TAKING TO TASK
CHAPTER NINE
"ADMITTING THE TRUTH"

The rest of the trip was, thankfully, uneventful. Joe, still sitting in the backseat, hoped that their change of cars and cell phones helped full whatever devices Ras-Alman had in place to track them, allowing them just a hint of safety as they continued their trek to St. Louis. Joe relaxed as he watched scenery going by, consisting mostly of fields, houses and gently rolling hills. He cracked the window of the borrowed car open and felt the fresh breeze on his face, relaxing him even further. He rolled the window up when he caught wind of a large cow farm and winced. Nasty smell that.

Joe looked up front and saw Nancy relaxed as well, even as she drove. Frank was awake too and he and Nancy occasionally exchanged looks that made Joe wish he could just disappear and give them some alone time. It wasn't taking very long for Frank and Nancy's relationship to flourish; something, he suspected, they both wanted for a very long time.

By the time they arrived in St. Louis, they were all ready to get a hotel room and go to bed. Frank used a wad of cash to pay for their hotel room, putting it under an assumed name to make it harder for Ras-Alman to track them down.

The room – which was a suite with two rooms and a central living room area, was cozy and plenty of space for the three of them. They all sat down at the table in the living room area.

"So what are we doing?" Joe asked his two companions, unaware of what had been discussed earlier by Nancy and Frank. "You said you had an idea?" he asked Nancy.

"I got vetoed," Nancy nodded at Frank.

"Oh?" Joe looked over at his brother. Frank shrugged sheepishly but squared his shoulders into a stance that Joe knew only too well. Stubborn Frank was about to throw out a hair-brained idea that he knew Joe wouldn't like.

"I'm giving myself up to Ras-Alman," Frank said to Joe.

Joe flew out of his chair, anger immediately rising into his face as he clenched his fists.

"Like hell you are!" he declared angrily. "You'll give yourself up to Ras-Alman when I'm dead and not before, Frank!"

Frank glared at his younger brother but Joe was not swayed by that expression. He matched Frank glare for glare as he loomed over his brother.

"I just got you back from him," Joe said. "Do you think I'm going to let him kill you or brainwash you again or whatever he has in mind this time? Do you think I'm going to just willingly go along like a good little boy while you throw yourself onto the fire? It's not going to happen, Frank. And I can't believe you agree with him, Nancy."

Nancy shrugged, her expression clearly reading 'leave me out of this.' Joe rounded on Frank again.

"Wait!" Frank held up his hands. "Just wait, Joe. Let me explain."

"There is absolutely nothing you could say that would make me agree with this!" Joe said hotly. He felt heat in his face, a sign of just how angry he really was. "Nothing at all. There's nothing to explain because you aren't going to do it!"

"Yes I am," Frank said calmly. "Listen to me, Joe, please?"

Joe glared, crossing his arms as he sat down on the edge of his seat. He would hear his brother out but there was no way he was going to agree. No way at all.

"Look, Joe, I don't really want to get close to Ras-Alman again," Frank said. "But I don't have a choice. I don't. I need… I want… it's…"

"See, you can't even explain why," Joe interrupted his brother's stammering. "You can't come up with a good reason."

"This is the only way any of us are going to get close to Ras-Alman," Frank said to Joe, glaring hotly the whole time. "The only way. I've thought long and hard about this and I keep running up against this one idea. The only way to get anything on him is to get close to him. The only way to get close to him is to get inside – and I'm the only one that can do that. There's no way he would ever trust you or Nancy."

"And you think he'll trust you?" Joe scoffed and got back to his feet. Maybe if he kept moving he'd keep from throttling his brother. Maybe if he kept away from Frank…

"No," Frank admitted softly. "I don't think he'll trust me. I think… he wants one thing from me. Revenge. He wants me to pay for what happened to Diana…"

"And that's why we aren't going to just hand you over to him," Joe stated clearly. Joe studied the back of his brother's head, thinking. He knew what made Frank tick. Even a two-year separation wouldn't change, fundamentally, what made Frank… Frank.

"What other options do we have?" Frank demanded as he turned, wincing when he felt pain tug at his sore ribs. "What else can we do? I don't have any great, grand, ideas here, Joe. Just the one. That's it."

"What happened to Miriam wasn't your fault, Frank," Joe said to his brother in a soft voice.

"I… I know that!" Frank exclaimed. "I know it's not my fault, all right?"

"Do you really?" Nancy asked as she looked at him. She had been content to let the brothers argue this out themselves but she couldn't anymore.

Frank sighed and turned away again, walking across the room just to put some distance between himself and his brother. He needed to get away.

"She lied to you, Frank," Joe said coldly, advancing on him, not allowing Frank any space. "She told you that you were someone you weren't. She kept you from your family, your real family, for two years. She played along with whatever game her father was playing and didn't care at all what you really wanted or needed in your life. She's just as guilty of helping to brainwash you as Ras-Alman is. Don't ever forget that. What happened to her is not your fault. It. Is. Not. Your. Fault!"

Frank broke down then, slumping over, crying. Joe waited for a moment before he approached his brother and put an arm around Frank's shoulders. Nancy took his other arm and together they led Frank to the sofa.

"I know a part of you loved her, Frank," Joe said softly. "And I know a part of you may always love her in a way. But she betrayed you. She used you. And you can't ever allow yourself to forget that either. All right?"

Frank nodded, unable to speak. He tried to wipe his tears, to get them to stop falling because he felt foolish and stupid.

Joe was right.

None of it was his fault. Diana… Miriam… she'd lied to him.

And he'd bought it.

"So, what do we do?" he asked when he could speak. "If I don't… what do we do? How do we take Ras-Alman down?"

"We're going to stake him out," Nancy said. "We're going to take pictures of everything he does. We're going to be everywhere he goes. We may have to use a variety of disguises but, trust me, when all is said and done, Ras-Alman won't know what hit him.

"We do what we do best, Frank and Joe," Nancy smiled at them, blue eyes twinkling. "We hunt for clues, we pry into his life – and we solve the mystery.

"And in the end," she vowed softly. "We take Marcius Ras-Alman down."