I apologize for the delay. I've had such a busy week and it is now that I am finally able to get this chapter posted. I've read it twice, so I am hoping I caught my mistakes, but if not, please let me know and I will fix them.

Guest: Weekly fix? LOL! Too funny. I love it. I will try my hardest to post on time.

Guest: Here it is. I hope you like this first encounter. Next chapter there will be more.

JDcocoagirl: Well, Hadji is not a target, unless you count Claire. That's her target! Hee hee hee. Jessie has a sixth sense when it comes to Jonny. Let's see how those two will get along now that they are together.

TJ12398: I'm so glad you liked it! I finally have everyone in place. I just hope that I can keep the plot strong as the story continues.

Anatolie: Thank you! Very appreciative that you are reading.

Playlist:

Zhu: Faded

Alt-J: Taro

Stateless: Inscape

Chapter 14

Zack decided to call the group in for an early dinner to further discuss the theory he brought out earlier in the day.

As they sat inside the hotel's restaurant sipping on coffee after their dinner, Zack, Race, and Ethan put their entire focus and attention on Benton who shared with them the latest information he gathered since Zack placed the idea on them, "I was able to find a few institutions whose specialties lie in hypnotism. We could start by looking at those first."

"Any specific physician names?" Zack asked.

"No one specific," Benton shook his head. "But, I do have few names we start with. They are in your inbox."

"Good," Race nodded. "We can start tomorrow."

"Zach, do you really think Jonny's been brainwashed?" Benton asked. "And where would you get an idea like that?"

"I don't know Benton," the man shrugged. "There's something in that video that keeps bothering me. I'm not sure what it is. I've seen it so many times I've memorized the damn thing, but I know there's something."

He was about to continue, when Ethan's phone rang, "This is Grant." He paused, listening to the other person on the line, "Are you sure? Yes, I'll be right there." He began standing when he looked at company present. "Get ready boys, I think Jonathan was spotted in Cartegena."

"Columbia?" Benton asked surprised.

"No," the man shook his head as the group immediately stood up. "Spain." Dropping some money off on the table, he looked at the group, "Let's get going, we are heading to Spain."

XXXXXXXXXX

The scene around them was complete chaos, but they stuck together not sure what else to. Hadji knew that the only way to find Jessie and Jonny would be to go back to the compound. But somehow, he also figured that he and Claire could find out more about what transpired if they remained put for a while.

Looking around, guests spoke to agents and police answering questions. They even asked questions of their own, not really satisfied with the answers. Hadji was still semi-shocked by what he had seen. Turning to Claire who looked equally shocked and nervous, he took her by the arm and led her to a corner of the ballroom where they could speak with a little more privacy, "You need to tell me what is going on?"

"Hadji…Jessie…" she began to stutter, "I…I shouldn't…have‒"

"Claire! Focus!" the man yelled.

Claire had never seen Hadji look the way he did. He looked shaken, confused, but very angry. It was the latter that scared her. "I'm sorry."

His features softened a bit, but the anger hadn't really subsided, "Tell me what you know."

About to tell him, her gaze suddenly turned to Phil Corvin who had just walked out of the area Jessie had gone into earlier in the evening. The man looked like he had been hit over the head with a frying plan. Hadji followed Claire's gaze and rested his own on the Agent.

Looking back at Claire, he immediately told her, "We need to leave."

"Why? I thought‒"

"Agent Corvin will ask us questions when he finds out that Jessie is missing. And, I do not want to implicate my brother in anything…yet," Hadji explained. "We better know how to answer them to save both Jessie and Jonny's‒"

"Yeah, i know," Claire acknowledged. "How do we get out of here?"

"Follow me," he took her by the hand again, "We need to leave before Agent Corvin realizes our presence. " Guiding her out of the ballroom, Hadji made sure she'd tell him everything, "Once we get to the car, you will tell me what you know. I want to know it all."

XXXXXXXXXX

I-95 was the fastest and probably easiest way to lose any tail behind him. He was surprised that his assassin wasn't anywhere in site. DR128 figured he'd follow him to the car or catch him at another point of the escape. It didn't happen either way. That means he has another way to find me…

He turned to look at the red head sitting on the passenger seat. She was still out cold. Before departing, he quickly checked her over to see if the hit on the head hadn't been harder than he initially thought. He found that the one thing she'd have when she woke up would be a killer headache.

She called him Jonny. The same name Corvin used with him. "Who the hell is Jonny?" he muttered to himself as he continued driving. Looking at the woman again, he sighed. When she finally woke, he'd demand to know who she was and how she fit onto this assignment.

Inside the pocket of his suit, the phone vibrated. He took it out and saw the caller's number. It was Master. DR 128 wasn't sure he wanted to take it. He wasn't sure about much anymore. He needed time to think. He pressed a button to ignore the call. Master would be pissed that he'd broken protocol. But if he's calling me…that means he knows I'm not dead. Or, does he know I was even targeted?

So many damn questions, he shook his head in frustration. He needed to get away, gather his thoughts and figure out what to do next. He looked at the red head again. Somehow, he was convinced she was the key to this.

XXXXXXXXXX

Benton, Race, Zach and Ethan stood inside a closed surveillance room with about six large screens in front of them. Three agents sat down typing away codes on computer keyboards that apparently controlled the screens. The men stood in awe as they watched video taken from the city in Spain where Jonny walked the streets casually, apparently enjoying the sites.

"When was this taken?" Ethan asked as he kept watching the screen.

"This," the agent on the chair answered as he looked at his keyboard, "About an hour ago."

"Was he seen speaking to anyone?" Race asked.

"No," the man shook his head, "He's been just walking around like any other tourist."

Benton continued watching without saying a word. The man on the screen looked like Jonny, but something…something was not right. Ethan took note and asked the doctor, "What's on your mind Benton?"

Quest shrugged, "I'm not sure, but something seems very strange."

"What do you mean?" Zach was interested in what the doctor had to say, "What are you seeing that we are not?"

"I know the video is taken from a distance and it's a bit blurry, but are you sure we are looking at Jonny?" Benton walked up as close as he could to the screens. The large table where the three agents sat on the computers prevented him from moving forward, "I have some reservations." Turning to Ethan, he asked, "Did the agents over in Spain make a positive ID?"

The Englishman nodded, "According to my Intel, it is him Benton." Pausing for a moment, he began speaking, "The fact of the matter is that the information that we are currently working with is at least a week old, this," he said pointing at the screen, "is a few hours. We'll be missing a window of opportunity if we don't take it now."

"I think Ethan's right Benton," Race nodded, "I have a suggestion."

"What is it?" Benton looked at his friend with trust in his eyes.

"What if we split our resources? Zach and I can go to Spain and check this lead out. You and Ethan can stay here and continue the investigation."

"This actually works," Zach answered, "If Race and I find out that it isn't Jonny, then we haven't lost anytime working the lead here."

"And Benton, you can continue researching Zach's idea," Ethan answered. "I can give you clearance at the center so you can work with our systems. That should help you in your search."

Nodding, the doctor answered, not excited about the prospect of not seeing his son, "That could work."

"It will," Race replied reading his friend's mind, "We can leave tonight, spend a few days checking out the lead in Spain and hopefully come back with answers. Benton, let me see Jonny first, okay?"

The doctor sighed and nodded in approval.

"Then are we in agreement with the plan?" Ethan asked. When the men nodded, he continued, "Give me a few minutes and I'll make the arrangements, you should be able to leave in an hour."

"Thanks Ethan," Zach answered.

"Not a problem," the man smiled. "If you'll excuse me, let me go ahead communicate with the field agents who will be helping you in Spain." He walked out of the room, leaving the men inside turning to the screen.

"What happens if you find him?" Benton asked.

"We bring him in," Zach answered matter of factly.

"And if he doesn't want to be brought in?"

Race snorted, "That kid is coming with us even if I have to pull every piece of his blonde hair!"

XXXXXXXXXX

As they drove home, Claire could tell that Hadji was using every bit of his energy to remain calm. His hands firmly grasped the steering wheel of the car and he only looked at the road ahead not saying a single word. She couldn't blame him. Hadji thought that his brother had been dead for the past five years. Who wouldn't have been shocked to see him all of a sudden? And worse, he suspected that she knew all along. Claire wondered what was in his mind at the moment regarding her. How angry was he? And, would he ever forgive her?

The young woman remained quiet for the most part, waiting on him to speak, figuring that he was processing what he had just seen, waiting for the shock to end. After about ten minutes driving in silence, he finally asked, "What has Jessie been working on since you two returned to the compound?"

"What?"

Trying to remain calm, he asked again, "Jessie. For the past week, she has been in her room working on something. You told me she was working on a project for her Master's degree. I know now that you were lying to me. What was she working on?"

His words hurt. She had lost his trust and she wasn't sure if she could gain it back. Sighing her regret, she pushed it down. This was no time to think of herself. Her friend was missing and could possibly need medical attention. They had to find her fast. "It's a program called Phoenix. For the past few years, she worked on this program, unbeknownst to me until last week. It's a program that connects to satellite systems around the world in order to find people. It is able to play video recordings of locations and events that happen during specific dates and times."

He looked at her in shock, "The program links to the satellite system on its own?"

"No," she shook her head, "The only way it works is within QuestWorld. Jessie made it compatible to QuestWorld computers."

"Incredible," Hadji breathed out his shocked. "Tell me what else you know."

"For the past week or so, Jessie was determined to perfect Phoenix so that it would find Jonny. She worked on the damn thing day and night. That's why I suggested she go out with us that night to Oasis," she looked at him. Hadji continued looking at the road ahead. "I knew she needed a break. She had become a hermit in her own room and honestly, obsessed with finding your brother. Little did she know..."

Hadji turned to her, "Little did she know what Claire?"

Sighing, she continued, "That night at Oasis, Jessie swore to me that she had seen Jonny in the club."

Hadji raised his voice, now even more shocked, "What? When?"

Claire closed her eyes, not sure if what she was about to say was going to make Hadji angrier, "Just before he killed the ambassador's son."

Hadji couldn't believe what he had just heard and immediately shook his head in anger, "No…no! My brother would not do such a thing! You are wrong."

"We're not!" she answered adamantly, "Jessie used Phoenix the night we went out for coffee. She was able to locate Jonny at the club and review what occurred that night. She saw Jonny kill him Hadji."

Hadji shook his head in anger as he continued driving. Claire could tell that he was fighting the tears that threatened to run down his cheeks. She watched a combination of sadness and anger mix in just a few seconds. She couldn't let him stay the way she saw him, "Hadji, Jessie believes something else. She told me that she saw something in Jonny's eyes."

"What?" he turned to her, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure," she shook her head, "But she believes that something is happening to Jonny to make him act that way."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure! We had this...I don't know…idea that Jonny had something to do with the assassination of the Ambassador in Russia and now the one at the club. That's why we figured he'd show up at the ball tonight. He had to finish whatever he was assigned to do here."

Listening to Claire tell him everything, another thought entered his mind, "Russia? That means that Race and my father know something too. Why else would they have travelled to Moscow so unexpectedly? "

"Something is going on Hadji," Claire responded, "I think Jonny is in a lot of trouble. All Jessie and I wanted to do was help."

"You should have told me Claire," he responded as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. He began dialing a number. "I am calling my father. He needs to know about this."

Claire closed her eyes in regret. If Jessie came out of this alright, she was going to kill her!

She watched him end the call and call once again. The second time, leaving a message, "He is not picking up. I left a message for him to call me."

"What now?"

"We need to come up with a plan fast. Agent Corvin is going to ask questions as soon as he can and we have to be ready."

"We're going to lie to him?"

"We are going to stall until we know more. I have to help my brother and Jessie," he answered. "Show me Phoenix. We will start there."

Accelerating the car, he pushed himself to get to the Quest compound. He would take over Jessie's project and hopefully find them.

XXXXXXXXXX

The hour past quicker than expected. Ethan set up their flight and before either of them knew it, both Race and Zach were on a plane heading to Spain. As Benton and Ethan watched the plane go off, the doctor looked at the agent with concern, "You really think they will find something?

"Your guess is as good as mine, Benton," he answered. "But for now, let's work on what we can control here."

"Do you have the room at your site ready?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Everything is set. You can get started for a few hours today."

"Thanks Ethan, I appreciate it."

"Listen Benton," the man gently touched the doctor's shoulder, "If it were my son, I know you'd do the same for me."

Nodding in agreement, he answered, "Thank you for all your help Ethan."

"Thank me when we find him," the Englishman smiled. "Let's get going. I need to explain to you how our systems work."

XXXXXXXXXX

He stopped at the first motel down the interstate. It was about four in the morning. Walking up to the motel lobby, he found an older man watching some show on a small black and white TV set. The man turned and saw the kid in a tuxedo, "Kid…what's with the monkey suit?"

DR128 smiled, "Just came from a friend's wedding. Met someone…you can figure out the rest."

The man looked outside and saw the dark sports car parked in front, "She's in there?"

"Sleeping peacefully," he answered. "It was kind of a long drive."

Nodding, the old man turned and took a key from the wall, "Room 1508. Corner room on the east side. No one is next door, so you two can be as loud as you want. Sixty-five dollars per night."

DR128 smiled as he took out his wallet and retrieved a hundred dollar bill, "Is there a place to get food around here?"

"Hungry?" the man laughed.

"Not at the moment, but I'm sure we will be," he answered.

"About five minutes from here there's a service plaza," the older man answered as he retrieved the change from the cash register. "There's a couple of fast food joints and small shops."

"Thanks," DR128 nodded as he took the keys and the change, "Have a good night." As he turned around, his phone rang, retrieving it out of his pocket, he noticed that Master was calling once again. He ignored the call and placed the phone back in his pocket.

Walking out, he got into his car and drove to the area where he and the "girlfriend" would spend the night.

XXXXXXXXXX

Master kept watching the news on CNN from one of the screens in his office. The big news was the attempted murder of an ambassador, who was still unidentified, at the UN ball in Maine. So far, they had not found the assassin and no one could even identify what he or she looked like.

He had tried to contact DR128 dozens of times for the past few hours. It was so unlike him not to report. Master had been worried for a time. Had he been caught? Killed? So far, the news stated that none of the agencies assigned to the ball had any leads, however, that could very well be a façade. Phil Corvin had given a statement on TV, but it was not different from the intel he gathered from I-1.

The only thing he was happy about was that his plan worked. By now, Race and Zack were halfway to Spain following his decoy and wouldn't hear anything about what occurred at Maine for at least a few days. He had made sure to block all calls coming in from the US in their cell phones so they wouldn't know what was going on.

At least he had been able to control some part of the plan. Picking up the phone, he dialed DR128 again. Nothing. Sighing, he slammed the phone. "Where the hell is my son!" he yelled.

"I take it this is the wrong time to tell you, I told you so," the Doctor had walked in unannounced to Master's office.

"What do you want?" Master seethed.

"To help you!" he answered. "I take it that you haven't been able to contact him. When was he supposed to report?"

"Almost seven hours ago," sighed the Master.

"You should have placed a chip on him," the doctor said.

Looking intently at the man in front of him, Master answered, "I hate to say it, but I think you are right on this one. I should have. For his own safety."

Quiet for a moment, the doctor smiled, "Like I said, you should have. Luckily for you, I did."

Master's eye widened, "What?"

"I didn't want to tell you anything, in case you got angry, once again at me. It is not activated though. I wanted your permission to do so."

"You have it Oliver!" he immediately snapped, "Find my son. I want him home immediately."

Standing up, the doctor nodded, "I'll let you know as soon as the system locates him. Give me a couple of hours." Standing up, he walked out of Master's office and headed to his.

He had gotten what he wanted without bringing more attention to himself. He hadn't heard anything from his assassin either, but he had an idea of what could have happened. Somehow, DR128 found out about his upcoming assassination. And, the doctor knew that both young men found themselves at the ball and fought each other. DR128 must have gotten away. The kid was just too good. And if he hadn't contacted his Master that meant that he was afraid that Master himself was behind the assassination. Good. That will delay communications even more.

Going to his computer, he logged in and activated DR128's tracing device. Now, he had to wait until his assassin contacted him to tell him DR-128's whereabouts. As far as he knew, neither assassin was accounted for. He was still alive. He just hoped he call soon.

XXXXXXXXXX

When they arrived at the compound, Hadji wasted no time getting to the lighthouse. Loosening his tie, he turned on every system as Claire followed him, "Give me everything that Jessie was working on this afternoon."

Claire immediately went to a drawer that she and Jessie had locked earlier in the afternoon. She pulled out a key from another drawer and unlocked it. Taking out a disk and a notebook, she handed it to Hadji, "We were working on a specific code that would allow Phoenix to work inside QuestWorld."

"Why?"

"She tried it last night while we were out, but QuestWorld blocked the system. We were trying to find the code this afternoon to override it. Do you think you can find it faster than us?"

He nodded, "I think I can, but it is going to take me a while."

"How long?"

"You better change," he stated looking her over, "We are going to be here a very long time."

XXXXXXXXXX

Jessie fought to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt like thick cement brinks, but she fought all she could to open them. When she finally did, the first thing she noticed was a very old looking alarm clock on a brown colored wood nightstand. The clock read 8:35am. Her eyes then slowly roamed a little farther. There was a large window next to where she lay and light was filtering in. The room smelled musty and old. Suddenly, she realized that she wasn't in her room; she knew she wasn't even in her own home. She was about to will herself up rapidly when a voice stopped her, "You shouldn't move too fast."

Turning to the area from where she heard the voice, her eyes widened. It was him. Jessie didn't know what to do next. She had practiced over and over for years what she would say to him when she finally found him but now, she was at a loss of words. He was standing by the small dresser of the room, looking at her with interest.

He stared at her intently, trying to read what she would do next, "Are you dizzy?"

Snapping from her awe at his question, Jessie answered, "What?"

"Are you dizzy?" he repeated, still staring at her coldly.

"Ahh…no," she replied studying herself, "I don't think so."

"Nauseous?"

She shook her head.

"You may have suffered a mild concussion," he walked a little forward. "There isn't much around this area in terms of food. So I bought from a limited selection." He signaled with his chin to two food containers sitting at the table next to the window.

Jessie continued staring at him with wonder. Seeing him so close, she could appreciate the man he had become. He was taller, extremely built and lean. She could tell that he worked out probably much more than she and Claire put together. His hair was a little longer than how he kept it when he was with her. But something that never changed, that always stayed the same, was his eyes. A beautiful shade of blue that she had only once seen before, in pictures. Jonny had his mother's eyes. The one thing that Jessie loved about him was now the one thing that scared the bejesus out of her because at the moment, those eyes stared so coldly at her, she couldn't read what Jonny would do next. Would he hurt her? Would he kill her?

"Where…where are we?"

"A motel off of I-95," he answered flatly. Walking over to a chair located by a small table in the room, he asked, "Since you started asking the questions, I guess I'll take a stab at one." Sitting down on the chair, DR128 gazed at her with keen interest and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Both Hadji and Claire had been at the lighthouse for hours trying to bring down Questworld's firewall so that they could upload Phoenix and hopefully find clues as to Jessie and Jonny's whereabouts. By 8:30am they had been already working for a few hours straight not yielding much.

Hadji was not kidding when he had told Claire that they would be working for a very long time. She was glad that she had changed into a pair of sweatpants and yellow tee. He taught her how to input the codes to open access and when she felt finally comfortable with what she had to do, he himself took the time to change.

Luckily, with all the commotion, Phil Corvin had yet to show up. But, they were sure that it wouldn't take long before they heard a knock at the door. As Hadji had tried insistently to contact his father and Race, Claire continued typing the codes, "I do not know what is going on. I have called Race and Father a dozen times and the call goes straight to voicemail." He rubbed his eyes with his hand in an effort to clear the blurriness from long hours of looking at the screens in front him. Putting the phone once again, he sighed, "It isn't like them not to answer."

"Maybe they are out of range," Claire suggested. "It could happen."

"No," he shook his head, "We have never encountered such a problem with any of our phones, no matter where we are. This is very strange."

Stopping from working, Claire turned to a very worried looking Hadji and told him, "Hey, I'm sure they are alright. We need to put our mind and energies right now on finding Jessie."

Hadji looked at her and nodded, "You are right. Have we even dented the firewall a bit?"

"Well," she sighed looking back at the screen, her eyes just as tired looking as his, "Not by much. It hasn't accepted many codes. The numerical possibilities are pretty vast. It's not like we can look for that magical number so easily, Hadji."

"We may be looking at this all wrong," Hadji pondered for a moment. "Maybe we should not be looking for a numerical sequence, but rather the meaning of a number."

Claire looked at him puzzled, "Okay, now you have me lost. What are you talking about?"

"QuestWorld built the firewall. It's not part of an outside system that was implemented within our system. This means‒"

"That Doctor Quest inputs the firewall code," she answered knowingly.

"Exactly," he nodded, a little more motivated that he had possibly found a missing piece in their on-going puzzle.

"So, the question now is," Claire huffed, "What type of code would Doctor Quest create?"

Hadji pondered for a bit, "How about his anniversary?"

"You think he'd be that…transparent?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, it is not like anyone tries to embed a system on to QuestWorld every day," he explained. "Perhaps since this situation is not common, he might be a little lenient on the security."

Claire shrugged, "Well, anything is worth a try at this point. What is the date?"

"July 28th," he stated.

Claire typed 0728. The screen came back with the words Access Denied. "No, that's not it. How about his wife's birthday?"

"April 20th.

She typed 0420. Again, the screen shot back the words, Access Denied, "What about his birthday?"

"May 15th," he stated.

She typed the code, then shook her head, "No," Both paused for a bit, possibly questioning the original idea. Then, looking at Hadji, Claire said, "This is going to sound very, very cliché."

"At this point, I will take anything," Hadji sighed.

"When is Jonny's birthday?"

Hadji looked at her with a glint of hope in his eyes, "September 18th."

Claire turned to the keyboard and typed the code. Within seconds, she watched the computer screen light up, Access granted.

"Yes!" she shouted excitedly along with Hadji. Hugging each other in sheer excitement, the two then noticed how close they were from each other. Then, without thinking, they kissed. It was the most passionate kiss either had ever given to each other. Claire felt her knees shake and Hadji, for a moment, thought he had reached Nirvana. Suddenly pulling himself away with all the strength he could muster, he whispered, "I'm still angry at you."

"I know," she whispered back. "I'm sorry."

"Never lie to me again Claire," his voice was low, "I just cannot handle that from you."

"Never, never, never," she answered kissing him deeply. They fell back in blissful passion before slowly and reluctantly breaking away, "We still have a lot to do."

"I know," he nodded. "How about a quick break for breakfast?"

About to answer him, Claire suddenly heard Iris speak, "There's a visitor at the Compound's entrance."

Looking at each other, Hadji asked, "Who is it Iris?" Somehow he knew, but dreaded the answer.

Pausing for a moment, the computer pulled up an image of the front gate showing an older man standing, waiting, "Scans determine it is Agent Philip Corvin."

"Damn!" Claire sighed roughly.

Hadji continued looking at the screen, "I guess breakfast will have to wait."