in the morning," Race said, glancing at his watch.

"Why don't we go get some coffee in the kitchen and let her sleep," Benton whispered, placing a hand on Race's shoulder.



Jonny, Hadji, Scott, and Jessie emerged from the forest followed by their captors to find a large white van parked in front of a red Honda Civic. Jessie heard Scott whisper to the guys that the car was his. She knew that this road must be the one that wound its way up the mountain and led to the ski slopes, on which only twelve hours ago she and the boys had been skiing. It seemed like ages ago that she had been worried about her parents fighting over custody of her. Now she wondered if she would ever see them again. She shivered as she continued toward the van with the group. Jonny could not stay quiet any longer. He stopped walking, motioned toward Jessie, and said,

"You can't leave her like that. She'll freeze to death."

"Shut up!" Joey shouted, flexing his muscles. But his partner holding the gun seemed doubtful. After a moment he said,

"Joey, there are some clothes in the van we can give her." Joey pulled Jessie toward the van, and she struggled to maintain her balance. Inside the van, which had lit up when Joey had opened the back double doors, she watched Joey searching around for some spare clothes and thought that she would never be warm again. Her feet were tingling, her socks soggy in the icy water that had filled her boots. Even though her head had not been submerged in the water, the bottom half of her hair was soaked and was quickly collecting ice crystals.

Joey came out of the clutter holding a gray sweatshirt and darker sweat pants. He shoved them at her and then headed for the doors of the van. She turned away from him and unzipped her now ice-laden coat, but hesitated before taking it off. As she placed the coat on the floor, she heard him breathing behind her, and she knew that he was watching. Just as she was deciding if she could pull the sweatshirt over her head before taking off her wet clothes, she heard him approaching her again. His breath was on her neck for only a second, when she whipped around and slashed him across the face with her long nails. He let out a cry followed by a growl, and then he rounded on her. She quickly threw her soaked coat at him, which he caught out of surprise, and Jessie took the opportunity of his hands being distracted to kick his closest knee with the hard edge of her ski boot. He stumbled to the ground, just as the older man with the gun shouted,

"Joey, what's going on in there? Get out here now!" Joey pushed himself to his feet and scowled at Jessie before limping toward the back doors, groaning as he went. Jessie hurriedly removed the boots from her sore feet and changed into the dry clothes, while listening to the two men argue.

"She kicked me...scratched my face. Look, it's bleeding."

"Oh, don't be a baby."

Jessie sat down on the floor, not being able to stand any longer. The fight had taken her last strength. She shivered uncontrollably, still not any warmer than she had been while wearing the icy clothes. Her vision was blurred, and she did not think that she would be able to make it to the door of the van if she tried. As she sat, waiting for the others to come, she untied her braid and let her long, wet hair fall naturally, hoping that it would dry more quickly not being braided.

A moment later, the two criminals came into view, herding the teenagers toward the van. They entered quickly and joined Jessie at the back of the van.

"What are we going to do to them, Steve?" Joey asked his partner, still pawing at his bleeding face.

"Find something we can use to tie them up," Steve said, keeping a careful aim at the group. Jonny and Hadji crouched down, and quickly wrapped their arms around Jessie, in an attempt to warm her up a little. Hadji immediately removed his coat and gave it to Jessie who took it without question. Jonny motioned toward Joey and whispered,

"Nice job, Jess. He didn't hurt you did he?"

"N-no, I'm f-fine," she whispered back. Steve was watching them, but he seemed distracted, like he was making this up as he went along. Jessie was sure that he did not intend to hurt them. That may work to their benefit later on.

When Joey stood up again after searching the piles of paraphernalia on the floor of the van, he held only a few ties and old ragged shirts. Jessie had a feeling that these men must have been living out of this van.

"We can use their scarves too," said Joey.

"Yeah, good idea," Steve replied. Then directing his attention to the young people, he said, "Give me your scarves." Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji glanced at each other, then the two boys pulled their scarves off, and Jessie found hers inside her coat on the floor. It was still soaked and freezing. Scott was not wearing a scarf, so he stood there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking displaced.

Steve then ordered Joey to tie up each of the teenagers, one at a time, while the others stood at a distance. Joey used the scarves on their ankles, using his own to tie Jessie's. Scott's ankles were tied with Jessie's water-laden scarf, and she pitied him for that. Joey then used the neckties to tie their wrists behind their backs, and then he tore the tee shirts to shreds to use as gags. By the time he had finished, the light snow had stopped falling. Jessie knew that her parents must be going nuts by now, knowing that she and the boys should have been back by then.

The men exited the van, leaving the four teenagers alone. Jessie sat between Hadji and Scott; Jonny on the other side of Hadji. Jessie still shivered in the darkness of the van. Even with the doors closed, blocking out the deathly wind, the temperature inside could not have been above 30 degrees Fahrenheit, having been parked along that road for at least 12 hours. Her feet were bare on the carpeted floor, but she figured that it was better than wearing wet socks. Hadji had managed to pull off his fleece gloves, and he handed them to Jessie, behind his back. She put them on pretty easily, but she knew that she would need move covering, if she wanted to live to see tomorrow.

She moved quickly, in case Steve or Joey came back. Pushing against the wall behind her, she used her hands to push herself onto her feet, wobbling for an instant, but then forcing herself to remain steady. Then she hopped over to the pile of clothes on the other side of the van. The boys looked at her in amazement. Jessie did not wait for things to happen. When she knew what she wanted, she sought it out. She made things happen. She found some random socks on the floor, but she didn't think that she would be able to put them on. Then she found what she was looking for. It was a worn utility blanket, but it would do. As she crouched down to pick it up, she decided to take the sweatshirt lying next to it also. She hopped back to her place between

Scott and Hadji, and as she sat down again, she placed the sweatshirt where her feet would be. Then settling back against the wall, she buried her feet in the sweatshirt, which was as cold as her feet, but she was sure that it would warm up eventually. She was not sure that she would be able to get the blanket around herself, but Scott seemed to read her mind. He turned his back to her and offered his hands to help. She pushed the blanket to him, and he picked it up. Then he placed it on her legs and tried to find the corners. Hadji caught on to his plan and used his hands to spread the blanket out on his side of Jessie. Between the two of them, they managed to spread the blanket across her legs. She even pulled her knees close to her body, so that the blanket covered her shoulders, legs, and feet, which were still buried in the sweatshirt.

Jessie turned to Scott and smiled, but she was not sure if he could tell. Then she leaned her head on Hadji's shoulder, scooting closer to him for warmth. A few moments later they heard a vehicle drive up and park, and then voices passed by the van. Less than a minute later the front doors to the van opened, and two men climbed in. Jessie could not tell who it was; a wall with a door in it separated the front seats from the back of the van. Someone started the engine, and the van pulled onto the road. Jessie's heart was beating wildly. They had no idea where they were going. How would anyone find them?

Jonny was concerned about their situation. Jessie was not doing too well, and even though the heating system in the van had kicked on as it had pulled onto the main road, he knew that she needed to get to a warmer place soon. He had been wrestling with the tie around his wrists, but it was no use; it was tied too tightly. He leaned his head against the wall behind him and sighed. This is really bad, he thought to himself. Their parents didn't know where they were. Jonny didn't even know where they were being taken.

He glanced over at the other three captives—his friends. Hadji looked like he was meditating, and Jonny was not sure if he was trying to relax because of their stressful circumstances or so that he could relax his body enough to loosen his bonds. Hadji was a yogi, which meant that he practiced the art of yoga. In the past he had been known to be able to relax his body enough to slide right out of a chair that he was tied to. Jonny also had benefited from practicing yoga with Hadji.

He started fidgeting again. The gag was annoying him, but he did not want to take it off in case the bad guys freaked out about it. They might realize that Jonny and his friends were more resourceful than Frank and Joey had anticipated and then put them in an even worse situation. It was better to look weaker than he was, but he did wish that he could at least untie his hands.

Jessie on the other hand did not look like she was doing well. She was asleep against Hadji's shoulder, but her thin face was as white as a sheet, and she was shivering even under the blanket. Jonny knew that he had to get her some help soon.

After over an hour, the van finally slowed down and turned a corner. They were almost at their destination, and Jonny did not want to think about where that would be or what was in store for them. He had been hesitant during this journey to untie his hands, just in case one of the captors should come back there to check on the teenagers. Jonny was not about to attack the driver and risk crashing this van and endangering the lives of his friends. Besides, the driver might have a gun. On the other hand, he knew that it was foolish to just sit there, tied up, and wait for their fate. It was then that he realized that they would have to get out now. And along with that realization came an idea, which he could not believe that he had not thought of previously. The four of them were now friends—they were in this together. Yet they were each trying by themselves to escape.

What they needed to do was work together.

He started elbowing Hadji and brought him out of his trance. Hadji looked at Jonny questioningly, but Jonny was not sure how he would communicate to Hadji what he was thinking. Finally, he sighed and decided to remove the gag after all. He rubbed his face against the wall and managed to work the gag away from his mouth.

"Hadj, help me get my hands untied. We're almost there." Hadji followed Jonny's lead and removed his own gag before turning to help Jonny.

"I have been trying to loosen this tie, but I cannot." As he turned, Jessie's head fell, but she awakened and caught herself. She was still freezing, and she instinctively tried to wrap her arms around herself, but then remembered that they were tied behind her back. She moaned and turned her head to her right to look at Hadji and Jonny who were working feverishly to untie each other's hands. She glanced over at Scott, who had his eyes closed. She was not sure if he was asleep or not, so she just stared straight ahead at the wall across from her. She felt drained, like she could not conjure any strength if her life depended on it. Hadji finally managed to loosen the tie around Jonny's wrist enough for him to get out.

"Awesome," Jonny whispered as he turned to untie Hadji's hands. Within seconds the two of them were free and moved to help Jessie and Scott.

"What do we do now?" Scott asked, gratefully rubbing his sore wrists. The van was slowing to make another turn, and he placed his hands on the floor to keep from falling into Jessie, who was clutching the blanket around her.

"I thought about jumping out of the back of the van at a stop light," said Jonny, "but we need to know where these guys are going—where their hideout is—so we can report them."

"Why do we not wait until we are almost there," Hadji said, pacing the floor. "We will be able to tell, because the van will slow down excessively. Then we will jump out and follow them at a distance to see where they go."

"That's a good idea," said Jonny. "Well, let's get ready, so we can jump right out when we need to." The boys retrieved their scarves from where they had dropped them on the floor. Jessie crawled over to the pile of clothes. She could not find any gloves or a scarf, but she did find some woolen socks, which she immediately pulled onto her feet, and a long sleeved shirt. She made Jonny, Hadji, and Scott turn around so she could put the shirt on under the sweatshirt that she had been wearing. Jessie traded Hadji's coat for

Jonny's, since Jonny was wearing a warm fleece shirt, and Hadji was wearing little more than a tee shirt. Also, Jessie kept Hadji's gloves, and she was able to wear her own white hat, that had not gotten wet in the lake. She had laid out her wind breaker pants, when she had changed out of her wet clothes. She had guessed right in thinking that their captors would not notice, and now she looked to see if the pants were dry enough to wear over the sweatpants. They were, and she smiled to herself at her cleverness as she pulled them on. She did not, however, want to leave her coat and clothes behind, and luckily she found an old worn backpack in the clutter, so she stuffed her belongings into that. There was also room for her ski boots, which she could not wear, because the material inside was still wet.

They were ready to leave, and decided to get out the next time that the van stopped, whether or not they were at their destination, because they could not risk one of those men coming back to check on them, and they also did not know if they would be able to escape from wherever they were going without being seen.

Jessie sat down, while they were waiting, still feeling weak from the cold, but also from hunger. After a few minutes, though, the van slowed to a stop. Jonny quickly opened the door and jumped out of the van. He was in the middle of the street; he glanced around the van and saw a traffic light ahead.

"All right, hurry up!" he whispered, motioning for his friends to join him. As they jumped out of the van, Jessie grabbed onto Hadji for support, and Jonny cautiously closed the back doors to the van. Scott was about to suggest that they make a run for it, but Jonny piped up,

"Let's wait here for a minute until they get down the road a little, so they don't see us out of the side mirrors."

"Jonny," Hadji said, "we should follow the van to find out where it goes. You stay here with Jessie. I will go with Scott..."

"No way," Jonny interrupted. "I can run faster. Scott and I can go..."

"Oh, shut up," Jessie said. "You two go together. I'll stay here with Scott."

"Are you sure," Jonny lowered his voice and pulled her aside. "We barely know this guy."

"I trust him, Jonny. He was kidnapped too, you know."

"You guys," Scott said. "The van's leaving."

"Get going!" Jessie said, pushing Jonny away from her. We'll meet you here later. Go!" Jonny did not reply, but followed Hadji at a run down the street. Scott picked Jessie up and carried her to the side of the road, and they watched Jonny and Hadji disappear around a corner a block away.

Scott carried Jessie to a bench on the sidewalk, and the two sat down. Jessie looked at her watch. It was barely 7:00. It was no wonder that the streets were so deserted. Scott looked at her, concerned—her face was so pale. He needed to get her warm soon.

"I'm going to see if I can find an open store. Coffee shops usually open pretty early. Will you be okay alone here?

"Sure," said Jessie, "Go ahead." She watched him hurry down the street toward the line of stores. She wasn't sure why she trusted him, or why she liked him so much. She had not noticed until now how good looking he was. He had short jet-black curly hair and perfect skin. He was not too tall, maybe 5'10, but he had broad shoulders and looked like he worked out a lot. Jessie sighed and rubbed her gloved hands together vigorously, as she dangled her socked feet above the ice sidewalk. As she exhaled, she could see her breath materialize before her. She hoped that Scott returned soon. She had to call home also. Suddenly it occurred to her that her cell phone might not work after being submerged in icy water. She frantically searched inside the backpack for her coat pockets. She found her cell phone and tried to turn it on, but it was no use. The cell phone was too waterlogged.

"Damn," she muttered and shook her head, as she returned the cell phone to the backpack. Just then Scott hurried up to her and said,

"I found a little bagel shop up the road that just opened. We can rest in there and warm up. Do you have any money for hot chocolate or something? You should have something to eat."

"Yeah," Jessie replied, searching her bag again. She was glad that she had decided to bring some money with her the previous day. Finally she retrieved $15 from her jeans pockets and stood up to join Scott. The sudden movement made her dizzy, though, and

he would have collapsed, but Scott caught her.

"It's okay," he said, soothingly. "I'll carry you. There's no one around to see." He took her in his arms and set off for the bagel shop.

"I'm sorry," Jessie said, feeling pretty ashamed at being so weak. "I hit my head on some ice a few days ago, and now...after falling in freezing water..."

"I understand," Scott said. "Don't worry about it. We'll get you some help soon.

"I don't have any shoes on," she said. And then realizing the absurdity of that random statement, she continued, "They might not let me into the café."

"Well, let's just hope that they don't notice. You have a winter coat and ski pants on. They'll probably just assume that you have shoes on and not even look." By that time they had reached the door to the shop. Scott set Jessie down on her feet and said,

"Do you think that you can walk from here?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling, and she pushed opened the door to the Bagel Bonanza. She felt a rush of warm air as she and Scott entered the building, and Jessie breathed a sigh of relief.

The two walked up to the counter, where a teenaged girl with long blond hair stood waiting to take their order. She smiled, showing pearly-white teeth accentuated by red lip stick, and said,

"Hi. How can I help you?" Jessie responded,

"Um, I'll have a cranberry-orange muffin and a large hot chocolate." She turned to Scott, "Did you want anything? I'm paying."

"Oh, well thanks," he replied. Then studying the menu, he said, "I'll have an everything bagel with cream cheese and a medium coffee." The girl, probably about Jessie's age, bustled around filling their order. Scott turned to Jessie and said,

"You stay here and warm up. I'm gonna call for help and watch for Jonny and Hadji. Do you have any way of calling your parents?"

"My cell phone is dead, but we have an 800 number to call collect. I'll write it down for you." The girl came back to the counter then with their order. Jessie gave her a ten dollar bill, and while waiting for change, she said, "We're kind of lost. Could you tell us the name of the nearest big town or city, so we can get some perspective?"

"Oh, of course," she responded. "Well, this town is Frankford, but if you go up the road that way (she pointed right) and make the first left, keep driving for about twenty minutes, and you'll come to Keedysville. That's the biggest landmark around, because they have a winter festival every year. People drive from all over the state for that." She gave Jessie her change. "Where are you headed?"

"We're going home toward Bangor," Jessie said, smiling. "We just got a little sidetracked."

"Well, make sure you stay warm," the girl said. "It's pretty cold out."

"Thanks," Jessie replied, and she and Scott brought their food and drinks to a little table in the corner, by a window facing the street. "Here's the phone number," Jessie said, handing Scott her receipt, on the back of which she had written the number for the Quest Compound. "You can ask for either Dr. Quest, who's Jonny and Hadji's father, or my parents, Race and Estella Bannon."

"You all live together?" Scott asked, shocked.

"Well, it's a long story. I'll tell you when you get back."



Scott dialed the 800 number from a pay phone in front of the Frankford Diner, which had not yet opened. The phone rang twice before a female voice answered.

"Jessie? Is that you?"

"Is this Mrs. Bannon?"

"Uh, yes," her voice wobbled. She sniffed before continuing, "Who is this?"

"My name is Scott Barnes. I was with your daughter, Jessie this morning when she called you to say that she was coming home. I helped her save her friends, Jonny and Hadji."

"Where is she?" Estella said, urgently. "Why are you calling me instead of her?"

"Right after she called you, the bad guys caught up to us. We tried to escape by running across a frozen lake, but Jessie fell through the ice."

"Oh, my God!" said Estella, and she began sobbing.

"She's all right, Mrs. Bannon. I pulled her out. She's okay. But then we were kidnapped and taken over an hour away. We escaped only a few minutes ago, when the four of us jumped out of the back of the van that we had been in. Jonny and Hadji ran after the van to find out where the kidnappers are going. I left Jessie in a coffee shop to warm up. She's still really cold, but she's getting better. But we have no means of getting home. Our cars are still at that ski resort."

"I'll call Jessie's father. He and Benton went to the ski resort to find Jessie and the boys."

"Okay. Tell him that we're in Frankford, about 20 minutes north of Keedysville."

"All right, Scott. Thank you for calling and take care of Jessie, okay?" The line disconnected before Scott could respond. He hung up, and having no one else that he knew of to contact, he returned to the bagel shop.



Benton and Race had arrived at the abandoned resort over half an hour earlier. They immediately noticed Hadji's car in the otherwise empty parking lot, and they hurriedly marched through the snow toward the fully operational ski lift, which had been left on. Benton thought, as he and Race took the ski lift up the hill, that he did not want to guess at what the electricity bill would be for running an abandoned ski lift all night. He also thought that he knew who would have to foot the bill.

When Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji did not arrive home after an hour and a half of when they had called home, Race and Benton had become concerned. They had tried calling Jessie's cell phone, but there had been no answer—not even voice mail. They decided immediately to drive up to the ski resort, but when Estella said that she wanted to go too, they told her that she should stay behind in case one of the kids called. She was not happy, but she complied, just in case.

Race had not heard from Estella, though, and he was beginning to get frantic. He and Benton hopped off of the ski lift, when it reached the top of the hill. The snow at the summit was matted in places, and ski tracks were apparent even since the recent snowfall.

"Well, the kids were definitely here," said Race. It was difficult to tell in which direction they had last gone, but the two men wandered around the clearing anyway, looking for any sign of a scuffle. Benton walked around the control shed and happened to notice through the window a pile of skis lying on the floor.

"Hey Race, look at this," he called to his friend. "These look like their skis. I know that these on top are Jonny's."

"Well, this means that they didn't ski back down the hill. I wonder why they left them here."

"Beats me," said Benton, leaving the shed to look around again. "They must have walked off somewhere quite deliberately. Look for tracks leading off into the woods." After only a few moments, Race summoned Benton to where he was standing near the trees across from the control shed. Deep tracks led straight into the woods, from where Race was standing. The two of them entered the woods and continued for awhile following the evident tracks, until finally they came to a lone cabin sitting in a clearing next to a now frosted lake. Benton had to admit that the scene looked pretty serene, but it was creepy all the same, knowing that the kids may be here.

Benton and Race crept up to the cabin, all the time searching their surroundings. As they neared the door, Race removed a pistol from his pocket and held it safely in his right hand. He walked a couple of steps behind Benton, as to watch his back. Benton peered cautiously through the window, but all he saw was an empty room. Race looked at it and said,

"Let's go in. I've got your back." The two men entered the silent room and looked around. The door to the other room was ajar, and Race proceeded with caution, as he approached the door. Suddenly he threw open the door and pointed the gun through the wide-open doorway. But the room was empty except for a bed and two chairs with ropes coiled around the arms and legs. Both men entered the room and studied the chairs.

"It looks like someone was held captive here," Benton said, grimly.

"It was probably Jonny and Hadji," Race responded. "Jessie said that she saved them. But where are they now? What happened to them?" Race stamped his foot on the floor and growled. "Damn it!"

"Let's look for clues outside," Benton said, trying to keep his wits about him. Not only had his two sons been assaulted and kidnapped once, but now they were missing again, and he had no way of knowing how to find them.

When they had exited the cabin and taken a couple of steps back into the snow, Race's cell phone rang. He answered,

"Race Bannon." On the other end of the line, a female's voice said,

"Race, I know where Jessie is!"



Jessie and Scott had been sitting in the bagel shop for almost half and hour, when

Jonny and Hadji hurried by the window. Scott jumped up and ran outside to catch them. The three of them then came in and joined Jessie at the table.

"I bought you some muffins," Jessie told her friends, as she pushed the white paper bag toward them, and they savagely ripped into the bag. "So tell us what happened," she pressed them, eagerly.

"We didn't have to follow them for long," Jonny said, between mouthfuls of his blueberry muffin. "Luckily we were right when we guessed that we were close to wherever they were taking us. It's only about two miles down the road—a huge place surrounded with barbed wire with a guardhouse at the gate. It looked like some sort of a chemical factory. We got there just in time to see those guys freaking out because we weren't there." Jonny took another bite of his muffin, and Hadji took the chance to jump in.

"We watched them argue for a few minutes, but then we decided to come back here, just in case those men decided to try to find us."

"They don't know when we jumped out of the van," Jonny resumed the story. "We could have escaped right after they pulled away from the ski resort or anywhere else along the way. But just in case they did decide to chase us down, we thought that we should keep a low profile. Especially since this town is so close to their hideout. They could drive by at any moment. We should keep to the indoors for awhile."

"That's fine with me," said Jessie, whose face had regained some color and whose hair was almost completely dry.

"How are you feeling, my friend?" Hadji asked.

"Much better," Jessie smiled. "Oh, and Scott called the Compound. He spoke to Mom and told her where we are. She said that she would call our dads. They went to the ski resort looking for us."

"Oh man," Jonny said, shaking his head. "I'd better call my dad to be sure he knows we're okay. I also want to give him the license number of the van, in case he and Race pass it along the way.

"I will go with you, Jonny," Hadji said. Then he turned to Scott, "Did you see if there is a payphone nearby, where we will not be seen if someone should pass by?"

"Well, I used the one in front of the diner, down the street. But there may be one inside the bank or a restaurant."

"They probably won't be open yet," Jonny said. "But we'll look around. Be right back." Jonny and Hadji left the building, allowing the frigid early-morning air to enter momentarily.

"So," Scott said, "You promised that you would tell me about your family."

"Oh, right," Jessie said. "Well, my mom and dad are divorced. They divorced when I was seven, and after that I lived with my mom in South America. She would travel a lot for her job—she's an archeologist—so we lived in a few different places. But then I came to visit my dad here in Maine one week and decided to stay with him instead. He was working for Jonny and Hadji's father, Dr. Quest. Dr. Quest is a famous scientist, and my dad is his bodyguard."

"I've heard of Dr. Quest from my father, who's also a scientist. That's Jonny's father?"

"Yes, and Hadji's. You see, Dr. Quest and Jonny and my dad would travel a lot, and when they were in Bangalore several years ago, they met Hadji, who was an orphan living with a peddler named Pasha. Dr. Quest offered to adopt Hadji, and Hadji and Pasha accepted. I guess Dr. Quest just felt an instant rapport with Hadji, and Jonny and he got along great, so it all worked out. Then when I visited my dad, I met Dr. Quest and his sons. We all became really close in the two weeks that I spent there. When it came time for me to leave, I wanted to stay, and my parents agreed that I would have a more stable life living in Maine and going to the same school year-round. I've been there ever since."

"Wow," Scott said, shaking his head, "that's some story. So is your mom just visiting now?"

"Yeah," Jessie replied. "She came for Christmas, but..."

"What?" Scott said, concerned.

"Well, my parents have been arguing about who I should live with. My mom thinks that my life with my dad is too dangerous."

"I bet that this experience won't help much, will it?"

"Probably not," Jessie sighed. They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Jessie watched the main street becoming more crowded with people and cars. It really was a cute little town, she decided. Too bad that she and her friends were not here under more pleasant circumstances.

Soon Jonny and Hadji hurried back into the little bagel shop, which now had many more customers. They sat down with Jessie and Scott, and Jonny said,

"I spoke to my dad and told him that we're fine. He and Race were just leaving the ski resort to head here. When Estella told them where we were, Dad had IRIS's map program print him directions to where this town is. They'll drive straight here and meet us in this café."

"Okay cool," Jessie replied, without looking up. She felt a little overwhelmed by all that had happened, but at the same time, she knew that there was nothing that they could do for the time being. They would just have to wait for their fathers to arrive. Then they could work on finding these criminals and saving Scott's father. That's right, Jessie remembered, Scott's father had been kidnapped also. And they had no idea where he was.

"Scott," Jessie said, "What did your father invent that those guys wanted to steal?"

"It's an agent that can make you invisible for a brief time."

"He invented an invisibility potion?" Jonny said, incredulously.

"Yeah, basically. It took him years to figure out the formula, but he's pretty much got it down, now. A small dropper full will make someone invisible for an hour, two droppers for two hours, and so on. He sent the prototype to his associates in California for analysis, but when the press interviewed him last week, it sort of blew up in his face, so to speak. These kidnappers read about it in a science journal and attacked him the very next day. My father realized the risks of his solution. He knew that people would use it for crime, that governments would want it for espionage. But he was so certain that he would be able to use it for good..."

"Like what?" Jessie asked, cautiously. "I mean, did he intend to invent it, or did he just sort of stumble upon the formula?"

"Well," Scott said, "I guess a part of him thought it would be really cool to be invisible. I mean, who wouldn't want to be invisible at one point or another? But I don't think that it was an obsession of his to accomplish this. It sort of came to him accidentally. One day he just figured it all out. But then he realized that if someone were to take a high enough dose of the formula, he could remain invisible forever. That's why he sent it to California for analysis—to find out if the affects could be reversed, if someone should take too much. He was also working on the reverse potion, so you wouldn't just have to wait for the potion to wear off. You could take the visibility formula to become visible again."

"Wow, that's something else," Jonny said.

"That is incredible," said Hadji. "Just think that anyone could become invisible whenever he desires."

"Well, I hope that we can find my father soon," Scott sighed, placing his chin in his hand. "Those men could do anything to him, now that we've escaped."

"Do you think that they're keeping him in that chemical factory?" Jonny asked.

"I don't know," said Scott. "Maybe, but how will we get in there to help him?"

"We could certainly use some of that invisibility solution now," Hadji said, and he leaned back in his chair and turned toward the window, his thoughts a million miles away.



It was just after 9:00 when Hadji noticed Dr. Quest's car pull into a parking space near the bagel shop. The four teenagers jumped up and ran to meet him outside. (During the hour that they had been waiting for their fathers Jonny, Hadji, and Jessie searched for new boots to wear. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to walk again," Jonny had said, referring to how painful it had been to run while wearing ski boots. Jessie too was relieved to finally slip her feet into a pair of warm, padded snow boots. Jessie also shopped quickly for some new clothes, "so I can take off these nasty rags," she had said, and a winter coat. She already had two at home and the one in her backpack, but none of those would help her now, and she wanted to give Jonny his coat back. These were the benefits of living with a millionaire. But Jessie did plan to give her two coats at home to charity.) Race had pulled up a few spaces ahead in Hadji's car, which came as a surprise to everyone.

"Why did you bring my car," Hadji asked, as Race approached the group.

"So we wouldn't have to go out of our way to pick it up on the way back," Race said. He then threw his arms around his daughter and said, "Are you all right, sweetheart? You really had us worried."

"I'm fine, Dad," Jessie replied, looking at Jonny and Hadji, who were taking turns hugging Dr. Quest. "But we really need to catch these kidnappers."

"What we really need to do is get you to a hospital." Then seeing Jessie prepare to respond, he put up a hand and said, "Just to make sure you're all right. And don't argue, young lady. Your mother said that you fell through some ice."

"I did," she sighed. "But I'm feeling much better, really. And we need to go after those guys."

"Believe me, I want nothing more than to see those assholes pay for what they've done, but your health is more important. Why don't we find a local hospital and just make a quick appointment. Benton and I will search for those bastards after I know that you're safe and sound in the hospital."

"No way!" Jessie exclaimed.

"You're not going without us," said Jonny.

"You will need us to identify the bad guys," said Hadji. Race sighed, and Benton said,

"You know, Race, they're right. If we go to that warehouse and see dozens of people, we won't know who's involved with the kidnapping. Besides, we'll need the police to back us up."

"Let's go find a hospital first," Race said, relentlessly, "and from there we'll call the local police and fill them in."

"All right," Benton agreed.

Half and hour later, the six of them in two cars, arrived at the Keedysville General

Hospital. Miraculously the doctor was able to see Jessie right away (Race had called the hospital from the car to set up a last-minute appointment, saying that Jessie had fallen through the ice and then had been without warm clothes or medical attention all night.)

While Jessie was in the examination room, Benton phoned the Keedysville Police Department and told them of the situation with his family and Scott's father, Dr. Barnes.

"The police are sending five squad cars over to the warehouse that you told me about," Dr. Quest told Hadji, Jonny, and Scott. "Apparently a technician from your father's lab, Scott, had phoned the police when he arrived in the morning and found the lab destroyed. The Maine State Police have been searching for leads on you and your father, since no one had seen either of you in three days."

"Well," Scott said, somewhat ashamedly, "I only went home once after the attack to grab some clothes. I didn't want to stay there in case those guys came by looking for the formula. Also, I knew the police would come by looking for my dad, and since Steve had warned me not to alert them, I didn't want to risk my father's life by speaking with the police. I've been driving around in my car ever since."

"We'll find your father," Dr. Quest said, placing a consoling arm around Scott's shoulders, even though Scott was almost as tall as Dr. Quest. "I've heard a lot of great things about his research, even though I've never met him. Now I'll have the opportunity, though," he smiled, reassuringly. At that moment Jessie and Race emerged from the exam room with Dr. Bryce.

"Everything's fine," Race said, wiping his brow with relief, as he approached the four men waiting in the lobby. "The doctor said her temperature and pulse are where they should be. I have you three to thank for taking care of her." Race glanced at Jonny, Hadji, and Scott.

"Don't thank us, Race," Jonny spoke up, looking over at the beautiful red head, who had gained back all of the color in her face, and then some. "Jessie took care of herself. Even while tied up, she managed to collect enough clothes to stay warm."

"Well, warmer," Jessie modified Jonny's description, quickly avoiding his gaze.

"Jessie knew what she needed," Hadji added, "and she found it." Race hugged he daughter and then said,

"So Benton, did you get through to the police?"

"I did, and they said to meet them at the factory." So the group left and returned to their cars parked outside. They drove the fifteen minutes to the factory (in nine minutes thanks to Jonny's badgering) and practically tumbled out of the cars after screeching to a halt in front of the gate. The guardhouse was a good 200 yards away, but the Quests and Bannons intended to keep a low profile until they made contact with the police.

"You three stay here," Race said to Jonny, Hadji, and Jessie. "Scott, you come with us, so you can ID the kidnappers to the police and explain to them about what happened to your father."

"But..." Jonny started.

"Don't," Benton said and hurried away with Race and Scott, before Jonny or anyone else could protest.

"Damn," Jonny muttered, kicking at the snow, which came halfway to his knees.

"Do you think the police are here yet?" Jessie asked, standing on tiptoes and craning her neck, while searching near the guardhouse. "I don't see any sign of them."

"Well, they may decide to be discreet and stake out the place before charging in,"

Jonny said, leaning against the side of Race's red Camero. "I hate waiting."

"Really," Hadji said, and Jessie could not tell if Hadji was being sarcastic or agreeing with Jonny. After about ten minutes they suddenly saw two police officers, wielding assault rifles, run across the quiet road and enter the guardhouse.

"That must have been the signal to attack," Hadji said. "Perhaps other officers are approaching from behind the factory." He moved a few steps down the road. Jonny followed Hadji to get a better look, but neither one could catch a glimpse of any activity around the gatehouse. Jonny sighed and said,

"We should get out of the open, Hadj."

"Yes, you are right, my friend," Hadji replied, turning back to the two parked cars. "Where is Jessie?" He asked, searching the area.

"I don't know," Jonny said, quietly. "Jess?" He did not want to shout, but he wanted to make sure that she could hear him. The two boys hurried toward the cars. Jonny called Jessie's name again but did not receive an answer. "She wouldn't go off alone would she?" Jonny asked turning to Hadji. He was worried now, because he knew that Jessie would not just take off without saying anything. Hadji and Jonny cautiously made their way around to the other side of the two cars, calling Jessie's name. Jonny could feel a knot forming in the pit of his stomach, as he rounded Race's car.

"Jess?" he whispered, and then he stopped short and gasped, not able to believe his eyes. There in front of him, crouching in the deep snow, were Steve, Joey, and Jessie.

Jessie's hands were tied in front of her (with rope, this time. Steve and Joey had planned this attack) but Joey also had one of his huge arms around Jessie's arms and torso, pinning her body to his, and a hand drawn tightly across her mouth, keeping her head safely against his right shoulder in an attempt to prevent her from head-butting him.

"Oh, God," Jonny said hoarsely, frozen in place, as both men rose from the ground, dragging Jessie to her feet, and Steve drew his gun to aim at Jonny and Hadji. As soon as Jessie had spotted Jonny and Hadji, she began struggling against her captor, but he was much too strong and barely had to brace himself for the fight.

"Well," Steve sneered at Jonny and Hadji, "we meet again." Jonny suddenly felt such a strong hatred build up inside of him that he almost lost it and lunged at Steve. He caught himself in time, though, which resulted in him jerking forward and stamping his foot in the snow, although he arms and shoulders remained stiff.

"Careful," Steve's eyes flashed his malice at the blond teenager in front of him, and he cocked the pistol. At the sound, which seemed deafening to her, Jessie flinched and felt a sudden wave of dizziness overcome her. She knew that she was shaking, but it was unrelated to the cold, mountain air. The moment of silence that followed seemed to last an eternity before Steve finally said,

"So you thought that you could outsmart us, huh? We knew you would come back, and when we saw the police so inconspicuously surrounding the complex, we knew that you three would not be far away. I still don't know who you are, or why you find it necessary to keep insisting on thwarting our plans, but I am here to tell you that it won't work. You have picked the wrong man to mess with," he added savagely. Jessie knew that if Steve ever had any doubt as to whether or not he wanted to hurt them, that it was gone now. This man was out for revenge.

As Steve had been raving, Hadji had been inching his way to the left of Steve, if only to divert Steve's attention away from Jonny, so perhaps Jonny would have the chance to make a move on the criminal. Steve noticed what Jonny and Hadji were planning, though. He suddenly jerked the gun in Hadji's direction and shouted,

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You don't make the rules here! Back up." Hadji obeyed and took a step backward, just as Jonny approached from Steve's other side. In a split second movement, Jonny lunged at Steve, and Steve held the gun high above his head, as he turned to Jonny and brought the gun down hard on Jonny's head. He fell instantly, attended by a chorus of Jessie's muffled screams and Hadji's startled shout. "I told you that this is my game here, all right?" Steve seethed. "My game!" He stood over the motionless body of Jonny, whose head was surrounded by blood-soaked snow. Hadji stood transfixed, staring at Jonny, blaming himself for what happened. But Steve did not want to linger, having accomplished what he had intended. He knew that he and Joey had been outnumbered, and he had been waiting for an opportunity to eliminate one of the teenagers. He knew that he could not risk firing the gun and alerting the cops of their position. But he also could not allow these kids to realize that. It had worked out perfectly though. He and Joey now had their hostages, so they would be guaranteed a safe getaway, and no fingerprints or other identifying material (such as a bullet) would be left behind. Steve waved the gun toward Hadji and said,

"All right, let's get going. Move it, come on." Hadji hesitated at first, glancing at Jessie quickly, and then to Jonny's body. He knew he had no choice. He could not fight these two, and he would not risk allowing Jessie to be hurt. He would just have to hope that later on they would have an opportunity to escape. He turned and walked into the street, not sure where Steve was leading them, but then Joey passed him, carrying Jessie, with her feet hanging inches off of the ground, and walked across the street and into the woods. "Move!" Steve shouted again, and Hadji increased his pace to catch up with Jessie and Joey.



Jonny opened his eyes. He had been lying on his back in the snow, apparently unconscious, but it had been a ruse. He knew that he was lucky not to be unconscious or even dead, but Steve had hit him in the just the right place, so that Jonny had fallen just from the force of the hit. He had immediately chosen to "play dead." He had realized that Steve and Joey were outnumbered, gun or no gun, and that they would not be able to kidnap three very healthy teenagers, who had already escaped from them once. If they thought that Jonny was out of the way, Jonny would be able to follow, without them suspecting.

He jumped up quickly, but swayed slightly, as he gained his footing. His head stung, where Steve had hit him, and he knew that he was bleeding. After a moment, he opened his eyes again, and having regained his balance, he set off across the street. He could still make out the giant black coat that Joey wore, and Jonny made sure to keep his distance, as he followed.

This journey through the woods was much shorter than the one early that morning, and within a few minutes, Jonny saw the group emerge from the woods and into a massive parking lot. It must have been auxiliary parking of the chemical factory, but there were few cars parked there at the moment.

Jonny remained hidden in the woods. He was thankful to be wearing dull colors—black jeans and a black coat; these would help him not to stand out. He saw Joey place Jessie back down on the ground and go to the car to search for something. Steve kept the pistol trained on Hadji and Jessie, and Jonny wondered if the gun was even loaded.

Joey emerged from the car with more rope, which he used to tie Hadji's wrists. He then blindfolded Jessie and shoved her into the back seat of the car.

Jonny watched as Steve opened the trunk and told Hadji to get in. Jonny felt sick, standing there, hiding, and watching his friends being kidnapped. But he knew that he had made the right decision. This way he would be able to tell the police and his father and Race which way the car went. He inched his way to the edge of the woods to get a better view of the car, which was only about twenty feet away. He could just barely make out the license plate number and make and model of the car, before it began to pull out of its parking space.

Jonny hurried along the tree line toward the driveway leading from the parking lot back to the main road. As the car disappeared around the curve of trees, Jonny broke into a run and rounded the left turn down the driveway. He just barely managed to catch sight of the car turning right onto the main road to head back toward the little town of Frankford. Jonny then sprinted down the remainder of the driveway until reaching the road and then turned left to return to the guardhouse only about 100 yards up the road. Upon reaching the guardhouse, he knocked urgently on the door and said breathlessly, as an officer cautiously opened the door,

"My name is...Jonathan Quest," he gasped for air. "My father is Benton Quest. He's the man who called the police to report the criminal activity going on...here...at this factory."

"Okay," the officer began, somewhat suspiciously. "Do you have ID to back up your statement?" Jonny reached into his pocket and produced his wallet, from which he removed his license. He handed it to the officer, who viewed it quickly and then returned his gaze to the young man standing before him. "What can I do for you?" he asked, without emotion.

"My friends were just kidnapped by two of those criminals. They're heading that way," he pointed down the road, "toward Frankford in a red Dodge Neon, license number JRK 954. I can give you descriptions." The officer surveyed Jonny for a moment, before turning to his partner to discuss the matter. Both men looked to be in their early to mid-thirties, clean-shaven, but tired. Jonny guessed that they had been on duty for several hours, and he therefore wondered if they would take him seriously or even want to help. The first officer, though, turned back to Jonny and said,

"I'll contact my superior at the station to confirm your claim of your father calling in earlier." He turned to the phone and began dialing. Normally he would not have entertained such a story coming from a haggard looking teenaged boy, but the boy looked

desperate, and his head was bleeding. Clearly he had been in some sort of trouble, and the

officer could not refuse him help.

In the meantime, his partner asked Jonny to sit down and brought out a First Aid kit. He had begun to place gauze on his head, when the first officer heard the line connect on the other end. The voice that answered was that of the commander.

"Hillstown Police Station, Commander Bartlett speaking."

"Commander, this is Officer Brady," the officer replied. "I'm at the chemical factory on Brinkley Road, where the crime ring was brought down this morning."

"Yes," replied the commander. "Any more news?"

"Well, there's a teenaged boy here who just claimed that his friends have been kidnapped by two of the members of this criminal organization. He says his name is Quest, and that his father was the one who called the station this morning to report the criminal activity."

"Yes, Dr. Benton Quest called in this morning. He agreed to meet the police at the factory. He's probably in there right now. You say the boy's friends were kidnapped? I'll send out two patrol cars. Where are they headed?"



When Steve slammed the door to the trunk, and Hadji was left in darkness, a wave of terror overcame him. If there was one fear that he had, it was claustrophobia. Just the thought of being in a closed-in space that he may never get out of, would make him break out in a cold sweat. Now, actually being in that situation, he felt as if he was having a panic attack.

Hadji remembered Jessie telling him once about a situation in which she and Jonny had been, when they were trapped in a collapsing scientific observation building built on the ocean floor. The men, who had been blasting through the sand with dynamite to finish building the city, had accidentally released a new species of sea creatures from their hives within the earth's crust. The carnivorous creatures had then attacked the city and its inhabitants, which at the time included, Dr. Quest, Jessie, Jonny, the scientists and oceanographers stationed at the observation site, and the builders. Jessie had told Hadji later that she had not realized that she was claustrophobic until that moment, when the walls were collapsing around her, water was quickly filling the rooms of the small city under the sea, and flesh-eating monsters were forcing their way through the reinforced glass windows. Hadji remembered thinking that he was lucky not to have been there. He did not think that he could have handled it.

Now he was beginning to understand how Jessie had felt. He felt as if the darkness was deepening with every moment, and the carpeted walls of the trunk were closing in on him. He struggled through fits of trembling and minor hyperventilating to remember anything that he had heard or learned about what to do in this type of situation. He did recall an email that Jessie had received from a friend, which she had told him about. It contained information for what to do in life-threatening situations, and one situation was what to do if a person is trapped in the trunk of a moving car. The email had said that she should kick out the tail light of the car and then reach her hand through the open space and wave vigorously. The driver of the car that she's in would not see her waving for help, but anyone driving behind the car would. Hadji never in his life thought that he would be trapped in the trunk of a car, but now that he was, he was glad to have that information. He began kicking at the metal backing of the taillight and realized that it was not as easy as it had sounded at first to position himself in such a way as to have enough energy behind his leg muscles to kick out the light fixture. But he tried nonetheless. It at least gave him something to do other than worry about what would happen to him and Jessie, when they reached their destination.

It all but killed him to think about losing either Jessie or Jonny. He had never known such unconditional friends when he had lived on the streets of Bangalore. His only acquaintance and friend was Pasha, who had rescued him from being murdered by Hadji's uncle Deepak who had been trying at the time and had succeeded in overthrowing the Sultan, Hadji's father. Pasha had smuggled the young Hadji out of the castle and had taken care of Hadji. But to Pasha Hadji had not been a foster son, and Pasha had not even pretended to treat him as such. Hadji was his charge, just a boy who lived in his house. He fed and clothed him, and in exchange Hadji would help him beg for money from the well-to-do families of Bangalore. To Hadji, that had been normal life. He had understood that he had no family—he had understood that he was on his own.

This is why he took Dr. Quest up on his offer to adopt Hadji. For the first time in his memory, he would have a family; he would have an identity. This is also what encouraged Hadji to pursue the lifestyle of yoga. Not only was yoga a relaxing hobby, but for Hadji it was also very spiritual. It allowed him to delve deep within his subconscious to find out who he truly was. It allowed him to discover his strengths and to overcome his weaknesses. Yoga was a release from trouble and grief, but also the renewal of his soul.

Jonny and Jessie in turn, had also added to Hadji's life. Jonny had given Hadji the comfort of a best friend and a brother. He and Jonny became inseparable and complemented each other perfectly. Jonny was rambunctious and unpredictable; Hadji was calm and thoughtful. Jonny often made fun of Hadji's words of wisdom, but Hadji knew that Jonny appreciated having those references for life. It helped to put a situation in perspective.

When Jessie had come to live at the Quest Compound, she brought a new dimension to Jonny and Hadji's lives. She and Jonny instantly became rivals in any competition that arose in Quest World or in reality. They would compete, and Hadji would mediate; but Hadji did not feel left out. He understood that each of them related to each other in different ways. While he could discuss strategy and fighting techniques with Jonny, he could compare scientific data and computer knowledge with Jessie.

Jessie, he thought to himself. She had been through so much lately—hitting her head on the sidewalk, falling through the ice, and all the while concerning herself with her parents' dispute. He knew that she was tough and strong-willed, but he still worried about her. It was too much for anyone to handle.



When Benton, Race, and Scott returned to the guardhouse, they were escorted by several officers, who had taken ten criminals into custody. The officers began shoving the solemn prisoners into the squad cars, and Benton was about to suggest that he and the two men return to their cars, parked up the road, when Jonny pushed his way past the officers in the guardhouse, shouting,

"Hey, Pop! Over here."

"Jonny," Benton exclaimed, halting mid-stride to look at his younger son, "What are you doing here? You were supposed to wait by the cars. And what happened to your head?"

"Dad, they're gone! Those maniacs took Hadji and Jessie and drove away!"

"What?" Race yelled, turning on Jonny. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"We were standing by the cars, where you left us," Jonny began, taking a deep breath, but then pressing on urgently. He told them what happened and what he had witnessed from his hiding place in the woods. When he had finished, the officer standing next to him said,

"I already called the station and had them dispatch some cars to search for the vehicle that your son described. The police are currently searching Frankford, and they've also put out an Amber Alert for the entire area. We'll find your kids."

"Thank you," Benton said, unsteadily, but then Race said, privately to Benton, Scott, and Jonny,

"Let's go." The four hurried away from the startled police officers. As they approached Race and Hadji's cars, Race continued, "Jonny, you said that they drove toward Frankford?" He had already climbed into the driver's seat and had practically pulled the car away before the doors were closed.

"They were heading that way," Jonny replied distractedly, "But they may not have stopped there."

"We passed several towns along the way from Bangor," Race said, sighing. "They could be going anywhere."

"I'm sorry, Race," Jonny said, without looking at the older man. "I could have come up behind them..."

"No, you did the right thing, Jonny," Race interrupted. "That man, Steve, had a weapon. You don't know if he was unbalanced enough to shoot all of you," Race's voice wavered. If that man were unbalanced, who knew what he would do to Jessie or Hadji.

The two drove in silence for several minutes. Jonny could see his father in the car behind them and knew that Dr. Quest was feeling exactly what Race was at that moment. Hadji may have been adopted, but in Dr. Quest's mind, Hadji was every bit his own son, like Jonny. Hadji still called his adoptive father, "Dr. Quest," but Jonny knew that it was simply out of habit. Hadji thought of Dr. Quest as his father. Jonny could not even imagine his life without Hadji. And Jessie, he thought, painfully. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.



It seemed like no time at all before the car pulled to a stop down a dark alley. Jessie knew that they had not driven far from the factory parking lot, and she had counted the turns that they had made—two right turns, one left. They were undoubtedly still in Frankford, for which she was grateful; with any luck they would be able to escape somehow. At least they knew the town.

On the other hand, she wondered why Steve and Joey had brought them to such a close location. Either they were very stupid and naïve enough to think that no one would find them here, or, as Jessie really believed, Steve did not mean for Hadji and Jessie to be here for long. She knew that Steve probably would not kill them here. He had taken them hostage for a reason—probably to ensure his and Joey's escape. But he would not likely have a use for them afterwards. If she and Hadji were going to escape, it would have to be before they left town.

The car door opened, suddenly, pulling Jessie from her thoughts. A massive hand grabbed her forearm and yanked her out of the car. She fell on the hard, cement ground, but when no one immediately helped her up, she stood up on her own and waited. She could hear distant cars moving, but otherwise the area was quiet. Even through the blindfold, she could tell that it was dark, wherever they were—darker than it had been in the parking lot earlier, and since she knew that it was still early in the day, they must be in an alley under the shadow of some buildings.

Another car door slammed, right before someone grabbed hold of Jessie's shoulders and guided her forcefully down the alley. When they finally stopped walking and one of the captors removed her blindfold, she found herself inside a huge room without furniture. The room's only décor were the packing boxes, which littered the floor at the far side of the room.

Jessie turned to see Hadji standing beside her. He glanced at her and smiled, reassuringly, but only momentarily, because Joey then grabbed both teenagers and hauled them over to the wall behind them about 10 feet to the right of the door through which they had just entered. On that wall were several huge pipes extending from the floor into the ceiling. It was to two of these pipes that Joey tied Hadji and Jessie. He then left them standing there and joined Steve on the opposite side of the room to begin packing boxes.

For the next several hours, while they watched Steve and Joey move materials from the two rooms in the building to the alley, Jessie and Hadji discussed their predicament.

"After all of the seemingly hopeless situations that we've been in, you would think that I'd be used to this by now. And you'd think that we would have found a way out of here. How does this keep happening?"

"Sometimes our situations do not warrant explanation. We must accept what life hands us and find a way to work through it."

"That's easier said than done," Jessie replied, struggling in vain against her bonds. Finally she gave up and hung limply against the ropes. "What do you think they're going to do to us?" Hadji did not reply at first, but continued to watch Steve and Joey at work. Then when Jessie wondered if Hadji was going to answer, he said,

"They seem to be loading those boxes into some vehicle beyond this building perhaps a truck. My guess is that when they have completed their packing they will come back for us. And I do not think that we will live to see the destination of those boxes." Jessie sighed, deeply,

"We have to get out of here, Hadji, before they can take us out of town. I think we'll have to risk getting shot."

"I think that you are right, my friend."



Race, Benton, Jonny, and Scott searched with the police throughout the day. While the police had been focusing their attention on the towns in the surrounding area, the Quest team had chosen to remain in Frankford.

"They could be anywhere," Benton had explained. "We could spend an eternity searching all over Maine, but maybe Jessie or Hadji will find a way to get a message back to this town. Or maybe they left a clue as to where they're going."

The four men had spent most of the afternoon combing the town on foot, but they had not found even the slightest clue.

"Do you think that they switched license plates, Dad?"

"It could happen," Dr. Quest replied, "But the police are searching for the make and model of the car too." The situation was beginning to look pretty grave. Benton and Race had stopped in every store in town to ask around for any sign of Jessie or Hadji; Jonny and Scott stopped shoppers along the street. No one had seen the two captives, nor had anyone noticed the Dodge Neon pass through town.

"There's nothing suspicious about a red car driving through a crowded town in the middle of the day," Race conceded. Benton could see that his friend was close to tears. Race and Jessie were extremely close. Ever since Jessie came to live with her father, Race had been trying to make up for the first few years of Jessie's life, during which Race had been absent most of the time. Benton had witnessed first hand what the possibility of losing Jessie to Estella was doing to Race. He was not about to allow Race to lose Jessie altogether.

"I'll call the police, and see if they've come up with any leads," Benton said, with determination.

The sun that shone through the gloomy windows of the warehouse was fading as the day wore on. Jessie and Hadji had watched the two men move boxes all afternoon. The longer they remained trapped in this building, the better their chances were of being rescued. It would give the police time to find them.

It was nearing sundown, though, when Steve and Joey returned through the door leading toward the alley outside, looking exhausted, but pleased. After conferring quietly with his associate for a few minutes, Steve headed back toward the door and called over his shoulder to Joey,

"I'm going to make sure everything in the truck is ready. You keep an eye on those two," he gestured to Jessie and Hadji. After watching Steve disappear outside, Joey glanced around the almost empty room. He seemed at a loss as to what to do with himself, and finally his gaze rested on Jessie. He smirked as he strode toward the two seventeen year olds. He stopped in front of Jessie and stared at her for a longer time than she was comfortable with. She avoided his gaze for a while, but then decided to stare him down. In her position she felt that she should show as much confidence as she could. She set her jaw and looked him directly in the eye, but she was disconcerted at the evil that shown back at her. Then Joey smiled, a sick, menacing smile, and said,

"Do you know what Steve is planning? He's planning on killing you two after we leave here. But," he paused a moment, looking her up and down, "I could convince him to let you live." Jessie did not answer, but again concentrated her gaze past him. She was worried where this offer was going, but she suppressed the urge to spit in his face. Being tied to a pole, she was unable to defend herself, if she needed to. He saved her the need to make the decision, though, by continuing,

"Why don't we just go over there and talk it over?" He began untying her, finally allowing the ropes to fall to the floor. Jessie quickly stepped out of the coil of ropes at her feet and hurriedly backed a few steps away. Her hands were still tied together, but she did not attempt to loosen them; she was focusing on his face, trying to anticipate his next move. Jessie could see Hadji behind Joey's shoulder, watching her anxiously, but before she could communicate anything to him, Joey advance toward her. She did the first thing that came to mind—she spit in his face, and when he growled and launched himself at her, she kicked his bad knee with all of her strength. His knee gave way, and he fell to the floor; she lost her balance momentarily and fell backwards, but she pushed herself to her feet, and began running across the room toward the towers of boxes. He was on top of her, before she could react, though, and forced her to the floor. He kneeled over her and forcefully rolled her on her back. Desperately she punched him in the nose with her two fists, together, but with a yelp of pain, he smacked her across the face with his right hand and grabbed her wrists with his left, pinning them to the floor.

Her face stung from the attack as her cheek lay against the cold, concrete floor. Her mind was racing, and she could not think what to do. Distantly she heard Hadji calling her name, but she could not see him—when she looked up, Joey's face was right in front of hers, and for a moment, neither of them moved. Then slowly, Joey shifted his weight to his left hand and used his right to find the zipper on Jessie's coat. Her breath caught in her throat, as Joey unzipped her coat. Jessie felt as if the room was spinning and the blood rushed to her face and grew hot as anger overtook her fear. Joey placed his hand on her stomach, slowly moving it under her sweater.

All of a sudden, the air was alive with gunfire outside the building. Joey nearly jumped out of his skin, and Jessie took that opportunity. With great effort and more strength than she knew she had, brought on by the emotion and urgency of the moment, Jessie used her arms and hips to throw him off of her. Before he could react, Jessie tore off across the room and dove behind the piles of boxes, which extended the wall perpendicular to the front of the building. From her hiding place inside a box she glanced around frantically searching for a way out, still breathless from the attack.

Joey hobbled past the box, searching for her, and once he was out of sight, among the maze of cardboard, she doubled back toward the back of the room. In the corner of that wall was a solid metal door. She did not know where it led, but she took the risk and pushed it open.

Engulfed in a rush of icy air, Jessie made a mad dash into the foot of snow behind

the warehouse. The sun had set, but she could see remnants of streetlights down the road and used that advantage to turn left and make her way around toward the front of the building.

As she rounded the corner of the warehouse, she ran right into a dark figure. No! This couldn't be happening. She was too close to freedom. She regained her balance before falling down and raised her arms to smack the man blocking her way to safety. He caught her arm, though, mid-blow and said,

"Jessie, it's me, Scott. It's all right." Jessie stopped fighting him and looked into his face. He did not smile, but his eyes showed the relief that he felt. His face reflected concern, and with the shadows of the distant streetlights on his face, he looked older than his eighteen years.

All at once, her legs collapsed from under her, and she fell into his arms from a combination of relief and exhaustion, and she remained there for quite some time. Distantly she heard a song, and she was not sure if it was playing somewhere nearby, or if the melody was in her head, but it was a song that she knew well. One that she had always liked, but to which she had never been able to relate until that moment:

Isn't anyone going to find me? Won't somebody come take me home? It's a damn, cold night. I'm tryin' to figure out this life. Won't you take me by the hand—take me somewhere new? I don't know who you are, but I'm, I'm with you. I'm with you.

After what seemed like an eternity, Scott pushed her away from him and said, as he untied her wrists,

"We should get back; your family is looking for you." She suddenly remembered her dad and Dr. Quest—and Hadji, still trapped inside! She and Scott hurried around to the front of the building. Police lights flickered in the alley, and officers with weapons swarmed the area. The two young people pushed their way through the commotion and entered the building through the front door, where there were more officers taking a bewildered Joey into custody. Jessie turned to her right to see Dr. Quest and Jonny with their arms around Hadji.

"Jonny?" Jessie whispered, disbelievingly. Her feet seemed rooted to the floor, and she simply stared for a moment, until Dr. Quest turned and saw her and shouted,

"Jessie!" The three of them were upon her almost before she had registered the exclamation.

"We were so worried about you!"

"Are you all right?"

"Where've you been?"

"When we came in here, and you weren't here..."

"Hadji told us that you ran out the other door, and Race went looking of you." Jessie looked up, upon hearing Dr. Quest's comment, and saw her father hurrying toward the group from across the room. He took her in his arms and held her tightly, comforting his own nerves as well as hers.

Caught up in the moment, all of the emotion that she had experienced in the previous 24 hours came rushing at her like a title wave. She broke down completely, as she stood in the middle of the large room in her father's arms, while her friends stood by and thanked God that she was alive and well. Finally she pulled away from her father's arms and looked at Jonny.

"I thought you were dead," she barely whispered.

"I was lucky," Jonny replied, wrapping his arms around her.

"Where were you, Ponchita?" Race asked Jessie, placing a hand on her shoulder, causing her to step away from Jonny. "We rushed in here, after the police told us they had a lead on where you were, and we found Hadji tied to a pole, and you were nowhere in sight."

"Well, I..." Jessie stammered, glancing at Hadji. "I escaped when one of those men untied me. He tried to hit me. I blocked him and kicked his knee, causing him to fall," she explained carefully, not meeting her father's eye. "Then before he could come after me, I ran away." Then glancing quickly at Hadji, she rushed on, "I'm sorry I left you Hadji; I would've come back for you..."

"It is all right Jessie," Hadji interrupted. "You had to do what was best for your own safety." His heart was breaking for her. He had noticed that she had abbreviated Joey's assault on her. He did not blame her for wanting to forget what had happened, but he did not believe that it would be so easy. Already he could see the red mark where Joey had smacked her across the face.

"Well," Race said, returning his leather gloves to his hands, "let's get out of here. The police need your statements, and then you four need some rest." He and Dr. Quest explained that the six of them would be staying in a little bed and breakfast on the edge of town that night. They would then head home the following morning.

"I'm sorry that we haven't been able to locate your father yet, Scott," Dr. Quest said. "But the police are still working on it, and you are welcome to stay with us until we find him."

"Thank you, Dr. Quest. I'm sorry I pulled all of you into this."

"Don't worry about it," Race laughed tiredly. "This family attracts danger like a lightening rod. Besides you have helped us out a lot today. We owe you."



That evening the Quest/Bannon party enjoyed room service at the Hope Inn in Frankford and discussed the previous day and a half. They had visited the Keedysville Hospital for the second time that day to do an x-ray of Jonny's head. He had needed ten stitches and was cautioned to stay off of his feet that evening and to keep a cold compress on his head to reduce swelling. Jonny accepted the doctor's orders and sat with his feet up that evening while holding the ice pack to his head with his left hand and eating lasagna with his right hand.

When Benton had called the police station late that afternoon to find out if the cops had found any more information about the whereabouts of Jessie and Hadji, Commander Bartlett had said that as a matter of fact, they did have some information that may help.

"Apparently," Dr. Quest related, still amazed at the story, "a woman walking through town had happened to look up at the precise moment that one of the tail lights from a Dodge Neon fell off as it drove by her on Main Street. She thought it was odd but didn't think to do anything about it until the car stopped at a traffic light a block up the street, and she saw a hand waving at her through the empty space where the tail light had been."

"I was not sure if it would work," Hadji commented, shuddering at the memory. "I took a chance that someone would see me."

"Well, it's a good thing that you did," Dr. Quest continued. "The woman hurried to the police station to report what she had seen, but by the time some officers arrived on the scene, the car was long gone. They walked up and down Main Street stopping people to ask them if anyone else had seen the car without a taillight and someone waving a hand from inside the trunk. A couple of hours later, they were rewarded, when another person decided to go to the station and report seeing the car turning down an alleyway. Of course he had seen the incident long before he reported it, but it hadn't really occurred to him what he had seen until much later. But better late than never," Benton smiled. The police searched all of the alleyways in town and eventually found the car without the taillight. It was then that they radioed for more back up and surrounded the entrance to the warehouse. I called the station just as the officers were all rushing to the scene, and when we arrived they were having an all out gun fight."

"They'll be interrogating those creeps now, along with all of their accomplices," Race added. "But your statements will be the key that locks them away."

"We're really proud off all of you," Benton said. "It took a lot of courage to endure all that happened to you." Hadji caught Jessie's eye momentarily, but then Jessie stood up suddenly and said,

"I'd better call Mom and let her know that I'm all right."

"Oh, I called her before, and told her..." Race cut off, as Jessie disappeared into the next room and closed the door. "Well, who wants more lasagna?" Race asked, somewhat less cheerfully.

Jessie did not reappear after rushing off into her room of the suite, but the others retired to their own rooms soon after she. All of them were exhausted from the day's adventures, and they each slept restfully throughout the night.