The Ex Factor

This story is long finished, but I'm archiving it here in case the fan sites close after Passions ends its run this summer. If you're enjoying it, please let me know!

Jesenik-The Village

"This Jesenik." The taxi driver stopped on the narrow road, between several ramshackle building. He tapped his fingers on top of his meter impatiently. "Pay me."

Paloma shot the man an annoyed look as the five of them disentangled themselves. "Please, he should pay us." She muttered. "Forty five minutes squished together in this tiny taxi and I feel closer to you all then I ever wanted to be. Plus he smells like sh-"

"Here." Luis struggled to his feet and walked over to the driver's side, handing him some bills through the window. The driver looked at the money in disgust and didn't take it. "That U.S. money! I don't take it! Pay me now!"

"Look, you can exchange it." Luis was irritated as well. "Just take it, I'm giving you a nice tip."

"I don't exchange! Read sign! Local currency only!" The man threw the money back in Luis's face. "I drive you to police-that what I do!"

"I'll handle this." Fancy leaned into the driver's window, and a flash of silver caught his eye. Seeing the platinum credit card in her hand, his face lit up.

"Is this good?" she purred, letting him take a good look at her cleavage while she leaned over.

"Is good-very good!" The driver took the card. "You still tip, yes?"

"No!" Luis started to snap but Fancy pushed him away. "Yes, big tip." She was amused at the way he seemed more turned on by the credit card then her.

The driver finished filling out the receipts. "Goodbye-I go now." He looked around the small village with a look of apprehension. "Hate this place." he muttered under his breath. "Probably no one ever see you all again."

"What did you say?" Fancy asked as she took back the card.

"No, no, I say nothing." The taxi driver shook his head. "Thanks for tip." He drove away, watching them in the rearview mirror. "American suckers!"

Jared looked around. "Well, this is definitely not Prague. This place looks pretty small. It shouldn't be hard to find Gwen and Theresa-I'm sure any new faces stick out for the locals. Let's start asking around."

"How about there?" Ethan pointed to a small building up ahead. "Looks like some sort of cafe."

Nodding in agreement, the five of them headed towards the small building.

Rina looked up from the counter as the group walked in. Her mouth opened in surprise. More strangers? So soon? A lost tourist or two a year was all Jesenik was likely to see normally-it wasn't big on the list of places to see in the Czech Republic. Rina's heart started pounding hard as she remembered last night, when she had sent those poor people right into the trap she knew was waiting for them. 'I had to.'Â she thought to herself. 'My sister was in that awful place. I did what I had to do to get her back. I owed those people nothing.' Still the guilt gnawed at her heart. 'Just forget.' she told herself sternly. 'Just forget they ever existed. This is a coincidence, nothing more. These people are just lost, or misdirected. They will be gone soon.' Picking up the stained coffeepot, she walked into the dining room to start refilling coffee cups.

Inside the cafe, the five of them immediately spread out, moving over the room, talking to the first people they could see.

"Excuse me." Luis stopped a couple who were walking out the door. "We're looking for two women, and a man - the first woman is tall, blond, and-"

The couple exchanged terrified glances and then the man pulled at his wife's sleeve, tugging her through the doorway without a word.
'OK...maybe they don't speak English.' Luis thought to himself, puzzled. He stopped before an older looking man who was sitting on a cracked barstool, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the local paper. "Excuse me, sir, but have you seen any strangers come through here lately? We're looking for three-"

"Get away from me!" The man barked, folding up his paper and sliding off the stool.

'What the hell is going on here?' Luis's guard shot up and the hair on the back of his neck crackled. For the first time, he began to feel fear. There was something to this - something way more than his runaway sister and her rival on a wild goose chase. Something was not right - really not right.

Across the room, Ethan wasn't have any more luck, and he was feeling more and more frustrated. As an older, harried looking waitress tried to pass him blocked her way. "Ma'am, please, have you seen two women come in here? One blonde, and one with long, dair hair? They would have been with a man-"

The waitress gave him a cold look. "No! Move, please."Â She indicated the tray full of food in her hands.

Ethan felt his temper rise. "No, not until you give me a real answer. Look - look at these." He dug his wallet out of his pants and opened it. "See this blond woman? She was here, in Jesenik. This is my wife. And this here-" He dug out the picture of Theresa that he had hidden in the back of all the other pictures.."This is.." 'My everything' were the words on his lips, but he didn't say them. "Look, they are both very, very important to me, and they're missing. I think they may be in danger. Please help me."

Behind them a loud crash sounded. Ethan looked behind the waitress to see another one, a far younger female, staring at him with haunted eyes. The crash had come from the coffeepot that had slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor.

"Rina!" The older waitress snapped and began to chide the girl in a language Ethan didn't understand.

The girl's face was stark white and she didn't seem to be listening. "Sorry..an accident." she whispered, her eyes still fixed on Ethan's face. Then turning, she fled back into the kitchen.

Rina was close to tears as she pushed open the back door and ran down the back steps of the cafe, ignoring the angry shouts of the other workers behind her. The owner would be furious with her for leaving so early, but he wouldn't fire her. Not in Jesenik, where good help was hard to find. So she would just go..go home and see her sister, and remind herself why she had done what she did.

As she started down the path, wiping her tear filled eyes, an arm suddenly came around her waist and lifted her off her feet. She started to scream but a hand quickly covered her mouth.

"Rina, is it?" A voice whispered into her ear. "I'm Ethan. I think we need to have a little chat."

Jesenik: The Dungeon

Theresa and Gwen stared at the man, then back at each other, both barely believing what they had just heard.

"Excuse me? Did you just say...escape?"

"As a matter of fact, I did, and I've gone to quite a bit of trouble to arrange it. Shall we?" He offered a gentlemanly arm to Gwen, but withdrew it gracefully when she just stared at him. "Wait a second. You captured us, you locked us up, and you threatened to interrogate us! Why should we trust you now?"

"Well, I had to capture you. You didn't give me a choice, really, with all the noise you two were making. And after all I did to make sure you two would get inside in the first place, sending the guards to the forest, pretending not to notice your less than graceful entrance... Of course, the thrilling sight of you two rolling around on the floor makes up for a lot of it. I wasn't kidding about those bikinis and the oil, you know."

"But why-" Gwen began again, but Theresa cut her off.

"Gwen, have you ever heard the one about looking a gift horse in the mouth? Let's go already!" She moved towards the staircase but a sudden wave of dizziness made her stumble. Their rescuer stepped to her side, grabbing her before she could fall. "Are you alright, little one?" He smoothed a lock of her hair from her face.

"Did he hurt you badly?"

"No." Theresa shook her head, looking back at the dead guard with a shudder. "No, Gwen stopped him. And then I.." she couldn't continue.

He gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. "You did what you had to do. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, Theresa Lopez Fitzgerald Crane."

Gwen gasped. "How do you know her name?"

"I know yours too, Gwen Hotchkiss Winthrop." He released Theresa and went to stand before her, his eyes fixed on hers. "I know all about you. And I knew you'd come, sooner or later. Although I must admit, I expected you to be with your husband, not with Theresa. It was quite an unexpected sight to see you two together."

Gwen looked down. "Ethan's not..I mean he.." her eyes filled with unexpected tears.

Gently, the man touched her face, lifting her chin so he could look in her eyes. "It's alright, Gwen. You don't have to explain." His voice was a caressing whisper and Gwen just stared back for a moment, mesmerized by the blue of his eyes.

ahem Theresa coughed. "Escape now, swoon later, yes?"

"Of course." The man stepped back. "Just let me introduce myself first. My name is Kieran Brady." He shook both of their hands formally. "Now let's get out of here. There's someone who's been waiting to see you for a long, long time, Gwen."

Gwen suddenly felt weak in the knees. "Sarah? You know where Sarah is? She's here, after all?" she could scarcely dare to believe it, afraid if she did the fragile dream would shatter and she'd wake in her own bed, heart broken and with empty arms. Suddenly another realization hit her, and she looked at Kieran with wide eyes. "It was you that called me, wasn't it? You who told me to come and find Sarah!"

Kieran nodded, smiling. "Took you long enough, didn't it? Now come - I have much to tell you and we need to get Sarah out of here before it's too late."

Gwen's pulse throbbed in her ears as she followed Kieran up the stairs. 'Oh, God, please let it be true. Please let me see my daughter again-let me take her out of this place.'

Quietly, Theresa and Gwen crept behind Kieran as he walked cautiously, eyes moving constantly from left to right. He seemed to be taking them through a maze of corridors, twisting and turning until both women were sure they'd never be able to find their way back to the front entrance without him.

Gwen watched Kieran nervously as they moved in silence. Something about him told her she could trust him - and more. Something about the way his eyes would flick to her and stare with such intensity every few minutes made warmth spread throughout her body. But still, she couldn't let go of her wariness. What if she and Theresa were playing right into his hands? What if this was another trap?

'But then,' The newly awakened Voice of Common Sense whispered in her head, 'why wouldn't he have just left you in that dungeon, where the two of you were already helpless and at his mercy?' Gwen breathed a sigh of relief as that thought occurred to her. Kieran was telling the truth, and that meant - tears of joy sprang to her eyes as she realized it. Sarah was alive. She really was. All of the grieving, confusion, plotting, planning, fighting for her life, making amends with Theresa, it was not in vain. Her daughter was alive! She wanted to sing with happiness, and skip through the corridors, but that pesky Voice of Common Sense was back, telling her that probably wasn't such a good idea. Probably would blow the whole being stealthy thing right out of the water.

"Kieran?" Theresa whispered. He looked down at her enquiringly. "Where are all the guards? The place was crawling with them earlier."

"Oh well.."Â Kieran attempted to look innocent, a look that was doomed to failure. "We don't have to worry about them."

"Are you sure?"Â Gwen burst out, looking up, panicked.

From the opposite end of the corridor, one had just appeared, stumbling towards them. Gwen braced herself, ready to run or fight, but Kieran put a calming hand on her shoulder. "It's OK, Gwen...watch."

The man came closer, and as he did, they noticed his face was flushed and his eyes were unfocused. He took another staggering step, peering blearily at Kieran. "Kier, man, I think something's-" Not finishing the sentence, he suddenly plummented forward and lay still on the floor. Both Gwen and Theresa gasped in shock.Â

"Oh my God, what did you do? Poison him?" Gwen gasped.

Kieran shook his head, chuckling. "Of course not. I drugged them. All of them. I laced our morning oatmeal. The entire guard ate it, as well as the rest of the servants. With luck, the majority of the residents here are sleeping like babies."

"The majority?" Theresa asked, her voice worried.

Kieran's face darkened. "The master's meals are prepared specially in his own private kitchen. He and his personal servants remain immune, I'm afraid."

"The master?" Gwen and Theresa both said at once, noting the loathing with which he said the term.

"In here."Â Kieran suddenly stopped before a wooden door that looked identical to the fifty or so that they'd passed already. He looked up and down the corridor, then hurriedly unlocked it. "Come in, quickly." Theresa and Gwen hurried inside, and he came in after them.

Gwen looked around the room in wonder. The rest of the place looked like some kind of castle from the 1500's, but this room represented the modern era in a big way. Stacks of television monitors were grouped on a large table and on the shelves all around the room were crammed what looked like every single modern device known to mankind.

"This is where I found the voice modifier I used when I called you, Gwen." Kieran was speaking normally now that they were safely out of the corridors.

"You terrified me." Gwen said softly.

"I'm sorry." Reaching out, he took her hand. "I didn't know what to do. I was getting desperate. I couldn't contact the authorities. They've been paid off too many times to ignore the events in Jesenik. I didn't have enough money to pay off everyone I would need to myself to get Sarah across the border, even if I got her out of here in the first place. I thought if I called you, just as me, and told you the story, you'd do what any normal person would do and turn to your local police. They would call the FBI, who would get a hold of the authorities here, and since, like I said, they're all corrupt, nothing would have come of it. So I disguised my voice and left you that cryptic message, because I knew your mother's instincts wouldn't let it go. And I was right, wasn't I?" He touched her hair gently. "You are an amazing woman, Gwen."

She felt her cheeks turn scarlet as Kieran's heated gaze ran over her. Gwen couldn't remember the last time Ethan had looked at her with that fire in his eyes, the fire that told her he wanted nothing more then to throw her down and... Shaking off the too vivid picture, she forced her mind to focus on what he was saying.

"Kieran, please, tell me what's going on. Who has my daughter? Where is she?"

"I'll show you."Â Kieran turned towards the monitors and flipped a switch. Both Theresa and Gwen gasped as the screens came to life, showing a series of pictures, all different angles of the same small room. And there, on the middle screen, was a wrought iron bed with a small figure sitting in the middle, clutching a little rag doll.

Sarah.