Todd went to his safe as soon as Louie departed. He removed the chip and went back to his computer. There wasn’t much time, but he quickly downloaded all the available data. This time he programmed a timed schedule for the information to go out on the web if he didn’t make it back safely with Blair and Victor. It was his only insurance. After making sure no one could circumvent the process except him, he removed the chip from the computer and put it back in its case and left the office. There was just enough time to make it to his rendezvous with Calmar in Pine Valley. Hopefully, Louie was talking to John and arranging the takedown of Calmar’s operation.
****
Blair awoke. Her head was pounding, and when she tried to reach for it, she found out she was bound to a chair. She gingerly opened her eyes but only saw black and realized she was also blindfolded. As the fog lifted in her head, she remembered the cemetery guard chasing her down and catching her. Where had he gotten off to? “Hey, let me go. What do you want with me?” At first, everything was quiet, and then she heard a low moan coming from someplace in front of her.
“Who’s there?”
There was no answer. Whoever it was had gone silent. Blair tried to free her hands and discovered they were strapped in place. Where was she? They had figured out the previous night that the man in the cemetery probably worked for the same ones holding Victor. With her sight impeded, Blair decided to just shut her eyes and listen in case her captor came back. Another moan interrupted the silence and Blair heard labored breathing. She couldn’t free herself from the chair, but she found that it would move and so she slowly began to scoot it towards the moans.
“Look, mister, I don’t know who you are, but it looks like we’re roommates for the time being. I'm guessing you’re in a bad way and I’m afraid I can’t help much.” She continued to move the chair a little bit at a time. It hung up and stopped moving on her.
Victor was coming around. His ribs had taken another beating from Calmar’s henchman. It felt like they had punctured a lung this time, it was hard to breathe. As he lay there, he heard a familiar voice. God, you’re really going nuts. Now you’re hearing Blair. The voice continued and Victor listened stunned.
“Damn it! Move, you stupid thing.” She paused feeling around the chair leg with her foot and discovered it was attached to some wires or cables preventing it from moving any farther. “We seem to have a problem. They have me tied to a chair, and it appears they tied the chair to something too. At least if you wake up, we’ll be able to keep each other company.”
Victor didn’t know what to say. His eyes were still blindfolded, but he knew her voice all too well. Her last words filtered into his brain and he laughed weakly and remarked. “Only you,” he paused coughing, it had been a while since he had used his own voice, “Only you would attempt to move a chair that’s wired to electricity. Stop.” He couldn’t talk anymore as a fit of coughing overtook him and his chest and sides exploded in pain.
Blair stopped what she was doing as soon as she heard him. “My God. Victor?” She knew something was wrong as his coughing turned into another moan. She struggled again to free her hands from the straps holding them. “If that‘s really you, you need to hang on. Todd is going to get us out of this. I’m sure of it.” When he failed to answer her, Blair renewed her efforts to release her hands. She had to get out of the chair and check on Victor.
The coughing subsided, but Victor knew he would bring on another bout if he tried to talk so he did the only thing left to him. He took small breaths and reached out with his mind.
Todd. Can you hear me? He waited, hoping for an answer-back. He could hear Blair cursing to herself and he figured she was trying to get free, but he knew that was futile. At least she had stopped trying to move the chair any closer to him. He was about to reach out to his brother again when the door opened. He heard Blair squeal, and then felt hands grab him and drag him off the bed. The pain was too much and he passed out.
****
John was sitting behind his desk, things had just gone from bad to worse. Tomas had insisted on calling an attorney and now John was confronted by Tea
“John, why the hell have you arrested my brother? I told you I wanted Todd arrested for digging up Victor’s grave. I can’t believe you’re still believing that outrageous story you told me this morning. I insist you arrest Todd and find out what he did with Victor’s body.”
“Tea, you need to calm down. I tried to tell you this morning, that the body in the casket wasn’t just some fake dummy, it was a state of the art replica of Victor, and it had your fingerprints on it, as well as Tomas’. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you? Todd never touched the thing, so how could he have exchanged it for Victor. The other part you didn’t seem to hear this morning was that Todd insisted Victor is alive.”
Tea was stunned, the last words John said, were reverberating in her head. Victor is alive. The room spun and she fainted to the floor.
John moved quickly to her side. She was already starting to come around as he knelt next to her. “Easy, just sit up slowly. I’m sorry for the shock. You’ve been under a great deal of stress since Victor supposedly died.”
Tea looked at John confused. Had she heard him right about Victor? “I’m alright, I just forgot to eat this morning after your visit. Help me up. What did you mean about Todd insisting Victor was alive?”
“He did and he was quite adamant about it. He said he’d been in touch with him.” John gave Tea a hand and made sure she was steady before releasing her.
“None of this is making any sense. How could Todd know he’s alive, and why didn’t he tell me?”
“The way he told it, he was questioning his own sanity. That’s why he dug up Victor’s grave. He couldn’t tell you or anyone until he had some proof. Tea, your brother has been lying to you. He knows what is going on but he won’t tell us.”
Tea straightened her suit jacket. “He might not tell you, but he sure as hell is going to tell me. If he has any knowledge that Victor has been alive all this time, and he’s kept it from me, I’ll help you send him to prison.” She left John’s office determined to get to the bottom of everything. John stood watching her and prayed she would get the information they needed from her brother.
“Man, that’s one angry woman.”
John turned around in response to the voice behind him. It was a voice he hadn’t heard in months. “Louie, where the hell have you been?”
Louie stood there for a moment and then removed his hat and ran a hand over his head. “Well I guess that might take some explaining, but we really need to go, there isn’t much time. You have to listen to me, I promised him I’d lead you to them. I owe him for not bringing in the gun when he asked.”
John looked surprised. “Gun? Are you talking about Todd Manning? He really gave you the gun that night? Louie, do you have it now? Give it to me and I’ll get it tested.”
“Detective, it’s like I told you, we don’t have time. I don’t have the gun, they do, the compound. I know where it is. Now, you best be gathering up all the men you can muster, this ain't gonna be no walk in the park.”
“Slow down, Louie. What’s this about a compound?”
“Fella, I just told you. It’s where I’ve been. That’s why I’m here. I just found out what they’re up to and came to warn him.”
“Who did you come to warn?” John couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You know, the fella I gave your number to. He’s the real Todd Manning I guess. That Delgado fella lied to me. Said Manning was dangerous and they told me they would protect me. He took me to a safe house. Well, actually the house was part of the compound. Once there, they told me the best way to help my government was to lie low. It was getting colder and a warm place to stay, that wasn’t jail, worked for me."
“So that’s where you’ve been all this time? Why did you say Delgado lied to you?” With the mention of Tomas and Manning, John gave Louie his full attention.
“He said he would see that you got the gun Manning gave me.. But he lied, he still had it. I heard him talking about using it to frame Manning.” Louie squeezed his hat between his hands. “Look, we need to go. Got to take down those guys. There’s something wrong with the whole group. I found out they’ve been holding another guy prisoner. That young fella, Manning, he said the prisoner was his brother.”
John moved as soon as he heard about Victor. “Stay here Louie. I’ll be right back.” he walked into Bo’s office. “Bo, I just found out where Victor Lord is? My informant, Louie, the one we’ve been looking for, just came in. He says he can take us there.”
“John, you get a team together. Use Louie and go catch these guys. I’ve had all I can take from these federal types running all over the law in the name of the government.” John nodded and started to leave when Bo stopped him. “John, does he know if Lord is still alive?”
“I didn’t ask. He said Lord was a prisoner. That sounds like he’s alive. If he is, then Manning was right.”
“John, do we still have eyes on Manning?”
“When last I checked, Brody said he was at The Sun.”
“Good, I want him as far away from this as possible. Keep me informed?”
John rejoined Louie and began getting a team ready. Before long they were following the directions out of town that Louie had given them. With Louie riding with him, John asked the question that had been nagging him since Bo had mentioned Manning. “Louie, help me understand something. Manning just sent you to me and told you to get my help. It doesn’t sound like the guy I know. What aren’t you telling me? What’s Manning doing?”
Louie looked over at the detective. “He’s gone to meet that French guy who’s been running everything, Calmar.”
“Shit, you mean Calmar isn’t at the compound right now. Why is Calmar meeting with Manning?”
“Manning has something Calmar wants badly and Calmar has his brother and a Ms. Cramer. They’re going to make a trade.” Louie stared straight ahead. He had tried to talk Manning out of bargaining with Calmar, but in the end, he saw the determination on the fella’s face and realized nothing he said would make Manning change his mind."
John wanted to scream. When had Calmar gotten Blair? They hadn’t assigned anyone to Blair and it had obviously been a mistake. Now Manning was going off on his own to get her and Victor back. He reached for his radio. “Brody, come in. Is Manning still at The Sun?”
“Negative, John. He left a short while ago. He’s headed out of town. You want me to intercept him and bring him back?”
Louie looked over in alarm. “You can’t do that. If Manning doesn’t show up for his meeting, Calmar will kill Ms. Cramer and the brother. He’s ruthless. You need to back your guy off McBain. Manning was warned not to bring any extra visitors to the meeting.”
“John, what do you want me to do?”
“Hang back, Brody Once you determine where Manning’s headed, find a way to watch his back without being noticed. You understand? Calmar’s expecting to make an exchange and leave without trouble. You move on Calmar when the meeting is concluded and the civilians are out of the way.”
“Whatever you say, Lieutenant.”
John looked over at Louie. “You should have told me.”
“Why? There wasn’t time to stop him and if you had tried and anything happened, you would have had innocent blood on your hands, not to mention an enemy for life. This is something he has to do. I saw it in his face.”
“So you just let him divert me.”
“I saw plenty of men in the war, fighting demons any way they could. That fella has a lot of demons. He needs this to prove to himself he’s still a man and not just a shadow of his former self. I’ve been around you long enough to know you have some demons of your own, McBain. You understand better than you think, or we’d be turning around right now to go help him.”
“You’re right, I understand the guy. Maybe, a little better now than at first. But he’s not a cop or federal agent. After everything we recently found out, I don’t trust Calmar. What’s to stop Calmar from killing them all, anyway?”
“Insurance. If anything bad happens, the secret Calmar wants buried will become known worldwide. That fella is trusting that Calmar wants to avoid that at all costs. He’s pretty smart, too. He’s counting on us destroying the compound and hurting Calmar so he can’t try and hurt anyone later."
“Not saying I agree with the guy, but we’ll do our part. I still can’t believe he trusts Calmar to keep his word.”
“If I were to take a guess, I don’t think he does, but he’s a survivor. I wager he has something that will give him an edge.”
John nodded and continued driving toward their destination. He had been shocked when Louie had told him the compound was situated in the Silver Mountain area, between Llanview and the Statesville Penitentiary. Finding out a covert rogue CIA organization had been operating so close to Llanview was disturbing. Not to mention, Victor had been held there over the last few months while his family mourned him. They were approaching the location fast. John reached for the radio and began discussing the plan of attack with the two swat vehicles following him. They were going to hit fast and hard.
****
Todd glanced at his watch. He was on time and almost to Pine Valley. If everything went according to plan, this would all be over shortly, and maybe he could get his life back on track.
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