Todd's Saga 30: Making Progress

        Todd and Sam were in the midst of strategizing when Dorian stormed into the living room.

“That man is insufferable.”

Todd looked up puzzled. “What man?”

“Your brother.  Who else would I be talking about?” Dorrian glared at Todd.  “He had the temerity to suggest I was a fool.  I will not tolerate him and his high and mighty attitude.”

Realizing the implications of Dorian’s comment, Todd jumped up. “Do you mean he’s awake?  Why the hell didn’t you call me?”

        Dorian gave Todd a withering glance.  “Since when am I your servant.  If I remember correctly, I’m here doing you a favor.”

        “Don’t tell me you left him alone up there because he bruised your ego.   Damn it, Dorian, maybe he’s right.  He could be trying to escape while we’re standing here talking.”  Not waiting for a reply from her, Todd took off for the stairs and took them three at a time hoping to catch Victor before he could get out of the house.

        Dorian gulped and sputtered in fury as Todd left her standing in the living room.  His insult reverberated in her head.  She fought the urge to yell after him.  She composed herself after noting that Sam Vance was staring at her and shaking her head.  “For your information, Ms. Vance.   I left one of your men watching Victor.  Of course, Todd will always assume the worse.  The man is just as unyielding and judgemental as his father.  I’ll never understand what Blair sees in him.”  She moved to the  coffee sitting on the bar and poured herself a cup.  Seeing all the papers lying around, her curiosity got the better of her.  “What have you two been plotting while I’ve been nursing his brother.  Does any of this have to do with Carl Peterson?”

        “Actually, Todd’s been trying to figure out why the organization has been so determined to get him and Victor, and why they kidnapped Clint Buchanan.  We found a number of powerful men that are acquainted with Carl that were also acquainted with Victor Lord Sr. and Asa Buchanan.  He said there were a couple you should see.”  Sam shuffled through a few of the files and found the ones Todd had mentioned.  She pick them up and offered them to Dorian.

        Dorian took the files and looked down at two very familiar names.  Her mouth pursed as she sat down and began reading the information they contained.  

        Sam watched.  She knew how volatile Dorian Lord could be and she sat back and waited for the explosion. 

        Dorian slammed the files down on the table in front of her and erupted in french. “Ces salauds pourris sales!   First they hung me out to dry, and now I see they were working with him.”  She got up, unable to sit still after what she had just read. She turned back to Sam waving her arm dramatically in the air at no one in particular.  “Bastards, all of them!  Carl was so charming, but I’m just a pawn to him.  He wined and dined me and all the time he was just using me as a front to stabilize his place in town.”  Dorian suddenly calmed down and carefully tugged the bottom of her suit jacket back into place.  “Tell me what I can do to help you.  I especially want to stick it to him where it hurts.” 

****

Todd ran into Victor’s room convinced the man was trying to get out by a window and instead found him lying on the bed, quietly talking to Viki. He came to an abrupt halt and then felt a flush go through him as he watched Victor break into his all-knowing smirk.  It was the same look he had given when Todd had come forth the night of the Premiere.

“What’s the matter, Todd?  Not quite what you were expecting, huh.” Victor couldn’t help feeling a little gleeful. The moment Todd had burst into the room, Victor had realized Todd thought he had tried to escape.  It tickled him to know he had put one over on his twin.

Todd regained his composure quickly.  “What can I say?  The last time you were awake you tried to kill me.  I figured once you woke up and had the opportunity, you’d leave without saying goodbye.  Sue me for wanting to make sure I got my two cents in before you left.” 

Viki had been watching the exchange between her brothers.  The atmosphere in the room was charged with the enmity the two men had for each other.  She knew that Todd had saved Victor’s life but she also knew there was no love involved.  He had done it for her, Tea, and the kids, not for his brother.  She stood up, looked down at Victor for a minute, and then walked to Todd.  “Stop.  You two need to find a way to talk without killing each other.  Whether you like it or not you’re brothers.  I know you never had a chance to get to know each other, but surprisingly you’re both more alike than you realize.  Don’t give me that face, Todd.  He’s not the enemy.  Our real enemy is Carl and his sister.  We need to work together if we’re going to bring them to justice.”  She met Todd’s eyes, waiting for him to respond. 

Todd knew Viki was right but he couldn’t help the bad taste in his mouth when he thought about being civil with his brother. He reluctantly nodded in agreement and saw relief flash across her face. “Fine, we’ll talk.  Why don’t you go see if you can calm Dorian down?  Victor appears to have ruffled her feathers.”  He watched her leave and turned back to his brother.  “Alright, tell me the truth.  Why didn’t you try and escape?”

“Hey, look at me.  I’m wounded, remember?”

“Oh please!  I never took you for a wimp.  I read you survived an execution.  I figured a couple of little bullet wounds wouldn’t hold you back.  After all your protestations about wanting to go back to Alison and her brother, I thought you’d take the first chance you got to sneak away.  I’ve got to admit I’m disappointed, or perhaps you’ve had a change of heart.”  Todd looked at his brother trying to read him.  The anger that had been there from the moment he had been captured seemed to be gone.  “What’s going on Victor?”

“Why did you do it?” asked Victor.  He looked at Todd warily.  He had asked Viki and she had merely said they didn’t want him to die.  He understood her, but Todd was another matter.

“Why did I do what?” 

“Why did you save my life.  I know you can’t stand me and the feeling is mutual.  So why did you do it?”

Todd shrugged. “I made a promise and I thought I’d try and keep it.  Besides, Clint’s in no shape to go to prison.”

Victor stared at Todd, then looked over at Viki’s cell phone that she had left on the side table.  “You made that promise to Tea, didn’t you?”  He looked back at Todd.  “You weren’t lying about her.  I know that now.”

“Good to hear.  So where does that leave us?”  Todd waited.  He needed to know if Victor was going to stop fighting them and help.

Victor struggled to sit up a little higher in bed. He gritted his teeth against the pain as his wounds protested the movement.  He leaned his head back against the pillow for a moment then looked at Todd. “I guess it means, I’m willing to listen to what you have to say, but not promising anything.”

“Fair enough.  This is what I know.  When you arrived in Llanview you had a tattoo on your arm and you were fleeing someone.  You still blamed me for shooting you and taking a year from you with Tea and Dani.  Then you went missing and I got a note from that same Tattoo organization saying they had you and I needed to finish what I started. I was also told to leave Llanview or everyone I loved would be in danger.   Everyone, Victor, including Tea and Dani.  So I left.”  

        Todd walked over and took the seat Viki had vacated.  “I searched for you at the address they gave me but it was a wild goose chase that finally led here and to a trap.  A trap I  narrowly escaped. They hadn’t just wanted you, they wanted me too.  I found out they had taken over Irene’s compound but I had no real proof you were there.  When things got too dicey I made it look like I had died and reinvented myself.  Since then I’ve been trying to find out more about the compound and who was running everything.”

       Victor looked around the room.  “Who did you reinvent yourself as, Rhett Butler?  I never would have figured you for a romantic, Todd, and this place is not really your style.”

       Todd glanced around the room, stalling for a moment.  It was uncanny how close Victor’s guess was. Maybe it was true what they said about twins and the way they think alike. His eyes met Victor’s and he answered him. “Yeah, you’re right there, but it’s one of the best places in town and as you say, not my style.  I figured no one would look for me in a place like this.  I’ve managed to start some new very profitable enterprises.  But for the time being, let’s just say who I am right now isn’t your concern.”  

      “Whatever."  Victor didn’t really care who Todd was calling himself these days.  But his finding out about the man behind Alison was big.  “So you looked into the compound and found out about Alison.  How did you find out about Carl?” 

       “I had some inside help for that.  He told me that Alison had a brother and from there it was a matter of finding out just who that brother was.  I put my investigator on it and she finally got me a name.  You should be glad she brought me that information yesterday.  She was still in town and helped me stop you from bleeding to death.” Todd paused. Shocked he watched as Victor clutched his head and then he lost focus.

       Victor was lost in his own thoughts and was trying to wrap his head around the first thing Todd had said when words began pounding through his head.“The Organization must be protected at all cost. Repeat! The Organization must be protected at all cost.” He shuddered and said softly. “The Organization must be protected at all cost.  The Organization must be protected at all cost.” Victor was trapped in his head as he continued to repeat the statement.

       Todd got to his feet immediately as soon as the first words left Victor’s mouth.  “Damn it, Manning, now what do you do?”  Victor was obviously reacting to the intense programming Alison and Baker had put him through.  Something he had just said must have triggered it. He sat down on the bed next to his brother. There had to be some way to break the trance that Victor seemed to be in.  Okay, Manning, think.  You and Victor are twins.  Maybe just maybe you can change the phrase.  Irene had him programmed to listen to you.  What the hell, maybe you can get through to him.  “Victor, can you hear me?  I need you to listen to me.  The Organization is bad.  Do you hear that?  The Organization is bad. Repeat after me. The Organization is bad.”

       Victor suddenly changed his words. He began repeating Todd. “The Organization is bad.” 

       Todd couldn’t believe what was happening.  It was working.  He cringed inwardly knowing Irene was the one who had done this to his brother.  She had made him susceptible to all sorts of evil and he had been her puppet.  At that moment, he felt sorry for Victor.   Victor’s whole life, except for the last couple of years with Tea, had been years spent doing Irene’s work, and then the Organization had gotten their hands on him.  Todd reached and laid a hand on his brother’s good shoulder. “Victor, stop.  It’s alright. It’s time to wake up. Listen to me. It’s your brother talking. Come back to me.”

       Victor heard Todd’s voice speaking to him and then the words registered.  Something inside broke free and for the first time in his life, he felt whole. He no longer felt compelled to say anything and his head had stopped hurting.  He blinked as Todd’s face came into focus and he felt his hand on his shoulder.  He wasn’t sure what to say at that moment.

      Todd was watching as Victor came out of the trance.  He felt a little awkward.  He wasn’t sure what had made him say what he did to Victor but it had felt right.  Victor was just staring at him and he let go of his brother’s shoulder.  “Um, good, you’re back.’  Todd stood up and put some space between them.  For one brief moment, he had felt what it was like to care for his brother and he wasn’t sure what to do with those feelings yet.  He hated when he felt vulnerable and Victor was the last person he wanted to know that about him.  Thinking to put a stop to the strange new tension he said.  “You zoned out on me. Do you want me to get Dorian to check you out?”

       Victor shook his head no.  He had seen Todd’s face and the concern that had been on it before Todd had stood up.  He understood all too well what Todd was feeling at the moment because the same feelings were engulfing him.  For over two years he had hated the man standing a few steps away and now suddenly all he wanted was to really get to know him.  There was so much more to Todd than his mother had drilled into him and he was now beginning to see it.  It was clear Todd wasn’t ready to talk about what had just happened, but Victor knew eventually they would have the time.  Right now it was important to do one thing.  He had been trapped and Todd had just saved him from that.  He owed him.  “Todd, Thanks.”

     Todd looked at him in surprise.  He hadn’t expected that. “Yeah sure. That’s what brothers do.  It was nothing.”  Damn, there was that word again.  You’re getting soft Manning.

     Victor smiled. “I guess.”  He saw Todd’s discomfort.  He teased. “We need to make sure Viki doesn’t hear about it.  She’ll be on us, trying to get us to join her family gatherings even more now.”

      Todd laughed suddenly. Victor was right. Viki was always big on family gatherings. She would say they were making progress.  The tension in the room eased and Todd sat back down.  “Well if you don’t want me to get Dorian, then I guess I’ll catch you up on the rest of my story.  I’m sorry by the way, I should have realized I needed to be careful talking about Alison and Carl.  Both you and Clint are still too close to the situation right now.”

       Victor got pensive, he knew Todd was right.  After what had just happened, it was becoming clearer that Alison and her goons had indeed messed with his head.  One man, in particular, came to mind.  “Todd, your inside man wasn’t by chance Baker?”

      “Unfortunately he was.  I had no idea he went to work for Alison doing what he had done for Irene.  I swear to God, I would have pulled him out of there if I had known.  I knew what he was capable of but I figured he wouldn’t take the chance of losing my money.  I was wrong.  As soon as I realized he had been duping me, I broke in to find you and Clint.  Unfortunately, he had already gotten you under their control.  I found Clint and was getting him out when you found us, the rest is history.” Todd shifted in the chair.  He had sent that madman back into the compound and the guy had tortured Victor and Clint.  It had been a mistake on his part to underestimate Baker’s greed and sadistic nature.  “I know it doesn’t help but I’m sorry.”

       Victor was a little taken aback.  “Well, that’s a first. You just admitted you were wrong and you said I’m sorry.  Hell must have frozen over.” he said sarcastically.  “Still if you hadn’t taken me out of there by force, I’d still be under their influence.  So I’ll let you off the hook.”

       Todd knew Victor was taking their new relationship slowly. It worked for him. “Um, I hate to point it out to you but you’re still not totally free of their influence.  But we’ll get you and Clint some reliable help, I promise.  Just as soon as I bring Peterson’s whole Organization tumbling down around his ears.  No one threatens my family and gets away with it!”


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