Thomas Lord: Cloaked, Ch. 10

Blair had been trying to keep things off the subject of her return to Llanview, but she saw Todd looking at the clock and knew he was wondering what had happened to John. She knew it wouldn't be long before he decided to call him. Blair took a sip of her coffee trying to get up her courage. The next thing she knew he was looking at his watch and frowning. There was no sense waiting any longer.

"You can stop looking at your watch, John isn't coming. He's already in Llanview probably. And before you blow up at me, I want you to hear me out." Blair took a deep breath as Todd gave her his full attention. "I just got you back and last night you were working on pure adrenaline. You were sick and when you heard about Jake, you panicked. I know you wanted to make sure the kids had one of us around because you're aware they're hurting. I wish you had thought about the kids when you left. Don't you realize they've been worried sick about you all this time."

She saw his face and realized she was hitting below the belt. "Sorry, I shouldn't be attacking you. I know your plan was to have me go home with John and pretend I hadn't found you, but just because I'm staying with you won't make any difference to the killer."

"Blair, the killer is just looking for a link to me, you and the kids are that link. As long as they believe you don't know where I am they'll leave you alone." Todd shook his head, he didn't want to send her home, but to keep the killers from looking at Blair and the kids, they had to appear to be in the dark about his whereabouts.

"There are only a few people who know where I am. You, John, C.J., Vicki, and Cassie are the only ones. Momma thinks I went to Paris to look for you. I even kept Starr in the dark because I didn't want to get her hopes up if I didn't find you." she paused trying to figure out if Todd was really listening.

"You told John you were going to get us all out of Llanview and I'm pretty sure you were thinking of transplanting us somewhere safe until the Feds got Hesser's partners. Todd, I'm alright with that, but I don't have to go home for that to take place."

"God Blair! Don't do this to me! I'm not sure you'll be safe if you stay. I just added to my list of enemies. At least at home, John and Bo can protect you." Even as he made his point, he knew she wasn't going to listen to him. His head told him he should get her out of Savannah before the killer figured out she might have found him, but he was losing the battle with his heart. She was right, there were plenty of avenues open to getting the children out of Llanview without alerting Hesser's partners. They could think of ways to get the children to them and he could keep her by his side. His heart was telling him to give in.

Blair heard something in his voice. Was she making headway? She decided to use another tact.  "You're right in the middle of something huge here and Amos and Cassie are the only two people that know you're Samuel Toddman. C.J. and his family only know you as Todd or Thomas Lord. Amos isn't about to lose his current star reporter if he can help it and my cousin Cassie won't give you away. I don't see why we can't set up house right here in Savannah. Thomas Lord can continue his story. You're a good reporter Todd. I know you don't want to leave the story unfinished."

He looked at her and she felt a glimmer of hope. He had stopped protesting. Could she convince him and make him see that her plan could work?  "I know what you're thinking, we would be nuts to stay here, but I think I have a way to get the family here and no one will be any wiser. I talked to Cassie and we came up with this plan. Last night I called Momma and checked on the kids and told Momma that I wanted her and the kids to join me in Paris." She stopped at his raised eyebrow. "I told you, Momma, thinks I'm looking for you in Paris. Anyway, two days after Jake's funeral service, Momma, and the kids will depart for Paris but when they arrive there they'll be met by Cassie. Before they even leave the airport, Cassie will take them to a secure terminal where a private jet will bring all of them to Savannah."

"Blair what's to stop Hesser's partners from sending word ahead to someone to watch out for Addie and the kids. Won't they just follow them to the private jet and figure out where it's headed?"

"Todd that's where John and his contacts in the FBI come in handy. John said they can put a couple more groups on the plane as decoys and those two groups will depart the plane first. One group will be met by Adriana and taken to a house that Dorian has in Paris. The other group will hopefully lead anybody who is watching in a different direction by boarding another plane to take them somewhere else in Europe. Don't you see, they 'll be so busy watching the other groups, they won't see Addie and the kids join Cassie."

Todd had stopped interrupting, he was taking in everything Blair had said. As usual, once she got a full head of steam, he usually had to wait her out. She really had thought it all through. He should be mad at her, but he wasn't. He was relieved. When he had awakened, he realized he wasn't going to be able to let her go with John. Then after they made love he knew he was going to have to definitely rethink his plan. Now she had just laid her plan out in from of him and she was waiting on pins and needles expecting him to explode.

He stood up and walked over to the window staring out. She was staying and the kids were headed here. They would be a family again. She knew him so well. She knew he had been champing at the bit to get back on his story. He still hadn't found the nerve to tell her about Daimler, but at least now he might be able to confirm with Addie if Daimler was Blair's father. He walked over to her. "Last night you told me you would go home and wait for me. You know how dangerous these men are, they want me dead Blair. I would have to be nuts to let you put yourself danger like that." he stared down into her gorgeous eyes and saw them begin to well with tears." Todd reached down and pulled her into his arms and wiped her tears. " I guess I'm nuts because the thought of letting you leave now would tear me apart."

Blair couldn't believe her ears, he was telling her, he wanted her to stay. With a cry of glee, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him feeling his arms embrace her fully in return.

He slowly disengaged and looked at her. " We'll set up a temporary home here Blair, but I will have to return to Llanview to give Nora my testimony. Hesser has to be stopped and his partners too." he stopped her as she tried to say something else.

"It's not going to be a bed of roses either, the kids will probably give us grief when they hear what we're going to do. We've got to make them understand that this is only a temporary solution until the threat is neutralized. Are you with me on this?" he looked into her eyes, he wasn't sure she had heard much after he said he didn't want her to go anymore.

Blair smiled at him and Todd smiled back. "I'm with you all the way. Don't you remember we're unstoppable when we put our minds to something."

"You're right Blair. That's us, a force to be reckoned with," replied Todd.

Blair laughed, she reached down and picked up his coffee and handed it to him, then raising her own cup she toasted. "Look out world, here come the Mannings."

****

It was mid-afternoon when Blair finally left to go see Cassie and finish ironing out the plans to bring the rest of the family to Savannah. She and Todd had worked through a few more issues after his decision to let her stay, he had apologized to her for not considering the kids when he had disappeared. Then he had listened and held her as she gave in to the sadness of losing Walker.

There had been a time when she had loved him and although her feelings had been there because she had believed he was Todd, they had still been there. She ached for her children too. Jack especially, because Walker had been the father he grew up with. Blair knew Jack needed his real father now more than ever, and things had been smoothing out between Jack and Todd after the wedding, but when Todd disappeared, Jack had started acting out again. Hopefully, Todd would be able to get through the anger Jack had managed to build up again.

The taxi pulled up in front of Cassie's and Blair paid him and joined her cousin. There was a lot to get done in a couple of days, if everything went according to plan, her family would be back together soon.

Todd picked up the phone and called Amos. "Amos, sorry for the cryptic call last night. Things have settled back down here. What's the word from your source at the police station? Are the perps still in custody?"

"Tom, according to my source at the station, all sorts of heavy-duty attorneys have shown up and police are being stonewalled. Word has it even the Feds are running into flack for detaining the ship. Someone appears to have some pretty high connections in the government. What's your next move, Tom?"

"I've been looking into the corporation that owns that ship and I've still got my own connection, who told me the three men who disappeared, probably have some of the same connections in the government. I'm headed down to the police station to see if I can talk to someone I know who's in custody. Before I run down there though, I'm coming in to talk to you. I think it's time you heard some of my story."

A short time later Thomas Lord walked into the Herald Newsroom. Amos noticed the man was a little pale, but he didn't say anything. Amos had had a long chat the previous day with the police detective looking for Samuel Toddman. During their chat, he realized that the detective had been at the docks alongside Lord and he had informed Amos that Lord had taken a pretty hard beating the night of the raid. Amos was able to put two and two together and figured out that his injuries must have been the reason for Lord's no show the morning after his article went to print.

As Lord reached him, Amos said. "Heard you got closer to the action during the raid then you let on that night. You okay Tom?"

Todd smiled ruefully, "Sure, I'll be good as new as long as I follow doctor's orders. Can we take this talk somewhere more private Amos?"

Amos got up and headed to an office that was not in use. Lord really had his curiosity up now. "That was quite some piece you wrote Tom, I've gotten calls from the Wilmington News wanting to run the article in their papers. The raids made national news and we scooped the country. How long are you planning on sticking around this time Tom?"

"Well now that you bring that up Amos, I'm going to be sticking around a little longer than I originally planned; one of the reasons being this story isn't finished and second is the reason I wanted to talk to you."

Todd knew Amos was itching to know more about him, and since Amos had let him waltz back in and given him a job no questions asked, it was time to let him know who he was really working with.

****

Todd chose his first words carefully. "I guess I should start with Samuel Toddman." he looked at Amos, who had taken the chair opposite him.
"I know you got an email about him several days ago."

Amos nodded and replied. "The picture was a dead giveaway. Not to mention the article said you were recently blinded. So why the name change? When did you become this Samuel Toddman?"

"Samuel was born eight plus years ago. I awoke in a hospital in Philadelphia only remembering the name Samuel Toddman. I had been severely injured but had no memory of what had happened to me. Virtually I was a new man. I moved to Paris and became an artist living a rather quiet life.
There was just one problem, I was haunted by the fact that the rest of my life was a blank."

Todd told Amos of his reason for moving to Paris, of the feelings that had driven him to hide. He told him about his watchers and the headaches that plagued him when he would try and remember. "The funny thing was Amos, I was getting these images and they became the subjects of my paintings. Then everything changed. Blair came looking for the artist of a portrait that had been given to her. That artist was me. She recognized me and although I knew her face, I didn't realize she was my ex. Still, that encounter opened a door to my memories. I've spent the last eight months trying to regain my life."

"Tom, what about these so-called watchers. Were they real or just something you imagined?" Amos asked out of curiosity.

Todd looked over at Amos and frowned. "Oh they're real, they and their bosses are the reason I lost my memories and my life. You would think my memory loss was simply the result of a terrible accident. You would be wrong. It was much more insidious than that. My memories were ripped from me, one at a time, as part of an experiment, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back eight years. You asked me once how I received my second scar. Do you remember?"

Amos nodded, that was one wicked scar and the story behind it was probably fascinating. "I'll admit I was curious how you got it. It must have been harrowing."

Todd laughed, "Harrowing, heh, you have no idea."

Amos felt a chill go down his spine, Tom's voice held an edge he hadn't heard before.

"There's a lot about my life I'm not going to go into right now. It shaped me in ways you probably wouldn't understand. I was a mess when we first met. I was running from my past and trying to make sense of the chaos in my head." Todd saw Amos's expression. "Don't bother asking, that's a whole other story."

Todd got up out of the chair finding it suddenly confining. he began pacing, "You were a pretty straight arrow back then. I landed on your doorstep and announced I wanted to write for you and you didn't blink an eye. I remember giving you some Cock and Bull story about working for my father's paper and wanting to try my hand at some serious reporting and you gave me that chance. I've got to ask. Just why did you hire me back then?"

Amos shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess I got a kick out of the story you were telling me. You were weaving me a doozy and I figured anyone with an imagination like yours might make a passable reporter beside you had a look about you. You appeared to be searching for something and I thought 'what the hell' if I didn't like your work I could just fire you."

"Ha, I should have known. Still, I'm glad you gave me the chance. That year proved to me that I wasn't totally worthless. After that last series of articles, I figured I had stirred up enough bad blood down here. You were under pressure to get rid of me from people associated with the judge. I thought it was time to go home and face up to my life back there. Sorry if I left you in the lurch."

"You're right Tom, things were dicey after your articles, but I wouldn't have thrown you under the bus. You had surprised me. You viewed stories from an angle a lot of reporters didn't. They were gritty and messy but truthful. I was disappointed when you left. I even tried to see if your by-line showed up anywhere else, but you just dropped off the map. I take it home was back in Llanview. Did you find what you went back for?"

"Yes and no. I reconnected with my wife and daughter and helped my son be born, but I hadn't escaped my past and I found myself making the same mistakes all over again. Then I got the shock of my life. My very dead father turned out to be alive, at least for a while, and he had teamed up with an even more reprehensible piece of scum known as Mitch Laurence. "

"Hey, I know that name. That's the fanatical cult leader currently in Statesville right?" asked Amos.

"That's the guy. First, the scumbag kidnapped my wife and then he stole my family's legacy. To make matters worse, I found out he had raped my sister. I wanted him dead." Todd had moved to the window, but all he could see was Mitch's red face as he was choking him.

"My god," Amos didn't know what else to say. He had a sister and if someone had raped her, he probably would have wanted the fella dead too. Could his sister's rape be the reason he had fought so hard to save the girls? "What did you do Tom?"

"I tried to kill him."

Tom had spoken so calmly that Amos wasn't sure he had heard him right. He had never expected to hear that come out of Tom. The man had just gotten himself seriously beaten trying to save a bunch of children. There was no way he was a killer. "Tom?"

Todd looked over at Amos and shrugged. "I didn't, he was my niece's father and for her sake I relented. Unfortunately for me, he had no such qualms.  Mitch Laurence had his goons kidnap me, then he threatened my family and went so far as to manipulate someone into killing my best friend and then framing me. Then he had his goons nearly beat me to death. His men dumped me on the side of the road to die. Before departing, Mitch took out his knife and carved this scar in my face and taunted me saying I would go to my death with his mark on me. That was the last thing I heard as I passed out."

Todd walked back over to the seat and dropped into it. Thanks to Samuel he had those memories back and as horrible as they were, they were much easier to accept than the delusions that had haunted him after he had returned to the tomb of his father. Only a few people were privy to those memories and those people would never tell Todd's deepest fear: Rape.  The word was forever burned into his soul. It was the driving force that controlled his life. He was both victim and perpetrator, and he walked a very fine line struggling to keep his dark side under control.

Amos moved over to the desk in the room and opened the computer sitting there. Thomas had stopped talking and seemed lost in thought. It only took a moment for Amos to pull up copies of the Banner from the year 2003, he knew Thomas was leaving out a lot and wondered if he could get the answers from any articles written during that time.

Todd heard him typing and knew Amos was looking into stories about Laurence in 2003. He waited, knowing what Amos was going to find.

Amos sat back stunned. He had found the stories about Laurence, and then he had found a story about a man named Sam Rappaport and his murder, but the man accused of his murder wasn't named Thomas Lord. The man accused of murdering his best friend was the Sun's publisher Todd Manning. Amos had looked back further and read more about Todd Manning. He discovered the man was a convicted rapist, who had been pardoned by the Governor of the state for saving the lives of a policeman, two children, and more importantly, his rape victim. Todd Manning also turned out to be the son of Victor Lord and half brother to the current publisher of the Banner, Victoria Banks. The pictures in those early articles were a much younger version of the man sitting opposite him. That would mean Thomas Lord was really Todd Manning.

Amos studied the man sitting in front of him. When he had first met Thomas Lord, he had seen a troubled young man. There had been something, behind his eyes back then, that haunted him. Now Amos knew what it was. When he had gone after that judge, Thomas hadn't cared that he was stepping on some mighty big feet, he had attacked with abandon like he was trying to wipe out a wrong, any way he could. Thomas had shown the same reckless attitude once again, with his latest story. He had been heedless of the danger to himself. He had only one purpose and that had been to get those children free. Thomas Lord was still trying to redeem himself after all these years.

Amos found his admiration growing for the man in front of him. He had been proud of him when Thomas had stood his ground and written his article about the Judge. He had told Thomas the truth earlier too, no matter the pressure, he would have stood by him. He really had been disappointed when Thomas had disappeared. When he had gotten Lord's call out of the blue, he had welcomed the chance to have Thomas writing for him again. It had been a shock to see the toll the years had taken on him. Thomas's remark that afternoon about there being one heck of a story had been spot on. So far, it was an eye-opener.

Now there was only one problem with the whole picture unfolding before Amos. There had been a major news story, just the morning before, of the death of one Todd Manning, Publisher of the Sun. Amos spoke to Thomas. "What the hell is going on? You acknowledged that you were Samuel Toddman. The same Samuel Toddman who has been missing for several weeks. Then you tell me a story which is bizarre, to say the least, but everything you said about the events leading up to your scarring were true. Only after everything you've just told me and everything I've just read, you're not Samuel Toddman or Thomas Lord; you're really Todd Manning. That makes no sense, in fact, it's impossible, if you're Todd Manning, then who the hell is the Todd Manning who was shot and killed yesterday?"

Todd had met Amos's eyes a few minutes before Amos had asked his question. They had looked at him honestly and to Todd's surprise, there had been no condemnation in them. Amos knew his story and was accepting him just the way he was. Todd felt a sense of relief wash over him. It gave him the impetus to finish his tale. Todd's spirits raised another notch. Amos deserved to know the rest so he would be prepared for any fallout that might come Todd's way, but Todd couldn't quite resist the urge to tease the old man.

"Ahh. That is a reasonable question. The answer is very complicated. You're a very busy man and this story might take a little longer. Maybe we should shelve this for now. How about some lunch." Todd got up and started to head for the door.

"You hold it right there son. You don't drop a bombshell like this in my lap and leave the tale undone. We'll order in, we're not leaving this office until I know the whole story." Amos reached for a phone, called his favorite deli, and pointed to the chair Todd had just left. "Sit."

Todd smiled and sauntered back to his chair.

Amos was shocked, he had never seen that smile before. There was a very boyish quality to it. This playful side of Thomas was intriguing. He wondered what had changed Tom's mood. Whatever had done it, just added to the puzzle that was Thomas Lord.

Todd took a big bite out of his sandwich peering over the top of it at Amos. He could tell Amos was getting a little impatient so he swallowed and said "So you want to know how I can be Todd Manning and yet Todd Manning was shot and killed. It's simple. He was an impostor."

"You're serious. That's what you're giving me, the Todd Manning who died was an impostor. What do you take me for an idiot? I just got finished reading his history or your history, I'm not sure which. According to the stories you returned to Llanview with a new face and resumed your life. You were tried and sentenced to death for the murder of a Margaret Cochran and her unborn child, saved miraculously by her return and later, once again charged with the rape of your first victim Marty Saybrooke." Amos knew even as he repeated it how far fetched the whole idea was.

Todd took a sip of his drink and cleared his throat. "Yep, that's what the history says. Only one problem, I didn't return to Llanview until February of this year, but we're getting ahead of ourselves." Todd got up and went to a storyboard that was set up in the room. Grabbing a marker, he drew a diagram showing the year 2003, under that year he put his name, Todd Manning. Then he drew two arrows, one going up, and another going down. On the one going up, he put the date he awoke in Philadelphia and the name Samuel Toddman, Artist living in Paris, returned to Llanview Feb. 2011 and on the one going down he put the date of his supposed return to Llanview and the name Walker Lawrence aka Todd Manning, convicted murderer, subsequently cleared, now dead. He left the diagram unfinished and put a big question mark on the board.

Amos waited knowing the story was about to get good. If Tom was the real Todd Manning, and he then became Samuel Toddman, then he was right, the man who took his place was indeed an impostor.

"As you can see, I can't be in two places at once. The question you have to ask yourself is,...Do you believe I'm Samuel Toddman and if you do, then can you believe I'm Todd Manning?"

Tom was right, his whole story was based on one thing, he either was or wasn't, the original Todd. He had never said outright that he was Todd Manning, but he hadn't denied it. Amos looked hard at the man in front of him. There was no attempt by Tom to hide any details, he was being perfectly honest with Amos, and as such Amos had an inkling that the man looking back at him was the real Todd Manning.

"I believe you're Todd Manning. So tell me how did some impostor take over your life so completely."

"That my friend is the rest of the story. Go with me now. Mitch Laurence left me for dead on the side of the road. I was found by a passerby, unfortunately, my savior turned out to be another enemy of mine by the name of Carlo Hesser. "

Amos interrupted. "Wait a minute, Isn't he the master criminal recently arrested by the Feds."

"The one and the same. Carlo found me and for some reason decided I would be useful to him, so he had me taken to a clinic where they saved my life and got me stable. Then he had me delivered to a facility outside Philadelphia. The facility was run by a rather nefarious Doctor known as Ivan Kipling. Here is where the story gets weird." he paused, wondering if he could really tell this part of the story to Amos.

Amos saw a shadow cross Tom's face. Something about this story was bothering him. For a moment Amos thought he had saw fear on Tom's face. Whatever occurred at that facility, had left its mark on Tom. He waited patiently, Amos knew Tom would continue when he was ready.

"You asked me how an impostor could take over my life so completely. It's simple when that impostor has been fed every memory of the person he's going to replace. You see, Hesser saw a helpless guinea pig when he discovered me that night and he took advantage of the opportunity. He and his pal Ivan Kipling were doing clandestine illegal experiments on humans subjects to perfect their hardware."

A chill ran down Amos's spine once again as he figured out where this tale was going. Tom's face had become impassive, his eyes had turned cold as he continued.

"The project involved literally stripping memories from one subject and transplanting those memories in a second subject. The second subject was then further indoctrinated to fully believe he was the original subject. The second subject was kept under control and placed in his new life. The first subject was also tampered with so that all of his memories were locked away and in essence, he became a blank slate."

Todd stopped talking as his head started pounding. It began near the back of his head where the surgery had been performed. He raised a hand and noticed it was shaking. It couldn't be happening, the implants were gone. The headaches should have been neutralized. Suddenly without warning, intense pain stabbed through his head. Todd staggered and caught himself from falling by holding onto the storyboard. His hand went to the back of his head out of reflex and he felt a jolt as his ring responded to something. As quickly as it had hit, the pain disappeared.

Todd pulled himself together trying to regain some composure, Whatever had just happened was mixed up with the implants. Great, just what he needed. It was looking more and more like Blair was right. There was still a piece of implant left inside him and it was doing the job it had been programmed for, trying to stop memories. As his thoughts cleared he realized Amos was standing beside him.

"Tom are you alright? What the hell happened just now?"

Todd didn't answer immediately, instead, he made his way back to his chair and sat down. He was trying to figure out how much more he could tell Amos, " I'm not sure I can answer that question, Amos. I'll tell you what I know. Hesser implanted a device in my head eight years ago. "

"You're serious, they put something in your head, for what purpose?" asked Amos.

Todd took a deep breath and prayed the pain would stay away. "I told you they stripped memories. The implants had a twofold job. First, they read your deepest thoughts and memories, then it felt like a razor was taking thin strips of those memories, one strip at a time and slicing it. Picture being skinned alive from the inside out as memory after memory was forcibly sliced away."

Thomas was very pale and drawn as he continued his tale. Amos had seen war prisoners talk about their ordeals and Thomas was relaying a story very similar to theirs. Amos wondered how one survived such an attack.

Todd found himself reliving Kipling's process all over again with one difference, the pain was staying away. Somehow the pulse he had felt from his ring had stopped it. Deep down he knew he had to get this story out. If he was going to get past the anger that had made him torture Hesser, he needed to face up to the whole truth.

He continued his story. "It took them over a month to read and process all my memories. I could do nothing to stop them, they left me broken in body and mind when they delivered me to Philadelphia General or so they thought. Unbeknownst to them, I had managed to preserve a small part of myself, a part they never found out about. That part was Samuel Toddman."

Amos wanted to hear more but Thomas was really looking ragged. Amos walked up behind Tom and put his hand on his shoulder. "Tom I think you should stop now, I can figure out the rest."

Todd shook his head. "I've got to finish Amos, I need to make sure that I'm finally free. I told you the implants were two-fold. In my case, the second job of the implants was to make sure I didn't regain my memories. The implants administered pain whenever I tried to remember. The pain that I experienced in those early months after waking up began to affect my heart. My heart is permanently damaged but I'm still kicking. Recently, with the help of the man who became Todd Manning, I was able to take down Carlo Hesser and Ivan Kipling."

Todd knew he was just about finished. Todd told Amos the rest of the story. He gave Amos a short version of how a man by the name of Jake Boudreau had been kidnapped and beaten by Hesser's men and then he became the recipient of Todd's memories. Todd told about the different implants that the fake Todd Manning had carried around in his head and how they began to deteriorate in the last year and how Manning had become more irrational due to the implants. Todd told how his own implants had been discovered after a severe headache attack had almost killed him. It hadn't taken a genius to figure out if he had implants then Manning must have had some too.

"It was the removal of my implants the caused my blindness. After taking down Hesser and Kipling, I had what you might call a meltdown. I was sure I was a danger to my family so I disappeared and ended up here. My wife kept searching until she found me the other night. We're working things out and for the time being, I intend to stay and finish my story. All I ask is that you keep your knowledge of my true identity between you and me. Can I count on you Amos?"

"Of course you can count on me, Thomas. There is just one thing, you said some experimental device was enabling you to see. How did you find out about that device?" Amos asked.

"That's a story for another time, Amos. You should know, one of the reasons I'm currently using the name Thomas Lord is to protect you and others involved with me. Hesser's partners put out a hit on Samuel Toddman and Todd Manning. They've succeeded in killing Todd Manning, I'm sure they're still trying to find Samuel, so, for now, I'm trying to maintain a low profile. As far as Toddman is concerned, those partners still believe I've disappeared. They have no clue about Thomas Lord and I want to keep it that way."

Amos sat down. He had just heard a story that sounded like something out of science fiction. If he had read it, he would have thought someone had a great imagination. But Amos knew, as sure as he knew his middle name, that Thomas was telling the truth. "Tom, if anyone else had told me this story I would have laughed them out of the office. My God man, your story is amazing and having seen what you're capable of as Thomas Lord, I have to confess to believing every word you just told me. You have a job here as long as you want. If anyone comes asking I have no idea who Samuel Toddman is, other than what I read about him in the paper."

Todd stood up and smiled at his friend. "Thanks, Amos that's all I need. Now I guess I should let you get back to your job and keep going with mine. I've got a friend at police headquarters who's in need of some aid."

"You do that Thomas, I need another draft from you as soon as you can give me one, this is a hot story I want to keep it in the public's eye."

"You and me both Amos. This is one story that won't be finished until I can get to the ones behind it." Todd nodded to Amos and left.

Amos looked after Thomas, watching him go. Now that he knew the man's history, he knew the driving force behind him. Thomas Lord wouldn't stop until he uncovered the full truth behind the slave-ring.