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Chapter Ten
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Brady blinked his eyes rapidly and stared at Noah in shock. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"
Noah looked back at him in confusion and repeated himself. "I said, Jake is a nickname... His name is Kenneth Jacob Maguire..."
"Oh my God... K-J-M. Your brother is K-J-M." Brady looked at Chloe to get her reaction but she was still staring at the picture in Noah's wallet. "Chloe... Did you hear that?"
"I -- I did. K-J-M."
"Chloe, you look like you've seen a ghost..."
Chloe finally looked up from the picture and stared into Brady's eyes. "I think I did... But, maybe I'm just crazy. I don't know..."
Brady could always sense when something was wrong with her so he grabbed the phone and promised Bo he would call him back in a bit. He moved around the couch to stand beside her and gently lay his hand on her shoulder. "What is it? What's wrong?"
She closed Noah's wallet and looked up at Brady. Her face was pale and she looked like she was about to be sick to her stomach, the pain of what was haunting her was written all over her face.
"Chloe... Answer me... Something is wrong. I can tell."
She nodded slightly and rubbed her thumb over the black leather of the wallet. "I'm going to hand you Noah's wallet, and when you open it, look at the first picture and tell me what you see. There's a man in it who -- just, please tell me what you see, Brady..."
She was nearly in tears as she spoke, so Brady kneeled down on the floor beside her. He took the wallet from her hand and looked at her with concern. "What is it?"
Chloe gripped his other hand tightly and pushed him to do what she was asking. "Please, Brady... Just open it. Tell me I'm not crazy. Tell me that I'm not seeing things."
Brady nodded and then did as she said, opening up the wallet to look at Noah's family photo. His expression seemed to harden, realizing exactly what Chloe had seen in the photo. "I see it... It does look a little like him."
Chloe exhaled loudly and nodded. "It looks more than just a little like him, Brady. I mean, I'm not saying it could be his identical twin or anything, but it's just kind of striking... Like, if you saw him in a crowd, you might think that it was him..."
"But, it's not him. It's just a coincidence... This is your brother, right, Noah?"
Noah nodded but said nothing. He was confused enough as it is, and figured it was best to stay quiet. Brady turned back to Chloe and gave her a kiss on the temple as he ran his hand over her arm to comfort her. "See, Chloe... It's just a coincidence. Noah's brother just happens to look a little bit like him."
Chloe glared at him doubtfully, her face still showing every single emotion she was feeling. She raised her voice, not believing him for a second. "COINCIDENCE? A coincidence? I don't think so, Brady... Noah's brother is *missing* after working undercover for Stefano. His name matches the initials on that card. And, to top it all off, he just so happens to look a little bit like Phillip Kiriakis. So, there was no way in hell, you will *ever* make me believe this is a coincidence."
Brady handed Noah's wallet back to him and then pulled Chloe into his arms. "Chloe, you need to calm down, baby... It means nothing, okay?"
Chloe took a few relaxing deep breaths but was still shaking her head in denial. "I don't know, Brady... It just feels like it has to mean something..."
"I know you feel that way, and we will figure it out... I have to go call Bo back... Are you going to be okay?"
Chloe nodded and slid out of his arms. "Yeah, go make your phone call."
Brady hesitated and looked at her for a moment. He knew she wasn't okay and he also knew that no words or touches would make her okay. He stood up and went into the bedroom to call Bo and give him the new information he had, leaving Chloe and Noah alone again.
Noah put his wallet back in to his pocket, not knowing whether he should say something or not. Chloe looked shaken to the core, but Noah was confused as to why. "Chloe... Who is Phillip Kiriakis? I mean, the name sounds kinda familiar, but I don't know from where from..."
Chloe smoothed her hair with her fingers and sighed softly. "Do you watch the news a lot? Or Dateline, Primetime, 20/20?"
"Sometimes... Why?"
"Then that's where you've heard the name, probably. It was a pretty big story a while back."
Noah nodded slightly as he took in Chloe's distraught expression. "He hurt you, didn't he? Caused you a lot of pain, right?"
Chloe chuckled sarcastically and nodded. "You could say that... He tried to kill Brady, put him in a coma for twelve days. The longest twelve days I've ever had... He was Brady's uncle, and my ex-boyfriend and all he wanted was to take Brady away from me. And, he almost did."
"But, he... he went to prison, right?"
"Yeah, he did. But, he hung himself a little over a month ago. He's dead."
Noah raised his eyebrows and looked at her curiously. "And what does this have to do with Jake? Jake looks like Phillip? Is that what you were showing your husband?"
Chloe shrugged in confusion. "It's just a slight resemblance... I'm sure it means nothing."
Chloe stood from her chair and turned her gaze away from Noah. She was lying to him and didn't want him to see it written all over her face. What she was really thinking was too horrifying to say out loud. However, it had been in the back of her mind since she had received the news of Phillip's death that afternoon in Salem Place.
She moved across the living room, past Brady who was still on the phone in the bedroom and made her way into the bathroom. Chloe closed the door shut behind her and leaned on the sink as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She did look like she had seen a ghost, her skin had lost a great deal of color, and she looked weakened by the fear that was making her blood run cold.
Chloe turned the faucet on and splashed some of the cold water on to her face before turning it off. She pulled her hair up into a loose upswept style, just to keep it from falling in her face.
"Come on, Chloe... You have to pull yourself together..."
She looked back at herself in the mirror and shook her head. "Yeah right... Not going to happen."
Chloe went back out into the bedroom just as Brady was hanging up the phone. "So, how's your dad?"
"He's comfortable, but the symptoms are really starting to show... I -- I don't know how much time we have to do this. A week, maybe two at the most."
Chloe frowned and walked towards him, putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning over to kiss him briefly. She had to forget about Phillip, and concentrate on keeping her husband from falling apart. Brady was so close to his father, and losing him now would absolutely devastate him.
"It's going to be okay, Brady... We will find that antidote, no matter what it takes."
Brady stood from the bed and nodded slightly, but she could still sense the worry on his face. "I know we will..."
"So, did Bo have anything interesting to say?"
"Yes, he did... Come on. Let's go talk to our new musketeer..."
Both of them walked back in to the living room and sat down. Noah still looked confused, wondering why the picture of his brother had such a deep effect on Chloe. "So... What's going on, you two?"
Brady ran his fingers through his hair with a loud sigh and looked back and forth between the two. "I talked to Bo... He says that your brother has been sending messages to the ISA this entire time. Maybe he's just been unable to contact you..."
Chloe crossed her arms and frowned. "Or maybe Stefano's the one sending the messages..."
"What?"
"I don't mean to be pessimistic. I do hope that Jake is okay... But what if... And this is a BIG what if... What if Stefano found out he was working for the ISA? Maybe Stefano is keeping up appearances, making the ISA *think* that Jake is alright... giving them false information and false leads to keep them off his trail. I mean, we didn't find out about Venice because of the ISA or a lead from Jake. We found out because of Celeste and Lexie. If Stefano found out the truth about Jake, he could be locked up, or... or..."
Noah sighed softly and finished Chloe's thought for her. "Or he could be dead."
Chloe frowned in sympathy and shrugged. "I'm sorry, Noah... I didn't want to say it and I pray that I'm wrong. I hope that I am, that Jake is just fine... But, it's..."
"It's alright, Chloe. You make an excellent point, and it's not like I haven't thought about that myself. That's the risk you take when you do a job like his, or even one like mine. Sometimes you go to work and you never come back... So, I'm prepared for the worst, but I'm hoping for the best."
Brady was nodding in agreement and interjected. "We all are..."
Chloe looked at her husband curiously and questioned him. "So, what about the KJM thing? I mean, that's just too amazing to be coincidental... Right?"
"You're right. It definitely means something... I told Bo and my dad about it, they're kind of at a loss too... We don't know when Greta got that note, so we don't know exactly how this involves Jake."
Noah's eyebrows were furrowed together and he looked at them curiously. "Neither do I... Does somebody want to please explain what my brother's initials have to do with this too?"
Chloe turned to Noah and tried to explain it to him. "Greta... She was getting these notes from Stefano, just like the ones we found in her apartment here, there was a lot more in her house in Salem. On one of them was the phrase, 'The game has many players'. And then there was a watermark... with letters... initials... Greta, John, Brady, me and..."
"Jake... KJM... I get it." Noah slouched down further into the couch with a depressed sigh. "That puts everything into a new perspective, that's for sure... So, what do we do now?"
Brady rubbed his hands together and replied. "That's the other thing I have to tell you both... Greta is here in Venice, and I know where to find her. So tonight... we infiltrate the mansion where they are keeping her. "
Chloe's eyes widened and she stared at her husband in surprise. "Tonight? Are you serious?"
"As serious as a heart attack, Chloe. There's absolutely no time to waste here..."
"But -- don't you think we might be a bit unprepared for this sort of maneuver?"
Brady stared at her with a steely gaze, one that definitely meant business. "We have eight hours to make ourselves prepared. I have some gadgets and weaponry that I nabbed from my father. Noah is a police officer, so I don't think we have to worry about him."
Noah nodded enthusiastically and interjected. "No, you don't. I'm completely ready to do whatever I have to so I can find my brother..."
"Well, I'm hoping that if we find Greta first, maybe that will lead us to both the antidote and Jake..."
Chloe was shaking her head slightly and reached across her chair to grab Brady's hand. "Brady... I don't know... Are you SURE we're ready for this?"
Brady sighed and leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm sure that we have to do this even if we aren't ready. Do you understand what will happen to Greta if we don't get to her in time?"
"But -- Greta is Stefano's daughter... He wouldn't hurt her. Would he?"
"Maybe not physically. But, he might do something even worse than physical pain... You know what he did to my dad... what he did to Hope... You know exactly what he's capable of."
Chloe nodded sadly and looked towards the floor. It wasn't something that any of them often spoke about, but Chloe knew about Stefano's taste for mind control. If he couldn't have someone do his bidding by their own free will, he would find a way around it. A chill ran up her spine as she thought about what he would do to Greta, especially since she knew that Greta would never willingly give in to the father she had denied for so long.
"I know... You're right... We can't let that happen to Greta. We can't let it happen to anyone ever again..."
Brady nodded in agreement and brushed his hand over her cheek. "And we won't... We're going to stop DiMera this time. Once and for all. That way no one we care about will ever be in this situation again..."
Chloe smiled slightly and nodded. She wished she could believe that was true, but she knew that the DiMera family had been a thorn in the side of the town of Salem for many years before she had even heard of them. Chloe feared that they would continue to be that thorn for many years to come, trickling down to future generations of Bradys and Blacks, including her own son.
"Okay... Then show me what to do. Teach me how to be a superhero..."
Brady laughed softly and stood from the couch as Chloe and Noah stood too. "Well, Wonder-Woman... First thing's first, we have to plug in the laptop. Bo is sending me some information on the house, floorplans and security information... I'm sure they don't know everything, but it will help..."
Brady walked away and went to dig out their computer and hook it up. Chloe turned to look at Noah and smiled politely at him. "Listen... You know you don't have to go with us tonight... This is our fight, and I'd hate to put one more person in danger..."
Noah shook his head, his handsome face changing from confused and worried to resolved and determined. "No, this is my fight too. Jake might be alright, he might be there with your friend Greta... Or he might not be. Either way, Stefano DiMera has done *something* to my brother, and he's going to pay for it."
Chloe nodded slightly and kept smiling. "You're a good man, Noah... A brave man."
"Not so brave... I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life. But, the fear -- it just pushes you harder. Keeps you going..."
"You're right... It does..."
Chloe turned away from him and went to stand beside Brady as he booted up the computer. She watched as he logged on to find the files that Bo was sending him, but her mind was filled with other images. The picture of Jake Maguire seemed to haunt every corner of her brain, as did images of Phillip Kiriakis. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew that there was more to this coincidence than Brady wanted her to believe.
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Sorry I didn't post a chapter yesterday... Life got in the way. See, I actually DO have a life away from fanfic, Broe and ES. Believe it or not...
Chapter Ten
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Brady blinked his eyes rapidly and stared at Noah in shock. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"
Noah looked back at him in confusion and repeated himself. "I said, Jake is a nickname... His name is Kenneth Jacob Maguire..."
"Oh my God... K-J-M. Your brother is K-J-M." Brady looked at Chloe to get her reaction but she was still staring at the picture in Noah's wallet. "Chloe... Did you hear that?"
"I -- I did. K-J-M."
"Chloe, you look like you've seen a ghost..."
Chloe finally looked up from the picture and stared into Brady's eyes. "I think I did... But, maybe I'm just crazy. I don't know..."
Brady could always sense when something was wrong with her so he grabbed the phone and promised Bo he would call him back in a bit. He moved around the couch to stand beside her and gently lay his hand on her shoulder. "What is it? What's wrong?"
She closed Noah's wallet and looked up at Brady. Her face was pale and she looked like she was about to be sick to her stomach, the pain of what was haunting her was written all over her face.
"Chloe... Answer me... Something is wrong. I can tell."
She nodded slightly and rubbed her thumb over the black leather of the wallet. "I'm going to hand you Noah's wallet, and when you open it, look at the first picture and tell me what you see. There's a man in it who -- just, please tell me what you see, Brady..."
She was nearly in tears as she spoke, so Brady kneeled down on the floor beside her. He took the wallet from her hand and looked at her with concern. "What is it?"
Chloe gripped his other hand tightly and pushed him to do what she was asking. "Please, Brady... Just open it. Tell me I'm not crazy. Tell me that I'm not seeing things."
Brady nodded and then did as she said, opening up the wallet to look at Noah's family photo. His expression seemed to harden, realizing exactly what Chloe had seen in the photo. "I see it... It does look a little like him."
Chloe exhaled loudly and nodded. "It looks more than just a little like him, Brady. I mean, I'm not saying it could be his identical twin or anything, but it's just kind of striking... Like, if you saw him in a crowd, you might think that it was him..."
"But, it's not him. It's just a coincidence... This is your brother, right, Noah?"
Noah nodded but said nothing. He was confused enough as it is, and figured it was best to stay quiet. Brady turned back to Chloe and gave her a kiss on the temple as he ran his hand over her arm to comfort her. "See, Chloe... It's just a coincidence. Noah's brother just happens to look a little bit like him."
Chloe glared at him doubtfully, her face still showing every single emotion she was feeling. She raised her voice, not believing him for a second. "COINCIDENCE? A coincidence? I don't think so, Brady... Noah's brother is *missing* after working undercover for Stefano. His name matches the initials on that card. And, to top it all off, he just so happens to look a little bit like Phillip Kiriakis. So, there was no way in hell, you will *ever* make me believe this is a coincidence."
Brady handed Noah's wallet back to him and then pulled Chloe into his arms. "Chloe, you need to calm down, baby... It means nothing, okay?"
Chloe took a few relaxing deep breaths but was still shaking her head in denial. "I don't know, Brady... It just feels like it has to mean something..."
"I know you feel that way, and we will figure it out... I have to go call Bo back... Are you going to be okay?"
Chloe nodded and slid out of his arms. "Yeah, go make your phone call."
Brady hesitated and looked at her for a moment. He knew she wasn't okay and he also knew that no words or touches would make her okay. He stood up and went into the bedroom to call Bo and give him the new information he had, leaving Chloe and Noah alone again.
Noah put his wallet back in to his pocket, not knowing whether he should say something or not. Chloe looked shaken to the core, but Noah was confused as to why. "Chloe... Who is Phillip Kiriakis? I mean, the name sounds kinda familiar, but I don't know from where from..."
Chloe smoothed her hair with her fingers and sighed softly. "Do you watch the news a lot? Or Dateline, Primetime, 20/20?"
"Sometimes... Why?"
"Then that's where you've heard the name, probably. It was a pretty big story a while back."
Noah nodded slightly as he took in Chloe's distraught expression. "He hurt you, didn't he? Caused you a lot of pain, right?"
Chloe chuckled sarcastically and nodded. "You could say that... He tried to kill Brady, put him in a coma for twelve days. The longest twelve days I've ever had... He was Brady's uncle, and my ex-boyfriend and all he wanted was to take Brady away from me. And, he almost did."
"But, he... he went to prison, right?"
"Yeah, he did. But, he hung himself a little over a month ago. He's dead."
Noah raised his eyebrows and looked at her curiously. "And what does this have to do with Jake? Jake looks like Phillip? Is that what you were showing your husband?"
Chloe shrugged in confusion. "It's just a slight resemblance... I'm sure it means nothing."
Chloe stood from her chair and turned her gaze away from Noah. She was lying to him and didn't want him to see it written all over her face. What she was really thinking was too horrifying to say out loud. However, it had been in the back of her mind since she had received the news of Phillip's death that afternoon in Salem Place.
She moved across the living room, past Brady who was still on the phone in the bedroom and made her way into the bathroom. Chloe closed the door shut behind her and leaned on the sink as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She did look like she had seen a ghost, her skin had lost a great deal of color, and she looked weakened by the fear that was making her blood run cold.
Chloe turned the faucet on and splashed some of the cold water on to her face before turning it off. She pulled her hair up into a loose upswept style, just to keep it from falling in her face.
"Come on, Chloe... You have to pull yourself together..."
She looked back at herself in the mirror and shook her head. "Yeah right... Not going to happen."
Chloe went back out into the bedroom just as Brady was hanging up the phone. "So, how's your dad?"
"He's comfortable, but the symptoms are really starting to show... I -- I don't know how much time we have to do this. A week, maybe two at the most."
Chloe frowned and walked towards him, putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning over to kiss him briefly. She had to forget about Phillip, and concentrate on keeping her husband from falling apart. Brady was so close to his father, and losing him now would absolutely devastate him.
"It's going to be okay, Brady... We will find that antidote, no matter what it takes."
Brady stood from the bed and nodded slightly, but she could still sense the worry on his face. "I know we will..."
"So, did Bo have anything interesting to say?"
"Yes, he did... Come on. Let's go talk to our new musketeer..."
Both of them walked back in to the living room and sat down. Noah still looked confused, wondering why the picture of his brother had such a deep effect on Chloe. "So... What's going on, you two?"
Brady ran his fingers through his hair with a loud sigh and looked back and forth between the two. "I talked to Bo... He says that your brother has been sending messages to the ISA this entire time. Maybe he's just been unable to contact you..."
Chloe crossed her arms and frowned. "Or maybe Stefano's the one sending the messages..."
"What?"
"I don't mean to be pessimistic. I do hope that Jake is okay... But what if... And this is a BIG what if... What if Stefano found out he was working for the ISA? Maybe Stefano is keeping up appearances, making the ISA *think* that Jake is alright... giving them false information and false leads to keep them off his trail. I mean, we didn't find out about Venice because of the ISA or a lead from Jake. We found out because of Celeste and Lexie. If Stefano found out the truth about Jake, he could be locked up, or... or..."
Noah sighed softly and finished Chloe's thought for her. "Or he could be dead."
Chloe frowned in sympathy and shrugged. "I'm sorry, Noah... I didn't want to say it and I pray that I'm wrong. I hope that I am, that Jake is just fine... But, it's..."
"It's alright, Chloe. You make an excellent point, and it's not like I haven't thought about that myself. That's the risk you take when you do a job like his, or even one like mine. Sometimes you go to work and you never come back... So, I'm prepared for the worst, but I'm hoping for the best."
Brady was nodding in agreement and interjected. "We all are..."
Chloe looked at her husband curiously and questioned him. "So, what about the KJM thing? I mean, that's just too amazing to be coincidental... Right?"
"You're right. It definitely means something... I told Bo and my dad about it, they're kind of at a loss too... We don't know when Greta got that note, so we don't know exactly how this involves Jake."
Noah's eyebrows were furrowed together and he looked at them curiously. "Neither do I... Does somebody want to please explain what my brother's initials have to do with this too?"
Chloe turned to Noah and tried to explain it to him. "Greta... She was getting these notes from Stefano, just like the ones we found in her apartment here, there was a lot more in her house in Salem. On one of them was the phrase, 'The game has many players'. And then there was a watermark... with letters... initials... Greta, John, Brady, me and..."
"Jake... KJM... I get it." Noah slouched down further into the couch with a depressed sigh. "That puts everything into a new perspective, that's for sure... So, what do we do now?"
Brady rubbed his hands together and replied. "That's the other thing I have to tell you both... Greta is here in Venice, and I know where to find her. So tonight... we infiltrate the mansion where they are keeping her. "
Chloe's eyes widened and she stared at her husband in surprise. "Tonight? Are you serious?"
"As serious as a heart attack, Chloe. There's absolutely no time to waste here..."
"But -- don't you think we might be a bit unprepared for this sort of maneuver?"
Brady stared at her with a steely gaze, one that definitely meant business. "We have eight hours to make ourselves prepared. I have some gadgets and weaponry that I nabbed from my father. Noah is a police officer, so I don't think we have to worry about him."
Noah nodded enthusiastically and interjected. "No, you don't. I'm completely ready to do whatever I have to so I can find my brother..."
"Well, I'm hoping that if we find Greta first, maybe that will lead us to both the antidote and Jake..."
Chloe was shaking her head slightly and reached across her chair to grab Brady's hand. "Brady... I don't know... Are you SURE we're ready for this?"
Brady sighed and leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm sure that we have to do this even if we aren't ready. Do you understand what will happen to Greta if we don't get to her in time?"
"But -- Greta is Stefano's daughter... He wouldn't hurt her. Would he?"
"Maybe not physically. But, he might do something even worse than physical pain... You know what he did to my dad... what he did to Hope... You know exactly what he's capable of."
Chloe nodded sadly and looked towards the floor. It wasn't something that any of them often spoke about, but Chloe knew about Stefano's taste for mind control. If he couldn't have someone do his bidding by their own free will, he would find a way around it. A chill ran up her spine as she thought about what he would do to Greta, especially since she knew that Greta would never willingly give in to the father she had denied for so long.
"I know... You're right... We can't let that happen to Greta. We can't let it happen to anyone ever again..."
Brady nodded in agreement and brushed his hand over her cheek. "And we won't... We're going to stop DiMera this time. Once and for all. That way no one we care about will ever be in this situation again..."
Chloe smiled slightly and nodded. She wished she could believe that was true, but she knew that the DiMera family had been a thorn in the side of the town of Salem for many years before she had even heard of them. Chloe feared that they would continue to be that thorn for many years to come, trickling down to future generations of Bradys and Blacks, including her own son.
"Okay... Then show me what to do. Teach me how to be a superhero..."
Brady laughed softly and stood from the couch as Chloe and Noah stood too. "Well, Wonder-Woman... First thing's first, we have to plug in the laptop. Bo is sending me some information on the house, floorplans and security information... I'm sure they don't know everything, but it will help..."
Brady walked away and went to dig out their computer and hook it up. Chloe turned to look at Noah and smiled politely at him. "Listen... You know you don't have to go with us tonight... This is our fight, and I'd hate to put one more person in danger..."
Noah shook his head, his handsome face changing from confused and worried to resolved and determined. "No, this is my fight too. Jake might be alright, he might be there with your friend Greta... Or he might not be. Either way, Stefano DiMera has done *something* to my brother, and he's going to pay for it."
Chloe nodded slightly and kept smiling. "You're a good man, Noah... A brave man."
"Not so brave... I'm more scared than I've ever been in my life. But, the fear -- it just pushes you harder. Keeps you going..."
"You're right... It does..."
Chloe turned away from him and went to stand beside Brady as he booted up the computer. She watched as he logged on to find the files that Bo was sending him, but her mind was filled with other images. The picture of Jake Maguire seemed to haunt every corner of her brain, as did images of Phillip Kiriakis. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, she knew that there was more to this coincidence than Brady wanted her to believe.
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Sorry I didn't post a chapter yesterday... Life got in the way. See, I actually DO have a life away from fanfic, Broe and ES. Believe it or not...