Who's the Real Todd?, Ch. 22

As he pulled into the parking lot, memories flooded back. Good and bad they spilled into his head. Images with Marty not so good, but the images with Blair warmed his heart. He walked into the Bar and headed for the bartender. "I'm looking for a John McBain. He said you could point him out." Todd was looking around he didn't see anyone who looked like a cop.

"The boss said someone was coming but he hasn't gotten here yet. Can I get you something while you wait." asked the bartender.

"I'll have a beer. What do you mean Boss? I thought McBain was a cop." inquired Todd as he took a drink.

"He is but he also owns this place, bought it a while back when he was on suspension from the force. He's a little unconventional." the bartender set another drink down next to Todd's first and said. "You might as well make yourself comfortable. If you're here for a talk with the Boss you'll probably want some privacy. The back table close to the office is the securest place here."

Todd grabbed the two bottles and went and sat with his back to the wall where he could see everyone coming and going. It was a habit Samuel had gotten into in Paris and Todd had decided that that particular paranoid trait of Samuel's had some merit after the last week. He spotted the officer sent to protect him sitting by the door. He too sat with his back to the wall and was watching all the patrons carefully. Todd watched as he nodded toward the bartender, then Todd noticed the concealed weapon the bartender was packing when he took the officer a drink. They had a short conversation before the bartender went back to his duties. It appeared McBain used off duty cops to help staff the joint. The front door opened and a man appeared outlined by the outside sun. Todd knew it was him the minute he entered. He didn't come across like an everyday cop. This was a man who played by the rules but just barely.  What was it Blair had said? That's right, McBain was an ex FBI undercover agent. He had the air of the lone wolf about him.

John saw Todd studying him as he walked in. The man sitting at the table in the corner was quite different from the man he had seen in the hospital. He noticed the position Todd had placed himself in and recognized the trait that all predators had. Here was a man well versed in looking out for himself. He knew just what kind of danger he was in and was taking his own measures to ensure that he remained healthy. John walked to the bar and grabbed the beers set up on the counter for him, then he walked over to Todd. He had to smile as Todd's eyebrow rose as Todd took in the beers he was carrying.

"Obviously a short day, Detective McBain. I heard a few things about you from my fiance, Blair. It seems you worked for the FBI at one time. Why the change of pace? I would think things might be a little slow here for someone of your caliber." Todd took a drink and waited to hear what the man opposite him might say.

"Actually Mr. Toddman, things around here have picked up considerably, some of it surrounding you. I have a question for you. Why the Alias?" John figured what the hell he might as well jump in feet first and see if he was in dangerous waters with this man.

"I believe you already know the answer to that one. I know Blair filled you in after I lost consciousness in the hospital and I'm also sure Bo verified the truth of what Blair told you. Besides, it's not an alias. It's a name that belongs to someone Carlo Hesser is familiar with, maybe he would be the best one to explain to you." Todd leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

John was a bit taken aback. What the hell was Manning talking about?  He wondered what was going on. Manning had just gone silent. At first, John thought something had happened to Todd but he appeared to be breathing okay. John waited, if Manning didn't show some sign that he was alright soon, John would get help. He was just about to get up when he saw Manning stirring.

Samuel sat back up slowly and looked across the table. He appeared to have alarmed the man. He reached for a drink and stopped. Todd was drinking beer but Samuel had never developed a fondness for it. "Excuse me a minute Detective, I'll be right back." Samuel walked over to the bar and ordered a glass of red wine then returned to his seat opposite John. "I'm sorry for the interruption but I've never liked beer. Todd has a rather eclectic palate but I prefer a good wine. I believe it's from all those years living in Paris. Forgive me, we've never officially met. I'm Samuel Toddman." Samuel offered his hand across the table.

John realized what had just occurred. He had been around Jessica enough to know that he was meeting an alter. He hadn't expected that one. John took the hand offered. Samuel's shake was firm, John felt the irregularities and took a moment to notice the scar tissue on Samuel's palm. He also noted the swirls and whorls on Todd's fingers. This man had fingerprints in the system. John wondered what he would find if he took the prints in for analysis. "I see." John knew the details behind Jessica's alters. Something equally horrifying must have happened to Todd to produce Alters. That was another distinct difference between Todd and the Manning John had known all these years. In fact, Manning had never acted like he had anything like the alters his sister and niece had. Obviously, if Todd /Samuel was the real Manning then Carlo hadn't gotten everything he needed to implant into Walker/Manning. This Todd was pretty remarkable if he managed to keep a secret from professionals intent on finding out his whole life story. The stuff they were able to accomplish with varying degrees of torture would make an ordinary man buckle in no time. John gave himself a mental kick when he realized that Samuel was patiently waiting for more than an 'I see.' he cleared his throat and took a drink from his beer. "My apologies. I've only met Jessica's alters. So Samuel, what did Todd mean when he said Carlo was familiar with you?"

"One thing you need to know. Carlo is unaware that I am an alter of Todd's. He believes that I'm a made-up alias of Todd's that was not erased during the treatments he performed on Todd. He doesn't understand what happened but he knows that Todd has not made an appearance in eight years and he believes that I still have no memory of Todd. We are doing everything we can to keep Carlo in the dark and so you see why Todd is living as me. Also, at this point in time we have no choice, Todd arrived back in this country on my ID. Everything has been bought under my name. There are already a number of people who are aware of my true nature. All of them have been apprised of the need to keep the knowledge to themselves and we ask that you help us in that regard also, now I believe I've answered your original question. Do we have your word that this stays between us?" Samuel picked up his wine and sipped. He had stated their case to John. Was he going to help?

John was in a quandary. He had been all set to dislike this man. He knew about Todd's past and he had been sure that this Todd was as arrogant as the one he had known for the last eight years but he found himself actually liking Samuel.  Would the same be true for Todd? The only way to find out was to get to know him, and Bo said he was to be trusted and helped. Obviously, he had an enemy, one that appeared to be targeting both Todds. "Sure Samuel I wouldn't want you killed on my account," John answered Samuel's request.

"Excellent. Well that was a delicious wine but I think Todd wants to talk to you." he sat back again and drop his eyes for a moment. A few minutes later, Todd looked across at John. "Thanks for listening. You're probably wondering why I called Bo earlier." he reached for his beer and took a drink, almost choking from the taste after just drinking the wine. "Whoa, I've got to remember not to do that again." he chuckled and got to his feet. "Be right back." he walked over to the bar and got the bartender to give him a glass of water, downed it in a couple of gulps, and walked back to John. " Now where was I. Oh yes you're wondering why this meet. Here goes. Blair and I have come up with a possible suspect for the sniper who shot Manning." he paused to get a reaction and he wasn't disappointed.

John sat up straight and leaned over the table. " Spill, why the hell didn't you say something sooner."

"I figured we needed to get to know each other a little bit before getting down to the nitty-gritty. Sorry, I thought you needed to know the whole truth about me if you're to understand what I'm going to tell you now. John, can I call you John?" John nodded. "Good, bear in mind what I'm going to tell you is conjecture right now. If Blair told you about me and Manning, you are aware we are trying to prove Carlo had a hand in planting my memories in Manning and then putting him in my place here. This plan is bigger than we thought and more people are involved. It's time you saw this. As you study it I think you'll figure out what Blair and I did." Todd reached into his pocket and handed Blair's timetable to McBain.

. John got right down to business looking at the timeline Todd handed him. He acknowledged that Blair had done a pretty good job laying out the events from Walker's arrival, on. John paused at the memories of meeting Natalie for the first time. He continued down the list noting Christian's death on the list. He thought that was unusual until he noted Christian's return also on the timeline. Why was Christian a part of this timeline? He looked over at Todd. "Just out of curiosity, why did Blair add Christian to this timeline. I thought this was about you, Manning and Carlo."

"It is but you see, a funny thing popped up in my search this morning for all things pertaining to Carlo Hesser. Articles came up about Christian Vega and his connection to Carlo. Keep reading I think you'll get what Blair saw." Todd got up and ordered another beer for himself and John and rejoined John at the table.

It was a little hard to read about Christian's death, Natalie had blamed him for Christian being taken from her. John noted that Blair zeroed in on the killing that sent Christian to prison. Christian had remembered his true identity and begged John not to tell Natalie. Later he and Christian had to fight their way out of Statesville in the middle of a riot with killers chasing down both Christian and himself on Carlo Hesser's orders. Christian had managed to somehow free himself from Carlo's control. Hold it, Carlo's control, that meant Hesser had been using some sort of mind control. John saw what Blair had seen. If you followed the events from Todd's disappearance there was one thread tying everyone together, Carlo Hesser and mind manipulation.

Todd had been quietly letting John read and he recognized the moment John picked up on Blair's discovery. "You see him, don't you. The third person who has joined my elite little club."

John saw him but was having a hard time figuring out where Todd was going. Christian had broken Carlo's hold on him. "From what I'm seeing here, Carlo managed to also use some kind of mind control over Christian but that was 7 years ago. Christian broke that control."

Todd leaned on the table and said. "Are you so sure, John? As ex FBI, I know you've heard of sleeper agents. Maybe Carlo wanted everyone to think Christian was free of him. He had gone to a lot of trouble to make Christian into a killer. Do you seriously think that the man who engineered this whole switch with me and Manning would have fallen down on the job with Christian? I don't think he would. I know it's hard to believe but I think Christian is the sniper. No one would even look at Christian as a suspect. I don't like the guy but he's Blair's partner at Capricorn, he's met me as Samuel and now I have to worry he's keeping tabs on Blair. Plus Manning is expected to be released soon. Manning still has a target on this back. I was hoping to hear some good news from Bo about the two assailants that tried to kill me. I don't suppose there is anything you can tell me about them."

John frowned, this meeting had taken an ugly turn with this development. Todd was right, Christian had gotten free of Carlo's control way too easy. On top of everything else, John had the info on the assailants. John pulled the papers from his pocket " Well actually I do have news but you're not going to like it. We found their bodies down by the docks. It was a professional hit. Looks like Hesser hates sloppy work and loose ends."

That was bad news, "Damn, I was hoping you guys would get them before Carlo." Todd didn't like the fact that Hesser was cleaning up so fast. Just when he thought he had a lead, another wall popped up. " Did the marshals find any sign of Hesser at Dr. Kipling 's Home?"

"Sorry Todd, but that proved to be another dead end. We're keeping an eye on Kipling. There's been an awful lot of ambulance traffic around there lately." replied John.

Todd started to stand up but was hit with a bout of dizziness. He grabbed the table to keep from falling down. He dropped back into his chair. " Looks like I'm going to need to call Blair. My body's calling it a day." he felt the dizziness pass. "Should have realized I could only push it so far."

When Todd had started to fall and grabbed the table, John had thought he might be drunk but there were only four beers on the table. Manning didn't sound drunk if anything he sounded very clear. The lighting in the bar wasn't that hot but as he looked at Todd he could tell this was more than being drunk. Todd just didn't look real good at the moment.  Obviously, he wasn't fully recovered from that poison. "Todd, I've got a couch in my office why don't we let you lie down and I'll give Blair a call. Is she at Capricorn? He helped Todd up and opened the door to his office setting Todd down on the couch and closing the door.

Todd eased down on the couch knowing he looked pretty pathetic right at the moment but it took too much energy to worry about that. "John, call the Sun, Blair's holding down the fort till Kelly and Manning are back on their feet. Don't alarm her. Just tell her I'll be a little late getting home. I think if I rest a few minutes I should be able to drive home on my own."

John knew an exhausted man when he saw one, and Todd wasn't going to do any more driving that day. Even as he started to call Blair, Todd drifted off. "Blair, it's John I was wondering if you could stop by the bar on your way home. I've been having a chat with Todd and I wanted to go over this timeline you made. You're coming now that's great. I'll see you when you get here." he looked down at the sleeping Todd, " Okay Pal, I didn't worry her, but you're probably going to be mad at me anyway. You can talk to her when she gets here." he left the office and walked back to the table where he sat and looked at the papers Todd had brought.

With Todd resting in his office and waiting for Blair to arrive, John decided to put in a call to the station. He hit the extension for the records department and began talking, " Yes this is Detective McBain, I need you to pull up all we have on Christian Vega. I want everything, leave the file for me in my office I'll get it later." he hung up and grabbed a pencil and started making his own notes on Blair's timeline.

He began adding in times and dates when Manning showed up at Flynn's and the decision was made for Manning to have the surgery and become Walker Lawrence. He recalled that during that whole time, even before the surgery, he had never seen Manning's original face. It had been heavily bandaged from day one. Since he was working undercover, his bosses had gotten him the information on one Todd Manning who lived in Llanview, Pennsylvania. He had read Todd's whole story and hadn't liked what he read and when he had to work with the guy he had gotten a strange vibe from him. There had always seemed something a little off about the guy. Then when Manning held Marty and essentially raped her, he could no longer stand the guy. Manning just rubbed him the wrong way and surprisingly, the man in his office didn't seem half bad. If Blair had agreed to marry him again then he'd see what he could do to make sure that the guy lived long enough to make her happy.

Blair walked in and saw John sitting at the back table next to his office. Strange, she didn't see Todd. She had been sure that was Samuel's car in the parking lot. John was pretty engrossed with something. She stopped, ordered a drink, and then walked up behind John.

"You should know better than to walk up behind a cop, Blair. You never know, you could find yourself on the wrong end of his gun," said John without turning around.

Blair laughed and said. "Is that any way to talk to an ex-wife, you might just give her ideas. You're lucky I'm not looking to be on the wrong end of your gun, mister. Haven't you heard, I'm engaged to be married." she walked around and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"I heard. This is something you want, right? Are you sure with everything going on that you're not jumping into something prematurely? You and I both know what Carlo is capable of. He's vicious when backed into a corner. I hate to say this but looking at all your history here and adding in some of my own knowledge, Carlo did a number on your Todd and put one over on all of us with the current Todd. Now he's put a hit out on Manning and I doubt if he's called it off. The bodies of the two assailants that attempted to kill Samuel were found floating off the docks yesterday." he set his pencil down and looked at her. He cared a lot for Blair and didn't want to see her or her kids caught in this. "Carlo doesn't suffer fools gladly."

Blair got serious when she heard about the assailants. John was right. Carlo was cleaning house after each setback. So far he had managed to effectively cut all ties to him. Current ties at least. She was sure Carlo didn't know they had discovered his connection to Todd and the Cherryvale Clinic. "John, he's cutting ties to himself. Now you know we think Christian might still be tied to him. Do you think he'll try and cut that tie?"

"I don't want to say this, much less think it, but I'm not so sure that Christian is in any danger. If anything I think at the moment he's very safe. Unfortunately, that's not good for us. What I mean is, Carlo is very happy with Christian even though the attempt on Manning failed. I'm afraid Christian might have had a hand in the deaths of the assailants. This is all supposition because we have no proof. But the more Todd talked the more I realized he's probably right." he paused and looked at Blair knowing how this latest wrinkle was really disturbing her. She didn't want to think that her friend could be dangerous.

"Blair, I'm sorry, but I believe Christian could very well be a sleeper, a very dangerous one. I know he's not responsible for his actions but if we can't get him out from under Carlo's influence and he succeeds in killing Manning or Todd, we won't be able to save him. I can't tie him to the two assailants but I can't rule him out as their potential killer either. You need to be extra careful around Christian now. If he's working for Hesser, then he's probably reporting to him. You have to continue to be relaxed around him. I'll be looking into anything that can shed some light on this." he started gathering up her papers.

"John I thought you wanted to talk some more about the timeline and when did Todd head home you didn't say on the phone." asked Blair

"Yeah about that. Your timeline is pretty self-explanatory. The real reason I called you is in my office," said John.

Blair looked around at the office in surprise what on earth could John be talking about. John opened the door and she saw Todd on his couch, passed out.

John knew what her next question was going to be. "No Blair, he's not drunk. I think he's exhausted. When he almost collapsed he said something about his body calling it quits for the day. He said he just needed to rest for a moment and not to alarm you, and he would see you at home. I figured he's still recuperating from the poison.  He's in no shape to drive home. I know he's going to hate me tomorrow but I figured he'd rather go home with you then have a policeman take him home.  My bartender can run Samuel's car home and I'll have a patrol car bring the bartender back."

Blair thanked John and walked over to Todd. She knelt down "Todd, time to wake up."

Todd slowly opened his eyes. "Hi Blair, what are you doing here?"

"Oh you know me, I go where the action is, but I think you've seen enough action today Mister. What do you say we blow this joint?" said Blair.

Todd sat up and looked over at John. "I thought I told you not to alarm her. I thought cops could be trusted."

John shrugged " I didn't alarm her. I told her I wouldn't let you drive home in this shape and I knew you wouldn't want a policeman to take you home. So here's your ride. Sue me."

As exhausted as he was, Todd had to grin. John tried to use the old you’re too drunk to drive excuse to explain why Blair was here. He knew better. Still, he was glad to see her and John was right he wouldn't have liked going home in a police car. Standing up he slid his arm around her shoulders and she let him lean on her as they departed Rodi's. Todd threw back a parting shot. "If you seriously expect me to believe you, John, you don't know me very well. But don't worry this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."