From: LLoisarah@aol.com
To: jqml@onelist.com
Cc: suzehowe@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 14:45:57 EST
Subject: [JQML] [fic] missing pieces 3/3
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From: LLoisarah@aol.com

Part 3
"Believe me when I tell you that. . . life is precious."

	"Why are you doing this?"  The red haired woman screamed, hands and legs tied
behind her.  The room she was in was dark and cold, and her daughter lay
beside her, unconscious.  "What have you done to my child?"

	A figure stood in the shadows, watching in amusement, planning his next
torture.  An evil grin spread across his face as numerous ideas came to mind.

	"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

	Rachel woke with a start.  "Race?"  She quickly jumped out of bed and ran to
the door of the guest bedroom.  She stood at the door apprehensively.  

	"Mom?  Is Race okay?"  Rachel looked down to see Jonny standing nervously
beside her.  

	"I don't know, dear."  Rachel knocked softly on the door.  "Race?"

	On the other side of the door, the usually cool and collected Race Bannon was
a nervous wreck.  His nightmare had returned.

	"Race?  Are you okay?"  

	He had to answer her, what was he going to say?  "Yes, Mrs. Qu. . .ah,
Rachel.  Everything is under control."

	Rachel didn't believe him.  "Jonny, go back to bed, sweetheart."  She turned
back toward the door and opened it.  Race sat on the edge of his bed, head in
his hands, and sweating, breathing like he was having a panic attack.

	"Race, what's wrong?"  Rachel moved to sit next to him on the bed.

	Race took a long time in answering.  "Estella."

	"Who?"

	"Estella.  And Jessie.  I dreamt they were in trouble."

	"I see.  Who are they?"

	Race leaned back so that he lay on the bed, keeping his feet in the floor.
Slowly he brought his arm up and crossed them over his chest.

	"They're my wife. . . . ex-wife, and daughter.  I keep having this dream,
where they're in danger, in the hands of a madman. . . "

	"But it's not true, it was just a nightmare," Rachel said, trying to comfort
him.

	"I don't know that, I haven't seen them in four years.  Anybody could be
using them, to get back at me. . .and I wouldn't know until it was. . . too
late."

	"Oh, Race, I. . . I'm sorry." Rachel was truly at a loss for words, so she
put her hand on his shoulder, and simply kept quiet company until his fear
subsided.

*********

	The next morning Race walked downstairs to find Jonny eating cereal at the
kitchen table and simultaneously petting a small black and white dog.  Rachel
stood looking into the refrigerator, but Race had a feeling she wasn't aware
she was even looking at food.  He walked up to Jonny and looked down at him.  

	"His name's Bandit.  See, his mask?"  Jonny indicated the black fur around
the dog's eyes that resembled a mask.

	"Yes, I see it Jonny.  A fine dog you have there."

	"He's been in the staying with the Singhs since we left for . . . Paris.  Mom
and I finally went and got him this morning.  He's glad to be home, aren't
you, boy?"

	"ARF!" 

	Race smiled and reached out to pet the dog.  His advanced were greeted with a
menacing growl and a snap of his teeth.

	"He doesn't like strangers."

	"I see." Race answered.  "How long have you had Bandit?"

	"My dad brought him home for me on my sixth birthday."

	"Oh."  Race looked from Jonny over to Rachel.  She had closed the
refrigerator door and was watching Jonny and Race.  She smiled as Race looked
over at her. 

 "Did you get in touch with your bureau this morning?" she asked.

	"Yes, I did.  They agree that I should stay for a few more days.  There's
been no word from the Paris police.  They still haven't caught anyone."

	"Why am I not surprised?"  quipped Rachel.  "Jonny, why don't you and Bandit
go play in the courtyard?"

	Jonny looked up at his mom disappointedly.  "Why can't we go into the woods?"

	Rachel shook her head no.

	"Can we go play with Hadji?  The Singhs said we were welcome anytime."

	"Jonny, don't argue with me, you're not going far from the house, and that's
final!"

	Jonny and Bandit walked out the kitchen door into the spacious courtyard of
the Maine  compound as Rachel watched from the window above the sink.  She
smiled as she watched them play.  Her expression darkened as she looked down
and mechanically began to wash dishes.  Her thoughts jumbled together, a mess
of hurt and pain and disbelief.  No matter how much she felt - believed that
Benton had loved her, the image of Alexis at the funeral kept surfacing.  

	Race watched Rachel with concern, and when she scrubbed the same dish for
more than a few minutes, he decided to speak up.  "Rachel?  Rachel, maybe
you'd better let me handle that."

	"Something's wrong," she gasped out, before dropping the dish back into the
sink and covering her face with her hands.  "It's just wrong."  

Race got up from his chair and went over to Rachel.  "What do you mean?"
Rachel didn't even move her hands from her face before she began to sob.
Race pulled her to him, afraid that if he didn't she'd collapse on the kitchen
floor.
 "Are you alright?" he asked after she quieted down.

	"Yes," she began, but after looking up at him, answered, "No, not really.  I
just. . . I need to sort some things out, I'll be fine, really.  I'm not now,
but I will be."  Rachel slowly stepped away from Race and walked out of the
kitchen.

	*******

	The black figure moved swiftly across the lawn of the Quest mansion.
Confident he hadn't been spotted, he stood in front of the door to the
lighthouse.  Unusual for someone to have a lighthouse on private property,
he'd decided to investigate.  Jimmying the door open was easy.  With a last
glance around, the figure quickly darted inside and shut the door behind him.

	The vision that greeted his eyes when he turned around astounded him.
Computer terminals and monitors lined the interior of the lighthouse,
practically floor to ceiling of the first floor.  

	"Amazing, isn't it?"  

	The voice started him, and as Race turned, he came face to face with Rachel
Quest.  "I. . ."

	"My husband's work."  Her hand indicated the computer screens.  "He worked in
here so much, I had to come in here to remind him to eat, sleep. . ."  Rachel
walked over to the two chairs sitting in the middle of the floor.  To Race,
they looked like dentist's chairs.  Placing her hands on them, she sighed and
Race noticed her hands began to shake.

	Rachel continued, "He was developing a new computer system, Virtual Reality.
I used to come down here to watch him work, it was like he was possessed,
sometimes."  She smiled slightly, enjoying her memories.   "Jonny would come
down here, and bounce into his father with a giant bear hug, Bandit close at
his heels, of course.  Benton would stop working, and play.  These chairs,"
Rachel began to laugh, still stuck in her memories, "these chairs were so many
things for them, space ships, horses, boats, dragons to be slayed, I loved
watching them."


	Race watched Rachel in her reverie, unsure what to say. 
  
	"Rachel. . . "

	"Please, Race, could you just leave me alone here?"  

	Race walked up to Rachel, put his hand on her shoulder, and then slowly
walked out the door.  Instead of walking back to the compound, he stood
outside the door of the lighthouse, looking up at the stars and contemplating
the recent events, his nightmare, the mess his life had become.  

	After the door had shut.  Rachel slumped down into one of the chairs,
depressed.  "What was it, Benton? What happened?  Why Alexis? Was it because….
Why?" The empty room didn't answer her, and the silence was deafening.  

	Rachel got up to leave the lighthouse and noticed a binder was laying on one
of the counters… which was unusual for the neat Benton.  She went over and
picked it up, to put it back into place, and noticed an envelope peeking out
of it.  RACHEL was printed on it in Benton's neat handwriting.  Rachel picked
it up. Confused, by the letter, and by recent events, she stuffed the envelope
inside her pocket, not sure if she would ever open it.

**********

	Rachel stepped out of the lighthouse to find Race stargazing.  "Waiting for
me?"
	
	"No, not really.  Just… watching the stars… wondering what's happened to my
life."

	"Estella and Jessie.  You miss them very much, don't you?" asked Rachel.  

	"Yes, but there's not much I can do about it now.  With my job. . ."

	Rachel sighed.  "I wouldn't say that… and given recent events… believe me
when I tell you that life is precious. . . "

	End


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