Chapter Twenty-One

The annoying static finally overcame the conversation going on between Chloe and Stefano, in a destination far, far away from the Black's penthouse. The last sound they had heard was the loud crash of an object after it had broken. Everyone in attendance was unnaturally quiet after the connection was finally (and, a few of them thought, mercifully) severed.

Ethan broke the extreme quiet when he reached for the mute button and pressed it, ending the irritating dial tone that had started beeping shrilly throughout the eerily silent living room. His ISA skills kicked in and he immediately popped out the answering machine tape, finding a small, nearly insignificant, amount of pleasure in discovering that the entire conversation with Chloe and DiMera had been recorded.

"Damn DiMera!" John finally voiced in an expression of vocal frustration, breaking through the shock that enveloped everyone in the room. He closed his eyes in resignation as he recalled Stefano's certainty that Chloe would not be found by anyone. It's true, he reluctantly admitted to himself, tilting his head to one side. He knew Stefano well. They would not find Chloe unless DiMera wanted them to.

Marlena wrapped her arms around John as she murmured to him, "We can't let this get us down, John. Chloe has to be found, before he can put his diabolical plan into action." She wasn't certain what DiMera's plan entailed but she did know it was definitely hazardous to Chloe's emotional health. She opened her eyes wide as John turned his gaze on her, and then she batted her lashes in her well-known expression of dramatic concern.

"I, ah, I simply can't fathom this," Belle announced as she slipped wearily onto the comfortable sofa, the same sofa she had sat with Chloe countless times before. "The whole thing just gets worse and worse." Her normally optimistic, perky face revealed the extent of her depression and desolation as she recalled the frightening conversation between Chloe and Stefano DiMera.

Greta sank down slowly next to Belle on the comfortable sofa as she agreed with the younger woman. "I know exactly what you mean, Belle. This is utterly horrible!" She leaned her head against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes in fatigued resignation. She brought her hands up and began to rub the side of her temples, hoping to ward off the vicious headache that was brewing viciously behind her forehead.

Hope simply turned into Bo's arms, seeking comfort and solace from her husband. She knew firsthand what it was like to be at the mercy of Stefano DiMera. Her heart bled sympathy and sorrow for her friend. Bo brought his arms around his beautiful wife in mute support as his own eyes revealed his hatred for DiMera. He himself had been an emotional casualty of many of DiMera's schemes, just like Brady was now.

Shawn strode purposefully over to the sofa from his position by the front door and sat on the other side of Belle. He immediately pulled his wife into his embrace and held her while she released her muffled tears of anguish for Brady and Chloe. The situation's hopeless, Shawn thought fatalistically as he held onto Belle tighter, offering her the only comfort he possibly could right now.

Brady listened to the murmurs and exclamations of shock swirling around him as he literally felt his heart being coated with ice. His brilliant blue eyes resembled pure ice as he stared mutely at the phone from a few paces away, wondering how such a promising call could end in such a negative way. His worst fear had just been confirmed. Chloe was in the evil hands of Stefano DiMera!

Brady dragged himself out of his untimely fascination with the phone with a start and looked at the people in the room, closely inspecting their facial expressions. He correctly read the defeated looks on all of the people around him. Then, he saw Ethan holding the answering machine cassette tape in his hand. His eyes narrowed as he demanded hoarsely, "I want that tape, Ethan."

Ethan could only imagine the agony Brady was experiencing right now. He pitched his voice a bit lower as he answered Brady, "I need it first, Brady. I want to run some tests on it, see if I can pick up anything from the background. There may be a clue hidden in the conversation, somewhere. Then I'll be glad to give it to you." A little break in ISA policy, but Ethan wasn't feeling too charitable towards the agency right now, not after the way they had bungled Stefano DiMera's case.

Belle perked up a little bit after Ethan dropped a small amount of optimism on the group. "A clue?" she asked, picking her head up from Shawn's shoulder and looking curiously at the handsome ISA agent. She lifted an eyebrow as she demanded, "What do you mean, Ethan?"

Ethan didn't want to give anyone false hope, so he replied truthfully to Belle's question. "There are computers and machines that can pick up on isolated background noises. The noises are then analyzed carefully. Sometimes the data collected from a taped phone call can give a location from where the call was being transmitted."

"Sometimes?" Belle prompted Ethan, feeling some of her returning optimism dissipate. Well, she thought, with a return of a small degree of perkiness, sometimes is better than never!

Ethan confirmed Belle's suspicion with a curt nod of his head. He wished he could tell them that it always worked. "Yes, sometimes."

Brady understood what Ethan was saying. There was a chance, a tiny chance, that the tape could give them some information about Chloe's whereabouts. But, from what Ethan didn't say, that chance was almost nonexistent. It won't help us find her, Brady thought suddenly and despairingly as he remembered Chloe's short description of the room she was being held captive in. "There are no windows in her room," he said quietly, aiming his statement directly at Ethan.

Ethan swore under his breath because he understood the implications of Brady's revelations. No windows meant no background noise. The chance of finding out Chloe's location from the tape went from tiny to miniscule. He looked at the tape in his hand and insisted, "I'll try it anyway, Brady."

John agreed with Ethan as his own hope was dashed by Brady's revelation. "That's a fact, Ethan! We have to check out every possible lead here. DiMera's ruthlessly smart. The chances of him making a mistake are slim to none. But, we have to be ready, in case he does."

Bo observed the people in front of him, using his many years as a police officer in the Salem PD to determine everyone's emotions after the phone call. He sighed slightly and then whispered into his wife's ear, "I think we should head home, Hope. I have a strong feeling that Brady doesn't want a crowd of people around him right now."

Hope hugged him tightly before she responded softly, "I know, Bo. Brady is such a private person. He has always guarded his feelings, holding them close. It's how he protects himself." She turned in her husband's embrace and faced the occupants of the room. She then announced to the room at large, "Bo and I are heading out now. We'll be home all night, if you need anything. Call, please call, if something else comes up."

Hope and Bo Brady departed the penthouse hastily under a chorus of lackluster farewells, followed quickly by Ethan and Greta. Ethan still had the answering machine tape in his possession. Even though he believed it would be useless, he wanted to run a series of tests on it. Just in case.

Brady ran his hand through his blond hair, trying to assimilate all of the horrifying information he had learned today. There was a lot of it. He finally glanced up from his consuming study of the carpet below him and met his father's gaze. "DiMera has something planned for Chloe," he stated matter-of-factly to his father, forcing his voice to come out strong.

John sighed deeply, as only he could do, before he admitted to his son, "I know, Brady. Believe me, I know exactly what that monster is capable of. And now he's turned his attention onto Chloe. She has become the next innocent instrument of his revenge in some nefarious scheme."

Belle shivered slightly as she listed to her father and Brady discuss Stefano DiMera. She leaned into Shawn's arms as she watched her big brother, realizing that he was extremely devastated by Stefano DiMera's actions. Chloe was the center of his world. And now she was gone.

"It's really hard," Shawn commented as he followed Belle's concerned gaze to her brother. "I know how Brady is feeling right now. I felt the same way when I learned that Stefano DiMera had used my mother for his own sick, twisted purposes."

Belle faced Shawn while she remembered the hurt and pain Shawn and his family had felt over Hope's "death" and then her unexpected reappearance as Gina. It had taken Bo a long time to accept that "Gina" was really Hope. What finally convinced him, and most of Salem, was when "Gina" had opened a puzzle box that only she and her grandfather knew how to open. "He's such an evil man," Belle responded, trembling slightly in fear. "DiMera treats people like chess pieces, moving them this way and that, in a complicated strategy that only he can comprehend. He succeeds in leaving mass destruction behind him, uncaring about the pain and suffering he is totally responsible for."

"And now he is focusing solely on Chloe and Brady," Shawn noted, keeping his voice low so that only Belle could hear him. "We have no idea how this thing is going to play itself out, Belle. We will really need to be there for Brady. Call me crazy, but I know that DiMera has some cruel tricks up his sleeve. This isn't over, not by a long shot."

Belle digested the suspicions Shawn shared with her slowly as she observed her brother leaving the penthouse, without a word of farewell to anyone. "He needs his time alone," she murmured, half to herself. Then, she brought herself back to the conversation at hand. "I know, Shawn. I know. You're definitely right."

"What is Shawn right about?" Marlena inquired from a few steps away. Her attention had also been fixed on Brady. When he left, she had caught the tail end of Belle and Shawn's hushed conversation.

Belle looked at both of her parents before responding. Then she reluctantly admitted to them their strong suspicions that Chloe's disappearance was only the opening act in some grand plan of Stefano DiMera. "We think that this is going to get a lot worse, Mom. Stefano has something planned, something big. And, when he reveals it to all of us, I just hope that Brady will be able to survive it." Her eyes traveled slowly to the door that Brady had recently exited as she voiced her worries about her wonderful big brother.