The air was unbelievably thick in the back of the truck they were traveling in. It was hot and stuffy and hard to breathe, it was also just about pitch black because there were no windows or lights, but none of this was of issue to Jonny Quest, as he had more important things to worry about.
"What do you think happened to Dad and Race?" he asked Hadji as they felt the truck speed along a rough and bumpy road.
Hadji was able to think a little more clear-headed on the matter, and he told Jonny, "They must've been put in the truck ahead of us. There were two trucks, at least two anyway."
"Why?" Jonny asked.
"Why what?" Hadji asked.
"Why didn't they just put us all in the same truck together?"
"Jonny, I ever tell you about the Black Hole of Calcutta?" Hadji asked.
"No."
"Good, you don't want to know about it."
"What's that got to do with this?"
"Maybe nothing," Hadji replied, deciding it was better than saying what he was really thinking, that with the truck already being so hard to breathe in, the four of them in the same truck, while not necessarily so enclosed, all the same could've used up all the available oxygen before the truck arrived at its destination.
"Well," Jonny came back to his original question, "Why didn't they put us all together in the same truck?"
"Too easy to escape?" Hadji guessed.
"Escape how?" Jonny asked, "We already tried the doors, they're locked solid, we can't get them open."
"True but maybe four heads would be better than two."
A sharp yap of a bark interjected into the conversation.
"Sorry, Bandit," Hadji said, "Make that five heads instead of three."
"But where're they taking us?" Jonny wanted to know.
"I don't know," Hadji shrugged, and added, "And if we did know, I'm not sure we'd want to know."
"But we've got to get out of here," Jonny said.
"Don't tell me," Hadji jerked his thumb towards the direction of the front of the truck, "Tell him."
"Aw man," Jonny moped, "There's got to be some way we can break out of here."
Hadji folded his arms and said, "Somehow I get the feeling that's the same thing Race and Dr. Quest are thinking."
"They must've put Jonny and Hadji in the truck behind us," Race told Benton Quest, "Makes sense if you think about it. One of us might be able to get the doors open and make a break for it, but we wouldn't be able to spring the door on the second truck without getting caught."
"And they know we'd never leave the boys behind," Benton replied with a sigh of defeat.
It seemed like an eternity ago now, but in reality it had only been about half an hour since they were still at the lecture hall and everything was normal, and then…
Even though there had been a large turnout for Dr. Quest's lecture on the advancements made in the ability to launch man into space and discovery the galactic unknown, there had still been three seats up front so Race and the boys could sit in on the lecture. Even though much of it had gone clear over the boys' heads, they had wanted to be present for it, and Benton hadn't seen a problem with it, Race was right with them, what could possibly go wrong? Evidently far more than any of them could ever have figured on.
The initial attack was just a blur now. One second he was staring out at the faces of dozens of future scientist hopefuls who hoped when their time came, to put what they learned today to use to improve how science worked tomorrow, that they also might leave their own marks on the scientific world and the actual planet to boot. The next thing he remembered was the sound of glass breaking, and it sounded like every window in the building was being smashed. Before anybody had time to figure out what was going on, canisters had been launched, and they all fell victim to a released gas, that left them going in and out of consciousness, and made them very susceptible to kidnapping. In between blackouts, Benton had been aware of black smoke rising, monstrous flames eating at the walls of the building, and being half dragged, half marched out of the building with a rifle to his back and he knew the same to be true for Race and the boys as well. Then they were split up and locked up in separate trucks, and that was how they came to be in the position they were now. He was never given a particularly ample opportunity to see who their attackers were, all he could say for certain was that he didn't recognize any of them by sight or assault tactics alone.
"Since we've got plenty of time to shoot the breeze, Doctor," Race cynically mentioned, "Maybe this would be a good time to point out these goons that grabbed us don't really seem like the competitive race-to-the-moon scientific types."
"No, I noticed that too when they ran us out of the building at gunpoint, after setting it on fire," Benton said with equally dry sarcasm.
"Well, what do you think, Doctor?" Race asked.
"I think you can guess, Race," Benton answered.
"All the threats made prior to us coming here were just a red herring, and our appearance in this place was a perfect opportunity for somebody else to come in and snatch up you and Jonny."
"Yep," Benton nodded slowly, "The question is who?"
"Unfortunately, Doctor, there's no shortage of possible suspects there," Race told the doctor.
"I know. That's what's got me worried. We don't have any idea who's behind this, or even what we'll be going up against whenever these trucks stop," Benton said.
The interior of the truck was almost pitch dark, and it was just about impossible for the two men to see each other, but in the dark and the near silence, Race was able to pick up on sounds of labored breathing coming from the scientist, "You okay, Doctor?"
"I'm fine, Race," Dr. Quest replied, though the man from Intelligence One could almost hear the doctor perspiring, "It's very hot in here…it's hard to breathe."
"I noticed," Race returned.
"I hope Jonny and Hadji are alright."
"I have a feeling they'll be fine for now," Race said, "The real question is what happens when we finally stop?"
"I know," Benton responded, "And I think, Race, that I have a plan."
Turning to the sound of the scientist's voice, Race told him, "I'm all ears, Doctor."
"I know, I just hope one of those gunmen is all arms," Benton replied, "I don't know how much good it'll do us, but I think it's worth trying anyway."
"What is it, Doctor?" Race asked.
Instead of an answer, he just heard the doctor's breathing becoming more labored, and he repeated his previous statement, "It's very hot in here, Race," and added, "It's almost like…being sealed up in a tin can."
"That's exactly what it's like, Doctor," Race noted, "And we're about to wind up straight in the frying pan, and from there…right into the fire."
An hour after the Quest family had been abducted, the trucks slowed down and came to a stop. Jonny and Hadji could feel the vibrations from the driver door opening, and the driver hopping out, and heard the muffled sounds of footsteps on the gravel road as somebody came around to the back of the truck to open it up. Jonny and Hadji instinctively moved towards the back of the truck, Jonny kept Bandit tight under his arm, and they waited to see what happened.
They heard the bolt being lifted on the doors, and they opened and a blinding light flashed in so they couldn't see. They were ordered out of the truck, and they obliged, and once outside in the slightly cooler environment that bore some resemblance to a desert, they saw the other truck also being opened, with first Race getting out, then Benton Quest, but something wasn't right.
Dr. Quest stepped out of the truck unsteadily, was sweating profusely, breathing hard and heavy and shallow all at the same time, and looked like he was about to collapse.
"Dad!" Jonny tried to get past the goon blocking him, to no avail though, "Dad! Are you alright?"
"You savages," Race growled at the gunmen, "If you were trying to kill him, you near well succeeded."
Benton loosened his collar and then his hand moved to his chest, still breathing hard and ragged, he opened his mouth to say something, but before any words came out, his knees buckled, and he fell against one of the gunmen, not with enough momentum to knock the man down, but enough spontaneity to complete take him by surprise, giving Dr. Quest a perfect opportunity to steal the gun from the man's side holster and hold it on him.
"Jonny, Hadji, RUN!" he ordered the boys.
"But Dad!" Jonny started to protest.
"Jonny, GO!" Dr. Quest told his son.
"Come on, Jonny," Hadji grabbed Jonny by the arm and pulled him away.
Two other men tried to chase after the boys but Benton aimed the gun at them and fired off two shots; purely warning shots and to run interference, they worked, but that was where the success of Dr. Quest's plan ran out. The two men found themselves surrounded by almost a dozen men and were very quickly and very forcefully moved out of the open and into an indoor environment that looked like a typical dungeon.
"YAAAH!"
The two men were rushed into a cell with such force, they both fell back and Benton fell flat on the middle of the stone floor and Race just about wound up standing on his head backed against the far cell wall.
"Well, it worked just like you'd figured it would, Doctor," Race said as he rolled forward and got to his feet, once their jailers were out of sight as well as earshot.
"Unfortunately it wasn't much," Benton replied as he sat up, "All we know for sure is that Jonny and Hadji got a good head start."
"Which is more than they would have if you hadn't faked a heart attack," Race told the doctor, "I'm sure the boys will manage to get away."
"I hope so," Benton said, "It's bad enough not knowing where they are, but right now I still think it's a better choice than having them here with us. Whoever these people are, it's not the boys they want, and there's no telling what might happen to them to get my cooperation. I don't know who's behind this or why, but I have a feeling we're going to find out very soon."
"And so now we have to figure out two things for the time being," Race said, "One, what's going on, and two, how to get out of this cell, and preferably before those goons with guns come back for us." And with that, the man from Intelligence One went over to the cell door and started assessing the possibility that they could get it open from the inside. Upon inspection, the odds didn't look good, but Race was determined to find some way to get them out of here so they could find Jonny and Hadji and get to the bottom of this.