Have fun reading! I hope you survive... Ikaw by Nova Part Three- Paper Cut November 17 SFO Police HQ 9:39 A.M. Capt. O’Connor had wondered what would lead him to reveal the facts about Ikaw. It was either the figurine of ‘Ikaw’ that turned out to be an artifact from the Philippines that Crow Redd had smuggled in, Jimmy Shelton’s necklace which had been found at the crime scene, or the very badly shaken red-haired teenager who sat in front of him. Or maybe all three of those facts. But anyway, he was facing one very angry Quest team, and it really didn’t look too good for Bannon’s daughter. Jimmy Shelton, a.k.a. Ikaw, had done everything he could to get to Jessie, and it seemed that even the Witness Protection Program wouldn’t be of any help to her. She was marked. And when someone was marked... Crow Redd was dead proof of a marked man. " So, Captain, what do you propose we do?" Race Bannon folded his arms across his chest in a very threatening manner. Not that he was glaring at the captain or anything. He was just completely pissed off that his daughter almost got killed the night before, while he had slept like a baby. Dr. Quest, on the other hand, had remained sober throughout the night. The police had taped off the suite until they could properly search it, but the Quest team already had all the evidence they needed. Ikaw was Jimmy Shelton, out to murder Jessie for no apparent reason. Ikaw only happened to come around during the full moon, and it had no problem with falling from great heights. Plus, it could dive underwater a long time, based on the distance from dock 20 to 47. That was how Jonny’s father had summed it up. " I would like to further investigate this matter," Dr. Quest began, " and I need a safe place for the kids to stay tonight." O’Connor shook his head. " You don’t understand, Dr. Quest. No matter where Jessie goes, no matter how many disguises she puts on-" " You won’t catch me wearing a stupid wig for all the money in the world," Jessie broke in, only half-serious. " Well, you know what I mean," O’Connor shrugged, instantly recognizing the bad mood that marked people usually got. " But anyway, no matter what you do to hide Jessie, it’s impossible to hide her from the creature you’ve named ‘Ikaw’." " Based on what knowledge?" Dr. Quest inquired, curious as to how much the captain did know. O’Connor sighed. " Jimmy Shelton, well, he’s my younger half brother." " WHAT!?" Race fumed, clenching his fists tightly. " You’re related to that thing, and you didn’t even try to tell us what it was doing!?" " Well, I didn’t know if you could be trusted..." O’Connor replied smoothly. " Oh yeah, buster? You needed to nearly cost us all our lives to make you believe that we can be trusted?" the Quest team bodyguard marched over to the captain, and, before anyone could do anything, grabbed the officer by the collars of his shirt and pinned him against the wall, two feet off the ground. " You had to let my daughter suffer against that... *thing* before you thought we could be trusted!? What kind of a police officer are you?" " Race! Put the man down, for heaven’s sake," Dr. Quest and Jonny tried to peel Race away from the captain, but O’Connor remained motionless. " Come on. You understand him." As O’Connor replanted his feet on the ground, it was Dr. Quest’s turn to vent out his more silent rage. " Jimmy is your family, I understand, *captain*, but you had NO right to obstruct justice and endanger the lives of civilians. Especially teenagers. If you *ever* pull another stunt like that again, I will PERSONALLY make sure that you go down with it. Understood, O’Connor?" He didn’t *say* the last sentence. It was more like he spat it out, as if it were a bad taste in his mouth. Dr. Quest had the glare of death on his face, and everyone knew that if he had that look, he was mad out of his skin. O’Connor gazed back with a steely look, and Dr. Quest felt even more disgusted. " I’m sorry I did that, but if you had killed Jimmy, you, too, would have been marked. Marked by others, that is. But you came out with tranquilizers instead of bullets, and that reassured me that it was okay to let you in on the whole deal." " Back up a bit. What do you mean ‘marked by others’?" Jonny was deadly serious. " The others. The other creatures like Jimmy," O’Connor stated nonchalantly. Jessie’s eyes widened, mostly out of fear than concern. " There’s *more* of them? How many?" " Well..." " Hundreds? Thousands? Give us a clue, man!" Race shouted agitatedly. " Not quite a global problem yet, Mr. Bannon. To date, there are only six such known creatures, including Jimmy. Five of them are in the Philippines, where they originated from. Jimmy managed to hop aboard an airplane and jet over here to the states. And since he’s legally American, he was allowed to enter. So he’s the only threat outside of the Filipino society." " But what’s he doing here?" Jonny asked. " To search for other potentials," O’Connor stated simply, as if everyone should understand what his words meant. " Um, would you care to enlighten us on ‘potentials’, please?" Jonny chipped in once more. " All right," O’Connor said, leaning back in his armchair. " I suggest you sit back because this is a long story. And not exactly a good kind of story." " I feel a two-hour lecture coming," Jessie murmured to her best friend, who nodded in agreement. The two were chagrined when O’Connor shot them a dark, warning look. " Ten years ago, my half-brother, then twenty-five-year-old Jimmy O’Connor, was traveling in the Philippines. He had lived there all his life with his mother, while I had emigrated to the U.S. with our father. It was in Mindanao that he stayed for ten years as a doctor, and he mastered Tagalog, barely even able to manage speaking rudimentary English," O’Connor spoke, staring dreamily at the only light bulb in the room. " It was kind of strange, him having to struggle to learn English, while I tried to understand Tagalog. We live in two different worlds, you see." Jonny was half-asleep by then, and Jessie had to elbow him roughly to get him to listen to O’Connor’s ‘long story’. The captain stared pointedly at Jonny, before continuing his story. " Then one day, Jimmy got lost in the forest when he was on his way to a house call. He was badly injured by an unknown wild animal, and then he was saved by a forest tribe. It was a tribe unknown to even the Filipinos themselves. I was grateful to them, though, because they saved him. Not by any conventional means, however, which ultimately might cost Jimmy his life. They forced him to take an ancient medicine of theirs, a cure that infected him with triplo-DNA. " Under normal circumstances, a person would heal miraculously from whatever critical injury he had. But every once in a while, like in the creature that had attacked Jimmy in the first place, the cure causes a person to transform into a dog-frog-human creature during a full moon, Ikaw, as you call it, that hunted down all others that had potential to become an Ikaw. Adopting the Highlander theme, there can only be one Ikaw, and each creature hunts all others that have that potential down." Silently, the Quest team blinked back at the captain, once, twice, in perfect synchrony. One could have thought that they had rehearsed this action over and over somewhere before. " And how exactly do you know all this?" Race asked. " Jimmy wrote a journal. He knew he had potential, and that was why that creature attacked him." " Just how exactly do these creatures know who has potential and who doesn’t?" Jessie was gripping the arms of her chair so hard that Jonny was thankful she wasn’t holding on to his hand. She would have broken it in ten different places. " By their blood. Any open wound, as long as Ikaw can smell the person’s blood. It just so happened that Crow Redd, when he was making the deal with Jimmy, had a cut lip. That’s how Jimmy sensed him," O’Connor explained grimly. " Jessie, why don’t you tell me exactly what Jimmy, er, Ikaw told you? I could probably translate it." Jessie bit her lip, reluctant to think back to the times she came face to face with Ikaw. Finally, she took a deep breath and said quietly, " Well, the last time it told me ‘dalawang araw na lang’. And ‘hindi ko na kaya’." O’Connor paled. " Are you sure about this?" " Like I can remember my name." The captain ran a hand through his hair, obviously shaken. He leaned against the back of his seat, apparently murmuring urgently to himself. " May we ask what that means?" Dr. Quest spoke, trying to bring O’Connor back to the land of the living. The police captain had practically forgotten he had visitors in his office. " Huh? Oh, it means ‘two days only’ or ‘two days left’ and ‘I can’t take it anymore’," he replied, stroking his chin more thoughtfully. " Jimmy’s still in there, but he’s weakening." " Didn’t seem so weak to me last night," Race said, ruefully rubbing the back of his head. " He was tossing me around like I was some kind of chew toy." " No, I mean Jimmy’s soul is weakening. Ikaw’s soul is taking over his body, and he’s trying to fight it. He’s probably warning us that he can only hold Ikaw at bay for two more days before the creature takes over completely. When that happens, Ikaw will kill you all and not just leave you lying around like he did last night. And there’s no doubt about it, Jessie. I’m sorry to say you’re marked." Jessie flinched slightly. Jonny noticed. O’Connor looked at her sympathetically. The poor girl was doomed, and he knew it. There wasn’t a damn thing he, or anyone else, could do, because Jessie was marked. So young... The captain put on a cheery face to lift their spirits up a bit, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. " But don’t you worry. I don’t think Ikaw’s gonna come after you in broad daylight. It’s impossible. It needs the light of the full moon, so you’re pretty much safe for the rest of the day." " Can you tell me where the tribe that ‘cured’ Jimmy is? They might have something to fight the triplo-DNA condition that we don’t have, and that means saving all the Ikaws out there, as well as all the potentials," Dr. Quest said. " We need to find the cure to the tribe’s medicine." O’Connor opened a drawer and pulled out a folder. He took a crudely drawn map from inside it, along with a few sheets of line paper. " Jimmy drew this map, hoping to someday go back to the tribe and develop a cure, as you are attempting, Dr. Quest. These are his notes, and the journal he wrote to me." " Mindanao," Dr. Quest muttered, studying the map. " I should have brushed up on my Tagalog..." " Perhaps," O’Connor nodded. " But while Jimmy stayed with the tribe, he taught a few youngsters basic English. They’re the tribe’s translators to the outside world." " Benton, why don’t you and Jonny go check up on that tribe and find the cure? I’ll stay here with Jessie, and maybe we’ll fly back to Maine tonight," Race suggested, which earned him a glare from Jessie that he didn’t see, as it was aimed to the back of his head. " Sorry to say, Benton, but she needs more protecting than you do right now." " I’m not leaving Jessie," Jonny announced quietly, but firmly. " I don’t care what you say, Race." All this treatment was enough to make Jessie’s blood boil. She was getting the White-Knight syndrome from Race, Shining-Armor syndrome from Jonny, and all that was left was King-of-the-World syndrome from Dr. Quest. Thankfully, Dr. Quest refused to let his protectiveness get to him, sparing Jessie the extra aggravation. " Look, I can probably fly a plane back to Rockport by myself," she began, glaring at Jonny especially. " You guys don’t have to protect me just because I’m a girl. I can take care of myself." " Yeah, but Ikaw’s coming after you," Jonny argued. " We’re your last line of defense." " Fine. But I wasn’t the one seeing double last night," she retorted. I appreciate the concern, but I can take care of myself." Race shook his head. " Benton, do you mind going to Mindanao by yourself?" " Of course not," he shook his head. " I was planning to go by myself. Maybe I could call in Hadji and have him help me find the cure to this... ‘disease’." " Meanwhile, I’ll just have my men look for Jimmy. I wish I didn’t have to..." O’Connor sighed mournfully. " But you have no choice. For the sake of others, Captain. Do it for the other potentials. The cure will be found, one way or the other, and Jimmy will be back to his old self," Dr. Quest assured. As much as he wished he did, he didn’t quite convince himself. " Jessie," O’Connor called, as the Quest team stood to leave. He hesitated momentarily, wondering what to tell the teenage girl. " Be careful. Be very careful. You have wandered into the dragon’s den, and monsters worse than dragons live there." Jessie managed a trying smile. " Thanks for the warning, captain." Her heart felt heavy as she walked out the door. She had seen her imminent death in her dreams, and been forewarned of it in reality. It wasn’t like she didn’t know exactly what O’Connor had said all that morning. She only knew too well to read between the lines. " Oh, and by the way," Jessie turned back to the disheveled captain, " what does ‘ikaw’ mean?" " You," O’Connor replied, feeling old all of a sudden. " It means you." Jessie felt a shiver run down her spine as she exited O’Connor’s office. No wonder Capt. O’Connor always hesitated whenever he said it. Ikaw. ********** San Francisco Ports 4:29 P.M. It was a quiet day around the docks, all the work of the police tape surrounding the whole area. However, it had jammed the streets downtown with traffic, and people were getting very aggressive with their car horns in that part of town, in contrast to the silent street that ended at the bay. Cruising along the docks at a leisurely speed were Race, Jessie, and Jonny, the latter two having voted to hunt for more clues at dock 20. Jessie had been angry again, for no particular reason. Her excuse was that she was being treated unequally once more, but Race didn’t buy it. Even with this doubt, it was hard not to be manipulated by Jessie. Race was less of a doting father than Benton, but he had been forced to give in. Even Jonny had to give in. Jessie was getting very skillful with handling guys who cared too much, and honestly, Race was becoming scared of it. She could tell Jonny to jump off Sears Tower and he’d probably do it. Dr. Quest had left for Mindanao an hour after the visit to the police station, leaving Race with instructions to "refuel the Dragonfly ASAP" and "get the hell out of here". The bad thing was that the Dragonfly had more serious problems than just fuel; it's engine had been worn out and damaged in the flight to San Francisco, leaving Race, Jessie, and Jonny stranded. To make up for it, Race had booked a night flight to Maine for Jonny and Jessie instead, while he stayed to repair the Dragonfly. Even though it was for her own good, Jessie had resisted all the way. She wanted to get in on the action, and she wanted to take Ikaw down herself. This was possibly the silliest thing that Race had ever heard, and he was wondering whether this was Ikaw's doing, or whether this was Jonny rubbing off too much on Jessie. After long moments of an uncomfortable silence, Jonny, sitting in the backseat of the rented jeep, glanced at Jessie and felt the concern overwhelm the smarter part of him that told him to keep quiet. " Hey, Jessie. You sure you’re all right? You don’t look too hot today." " And what’s that supposed to mean, pretty boy?" Jessie retorted, fire in her eyes. Feeling a bit defensive, Jonny leaned back against his seat. " It’s just that you look kinda… preoccupied…" " Geez, if you were the one being hunted down by some serial killer monster, I wonder how you'd feel," she muttered sarcastically. " Oh, come on, Jess. I'm just asking if you're all right. Not like I asked you what Jimmy's having for dinner…" The remark earned him another glare from Jessie. Race shot a warning look in the rearview mirror, urging Jonny to keep his mouth shut. Not for the first time, the young man ignored the silent advice, wise as it was. " You are really getting on my nerves, Quest," Jessie clenched her fists as she watched her friend frown in concern. " A little TLC never hurt anyone before, *Bannon*" his eyes narrowed. " Jonny Quest, quit babying me. I don’t need the attention. I’m perfectly fine right now," Jessie never once met Jonny's eyes. " I can’t see that," he murmured. " Jonny, will you please stop being so protective? I don't appreciate it at all anymore, if you'd like to know," Jessie snapped. She knew it was unfair to take out all her anger on Jonny, but he seemed to be the easiest target, next to her own father. His intentions were always good, but they were not what she always wanted. Although some part of her did enjoy the attention, and in fact need that attention, the rest of her, the independent part of her, told her that it wasn't right and it was a reason to get furious. Jessie came to a conclusion: Jonny cared way to much for her for his own good. " But Jess, I just…" " Jonny, I suggest you leave her alone," Race interrupted, before the tension exploded into an all-out war. Jonny was immediately reduced to a sulking, hurt little boy in the backseat of a car. " Thanks, Dad." " Don't go thanking me yet, young lady," Race glanced at his daughter. " I don't approve at all of the way you're acting, and I think you should stop it." He paused for a moment, thinking, then muttered under his breath, " Fur on a catfish... I sound just like Benton…" The silence was maintained for the rest of the drive. ********** 4:40 P.M. They knew. His brother had told them. He could sense it, the waves of fear mingling with concern when he had visited his brother. Although Capt. O'Connor had a warrant for his arrest, he had let him walk away from him, hoping against hope. For half-brothers, they had always been a close pair. Best friends, they were, the O'Connor brothers. Jimmy knew that this was the only reason why he had been allowed to leave. The older brother that Alan was felt sympathy and hoped for something good to come of it. But Jimmy knew that the creature within would bring only death and destruction, and Jimmy was powerless against it. He could delay it, but it was only a matter of time. The night before, Ikaw had been so close to eternity, so close to condemning Jimmy to a life forever in the depths of this creature's mind. Jessie Bannon. She was the key to unlocking the treasures of eternal life. But it was a violent, unmerciful life reserved only for Ikaw, and Jimmy Shelton wanted no part of it. Ikaw's craving for blood was driving Jimmy insane. In the market, it was the fish that pushed Jimmy clear to the edge. In the streets, it was whoever walked by him with an open wound that nearly cost Jimmy. And when Jessie Bannon had visited him, it took every ounce of strength not to murder her and that boy who had been with her. Jimmy loaded the plane with more boxes. These contained all his belongings in the United States. He was going home with them. His purpose to travel to the U.S. had been to seek help, because he had heard there were great doctors there. Finding none who believed him and none who thought him sane, Jimmy had been greatly disappointed. But not before Ikaw had committed a few murders. Crow Redd hadn't been the first one. Alan O'Connor had just buried those cases under a stack of files in a prayer that people would forget, that they wouldn't care enough to remember the brutal murders that happened only weeks before. In many ways, Jimmy owed his half-brother many favors, favors that he feared he might never pay back. But those favors were selfish, Jimmy knew. He should have scolded Alan for helping him out, helping Ikaw. It would lead to more cold-blooded murders… Jimmy glanced around at the private airfield. His flight would leave as soon as the pilot came back from whatever last errand he had to do. In the meanwhile, Jimmy had to go back to his shop; he couldn't find that figurine of his… He had probably dropped it somewhere in the back room, or so he hoped. It was a souvenir that he held close to his heart. Crow Redd had only smuggled it in for him as a part of their deal. Policemen were supposed to be guarding his place, but the law could only work so fast. Alan had made sure that his brother had enough time to move all his stuff out and get out of the country. The police wouldn't be getting to his shop until later in the afternoon. He finished loading the plane with boxes, then set off to the car that he had rented for this last day. As he drove away, he prayed that the pilot didn't have an open wound. For when the moon rose high above the clouds, Jimmy didn't want to have to take the controls from one very dead pilot. ********** 4:58 P.M. " See? Told you there was nothing left to be found here," Race Bannon said as he walked to the car, trailed by two unsatisfied teenagers. " It was worth a look," Jonny shrugged. Jessie just scowled darkly once again, making Jonny worry all the more. He wondered how Race could just stand by, watching his daughter obviously very distraught by the situation. He didn't seem at all concerned, and it was beginning to get to Jonny's nerves. He was her father, and he didn't care. Well, maybe he did, but he didn't show it. Jonny, however, was unable to hide his concern for her. It was against his nature. Sometimes, the young man just wondered if he loved her too much for his own good… But Race knew better. He had seen this happen before, but not with Jessie. It had happened with Estella Velasquez. Jessie was so much like her mother that it was becoming a heartache every time Race saw her. When either one of them acted this way, he understood that she didn't want concern. She wanted to be left alone. And so he did. " Do you want to check up on Jimmy?" Race asked calmly, climbing into the driver's seat. All Jessie did was shrug in her place beside him and stare coldly out to the bay. She had kept her mouth shut ever since they arrived at the docks. Jonny was as uncertain about how to respond to this action as Race. " He would be long gone by now," Jonny stated. " Besides, the police are supposed to be checking him out." Jessie seemed to snap out of a reverie, the barrier of silence that she had created around her broken. " It doesn't seem like anyone's even been to Jimmy's shop. Look." The two men with her were slightly startled at first, and then their eyes moved in the direction of where she was staring. The souvenir shop was in plain sight, because it was, after all, only a few blocks away. The disturbing thing about the view was that there was nothing else there. No policemen, no police cars, not even police tape. Heck, even animals stayed away from there, and it appeared as if the place had come straight out of an old Western movie. Tumbleweed had been replaced by crumpled newspapers. The door swung minutely in the breeze, and the wind blew strings of autumn leaves across the street. It gave Jonny and Jessie the creeps. Race frowned, knowing that something was wrong. True, the policemen might have driven somewhere for the ever-popular doughnuts, but it would have been unlikely that they *all* had deserted the place. Besides, the shop was empty. Clean to the last shelf. Race could see it from afar, as he and the teens approached the shop. Jonny whistled. " Woah. I have no idea how Jimmy could have cleared out this place so quickly. I mean, just yesterday it was packed like my room." Race raised an eyebrow. " It was *that* cluttered up? I thought Jonny was the only one with a room that has a floor of clothes and junk three feet deep." " Perfect spot for trash angels," Jonny remarked casually. " I would've thought that Jimmy was neater…" Race said as he reached for the doorknob of the shop. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonny noticed a slight smile reach Jessie's face, and he felt one of the weights on his shoulders lift, finding her small show of emotion to be infectious. A lop-sided grin had covered his face as well. " Yeah, he was," Jessie murmured, answering her father thoughtlessly. Race Bannon shot a look in his daughter's direction, curious. He certainly hadn't expected anything but a shrug and a frown from her. The three of them entered the shop, finding it barren, abandoned. Lost and wanting. Exactly what Jessie was feeling, had been feeling since the first night. She was going crazy with the emptiness and the fear, a silly fear of every shadow and every insignificant sound. She didn't know what to do about that feeling. It was as if no matter how much she yelled, everyone had his back to her, because she was marked. No one could possibly know or understand how horrible the doomed feeling was. No one but the others who shared her unwanted fate. Jessie's thoughts wandered to her best friend, who had been offering her every ounce of strength he had to help. Jonny didn't know what was going on, and frankly, he didn't really care. He, who should have turned his back on her, never did. He, who would meet his death protecting her, who knew that this was indeed very plausible, never left her. She knew that the rest of the team was also right behind her, all of them willing to do the same thing, but Jonny was willing to go an extra mile. And no matter how many signals or warnings Jessie sent to leave her alone, which her father had fortunately respected, Jonny wouldn't let her bear everything on her own shoulders. She was unsure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. A muffled sound came from the back room, putting everyone on guard. Race and Jonny motioned for Jessie to stay still while they checked the disturbance out. Moving quietly across the room, they positioned themselves on either side of the back door, as Jessie stood by twenty feet away, apparently sulking. Race pulled out his automatic, hidden in his pants leg, and Jonny prepared to force the door to open. At the count of three, the younger man smashed the wood with perfect ease, crouching as his bodyguard aimed his weapon into the darkness. " Freeze, whoever you are!" Race's voice thundered into the room, like a whistle in a forest. A dark figure that had been rummaging through a box emerged from the shadows, hands raised in the air up to his shoulders. Jonny and Race instantly recognized the unruly dark hair and the dark eyes of Damien Howser. " What the hell are you doin' here?" Damien asked sharply, looking at Race's gun in slight fear and annoyance. " You're not the cops. You don't have the right to hold me at gunpoint." Damien lowered his hands, but he was stopped when he saw the look on Race's face. The man wasn't kidding. " I wouldn't move if I were you," Race growled. " You've already been spared for breathing." Damien paled a little. " You can't shoot me. You have no guts, and you have no right." Race wasn't at all pleased by the remark. If there was anything he hated more than the government and nerve gas-wielding villains, it was being called a coward. " You ever watch James Bond?" Race asked threateningly, stepping closer to his target. " Sure," the dark-haired teen across from Race shrugged. " So?" " I have his license," the bodyguard grinned slightly, speaking in an eerily cheerful tone. " I like using his license a lot on people that piss me off." Damien turned several shades paler. " What were you up to, snooping around this stuff?" Jonny asked, flicking on the light switch and bathing the room in a dim, orange glow. " And where's Jimmy?" Damien frowned, still staring at Race's gun. " Get that thing out of my face, and I'll think about answering you." " You're really getting on my nerves, kid," Race muttered, replacing his gun back in its concealed holster. " So what've you got?" The young man shrugged again. " I came here looking for stuff. Jimmy's files. I wanted to talk to him last night, but when I got here, there wasn't nobody, nothing. He got all his stuff out of this place pretty damn quickly if you ask me. B'sides, there weren't any cops around." " What were you looking for?" a female voice came from behind Jonny. All the men turned to look at her, adding much fuel to her dangerous temper. She hated being center of attention nowadays. " I work, uh, worked here. I saw this little figurine that Jimmy put on display, and it looked just like that thing that did in Crow," Damien explained, moving toward his interrogators. " And if anything that can so much as scratch Crow Redd deserves a medal, then that creature, whatever it was, deserves a helluva big trophy." " So? What about it?" Jonny prodded, fingering the wooden figurine in his pocket. " I figured it was worth a lot of money for Crow to have, uh, ah…" " Smuggled it in?" Race asked wryly. " You were involved in this operation, weren't you?" " No use lying now," Jonny added. Damien shook his head, backing away. " I'm no smuggler. I wasn't a part of it." " But you knew about it," Jessie insisted, stepping into the room. " No," he protested, retreating even more. " That night on the dock, Jimmy just said to deliver his package. Said it was a business deal. He told me he had something else, a dinner banquet or something, coming up so I had to take his place, but I swear I didn't know I was making smuggling deals. I only knew that Crow Redd was the contact, but he has a widespread reputation, and I didn't want to get too involved. Hell, I wouldn't go out there knowing Crow would break my neck for all the artifacts in the world. But I swear, I didn't…" The door to the shop closed loudly, startling everyone. A heartbeat passed before slow, quiet steps resonated within the empty building, and whoever just entered seemed to be headed in the direction of the back room. " Must be the cops," Jonny said, relaxing a little. Race shook his head. " That's only one guy. Cops have partners." " So who is it?" Damien asked, noticing that Jessie had moved to the shadows of the multitude of boxes. " We'll find out soon enough," Jonny replied, moving to the door. He hadn't seen how his best friend was retreating even further into the room. She was very afraid. She sensed him. *It*. It was coming, and she would watch the three men in front of her die in agony, then it would come for her. It would win because it always did, in dreams and in reality. Jessie held her breath in horror, remembering her nightmare, the unspeakable things that she had envisioned. It was all going to come true. She knew it would, and she would bear witness to their pain. Too much pain, too much agony, and too many she loved involved. She knew it would be too much for her to take, and she'd go insane if this adventure went on any longer. But as much as she didn't want to consider the events in the nightmare, she was forced to believe them. She didn't want to lose anyone she loved. Especially *him*. Jonathan Benton Quest. It was his blood, gallons of it, that had been gushing out like a cataract. Not her father's. Not Dr. Quest's. That scene had been plaguing her thoughts since the first night. Tears threatened to fall, and Jessie shook her head. It was highly unlikely… because it was only a dream. Right? If Hadji were here, he'd be able to comfort her with those increasingly annoying words of wisdom. Or if her mother were here, she'd know exactly what to say to make the visions go away. Even an attack from Surd would be better than this. Rage's nerve gas was much more welcome than this. Jessie was beyond desperate to get out of this mess, the only unwanted adventure she'd had in her sixteen years, and she would accept any help from anyone. She wanted help from anyone except Jonny. Because if he helped her, he would be as good as dead, which was the last thing she wanted. Race reached for the door, just as Jessie rewound and replayed the scene from her dreams, chanting endlessly in her mind for her father not to open the door. Damien was now looking at her as if she were possessed, and Jonny, it seemed, was busily scanning the room for cobwebs. Race flung the door open, a cheery smile on his face and an impromptu excuse on the tip of his tongue, until the face of the "cop" came into focus. Jimmy Shelton stared blankly at Race Bannon, and the two of them just blinked wonderingly at each other for a few seconds, thinking the other was a mirage. For a few moments, time stood still. Everyone was astonished, not knowing what to do next, except Jessie. She knew who it was before the door was even open, and so she sprang into action. She leaped out of her hiding place, intending to tackle Jimmy and, while he was down, take flight. She had barely moved a step when everyone else snapped out of the standstill. Race was unsure how to proceed and needed to take a left hook in the jaw, courtesy of Jimmy, to realize he was supposed to fight. Jonny sped past and swung a vicious uppercut in Jimmy's general direction, as his bodyguard stumbled backward from the impact. Race steadied himself in time to see Jimmy effectively block Jonny's attack, and twist the young man's arm around. Jonny, always quick on his feet, reversed the situation and flung Jimmy over his shoulder. That was when Damien stepped in, defending his former employer by blindsiding Jonny after he threw Jimmy. The young Quest landed beside Race, who was getting up. " Tag, your turn, Race," Jonny muttered, rubbing the back of his head ruefully. Spots danced mockingly before his eyes. Race approached Damien cautiously. " You don't know what you're doing, kid. Back out of this." " What? You think you can beat my friend up and get away with it?" Damien snorted in disgust, his fists held in a traditional street fighter's stance. " For your information, *Doogie*," Race spat out sarcastically, " your employer threw the first punch. You don't know what you're dealing with." Damien gritted his teeth and drew his fist back. " Oh yeah?" " Oh yeah," Race answered. As he decked Damien squarely in the face, Jimmy had prepared to knock him out with a fire extinguisher. Jimmy's problem was the fact that Jessie wasn't frozen to the ground anymore, and she came up right behind him. Steeling her nerves and mentally reminding herself that Jimmy was only human, for the moment, she crouched down and executed a perfect sweep, reducing her target to a groaning mass sprawled on the floor. Jimmy was dazed, closing his eyes momentarily, then his gaze locked with hers. His eyes widened. " Jessie. It's you." Jessie couldn't move, and neither could he, both locked in a spell that linked a predator and its prey. Jessie didn't enjoy being the latter very much. Damien and Race had stopped struggling altogether, Race proving that his experience was too much for the teen, and Jonny stood mesmerized by the intensity of the look Jimmy was giving to Jessie. " Jessie, no…" Jimmy's breathing suddenly became labored, his eyes growing almost wide as saucers. " Get out… umalis ka… hindi… Jessie… trouble…" Jessie moved toward him, but Jonny was immediately at her side and held her back. Jimmy held out a hand, signaling for her not to come any closer. Race and Damien joined Jessie and Jonny near the door and wondered what was happening to Jimmy. " Get out… Jessie… now!" Jimmy ordered, clutching his head in pain. Blood thundered through his brain, and he felt like exploding. But he already knew what was happening to him. He knew that Jessie's presence had triggered this. He couldn't hold back. Jonny suddenly realized what was happening and vehemently grabbed Jessie's hand. " Better do as he says, Jess. C'mon Race! Damien, if you know what's good for you, you'll get out of here, too!" With that, Jonny dragged a thoroughly bewildered Jessie through the doorway, with Race, who had gotten Jonny's message, only a second behind them. The bodyguard had Damien by the collar of his shirt and was roughly pulling him along. Once everyone but Jimmy was out, Race shoved Damien to follow Jonny and Jessie's lead, as Race slammed the door shut. As curious as he was about the whole transformation taking place within, he wasn't really in the mood to get ripped to pieces. He was smart enough not to die in the name of science and knowledge. With the door securely locked, Race bolted out of the shop, wondering where in the world the police were. If they did show up, Race didn't want them getting hurt either. The teens had already reached the jeep, and Jonny was starting the engine. Jessie, however, sat shivering in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead of her as if she had just seen a ghost. She didn't respond to Jonny's pleas for help, nor did she listen to Damien's frantic cries of " What the hell's goin' on" from his place in the back. She was murmuring something over and over to herself, and just for an instant, Race worried about his daughter's sanity. He dashed to the jeep and got in, just as the engine finally started. Jonny crowed triumphantly, but the joy was short-lived. A howl pierced the air, making the sound of distant car horns and wildlife fade into the background. The howl continued, long and mournful, then becoming vicious and menacing. Jessie stiffened at the sound, her eyes going wide. Jonny could see the fear radiating from her, and he tried to remember the last time she was this frightened. Never. Not in that underwater research facility, not in Questworld trapped with Surd, not ever. Jonny floored the accelerator and prayed to God that the jeep was faster than Ikaw. He was driving uphill, though, and it wasn't going to help at all. He was only thankful there was no traffic around the area; police *were* useful for something after all. The sound of smashing glass reached his ears, followed by pounding footsteps that crushed the road into the earth. Jonny had heard this before, and he didn't like it. Glancing in his rearview mirror, he saw Ikaw racing after the jeep, in a frenzy. Damien was ashen, finally understanding why everyone had fled the moment Jimmy's anguished cries had reached their ears. And even though the panic was almost overwhelming everyone, the pallor on Race's face was unmistakable. Jonny had never seen Race pale before for anything. Then, Ikaw jumped, vanishing from Jonny's view in the mirror. It seemed like it just flew. Seconds passed before something landed heavily on the roof of the jeep. It crushed the top, leaving Race and Damien in the backseat of the car only two inches of breathing space. The jeep's wheels locked and made the vehicle skid sideways, as Jonny lost all control, his foot accidentally pressing the brake. The jeep hit a tree at full speed, shattering the windshield into thousands of pieces, the force of the crash violently jolting all the passengers around like insects in a jar. Jonny's head collided with the steering wheel, sending a bright flash of pain through his eyes and into his head. He thought he felt a thousand needles pierce his back, but he wasn't even sure which way was up and which way was down. He was on the brink of unconsciousness, and the only thought keeping him awake was one of Ikaw hurting Jessie. He had to protect her. Even if it meant getting killed first. Jessie, on the other hand, had braced herself against the dashboard, but she still ended up with a large gash on her forehead. The windshield hadn't really hurt her because she was wearing a thick sweater, but she could smell blood. And if she could, that meant Ikaw was probably insane with the scent. Overall, she was in the best condition, in comparison to the other people in the car, but she still wished she weren't awake. She wished she had been knocked out instead so that she wouldn't have to *feel* death. So that she wouldn't have to see death. She had wanted to die peacefully, after all, like anyone else. It was coming. It was going to be all over soon. Ikaw dug its fingers into the roof, leaving indentations in the metal. With a pained roar, it ripped off the offending barrier, exposing its prey to the grim expanse of the cloudy sky. She saw Ikaw in all its glory, in broad daylight. Theoretically impossible, as Dr. Quest would have described Jimmy's transformation, which should only have occurred during a full moon. But it was possible now. Here was more irrefutable evidence for any skeptical scientist. Ikaw was looming over her, its fangs dripping with hunger, its eyes blazing with fury. There was no mercy in its heart, though Jessie knew that Jimmy was still fighting for control. Jessie could practically see Jimmy within Ikaw's body, an apologetic expression on his face. Jonny clambered out of his seat slowly, trying to attract Ikaw's attention by talking. " Hey ugly… pick on someone else. Get me… you can get her later. Yeah, look here Jimmy. Look here Ikaw…" Ikaw slowly turned to face Jonny, who was a mere two feet away from its true prey. Perhaps it should have a little snack before immortality was its own. Yes, maybe it should. And maybe it should tie up the loose end it had left that night on dock 47. Damien needed to be eliminated. Jessie leaned back against her seat, preparing herself for the worst. If she was going down, she didn't want anyone else to go down with her. " Hey, Ikaw," she said, as it crept slowly over the hood of the car toward her best friend. " No use trying to get someone else when I'm right here." " Jessie…" Jonny mumbled weakly, reaching out to her. His world was spinning, but Jessie's red hair gave her location away. " Don't do this. You're not thinking straight." Ikaw then grabbed both teens by their collars and yanked them out of their seats with a mighty pull. Jessie was in its left, Jonny in its right. It growled at both of them, uncertain of what to do next, but the urge to kill Jessie was much stronger. It threw Jonny against the tree ten feet away, and as Jonny saw Ikaw drawing Jessie closer to it, he knew he had failed her miserably. She wasn't even resisting. The Jessie Bannon he had known had given up and become just another victim. But it really wasn't her mistake. Jessie was not the one to blame. Jonny had made that vow to protect her. He had promised no harm would come to her. He was supposed to be her knight. The one who would bear her pain for her. But here he was, slumped in defeat against a tree, watching her literally facing death. It was all his fault. And as his mind slipped into oblivion, he whispered an apology, an honest apology, a final declaration. " I'm so sorry Jessie. I'm not good enough for you." He tried to focus, but his vision became foggy, and the red blur he was trying to see was indistinguishable. " I love you, Jess…" ********** November 19 Davao, Mindanao 1:00 A.M. Dr. Quest glanced impatiently at his watch, willing for time to go faster. Why was it when he wanted time to go fast, it always betrayed him and went slow? He felt like such a whining teenager today. He was exhausted to the limit, had lost track of time, didn't know what day it was exactly, and his hotel reservations had been mixed up with someone else's. To make matters worse, that gnawing feeling he had whenever his kids were in trouble was bothering him again, and he couldn't help thinking something had gone wrong back in San Francisco. Or maybe it was just the paranoia that came in his line of work. Dr. Quest couldn't tell. But he was in a terrible mood, and his anger was going to be unleashed on the first person he talked to today. Which was why he tried *not* to talk to anyone that day. So he remained standing at the help desk, waiting for help to come. For a phenomenologist with access to all the latest high-tech equipment in the world, he couldn't make a phone call to the hotel by himself. The feeling of helplessness was getting on his nerves. The young Filipino woman at the desk smiled politely at him and informed him that the hotel was sending a car to pick him up, with their deepest apologies. She gave him instructions on how to reach the pick-up area, then she held out a few pamphlets, all about tourism, and a map. Dr. Quest, feeling a bit happier at the young woman's efficiency, smiled and took the papers… only to feel something slice the palm of his hand. With a yelp, he pulled his hand back, looking at it with a mixture of disgust, irritation, and embarrassment. The lady apologized profusely, and Dr. Quest felt the heat rise in his cheeks. And for a phenomenologist, he sure was making too big a deal of a paper cut. " It's nothing," he said, shaking his head. " Sorry to bother you." With that, he took the papers and thanked the young woman. Once he turned his back to her, the scowl returned to his face. He didn't know whether it was really him or the fatigue that caused him to be so frustrated. Stupid hotel reservations. Useless airplane seats. Nothing but backaches. Dumb International Date Line. Worthless time difference. Good-for-nothing paper cut. Damn Ikaw. This wasn't exactly a very good way to start a day, but it wasn't as if Dr. Quest had planned it all. He supposed this would be what Jonny would refer to as a "pointless, god-forsaken, crapsh*t that Fate throws because it hates me" day. Dr. Quest smiled, thinking fondly of his son and hoping that he, Jessie, and Race reached Maine in far better condition than he did. Thoughts of family and friends made Dr. Quest's mood lighten as he exited the building into the humid air of the Philippines. If one wants things to be better, things will be better. So Benton Quest set himself to patiently wait a few minutes. If he wanted this to be a good day, it was going to be. Oh how wrong the poor man was. ********** Two pairs of eyes observed the tall, rust-haired man closely. He stuck out of the crowd like a sore thumb, and yet there was something more about him that led them to watch him. To follow him. Then he cut himself. Almost shouting aloud, too. But that completely gave the man away. They knew it, even by smelling him from that great a distance. The tall man with the hair on his face was going to be in such big trouble. What was he doing here, anyway? Did he not know that this was a dangerous place for people like him? Did he not know that he would not survive one more night unless he had help? Perhaps not. But all for one paper cut. You've made it to part three, leaving me very amazed, and exceedingly thankful. I hope it was interesting, because this story's going to be longer than I thought. Please send all comments to nova247@hotmail.com They will be greatly appreciated by a poor, young writer who needs an audience. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ******************************************************************** * The Jonny Quest mailinglist jq@edc.ml.org * ******************************************************************** * To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: majordomo@edc.ml.org * * with the message: unsubscribe jq subject is ignored * ********************************************************************