Through the Darkness, Chapter Ten

CHAPTER 10

August, 2013

When Blair got into the office, she went to the newsroom and told Briggs that if she needed it, there’d be an editorial meeting in the evening.  Briggs nodded and Blair headed to her office.  She stopped by her assistant’s desk and informed the woman that she didn’t want to be disturbed for two hours.  Once inside, she closed the door and crashed on the couch.

It had been an exhausting day and she hadn’t even tackled anything related to the paper.  And, quite frankly, she didn’t want to.

She looked around the office and was filled with a fresh wave of loss.  Every day, she missed Todd more and more.  She reached for her purse and took her phone out.  She found the picture she was looking for and stared at it for a while.  Eventually, she closed the app and put the phone away.  She closed her eyes, hoping to catch a catnap while she could.

When she opened her eyes, she was unsurprised by a number of things that should have been a surprise.  First, she was surprised that she was in a big, comfy bed.  Second, that that big comfy bed was in their room in the penthouse.  Third, that in that bed, lying next to her, was Todd.  Lastly, that Todd, lying next to her, was on his side, staring at her like he always did.

“Morning,” she said, stretching her limbs.

“More like afternoon,” he replied, his smirk/smile flashing on his lips.  “Morning was a while ago when you did that thing with your finger…”

“Really, it was?”  Blair lowered her hand and watched Todd’s face brighten.  “Ah, yes I think I remember.  And if not, or if I’m going it wrong, you could always help me too…” she said, a seductive smile on her face.

He pulled her closer and she was lost in his kiss.  She burrowed herself in the crook between his arm and his body.  “Have we finally reached it?” she asked him.

“Reached what?” Todd asked, his voice dream-like.

“That perfect place?  Nobody between us, no lies ready to catch us?  Just us and our children, living our life, finally reaching normal?”  Blair queried.  She turned to look at him.  “You have any sense of doom?”

A shadow fell across Todd’s face.  “Yes,” he answered.

That surprised Blair.  She sat up to readjust herself and when she turned back, Todd was gone.  “Todd?”  She looked around the room, searching for him.  Then she heard a scream and her heart leapt into her throat.  “Todd!” she called again.  She jumped out a bed and threw a robe on.  Opening the bedroom door, she found the hallway looked like it went on for miles. 

It was then she heard her name called.  “Blair!” the voice shouted.  She turned around and ran towards the sound.  “Todd!” she called again, hoping the voice would call to her to give her a sense of direction.  Again, there was a voice calling to her.  She got turned around half a dozen times more until the voice sounded as if it was coming from the door in front of her.  She grabbed the knob but it was locked.  She tried to ram it with her shoulder and still, it would not budge.  Then, she stepped back, raised her for and slammed it into the door.  It finally gave and she was faced with –

Blair felt herself being shaken while her name was being called.  She jumped off the couch and came face to face with Tea.  “What are you doing here?” she demanded of the other woman, crouching as if she were about to be attacked.

“You were yelling in your sleep,” Tea said, staring at her sister-in-law.

Blair stood up straighter.  Her mind was still swirling with memories from the dream.  She shook herself and then squinted at Tea.  “What was I saying?”  she asked.

“You were calling to Todd,” Tea informed her.  “Were you having a dream?”

Blair didn’t want to answer.  Tea may have been supportive of her when she was falling apart at the dinner, but she knew there was still a river of bad blood between Todd and his sister-in-law.  “What brings you here?”

Tea paused, but then answered, “I wanted to thank you and Jack for at least getting Dani to the station.”

“So, it’s all cleared up?”

“Well, she said she’s still going to be with him, so it’s not in great shape,” Tea admitted.  “But I did get her to promise that she’ll get in touch with me every day.  It’s not much, but I’ll take it.”  Then, it looked like something occurred to Tea.  “Why were you there this morning anyway?”

Blair waved her hand.  “It turned out to be nothing.  Bo and I handled it,” she said dismissively.  “Look, you have enough to worry about with Dani.  If I need you, I’ll call you.”  Then she looked at her watch.  “I have to get some work done.”

Tea looked unsure of Blair, but acquiesced.  “Look, if you need me…”

“And if you need me,” Blair returned, a small smile on her face.  With that, Tea turned and walked out.  Blair sat back down behind the desk and tried to concentrate.  But her mind wandered to the memory of the dream and she shivered, from what, she did not know.

**********

“Jack, you know, you look just like your father when he’s about to pull something, so don’t try to BS me,” Bo said.

Jack wasn’t sure if that was true or if Bo was trying to trick him.  His mind was working overtime to try and think of anything, any excuse, any lie.  He saw, out of the corner of his eye, the detective working at the computer.  Finally, he said, “Don’t make that connection!”

Bo had on a triumphant smile on his face.  “Why not, Jack?”

Jack rolled his eye.  “It’s only…it’s only for emergencies.”  Even though Todd had never explicitly said that, from all the routing and rerouting that had gone into it, Jack would have guessed it should be used sparingly.  “Look, he left town worried about the family.  I’m the only one who knows about it.  Believe me, if he wanted my mother to know, he’d have told her and she’d probably be on it all the time.” 

Jack knew he’d said too much when he mentioned how worried Todd was.  Next, Bo asked him, “What has Todd worried?”  When Jack didn’t immediately answer, “Jack, if I’m going to help, I need answers.”

Jack looked to the detective at the computer.  “I want to talk to you alone.”

Bo looked towards his officer.  “Castillo, give us the room.”  Det. Castillo nodded and left.  Bo turned back and said, “You really are becoming paranoid.”

“Todd doesn’t know how far up this all goes,” Jack said.  “It all started back in Port Charles.  He got a note, he didn’t know from where, that told him Victor was still alive, around the time that Dani was calling him while high.”

“Is that all the note said?”

“According to my mom, it also told him to finish what he started, or else.  The ‘or else’ came when he was back in Llanview.  He got another note with all our names on it.” Bo asked him who he meant by ‘all’ and Jack listed himself, Dani, Starr, Sam, Blair, Viki, Tea and Natalie.  “And he got a third note, saying they had Victor and because he failed, he was being forced to leave town.”

Bo got up and grabbed a file from the cabinet.  He opened it and pulled out several picture.  “Does this symbol look familiar to you?”  It was a tattoo on the inside of the wrist. 

“Yeah, I remember Victor had it.  I noticed it the day he came to visit Sam and I.”  Jack looked at Bo.  “And it was on the note cards Todd got.”

“Where are these cards now?”

Jack let out a sigh.  “My mom has at least copies,” he admitted.

Bo nodded and moved behind his desk chair.  “Fire up this thing.  I want to talk to your father.”  Jack could tell it was not a request, but an order.  With great reluctance, he sat down and turned on the machine. After it had finished booting up, he entered the code and a screen popped up.

Todd’s face brightened then his eyes narrowed.  “Jack what’s up?”

“Manning, what the hell is going on?” Bo’s voice boomed in the background.

Jack felt awful.  Todd had wanted to keep all this a secret, to try and protect them all and Jack had wilted like a flower under Bozo’s questions.  He didn’t even want to look at the screen and said in a meek voice, “Sorry.”  He expected to see disappointment, a look he knew very well from Victor, in the other man.

When he finally did look up, there was no trace of that.  “Jack, the life expectancy of secrets in Llanview is three months, six tops.  It was going to come out sooner or later,” Todd said before turning his attention to the police commissioner.  “Buchanan, my son was dragged into this by me.  I want him released.”

“He’s not under arrest for anything.  But what were you thinking, doing this on your own?” Bo demanded angrily. 

“Well, I was thinking I needed to protect my family, for one thing.  And, quite honestly, I trust you guys about as far as I can throw the lot of you,” Todd said frankly. 

“Manning!” Bo yelled, rapidly losing his temper.

“Bo, if I had come to you, would you have believed me anyway?  Let’s be honest, I have a well earn reputation of being an untrustworthy, no-goodnik.  I even told you I was being poisoned and you didn’t believe me until Natalie found the arsenic on the stopper!” Todd exclaimed.

“By the way, Bo did examine Dani’s drugs and found out they were a lot stronger than normal,” Jack offered helpfully.

The newspaper publisher’s eyes narrowed on the screen.  “Well lookie here.  And I thought you tossed them.  Sounds like a good scoop for The Sun, wouldn’t you say, son?”

Jack couldn’t help but return the smirk.  He looked at Bo, who looked to be getting pissed off more by the second.  After glaring between father and son, he demanded, “Where are you now?”

“Taking care of my business,” Todd answered without really answering.

“What is your location?”  That question was met with a stony stare.  Then Bo said, “Todd, this involves my family too.  Natalie, probably Jessica.  They’re my nieces too.  And all their kids as well.”

Jack saw Todd waver at the mention of Aunt Viki’s daughters and grandkids.  Before he could answer, there was a knock at the door and Jack could hear someone say housekeeping.  Todd flicked his gaze to the door.  “I have the ‘do not disturb’ sign up.”  He turned his attention back to Jack and Bo.  “Blair has the notes.  They have the same symbol as that body did, the one from the river.”  Then, there was another knock, louder this time, almost a pounding, off screen.  Todd rolled his eyes.  “Do they not understand the term ‘do not disturb’?”  He got up and went out of the shot.

What happened next, neither Bo nor Jack were prepared for.  They heard the door being opened and saw Todd’s body fly across the room.  Then, coming into shot were three black clad men, two with automatic weapons and one with a stun gun.  The one with the stun gun shot at Todd and his body convulsed, then went limp.

“DAD!” Jack shouted from the office in Llanview.  One of the men with guns turned to the sound of Jack’s cry and aimed at it.  Then, the feed went black. 

Bo hustled to the door.  “Castillo, in here now!”  The detective raced in and Bo told him what happened.  Castillo worked at the computer for a good ten minutes, but nothing came back up.  He shook his head and Bo yelled, “Damn it!” 

Jack just stared at the screen.  One minute, his father had been there, bitching at Bo but at least giving him some information and the next minute…the next minute, Jack didn’t know.  Bo came over to him and crouched in front of the chair.  “Jack?”  he asked softly.  “Jack, do you know where your father was?”

Jack looked up and shook his head, fighting against the oncoming tears.  “He said it was too dangerous to tell.”

Then, Castillo turned to Bo.  “Commissioner, it does appear that this message was being recorded and saved to the hard drive, as well as another similar vid conference.”

Bo nodded.  “Take it down to evidence.  I want those gone over with a fine tooth comb.”  The cop nodded and left with the machine.  Bo turned back to Jack, who was near tears.  “Hey, we’ll find your dad.  But first, we have to tell your Viki and your sisters.”

“And my mom,” he said, his voice shaky.  “They got married before he left town.”  Jack closed his eyes, then opened them and said, “My father told me, if it all went to hell, get help from Brody and Cord.  They’re white hats, they’ll help no matter what.  But, first, Starr…Starr has to be brought home.  Her name is on the list, she has no idea about any of this.”  He stood up.  “Look, let me talk to Cord and Brody.  We don’t have to tell anyone anything immediately, right?”  Bo looked unsure, until Jack said, “I have a plan, give me a day to put it into place.”

“What’s your plan?  Let me hear it out and if I agree, we’ll implement it,” Bo said, reassuredly.

Jack went to work, explaining it all to Bo.  In the end, Bo nodded in agreement.