SEED OF DOUBT

By Jules

Author Notes: This idea was one that came to me recently when I was trying to think of a way of bringing back the character Marilyn Stark from the 1st Season. The idea of having her again as the villain appealed to me greatly, but I wanted her revenge focused on a more personal level than just being about losing her

Captaincy of the SeaQuest. Of course there was only one avenue I could travel down, where she intends to drive a large wedge between the two people that mean so much to each other.

The first chapter or two may be a littler darker in terms of the father/son relationship between Bridger and Lucas and it will be tested. I don't usually have Lucas calling Bridger Dad a whole lot in my stories, but it does appear on a few occasions in this story.

a seed is planted….

CHAPTER 5 – Confrontation

Response to Reviews:

criminally charmed - Stark was always a character like Zeller who I believed could have come back to haunt SeaQuest – so this was my opportunity to do so. Thank you for the comments – next chapter is up.

firebunee – so glad that you are enjoying this story – the updates are taking a long time – but there is no way out of this at the moment with real life getting in the way. I hope to update as often as I can – and I would rather update with something worth reading – than updating just for the sake of it. I hope you will keep reading.

mayoroscommon – this chapter sort of wrote itself towards the end – I had the rest planned out – but the ending wasn't something I had made notes or anything about. I hope this chapter is just as excitingl. Thanks for reading.

SherryBird – I decided to involve Lucas a little more in his own rescue this time – something different. A PERFECT WORLD has a significant amount written for it – but slower because it is very much more complication. Thanks for reading.

humblefan – happy that you think I am describing the characters right – that is a big importance to be usually. Sometimes I think I pull it off – other times not so much as I would like to. Please keep reading.

Shudunedus – yes I thought I had left out the majority of the crew in this story – focusing on only a few members – so decided to give five minutes of fame to someone else. And since Ben had figured out about the drug – I gave the honour to someone else. Thanks for reading.

ElizabetRose – I do plan to spend some time before the end of the story on the trust issue – because it is a theme that plays out in other stories that I have in various stages of completion or yet to be written. I have used Cooper a few times, and basically had him just as a bully, and not liking Lucas or the Captain. Hudson is not someone I ever followed – boycotting at every opportunity and refusing to watch Season 3. So I did play Cooper as a bit of a dummy and not figuring out what Ford and the Captain were up to. I did need him for this chapter too – so needed him to be roaming around free for the moment. Thanks for reading.

JOXER – stopping reading your review and going back to writing – promise lol – thanks for reviewing – I hope you will like this chapter just as much.

Ihni – I actually hadn't decided what to do with the henchmen – and still haven't when starting to write this chapter. I guess my muse will think of something later. I do think Stark was a great baddie to reuse. Zeller is my next target.

Lynnp - The cliffie really did write itself – honest. I don't do it very often as you know (crossed fingers behind back.)

Forgottengargoyle – you are making me smile wide here – so glad you enjoy what I am doing. There are plenty of stories planned that will explore the adoption story more – although I know it has been done well before me. I am planning to have quite a few stories follow on from each other as I get to writing them.

RHMichaud – I was pleased with how a couple of the scenes panned out. I haven't done too many fight scenes between Lucas and Bridger yet – so this was new ground in a way. More on the way for you to read.

Dani - Thanks for reviewing – hope you will keep reading – there is a bit more to come yet.

starbuck2008 – unfortunately you will have to wait a little longer for the make-up scenes – there was a couple of definite scenes I wanted to write coming up after this chapter that go a little way to show how hurt and upset Lucas was with the trust issue. I do plan to do something. Thank you for reading.

mirage24 – never too late to become a fan of this show. I haven't watched any episodes for a long time – most of my scenes and stories are written from vague memories and lines that I remember. I hope you continue to read and enjoy.

T – Updating – but there won't be any making up just yet – lots of angst, hurt and concern in this chapter. I hope you keep reading and thank you for your review.

Thank you to everyone who read my story – whether they reviewed or not. The reviews are my inspiration and make me write more.

And now on with the chapter….

Painfully, the teenager stood up, trying to think quickly of how to get out of this mess. His feet were still bleeding and sticking slightly to the polished wooden floor.

Lucas was startled by the noise and found himself caught with no where to go as a shot was fired at the lock on the door by his kidnapper.

There was no where to go as the broken door began to swing open and he could see the barrel of a pistol poking through…..

whilst Lucas was anxiously watching the door open:

The man swore when he could feel resistance on the other side of the door. Something fairly solid too, as he rammed his shoulder into the door. It would take five

such attempts to get the door open far enough to enter the room.

Wallis burst through the door expecting to find the teenager on the other side, crouching behind the desk, but what he was met with was an empty room. The man

lowered the barrel of his weapon momentarily, but his senses were still on high alert. It wasn't as if the kid could go anywhere else…could he?

This was supposed to be an easy job, no complications. Now suddenly it was going all to hell. Should have known it would go foul with some nutzo broad at the helm!

"Come out, come out wherever you are," Wallis sing-songed, thinking that the kid would be high on fear and liable to give himself away soon enough. He loosened his grip on the handle of his gun, his hand still stinging.

Walking a few more paces into the room, he fixed his gaze upon the floor and saw a number of bloody footprints. They started over near the couch and followed

a distinct line to behind the desk, just like he predicted.

Hoping the catch the kid looking more towards the door, Wallis stepped behind the desk, intending to startle the teenager and end all this foolhardy behavior. He could see from the amount of blood on the floor that he must be hurting and more than willing to give himself up to get treatment.

Looking behind the desk though, the kid wasn't anywhere to be seen. Just more bloody footprints around.

Damn, I thought he would be behind here. Ain't too many places in here for you to hide little rat.

"Okay kid, I have had just about enough, now come out of your hiding place and maybe I will go easy on you," he taunted cautiously, knowing that Bruno had been caught off-guard upstairs and whacked a number of times in order for the boy to gain his initial escape.

"You will have to do better than that…." came a muffled voice, a grin appearing on the gunman's face at the thought of catching his intended prey.

Bingo! He thought the kid might hold out a bit longer before revealing himself.

"Now don't be like that kid, come on out and let's make a deal," Wallis offered, slowly following the remaining footprints to a storage closet situated off to the side of the room. The kid must be inside. The door was solid wood with a slated front. There was no light coming from inside.

A few moments earlier:

Lucas saw the barrel of the gun protrude through the opening door. There wasn't much time. Both feet were protesting loudly as he quickly pulled a chair from over near the desk, and jammed the top of it under the doorknob. He knew it wouldn't hold long, and as if to answer that thought, a loud thud from the other side of the door startled him.

The guy with the gun was still trying to get in. He had to hide. Looking down at the floor at his feet, he could see the smeared bloody footprints. He had not had time to wrap anything around either one of them yet. His right foot bleeding the most. An idea struck him…..risky, but it might be enough to throw Mr "Gun-in-hand-ramming-the-door" off long enough to escape the room.

Looking down at the footprints, with the few seconds he had spare, he mapped out a few deliberate ones, leading from the office desk, away from it and to a storage closet. A few prints were beginning to smear into each other and mar the trail he paced out. He shuffled as quickly as he could to conceal himself as best he could.

He thought he had been spotted in the last moment, when Wallis burst through the door. Now to see if this guy was as gullible as the one upstairs guarding his prison room.

"Come out, come out wherever you are."

Sure I will…not! Lucas thought, keeping as quiet as possible, but feeling the adrenaline in him running high, he just wanted to get out of there.

The teenager saw the man creeping up behind the desk, expecting him to be there. He had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to stop making any noise at the pain coming from his feet.

The guy wasn't following the script so to speak, and Lucas needed him to move nearer to the closet before he could spring the trap he had in mind. Knowing that he could be possibly giving his hiding place way, he threw a half-hearted taunt out there.

"You will have to do better than that…."

Lucas pulled back into his hiding position a little more, as the guy seemed to take the bait and focus his attention and the gun barrel on the slate wooden door of the closet. Now was not the time to be trying out his new stand-up routine of clever one-liners. He was sure the man was going to turn around and realize this was all a very bad setup.

"Now don't be like that kid, come on out and let's make a deal."

Back to present time:

To the teenager's surprise, Wallis walked up to the door, testing if the handle turned. A short "click" signaled that the door was unlocked, and he pulled it towards him, "Come on out of there kid," the man snarled. The small room was completely dark, and Frank couldn't see the boy at all.

Fumbling for a moment, with the gun in one hand, Frank released the door knob and opened the closet door a little further, reaching up with his free hand and feeling around for any sign of a light switch.

This was the only chance he was going to get, Lucas told himself, as he rushed at the guy while his back was turned, and gave him a hard shove towards the back of the closet.

"What the….." escaped his mouth in surprise. The next sensation Frank felt was a punch of some sort to his back and being propelled forward into the darkened small space, landing on all fours and losing his grip on the gun he had been holding.

Lucas had been hoping that he might have been able to knock the gun out of the man's hand before he was all the way into the closet, but that was not to be the case. He could only take a small amount of relief in the fact that the man had fallen down partially, giving him time to scurry and shut the door. He quickly realized his error of judgment, noticing that the lock on the door the inside. The gun could be heard a moment earlier making a distinct cluttering noise on the hard floor in the inside of the closet.

"You little punk," Frank shouted out, scrambling to his feet in the room, feeling around and trying to find his gun. With the door closed, it was pitch black and he couldn't see a thing, and he still didn't know where the damn light switch was.

Lucas's feet were protesting loudly as he quickly got one of the visitor's chairs on the opposite side of the desk, shoving the back of it up and under the door knob to prevent it turning. Just in time too, as Frank twisted the knob not a second later, rattling it and banging on the door in frustration. The door wasn't even locked, and here he was pussy-footing around with some damn kid in the dark.

"You let me out of here right now…." Frank growled, adding a few explicit expletives.

Lucas took a moment to pause and marvel that such a stupid and obvious stunt had actually worked. On any other day, his boat would have been sunk, but he allowed himself a brief smile that a half-baked idea was keeping him separated from a guy who by now wanted to do him serious hurt and the wrong end of a gun.

"This door is going to stop me kid, it ain't even locked from out there," the man threatened, still trying to find the light switch. But the chair was creating enough resistance for prevent him from escaping for now.

Lucas knew that time was not on his side, and even if they didn't hear the guy yelling from inside the closet, no doubt others would be looking for him soon enough, including Stark herself. Whilst he had lucked out in fooling the guy upstairs and escaping his prison, and now avoiding capture for a second time, he couldn't hang around here any longer.

"Tell you what," Lucas taunted briefly, as he headed for the door to the office, "You stay here, and I will go and get someone to help," the teenager's proposal dripping in sarcasm.

"Haha, you are funny, kid, you just wait, I am nearly out of here," the man shouted back.

Lucas peeked his head out of the office door, making sure the coast was clear for him to leave and that nobody was out in the corridor waiting to pounce. To his relief, all appeared quiet. Fortunately, he was able to turn the lock on the inside of his door before pulling it shut behind him, effectively locking the office. But for how long, he didn't want to wait and find out.

By now his feet were throbbing, and even going this short distance from inside the office to the corridor, was causing him to hobble along. Any attempt at trying to put full weight on his right foot, only sent sharp pains through the sole of his foot, no doubt from a few shards of glass that remained embedded in there. The movement had caused the bleeding to become noticeable again, and he could feel the sticky residue of footprints that he was leaving in the corridor, showing any would-be pursuer which direction he had gone in.

Lucas had taken the opposite way down this corridor, not really knowing where he was headed. His instincts telling him that he needed to be as far away from Stark as soon as possible. He was surprised, but thankful to find a vacant doorway. He didn't know where it led to, but didn't really have the option of heading back the way he had come.

A loud bang from behind, made him hurry through the new doorway, realizing that Frank had either let himself out of the closet with his gun, or there were others now headed his way as well. The teenager rubbed the hair out of his eyes and made himself pick up the pace, not daring to take the time to look back in case he was right.

Surprised that the door wasn't locked, Lucas twisted the handle, opening the door and found himself outside the house. The pitch blackness was in contrast to where he had just come from inside. He only dared his eyes a brief moment to adjust to the new surroundings and gain some kind of bearings. 'There was no map on this forced tour that he had been shown,' he thought sarcastically to himself.

In front of him was a narrow section of grassed lawn and concreted paths. He looked at which way he should go, and opted for the left, where there was a rather imposing and dark textured wall rather than panels of windows that were on the right hand side of the doorway. The minimalist look was never a good style, and the architect must have been kind of nut job.

With only having seen small sections of the house so far at any one time, the modern and extreme architecture drew his gaze. Lucas couldn't help but draw the conclusion that it suited the personality of the owner, Marilyn Stark. Cold and impersonal, dark and mysterious, all tags that could easily be applied to his blond kidnapper. Maybe she could get her own guest appearance on the latest cover of, "Home Décor of the Criminally Insane'.

So many thoughts were trying to break through in his mind and the pain barrier. About what had been transpiring between him and Bridger and Ben over the past few days. Some of it made sense, other parts were hazy. He remembered being held in front of Stark by her goons, and seeing Bridger's face on a monitor, but the drugs she had forced upon him were still having a residual confusing affect. Everything was just too jumbled up at the moment and his feet were killing him.

The teenager berated himself, knowing had to find somewhere to conceal himself away from Stark and her goons and keep himself safe. The events with Bridger and Ben were swirling around and threatening to descend upon him again, but he subconsciously pushed them to one side of his mind. Freedom was his newest goal and staying alive.

A loud rumble of thunder from overhead made him jump out of his skin, thinking he had been standing still for too long. The dark sky was heavy with moisture and there was a noticeable drop in temperature from being inside. The thin layer of clothing he wore noticing the chill in the air. There wasn't much shelter from the weather on this side of the house, and he felt the first spots of rain on his face as he made his way carefully along the wall, thinking that someone was going to spot him at any minute.

Approaching Stark's house from the waterway, to thwart Bridger and his rescue team further, the dark clouds that had threatened rain earlier, started to shed their heavy load. The rain light, but constant and hampering visibility considerably. Just what they didn't need at the moment when trying to keep a tail on Cooper.

Bridger had to wring his hands together and keep telling himself that the team was doing the best it could, under difficult circumstances. The biggest fear was that Cooper would realize that he was being followed, if he hadn't already done so. It wouldn't take long for word to reach Stark and her band, and Lucas could be placed in more jeopardy.

Nathan felt a warm comforting and encircle his and give a quick squeeze of understanding, he looked over at Kristen and silently thanked her for unspoken thoughts. They were all worried, and their focus now had to be on rescuing Lucas.

"Shouldn't be long now, Krieg," Commander Ford shouted, the rain droplets running down his face visible in the torch light from the Supply Officer. Jonathan signaling what information he could to the Captain in the order inflatable boat. He saw the nod of Bridger's head that he had seen the hand gestures, but communication between them was rudimentary at best whilst they were in separate craft and with the weather in the way.

Ben had turned his head at Ford's statement on their current position, but his face was devoid of emotion and the animation that the crew was used to seeing on a daily basis back aboard SeaQuest. Krieg prided himself on usually being able to turn the other cheek and not let a lot of things bother him. After what he had witnessed today, and when it came to messing with someone he claimed to be as close as family, this was a different type of feeling that he just couldn't seem to shake free from.

He kept seeing the monitors back on Bridger's island and how much torment both Lucas and the Captain were going through as a result of all this mess. Lucas had been ready to run away, before Stark had gotten her claws on him. And who knew what was happening to him now after seeing him drugged and forcibly held prisoner.

As they followed Cooper, he kept asking himself how he hadn't picked up on the internal problems with Lucas and how they had let a snake like Cooper manipulate him without noticing. He kept hearing the sneer in Cooper's voice as he admitted his part in the whole scheme and saw the smugness on his face at his boldness and brashness for the sake of money. He scowled again at seeing that smirk and promised that Cooper would pay for his misdeeds.

"Captain, it looks like he is altering course," Miguel shouted, trying to squint through the falling rain into the night sky.

Commander Ford's boat was turning slightly away from its current position, lurching more to the left-hand side of the waterway. So that is where Ortiz aimed the nose of the second craft as well. Although they had only been on the water a relatively short time, perhaps Cooper was unknowingly starting to lead them to his ultimate destination.

Cooper's craft had picked up speed, despite the rain, and Ford had to keep a sharp eye on him in front to make sure they didn't lose track on him. There was now a distinct curve to the waterway, and just for a second, the Commander thought he could see the outline of a structure in the distance.

Another two hundred metres travel, and Ford strongly signaled with his arm and pointing up ahead to the team, at what he thought he could see as a building. Cooper definitely deemed to be heading towards it. Although wanting to keep him in their sights, they had to be more cautious about their own approach, especially if they were nearing where Lucas was being held.

Stark had heard the same loud bangs that Lucas had some minutes earlier, and was now quickly to investigate. She found herself having to navigate the mess of glass in one hallway they had been in earlier, chasing the missing teenager.

Another noise coming from behind a door, and she purposefully walked towards it and went to turn the handle, only to find herself shoved roughly backwards as an angry and annoyed Frank Bruno emerged from within, with gun pointing towards her.

Not one to be intimidated though, Stark could already see from the frustration on the man's face that her plan to recapture Bridger's brat had been dented once more due to incompetence.

"Don't point that at me, Mr Bruno," she chastised icily. Her manner was polite, but her features scowling in disgust, "I take it you let him get away again?"

"Kid outsmarted me is all," Frank shot back, see in the woman's eyes, contempt and only brief acknowledgement of his presence. As is he was something on her shoe she had just stepped on and was preparing to brush off.

"Now that I can certainly believe," Stark taunted, casually talking a step towards the room. "You are the one with the gun are you not, Mr Bruno?"

"You didn't want me to shoot him," Frank snarled back, "And I already got my hands all tore up from that glass. You told me you wanted him alive," he reminded her, setting as much of the blame as he could on her for the boy's disappearance.

"That kid is worth a lot of money," Stark pointed out, "And I aim to collect." She seemed to take an interest in the bloody marks on the floor, "These don't appear to have come from your hands."

"Naw, they were here when the kid was in here, I thought he was hiding in the closet," he blurted out aloud and mentally kicking himself for the slip up on how the kid had gotten away, "seems he has a few cuts as well."

"Could work in our favour, now all we have to do is find him," Stark surmised, a thin smile appearing on her face at the thought of Bridger's brat sporting a few scars that she had not anticipated.

"No way, lady, not me, I am out," Bruno declared, preparing to leave the house.

"You and I had a deal, did we not?" Stark questioned, knowing that she had yet to pay any of the 'help' she had acquired.

"Not this, you can take your fruit loop crusade and shove it, I don't need the aggravation. You still owe me too."

"Fine then, go then, get out I don't need you or that other boob upstairs. The brat managed to outsmart the both of you, and he is just a punk kid."

Bruno was walking towards the front of the house, muttering about broads and how he ever got mixed up in situations like this, noting that his hands were still stinging like crap from the glass door. It might be better if he disappeared from the area for a while, especially if the kid did turn up somewhere and was able to give any kind of description of his kidnappers.

Stark was talking to herself about hiring incompetent staff as she walked into the living room area of the house, wondering how to find the kid. She knew she didn't have much time and Bridger would probably be only a few hours away at the most.

She walked over to a cabinet and withdrew a canvas bag from the drawer, revealing inside, a number of vials and syringes. It was evident that she was going to have to resort to drugging the kid to sleep again just to keep him put. With Bruno looking after his own hide and gone, she wouldn't have the muscle to hold him down like she did earlier, but with the evidence that he was at least injured in some way, perhaps she would get lucky.

Just as she was putting a plan of action together, a set of double doors burst open, and Robert Cooper walked into the room, his boots dripping wet and his trousers covered in mud and grass stains.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Stark barked, knowing that it couldn't be a good sign. "Are you sure you were not followed?"

"You still owe me, Stark, I want full payment. And I expect a little bonus for the crap I have had to go through today for you," Cooper shouted, grabbing a glass from the liquor cabinet and pouring a double shot. The jacket he was wearing also wet from the rain outside. "No, I was careful."

"How careful? What had been going on?" Stark demanded, closing the door and looking outside. As if she didn't already have enough on her plate in the last half an hour.

"Bridger and Ford caught up with me back on SeaQuest, threw me in the brig for a few hours."

She knew Nathan Bridger all too well and knew that if the man even suspected someone like Cooper of looking at the kid wrong, the Captain would not have let him leave the submarine. "In the brig….Stark started to say, and then realized what his admission of being in custody meant, "Oh, God, everything is falling apart," she said angrily.

Cooper looked a little confused at first, thinking that Stark was usually more composed and in control, not wanting to elaborate on just how much of his guts he had already spilled, he gave the simplest explanation for his ease of escape from SeaQuest. "Bridger and I did a deal."

"Did a deal?" Stark parroted, her eyes narrowing and her anger growing. Cooper saw the change in her demeanor and took a brief step backwards, wary of her explosive temper.

"You idiot moron," she exploded, "Bridger is going to be following you." The few hours that she thought she might have before the SeaQuest crew stormed the place may now be in jeopardy. And that is if she was lucky it was only Bridger and his band coming. The full details of his stupidity would have to wait until later.

"Don't worry, so long as we have the kid….." Cooper began to say, and before the words had finished leaving his tongue, he now knew why she was panicking.

"He got out?" more of a statement rather than a question to her. Emotions were running high.

"He was drugged and out of it for a while, but somehow got out of the room upstairs, and led us on a merry chase around the house for the past hour or so. Bruno was supposed to recapture him, but failed and has just left when you walked in. So at the moment, the little brat is still roaming around here, or hiding somewhere."

"Just great!" he droned, thinking that the kid would be trussed up and on ice by.

Cooper was beginning to think that Stark's little vendetta to extract personal revenge on Captain Bridger was getting in the way of her ability to treat this as it should be…. a financial business transaction. Only in this case, they were dealing in human cargo, not the ordinary illegal contraband.

"Calm down, he hasn't been missing long, and it isn't as if he can go anywhere from this stinking mound of dirt," Stark reminded him. He doesn't know the layout of the house, because he was heading down from the roof when Frank and I tried to grab him a short time ago.

"He is injured, but now it is up to you to find him and hold onto him," Stark said, setting her attention back to the canvas bag and its contents.

"Injured… how bad?" The last time he had spotted the kid, he was face down in the alley way behind the dumpster.

"No idea, cut his feet on some glass but not sure how bad," Stark replied without looking up from her task.

"What have you got there?" Cooper queried, putting the empty glass on the cabinet, and feeling the warm of the liquor beginning to warm his insides. He wanted to pour another, but it looked like he had more cleaning up to do yet.

Stark opened a drawer lower down on the cabinet, this one much deeper in size. From here she withdrew a long black case, opening it and showing a rifle of some sort inside.

Cooper watched as Stark used precision and skilled accuracy to put the pieces of the weapon together. He was about to open his mouth about using such brutal force on the kid, when he saw that this was a slightly modified rifle.

"A tranquiliser?" Cooper queried, seeing the altered barrel that was meant to have a syringe loaded into it rather than a bullet. The idea of hunting down the kid with something like this quickly began to take hold in his imagination. Bridger's pet had always been a thorn in his side aboard SeaQuest. This could be fun.

"He had a fairly substantial dose last time, and got away. This time, I want to make sure," she asserted, holding a syringe that was full of a translucent dark green liquid. "Double this time, but it won't kill him just yet."

Stark finished loading the syringe and rifle, and held it out towards Cooper, a smug gleam in her eye, as she saw that such a suggestion was becoming a temptation he couldn't refuse. "Not his face, and don't miss. Make sure you bring him here to me when you have him."

"Done," Cooper promised. He had wanted to quit altogether when he left SeaQuest, get his money and run so to speak. But one last little job like this and then he was good to go.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Lucas," Cooper taunted as he walked away in the opposite direction, rifle ready in hand and finger on the trigger.

Hearing what he thought was a noise from behind, Lucas turned to look behind, startled, trying to peer into the darkness and falling rain at any impending threat. The teenager's slow progress once reaching outside had been reduced further to an odd fumbling hobble, with the wet ground causing pain to his injured feet.

Thoughts of escaping had kept his mind on alert, peering through the black night and constantly wiping the water from his face to get a clearer view. The rain had been light to start off with, but now that he took more notice, it was beginning to tumble down, the temperature of the air outside dropping in one spot, but feeling heavier and denser in another. The breeze was picking up speed and blow through his sodden clothes, causing him to shiver slightly.

There was no lighting on the outside of Stark's imposing fortress dash holiday home come retreat to keep unsuspecting prisoners.

The storm might have been a welcome distraction from the mayhem that he had just left if he had felt safe, but he didn't. Knowing that Stark and her entourage could be lurking anywhere, waiting and ready to pounce. His feet were screaming their displeasure at any attempt he might have had at running or even continuing his current path at more than normal walk speed.

Now that he was outside, he had to work out how to get away from Stark's place. Anywhere would be a better choice right now. Even Bridger's island home, and that renewed thought brought up emotions all of their own that he fought to suppress back down again. Definitely no time to dwell on that batch of thorns.

The teenager was constantly looking upwards, not at the stormy sky, but for any signs of security cameras along the outside of the structure. Stark knew enough about technology and deemed herself important enough to have such devices, but was shrewd enough of an operator to not necessarily have them in plain sight to pinpoint.

Her tactics were usually ones of deception, which led him to believe any cameras could be disguised or camouflaged in some way. The rainfall made it almost impossible to spot any of them. Stark could be watching him right now and know exactly where he was, ready to thwart his attempts to get away. He was under no illusion of what might lay in store for him should she recapture him. Being drugged unconscious and shoved in a guarded room wasn't going to be her first choice.

This side of the building had narrowed quite a bit since he had started in this direction, and the surface underfoot had gone from wet grass to concrete. There must be gravel too as his feet hit a patch of small sharp little stones and he gritted his teeth as he navigated along with is left arm extended out in front of him to feel for any unforeseen obstacle. But from what he was walking on, the pathway was beginning to taper off up head, and he couldn't tell if this was a good or bad thing for the moment. His stomach muscles were balled into knots of anxiety.

A flash of light in the sky caused Lucas to stop his progress and gasp at what he saw ahead. An exterior light high up on the corner of the eave shone a little more light from overhead. If he moved more than 2 feet away from the side of the building, he would fall down a concrete embankment that sloped downwards. He leaned forward to try and see how far it went, but was cautious about getting too closer to the edge. There was a small bricked curb present, but it would not stop any sudden decent down the hardened grey gradient should one lose their footing.

Lucas turned around, the urge that he was being followed multiplying tenfold.

"Whose there…"

At first only his own voiced drowned out by the noise of the storm and rain. Wiping the water from his face yet again, he turned to face forward again, to be confronted by the silhouette of a man standing a short distance away, the shape of a weapon unmistakable.

"Won't do you any good to run this time, Lucas"

The teenager went to take a few steps backwards, intending to take flight, but stumbling awkwardly at the sudden change in direction. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it for a minute. The words were muffled by the sound of thunder and blown away by the wind before he could hear them properly.

Cooper couldn't wipe the smirk of satisfaction from his face as he stood in front of the sodden teenager. His hair hanging limply over his forehead, and his gait unsteady as he backed away. He announced his intentions further by shifting the rifle against his shoulder, and grinning when he saw the wide-eyed expression on the boy's face.

As Bridger and Ford's rescue teams got closer to the large mound of rock Cooper had headed towards, they severed power to the small motors and drifted closer to the rocky edge using oars as quietly as possibly.

Looking up at the house like structure that stood higher up, Bridger could definitely believe that this is where someone like Marilyn called home. It was with relief that Nathan applauded the thought about her possible hideout being surrounded by water. There was no doubt in his mind that Lucas was being kept against his will there.

Bridger could see the real estate brochure for such a place now, 'Waterfront views boasting a modern structure with functionality and displaying extravagance at an affordable price for any would be assassin and saboteur.'

Kristin saw the half laugh from Bridger but didn't necessarily understand what was behind it. She knew that he was focused on a single task at the moment, and that the man wouldn't be dissuaded from it until Lucas was found and safe.

Keeping as low as possible alongside the inflatable boats, and loading the equipment onto their backs, Ford and the small band of crew members gathered together to discuss the next steps of their mission. They had to get this right the first time, and their friend's life was at stake.

"How do you want to do this, Captain?" Jonathan addressed Bridger, the whites of his eyes standing out against the darkness of his skin and the black clothing that they had all donned beforehand. The cover of darkness was one plus they had to try and avoid alerting Stark too early to their presence, but the rain and storm overheard was not making their efforts any easier. The rain was continuing to fall and the thunder was coming in loud rolls at various intervals.

"We need to keep together in two tight knit groups," Nathan said, using a small pen flash light to direct some light onto his hands and the group as they whispered their plan of attack. "You take the Lieutenant here and Kristin and make your way up the left side, and O'Neill, Ortiz and I will go right."

"Remember this is a rescue mission, finding Lucas is the objective, but don't get yourselves in the way of Stark or any of her gorillas in the process. She won't be asking questions first and we are pretty much blind to how many might be in there with her and what fire power they all have until we get there," the Captain emphasized.

"Move towards the back of the place as quickly as quietly as possible, chances are wherever she is keeping Lucas, it won't be where anybody can see him easily."

"Radio silent unless it is absolutely necessary and if it all goes pear shaped, protect yourselves and your team mates becomes the priority."

"Everyone understand?"

"Yes, Sir," came from four of them, and Kristin nodded her head to acknowledge that she had listened well enough.

Bridger and his team waited until Ford, and Krieg started out, with Kristin safely wedged between them, and then gave the single for Tim and Miguel to follow him.

The area directly at the waterline was rocky and treacherous, sloping upwards towards a grassy plateau. The gradient of the slope had all in both teams stretching and wincing a little at the cramping in their muscles as they reached the top. The rocks had been slippery and wet, and Tim wasn't sure that he hadn't hurt his wrist as he stumbled in one particular spot. Rubbing at it and assessing it, he made a mental note to get Doctor Westphalen to check it after they had rescued Lucas.

Ford's team had already moved away from the grassy area and headed towards the right as instructed, by the time Bridger's started towards the more darker left side of the building. The closer they got, the more imposing it became with the dark grey walls and glass frontage.

Kristen signaled to Jonathan as she looked over and saw a helicopter pad quite some distance away from the house. The helicopter was in place, and it looked like the one that the doctor and Krieg had witnessed on the monitors back at Bridger's home, transporting a struggling Lucas away with his captors. There didn't appear to be any guard posted near it at present.

Ford was worried about all the glass windows at the front of the house, that he and his team would be spotted. Like Lucas, he had no idea of knowing if there were any security cameras, but knowing her leadership capabilities, knew that she would be somehow trying to monitor everything.

Krieg looked back at Kristin who was beginning to fall behind the two men, and stifled back a laugh at the sight of the red soaked tendrils that were plastered to her face along with the annoyed scowl. They were all getting wet and cold, but it was clear that the good natured doctor was not in a forgiving mood and ready to kick something… hard. He quickly turned forward again at seeing her spot his smile at her appearance. She briefly let one of her own show once he had refocused on their task.

On the other side of the building, Bridger was thinking his little trio was going to have to backtrack some and follow Ford's party instead. The left hand side of the building was just too dark to see, and they kept their flash lights off for now, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves just yet.

A quick diversion of 20 or so metres off their present course, saw Miguel and O'Neill following Bridger's lead into a part of the house that was more sheltered from the front windows. Their wasn't very much light, but the second storey gave them a little protection from the falling rain. Giving a hand signal to pause their current position, Bridger carefully leaned around the wall partition he was hiding behind. He could see light coming from the front windows of the house.

Just as he prepared to duck back again, he saw a familiar blond head. Marilyn Stark…

Squinting, it took a few minutes for Lucas to recognize the man's face, and the confusion he threw back towards was evident, "W-What the hell are you doing here?" last seeing the man in question aboard the SeaQuest when they had docked more than a day ago.

The puzzle pieces still hadn't fallen into place yet without him knowing about Cooper's connection to Marilyn Stark, and how the man now came to be on her property.

Cooper's face quickly morphed from a smirk into a sneer of utter contempt and loathing. The teenager had never guessed that he would openly show his aggression and threaten his life. Both of them were soaked to the skin and still standing in the rain, but for some reason Lucas found his limbs unco-operative and not listening to his silent demands to move.

Lucas knew that they had not been on the best terms, knowing that the man was preventing from talking too loud or doing anything out in the open for fear of the Captain's wrath. Up until now it had been Bridger's presences that stayed the man. But he swallowed the lump forming at the top of his throat as they now stood only a short distance apart and with Cooper at a clear advantage brandishing the rifle menacingly in his direction.

"If you come with me now, perhaps we can prevent this from becoming troublesome," Cooper tried to persuade.

Lucas had only managed to hear half of the sentence, but was genuinely surprised and scared at the man's continually changing demeanor. Cooper had gone from someone saw himself as Bridger's protected pet or star pupil. A rich brat who got all the special treatment and never had to lift a finger to do anything aboard SeaQuest.

"I am not going anywhere with you," answering the words he did hear with as much defiance as he could whilst standing out in a storm shivering. He cautiously took another step backwards, glancing to his right, thinking he might be able to dart off in a different direction and throw Cooper off for a second or so.

Taking a huge risk, and psyching himself mentally, Lucas went to dive to his right, but misjudged the distance, and gave a startled yelp of surprise as he saw Cooper move all too quickly towards him with a massive shoulder charge.

The resulting clashing, caused Lucas to lose his footing on the wet concrete and his right calf fall against the bricked curb. He reached out both arms in an attempt to stop falling further, but the jarred landing on his calf sent shooting pain down his leg and he automatically grasped at it in pain. His precarious balance was upset further, and he had to scramble to hold onto a curb brick to prevent himself from tumbling down the steep concrete embankment.

In amidst the chaos, Cooper cursed out loud as the contact with the kid caused him to lose his grip on the rifle. It landed with a wet clattering sound near his feet, until he quickly picked it up again, roughly flicking off the water. He could see the kid was trying to dart around him and try to avoid him all in the same unrehearsed movement.

The teenager's knuckles were scraped and bleeding from coming into contact with the rough brickwork. His clothes clumping together in untidy folds.

"You really should not have done that, Lucas," Cooper sneered, his anger and frustration at being soaking wet clearly showing towards the teenager.

"You don't have to do this," Lucas pleaded, his voice sounding strained even to his own ears.

With the teenager laying only a few feet away, and at an severe disadvantage, he malice only grew stronger. Cooper held the rifle up, his finger on the trigger, "Oh, but I do…."

Jonathan Ford had seen an opportunity to enter the building through a side door, hoping to catch Stark by surprise. He didn't know that the second small rescue team, lead by the Captain, was close by the front, and ready to make an entrance of their own.

Ford relayed a brief plan of what he planned, Krieg a little dubious about just walking in, but ready to carry out any instructions.

"Hold it right where you are, Stark," the dark-skinned Commander ordered as he entered the spacious first floor, keeping his weapon trained on her the whole time. By putting his training into practice, he could sense where his back up of Krieg and Westphalen were. Krieg carrying his own weapon, but the doctor was not.

"Knock, knock, the good guys are here," Krieg announced with a comedic voice, causing his team mates to roll their eyes slightly as his unorthodox approach.

His brief glance towards Ford saying what was unspoken between then, 'What, like you had a better way of saying it'

'Let's keep this professional, Lieutenant' was glared back in his direction.

Marilyn Stark turned at her name being called, but it was obvious that she had been expecting them, "Well, well, well… to what do I owe this intrusion?"

"Don't play games, Stark," Ford warned, "Where is Lucas?"

Before any response was given, Bridger and his party entered through the front door, and now gave backup numbers to the other team.

Bridger walked over as closely as he dared, wary too of any weapon she might be concealing. For the moment they needed her alive to tell them where Lucas was.

"My, my, my, a double surprise….and dripping all over my floor, tsk tsk," Stark laughed with a mixture of utter contempt and fake amusement in her voice.

It was clear to all in the room, that she was not afraid of them or their presence, and held her usual self-confident, defiant pose when facing them. She had an empty glass in one hand and showed no outwards signs of fear or panic.

"I am not playing games, Marilyn, what have you done with him. And I want to know now, damn it!" Bridger demanded forcibly.

"With who?" she began to taunt, "Oh you mean the brat…,that nice young man, you claim to love so much,"

Bridger went to take a step forwards, in threat at her blazé reply, but held his control as much as he could. Ford was keeping a close eye on Krieg and Doctor Westphalen, knowing that either of them were likely to grab a hold of her and knock the stuffing out of her. They couldn't afford to do that, even if that is how they all felt.

"You look a little tense, Nathan… perhaps you need a drink," she offered casually.

She knew that every second she delayed on the teenager's whereabouts, tore the Captain up more inside. She reveled in his emotional display and could see him starting to lose his self control. The great Nathan Bridger, made out to be a leader and negotiator and man of peace, but when push came to shove, and someone he cared about was in danger, he was like all the rest. Willing to do whatever it took to get them back. Just how far he was prepared to go, she was intent on finding out.

"Last time I saw the kid, Mr Cooper was going to find him and have a little personal chat with him. Despite our best efforts, he managed to escape our companyand somehow got outside."

"If you did anything else to hurt him…," Krieg began to get riled at the thought of what Lucas would have gone through to 'escape'.

Krieg and the Captain both exchanged worried glances, knowing that a meeting between the two could not be a good thing for Lucas.

A smirk from her confirmed their fears that Lucas had come across some trouble since they had seen him on the monitors. If she hadn't, somebody did.

"Commander, bind her hands. Ortiz and Mr O'Neill, you stay here with Doctor Westphalen. Krieg, you and Ford come with me to find Lucas."

"When we leave here, you two take a look upstairs and make sure she isn't keeping Lucas prisoner upstairs anywhere. You still have your radios on, use them if you find anything. We will do the same," Bridger ordered.

Ford lowered his weapon and used a black zip-tie to secure Stark's hands behind her back, making her walk towards a nearby sofa and take a seat until they could make further arrangements for custody. He handed his weapon to Kristin, who reluctantly took possession of it, knowing how to use it if it became absolutely necessary.

Marilyn looked towards the diminutive red-haired woman, "Are you certain you should have someone like her guarding me, Nathan?" Not much of a challenge by the look of it."

"I am soaking wet, tired, and cold," Kristin said in a low dangerous voice, "Park your butt on that chair and don't move!" daring Stark to say anything.

"I think the good doctor will do just fine, Captain," Krieg quipped with a smile on all their faces at the doctor's cool response. Not too many people who knew her would be stupid enough to take on an angry Kristin Westphalen, could be fun to watch.

"Come on, let's go," Bridger instructed, heading towards the front door he had entered, intent on finding Lucas.

Now that they were outside again, the rainfall had deceased a little, and the storm was beginning to show signs of ending. There were still a few distant rolls of thunder, but the bolt lightning had tapered off. A flicker of sheet lightning outlined the overhead cloud, but then settled again.

Captain Bridger was about to signal for the trio to split up into different directions to try and locate Lucas and Cooper, preferably the teenager first. But just then noise could be heard on the left hand side of the building.

The three men quickly turned and headed in that direction, noting that there was only a narrow corridor along that side of the building.

A few minutes earlier, whilst they had all been inside facing Marilyn Stark, Cooper had still been aiming his tranquilizer rifle at the teenager, ready to fire.

Lucas could see the sloping concrete underneath him, and knew that he had to make it back over the curb to stop himself from falling. He could see that Cooper was in no mood for small talk and he wasn't strong enough to take the man on in a physical contest.

Despite his scraped and bleeding knuckles, he used his right hand in an attempt to reach out and grab Cooper by the ankle, hoping to put him off balance for a second, and scramble back up the embankment. Just as he grabbed a hold of the man's trouser leg, he thought he heard his name being called.

He was shivering even harder from the cold, though the rain had slowed a little. The clothes he wore were still soggy and drenched, causing his grip on anything to be slippery at best.

After rounding the corner of the building, the three SeaQuest crew members could scarcely believe their luck at having found Lucas in such a short period of time. What they hadn't expected was to see a figure standing over Lucas holding a gun on him.

Ford could see the concrete embankment running along the side of the building, and could see that it appeared Lucas had fallen or been pushed into his current position. He had given his weapon to Doctor Westphalen inside, so was not able to stop the man from threatening teenager further that way.

Cooper started at the sound of the voices for a second, looking up and surprised himself to see members of SeaQuest barreling down on him. He didn't know how they had gotten here so fast, but he wasn't going to waste the opportunity while they were watching.

"Don't shoot," Bridger pleaded, as he tried to get to the gunman before he fired.

"Hold it right there, Cooper!" a running Ben Krieg shouted.

At hearing the voices of Krieg and the Captain, that made the fearful look on the kid's face even better to watch, and the horror as he realized that his friends wouldn't be able to stop him in time.

Without further warning, Cooper fired the syringe projectile, striking the kid on his left side flank, knowing he had hit his intended target upon hearing the strangulated gasp of pain and confusion.

Bridger tried to reach out and grab a hold of Lucas's arm as his grip on the concrete curb began to fail.

"Lucas reach out and grab a hold of my hand," Bridger said in a firm, but gentle voice as he felt to his knees on the wet ground and tried to help the striken teenager.

Lucas had heard the noise of the gun and felt something strike him. With confusion clearly evident on his face, he pulled at the spot where he felt the burning pain, but there was a numbness beginning to take over his limbs, and it fell limply out of his hand before he could see what it was.

The teenager looked upwards at someone calling his name, but his vision began to swim, and the faces that he thought he saw, merged together in a swirl of colours and sounds only. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't prevent himself beginning from sliding down the embankment.

Bridger thought he saw recognition and relief briefly in the teenager's eyes, before it was replaced with shock and pain. Lucas was then slipping and falling away from him, blooding blossoming from a wound, leaving a thin trail behind as he rapidly fell towards the bottom.

An open mouthed look of shock was the only expression on his face as Bridger watched Lucas lose consciousness, but his body continue to slide downward the embankment.

"Lucas!" Bridger shouted but unable to see how far it was to the bottom.

"Oh my God, Captain," was Commander Ford's response as he saw the teenager tumble down the slope, knowing that their friend desperately needed their help urgently.

"Pulling himself from his own shock and horror at what had happened to his young friend, "You sick 'Son of a Bitch' Krieg roared all at once.

Ben wasted no time in displaying his sense of outrage, barreling into Cooper and knocking him forcefully to the ground, and dislodging the rifle from his hand.

At the bottom of the concrete embankment, Lucas's body now lay slumped against the trunk of a tree. The side of his head leaning against the dark coloured bark, his eyes closed and his face slack. A leaf was stuck to a cheek on his pale face, pinched in pain and exhaustion.

The rain from overhead began to fall heavy once more.

To be continued…..

Author Notes:

Thank you for anybody who is still reading. Real life has been in the way for too long – but hopefully this year I can turn that around a little – and post more regularly.

I am excited about writing – though my efforts are not quite what I would like at the moment.

I hope you are still enjoying – there are many more stories planned, but I want to finish the ones that need to be first. A lot of the new ones will intertwine with each other or what I have already written.

The fight scene between Ben and Cooper is about to happen – I was going to have it in this – but it has changed a little from my original idea.

Stark is a fantastic character – but I don't think I have gotten into her head properly yet to make her work as well as I would like.

Jules