The End of Blame: Chapter 26

By nine o'clock pm, John realized he had spent much longer with 'the book' than he should have, and closed it.  The horrors he had read about were going to linger in his mind longer than he would ever approve of.  The most frightening thing was the ease with which this man, Dimitri Cholas, had agreed to "farm" young men for The Men of 21, and raise them, without hope of adoption to families, to be varying degrees of "slaves" to the organization.  Zeus Zelenko was one of those slaves.  And to John's horror, so was Michael Leona.  Leona had grown up in the orphanage as well, but from the start, was a bitter and malicious child, who was placed there at five years old by his abusive, albeit, frightened parents.  The plan for Zeus, from day one, was to be kept until he was an adult and then taken as a servant to the organization.  It was in the plan, long before his eighteenth birthday, that upon leaving, his mind would be wiped clean of any sense of belonging, and he would become a tool for the Men of 21, in whatever capacity suited them at the time.  Leona was different.  He was to be groomed as an assassin and torturer, and, time proved, had the temperament to do just that.

"Todd just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and with possibly the wrong smartass comment or two,"  John thought.  Todd's shooting in Ireland was only the start; his aggravation of Carlo Hesser following this was the end to the prelude of what was to come.  But, John thought, Zeus' fate was never based on Todd's involvement.  In fact, Zeus was planted in Todd's wake purposefully, as a way of tracking his whereabouts after leaving Ireland.  The emotional involvement Zeus developed was actually, according to the records, the thing that had Zeus "pulled" from the field and reconditioned, thereby removing him from Todd's life path.  At least originally, until almost ten years later, when Zeus was reconditioned again, and, consequently, his face changed, as he assumed the identity of Walker Laurence, and then, later, Todd Manning.

John forced himself to close the book.  Nine-thirty.  It was getting late.  If he brought the book to Todd, then, it might keep him up all hours of the night.  He wasn't sure if that was good or bad, though.  It also might give Todd some kind of relief and ease his nightmares, even if for one day.  Torn about this, but certain the man would eventually benefit from it, he jumped out of bed and got his shoes on.

John appeared at the door of Todd and Blair's family suite, and knocked.  Blair opened the door, and said, "Hi, John.  Sorry for throwing you out last night."

"I understand why you did it.  Did you guys sleep?"

"We did."

"That's what counts."

"Come in."  she stepped back from the door.

She lead him to the deck, where Todd was concentrating on the ocean.  He turned and greeted John, "Hey, McBain.  Don't worry, I don't have any candles or lighters handy."

John said, "Hey, Manning.  I'd loan you mine but I think you've had enough punishment for a lifetime.  Especially when you hear and read this."  He handed him the book, explaining what it was.

Todd sat down slowly with it in his hands, as if he had been handed gold.  John's voice reverberated in his mind; he was a member of the Men of 21.  Zeus was always part of the plan.  Todd looked to John, eyes wet with tears, "You mean it wasn't my fault that Zeus was chosen?"

"No, never was.  Zeus was marked from the day he was born.  He was taken from his mother, who you knew as Mayor Finn, and brought to the orphanage.  The instructions were to never let him be adopted or connect with people from the outside world.  Cholas was given large sums of money to assure this."

"That bastard."

John went on, "Zeus is happy, Todd.  He met his 'mother;' he has a family now.  He loves Tea, and she loves him.  He has a new child.  None of what he dealt with was ever your fault.  His life is going on.  He's recovering.  He's free."

A ragged sigh left Todd's body, and Blair, rushing to his side, sat near him and placed her head on his shoulder.  John watched her slender hand, rub across Todd's shoulders gently and curl around the other side of him.  Todd attempted to camouflage his use of his thumb to wipe away tears of relief.  John continued, "Zeus was 'farmed' to be their robot.  Seems Carlo told Finn that the baby died, and took him to Greece.  He already knew this place was a Men of 21 pin on the map.  It only became related to you when you accidentally got shot in Ireland and then mouthed off to the lowlife a few times."

"Pillow Papa.  I remember,"  he said.

"Yeah.  You humiliated him, a couple of times in public.  Not the way to go with that man."

"So that's it.  Just all happenstance."

"Just about, yeah."  John said.  "I'm going to leave you with that book, if you make me a promise."

"Sure, whatever you want."

"That you will go to bed when Blair says.  I think her idea about a routine is a good one.  It might help.  You have to promise, otherwise, she will call me, and I'll come and get it."

"I can promise that,"  he looked to Blair's face.  "She gets whatever she wants from me.  No complaints."

"I think you look more rested, Manning."

"The medication arrived.  He's taken two so far,"  Blair said.

"We, uh, had a good day.  We slept almost until noon."

"That's good."

"Oh he's well rested," she said, "We slept all afternoon, too."  Their eyes never left each other.

John suddenly felt very out of place.  "Well, then we have a deal?" He stood up and put out his hand.

Todd stood, took it, and shook it, saying, "Thank you, John.  You didn't have to go this extra step."

"I know that, but it was worth it to see your relief.  I didn't realize how much guilt you carried for this guy who took your life.  Now, you can end that blame.  It's not worth carrying more than you have to."  They began to walk back inside toward the door.

"Well, I did.  I feel a lot lighter for some reason, so, I thank you again.  You went out of your way for me."

"You're welcome."  He simply said, turning to the exit.  "Rest up."

The door closed after him with a familiar click, and Todd looked at Blair.  His expression was one of relief and pain at the same time, and she embraced him tightly.  To her, it was the same look he got on his face when lines of people had shown up to be tested as a donor for Starr, when she had aplastic anemia.  Almost that he could not believe any kindness from anyone, nor any good fortune could come to him.  And there it was.  John had proven that once again, Todd Manning was wrong.

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