Chapter Fifteen
World Security Bureau. WSB. I was always in awe that my parents were part of it. I was so proud that they protected the world and made it a safe place for other kids like me. Then I hated it. I hated it for taking my parents away from me for months at a time. I hated that it put them in danger. Then I hated that it cost them their lives. Sometimes I think that's probably why I got involved with Sonny's world and men in it – the polar opposite of that law and order crowd, or so it seemed. All deeply subliminal, of course. Now. There are no words for my hatred. To have been not only deprived of my parents, but used as a pawn to hurt them turns my stomach in ways I can't describe. They left my mother out there for years lost and my father was held hostage by a threat on my life. Years lost. A family obliterated. How could something that claims to protect us destroy like that?
I guess some would say the same thing about what I do, about medicine.
I don't know what I'm saying. I guess I'm questioning everything these days.
Sean knew he shouldn't have stayed at the Metro Court. As soon as he learned that Spencer's niece was a co-owner, he should have run in the opposite direction. Now, the place was crawling with cops and he could barely get through the lobby up to his room. Apparently, Ms. Corinthos had been found dead that morning and the cause of death was listed under mysterious circumstances. From what Sean understood, Carly had a reputation such that half the town of Port Charles and most of the surrounding counties could be considered suspects.
Oh well. Shaking his head he made his way to the elevator bank and waited for the slow ride up to the 12th floor. For the tenth time that evening he took out his Blackberry searching for a message that never came. The elevator doors opened and Sean stepped in, leaned against the back bar and closed his eyes.
"I always told Robin she should try an older man." Brenda traced a finger across Noah's jaw line.
"Wrong Drake, sweetheart," Patrick sneered.
Brenda swiveled her head around. "That's exactly what I tried to tell her, Doctor Hottie."
"Brenda, go through again for us exactly where and how you met this broker." Aidan used his most calming and soothing voice to steer the conversation. He'd only known Brenda for an hour or so, but he could see that she was growing frustrated with his line of questioning. And the more frustrated she got, the more she baited Patrick who was more than up for the challenge.
Brenda rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "We've been over this a dozen times. I don't understand why we're not out doing something. Anything." She looked at the faces staring back at her, settling on Anna. "There must be some sort of lead as to where she is. Maybe the WSB has her. Has anyone spoken with Sean Donely? You know, out of all of Robin's godfathers, I always thought he was a little shifty."
"If the WSB had Robin they wouldn't need you to doctor pictures of her," Patrick said.
"We don't actually know yet that it was the WSB who had me, now do we? Not until we question that guard who's still passed out," Brenda shot back.
"Why do you have to argue with everything I say?"
"Why do you have to question everything I do?"
"Robin was right. You're lots of fun," Patrick snapped.
"Robin was right about you, too. You're an insufferable pig."
"Enough! Why are you both acting like you're five years old? You're making my bloody head spin!" Aidan's handsome face was red with frustration.
"Brenda, luv, we know this is difficult," Anna kneeled down at her feet. "But everything you tell us will help us put the pieces together to find Robin."
"I'm sorry, Anna. I want to help, I just don't know anything." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, like I told you before, I met this broker, Giorgio Cardona, at a pre-event for the Paris fashion shows. We were in Rome, I told him about my boutique and he asked if I'd ever thought about expanding. To be honest, I only said yes because he was so cute and I was so bored. Those cocktail parties can be deadly tiresome." Brenda saw Patrick roll his eyes, but she continued without comment. "Giorgio suggested a hot property he had in Prague and I figured I could use a mini break, so I met up with him."
"And you left for Prague when?"
"October 3rd."
"The day after Robin went missing," Noah said.
"I didn't know she was gone. I swear I had no idea."
"We know, Brenda." Aidan put a reassuring hand on her arm and Brenda looked up at him. She smiled sadly.
"Once we got to Prague, Giorgio took me to the castle to show me around. I stepped into a room and the door was slammed shut behind me and locked. I never saw Giorgio again, just those over muscled guards. They never harmed me, but it was made very clear that I wasn't going to be leaving any time soon."
"Did you even try to escape?" Patrick's voice was low but intense.
"Of course I tried to escape!"
"Patrick, that's enough. It's not Brenda's fault she was kidnapped; she's the victim here," Alex said.
"Son, come on. Let's get some air." Noah reached for Patrick who hesitated, staring at Brenda for a moment before following his father out of the room.
Brenda watched him leave and tried not to let his words get to her. "I figured that Robin would start to worry when she didn't hear from me and she'd send out the cavalry. Having a best friend with international spy parents is supposed to come in handy. Speaking of which, where is Big Daddy Scorpio?"
The hotel room was quiet except for the angry staccato outbursts of its sole inhabitant.
"I want Frisco Jones put on this immediately!"
"I don't care how deep cover he is. I need our best person on this now!"
"Are you saying you want us to do nothing? Do you know how dire this is? Robert has missed three protocol checks!"
"Don't talk to me about collateral damage!"
Sean slammed the hotel phone down on the cradle and ran his hands over his face. When had this all gone so terribly wrong? In the 40 years he'd been doing this, ops had gone off the rails more times than he'd like to admit, but the stakes this time were as high as he'd ever played. He loved that girl like his own daughter and now his best friend was in trouble, too. Everything he and Robert had done, including misleading Anna as to Robin's real location, was done for the good of the mission. Although a lot of good that excuse was going to do him once Anna found out the truth. And he was going to have to tell her the truth now.
Not even Tiffany knew the true extent to which he was involved – had been involved since the very beginning, which went back farther than any of them were aware. " Paris," he whispered.
When he thought about what he had done – all to protect Robin and bring her home safe – only to realize that because of him she may never come home again, it was too much. He would never forgive himself…Sean steeled his shoulders. Well that wasn't going to happen. He wouldn't let it happen. He pulled out his phone and made a quick call. "Meet me at the usual drop off." He snapped the phone shut, threw a few amenities in his bag and strode out the door.
Ironically, it wasn't exactly safe to wander the grounds of the safe house, so Patrick and Noah settled for the kitchen. Far enough away from the rest of the group to help Patrick regroup and yet still in the safe confines of this simple country cottage tucked away in the woods of Belgium. At least Patrick thought they were still in Belgium. He opened the refrigerator looking for something to eat; something to take his mind off the current situation. Noah just sighed and searched through the cupboards, settling on a jar of peanut butter. He took out two spoons and leaned against the sink, clearing his throat and offering a spoon to his son. Patrick grabbed the spoon and leaned in next to his dad.
"You really have to back off of Brenda. It's not her fault that Robin was kidnapped."
"I know," Patrick said softly. "I don't know why I keep picking away at her. It's oddly comforting."
"We're going to find her."
Patrick looked at his dad and nodded slowly. "I know." His voice was barely above a whisper. He took a small scoop of peanut butter from the jar and licked his spoon clean. "I can't believe it's only been a week since I've seen her. Everything feels different. I feel different." He let out a long sigh. "I just hope I know what to do with all of this, whatever, once she comes back to me. I have no idea what I'm doing."
Noah looked at his son thoughtfully. "Did I ever tell you about the moment I realized I was in love with your mother?"
"No, I don't think we ever had that girly conversation, Dad."
Noah laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"Mom did always tell me you were an idiot, and lucky that she agreed to marry you."
Noah smiled at the memory. "I had convinced myself that love was not something I really wanted to get involved in or deal with. Sound familiar?"
"And then you met Mom."
"Yes, and I was still convinced I would not fall in love. Like she said, I was an idiot. We'd been together for a few months, during which time I tried vainly to prove to everyone around that this was strictly casual, not a relationship in any sense of the word - probably mostly for my own benefit. And then one day she asked me to help her make the bed."
"Is this story going anywhere?" Patrick held up his spoon innocently at his father's glare.
"So, we pulled out the bottom sheet and proceeded to have a 30 minute argument over the right way to put the sheet on. I insisted there was a right way to do it and she insisted it didn't matter which corner went where." Noah paused, reliving the memory. "For 30 minutes we fought over how to make a bed. Your mom thought the whole thing was hysterically funny and the more she laughed the angrier I got, until I had finally pushed her over the edge and she yelled at me, 'Noah Drake you are a complete jerk!' And without hesitation I yelled back, 'Oh yeah? Well I love you!' Shocked the hell out of her, and me." Noah grabbed a big spoonful of peanut butter and licked it, he and Patrick each lost in their own thoughts. "She was the best thing that ever happened to me, my destiny maybe, and not even I could screw that up. No matter how hard I tried, the fact that I was in love with her just came bubbling out. So don't worry about trying to do the right thing or the wrong thing. Just love her."
Sean leaned back in his large, leather chair and let out a long, slow breath. "Where are you Robert?" he whispered.
"Sean, I need your help. Robin's in danger."
Robert's call had come in on a beautiful spring evening. The kind that rarely came to Boston in April; one that promised summer was on the way. It wasn't as surprising a call as it could have been. Sean did, after all, know Robert was alive. He was the only one from Robert's past who had been privy to that information.
"The WSB has her in their sights. I can't let them get her caught up in this world."
It didn't seem possible on the surface. After all, what use could the WSB possibly have for a doctor? Then Robert went into the specifics. Robin's research with a drug cocktail was producing unwanted side effects. Unwanted for everyone but the WSB. The distorted fear Robin's protocol produced was ideal for a spy agency. The ability to use distorted fear when questioning suspects or even terrorists? To control agents? It was a priceless discovery and there were a lot of people out there willing to kill for it.
"If they've got this on their radar it's only a matter of time until the DVX discovers it."
Sean's fingers picked at the armrest. Using that Carroux idiot to shut her program down in Paris was the perfect cover. What they hadn't counted on was Dr. Laurent picking up where Robin had left off and then drawing her back in. They also hadn't counted on the DVX and god knows who else catching on so quickly, before they could move in again.
The encephalitis outbreak in Port Charles had brought Robert back into Robin's world. Staying out of her life at that point seemed more dangerous than diving back in. Robert had secretly wondered if the outbreak had been linked in any way to the distorted fear formula. It didn't seem to be at the time, but now Sean wasn't so sure. A week before Robin disappeared, Robert got a lead and he went undercover deep in Eastern Europe. A gypsy in Romania told Robert that his daughter had been kidnapped – and Sean had taken his frantic call six hours before Anna had phoned him with the same news. Working on the fly, Sean had made the call to pull out Robin's girlfriend Brenda. Besides the fragmented bits of intel that insinuated that the people closest to Robin were in danger, he figured having Brenda could come in handy when trying to keep a tight rein on Anna and the group she had gathered. Sean sighed. This life just never got any easier.
Patrick and Noah wandered back into the large, open living room where everyone was still gathered, discussing next steps. Noah walked back to Anna, picking up the notebook he used to take notes in all of their brainstorming sessions. He got to work again.
"There's a mountain of information to go through on those hard drives," Alex stated. "It could take weeks to go through it all."
"Maybe we should start with the guard. See if we can get anything out of him first," Aidan said.
Patrick nodded his head. "I think Aidan is right. You want me to question the goon, Anna? I did really well with that Carroux character. Tell them Aidan."
"Oh yeah, you were bloody brilliant," Aidan deadpanned. "Let's try to remember that you are the neurosurgeon, and I am the investigator."
"You're still miffed that I was right about Heather Carmichael."
"Being just a brain surgeon is nothing to be ashamed of, Mate."
Brenda watched this from her chair. "What, so now you two have come up with a comedy routine? Where'd you find the time to work out all your bits?"
Before Patrick could make a snarky comeback, he stopped, thinking his ears were playing tricks on him. There was a slow persistent knocking coming from the front door. The others heard it too, all eyes trained on the door.
"Who else knows we're here, Anna?" Noah questioned.
"No one." The players all exchanged panicked looks. "Everyone, get in the other room. Now!" Anna pulled out her gun from the back of her pants and walked to the door silently. Aidan, gun drawn, followed her. With a nod of his head, he indicated he was ready, and Anna jerked open the door, gun drawn on their visitor. "Sean!" Anna lowered her gun and Sean quickly stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.
"How the hell did you know we were here man?" Aidan asked.
"I had you followed." Sean sighed and looked at his old friend. "I've had you followed for quite some time now. Anna, we need to talk."
Anna paced back and forth in front of the large stone fireplace. "So where is he, Sean?"
He couldn't look her in the eye. "I don't know."
"You don't know? He's your best friend, Sean. How did you lose him? He's the closest link we had to my daughter!" The rest of the group sat silently, unsure what to do. Noah fought the urge to put his arms around Anna to hold her tight; keep her still.
"He missed three protocol checks. You're aware as well as I am, that this means he was probably compromised. We can assume, best case scenario, whoever has Robin now has Robert."
"Which means she's not alone. She's got her father with her. That's good, right?" Patrick looked from Anna to Aidan, questioningly.
"That's best case, Patrick. Worst case – he's dead." Sean looked pointedly at the young doctor.
The silence that knowledge triggered was deafening. Noah cleared his throat. "Why in the world was the WSB watching Robin?" Noah asked.
"Because of me."
This time Noah didn't fight the urge to touch Anna. He walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug, kissing the top of her head gently.
Sean watched the touching scene without feeling. "Robin, being Robert and Anna's daughter, will always be of interest to both the WSB and DVX. Both will always be interested in how she could be used as a pawn. It's not fair, but that's life when your parents are international spies with a history like Devane and Scorpio."
"Sean that's enough," Noah charged. "This is not Anna's fault."
"I'm simply stating the facts, Dr. Drake. You know nothing about this."
Patrick sat there, stunned. A vibration on his hip jogged him out of his reverie. He looked down at his Blackberry to see Robin had gotten an email. "Hey," Patrick shouted. The arguing continued on around him and he grew more frustrated. Leaping up from his chair, he slammed the notebook Noah had been taking notes in on the coffee table. "Hey!"
Everyone stopped and looked at Patrick in surprise.
"Robin just got an email. From the late, great, dead Dr. Laurent. She wants to set up a meeting."
TBC
