Duncan and Eva had intended to confront Shane as soon as everyone was gathered at the house the next morning, but they would not get the chance, as unforeseen circumstances forced them to wait. Duncan had woken up prepared to reveal his suspicions to the entire group and had been relishing the thought of his victory, but what had greeted him in the living room was a scene of pure chaos. It seemed something had happened in the night and Duncan was keen to find out what.
"What's going on in here?" he asked, glancing around the room, noticing the tears in Bridgette's eyes as he did.
"Marlowe and LeShawna have been taken." Geoff answered, not looking at Duncan.
"When?" Duncan asked, silently cursing himself for not mentioning his suspicions the previous night.
"Early this morning, from what we can tell." Geoff answered. "They were taken from their dorm room. Someone broke in and grabbed them."
"Was it McLean?" Duncan asked, glancing at Shane as he spoke.
Geoff seemed to notice this, but made no comment. Instead he said, "What do you think? Who else would it be Duncan?"
"I don't know." Duncan said, with a shrug. "But we have to consider all possibilities, don't we?" He glanced at Shane again and this time Geoff had something to say.
"You're not really still suspicious of Shane, are you?" he hissed, his voice barely a whisper so only Duncan could hear him.
Duncan glanced at him, but did not answer. He wasn't going to justify himself to Geoff again. He knew he was right about Shane, but he wasn't going to try and convince Geoff again, not until he had proof and fortunately that proof would arrive before the day was out.
Duncan's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, loud knock on the front door. For a moment everyone simply stared at the door and then Gwen moved to open it. As the door swung open, the hulking frame of D.J. Harris appeared in the doorway, blocking out most of the light.
"D.J.?" Gwen asked, her tone confused. "What brings you to Fort Columbus?"
"I thought I could help." D.J. replied. "After what happened to Jen and after Courtney and Jonesy were taken I decided I couldn't just sit around and do nothing anymore."
"Well, we welcome the help." said Gwen, with a small smile. D.J. nodded and entered the house, smiling at the others, though his smile was devoid of its usual glow, which was not a surprise given everything that had happened recently. Still, there was a determination in his look that brought the spirits of everyone else in the room up, if only for a moment.
A short time later, Duncan met with Eva in the back yard, while the others worked on a new plan. The look on Eva's face was not happy and Duncan could understand why. They had failed in their plan. If they had just confronted Shane the previous night they could have prevented this. At least that's what Duncan kept telling himself anyway. Truthfully he had no idea who had taken Marlowe and LeShawna, but he was convinced Shane had been involved. The only problem was proving it, which was not going to be easy, but Duncan knew they could do it, if they could just find a way.
"Well, I told you we should have confronted him last night." Eva said, with a disgruntled glance at Duncan.
"Yeah, yeah, I fucking know." Duncan snapped. "Don't remind me we fucking failed."
"Technically we haven't failed." Eva said, though she sounded like she didn't believe herself. "We didn't know he was going to move so quickly. Also we don't know for sure it was Shane who took them. It could have been McLean."
"Come on Eva." Duncan said, rolling his eyes. "You don't really believe that bullshit, do you? It was Shane who took them, I know it."
"Well aren't you just a confident little fucker." Eva muttered. "How do you know for sure it was Shane, I'd like to know."
"I just know, okay?" Duncan said, not meeting her gaze. "I can't explain it, but I just know. It was Shane, it has to have been him."
"Okay, so, now we have to confront him, don't we?" Eva asked.
"No, not yet." Duncan said. "There's something I want to check out first. Stay here and make sure Shane doesn't leave, okay."
"Where are you going?" Eva asked, her tone perplexed.
"I'm going to campus." Duncan answered. "Maybe someone saw something last night that can confirm it was Shane." With that he left, leaving Eva to ponder his words. It was a long shot, but she had to admit it was worth the risk. With that, she headed back inside, hoping Duncan would be okay.
An hour later Duncan returned to the house, flushed with success. He had found proof of Shane's true allegiance and he was now prepared to reveal the truth to the others. He knew it was going to be a difficult pill for them to swallow, but they had to know. All this time they had had a spy in their midst, a spy who was helping McLean hurt their friends and who had been passing McLean all the information that had allowed him to stay two steps ahead of them. He entered the house through the back door, finding the group much as he had left them, sitting in a circle, discussing ways to beat McLean. He was pleased to see Shane was still there, so Eva had done her job, and now the truth could be revealed. He glanced at Eva and winked, a gesture that went unnoticed by the others, and then waited for his turn to speak.
Shane was speaking at the moment, his voice echoing in the silent room. "...we need to be decisive in our next move." he was saying. "We need to stop hiding, stop waiting for McLean to pick us off and strike. Only by killing him can we hope to win."
"And why would you want us to kill him Shane?" Duncan asked, the sound of his voice making everyone turn to look at him. "I mean, you are his lackey after all, aren't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Duncan." Shane said, with an innocent smile.
"Oh don't you?" Duncan asked, ignoring the looks of warning from the Kings, Geoff, and Gwen. "I think you know perfectly well what I'm fucking talking about."
"Well, then, I hate to say it, but I think you're delusional Duncan." Shane said, his smile still innocent.
"You think I'm delusional?" Duncan asked. "Then you mind explaining why you were conveniently absent every time one of our friends was kidnapped?"
"Certainly." said Shane. "I was absent because I was trying to gain information on McLean that would help us bring him down."
"Bullshit." Duncan shouted. "You were passing him information on us, weren't you? That's why he was able to avoid our plans so easily, wasn't it?"
"No." Shane said. "I was working to help you stop him. I swear on my life that I am not now, nor have I ever been, working with McLean."
"That's a lie." Duncan spat. "You're a spy and a traitor and I'm gonna kill you." He took a step forward, only to find his path blocked by Chef.
"That's enough Duncan." Chef said, his tone stern. "What you are saying is illogical. It makes no sense, whatsoever. Why would Shane be working for McLean? And even if he was, how would he have maintained his cover this long? Think about it Duncan, your claims are false and in your heart I think you know that."
"Then why is he so adamant that Shane is a spy?" Gwen asked, glancing at Chef.
"I think it has something to do with jealousy." Geoff answered. "He's jealous that Bridgette has other people to protect her besides him and he can't stand it."
"I am not fucking jealous of anyone." Duncan snarled. "Least of all you Geoff. And I'm certainly not jealous of Shane either. But I do know things about him no one else does."
"Like what?" Geoff asked, his tone full of skepticism.
"Like the fact that he's had a secret relationship with Bridgette." Duncan said, his tone full of triumph.
Geoff stared at him, his look one of disbelief, and then he started laughing. "Nice try Duncan." he said. "But I already know about that. Bridgette and Shane told me the truth four days ago and there's nothing going on between them. So, looks like you missed on that one. Got anything else?"
"He was passing McLean information on us." Duncan said, his tone desperate now.
"Yes, you already said that." Owen said, taking over for Geoff. "But where's your proof?"
"He doesn't have any." said Shane. "If he did, he would have presented it by now."
Duncan looked wildly around the room, barely daring to believe what he was hearing. Where the others really this blind? Did they really believe Shane's word over his? His gaze met Bridgette's and he could see the look of pity on her face, making him cringe.
"Duncan, why are you doing this?" she asked, her voice full of pity and concern. "Why are you so convinced Shane is a spy?"
Duncan didn't answer her, he couldn't find the words. The look on her face made him want to scream in frustration and anger, but he kept himself calm. An outraged explosion now would not help his cause, as the others already seemed to think he was mentally unstable.
"I'll tell you why he's so convinced." said Eva, speaking for the first time. "It's because what he says is the truth."
"Damn it Eva, not you too." said Geoff. "You were so skeptical of Duncan yesterday, what the fuck changed?"
"Wait, Duncan told you about this yesterday?" Wyatt asked, his tone perplexed.
"Yes." Geoff answered. "He came to me, Gwen, and Eva raving about how Shane was a spy and that he's been involved in some of the kidnappings."
"And you didn't think to tell us this sooner, because, why exactly?" Tyler asked.
"Because we thought he was wrong." Geoff answered. "He didn't have any proof and we just thought he was being paranoid because he's jealous of Shane or something. And Eva thought the same thing, so what changed?" He turned to look at Eva who met his piercing gaze with one of defiance.
"What changed is I saw how Shane acted when he told us about Jude and Starr last night." Eva answered. "He seemed to know more about their kidnapping than he should and it got me thinking, maybe there's a reason for that."
"Yeah, there is." Shane said. "You already saw the note from McLean."
"McLean didn't write that note." Eva said, with a smile.
"How do you know?" Alejandro asked, his tone skeptical.
"Come on Alejandro, don't be an idiot." said Eva. "We all had McLean as a teacher so we should all be able to recognize his handwriting by now, don't you think?"
"You know, now that she mentions it, there was something weird about the way some of the letters were written." said Gwen. "I should know too. Nikki and I spent hours helping McLean grade papers, so we got an extended look at his handwriting and I think Eva's right. That note wasn't written by McLean."
"Then who was it written by?" Justin asked, glancing around the room.
"The only other person who could have written it." Gwen answered, turning towards Shane as she spoke. "It would take someone of extraordinary skill to forge McLean's handwriting that well, because he has some very unique nuances to his style. And from what I've observed of all of your handwriting styles, none of you are that skilled. Neither am I for that matter. But Shane might be."
"Come on Gwen, you can't be serious." said Shane. "I don't know how to forge another person's handwriting."
"No, I think you do." Gwen said, with a smile. "You're not as skilled as you could be, but you do know how."
Shane glanced around the room, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. He could see Duncan and Eva's victorious smiles and the growing looks of suspicion on the faces of some of the others. He swallowed, his cover beginning to falter, but quickly regained his composure. "Okay, so, maybe I am good at forging handwriting, but that doesn't mean I'm working for McLean." he said, a slight hint of desperation in his voice.
"But why else would you need to know that particular skill?" Duncan asked, with a wicked smile that made Shane shiver.
Shane didn't answer, but his silence was all the answer the others needed to hear. He was guilty of working with McLean and they all knew it now, or did they? He turned to Bridgette, his look pleading, but she was not looking at him.
"Here's my question." said Owen. "If you forged the note, how did you know about Jude and Starr?"
"I was in the park and I saw McLean taking them." Shane offered lamely.
"Yeah right." Ron muttered. "If that's true, why didn't you do anything to help them?"
"I didn't want to risk getting caught myself." Shane answered, not looking at Ron. "That's why I forged the note, so it wouldn't seem suspicious that I hadn't helped them."
"Well that plan worked out real well for you, didn't it?" said Gwen, her tone full of sarcasm and loathing.
Again Shane didn't answer. He could sense that he was losing the room and he made one last desperate attempt to keep them on his side. "Please listen to me." he begged. "Why would I work with McLean? Why would I betray you like this? Think about it. You can't prove anything. None of you know for sure if I was at any of the kidnappings, so what choice do you have but to continue trusting me?"
"Oh, but we do have proof." said Duncan, with a smile. "You were the one who took LeShawna and Marlowe last night. It was you Shane and here's the proof." With that Duncan thrust a small stack of pictures onto the table. The pictures showed Shane breaking in to the dorm building and exiting moments later with two unconscious bodies that were obviously LeShawna and Marlowe.
"Where did you get those?" Shane demanded, glaring at Duncan.
"They're from the security cameras on the dorm building." Duncan replied. "I got them from the head of the CSU security team earlier today."
"Well, it looks like you win this round." Shane said, with a smile.
"You bastard." Bridgette breathed. "Is that all this is to you? A game?"
"No, it's much more than that, but I'm not the mastermind." said Shane. "McLean is and now, I think I'll be taking my leave."
"You can't possibly think that we're just gonna let you walk out of here now that we know the truth." said Duncan.
"Actually, I can." said Shane. "Because you don't really have a choice." With that, he drew a large handgun and shot Eva twice in the chest before bolting for the door. For a second the others stood in shock and then Duncan, Geoff, D.J., Alejandro, Justin, Tyler, Chef, and Dr. McLellen took off after him, murder in all their eyes. Bridgette and Gwen moved to help Eva, but it was obvious there wasn't much they could do.
"Promise me...you'll...kill..." Eva gasped, before choking on her blood, death taking her.
"I promise you Eva." Bridgette said, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I promise you. I'll kill McLean and Shane if it's the last thing I do."
A/N: And that's that. So now we know where Shane's true allegiance lays, something I know some of you have been suspecting for quite some time now. Oh, and yes, that was Eva's exit as well. She has officially joined the deceased, so bummer for her. Anyway, the title of this chapter, "Stabbed in the Back", refers to Shane's betrayal, as no one was physically stabbed in the back. So, what's coming next, now that Shane is the enemy? Keep reading to find out, cuz it's gonna be good.