Nora walked into her husband’s office. “Hey, I got your message. What’s up?”
“You’re not going to believe what I just heard. John just called. Blair Cramer’s son Sam was kidnapped a day ago.”
“That’s horrible. Blair must be devastated. But why are we just now hearing about it?”
“Because he was taken in Port Charles. There’s something else. You’ll never guess who took him. Come on, guess.”
Nora looked at Bo bewildered. “Don’t be silly. I haven’t the vaguest idea who would take Sam.” she paused, and then added sarcastically, “but I’m thinking it probably has to do with Todd Manning.”
Bo glanced at his wife. She still hadn’t gotten over losing in court against Todd Manning. She was convinced he deserved to be put away in jail where he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. After what he had just heard, his wife was in for a rude awakening. “You won’t let that go will you?”
“Bo, you know he was guilty. PTSD my foot. The man is a pathological liar.”
“No, he’s not, Nora.”
She was stunned. “Did you really just say that? What’s gotten into you? Of course, he’s a liar.”
Bo shook his head. “He didn’t lie about Victor, and he didn’t lie about the PTSD. You’d better sit down. I just had a very long talk with John McBain and what he had to tell me is going to change everything.”
Nora sat down looking skeptical. “I doubt John could have told you anything that would make me change my view of Todd Manning.”
“To start with, John told me Todd’s PTSD is very real. He witnessed it first hand. He also talked to Manning’s doctors in Port Charles after someone attempted to kill him. The diagnosis by Hallie’s witnesses were correct.”
“Wait a minute, go back. Someone attempted to kill Todd?”
“Yes, but you know Todd, he pulled through. A third attempt was made this afternoon. That too failed, this time, the police got the perpetrator.”
“So who is the guy? Some mobster that Todd made angry? I wonder what he’s done now?”
“Nora, that’s harsh. The only thing he’s done recently is to try and stay alive. I know you’ve never been able to forgive the man, but don’t you think it’s time to let it go? It’s been almost twenty years. Did you hear what I told you? The PTSD is real, the man was held and tortured for eight years, isn’t that punishment enough for you?” Bo was disappointed. Nora had a high sense of justice, except where Todd Manning was concerned.
Nora flinched when she heard the censure in Bo’s voice. She stopped and reconsidered everything Bo had just told her. Maybe she was being harsh, but something about Todd just set her teeth on edge. “I can’t Bo. Okay, I believe the man was tortured, but in my book, it doesn’t give you license to kill, and he still killed Victor.”
Bo looked down at his desk and frowned. He was still trying to process the second piece of information John had shared with him. “Umm, remember when I told you first off that Sam Manning was kidnapped? It’s not a ransom situation. Sam was taken by his father.”
For the second time in the space of minutes, Nora was speechless. She stared at Bo.
"Yes, Nora, his father. The same man Todd Manning was supposed to have killed, Victor Lord Jr. But there’s a twist. Victor is really Walker Laurence, also known as Walker Flynn.” Bo got up from behind his desk and got a glass of water for Nora. He handed it to her and continued. “I had the same reaction when John told me. Not only is he not dead, but he and Tomas Delgado have been working together this whole time. They set Manning up to take the fall. No one knows how they made him believe it, but John’s guessing it had something to do with his mother’s organization.”
Nora held up a hand, “Stop. One thing at a time. Victor’s not dead, but he’s also not Victor, he’s Walker Flynn? How is that possible? The DNA test said Todd and Victor were brothers.”
“I haven’t the foggiest, but we’ll know soon. The Feds are getting ready to strike at Flynn and get Sam. You should also know, that Manning and his family will probably be arriving soon. John told me they left Port Charles a couple of hours ago. Oh, and that shooter who tried to take out Todd. It was Tomas. He’s dead.”
Nora had been taking a drink of water, but she almost choked on Bo’s last words. She began coughing, and Bo patted her back. “Red, are you okay?”
She got her coughing under control, “Heck no, I’m not okay, I feel like I walked into an episode of the Twilight Zone. Suddenly Todd Manning is the innocent, and his victims are the villains. You have got to be kidding me.”
At that moment, there was a commotion in the squad room. Bo opened his blinds and saw Todd and his family arguing with Oliver Fish. He looked back at his wife. “I understand how you feel, but now it’s time for me to do my job. Would you do me a favor? Call Tea and ask her to come down to the station. I don’t want to tell her about Tomas over the phone.” Nora nodded, and Bo exited his office to face the Mannings.
****
Sam heard his father coming down the hall and quickly closed the computer. He just made it back to the bed where his Spiderman toys were spread out when his father opened the door.
“Sam, I’ve finished my business and thought you might like to have a look around the property with me and then take in a swim. We have our very own indoor pool down in the lower level of this house.”
He looked up from his toys. “A real pool inside? Wow! Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Can I please call Mom? She’s going to be worried. If I talk to her, I can let her know I’m okay and find out how Grandma Addie is.”
Walker frowned, and he saw Sam shrink back away from him a little bit. It brought him up short. Damn it, the kid was beginning to get comfortable. What can it hurt? Everything is going as planned. Let him make the call. There’s nothing Blair can do. He smiled, and Sam relaxed. “Sure, but you have to do something for me. You can tell her you’re okay and ask about Addie, but don’t tell her you’re with me. If you promise that, we’ll do it.”
“I promise.” Sam was excited.
“Fine. We’ll take our walk and have a swim and then you can call your mom. Let’s go.”
Sam hopped off the bed and followed his dad out of the room. He was going to get to call his mom soon. Everything was going to be all right.
****
Tea sat alone in the nursery. She hugged the small stuffed bear in her arms and started to sing a lullaby but stopped after a few lines, screaming in anguish. “You son of a bitch! You left me without so much as a goodbye. He died! Our baby died, and you couldn’t have cared less.” She angrily threw the bear to the ground and walked back into the bedroom she had shared with Victor. Heading straight to the closet, she found the few remaining clothes, she had kept as a reminder of her husband, and began ripping them to shreds. “You lied to me! You let me believe you loved me and all the time you were just playing me for a fool!” She collapsed to the floor crying and saw the small gun lying on the floor of the closet. She began to laugh as she picked up the gun and saw that it was a nine-millimeter exactly like the one that had supposedly been used to kill Victor. Her laughter started quietly and then she found she couldn’t stop. The sound echoed through the empty house.
She sat there fondling the gun and thinking about how alone she really was. Right before Starr’s call, she had had a full-blown argument with Dani.
Dani had been cleaning and starting to pack up the baby belongings in an effort to get them out of her mother’s sight. Tea had walked in, she suddenly felt her heartbeat go out of sync. She shouldn’t be in here, this is his room.
“What are you doing? Stop it! Stop it this instant! My Baby! You’re throwing my baby away!”
Dani stopped what she was doing immediately and eyed her mother warily. “Mom, calm down. I’m not throwing away the baby. I just thought I’d put some of this stuff away so you wouldn’t have to be reminded of the loss.”
In her warped reality, Tea suddenly saw Dani as an interloper. “You’re lying! You’re jealous of him. You know he has a special place in my heart. A place you never could! I should have left you with your father. It was a mistake to bring you into my life.”
Stunned, Dani asked. “What do you mean? Todd is my father, how could you leave me with him?”
Tea laughed. “Todd isn’t your father any more than Ross Rayburn was. You’re the product of a one-night stand I had with my cousin’s husband. I left you with him, and when Ross and I were in Tahiti, I demanded that he send you to me. Ross loved you like a daughter and things were fine until he started taking out his frustrations on me. That’s when I made up my mind to find Todd. Don‘t you understand? I faked the DNA test.” Even as she said it, she saw the comprehension and horror on Dani’s face and realized she had said too much. Dani turned and walked to her room, packed a bag, and left without saying anything more to her.
Cradling the gun, Tea turned it towards her heart. Do it. You’ve lost your daughter and your son. Her hand shook as she put her finger on the trigger. Wait, you still have Tomas. He’ll help you get through this. You can get Dani back. What did Blair say? Victor or Walker has Sam, and the Feds are getting ready to close in on him. Don’t let him know he almost drove you to kill yourself. You owe him. Face him and let him know what he really threw away. Just then she was startled from her reverie by the phone. She got off the floor and put the gun in her pocket and answered it.
“Hello. Yes, all right, Nora. I’ll come down to the station.” She hung up, the gun was forgotten. She moved as in a fog, grabbed her purse, and walked out of the door.
****
The Feds surrounded the property, and they were slowly making their way to the main house. John and Anna were leading the main group, and as they neared the house, they saw Walker and Sam re-enter it. There were a number of guards milling about. Anna made a decision.
“Listen up. The boy is with his father. We’re going to do this slowly. No mistakes. John, you take half the group and silence the guards. The rest of us will locate the alarms and turn them off. When all of that is secure, we’ll enter the house. Thanks to the team here in Philadelphia, we have a layout of the house. Once inside, we’ll split up again and search for the boy.”
John took his men and proceeded to fan out around the house. All the men were trained in silent tactics. On John’s signal, they took out the guards one by one and left them covered by a few men. Then they joined Anna back at the front entrance.
John looked around. “I don’t trust Flynn. The front and back are covered, but something tells me there’s another way in and out of here. Give me ten minutes to search the outside before entering.” Anna nodded.
Inside the house, Sam and Walker were enjoying their swim. Walker was in a great mood. Sam had gotten a big kick out of walking the grounds with his dad and had happily greeted the men stationed around the house. Walker had explained that they were a precaution because he was afraid someone might try to harm him again. After some roughhousing, in the pool, Walker decided he had had enough. He climbed out of the pool and pulled a t-shirt over his head. “Sam, that’s enough swimming. Get out now, if you want to talk to your mother.”
Sam climbed quickly out of the pool and like his father, slipped a T-shirt on. “Can I really talk to her now?”
“I’ll let you talk to her, but remember, you promised not to tell her you’re with me.” Walker dialed Blair’s cell number.
Todd and Bo were arguing in the squad room when Blair’s phone went off. Blair pulled it out of her purse. “Hey, stop fighting. This is a Philadelphia area code. Maybe it’s John. Hello?”
“Hi Mom, it’s me.”
“Sam! Are you okay? Where are you? Who’s with you?”
“I can’t tell you where I am or who I’m with, but I’m okay. I just got done swimming. Mom, the swimming pool is inside the house, it’s neat.”
“That’s good, Little Man. Why can’t you tell me who you’re with?”
“Because he wouldn’t let me call if I tell you.”
Just then, Walker heard the alarm over his head go off. Someone had entered the lower level without a password. He grabbed the phone. “Blair, I don’t know how you found me, but it doesn’t matter. Sam and I will be gone before they find the pool.” He hung up.
“Come on Sam, it’s time to leave. Someone’s gotten past my men.” He took Sam’s hand and led him out of the pool room and down the hall where he pressed a button and a panel opened up. He stepped into the tunnel with Sam and jammed the panel shut. “They won’t be able to follow, they don’t know about these tunnels. Once we’re out of here, I have a car not too far away. We’ll be fine Sam, don’t worry. We’ll head back to Port Charles. Everything there is waiting for me.”
Anna and her men burst into the swimming pool area to find it empty. Once they had hit the lower floor the alarm had sounded and she had known they missed one of the security measures and had given themselves away. The underground level was bigger than anticipated, and Flynn had already left. She spotted the wet prints, and they followed them down the hall to a dead end. “John, come in. We‘ve lost them. There must be some sort of a hidden tunnel. I hope you found that exit you were looking for.”
“It's okay Anna, I found it. Don’t worry, he won’t get past me.” Even as he said it, he saw the hidden door begin to open. He stepped back against the shrubs and waited for Flynn and Sam to walk into the clearing. Snatching Sam away, he put his gun between Flynn’s shoulder blades. “It’s all over Flynn.” Even as he said it, more agents came from around the corner of the house.
Seeing he was surrounded, Flynn surrendered. “So John, you finally wised up. I have to know. How did you guys find me?”
John put a gentle hand on the top of Sam’s head. “He told us. You’re under arrest for kidnapping, murder, trafficking guns, and I’m sure the feds have a much longer list. You have the right to remain silent....”
Flynn said nothing but stared in shock at his son.
John proceeded to give Flynn his Miranda rights. Then turned to check on Sam. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay, but I’m worried about my mom. I was talking to her when Dad took the phone and told her she would never see me again. Are we going home?”
“Yes Sam, we’re headed back to Llanview, then these men will have to take your father back to Philadelphia. You understand your father was wrong to take you, don’t you?”
Sam nodded, “But don’t hurt him, he’s been acting weird. Okay?” Sam looked at the men holding his father, and they assured him they would take good care of him. He glanced back to John. “Can we go now? I miss Mom.” A short time later they headed for Llanview.
****
Everyone had stopped talking when Sam’s call came through, but no one was prepared for Blair’s anguished cry. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Don’t take my son, Walker!” She dropped into a chair and began to cry.
Todd ran to her side and sank down on his haunches to get to her level. “Blair, what happened? What did Walker say?”
“He said the cops made a mistake, and he was gone and Sam with him.” She cried and grabbed Todd’s jacket. “Now, we’ll never find him.”
Todd put his hands on hers. “Don’t do that, Babe. You’re letting him get to you. There are Feds surrounding that property. There’s no way Flynn can elude them for long. John will get them, I know it.”
She stopped crying as he continued to rub her hands under his. “I just got so scared when he took over the phone. I was suddenly afraid he might hurt Sam because he was angry at me. You don’t think he would do that, do you?”
“I don’t know, but I think he’ll be too busy trying to get away from the authorities. Hurting Sam will be the last thing on his mind, right now.”
They both jumped when her phone rang again. This time, it was John. “John, tell me you got him. Tell me my son is okay.”
“It’s me, Mom. I’m coming home. John is letting me use the siren!”
Blair hugged Todd so hard he almost fell over. “Oh, that’s great, Little Man. We can’t wait to see you. Put Detective McBain on, okay?” She beamed at Todd. “He’s safe.” She waited and then John was on the phone. “John, thank you. Where’s Flynn? Did you get him?”
“We’ve got him. They’re bringing him to Llanview first. You’ll get your chance to confront him.” The call ended. Blair looked around at her family. “Sam’s coming home and they’re bringing in Walker, too.” A movement at the door caught Blair’s eye, and she saw Tea enter the room.
Tea was confused, had she heard right? “They’re bringing Victor here?”
Bo moved to her side. “Tea, I’ll explain everything. Come into my office.”
Nora held the door open as Bo led Tea into the room. Nora’s eyes were caught by Todd who stared at her for a moment, then he said. “I told you I didn’t kill my brother.” For the first time in a long time, she felt ashamed. She had pushed the man from the moment he had gotten home and had never given him a chance. Now everything she had believed had been disproved and Todd Manning had turned out to be innocent all along. Her eyes dropped and she followed Bo into the office.
Todd and Blair, along with Starr, Jack, and Addie, wandered around the squad room. They were anxiously awaiting John and Sam’s return. “I hate this. You would think with the siren running, John could get here in no time.” Todd said to no one in particular. Suddenly a scream was heard from Bo’s office.
Bo rushed out. “Fish, call the paramedics, Tea‘s going into shock.”
“What the hell did you say to her, Bo? My God, she just lost her baby. You shouldn’t have brought her into this.” Todd said.
“Stay out of it, Manning. I didn’t know she already knew about Victor, but she had to be told about Tomas.”
Todd glanced around at his family. He knew Blair had told Starr to call Tea, but now it seemed like a bad idea. They had forgotten about Tomas when they made the decision to call. They should have realized she was too fragile.
“Mom!” came the joyous cry from the other side of the room and Blair turned in time to catch Sam before he bowled her over.
She hugged him, and the family gathered around to see if he was all right.
“What, no joyous celebration for me? I’m newly returned from the dead. Jack how about a hug.” Walker smirked as he looked around the room. Everyone was staring at him with looks of disgust and anger. “Oh the love, I can feel it from here.” Before he could say anything else, a shot rang out.
“Feel that, you bastard! You said you loved me, but you don’t love anyone, but yourself.” Tea stood outside Bo’s office, the gun held up, pointed at Victor. She watched dispassionately as the blood blossomed across Victor’s chest.
Walker looked across the room at his wife. “Tea???” His eyes dropped to his chest in surprise and he collapsed.
All eyes were on Tea and what she would do next. Blair hugged Sam to her and covered his eyes. Guns were drawn around the room, all of them aimed at Tea.
“Hold your fire. Tea, give me the gun,” Bo said quietly, his eyes never left her face. She didn’t move except to let the gun drop to her side. She was just standing there, staring at the place Walker had been occupying only moments before. He walked toward her slowly and removed the gun from her hand. Tea’s eyes were now unfocused, and he barely caught her as she crumpled to the ground. He laid her down and glanced back across the room where Fish and John were working on Flynn. Seeing Blair struggling with Sam, he spoke up. “Todd, take Blair and your family into my office. We’ll handle this.”
Todd didn’t need any more encouragement. He quickly took his family out of the main room and closed the blinds to Bo’s office. He moved to enclose Blair and Sam in his arms. Sam was already asking questions. “Is Dad going to be okay? Why did Aunt Tea do that?”
Todd took Sam from Blair and stood him on Bo’s desk, where they could talk face to face. “Sam, you know Aunt Tea just lost your little brother, right?”
Sam nodded.
“Well, Aunt Tea really loved that baby and she’s not thinking too clearly since she lost him. She isn’t feeling right and she also just found out she lost Uncle Tomas, too. I don’t think Aunt Tea really knew what she was doing, but we’re going to get her help.”
Sam looked over Todd’s shoulder towards the door. “What about Dad?”
“I don’t know Sam. They’re working on him.” Todd turned to Starr. “Could you go check and see what’s happening? You’re the only one of us with any medical training. I know it might be hard, but for Sam’s sake.”
Starr agreed and walked out the door to see what she could find out. A short while later she came back, followed by Nora and Bo.
“Sam, your dad’s still alive and they’ve taken both him and Aunt Tea to the hospital,” Starr reported walking over to her little brother.
Sam had been sitting quietly in his mother’s arms waiting for his sister to come back. He let out a big breath. “I hope he’s going to make it. I’ve missed him.”
Blair pulled him tighter into her arms. “I know Sam. But now all we can do is wait. Right now I want to get you home. Bo, do you need us for anything else tonight?”
Bo shook his head, no. “John’s writing out a report about the events that took place at Walker’s house. I also understand, that your presence, Manning, will be required back in Port Charles in the next few days, but Commissioner Scorpio said to take all the time you need before going back. Sam is also going to be needed to identify Calmar. This is a huge mess, and it will be a while until everything is made clear. Go home for now.”
Blair set Sam down and took one of his hands in hers, she held her other hand out to Todd. “Let’s take our family home.”
Todd smiled warmly, wrapped her hand in his, nodded, and led them out.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
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Loving this.
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