"My sister is stubborn on a good day, she refuses to accept the concept that Victor is trouble."

"Perhaps she enjoys that aspect of him? You missed a fairly large chunk of her life, my friend, you cannot know the things she prefers based on when she was a little girl."

"Have you still got your ear to the ground?"

"The regular avenues are not going to work this time. I am using all my resources and all I can say for sure is that something is brewing. I fear it is too late to attempt an extraction at this time. The most you can hope for is to stop what is likely to occur and that means you have to be unavailable to all while you shadow Victor."

"Which is why I'm currently camped out here. My son is going to be less than thrilled with me."

"You have time yet with him. Victor's moments are numbered."

"I've got something... comm down."


Victor rolled his eyes as he left the message on Shawn's voicemail. He didn't think anything Blair had to say was worth listening to but if he didn't at least go through the motions he'd never hear the end of it. It wasn't as if she was concerned about him anyway. All she cared about was Todd. He tried to feel bad about that... or about the concept that when he was Todd she should have been most concerned about him.

Blair had made her choice at the premiere. She never said anything but he knew she had missed the original face even when she professed her love to him. But in the recent years, their connection had dissipated. His connection to Todd's memories had dissipated. Perhaps it was the execution that broke the programming because after that things started changing, slowly at first, and then more quickly in recent years.

Victor truly did not feel a connection to Todd's life the way he once had. Tea had been right... they had a future together full of possibilities that didn't hinge on anything regarding Todd Manning.

That noise behind him caught his attention again. He turned to look into the cold eyes of Agent Baker. Baker's arm rose swiftly and pointed a 9mm pistol at Victor's chest.

The wet sound of flesh being ripped through... then again... seemed to echo through the foyer.

Victor watched in stunned silence as Baker crumpled to the floor, a pool of blood spreading out from under his body, lifeless eyes staring into nothing. He stepped forward and kicked the gun from Baker's hand then looked up towards the open doorway and out into the rain. Moments turned into minutes and suddenly, Tomas appeared in the doorway, two handguns at the ready and a rifle strapped to his back.

"Step away from the body," he ordered, moving swiftly in and making a quick sweep of the foyer and living room. Victor stepped back as Tomas holstered one weapon and bent down to check Baker's pulse. He straightened and raised one hand to his ear. "Comm up. Baker is down as is his back-up. We need a clean up crew. And someone needs to find Todd and Irene Manning."

Tomas looked at Victor and held up two fingers. "That's twice I've saved your ass now."


Blair tried to calm herself as she drove through the rain up Llantano Mountain. She glanced at the gun sitting in the passenger seat and tried to wipe the image of the very dead Irene from her mind. There were more important things to deal with right now and the absolute top of her list was finding Todd.

She had already been heading to Viki's cabin when her phone had sputtered to life with a brief blip from the land-line there. It could only have been Todd and she brushed the back of her hand against her forehead in anxiety as she maneuvered her way up the mountain roads in the downpour.

There was no car in the driveway but Blair didn't let that deter her. Knowing Todd, he probably ditched it somewhere nearby and made the rest of the way to the cabin on foot. She leapt out of the car and tore into the house to find Todd lying on the floor, lifeless, in a pool of blood.

"Oh God," she cried, rushing over to him. "Oh God, no... Todd!"


Tea nestled safely in Victor's arms and just listened to his heartbeat. She had no idea how much time had passed since she got home to find the grisly scene and her husband and brother right in the thick of it. She didn't much care as she held onto Victor. So close... she had come so close to losing him. Tomas had been infuriatingly sparse in regards to giving any information. The hardware he was packing was impressive, though. Danielle was tucked under his other arm as they sat quietly on the couch in the living room. Once forensics had given them the okay, they pushed the couch away from Baker's body and camped out there waiting for further news.

Baker's body as well as the two other men that had been a part of his team had already been taken off the premises. The large stain he had left behind, however, was difficult to look away from. Tea shuddered thinking how close they all came to that stain being all that was left of Victor. She held him tighter, squeezing her eyes shut, and he dropped a kiss on her head seeming to understand her turmoil.

He was unusually quiet, simply watching Tomas standing sentinel in the doorway. Tea wondered if he was trying to come up with a way to thank her brother without it being obvious.

John McBain came striding through the door, taking in everything with a quick cursory glance around the room. "Exciting night," he said dryly. He looked at Victor. "You okay?"

Victor nodded shortly.

"Well, assassination attempts and setting up safehouses has required me to be elsewhere until now. Starr, Jack, Sam and Hope are all at home with three of my best guys on them although I doubt they're targets at the moment." John considered the spot where Baker had died. "Irene Manning is dead."

Victor and Tea started at that. Tomas inclined his chin slightly out of interest.

"Dead how?" Victor asked.

"Shot in the chest with her own gun and bled out," John replied, almost cheerfully. "I even have an eyewitness to what happened. He's tucked safely away until further notice. Now, I have a question for everyone here. Has anyone seen or heard from Todd Manning?"

Eyes met eyes at everyone silently tried to gauge the reactions of everyone else.

"Not since earlier today," Tea said quietly. "We're not exactly on the best of terms."

"Did Todd kill my mother?" Victor asked.

"How about Blair," John asked. "Anyone seen her lately?"

Again, eyes met eyes for a moment of quiet, mutual contemplation. Finally Tea sighed. "If Blair's not with her kids then she's either looking for Todd or she's with him."