The Way Back: Epilogue

CASE #17-1968PH2 Closing Notes, Todd Manning (also Zeus Zelenko) 'The Impostor' Situation, 2011-2012



Zeus Zelenko still has a great deal of work to do, so in writing this, I am not closing his case by any means.  I will cross-reference these notes with his file when completed.  His ending thus far is a bit more complicated.  Having been brainwashed and tortured into taking on another person's identity, reaffirms the theme that he has never had a personal identity of his own.  Further, there are longer-lasting effects from the torment that he endured than we first saw, and in digging deeper, we discovered in therapy that he also murdered Tomas Delgado.  This has made things between him and his wife, Tea Delgado, even more difficult, however, in recent days, she has come to terms with his inability to control his actions during that time, and has made visits to him here at Mountainview, where he is serving his sentence.  A side note:  Tea is also pregnant with their first biological child.  I will continue to log information about his case and update notes accordingly.

His 'father,' Carlo Hesser, is serving a life sentence without parole at Statesville Prison for conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful restraint, several counts of kidnapping, terrorism, and torture.  Not as important to this case, but for my personal knowledge, Baker, Burly(Timothy Shaw, The Slice and Dice(Michael Leona), and The Thin Man(Chet Wallace) have all been sentenced to life in prison without parole as well.  The rest of the Men of 21 are being researched and prosecuted, as deemed necessary, by the United States Government, due to information received from Todd Manning. Zeus Zelenko is also credited for his heroism in bringing down one of the most notorious terrorist rings in the world.

This client, Thomas Todd Manning, will be seen on a need basis only.  He has completed a great deal of the necessary therapy to move forward from his PTSD.  One of the more severe cases I've seen, I am sure that the notes from our sessions will assist me in working with other cases, as his was very long term and the effects and symptoms were magnified.  

On a personal note, he did get his life back.  Tea Delgado drew up papers on behalf of her husband returning all property, stocks, and funds to the rightful heir, Todd.  In return, which is another piece of his recovery, Todd refused to take Tea's home or her personal funds earned as a result of The Sun's profits for the last eight years. She and her daughter decided to sell the house, considering the negative memories there, and used the money to relocate out of town, but not out of reach of Mountainview and her husband, who she still has not divorced. Possibly, there is hope on the horizon for them, and I certainly hope so, because it seems to be the main focus and motivating factor in the work my client Zeus is undergoing.  And this work is painfully crawling at a snail's pace, I'm afraid.

Todd Manning has reassumed the role as the owner and publisher of The Sun, the paper that he built from nothing, that is now a multi-media conglomerate.  He has made provisions that Zeus and his wife and child benefit financially from anything he earns based on the networking and accomplishments Zeus made in Todd's absence.  Mr. Manning has also set up a trust fund for Dani and the unborn child of Tea Delgado, totaling several million dollars.      



Todd and Blair have set a date for their impending wedding. I am invited.  In fact, I am in the wedding as an usher.  When I write that, I think, how am I deserving of a place in this man's family circle?  

I've always doubted what effect I've had on Todd Manning, since 1993, when I counseled him post-rape of Marty Saybrooke.  I guess we've come full circle.  Blair is pregnant, they are planning to raise all of their children together; Sam, the child she adopted, Jack, the new baby they are expecting, even Starr, now an adult, and her daughter, Hope.  This gives the client the one thing he has searched for since I have known him; a real family.  As clients go, he has had one of the most damaging pasts and hurtful list of experiences I've encountered.  As men go, he's an amazing testimonial to love, redemption, and reformation.  Here's to hoping that John McBain, and other members of the Llanview Law Enforcement Agencies, recognize him for his recent positive contributions to society, and grant him the respect, as a human being, to live his life as a fully-reformed rapist, father, and husband.


Dr. R. Martino, Ph. D.
Mountainview Sanitarium

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The Way Back: Chapter 44

The Grim Reaper ran his hand over the special lock and opened the door to 'The Manning Suite.'  There, sitting in the chair, was Manning, lost in his head again, motionless, gone. His wife was on the bed, staring at the door with utter terror in her eyes.

"What do you want?" she said.

He didn't speak.  He just pulled the lighter from his pocket and walked toward her.

She wasn't afraid of his lighter or of him.  The real threat, in her eyes, was tied up under the bed and knocked out with a $500 Louboutin pump.  "You don't scare me.  You scare Todd only because you're sick enough to use what he faced as a child against him in your torture games.  But you don't scare me, with your lighter."

He continued walking toward her.  Wait for the right moment, Manning.  Just wait for that right moment.  If he touches her...

She heard the eerie sound of a mechanical voice changer.  "I will burn you, like I burned him.  And maybe, I'll make his childhood fears a reality again.  He'll watch.  If he does not talk and give me the information I need, I will kill both of you.  But of course, he'll be last.  I've learned a great deal about our Mr. Manning over the years.  The greater torture would be to lose you, and the greatest of all would be to watch you and his child die."

"I wonder why you hide under that hood and why you change your voice?  Is it the obvious?  I bet I know you.  Coward."

He pulled a gun from under his robe, at which Blair became startled.  "I can just kill you now, if the love of your life is not going to emerge and try and save you."

Blair was unsure what to do next, until she saw Todd rise up out of the chair and approach The Grim Reaper from behind, silently.  She kept still, looking at the gun, and waiting, careful not to alert the kidnapper.  In a flash, Todd was on him, raising his arm that held the gun to the ceiling and fighting him toward the chair.  "This time, you're not stopping me.  This one is going to the chair, Blair."

She didn't speak.  She knew she had to let her husband do whatever it was he was driven to do.  "Eight years," she thought.  She also knew in her heart he would not be able to go through with it, for she was certain that the man she loved couldn't inflict what he had endured on another human being.  Not again.  Not now, in this their third lifetime.  Or was it their fourth?

They struggled, and Todd had the gun at bay until the hood slipped down off the man's face.  Blair screamed.  "Oh my God!"

Todd lost his composure at seeing Carlo Hesser in front of him, and Carlo swung around and took Blair in one elbow, with the gun pointed at her head.  "Hello, Mr. Manning, Mrs. Manning.  We meet again, don't we?"

Todd was breathing heavily, fighting exhaustion, dehydration and hunger.  "Carlo?  You?"

"Most of the time, yes.  At other times, when I was otherwise disposed, my crew took over for me.  The Men of 21 are very resourceful, Mr. Manning."

"Let her go.  I'll stay here, I'll give you what you want.  I have it, I finally know what it is."  Then softer, "I finally remembered."

"Let her go?  Is that what you think is going to happen?  So she can tell the world who I am and what I've done?  Ruin my respectable name?"

"Just let her go.  It's the only way you'll get the information from me.  The only way."

"Oh no, Mr. Manning, you're wrong.  There are other ways."  He shoved her into the chair, and attached one wrist band with his gun-free hand.  The other hand held the gun to her head.  For a moment, Todd panicked, motionless, thinking of a way out.  Then he recalled Slice and Dice's knife in the back of his pants.  He watched as Hesser attached Blair's other hand to the chair.  "So, now, letting her go, hmm.  Is that still an option?" he laughed.

Todd was beginning to falter.  Hungry, tired, and having gone without water for many hours, he was weakening.  He also felt the suspicious seep of darkness around him and fought it all with everything he had.  "You're not taking her from me.  You've taken almost everything else.  Not her."

Holding the gun in one hand and the controls for the chair in the other, Carlo stood smirking.  "I beg to differ.  You always thought you could get the best of me, Manning.  You deluded yourself.  I've had the best and worst of you for, oh, eight years.  Give me the information now, or I turn this switch.  It won't kill her, as you know, but it will make sure that child of yours does not exist."

Blair stared at the floor, quiet.  She prayed that her husband would overcome what she knew was afflicting him that moment.  She looked up suddenly and said, "Todd, I love you."

"I love you too, babe.  Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

"The information?  Now, Mr. Manning."

"I have to get it."

"Where is it?"

"Over there somewhere," he pointed absently, and Carlo followed his finger for a brief second.  Todd kicked the gun free and scrambled for it, and Carlo didn't move.  Instead, he laughed.

"You have the gun.  I have this."  He held up the remote.  "Even if you are a great shot, my finger will hit this button first, won't it?"


Rubbing the sweat off his brow, and shutting his eyes tightly for a moment, he battled the dark that threatened to overtake him.  "Why don't we see about that?"  He kicked again and sent the remote flying on the floor.  Diving for it, he lost the gun, and got the remote in his hand.  He stood up, facing Carlo Hesser's gun.


"So, you going to shoot me?"  Todd asked.  He had the remote.  At least Blair, she....


"Perhaps, Mr. Manning.  I want that list of the names and addresses of the Men of 21.  You have it, I want it."


"And you want me to believe we won't be killed if you get it?"


Carlo laughed.  "No, I don't.  Now you're trying my patience."  He returned the gun to her head once more.

"Let her go, Hesser."

"Not in my vocabulary.  The list, Mr. Manning."

"No,"  He opened the remote, pulling out the wires and battery and tossing the latter into the toilet.  "Let her go, Hesser."

Carlo faltered for one moment.  For a second, Todd saw an opening.  As Hesser's devious mind attempted to conjure another move, Todd plunged toward him, and the both of them fought over the gun.

Blair was screaming for help, not that it would do any good.  Terrified to lose him, she tried to watch the scuffle to see who was getting the advantage.  Soon, the fight moved behind her and it was impossible to see them.  

Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and John McBain pulled his revolver out. Behind him were The Impostor and Ray Martino.  "Freeze, police!"

Hesser whipped around and still holding the gun, threw Todd free and shot. 
The Impostor called out, "No!" and pushed John to the side, taking the bullet in his abdomen.  He fell to the floor.

Blair screamed, Todd found his footing again, squeezing out the darkness, and wiping his brow.  He grabbed Carlo from behind, knocking the gun free. Blair kicked the gun to Todd, who had Carlo by the neck.  He kicked him behind the knees, to bring him down.  Picking up the gun, Todd pointed it to the back of Carlo's head, as the older man, on his knees, froze in place.  Blair's heart was pounding.  Todd said, "Don't move."

Carlo spoke.  "My son!  My son, my creation!  My years of hard work!  You betray me?"

The Impostor was on the floor, blood was pooling around him.  John McBain, still holding the gun on Carlo, said, "Your 'son' is going to die if we don't get him help right now."  Pulling out his cell phone, he called for an ambulance.  

Ray attended to the man as he sweated and called out through the pain, "I'm not...your son."

Todd cuffed Carlo with The Slice and Dice's handcuffs, then went to Blair.  He unfastened the wrist bands, the way he had seen it done for years.  "How did you do that, Todd?"  She said, taking her hands free. 

He just smiled weakly and held up two silver keys.  She got out of the chair and hugged him around the neck.  "Oh Todd!" and she cried.

"Maestro," they heard from the man on the floor.


Todd's head abruptly turned to the man.  "What did you say?"


"Maestro.  I'm...I'm so sorry," he whispered through pain.


John shouted, "he's bleeding out, where the hell are they?"  He and Ray struggled to keep pressure on the wound.


Todd stepped forward, "Zeus?  It can't be."


The man looked up at him from the floor, breathing quickly as if in panic, pale, sweat-ridden.  "It is.  I'm so sorry."


Todd knew right then he should have recognized the blue of Zeus' eyes.  "Zeus?  Why?"


Carlo spoke, "Because he's a weak, snivelling, snotting nothing."


Ray looked at Todd.  "See that chair right there?  That should tell you something, Todd."  Suddenly, Todd was flooded with different memories.

He was in Viki's cabin, waiting.  Zeus came in through the door, and looked dejected.  Todd said, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Sorry, something went wrong."  Zeus responded.

"Really?  What went wrong?"

"Just when your wife was going to hop in bed with that Irishman, that Mrs. Moody woman showed up."

"Marty.  If there's a wrong place to be at the wrong time, you can leave it to Marty."

"Well, what are we going to do now."  Zeus asked.  We.  "She was never supposed to be part of this.  Maybe we should let her know the whole thing was just a set up?"


Starr was cooing in her crib.  So tiny and so precious.  "No, we don't need to tell her it was a set up.  Let Marty think that her Irish boyfriend is kissing somebody else's Blarney Stone."  He softened,  "Be doing her a favor."


"She a friend of yours?"


"Marty's not a friend of mine.  Ah forget her, forget everybody.  You've gotta get the passports, right?  You know how to do that?"


"Where are you and the baby going?"


"I'm going to put a planet between us and sweet, ever faithful Momma Blair.  Going to a place called Bali."  

A bit more talk about passports and forgers took place, before Zeus had said, "Me, too.  I mean, I'm going to Bali, too, right?"

Todd looked up from a smiling Starr.  "Yeah.  I'm going to need a Nanny.  Go on, Mary Poppins, fly on out of here."

Todd remembered his face as Zeus had sauntered out of the cabin to do his dirty work and winced.  They never got to Bali.  Marty had discovered him in the cabin; plans changed.  Eventually, Todd and Blair worked their way back to each other.  Todd also remembered not needing Zeus any longer, after the Carlo Hesser shooting on the cruise ship.  Shortly following that, he stopped answering his calls and sent him off with a huge stash of money.  Through his own pain and hatred, he'd manipulated and used the man, and then left him in a new country, alone, to fend for himself.  This explained almost everything: Marty and The Impostor's fascination with her; his taking over The Sun and Todd's life; The Impostor's evident love for Starr.  It didn't explain Tea, but Todd was certain that both Carlo and Zeus had not planned him falling in love with her and her daughter.


Todd swallowed and set his jaw, lifting his eyebrows a bit.  He remained silent.  He looked back to Zeus, who was on the brink of unconsciousness.  "Zeus?  What made you do it?"


"He found me.  You know...I had nothing.  I had no one.  You were my only friend.  When you pushed me aside, forgot about me, he stepped in.  His shooting, you were supposed to look guilty.  I knew.  He...did things...always hated you, wanted revenge....used me," and he was gone.


Blair came up behind Todd, and hugged around his waist, silent in confusion.  Resting her chin on his shoulder.  "This is the magician, Zeus?  The one who I met in the park when Starr was a baby?"


Todd was still uncertain it was real.  "I guess it is, yeah."

Blair was not sure how to react.  Todd was affected strongly by the revelation of Zeus' identity, and she was not sure she understood just quite why. "Well, my strong, beautiful man, you saved your baby,"  she said, lovingly.


He closed his eyes, squeezing out the image of Zeus dying on the floor.  He turned to her, "and my babe."  He touched her hair, "If anything happened to you..."


"It didn't."


"Yeah, but your bra is not making it out of here alive."  He said, as she put her arms around his neck.


"That's all right.  It's just one less piece of clothing to remove when we get home."


"My wife, such a thinker.  I should have thought of that."


"Yes, I suppose you should have."  


He kissed her gently.  At this point, backup had arrived and various men were taking Carlo and The Slice and Dice into custody, taking prints, collecting evidence.  A team of paramedics were tending to Zeus' wound.  Carlo looked down again at the man on the floor, who was pale and gray and completely unconscious.  "My creation.  I worked so hard for this."


Todd spoke up, "You didn't create him.  You helped destroy him."


John said, "Get these lowlifes out of our sight."


Todd looked down at Zeus, Blair still in his arms.  "He wasn't a bad guy, ever.  But I know what men will do...in certain circumstances."  He stared at the chair.  

Blair took his face and turned it to her.  "I know what men will do, too.  They will rise up against the pain and save what's theirs.  And fight.  It's over."


Ray stood and approached Todd.  "I agree with Blair.  You made me proud, Todd.  You showed compassion to the man who stole your life for all those years.  You've come through this nightmare, and on the other side, you're definitely learning from your mistakes and changing.  I'm proud to know you."  He extended his hand.


Todd took it, and then changed his mind and hugged Ray, giving the masculine back slap and then retreating.  Blair was crying.  He couldn't look back to Zeus.  Even though the man had done terrible things, he still felt a pang of guilt.


He turned to her, "Stop crying, babe.  Everything's okay."


"That's why I'm crying, Mr. Manning, you're okay.  You're with me, safe.  I was so scared."


"I love you, Mrs. Manning."


"We aren't married, yet."


"Let's go right now and get hitched?"


"What?  Tawd!"


I love how she says my name when she's annoyed with me.  "All right, tomorrow then."  They walked out, arm in arm.


John, watching the paramedics load Zeus on a gurney, nodded to the EMT.  "What's the prognosis?"


"It's not looking good, Lieutenant.  Time will tell."  As they wheeled him off, John turned, with Ray still there, silent, to take a last look at the room.  He said, "What about Zeus?"


"Do you mean will he survive?  I don't know.  If you mean after this nightmare, I'd say yes.  But it will take a great deal to undo what's been done to him.  I'm prepared.  I've got nothing else to do,"  Ray smiled.

John's eyes rested on the chair.  "What do you think it was like?"


Ray's smile faded and he just shrugged, "I don't think.  I know.  First hand.  Let's just say Todd Manning is a very strong man.  It went way beyond the chair, what they did to him for eight years.  These men, if you call them that, reached into every evil they could perpetrate, and into every fear he had.  He considers himself weak for how he moved in and out of his mind throughout those years, but..." he shook his head, "a lot of other men would have come out of it completely insane.  I know he won't mind me telling you something to help you understand."

John paused.  The last of the techs was gone, the room empty, the halls silent.  "Manning?  No, he won't mind."

"Being catatonic is the mind's way of taking you away from something, to preserve yourself.  He put himself first.  That's important for Todd.  Any ideas what this 'safe place' was?"

John thought for a moment, hands buried in his black jacket pockets.  "I haven't a clue.  But if I had to guess, I'd say the woman that he just left with was involved."

Ray nodded, "In her arms.  A reception hall with gold balloons, cellos, violins.  Does that sound like an unreformed serial rapist to you?  A career criminal?"  Ray posed the question.


John immediately was aware of Ray's intent.  "No, it doesn't."


"Let's say for all intents and purposes, he's paid.  In full."


"I'll agree, he's more than paid at this point."


"Then, the thing you can do, as a responsible civil servant, is make certain he's free to live the life he deserves.  This town has to stop punishing him.  He's been punished."  Ray stepped forward, lifting one of the wrist bonds and letting it drop.  "Remember that."   He extended his hand.  "Nice meeting and working with you, Lieutenant."

"And you, Dr. Martino."  The two men left, one after the other, and the chair, still standing, reflected the light coming in from the cell door they left open.
 
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The Way Back: Chapter 43

"Rise and shine."  Baker was standing there, over them, and Blair opened her eyes for the second time that day, still having difficulty adjusting her vision.  She remembered: she had fallen back to sleep on her lover's chest at some prison where they were being held against their will and tormented.  She rubbed her eyes in disbelief.  She was hungry, and her stomach hurt.

"Oh. It's you.  I keep thinking I'll wake up, and this nightmare will have been a mistake,"  she said.

He found her amazingly amusing at times.  "Ms. Cramer.  Good morning.  Sleep looks well on you.  Not so much for our other prisoner."

"My hand is numb.  I cannot feel my fingers."  She pointed to the hand in the cuff.

"I see."  He leaned over, releasing her.  "You cannot fight me, trust that, and you cannot run.  You will be dead before your feet hit the floor, and then Prince Charming here will be ours."

"I'm not running."  She rubbed her wrist after he undid the cuff.  "You know something, Baker," she said, swinging her legs over the bed and heading to the fridge for water, "You don't scare me."

He grabbed her by her hair.  "I should."  He drew her close to his face.  "Make sure you take a good look at me.  You should fear.  Fear everyone here."  He let go, tossing her to the floor and slammed out of the room.

Todd didn't move.  Put your hands on her again, and I will rip your head off your body, Baker.

Blair remained silent.  She was pushing her luck, she knew she was.  These were not regular bullies.  She reminded herself to be quieter.  She looked up to Todd, he was not moving, still staring at the ceiling, breathing quietly.  Her heart broke.  She had hoped..."Oh Todd, please?  Come back, come on."

She folded her arms and sat with her back against the bed.  Manning, stay cool.  The cameras are on.  You can't let on that it's not Blair against the likes of them, it's you and Blair.  Always been, always will be.  A very angry you and Blair.  If they see you move, they'll know.

She tipped her head back, and her hair was brushing against his hip.  He wanted to put his hands into her hair, turn her to him, and kiss her more passionately than ever.  She was carrying his child.  Again.  Joy spread through him like his own blood flowing.  He loved her so much.  And he was no longer afraid.  With her beside him, he could face anything.  He remained still.  It was the only way that he could hope to get the upper hand and ultimately save her.

"Todd.  Remember when we first found out you were the heir to the Lord fortune?  We went out and bought all that stuff.  I was pregnant at the time, and I was rollerskating.  I almost hurt myself, and you got angry, swearing off skates.  Those were wonderful times for us.  But you know, we're going to have more.  Now that there's another little one on the way.  That's if we get out of here."

Blair, come on.  You know we will get out of here.  As long as I am breathing, I will keep us together and alive.

"I know what you would say, something like, as long as you're living, you'll make sure I am, too, or something like that."

Good shot, babe.

"Can't you move, give me a sign, something?  Todd? I love you?"

I love you too, Blair.  I love you so much.  You're the reason I'm alive today.  You're the reason I came out of my safe place.  I came out for you.  I live for you.

"You're everything to me.  My life."

Sing, babe.  Sing to me.  Sing.

She got very quiet.  She knew they were waiting for the next one, whoever was going to be their last visitor.  It felt final and real, but somehow, she was not as afraid as she was the night before when that man had cut Todd.  "If I have to go," she turned to look at him, "I want to go with you there.  Of course, I'd prefer that you look into my eyes and talk to me, but as long as you are with me...I thank God for the second chance we have gotten, even if they were short."

Me too, I thank God every day, and I'm not the praying type.  I never thought I'd see you again.  You bring me so much.

"Blair, you're talking to yourself again."  She got up and finished her water, doing some stretches to get her muscles going.  Her hand had feeling again, and she could tell it was a sunny and bright day.  She looked at the chair in the center of the room.  Wires were feeding into the ankle and wrist bonds.  She shuddered.   What he must have endured.  She put her hand on the chair's arm, and then removed it, as if it were hot.

It's all right.  No one is going to hurt you.  Not while I am living.

She crawled back into the bed and snuggled next to him.  He so wanted to put his arms around her and tell her she was safe and with him, but he knew it was the difference between them surviving and getting out or being killed, slowly.  In fact, he was pretty positive that if they knew he was not catatonic, they would move things along faster and use her to get him to talk.  He didn't want to think about it.  Afraid of that outcome, he remained very still, and though tempted to hold her, he kept his arms at bay.  She dozed.  

He felt her breathing in sleep mode.  Wake up, Blair.  Sing to me.  Sing, babe, I want to hear you sing.  She continued to sleep against him, her breathing was shallow and quick.  He wanted to put his hand on her belly and protect his child and her.  He waited, still, and she slept.

An hour or so passed, she woke again, with a start this time, and brushed a tear off her face.  She'd been dreaming.  It's okay, babe.  It's all right, don't cry.  She stared into his face.  She leaned over him, and in a desperate move, he blew out of his nose, hard, against her face.  He wished she would notice, and wished she could hear, and know.  She didn't have time to react, because they heard the footsteps in the hallway approaching.  She started to tremble.

It was Slice and Dice.  She felt sick.  "Morning.  Get up."

Manning, stay focused.  Don't let your guard down for a second.  I'm ready.  All he has to do is touch her.  I'm ready, and I'm strong.

She listened, getting up off the bed.  He looked her over, then said, "Get in the chair."

She didn't move at first.  No.  She needs her hands free to help us.  No!  Should I take him down now?  He can't fasten her to that chair.

She spoke up.  "I feel sick.  I'm. . .not feeling well."

"Pregnant.  We heard.  There's the bowl."  He pointed with the knife toward the toilet.  "You know," he said, watching her walk over and lean down, checking her behind, "I can just put him back in the chair, you know, if you'd rather.  What do you choose?  You in the chair and him on the bed, or him in the chair and you on the bed?"

Better not, asshole.  I'll cut you apart.

She was shaking so much she couldn't control it.  He saw it and laughed.  "Hmm, I can choose, if you like."  And he leaned over the bed, moving Todd to the chair.  

She wildly thought, "He can't strap Todd down.  I'll need him.  We'll need both of us to get out of this one."  She cried out, "Hey, can you help me?  I feel really dizzy?" And when he shifted his gaze to her, she had pulled off her top and was in her bra and pants.  

He walked over to her, and tapped his knife in his palm.  "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Nothing.  I'm guess I'm just lonely.  He's, well, he's probably never coming back.  It's sad, but it's true.  I tried everything.  I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"Yeah.  And hopefully, it will be my honor to set you free."

"Set me free.  Is that what you call it?"

"Yeah."  Tap.

"To me, being set free is acting on impulses.  The only thing is, who can act on impulses around here?  There's cameras everywhere.  So confining."  She leaned over so that her breasts fell forward in her bra.  She stood up, and through her tremors, she gave him the most seductive look she could muster.  Imagine Todd.  

He walked over to the wall, and pushed a few buttons.  "No cameras in here now."

She knows!  She felt me breathe at her.  She figured it out, and she knows.

"I see."

"Feeling better?"

"Yes, I think so."

His demeanor changed.  "Get over to the bed.  I didn't shut the cameras for you, I shut them for me.  What I'm going to do to you, they wouldn't want to see."  He tapped the knife on his palm faster.  Shaking, she went to the bed and listened to him.  There were no other choices.  She'd played her cards wrong this time, and shot a glance at Todd over The Slice and Dice's shoulder.  He was so still.  The man cut her bra strap with the knife and one side of it fell down, revealing one breast.  He drew the knife back as she fought him, and from nowhere, in one swift motion, his hand was caught from behind and his arm twisted behind his back.

She gasped and shrieked, "Todd!"

"Don't move a muscle, motherfucker."  Todd said.  In shock, Blair picked up her blouse, removed her bra, and put her top back on as Todd held The Slice and Dice at knifepoint.  He led him, knife at his throat, to the chair.  "I know just how to hook this thing up.  I've seen you do it hundreds of times, right, hundreds of times, over the years?"

Blair moved toward him, "No, Todd."  In her mind, flashed the moment she stopped him from beating Christian to a pulp when she had lost their first child.  He looked at her, anger seeping from every crevice, and then softened when his eyes met hers. 

"Was just following orders," the man said.

"Were your orders to rape my wife?  Were your orders to cut her?"

She handed him the bra, which he used to tie the tormenter's hands behind his back.  She gave him her belt, which he used to bind his ankles. "I should cut your throat."  Todd said, working fast to subdue him.  He was already sweating.  She knew that everything he was doing was hard for him.  She loved him so much, and even more as her hero.

"Yeah.  You should.  You took a lot of abuse from me over these last few years.  But it was fun while it lasted,"  he said.

Todd was stopped and drew the knife back, as if he were ready to end the man's life, when Blair grabbed his hand.  "No, Todd.  He's sick.  He's sick to do this.  He's sick, like Peter.  You don't want to be like him.  You don't want to be one of them."  He lowered his hand and wiping his eyes, he threw the man onto the bed, and hugged her with one arm, while holding the knife in protection out in front of them.  "Blair," he said, over her shoulder.  "Thank God you're all right.  You're having my baby."

"Yes," she said looking into his eyes.  He was there, looking at her, talking, and he was all right.

Down the hallway, the boss was just noticing the dead camera feed from 'The Manning Suite.'  Suiting up, he headed for their cell, lighter in hand.  He pulled the hood down over his head and proceeded to his destination.  "If you want something done . . ."

At the same moment, John, The Impostor, and Ray entered the building, and each had a gun.  Ray had vehemently objected until John reminded him of the reason they were headed there to prevent in the first place.  Within moments, with the backup John called in, most of the threats had been neutralized.  In addition to countless men who manned various areas in the compound, they had captured Burly, The Thin Man, and Baker.  That left the two biggest threats at large, and they were prepared for anything.

In a hub area by several off-shooting hallways, John noticed the dead camera feed.  "Manning," he said aloud.  They headed into the hallway that corresponded with the monitor number and proceeded with caution.

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The Way Back: Chapter 42

They followed the directions that The Impostor gave them, and carefully approached the warehouse with discretion.  John said, "We have no idea who is here, or whether or not someone is at all.  Just follow my lead, and stay back, at least ten to twenty feet behind me at all times."

They followed John into the warehouse and to the combination lock door that he was used to opening.  Deftly, The Impostor opened the door, and stood back, letting John go first.  The three of them stepped into the room.  Ray was stunned, voicing that it was an either an exact copy of Todd's cell for the last eight years, or the real thing.  John turned and noticed The Impostor swirling a coin between his fingers and fighting to keep his breathing regulated.  "Hey buddy, you okay?"

He began to hyperventilate.  John called out, "Ray!"

Ray's attention turned to The Impostor, and rushed to his side.  Helping him to the floor, they avoided the chair intentionally, and Ray recited to him the three deep breaths rule.  "Come on, focus, look at my face and focus.  Slow your breathing.  There you go."

"Oh God," he began to cry, "it's all coming back."  Squeezing his eyes, he became overwhelmed with the sights and sounds in his mind.

"It's all right, you're safe.  The bad things, they are not happening right now."

"I know.  It's just.  Oh my God, he made me do things.  Believe things."

John looked at Ray and Ray continued.  "What did he make you do?"

"He made me lie, about who I was.  He made me pretend to love people.  The only thing is, he never counted on me falling for her.  For Tea."

Ray put a hand on his shoulder.  "No, he didn't count on that. Did he?"

He shook his head.  "He made me do other things, too.  He made me into Todd Manning.  And he made me take his life and leave him to die.  He wasn't even my real father,"  he cried. 

John was certain, after hearing this, as to who the "father" was.  He let the man continue as he searched all of the drawers and cabinets in the room.

The Impostor continued, "He adopted me as an adult.  He gave me everything.  I was young, about 25.  I was a drifter and not American-born.  I had nothing, I had no one.  He promised me everything.  He turned my life around, I was wealthy, I was on top.  All I had to do was cooperate, he told me.  And little by little, he was brainwashing me to be his pawn."  he paused, "At first it wasn't all bad, I did small things to take revenge on people who wronged me.  One of them was Todd Manning.  Later, he concocted this huge plan to get back at him for me and for himself,"  he sobbed, "And I fell into it with the help of his drugs, money, and promises.  I never meant to hurt people.  But that's what I did.  I didn't even know what I was doing.  I really believed I was Todd, all those years.  I really did."  He stopped a moment, running his hand over his whole face, "I convinced that little girl.  I made Starr think I was her father.  How could I do that?  I lost my family as a child.  I should have known what it would do to her."

Ray reminded him to breathe deeply, and he obliged for a few moments, reigning in his despair.  After a few moments, he added, "When I fell for Tea, things started to change.  I stopped seeing 'my father' regularly.  I started to become more like myself.  She loved me, and I loved her.  When Todd Manning popped up, he began to summon me more often.  Now I know why."

John, holding a slip of paper he had found, said, "What is his plan?"

"He needs something from Todd.  Not sure what it is.  But his plan is probably to use Blair to get Todd to talk.  After all, he knows how futile it was before trying to torture it out of him.  But Blair, that's everything to Todd.  Everything.  He plans to set them free."

Ray repeated, "Set them free?"

"Kill them."

"I think we're in luck,"  John said.  He held up a delivery slip that had a different address than that of the warehouse.  "Worth a try?"

"You're the cop." Ray said.  "Are you sure you're up to this?" He turned to the third man.

"Yeah.  I have to see it through.  I'm starting to remember who I am, and if I can get all that back, it will be a positive thing for Tea and Me."

Ray put his hand on the man's shoulder.  "You're doing well.  You really are."

"I don't think I was tortured as much as Todd was," he said.  "I remember needles and drugs more, and long conversations and repetitive talk.  I think I was in that chair maybe a total of five times.  Those were the times I spoke against him.  He put me there to control me, dissuade me from having my own thoughts.  I was weak, I gave in.  He did this recently to me, but I just loved Tea too much to go on with it.  And you already know about the face change.  He had me pose as Todd, approach Walker Flynn and make a deal about a face change, and just assume the role, the money, the power...the family."

"Hey, there's no room for self-blame here.  You've beaten the odds and have come out and fought it in the end.  No one will ever forget your help with this case.  People like 'your father' prey on the less fortunate.  Being alone as you were, he played on your emptiness."  He looked to John, "It's cruel, really.  What kind of man is this?"

His face showed another moment of revelation.  "My God, I know who I am!  Finally."  He cried with relief.

John spoke up, "I'm sorry to do this, but we have to get going.  In light of what we just heard, we don't know how much time The Mannings have left."  The three of them got back in the vehicle and followed the clues to the next location.

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The Way Back: Chapter 41

Morning finally came, and Blair woke, lying on her soulmate's chest, with his large beautiful hand on the small of her back.  Uncertain as to whether she had put his arm over her or not during the night, she sat up, hopeful.  "Todd?  Please say you're all right."  There was some early light in the room.  The hallways were quiet.  She accidentally pulled too hard on the cuff, and injured the skin on her wrist.  She rubbed the area, wincing.

He did not respond.  He was staring at the ceiling, but didn't appear restless or in pain.  His expression was blank.  To her, he resembled an angel; his hair was longer than she remembered, and a strand hung across his eyes.  She gently removed it.  His beard was growing in.  He was breathtaking, even like this.  She ran her fingers over his mouth.  "Please come back to me, my love."

He did not move.  She began to talk to him again, this time more about the future, the baby, the plans she was making in her head for their lives.  Abruptly, she remembered the ring, which was tucked inside a small secret pocket in the lace vest she was wearing over her clothes.  She took it out and held it in her hand as to hide it from the cameras, wherever they were, and pressed it into his palm so that he could feel it.  His fingers did not move, or close around it, so she closed them for him, believing he might know what it was.  Then, she put it back where it was and whispered to him, "Your father's ring" so that she could not be heard.  She then lay her head on him, with her ear to his heart, and one hand above his head chained to the bed, and the other tracing patterns on his muscular chest.  "I know you're alive.  I hear your heart.  As long as it is beating, we have hope.  You said as long as you were alive I'd have to deal with you, remember that?"

***

"Come in."  John said, as Tea and her husband entered his office.  "It's nice and early.  What brings you two in to see me today?"

"I remembered things.  I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget them.  I remember my father's face."  He handed John a drawing.  John's expression was one of recognition and puzzlement.  He looked at Tea.  "Do you see any familiarity in this drawing?"

"I do.  I'm pretty sure it's coincidental, but I do."

He looked back to the man who's wrists were still bandaged.  "Thank you.  Is there anything else?"

"Yes.  I know where I would meet him, to talk.  I can bring you there."

Again, John looked to Tea.  "This might lead us to where Blair and Manning are being held."

She nodded, taking her husband's arm.  "I'm proud of him.  It was hard, but he remembered."

"You two stay here, while I make a couple of phone calls."  He left them in his office.

She turned to her husband.  "I meant what I said.  I am proud of you."

"I wish I could remember more, but it will come."

Don't rush it, you may get more than you bargained for.  Concerned for the memories that he had not yet accessed, she shushed him.  "Now, let's be grateful for what you've been able to do.  You'll be a hero, you know that?"

"A hero?"

"Yes.  If you help find Todd and Blair, if you help rescue them, if you help bring these men down, you will be a hero.  You had a choice.  You could have stayed silent and been your father's son, and continued to assist him in whatever plan he is carrying out, or you could have stood up to him, as you did.  That's gallant.  You're my hero.  You always were, but now, even more."

"I want to be.  I want to be your hero, and your everything, as you are to me."

"Well, too late."  She kissed him gently.  He lost his hand in her hair, and pulled back from the kiss, smiling.  "Can you do this?"

"Yes."

"What if...what if it brings up more memories.  Painful ones?"

"I'm ready for that.  It's nothing compared to what Todd's endured, according to Blair and Ray.  I'm ready.  The memories don't scare me.  I want to know who I am, no matter how hard it is."

John returned.  "I did a quick check on the person that drawing resembles.  Seems he has gone off the radar.  Not in prison, not anywhere anyone can report."

"Oh my God," Tea said, covering her mouth in surprise.

"Ray Martino is going with us.  In case we need him at the scene, if Todd is located.  Or...if anyone else needs him."  

Tea eyed John, understanding.  "All right.  I might need a wheelchair, though."

"You're not coming," both men said.

Tea was about to argue, when her husband reminded her about her daughter.  "She needs you.  She just lost her uncle and found him dead.  She shouldn't be alone.  It may take us some time.  I'll be fine with John and Ray along."

She agreed, and called Shaun to pick her up.  "Be careful," she said kissing him.  "I want my hero back home for dinner this evening." He smiled after her as she got her crutches and went to meet Shaun in the lobby.

John looked at him.  "Are you sure you are able to do this?"

"Face my father?  Face my demons?  Face who I am?  How can I not?"  They departed to meet Ray at the warehouse on the docks described by The Impostor from his dream.

***

 

The music was still playing, the cellos still stringing, the violins still sounding.  He was still in her arms, hand in the small of her back, gold balloons still falling, yet the floor never filled up.  The string ensemble began to play "My One and Only Love," and he still clung to her.  Suddenly, she stopped and pulled away.  "I'm having our baby, Todd.  You have to go back."

Confused, he held her hands to his chest.  "I know you are having my baby.  You're having Starr.  You're pregnant with her.  I know."

"No, Todd. You have to go back and face the real world.  You can't stay here forever.  You know that.  It made it easier for you, for a long time, but now, I need you out there."  She pointed to a blue-white glow coming from one of the arches. 

"I'm not going, Blair.  I always stay here.  This is where I go to be with you.  To get away,"  he stopped, choking up, and fear passed over his brow and then assuaged.  "The music goes on and on.  Nothing ends.  You hold me close, and everything is okay.  I can't go.  I can't leave you."

"You won't leave me, my love.  You won't.  Things will change, and they will be hard, but you'll be with me.  You won't be in this place, forever with the same memories.  You'll make new ones.  If you stay here, you'll never see our baby born."

He became saddened.  She continued, touching his face.  "I love you.  I love you so much that sometimes I couldn't see straight.  I love you so much that sometimes I want to run and hide too, so nothing can change it.  But then, I won't have the new adventures set out for us.  You must go, my love.  You must go, my husband.  Come back to me.  Please come back to me."  He turned away from her and faced the archway.  His hair, much longer than he remembered, blew in the breeze freely.  He turned over his shoulder to look at her.  She was young, so angelic, but she was fading.  He could still see her outline, and for some reason, her voice became louder than he remembered, but her image was becoming more faint.  The light still glinted off her gown, jewelry and hair. 

Turning back away from her, the archway with the blue-white glow was closer than he recalled.  Standing by it, he attempted to look through.  Seeing nothing, he listened to her calling him.  "Todd?  Todd?  Come back to us.  We're going to have another baby, Todd.  We're going to love each other and our baby and our children.  Please, Todd.  Don't leave us, again.  Come back to me."

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The Way Back: Chapter 40

Over dinner, the silence was striking.  He picked at his food.  She sat across from him, doing the same. Finally, she looked up.  Catching his eye, she reached across and covered his hand with hers.  

He spoke.  "You're going to leave me, aren't you?"

She shook her head.  "No, I'm not going to leave you.  Never.  This is not your fault."

"Not my fault?"  he threw his napkin down and got up, pacing.  "Not my fault.  Blair is missing, she's my son's mother, for f#ck's sake.  What happened to her?  Why can't I remember anything?  I can't help!"  he slammed a fist down, accidentally landing on a knife left on the counter from dinner preparation.  He started bleeding, and Tea attempted to hobble over to him.  "Don't hover, I don't deserve it."

She disregarded him, and got a cold towel, cleaning the cut.  "There, it's only a small cut.  It's okay." She looked into his eyes.  Placing her hand on the back of his neck, she pulled him to her.  She kissed him, and he resisted.  

"Stop.  You may as well leave me now.  What happens when I remember?  What if you find out who I really am, and you don't love me anymore?"

She didn't respond.  Instead, she went back to kissing him, repeating the same action.  He kissed her back for a few seconds, before pulling away.  "Stop.  We don't know who I am, where I am from, who my father is, and what role I played in all this."

She didn't respond.  She repeated her action a third time, bringing his mouth to hers.  He finally wrapped his arms around her waist and their kiss deepened.  She pulled back first, and said, "I love you.  No matter what, I love you and  will stand by you.  You were tortured, brainwashed, and more.  How can I hate you for that?"

"I do."

"Stop, please.  Let this take it's course.  You just started therapy and look at all you found out in one session."

"If it weren't for Ray working with...with Todd, we wouldn't have gotten very far.  He knew what buttons to push.  My only memories are of you and Dani, and my life here for the last eight years.  And now, add these torture sessions.  The guilt, it's so hard to deal with.  I've had that treatment a number of times, and it makes my skin crawl, but eight years, daily, being totally at the mercy of someone?" 

"It's not your doing.  You didn't know.  You're not responsible."

"I still don't even know why I did what I did, why I took on his life, who my father is.  I don't even know who I am. "

"You're my husband."

"You're my wife."

"Take me to bed,"  she said, unzipping him, "take me to bed and love me."

***

Blair could tell it was becoming night, the room was dimmer than earlier.  There were strange glass panes, much like those in an airport, that let a minimal amount of light in.  She could reach and touch the glass, and felt coolness.  The day was ending.

She had taken a break from talking to her love, trying to bring him back to her.  She had spent the last hours detailing their whole story.  She'd been able to cover their first meeting, their encounter with a certain jukebox, and had stopped at their first wedding in Key West, as her voice was becoming hoarse.  In order to keep talking, she needed a drink.  Will they ever feed us, or give us water?  She turned to Todd.  Thinking, she stood up and pulled at the bed.  It moved.  She continued to yank the chain of the cuff as to not cut her wrists with the shackle part of the cuff, and was able to move the bed in front of Todd's chair and place herself in his line of vision.  She looked directly into his unresponsive eyes.  "Todd?  I need you."

Nothing.

"I know, that place you're in is much more beautiful and safe than here.  I just know that.  But I need you.  You're my hero," her voice cracked.  Suddenly she heard footsteps, and struggled to kick the bed back into place.  Realizing she might give herself away, she began to kick the bed anyway and pretend to be calling for them.  "Hey, anyone out there?"

The door opened, and she held her breath to see who would be there.  It was Baker.  "Ms. Cramer, why the racket?"

"I'm thirsty.  I think I need some water."

"Easily solved."  He crossed the room to a small alcove where there was a miniature refrigerator.  She could see inside it as he opened it.  There were strange items inside, some she did not want to know about, others appeared to be medicines, and supplies.  There were several sealed bottles of water.  He handed her one.  She held out her cuffs.  "You think me naive enough to free your hands?  In your present emotional state, those claws could cost me an eye, and then cost your husband his life."  She held the bottle with one hand and twisted the cap off it with her teeth.  He chuckled.  "So resourceful.  I like that in a woman."

She thought about which way to play it.  Baker did not strike her as the type of man she could seduce into anything, never mind letting her free.  "Thank you," she said, drinking.  "He's not had any water, in how long?  I know at least today he hasn't.  He could get dehydrated."  

"That is the least of his worries."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's on a dangerous path, Ms. Cramer.  At this point, he's chosen to assume this...this state.  If it's a fake, or if it's not, the fate is the same.  But, we're going to have to assure it's not a trick, you understand."

Her stomach turned.  "No, I don't understand.  I know my husband.  This is not a trick.  He's inside his mind.  He's done it before.  He can't help it."

"We believe you're right.  However, we have to be certain, you understand."  He walked toward the door.  She felt torn, almost as if she did not want him to leave.  His appearance, at least in her eyes, was more civilized than some of the others.  At the same time, she was terrified of him, and hoped it did not show in her eyes.  "Expect a visitor."  And he was gone.

***

He sat up in the dark, sweating, and unable to scream.  His breath was stuck in his throat and he couldn't inhale or breathe out for a moment.  She sat up, next to him, and put her hands gently on his shoulders.  "It's all right, Novio."

Finally catching his breath, he said in the dark, "I remember something.  I remember my father's face."

"That's good.  That will help.  Tomorrow, we can go and see John."

"There's more.  I remember a place.  I would go there, it was secret.  I met him there and we talked.  I think it might be where I went last and...came back with my memory altered, and the burns."

She thanked God that he never remembered the actual torture.  Ray had filled in some of the details surrounding the burns on his wrists.  But his mind had blocked them, or had them erased.  She wondered if he would ever remember it, and what it would do to him.  "That's good.  Do you know where this place is?"

"I think I can take us there.  I had better get up and write down what I remember."

She was proud of him.  Proud that he wanted to help, that he was putting aside his own pain to help find an answer, and find Blair, and also Todd.  She was thankful for how it had unfolded, if it had to unfold, because she had watched how Todd had been destroyed by what had happened to him.  In a strange way, she pitied Todd, and at the same time knew that he was one of the strongest men she had ever known.  But her own husband was transcending his own torment and confusion to please her.  He was also strong, in another way.  "I am proud of you,"  she said as he scribbled information on a notepad before returning to bed.

***

Blair estimated that an hour had passed since Baker had visited them.  She got up and slowly pulled the bed back in front of Todd's chair.  "Todd?  Todd, honey, please?  Can you hear me?"

He did not respond.  She inched as close as possible to him, and could almost touch his face.  She strained as much as she could until she got an idea.  Curling her foot around the leg of the bed she sat on, she pulled at his chair with all her might and it moved suddenly in her direction a few inches.  It was just enough to touch him.  Water came to her eyes as she realized she could trace his scar and touch his lips.  "Todd, please?"

Again, she heard footsteps.  She scrambled to push the bed back against the wall, and was able to move it just in time for the door to push open to their cell.  It threw a triangle of light into the cell.  Holding her breath again, she looked up to see him.  Her heart leaped into her throat.  The Slice and Dice.  He wasn't even looking her way.  In fact, his focus was on Todd.  Blair held very still, as if asleep, but in the dark she was letting her eyes adjust and watching the events unfold.

He stood before Todd, not saying a word, just tapping this curved glinting blade into his palm in a specific rhythm.  She looked at Todd, who was not moving.  This is what Baker meant.  They are going to test him to see if he is really gone!  Her panic was beating in her chest in a way that frightened her.  She felt her own heartbeat in her head.  Was he awake?  Part of her had been fighting for hours to hear his voice and see him stir, and she now cursed that part of her and wished it gone forever, as she prayed for him to be safe in his mind.  

She heard the tearing of fabric, and from the corner of her eye, she saw The Slice and Dice ripping into Todd's uniform at the back shoulder.  When he drew the blade across Todd's skin, she thought she might scream, but shut her eyes and squeezed them tightly, praying he was not feeling what was going on.  She could not watch the rest, but her mind gave her an indelible picture of what was being done.  He finished, wiped his blade, and then went to the refrigerator.  He took out a bottle of water, drank it.  Approaching the door, he stopped in the dark.  Blair covered her own mouth to stifle a scream.  "Don't bother moving the bed away every time you hear us.  We see everything you're doing anyway and it makes no difference."  Then he went on his way, tapping his blade to make his report to the boss.  

In the dark, Blair prayed and cried silently.  Afraid to move until it was very quiet and still again, she got up and dragged the bed over to him.  Again, she positioned the bed in front of him and reached out in the dark (at this point there was no light in the room aside from a dim moon glow through the bubbly glass pane above the bed), and touched his face.  "Todd?  Todd come back to me.  Please.  I need you.  Todd, I'm so sorry."  She was still shaking from what she had seen.  

After working the bed and chair again for several minutes, with her feet around the bed leg as leverage, she was able to get close enough to lean in and wrap her free arm around him.  He needs to be held.  He needs me.  Quietly, she pushed herself as far as she could against him, and pulled his head lower to her shoulder, stroking the back of his hair.  When adjusting herself, her free hand accidentally grazed a wet spot on his back that she assumed was blood and she felt a twinge of nausea pass.  The other hand was behind her awkwardly, still fastened to the bedpost by the cuff.  "Come back to me, please."  She rocked him and held him and said to him, "We're having a baby, and we need you, the baby and I both do." She whispered in his ear, "And we have to get the hell out of here!"

She dozed, with her arm around him.  He hadn't moved.  Her hand was tingling and becoming numb behind her, which meant she would have to let go of him for a while and let it get circulation back.  It was then that she heard footsteps in the hall once again, and almost wet herself with fear.  She waited, and the door opened with the customary whoosh of the lock release from the handprint provided.  Light poured in on them, and she made out the figure in front of them.  It was Burly.  He said nothing.

He walked over to Blair, and with her on it, shoved the bed back into position, Blair not wanting to let go of him, and beginning to cry, "please, he needs me."

He did not respond, but she saw him doing something at Todd's ankles, and then at his wrists.  She started to scream, "No!  It's enough!  You know he's gone, no more!"  And he just stopped and looked at her momentarily.

She froze.  He was still staring at her.  He finally opened his mouth to speak.  His voice was very soft and pleasing, very unlike what she had expected.  "I'm undoing his bonds.  Don't cry."

She waited.  She watched as Burly lifted Todd off the chair.  Her man's head flopped back as if he were dead, and for a moment, she knew she would not be able to tell if he were alive or not without touching him.  "No, don't take him away from me, please?"  Her panic was audible.  He walked toward her with Todd in his arms, and placed him next to her on the bed, as if a child being cared for.  She burst into tears.  Looking up at Burly, she sought his expression, but he would not meet her gaze.  Instead, he took out a pair of handcuffs, and then stopped, as if thinking better of it.  He left Todd unrestrained, and headed to the door.  "He's suffered enough," he said, "let's give his wrists a rest," and he left them in the dark.

Blair cried onto Todd's chest in the blackness, her shoulders shaking with desperation.  The only thing she could think of to do was softly sing, so she murmured a song she had sung to Starr years ago.  "Close your eyes and rest, your weary mind.  I promise, I will stay, right here beside you.  Today, our lives are joined, became entwined.  I wish that you could know, how much I love you," and hummed the rest until she fell asleep.

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The Way Back: Chapter 39

"Gentlemen, all our plans for making Mr. Manning speak to us are on hold.  The 'secret weapon' has arrived.  The boss has just had it delivered,"  Baker said.

Two henchmen, appearing somewhat flustered, flew into the boardroom with Blair, gagged with one of her own trouser socks, kicking and fighting.  "Ms. Cramer, so glad you could join us."

One of the men spoke, "We had to use her own sock to shut her up.  She put up a big fight.  The boss said we couldn't hurt her, but she just was screaming so loud, we had to quiet her somehow."

She kicked and swung around wildly in the grip of the men.  Attempting to speak, she could be not understood through her gag.  Baker laughed.  "Quite the feisty one.  Who else as a mate for Mr. Manning?"  Her eyes were fire.  "Ungag her, I am dying to hear what she has to say."

"You f#cks."  In surprise as to how her anger had involuntarily formulated her reaction, "Where is he?  What have you done to him?  Anything yet?  Any of your cruel games start yet?"

He bellowed with laughter, "games?"  Then his face became stone.  "You have no idea what you're dealing with, do you?"  She looked around the room.  Through the hours of dealing with nightmares, episodes, and times when he would fall apart in her arms and spill details of the horrors, she recognized them all.  Baker.  Kent.  Burly, she knew from the patch on his eye.  The Thin Man.  The Slice and Dice.  She shuddered uncontrollably at the latter's face.  Nothing she had ever seen was colder.  He was tapping some kind of odd-shaped knife against the table.

She found her words, "Where's the Grim Reaper?"

Baker turned his attention to her.  He applauded, dramatically.  "You have done your homework.  You're quite faithful to this whimpering mass of tissue we call Todd Manning."

Her eyes became slits as she squinted with anger, "How much whimpering would he be doing if you weren't strapping him down and torturing him?  Playing with his mind and using his childhood torments as weapons?  You're all cowards.  Anyone can defeat a man who is defenseless.  Why don't you try to bring him down without the drugs, the wrist bands, the cutting, the burning, and the electric shocks?"

From behind her, she heard a sound.  Turning her head wildly, she saw the door just close shut.  She had not been able to see who was watching and listening before he headed away from the boardroom.  She looked back to Baker.  "Who was that, your boss?  He must be the biggest coward of all to hide from a woman!"  She spit at the door.  Either that or he knows me, and knows I know him.  The men erupted into various sounds of reaction to her words.  Most were simply amused.

"I believe we have had enough of your jabbering."  Baker said, and nodded.  The man called Burly took her arm.  His one large hand was stronger against her than the two men who had captured her.  She looked at him, choosing to save her words for another time.  She caught his one eye, and saw something in it she didn't expect.

"Take her to that area we discussed. I hope you'll enjoy your surroundings," Baker said.  And, escorted by Burly, she walked to her next unknown destination.

She said nothing.  Burly also remained silent.  He opened a door using his hand, and running it over the scanner.  She looked at his visible eye.  He shifted from her gaze and pushed her inside the room.

A barren cell-like hole in the wall, she saw plain gray walls, a small bunk, a small sink, a silver toilet.  Her first thought was Statesville.  He'd been in prison.  Her eyes scanned the room, and then, Todd, in the chair he described, his hands and ankles manacled to the contraption.  Dressed in all white, his hair, which was growing since he came home, was starting to brush against his shoulder, and one side was in his eyes.  He didn't flinch when he saw her.  She could barely speak.  "Todd?"  It was a whisper.  He didn't move.  He's in his safe place.  Catatonic.  What did they do to you, my husband?  Her heart broke.

Burly was still there.  She turned, crying.  "Please.  Please, let us go.  I know the Police Commissioner, we can help you.  Please.  Don't let him go through this again."

Burly did not respond.  Instead, he pushed her to the bed and took out a pair of cuffs.  Roughly, he cuffed her to the bed and slammed out of the cell.  She pulled at it for a few moments and realized it was cutting into her skin when she did.  Instead, she turned her attention to him.  "Todd?  Todd, can you hear me?  It's Blair.  Oh please, please Todd."  He did not respond.  She attempted to get closer to him, but because of the cuff, she couldn't even get into his line of vision.  It was her voice or nothing, and she planned to talk herself hoarse until her husband responded.

***

Ray ignored the knock on the door, as the man in front of him was shattering before his eyes.  Tea, broken ankle and all, was on the floor, and his head was cradled in her lap.  He was covered in sweat, his face was stained with tears, his nose running, his breathing near hyperventilation.  She was calm.  She stroked his hair, "Querido.  Hay esperanza.  Va estar bien. He still does not know who he is,"  she said.  "Dr. Martino, the door."

"I'm in session,"  he called out.

"Doctor, it's John McBain, LPD.  It's urgent I speak to you."

Tea heard the voice and nodded.  "He may know something or be able to help."

John entered the door opened by Ray and said, "Dr. Martino, Todd Manning is missing, and I'm afraid so is Blair..."  He stopped short, seeing the scene with Tea and The Impostor on the floor.  "Tea?"

Tea was alarmed, "Blair is missing?"

"This is probably not a good time," John added.  "I'll wait outside."

"Actually," Ray began, "we've done all that he can take for today."

John looked at the man, who seemed ragged and torn.  He noticed, also, the cuff burns on his wrists.  To Tea, "have you learned anything?"

She broke into tears.  "He's been tortured.  Brainwashed.  Mind control or something as heinous.  He's had his face changed, surgically.  He...he doesn't know who he is."  She continued to stroke his hair.  He was inconsolable; John didn't bother asking him any questions at that point.  He'd need him to be strong and composed.  "He doesn't have a lot of memory.  John, he says his father did this to him."

John walked outside, and the sun was shining in a cloudless sky.  He took his phone out of his pocket.  "Natalie.  Anything at the Tomas murder site?  No.  Nothing here on Blair or Todd, but the guy who's claimed he's Manning for the last eight years has admitted he isn't.  No, I'm not bringing him in.  He may not be responsible for what he's done.  Mountainview.  Yep.  Let me know if you get anything on Blair, will you?"  He closed the cell and momentarily lifted his face to the sun.  Closing his eyes, he wondered who was this father and who was this man?  The identity of either might help lead him to Todd and Blair.

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