Richie had been nearly impossible to live with for the past two weeks. It
took all the control Duncan could muster not to ground him. Tessa was
convinced Richie's behavior was due to his passage from boy to man. He was
no longer a child and was simply trying to discover himself, a process
which was more difficult for him than most because he had a secret identity
of sorts. He had also decided that he was too old for all the boundaries
that had been set and constantly found new ways to bend the rules so he
could do as he pleased.
So for Tessa's sake Duncan started small, at first he let Richie get away without a word, then a simple warning, then a lecture, then the removal of privileges but never a full out grounding. which was what Richie was hoping for. Richie wanted an excuse to not be able to meet Mitch after school and on weekends. He was doing everything he knew to drive Duncan insane and couldn't figure out why he wasn't so strict anymore. He slept in, stayed out until an hour after he was supposed to be home, talked back, and copped the biggest attitude he could muster. He was flat out rude and all Duncan would do was talk to him and try to understand.
One Saturday Richie disappeared before anyone else woke up. Duncan snapped.
"He's supposed to work today," he repeated for the ninth time. "Tess, this is not just Richie trying to grow up. I think this is serious."
Tessa's eyes narrowed over her coffee. "What do you mean?"
"I think he's gotten into something serious.I think he's doing drugs."
"How can you say that?" she demanded. "Richie would never do such a thing."
"Think, the mood swings, the sudden rebellion, the secrets, the loss of appetite until he comes home and eats everything he can find. All the signs are there. I don't want to believe it either, but it's getting harder and harder not to."
"Duncan, I agree something is going on, but Richie would never do drugs. He knows better."
"Does he?"
That night Duncan was reading in the living room when Richie came in. Richie was tired and cranky, the sedative Mitch had given him hadn't quite worn off and he was getting less and less accepting of his current arrangement. If Mitch decided it would be fun to tie Richie up and knock him out and strip him one more time Richie was going to call the police himself. All he wanted was to get grounded for a few days so he could come up with a plan and one look at Duncan told him this was his chance.
"Where have you been?" Duncan demanded.
"Out," Richie shrugged sprawling on the couch with his shoes still on.
"Doing what?" Duncan loomed over him.
"Stuff." Without thinking Richie pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt.
Duncan reached down and grabbed his left arm. "What are those?"
Richie looked down at the bruises around his wrist and the punctures in the crook of his arm. "Nothin'." He tried to pull his arm out of Duncan's grip.
"That's not nothing. Those are from needles. Where did you get them?"
"I've been donating blood. Le'go."
"I don't believe you." Duncan stared him coldly in the eye. "Tell me the truth."
Richie's eyes darted away. Maybe he should tell the truth. Mitch was blackmailing him and thought it was fun to sedate him so he could do whatever he wanted to him. "Let go," Richie said softly. "You're hurting me."
Duncan loosened his grip and squatted so they were eye to eye. "You're hurting yourself. Just tell me, Richie. Let me help you," he pleaded.
"You can't," Richie told him.
"Of course I can. Richie, I don't know what's wrong and why you thought drugs would help, but we-"
"Drugs?" Richie sputtered. "You think I'm doing drugs?"
"Aren't you?" Duncan asked without a hint of anger.
Richie paused. Admitting to it would be one sure-fire way to end up under lock and key. "So what if I am?" he asked.
Duncan couldn't believe it. "What did you say?"
"What are you going to do about it?" Richie asked slowly gathering courage. At this point he would admit to anything to have an excuse to stay away from Mitch. "You gonna lock me in my room? Follow me 24/7? Kick me out? What?"
For a minute Duncan stared disbelievingly at Richie's defiant face. "Go to your room," he said slowly. "I don't want to hear a sound from you. And keep your door open."
Richie glared hard as he got up and went to his room. He flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He never thought he would feel so relieved to be grounded. Now all he had to do was keep it this way.
Duncan sat in bed next to Tessa. Both were unable to sleep.
"I don't believe it," Tessa said firmly. "I don't believe it at all. I can't; he wouldn't, I know him, he knows better."
"I don't believe him either," Duncan admitted. "He thinks I do. All I have to do is play along."
"And how are you going to do that?"
"He wants to be grounded."
"So you're going to give him what he wants?"
"No, tomorrow I'm going to apologize and tell him that it's his life. Then wait for him to go off again and follow him."
"And then burst in and catch him in the act?"
"Exactly. Tessa, if he'd admit that he's doing drugs when he's not. he has to be hiding something big. And I want to know what it is. I have to know and this is the only way to do that."
The next morning Duncan knocked on Richie's doorframe. "Can I come in?"
Richie looked up from where he was sprawled on his bed in his boxers. "What do you want?"
Duncan took a deep breath and reminded himself this was all an act. This was not his Richie. "I want to apologize."
"What?! I mean. noticed you were a jerk?"
Duncan had to give him credit; Richie was good. "Yes. I shouldn't ground you."
"Huh?"
"It's your life and if want to mess it up that's your business. You're old enough to make your own mistakes. All I can do is tell you that I think this is the worst mistake you could ever make and when you're ready to fix it you can always come to me. I'll do everything I can to help you, Tessa too. It's up to you to decide when to let us. But the sooner you let us, the easier it will be. So, I know you had plans for today; I guess you'd better get going."
With an unmistakable face of disappointment Richie looked at his clock. "I got a couple hours yet."
At ten o'clock, Richie was at Greg's door unaware that Duncan had followed him. Duncan sat across the street in the T-Bird and watched the clock counting down until he would go in. He had decided to give Richie fifteen minutes to get into whatever it was he was hiding.
"Today is the day," Mitch announced happily closing the door behind Richie. "Today we prove our love for each other."
"I hate you," Richie told him. "Always have, always will."
"Well, I love you," Mitch told him leaning in for a kiss. "One day you'll feel the same way," he added running his fingers through Richie's hair. "And wait until you see what I've got for you!"
"You're sick," Richie told him looking at the brand new bondage set Mitch had laid out on the bed.
"You know you like it." Mitch picked up the pieces and pulled back the bedspread to revile the satin sheets. "Isn't this perfect?"
"If only you were my wife," Richie answered.
"I can be someday, if you like." Mitch went about lighting candles. "Go on, get ready."
Richie set his face in a scowl as he began to undress. "Pedophile," he mumbled under his breath.
"Now, as much as I want you to remember this I don't think that is such as good idea. Now give me your arm." Richie knew the drill and stuck out his left arm obediently. Mitch expertly administered the injection and for the millionth time Richie wondered where he had acquired such a skill. "Oh, you're bleeding!" Mitch kissed the blood away then made a trail up Richie's arm, neck and ended on his lips. They stood, Mitch kissing Richie, until Richie started to sway a little as the drugs kicked in. "Now, come lie down and get comfortable." Mitch gently guided Richie to the bed and sat him down. The satin felt foreign to the boy's bare buttocks. The drugs were kicking in quickly. much faster than the other times.
"What did you give me?" he mumbled unable to do much more than remain in the position Mitch put him in.
"It's something new; I got it from a friend. Do you like it?"
"Bastard."
Mitch just smiled and went about shackling Richie to the bed fastening the chains to the headboard and the leather cuffs around his wrists. He shackled Richie's ankles together and stepped back to admire his work. His eyes came to rest just below Richie's waist. "This is going to be fun," he decided.
"Ass."
"Yes, I do believe I'll be able to turn you over without a problem," Mitch said oblivious to what Richie had meant. "Now you probably still have a few more minutes of consciousness left so I'll give you some time once I get done here." He started at Richie with a set of leather buckles at were all attached to what looked like a rubber ball. At first Richie was slightly curious as to what this thing was, but soon found it was nothing but a kinky gag as Mitch fit the ball in his mouth and fastened the buckles around his head. "You're a little on the noisy side if I remember correctly," he explained as he left the room to let Richie slip into a dark void in peace.
Finally Duncan couldn't take it any longer and crossed the street to the apartment building. He started up the stairs concentrating hard to feel the slight pre-immortal buzz Richie gave off. It stared to hit him half way between the seventh and eighth floors. He walked down the hall pausing at each door trying to figure where the feeling was coming from. 8C. Duncan pounded on the door.
"Richie!" he yelled. "Open up!"
The door opened and a young twenty something man stood on the other side. "Can I help you?"
"Where is he?" Duncan demanded barging in.
"Who?"
"Richie Ryan, where is he?"
The man looked slightly amused. "Do you mean Joel MacLeod?"
"Where is my son?" Duncan annunciated each word carefully. "I know he's here."
"Do you see him?" the man asked glancing around the living room of the small apartment.
"Fine, I'll find him myself. Richie! Where are you?"
Richie was lying motionless in the bedroom unaware that Duncan had come to rescue him.
Duncan opened closets expecting Richie to be hiding somewhere in hopes that he wouldn't be found. Soon his only option was the bedroom. Duncan threw open the door. "Rich." he started to yell but stopped short when he spotted the nude, unconscious youth. Without a thought Duncan drew his katana and turned on the man standing behind him. "What did you do to him?" he demanded.
"Nothing!" the man insisted taking a step back.
"Nothing! You call that nothing?" Duncan advanced on him. "What have you been doing to him?"
"You'd better put that thing away, buddy," the man said suddenly taking on a cocky attitude. "Because I think the cops would be quite interested in what you're doing with it."
"And I'll just explain that you're a pedophile that kidnapped my son," Duncan returned cornering the man in the living room. "What did you do to him?"
"I'll call the police!" the man warned desperately. "I'll tell them about his records!"
"And I'll tell them you've been black mailing him and forcing him to have sex."
"We haven't had sex, yet," the man insisted. "You have nothing on me; it's a couple of liars against a teacher."
"A teacher?" Duncan glared hard at the man. Never in his history had the Highlander been so angry. "Let me tell you how this is going to work. You are going to turn yourself in. You are going to go to the police and confess. You will say nothing about Joel and Richie being the same person.you will not mention Joel or Richie or me. If you do and the police come to get me, the only deal I will cut is that you and I are cellmates. There is no way you can get out of trouble now, face it. I win. Do we have a deal?" The man nodded as best as he could with the blade of the katana at his neck. "You messed with the wrong father." Duncan gave the man one last glare then went to untie Richie as the man sank to the floor.
"Wake up, Richie," Duncan patted the boy's a face a few times before he began to attempt to unbuckle the gag. After less than a minute later he got impatient and sliced through the leather with his sword, unintentionally cutting the boy from temple to jaw in his anger. Unable to see him like this anymore, Duncan didn't bother simply unbuckling the other restraints and simply cut the chains. He gathered Richie's clothes from the corner and wrapped the boy in his overcoat before picking him up. "Why aren't you on the phone?" he asked the man who was still huddled in the corner. The man got up and under Duncan's watchful eye dialed the police and confessed. "I better hear about your arrest on the news tonight. if I don't, I'll come after you. And don't think I won't find you."
Duncan ignored the curious looks he got as he gently laid Richie in the back seat of his car and adjusted the coat. He put up the top and threw Richie's clothes on the seat next to him. He drove home silently, jaw clenched and teeth grinding.
He carried the boy into the apartment where Tessa met him at the door. Duncan carried the still unconscious Richie up to his room and started to tell Tessa, who had followed him, what had happened. Tessa burst into tears as Duncan told her what he had found as he dressed Richie in the flannel pajamas he only wore when told to.
"How could he not tell us?" she asked sitting on the bed next to the still sleeping boy and gently wiping the blood from his face as Duncan unbuckled the severed restraints.
"We'll ask him when he wakes up. My guess is he was being forced into being sedated so that bastard could have his way."
Since both Duncan and Tessa refused to leave Richie's side until he woke up they turned on his small TV to watch the news.
"Our top story today is the suicide of confessed child rapist Mitch Colazano," the reported started with a grin.
"Mitch," Tessa whispered looking at Duncan. "You don't think."
"Colazano called Seacouver police today to confess to forcing students in his class into sexual acts along with other children he used to baby-sit. When police arrived they found Colazano having hung himself in his bedroom where the evidence of his last act was still out. Police collected a blood sample in hopes of finding the child he had been holding. In other news." Duncan switched off the TV.
Tessa looked at the gash on Richie's face. "They have his blood?"
"I added some of mine to the mix, they won't be able to identify him," Duncan assured her.
"Do you think it's the same Mitch?" Tessa asked smoothing back Richie's curls.
"It has to be if he knew Richie wasn't really Joel.I wasn't counting on anyone from Richie's neighborhood showing up at that school; it's the most expensive and it's on the other side of town."
"What are we going to do? He can't stay here anymore; it's too dangerous."
"I have a plan," Duncan told her. For the next two hours Duncan and Tessa devised a plan to removed Richie from danger and suspicion.
"Do you think he will agr." Tessa stopped when Richie moaned and moved a little. It took him nearly five minutes but Richie sat up, still completely out of it and not awake, mumbling something about the bathroom. He struggled out of the blankets and began stumbling toward the wall in the direction of where Mitch's bathroom was in relation to the bed.
"Whoa, Rich." Duncan took him by the shoulders and changed his direction toward his bathroom. A couple minutes later Richie emerged thoroughly confused.
"How did I get here?" he asked.
"Duncan brought you," Tessa told him getting up and ushering him back to bed. "Why didn't you tell us what Mitch was doing?"
If possible, Richie became more confused. "How do you know about that?"
"I followed you," Duncan explained. "He didn't get a chance to." he couldn't say it. "And he'll never get the chance, he's dead."
"You killed him?" Richie asked oddly alarmed by the thought.
"No, I made him turn himself in; he killed himself. But why didn't you tell us? It didn't have to go this far."
Richie rolled onto his side facing away from Duncan and Tessa. "He told me not to. He said if I told his secret, he'd tell mine. And if people started looking into that, then they might find out about Mac. And if they find out about Dad, then there would be all sorts of trouble."
"Richie, you shouldn't have put yourself in that position just for me," Duncan said.
Richie snorted an odd sort of laugh. "No pun intended, right?"
Duncan smiled. "Pun or not, it wasn't a good idea."
"I'm sorry, I panicked."
"And put yourself in serious danger," Tessa added gently sitting behind him and tracing the cut on his face. "You can always come to us, no matter what. We will always help."
"I know," Richie mumbled sleepily. "I just.I didn't know what else to do."
"Richie what you did might have been stupid, but it was brave. I never want you to be brave without asking me first, you understand?"
"You think it was brave?" Richie asked around a yawn and rolling so he was on his back.
"Yes, you didn't think about yourself and did what you had to protect us. That's brave. What's stupid is what you did to protect us. It was extremely stupid," Duncan gently hammered the point in. "But your heart was in the right place. But if anything, God forbid, like this should happen again, don't be brave. Tell us, okay?"
"Okay," Richie yawned again the drugs making a second run through his system.
"Promise me."
"I promise."
Tessa and Duncan waited for Richie to fall asleep, then went to the courthouse. When they got back home, Duncan got on the computer and started hacking. He was familiar with the system, as he had to learn how to cover his own tracks in the system. He changed some dates and added some information here and there. The next day he put the final step of their plan into action.
Duncan entered the busy orphanage with an apologetic smile.
"Can I help you?" the woman behind the counter asked.
"I certainly hope so," Duncan started. "My wife and I adopted a boy from here a little over a year ago and I don't know if you heard but the apartments on twelfth and Woodrow burned down a few days ago.Well we had his file home to fill out paperwork for his new school. We're moving, and I'm afraid they got burned. Is there anyway we can get a new copy?"
"Of course Mr."
"MacLeod, Duncan MacLeod."
"I just need to see an I.D. and what is the name of your child?"
"Richard Ryan," Duncan explained handing her his driver's license.
"Okay, just one moment." The woman disappeared for a few minutes then returned looking slightly flustered. "We have the computer record of the adoption, but it's not in his paper file. We just changed systems and it must have gotten misplaced in the shuffle," she apologized leaving out the part that she hadn't the slightest clue Richie had been adopted. But of course she would never admit it; what kind of social worker forgets a kid like Richie Ryan being adopted?
Duncan smiled. "It must be him; he is forever misplacing anything that gets into his hands."
"Things like this usually don't happen. We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience. But we can have a complete copy of his file for you in the morning. Will that work for you?"
"Of course. Things like this have to happen eventually." Duncan smiled again. "Whenever you can have them ready is fine."
"They will be ready by tomorrow after eleven at the latest. Do you have a number where I can reach you to tell you when they're ready?"
"Um, yes. You can call me at my work." Duncan gave her his business card. "And really anytime tomorrow will be fine. The application isn't due until next week."
"Well, Mr. MacLeod, you are at the top of the list."
"Thank you so much." Duncan turned and left. Just as he had suspected the plan had worked. If it was in the computer it had to be true; Richie had been adopted July of last year just before his seventeenth birthday. Nobody was going to admit that they thought that Richie had been let out of the system because he turned eighteen, what kind of orphanage forgets what happens to one of their charges? Now all he had to do was wait for the call and to show Richie.
AN: okay after this there is one last chap which should be up soon. I am going to work on University Love until I got out of town for 10 days then I'll be back for three, then I'm gone for another five then I'm home. After that I have a sequel in mind for this story. I'll tell you what it's about later. Just tell me if anyone is interested.
So for Tessa's sake Duncan started small, at first he let Richie get away without a word, then a simple warning, then a lecture, then the removal of privileges but never a full out grounding. which was what Richie was hoping for. Richie wanted an excuse to not be able to meet Mitch after school and on weekends. He was doing everything he knew to drive Duncan insane and couldn't figure out why he wasn't so strict anymore. He slept in, stayed out until an hour after he was supposed to be home, talked back, and copped the biggest attitude he could muster. He was flat out rude and all Duncan would do was talk to him and try to understand.
One Saturday Richie disappeared before anyone else woke up. Duncan snapped.
"He's supposed to work today," he repeated for the ninth time. "Tess, this is not just Richie trying to grow up. I think this is serious."
Tessa's eyes narrowed over her coffee. "What do you mean?"
"I think he's gotten into something serious.I think he's doing drugs."
"How can you say that?" she demanded. "Richie would never do such a thing."
"Think, the mood swings, the sudden rebellion, the secrets, the loss of appetite until he comes home and eats everything he can find. All the signs are there. I don't want to believe it either, but it's getting harder and harder not to."
"Duncan, I agree something is going on, but Richie would never do drugs. He knows better."
"Does he?"
That night Duncan was reading in the living room when Richie came in. Richie was tired and cranky, the sedative Mitch had given him hadn't quite worn off and he was getting less and less accepting of his current arrangement. If Mitch decided it would be fun to tie Richie up and knock him out and strip him one more time Richie was going to call the police himself. All he wanted was to get grounded for a few days so he could come up with a plan and one look at Duncan told him this was his chance.
"Where have you been?" Duncan demanded.
"Out," Richie shrugged sprawling on the couch with his shoes still on.
"Doing what?" Duncan loomed over him.
"Stuff." Without thinking Richie pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt.
Duncan reached down and grabbed his left arm. "What are those?"
Richie looked down at the bruises around his wrist and the punctures in the crook of his arm. "Nothin'." He tried to pull his arm out of Duncan's grip.
"That's not nothing. Those are from needles. Where did you get them?"
"I've been donating blood. Le'go."
"I don't believe you." Duncan stared him coldly in the eye. "Tell me the truth."
Richie's eyes darted away. Maybe he should tell the truth. Mitch was blackmailing him and thought it was fun to sedate him so he could do whatever he wanted to him. "Let go," Richie said softly. "You're hurting me."
Duncan loosened his grip and squatted so they were eye to eye. "You're hurting yourself. Just tell me, Richie. Let me help you," he pleaded.
"You can't," Richie told him.
"Of course I can. Richie, I don't know what's wrong and why you thought drugs would help, but we-"
"Drugs?" Richie sputtered. "You think I'm doing drugs?"
"Aren't you?" Duncan asked without a hint of anger.
Richie paused. Admitting to it would be one sure-fire way to end up under lock and key. "So what if I am?" he asked.
Duncan couldn't believe it. "What did you say?"
"What are you going to do about it?" Richie asked slowly gathering courage. At this point he would admit to anything to have an excuse to stay away from Mitch. "You gonna lock me in my room? Follow me 24/7? Kick me out? What?"
For a minute Duncan stared disbelievingly at Richie's defiant face. "Go to your room," he said slowly. "I don't want to hear a sound from you. And keep your door open."
Richie glared hard as he got up and went to his room. He flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He never thought he would feel so relieved to be grounded. Now all he had to do was keep it this way.
Duncan sat in bed next to Tessa. Both were unable to sleep.
"I don't believe it," Tessa said firmly. "I don't believe it at all. I can't; he wouldn't, I know him, he knows better."
"I don't believe him either," Duncan admitted. "He thinks I do. All I have to do is play along."
"And how are you going to do that?"
"He wants to be grounded."
"So you're going to give him what he wants?"
"No, tomorrow I'm going to apologize and tell him that it's his life. Then wait for him to go off again and follow him."
"And then burst in and catch him in the act?"
"Exactly. Tessa, if he'd admit that he's doing drugs when he's not. he has to be hiding something big. And I want to know what it is. I have to know and this is the only way to do that."
The next morning Duncan knocked on Richie's doorframe. "Can I come in?"
Richie looked up from where he was sprawled on his bed in his boxers. "What do you want?"
Duncan took a deep breath and reminded himself this was all an act. This was not his Richie. "I want to apologize."
"What?! I mean. noticed you were a jerk?"
Duncan had to give him credit; Richie was good. "Yes. I shouldn't ground you."
"Huh?"
"It's your life and if want to mess it up that's your business. You're old enough to make your own mistakes. All I can do is tell you that I think this is the worst mistake you could ever make and when you're ready to fix it you can always come to me. I'll do everything I can to help you, Tessa too. It's up to you to decide when to let us. But the sooner you let us, the easier it will be. So, I know you had plans for today; I guess you'd better get going."
With an unmistakable face of disappointment Richie looked at his clock. "I got a couple hours yet."
At ten o'clock, Richie was at Greg's door unaware that Duncan had followed him. Duncan sat across the street in the T-Bird and watched the clock counting down until he would go in. He had decided to give Richie fifteen minutes to get into whatever it was he was hiding.
"Today is the day," Mitch announced happily closing the door behind Richie. "Today we prove our love for each other."
"I hate you," Richie told him. "Always have, always will."
"Well, I love you," Mitch told him leaning in for a kiss. "One day you'll feel the same way," he added running his fingers through Richie's hair. "And wait until you see what I've got for you!"
"You're sick," Richie told him looking at the brand new bondage set Mitch had laid out on the bed.
"You know you like it." Mitch picked up the pieces and pulled back the bedspread to revile the satin sheets. "Isn't this perfect?"
"If only you were my wife," Richie answered.
"I can be someday, if you like." Mitch went about lighting candles. "Go on, get ready."
Richie set his face in a scowl as he began to undress. "Pedophile," he mumbled under his breath.
"Now, as much as I want you to remember this I don't think that is such as good idea. Now give me your arm." Richie knew the drill and stuck out his left arm obediently. Mitch expertly administered the injection and for the millionth time Richie wondered where he had acquired such a skill. "Oh, you're bleeding!" Mitch kissed the blood away then made a trail up Richie's arm, neck and ended on his lips. They stood, Mitch kissing Richie, until Richie started to sway a little as the drugs kicked in. "Now, come lie down and get comfortable." Mitch gently guided Richie to the bed and sat him down. The satin felt foreign to the boy's bare buttocks. The drugs were kicking in quickly. much faster than the other times.
"What did you give me?" he mumbled unable to do much more than remain in the position Mitch put him in.
"It's something new; I got it from a friend. Do you like it?"
"Bastard."
Mitch just smiled and went about shackling Richie to the bed fastening the chains to the headboard and the leather cuffs around his wrists. He shackled Richie's ankles together and stepped back to admire his work. His eyes came to rest just below Richie's waist. "This is going to be fun," he decided.
"Ass."
"Yes, I do believe I'll be able to turn you over without a problem," Mitch said oblivious to what Richie had meant. "Now you probably still have a few more minutes of consciousness left so I'll give you some time once I get done here." He started at Richie with a set of leather buckles at were all attached to what looked like a rubber ball. At first Richie was slightly curious as to what this thing was, but soon found it was nothing but a kinky gag as Mitch fit the ball in his mouth and fastened the buckles around his head. "You're a little on the noisy side if I remember correctly," he explained as he left the room to let Richie slip into a dark void in peace.
Finally Duncan couldn't take it any longer and crossed the street to the apartment building. He started up the stairs concentrating hard to feel the slight pre-immortal buzz Richie gave off. It stared to hit him half way between the seventh and eighth floors. He walked down the hall pausing at each door trying to figure where the feeling was coming from. 8C. Duncan pounded on the door.
"Richie!" he yelled. "Open up!"
The door opened and a young twenty something man stood on the other side. "Can I help you?"
"Where is he?" Duncan demanded barging in.
"Who?"
"Richie Ryan, where is he?"
The man looked slightly amused. "Do you mean Joel MacLeod?"
"Where is my son?" Duncan annunciated each word carefully. "I know he's here."
"Do you see him?" the man asked glancing around the living room of the small apartment.
"Fine, I'll find him myself. Richie! Where are you?"
Richie was lying motionless in the bedroom unaware that Duncan had come to rescue him.
Duncan opened closets expecting Richie to be hiding somewhere in hopes that he wouldn't be found. Soon his only option was the bedroom. Duncan threw open the door. "Rich." he started to yell but stopped short when he spotted the nude, unconscious youth. Without a thought Duncan drew his katana and turned on the man standing behind him. "What did you do to him?" he demanded.
"Nothing!" the man insisted taking a step back.
"Nothing! You call that nothing?" Duncan advanced on him. "What have you been doing to him?"
"You'd better put that thing away, buddy," the man said suddenly taking on a cocky attitude. "Because I think the cops would be quite interested in what you're doing with it."
"And I'll just explain that you're a pedophile that kidnapped my son," Duncan returned cornering the man in the living room. "What did you do to him?"
"I'll call the police!" the man warned desperately. "I'll tell them about his records!"
"And I'll tell them you've been black mailing him and forcing him to have sex."
"We haven't had sex, yet," the man insisted. "You have nothing on me; it's a couple of liars against a teacher."
"A teacher?" Duncan glared hard at the man. Never in his history had the Highlander been so angry. "Let me tell you how this is going to work. You are going to turn yourself in. You are going to go to the police and confess. You will say nothing about Joel and Richie being the same person.you will not mention Joel or Richie or me. If you do and the police come to get me, the only deal I will cut is that you and I are cellmates. There is no way you can get out of trouble now, face it. I win. Do we have a deal?" The man nodded as best as he could with the blade of the katana at his neck. "You messed with the wrong father." Duncan gave the man one last glare then went to untie Richie as the man sank to the floor.
"Wake up, Richie," Duncan patted the boy's a face a few times before he began to attempt to unbuckle the gag. After less than a minute later he got impatient and sliced through the leather with his sword, unintentionally cutting the boy from temple to jaw in his anger. Unable to see him like this anymore, Duncan didn't bother simply unbuckling the other restraints and simply cut the chains. He gathered Richie's clothes from the corner and wrapped the boy in his overcoat before picking him up. "Why aren't you on the phone?" he asked the man who was still huddled in the corner. The man got up and under Duncan's watchful eye dialed the police and confessed. "I better hear about your arrest on the news tonight. if I don't, I'll come after you. And don't think I won't find you."
Duncan ignored the curious looks he got as he gently laid Richie in the back seat of his car and adjusted the coat. He put up the top and threw Richie's clothes on the seat next to him. He drove home silently, jaw clenched and teeth grinding.
He carried the boy into the apartment where Tessa met him at the door. Duncan carried the still unconscious Richie up to his room and started to tell Tessa, who had followed him, what had happened. Tessa burst into tears as Duncan told her what he had found as he dressed Richie in the flannel pajamas he only wore when told to.
"How could he not tell us?" she asked sitting on the bed next to the still sleeping boy and gently wiping the blood from his face as Duncan unbuckled the severed restraints.
"We'll ask him when he wakes up. My guess is he was being forced into being sedated so that bastard could have his way."
Since both Duncan and Tessa refused to leave Richie's side until he woke up they turned on his small TV to watch the news.
"Our top story today is the suicide of confessed child rapist Mitch Colazano," the reported started with a grin.
"Mitch," Tessa whispered looking at Duncan. "You don't think."
"Colazano called Seacouver police today to confess to forcing students in his class into sexual acts along with other children he used to baby-sit. When police arrived they found Colazano having hung himself in his bedroom where the evidence of his last act was still out. Police collected a blood sample in hopes of finding the child he had been holding. In other news." Duncan switched off the TV.
Tessa looked at the gash on Richie's face. "They have his blood?"
"I added some of mine to the mix, they won't be able to identify him," Duncan assured her.
"Do you think it's the same Mitch?" Tessa asked smoothing back Richie's curls.
"It has to be if he knew Richie wasn't really Joel.I wasn't counting on anyone from Richie's neighborhood showing up at that school; it's the most expensive and it's on the other side of town."
"What are we going to do? He can't stay here anymore; it's too dangerous."
"I have a plan," Duncan told her. For the next two hours Duncan and Tessa devised a plan to removed Richie from danger and suspicion.
"Do you think he will agr." Tessa stopped when Richie moaned and moved a little. It took him nearly five minutes but Richie sat up, still completely out of it and not awake, mumbling something about the bathroom. He struggled out of the blankets and began stumbling toward the wall in the direction of where Mitch's bathroom was in relation to the bed.
"Whoa, Rich." Duncan took him by the shoulders and changed his direction toward his bathroom. A couple minutes later Richie emerged thoroughly confused.
"How did I get here?" he asked.
"Duncan brought you," Tessa told him getting up and ushering him back to bed. "Why didn't you tell us what Mitch was doing?"
If possible, Richie became more confused. "How do you know about that?"
"I followed you," Duncan explained. "He didn't get a chance to." he couldn't say it. "And he'll never get the chance, he's dead."
"You killed him?" Richie asked oddly alarmed by the thought.
"No, I made him turn himself in; he killed himself. But why didn't you tell us? It didn't have to go this far."
Richie rolled onto his side facing away from Duncan and Tessa. "He told me not to. He said if I told his secret, he'd tell mine. And if people started looking into that, then they might find out about Mac. And if they find out about Dad, then there would be all sorts of trouble."
"Richie, you shouldn't have put yourself in that position just for me," Duncan said.
Richie snorted an odd sort of laugh. "No pun intended, right?"
Duncan smiled. "Pun or not, it wasn't a good idea."
"I'm sorry, I panicked."
"And put yourself in serious danger," Tessa added gently sitting behind him and tracing the cut on his face. "You can always come to us, no matter what. We will always help."
"I know," Richie mumbled sleepily. "I just.I didn't know what else to do."
"Richie what you did might have been stupid, but it was brave. I never want you to be brave without asking me first, you understand?"
"You think it was brave?" Richie asked around a yawn and rolling so he was on his back.
"Yes, you didn't think about yourself and did what you had to protect us. That's brave. What's stupid is what you did to protect us. It was extremely stupid," Duncan gently hammered the point in. "But your heart was in the right place. But if anything, God forbid, like this should happen again, don't be brave. Tell us, okay?"
"Okay," Richie yawned again the drugs making a second run through his system.
"Promise me."
"I promise."
Tessa and Duncan waited for Richie to fall asleep, then went to the courthouse. When they got back home, Duncan got on the computer and started hacking. He was familiar with the system, as he had to learn how to cover his own tracks in the system. He changed some dates and added some information here and there. The next day he put the final step of their plan into action.
Duncan entered the busy orphanage with an apologetic smile.
"Can I help you?" the woman behind the counter asked.
"I certainly hope so," Duncan started. "My wife and I adopted a boy from here a little over a year ago and I don't know if you heard but the apartments on twelfth and Woodrow burned down a few days ago.Well we had his file home to fill out paperwork for his new school. We're moving, and I'm afraid they got burned. Is there anyway we can get a new copy?"
"Of course Mr."
"MacLeod, Duncan MacLeod."
"I just need to see an I.D. and what is the name of your child?"
"Richard Ryan," Duncan explained handing her his driver's license.
"Okay, just one moment." The woman disappeared for a few minutes then returned looking slightly flustered. "We have the computer record of the adoption, but it's not in his paper file. We just changed systems and it must have gotten misplaced in the shuffle," she apologized leaving out the part that she hadn't the slightest clue Richie had been adopted. But of course she would never admit it; what kind of social worker forgets a kid like Richie Ryan being adopted?
Duncan smiled. "It must be him; he is forever misplacing anything that gets into his hands."
"Things like this usually don't happen. We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience. But we can have a complete copy of his file for you in the morning. Will that work for you?"
"Of course. Things like this have to happen eventually." Duncan smiled again. "Whenever you can have them ready is fine."
"They will be ready by tomorrow after eleven at the latest. Do you have a number where I can reach you to tell you when they're ready?"
"Um, yes. You can call me at my work." Duncan gave her his business card. "And really anytime tomorrow will be fine. The application isn't due until next week."
"Well, Mr. MacLeod, you are at the top of the list."
"Thank you so much." Duncan turned and left. Just as he had suspected the plan had worked. If it was in the computer it had to be true; Richie had been adopted July of last year just before his seventeenth birthday. Nobody was going to admit that they thought that Richie had been let out of the system because he turned eighteen, what kind of orphanage forgets what happens to one of their charges? Now all he had to do was wait for the call and to show Richie.
AN: okay after this there is one last chap which should be up soon. I am going to work on University Love until I got out of town for 10 days then I'll be back for three, then I'm gone for another five then I'm home. After that I have a sequel in mind for this story. I'll tell you what it's about later. Just tell me if anyone is interested.
