Dance with the Devil: Chapter 70

Into the conservatory of Wyndamere stepped Dr. Ewen Keenan, lowering the gun he had just fired off into the air.  The eyes of everyone in the room, as well as those of John and Luke in the tunnel, were on him, offering a range of confused looks. 

It was in the midst of that distraction that Helena grabbed Tea..  She pulled out a knife and held it to the lawyers throat.  “Nobody takes one more step,” she ordered.

“We need to move in now,” John told Luke urgently.  In his ear, he heard Anna agree with him.  “On my count.”  In a few seconds, Luke, Anna and John joined the fracas.  “Hands up, all of you!  PCPD!”

“I don’t think you want me to hold up my hands, Detective,” Heather said.

“Hand over the baby, Heather,” Anna ordered, her arms outstretched. 

Heather looked back at Helena, but did as ordered.  Helena sneered at her accomplice but Allison only laughed.  “I told you, Mrs. Cassadine, that she would disappoint you.”

Two uniforms came in to cuff Heather and Allison, but there was still a standoff going on between John, Luke and Helena.  Victor had let Sam go, but she stayed in the room, her son in her arms.

“I would advice you all to not move or I will make certain that child never knows it’s mother,” Helena warned.  Then she turned to Victor.  “You broke our deal, Mr. Lord.  Well, you have your son.  But I very much doubt you will get your wife back.”

“Helena, there’s no way for you to wiggle out of this one,” Luke told her.  “Give up the jig and you may get out of this alive.”

“Listen to them, Mrs. Cassadine,” Ewen said in an even tone. 

“And who are in this little cabal?” Helena asked.

Ewen reach into his pocket and grabbed his wallet.  “World Security Bureau agent Ewen Keenan, under the orders of Chief Sean Donely.”

Anna’s ears perked up.  “I’m glad to hear that Sean’s been keeping up on this,” she said. 

Helena had to laugh.  “Well, the old WSB.  I thought it died out with the Cold War.”  She pushed the knife harder onto Tea’s throat.  “Now, I really must me going.  Mr. Lord, you have your son, but I shall be taking your wife.  And I am warning you, no one will leave here until I say so.  You can all be seen by my associates and they will tell me every move you make.  If anyone should try anything, I will spill her blood.”  She made her way past Luke, John and Victor, none of whom moved  for fear that Helena would go through with killing Tea.  The moment they were in the tunnel, the door closed and a lock could be heard catching.

Victor made a move to follow, but Luke held him back.  “Don’t do it, buddy.  I know this woman.  She’s definitely got this place wired,” he said as he point to a red light in a wall sconce.  A small camera was visible. 

Victor threw his arms away.  “I’m supposed to wait here and let her get away?”  At that, Luke nodded his head silently.

“What do you think her plan is,” John asked Anna.

It was Luke, again, who answered.  “Knowing her, there’s probably a yacht waiting for her down on the water.”

“Yes, when I arrived here, I saw an unfamiliar boat docked.  Just in case, I tagged it with a GSP marker,” Ewen said.

Anna turned to him.  “And you’ve been on this case all along?” she asked.

“Well, at least since I was treating her daughter, Irina.  I had hoped to use her to gain more access to Mrs. Cassadine, but that never happened with her killing the woman.”  Ewen turned his attention to Victor.  “But then, when Mr. Manning showed up in Port Charles, we suspected that his disappearance in 2003 was somehow tied to Helena, especially after it was revealed you had been given all your brother’s memories.”

Victor was still staring where Helena had escaped through, but noticed the all eyes were on him.  “What the hell do I have to do with all this?”

It was Luke who connected the dots.  “Memories, as is brainwashing?  Of course!”  He focused on Anna and McBain.  “Lucky was kidnapped years ago and when he got back to town, he had been brainwash too.  Had no memories of me, his mother, no one.  It was one of Helena’s little schemes.  She had faked his death in an explosion and wham-o, he comes back to town a completely different person.”

“Well, it was suspected that your son was a trial run.  The effects didn’t last, if I recall,” Ewen told them.  “But with Mr. Lord, he still believed it, even after he had been told the truth.  Irene Manning’s procedure was much more effective.”

“That’s how she knew,” Victor said, as he described his encounter with Helena in that very room.

Just then, an officer returned to the conservatory, holding Victor’s son.  He turned the baby over to Anna, who call Victor over.  “I know we’re essentially being held hostage here, but until we’re allowed to leave, I think there’s someone who you may like to meet.”

Victor took his son in his arms.  As he held him, he was overcome with another memory of meeting a child for the first time.  That time, it was in an attic, with merely one other person there.  But now, with others around him, he had the same strong feeling.  “Hey there.  I’m…I’m so happy to meet you.  I’m your daddy.”

A voice came over a speaker.  “You are now free to leave Wyndamere,” Helena’s disembodied voice told them.  “And, Mr. Lord, in case you think this is the end of this, guess again.”

That comment sent a shiver down Victor’s spine as he recalled the same words being spoken to him, his brother and his sister at Llanfair.

Stepping out into a hall, Anna began making calls, with Luke following her.  John came over to Victor, who was still holding his son.  “Maybe we should get him to the hospital,” the cop suggested.

“And what about Helena?  She still has my wife.”  Victor’s voice harden.

“Let’s let the authorities deal with it.  Right now, you should worry about your son,” John said.  “Besides, I don’t think you’ve seen the last of Helena Cassadine.”

Everyone made their way back to the mainland and John got Victor and his son to the hospital.  As he walked in, Viki saw him immediately.  Putting her hand to her mouth, she met her brother and nephew, but asked him, “Tea?”

“Cassadine got away with her and held us hostage to make her escape.  The cops got Heather and Allison, though,” he explained.  He came up to Nurse Johnson.  “Can I have a little help here?  My son’s been held prisoner since his birth.  I just want to make sure he’s okay.”  The nurse to Victor and Viki to a cubicle to wait for a doctor.  As they sat there, cooing over the baby, Victor asked,  “Any word on Todd?”

“He’s still unconscious.  I think the doctors are getting a little worried because it‘s longer than they had told us,” Viki admitted. 

A pediatrician came in and examined the boy.  There seemed to be nothing wrong and the brother and sister made their way to Todd’s room.  In the hallways just outside, Starr, Jack, Tina and Sarah saw them approach. 

“Is that?” Starr asked.  When Victor nodded, a wide grin broke out on her face.  Then she asked,  “Tea?”

“We couldn’t save her.  Helena grabbed her and they’re still at large.  We just had some test run on him, but the doctor said he looked all right.”  He handed the baby off to Starr.  “Keep an eye on him, I want to let Blair know.”

He opened the door and Blair looked up from the bed.  As he closed the door, they could both hear the whole family’s reaction to the newest member.  “You got him back?” Blair asked.

Victor nodded.  “Helena Cassadine still had Tea, but I was able to get the baby back.”  He walked up to the bedside.  Taking Todd’s hand, he said, “Come on, they whole family is going gaga over my kid, it’s about time you met him, considering you brought him into this world.”

No reaction was coming from the corporal form of Todd Manning.  But he stood their with Merrie, who told him, “It’s time for you to go back, Todd.  You have a nephew to meet.”

Todd looked at his sister, then back at his twin and the woman he loved.  “I’ll…I’ll miss you,” he said. 

She gave him a kiss on the cheek.  “I’ll always be there for you.  Tell that to the newest Lord too.  Tell him he has a guardian angel in his Aunt Merrie.”

Victor looked over at Blair and shrugged his shoulders.  Blair could tell he was ready to leave the room.  “Victor, just try one more time.  Please?”

Victor let out a sigh.  “Fine.”  This time, his voice harsher, he said,  “Hey, jackass.  I want you to meet my son, so…wake up already.”

Just then, Todd’s eyes opened and he worked to focus on the figures above his bed.  Blair’s hands went to her mouth and she gasped out loud, “Todd!”

“Yeah?” he asked through a dry mouth.  He first saw Victor.  “Guess you got payback, cause you certainty weren’t the first person I wanted to see when I woke up,” came his voice from under an oxygen mask.  Then his eyes shifted to Blair and he smiled.  “That’s what I wanted to see.”

Blair took his hand and kissed it as Victor moved towards the door.  He walked back out into the hall and took his son from Starr.  “I think you oughta go in there,” he told her and Jack.

Starr turned to look through the window and then, both she and her brother were in the room, on either side of their father.  Victor turned back to his sisters and saw they had tears in their eyes.  He understood.  Their family was almost all reunited.


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