This is the sequel to the End of the Beginning. Let me know what you think.

Archivers: go for it and enjoy
Disclaimer: HB owns them I want no money, and the description of the car goes
to the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Rating: humm.HR(B&R, J&J), mystery, Past and Present. I’ll finish this part
when I finish the story.

"Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards."  Soren Kierkegaad,
1813-1855

The Beginning of the End
Present
Jonny laid in his bed somewhere between  sleep and consciousness. "Happy
birthday to you," he could hear the soft voice of a woman sing. His mothers
voice. "Happy birthday to Jonny, hey birthday boy" The voice changed from his
mothers to a more familiar voice, Jessie.
"Hey Birthday Boy are you going to get out of bed today. Only you Jonny Quest
could sleep so late on your own birthday."
"Okay, okay, I’m up Jess, I’m up."
"So how does it feel to be 18?"Jess asked coming to sit next to Jonny on his
bed.
"Pretty much the same, a little more mature, I think."
"Well that’s yet to be decided."
"Lets see how can I convince you," Jonny began to lean in for a kiss.
"I don’t think so, go brush your teeth," she said turning her head.
"You didn’t care yesterday."
"Do you want your present or not."
"Of course I do."
"Then go brush your teeth, and get dressed."
"You want me dressed?" He said with a lopsided grin.
"Jonny!"
"Okay, sorry I asked." Jonny said with a laugh as he jumped from his bed, and
ran to the bathroom. When he came out, he stood there in his towel in front of
his bed and smiled. The bed was made, and on his bed, Jessie had laid out his
favorite black shirt and jeans. Jonny was surprised, Jessie must be really
excited she never does anything like this.
He had just gotten on his jeans when there was a knock on his door, "come in."
Jessie peaked her head in "do you want your present now?"
"Do I!" Jonny threw on his shirt and ran one hand through his wet hair, as
Jessie walked in with a small package.
She handed it to Jonny, who looked at her and then tore it open like a little
kid, to reveal a blank CD in a case with no markings.
"It’s for Questworld, I made it for us to play." She answered his look of
confusion.
"You made this?"
"Well Hadji helped before he left for Bangalore."
"Wow, thank you Jess."
"That’s your first present, here’s your second."
With that she threw her arms around him and kissed him. They stood there for a
long time. Then Jonny broke the silence.
"I needed my clothes for that?"
Jessie answered with a poke to his side and they both laughed.
"You should go see your dad, I think he’s been waiting for you."
They both headed down stairs to the kitchen where they knew Dr. Quest would be
waiting for them, reading his paper as usual.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Pop."
"Glad to see your up before noon Jonny."
Jonny spied a small wrapped box sitting on the table, ‘great,’ he thought,
‘probably  cufflinks or a tie pin.’
"That for me Pop?"
"Yes it is Jonny, Happy Birthday son."
"Thanks."
Jessie thought they looked  so formal, like they would shake hands or
something, but Dr. Quest handed the box to Jonny , who tore it up  to reveal a
small jewelry box. Jonny opened it and held up a Key with a silver Q key chain.

Jessie expected it to be cufflinks, so she had to looked at it for a second to
realize that it belonged to a car.
" You got a car !"Jessie said stating the obvious.
Jonny started to take off running for the garage, when he made a sharp U-turn
and hugged his dad. Jonny and Jessie took off running and Benton Quest followed
behind at a more appropriate speed.
Jonny stopped right in his tracks, and stared at the black car from his past.
"Jonny!" yelled Race, "do you know what this is! Its a 1961 Ferrari , 250 GT
California convertible  ! Less than a Hundred were made, can you believe this!"

Jonny walked closer to Race and the car and only answered him with a soft,
"yeah, I know what this is Race, its my mom’s car."
Race felt awkward but continued. "Well when your dad and I went to Palm Key  it
was in bad shape so I fixed it up and put in a CD player, and flew it out here,
so happy birthday kid." Race slapped Jonny on the back and walked over to the
end  of the car and rubbed it with a cloth. Jonny’s eyes began to fill with
tears, but he quickly wiped them away.
"Lets take it for a ride Jonny, " said Jessie. Jonny looked at his father, who
nodded and began to walk back to the house. Jonny sat in the driver’s seat, and
looked around at everything, The CD player looked foreign in the car, and he
noticed how everything fit him perfectly, like the car had been built around
him. Jessie sat there next to him letting him have his moment with his past in
peace. Jonny took a deep breath and started the car. He smiled at Jessie and
they took off down the road that led off the property. Jessie yelled with
delight, and they could hear Race yelling at them to be careful.  Dr. Benton
Quest had remembered a similar reaction many years before.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20 years ago.
Rachel Quest sat in her office at her Palm Key home. She was trying to work on
a paper, but she kept thinking about her father. He had been so angry with her
for marrying Benton. Every time she saw him, he had insulted her new husband.
She had finally had it, and told her father, that she loved  Benton, and he had
better accept it or he would never see her or his grand children, when she had
some, again. Benton had chided her,  told her that she should have never
treated her father like that, and that he didn’t care if the man hated him. She
was lost in her thoughts when she heard a car pull in to the drive way. She ran
down the stairs and outside to meet the strange car. Rachel stopped dead in her
tracks and looked at her father in the car. He was talking to Benton and they
were smiling.
Doug saw his daughter and said," I thought about what you said, I was wrong,
its none of my business who you want to marry."
"Thanks dad, what’s this did you buy another car?"
"Its for you, consider this a peace offering."
"Dad I can’t except this, its,its to much," Rachel was having trouble with an
excuse.
" Rachel I won’t take no for an answer. Come on have a seat."
Rachel took her father’s seat and sat there in the classic car, she was in love
with it, and her smile revealed it all. Benton watched as father and daughter
made amends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Present
Jonny Quest was at a high point in his life, he felt he could conquer the
world. First the car was exciting to drive and now here he was making out with
Jessie on Lover’s point that over looked the ocean. What could be better than
this. Then  he felt something hitting the back of his calf under the seat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Benton smiled as he stared out the kitchen window. Remembering Rachel after her
father had left.
"Shall we take this beauty out for a drive" She had asked him. The next thing
he knew he was in the passenger’s seat in the ride of his life, and later on
the beach having the best sex of his life. He swore it was then that Jonny had
been conceived, on a lonely strip of beach at sunset. And Benton hoped that
Jonny didn’t take after his mother in that aspect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hang on  Jess! Something ‘s digging into my leg"  Jonny  reached under his
seat and pulled out a small leather briefcase  with the initials R.Q.
embroidered on the side.
"What’s that?" Jessie asked.
"This must be my mom’s briefcase.  She must have left it in here the last time
she . . ."Jonny trailed off.
"The last time she what?"
"The last time she came back from her office before she died."  Jonny said a
matter of factually
"Oh, I’m sorry. . . . Are you going to open it up"  Jonny carefully opened the
latch and began to remove its contents, handing them to Jess as he pulled them
out.  First to be removed was a small planner that matched the briefcase.  Next
was a large legal sized folder.  A stick of gum, which Jonny tossed out of the
car saying "Wow, that’s gotta be the oldest stick of gum I have ever seen"
Finally searching for anything else  Jonny removed a small wallet sized picture
of himself, Benton and Rachel.  Jessie grabbed the photo from Jonny.
Jessie stared at the young woman in the picture for a long time.  There weren’t
many of them in the Quest house anymore.  She had no idea that Rachel had been
so beautiful.  They almost seemed an odd match, Dr. Quest and Jonny’s mom.
"What a cute little kid you were.  Oh my god, look at how young your dad was!"
Jonny snatched the photo away from her and stared at it closely.  "Your mom was
knockout" Jessie said softly.
"Yeah" Jonny said, "She was pretty."  As Jonny continued to stare at the
picture, Jessie moved on to the planner.  When she opened it, she saw that it
began with a list of phone numbers, behind that, was a notepad.  She had just
turned the page, when she noticed a familiar name.
"Hey Jonny, I didn’t know your mom knew my dad?"
Jonny looked up "What? She didn’t."
"Well, it says right here Roger Bannon"
"How could she have known Race?  He didn’t come to live with us until after she
died."
Just then Jessie’s watched beeped, and she looked at the time.  "Come on Jonny,
we better get going, we can ask my dad about it later"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William Strauss looked around the study, he hadn’t been here in what seemed
like forever.  He hadn’t been here since Rachel’s funeral.    Everything seemed
the same, except for a few misplaced schoolbooks that didn’t fit into his
memory of the place.  He and Benton talked together as if they hadn’t been
separated by ten years.  Neither one had felt comfortable visiting one another
since her death.  And he noticed, in their conversation today, they had avoided
anything relating to Rachel, including Jonny.  William had been friends with
Benton in college, he had even introduced him to Rachel.  He hadn’t realized
then, that he was in love with her until after she and Benton were already
engaged.  Being the good man he was, he wouldn’t have ruined his two best
friends’ happiness.  The three of them had had great times running around the
world together until Jonny was born.    He had been honored when they told him
they wanted to name their son Jonathan after his middle name.  He wasn’t that
surprised that  Rachel told him that she was going to start Quest Technologies,
but he had been surprised when she asked him to be the lawyer and trustee of
the company.  She told him that Benton wasn’t to be involved in the company and
that she wanted to be sure that Jonny was financially stable for his future.
That had always been her primary goal, so Jonny didn’t have to worry about
money when he got older.  He never knew why she didn’t sell the company when
she had the chance, and he would always wonder if she would have lived if she
had accepted the offer.  William heard the roar of an engine that was so
familiar to him.  He glance out the window to see Rachel’s old car pull into
the driveway.  And he almost saw Rachel in the blonde hair boy that drove it.
Jonathan Quest was in fact the person he had come to visit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2
12 years ago.
"Rachel  your late!" Shouted William Strauss as he walked up to her and took
her coat and brief case.
"I know Will, but Jonny wasn’t feeling well this morning and you know Benton is
in Japan this week"
"Boy times have changed, I remember the last time all three of us were there"
"Yeah Will, who could forget being arrested and deported,You know the worst
part was calling Ben from the police station and explaining to him why I was
being asked to leave the country.Those were fun times." She added   with a
smile.
"Yes they were, I Don’t think I have ever seen old Ben so mad"
Rachel and Will were silent for a moment.
"Well the board of directors are pretty angry that you didn’t accept the Mead
account. They’re  waiting for you in the board room."
"Time to face the dogs then," Rachel Flashed her old friend a lopsided grin and
walked into the board room with all confidence. She never missed a beat through
the whole conference, She was always one step a head of everyone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Present.
A much older William Strauss let out a long breath. She was so stubborn and
cocky, why could she have just listened to him and Benton.
"You wanted to see me Pop!"
William Strauss’ thoughts were interrupted by the young man that burst into the
office. The boy had Benton’s build , but he had Rachel’s blond hair and deep
blue eyes. He was definitely Rachel’s son.
"Yes Jonny I want you to meet William Strauss , he’s  I an old friend of your
mothers and mine, and he’s also the trustee of Quest Technologies."
"So you are Jonathan  Quest, I haven’t seen you since you were a very small
boy."
"I’m sorry Mr. Strauss, I don’t remember you." Replied Jonny with  a smile.
"But you can call me Jonny everyone else does."
"All right Jonny you can call me Will, That’s what your mom and old Ben here
used to call me anyway. The reason I am here,have a seat,I’m here tot ell you
about your company and what its been doing."
"My company Will?
"Well not Yours  until your twenty-one , but I was asked to introduce it to you
when you turned eight-teen."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessie ran up to her room with Rachel’s briefcase. Dr. Quest had called Jonny
into his office and her dad was making sure Jonny’s new car was okay, so she
was free to examine the briefcase in privet. Jessie looked at the wallet sized
picture of the Quest family again. She looked at the woman who was Jonny’s
mother. She was beautiful, jonny definitely looked like here. The three of them
looked so happy together. And Jessie understood why Dr. Quest never got over
his wife. Every time he looked at Jonny he would see her there. She didn’t know
how he managed. She had thought once that life could go on,  now she didn’t
know what she would do if she lost Jonny. And Benton Quest appeared to be a
different man than the one that was in the picture before her. Jessie put Quest
had called Jonny into his office and her dad was making sure Jonny’s new car
was okay, so she was free to examine the briefcase in privet. Jessie looked at
the wallet sized picture of the Quest family again. She looked at the woman who
was Jonny’s mother. She was beautiful, jonny definitely looked like here. The
three of them looked so happy together. And Jessie understood why Dr. Quest
never got over his wife. Every time he looked at Jonny he would see her there.
She didn’t know how he managed. She had thought once that life could go on,
now she didn’t know what she would do if she lost Jonny. And Benton Quest
appeared to be a different man than the one that was in the picture before her.
down the picture and moved on to the planner. She looked down at her dad’s
name, written in a beautiful penmanship. She hadn’t asked her dad about it yet,
she was waiting for Jonny. After flipping through various names and numbers,
she came to a notebook of sorts. Jessie’s smile grew. She read a few pages
about parties and other events, notes to herself, and about people Rachel met.
Then she stumbled across a page with Roger Bannon’s name on it. Jessie even
more curious than before began to read the page more slowly.
   THINGS TO TELL BENTON
it started with.
  I WAS GIVEN THE NUMBER OF A ROGER BANNON TODAY. IT SEEMS THAT HE HAS BEEN
OFFICIALLY ASSSIGNED TO THE INVESTIGATION.HE ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE
MEAD FOUNDATION. HE SAID THAT HE DIDN’T SUSPECT THEM OF THE THREATES THAT WERE
BEING MADE AGAINST ME. HE ASSURED ME THAT WE HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. AND
THAT HE WOULD CONTACT ME WHEN HE HAD MORE LEADS.
Jessie was stunned. It seemed as though her father hadn’t even taken them
seriously, and Jonny’s mom had died because of that. No wonder her dad spent so
much time with Jonny. Jessie searched through the rest of the planner but
didn’t find anything interesting. Jessie pulled out the folder and opened it.
On one side was a letter and on the other, some legal documents. Jessie took
out the letter and began reading it. It started out normal enough. Talking
about different things Quest Technologies were doing. Then it began talking
about new clients and the Mead foundation. Jessie thought it seemed suspicious
that the Mead foundation was mentioned a second time, so she scrolled down the
page to get more information. That’s when she saw it.
  THE CONTACT FOR THE MEAD FOUNDATION WILL BE A DR. ZIN.
She could believe it. Did Dr. Zin have something to do with Jonny’s mom’s
death? That would explain Dr. Quest’s hatred for the man. Jessie looked down at
the end of  the letter, surprised again.
 IF YOU FORGIVE ME,AND WE CAN STILL BE FRIENDS INSPITE OF THIS ALL PLEASE COME
AND VISITE ME IN PARIS. HELL, I’LL EVEN BABYSIT FOR YOU.
I LOVE YOU.
WILL
Who was Will and what had happened. Jessie looked at the legal papers and
noticed the Mead Foundation and Dr. Zin’s name but for the most part she was
confused. She could wait to show these to Jonny.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 3
present
Race Bannon took a drink of his water and looked at the classic car. He had
only met Rachel Quest once. It had been before he was assigned to the Quest’s.
Before they had had any problems. It had been one of those presidential balls
in some foreign country.  He had been to so many of them he had lost count.
That was the first time he had seen the legendary Dr. Benton Quest. He smiled,
who know he would be working for him a year later. He wasn’t quite sure why he
had remembered Rachel, there were so many women from his past. But Rachel Quest
had always stood out in his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12 years ago.
SLAP!!!
The brunette woman turned on her heal and marched away. Race Bannon was only
slightly taken aback, he had been slapped by many beautiful women, this one was
no different.
"Shot down, I guess today was not your day."
Race turned around to see a tall slender blond woman leaning against the wall.
Her classic black evening gown clung to her shapely figure. Race looked her up
and down, he didn’t recognize her at all.
"Sorry couldn’t help but watch, you both have been the most entertaining thing
I have seen all evening." She laughed.
Race moved to sit on the bench along  the wall. "I’m glad someone one enjoyed
it, so how come a beautiful lady like yourself is back here away from the
party, isn’t your boyfriend missing you?"
"Husband, and I’m waiting to use the phone so I can call my son before he goes
to bed."
"How old is your boy?"
"Six." She replied with a smile.
"Really my daughter’s seven."
"Wait you have a daughter, okay, do you have a picture?"
"Sure do."
Race pulled out his wallet and handed Rachel a picture of Jessie. Rachel then
took out a picture of Jonny and handed it to Race.
"She’s beautiful, if you’ll excuse me the phone is free."
They exchanged pictures and Rachel walked over to the phone, had a quick
conversation and hung up.
"So is your husband anyone important?" asked Race as they walked back to the
party.
"No one special."
At that time they entered the party. Race saw a older man walk up to the blond.

"Rachel did you call Jonny, what took you so long, I was worried."
"Oh Ben  there was a line for the phone, and Jonny’s fine, he promised to go to
bed on time."
"I’ll believe it when I see it."
Race was intrigued and stood back and watched everything. A man with dark hair
and green eyes came up to them.
"Ben, Rach, I haven’t seen you all night."
"Will it’s great to see you." Replied the older man. The two men shook hands
and Will and Rachel exchanged kisses on the cheek.
"Ben  I want to introduce you, Senator Ruttersen I want to introduce you to Dr.
Benton Quest and his wife Rachel Quest."
No one special, thought Race. She’s married to Dr. Benton Quest, even he had
heard of the famous Doctor. Rachel Quest, he thought about the name for a
moment. A beautiful woman who wasn’t interested in him. Well there was a first
for everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Race smiled at his memory. He had never told anyone, even Benton that he had
met. What would he say, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to save her. That I didn’t
take you seriously. Race had found the hit man that had killed her. But he was
conveniently killed before he could be prosecuted, and there had gone with him
all leads to who hired him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Race had suspected that Benton knew that the man blamed her death was just a
hired hit man. Maybe that’s why Benton had never come to terms with her death,
and that’s why he hired Race. Because as far as either of them knew it, Jonny’s
life was still endangered. Benton was convinced that it was something to do
with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessie put the folder on her desk and went down stairs. She saw Jonny talking
to man in the living room. The man had dark hair that was speckled with grey,
and green eyes that could be noticed across the room. The man was handsome. The
man and Jonny were laughing and having a good time, when they stopped and Jonny
introduced Jessie. She had a hard time not smiling when she heard that his name
was Will. This could be the face to go with the name, thought Jessie. Jonny
explained to Jessie that he was going to New York with Will to visit Quest
Technologies. Jonny left that evening with William Strauss. Jessie had expected
it to be a quiet evening, but then the alarms sounded. That was not unusual for
that to happen at the compound. But what they found was. Something that would
change there lives forever.

Coming Soon: A New Beginning