TURNING BACK

UNEXPECTED

CHAPTER 6

When the three men returned that night, the children and Abby were asleep, but their father was still downstairs, as though waiting up.

Hoss came in the door first, followed by Adam, supporting Joe who was more than slightly inebriated. The younger man was laughing loudly, but closed his mouth and snorted slightly when Adam gave him a chiding look and shook his head.

"Settle down, Joe," he said. "You don't want to be waking anyone up, especially Abby."

Joe nodded and managed to stay upright as he made his way to the sofa. Ben just shook his head from the wing chair he was sitting in.

Hoss came to sit next to Joe while Adam seated himself on the raised hearth.

He was obviously amused by Joe's over bright eyes and the occasional giggle that escaped him. Looking down at his hands, he thought about how much to tell his father and brothers when he realized they had all stopped talking and were staring at him.

Sighing, he decided now was the time to answer their questions. He looked at each one in turn, then looked down again at his clasped hands, and began to speak.

"Gentlemen, you see before you a complete and total idiot," he said quietly, and had to smile when he looked up and saw their shocked expressions.

"The three of you have to make a decision, I will be violating a federal gag order by telling you where I've been and what I've been doing since I left here."

Hoss and Ben looked at him incredulously and even Joe seemed to sober up.

"You three would be innocent, and not subject to prosecution. But I won't tell you if you don't want to take that chance."

He waited, and Ben was the first to speak.

"Go on, Adam," he said quietly as Hoss and Joe just nodded.

Taking a deep breath, he paused, blinking rapidly as he mentally tried to arrange his thoughts in coherent order.

"Shortly after I left here I was in Washington and met an old friend, although I use that term loosely. He was working for the federal government and had a...problem he hoped I could help him with."

He shook his head at how naive he had been, and went on with the story.

"I don't know if you've ever heard the term 'American Observer', but that's what we were called at the time." He stopped again to clear his throat.

"The whole plan was for me to take the place of a young man who had been set to go to England, but died before he got the chance." He stood and began to pace in front of the hearth.

"I looked enough like him to take his place, so I went. This is the 'idiot' part - it was supposed to be temporary, but after I had met Abby, I had to stay."

He sat down on the hearth again, and found he was actually embarrassed, but put that feeling aside with his anger.

"I was supposed to be the brother of a man who had been part of the ring of informants for a long time," he waved away the question he could see Joe was about to ask. "His name isn't important, but I have to tell you he was Abby's first husband."

"My role was to play the part of his younger brother and was in England to attend medical school. Luckily for me, I happened to be very good at it and as the years went on, it turned out I had come to like it."

Letting out a short bark of harsh laughter, he smiled bitterly. "I had fallen in love with Abby at first sight, but since she was married, there was nothing I could do about it, except stay and try to protect her from her husband."

"He was a very bitter man, I think because he had been in a wheelchair for most of his adult life. And I think that's why he used to beat Abby."

Adam looked up and saw that the three listening were wearing expressions of deep surprise and disgust.

"No one knew, not even me. He was careful to not leave any marks that others could see, but still I knew something was wrong, and kept as close to her as I could."

"When he died, as his 'younger brother' I took care of her, but kept my distance as long as I could. It's a testament to her character that she didn't let his abuse change her." Sighing with weariness, he continued.

"And then came the day when she made it clear that she was in love with me. We were secretly married shortly after that. The prevailing attitude in London society was how wonderful I was to marry my brother's widow and to provide a father for my brother's son."

He looked up at them then, "No, he IS my son, anything else would be impossible."

"Impossible?" Joe asked quietly.

"Yes, impossible."

"At that point I was so deeply involved in being an informant, I couldn't leave. Leaving would put a lot of people in the organization in danger. And as the years went by I established my practice and was very successful, especially when I began to specialize in the care of children."

He stopped then and just looked at his spellbound audience, his eyes dark and unreadable.

Ben started to speak, but his eldest son shook his head.

"Wait, I'm not done."

The other three men stayed quiet, seeing this was very difficult for him.

"A few years ago, a man who was as certifiably insane as anyone can be came to my house and took Alec, who was my youngest child at that time."

"It took me some time to find him, but I did. Everyone I knew helped in any way they could and I got there in time, before that man killed him."

"I have no doubt that's what he intended to do, he had done so many times before. So after I found Alec I took him home, set his broken bones and stitched up his wounds and we tried our best to help his mind heal."

"That's why the little feller is so afraid of strangers," Hoss said, his normally mild blue eyes sparking with fury.

"Yes."

"What happened to the man who took him?" Joe asked, his expression showing his distress.

Adam looked up to meet his father's gaze, as he answered his brother's question.

"I killed him," he answered, his voice flat and his eyes unreadable.

"I could have left him alive, but I knew, without a doubt, that he would come back."

Ben cleared his throat, obviously appalled at what he was hearing. "Is that why you left?"

Nodding his head, Adam said, "In a way. You see I found out that the people higher up in the organization knew he was coming, and they didn't tell me."

Then they could see he was shaking with fury. "They knew he was coming and that someone had paid him to do it!"

He stood again and the expression on his face was one they had never seen before. In his anger he seemed to be a much bigger man, every muscle in his body flexing.

"So I bided my time and waited until I came across some information my superiors had been looking for. But they wouldn't tell me who in the organization had sent that man after my family."

Seeming to calm down, he closed his eyes. "So then, I left."

"The only other person who knew we were leaving was Abby. I didn't tell anyone else, not even my partner."

Then he turned to look up at the top of the stairs where Abby was standing behind a tall, muscular red-haired man.

Shaking his head he started up the stairs. "Abby, give me the gun," he said, holding out his hand. "You know you're not going to shoot Sam."

He stood a few steps below them and she sighed with exasperation.

"Abby," Adam said again, his tone very firm and bordering on anger. "At least one of us has to stay out of prison."

Giving the red-haired man a disgusted look, she stepped past him and down a few steps to hand her husband the gun.

Holding the gun in his left hand, he took Abby's arm with his right and they came down the stairs together with Sam following.

When they reached the sitting area Adam stopped next to the only unoccupied chair and had to push on Abby's shoulders to get her to sit down. He gave her a chiding look as Sam spoke.

"If you don't mind, that IS my gun," he said and Adam handed it to him without comment.

He remained standing, looking at the red-haired man enquiringly. "Did you hear everything? Do I need to repeat anything for you?" he kept smiling his half smile at the other man as he sat on the stone hearth again.

Sam sighed. "Adam, what part of 'gag order' is unclear to you."

Adam's expression didn't change. "That term means less than nothing to me." he responded and the other man sighed again putting his gun back in his holster.

"All you have to do is give me the information they want and I'll leave you alone."

"No."

This time he turned to Abby, "Abigail, help me," he said and she shook her head, not looking at him.

"They knew, Sam, and they didn't give us any warning," she said. "I wouldn't tell you even if I could."

Sam looked at Ben, Hoss, and Joe helplessly, but realized no help would come from them.

"Don't make me arrest you!" he almost shouted and Adam stood, still smiling that half smile. His father and brothers also stood and the level of tension in the room went up instantly.

"Sam, you just don't understand. How am I supposed to protect my family without knowing who set that animal on us. I don't intend to kill anyone, I just have to know. And if any of those people involved think I will be forced to return by the threat of prison, they're insane."

With one long stride Adam was suddenly standing almost right up against the other man.

"You and your handlers have forgotten something," he said, his voice soft and deadly. "I know many things, things they would not like to become common knowledge."

He stepped back and held his hand out to Abby as she stood. "So go back to your 'superiors' and remind them I literally know where bodies are buried."

They went up the steps and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Sam standing there, watching, his expression showing an odd mix of frustration, anger, reluctance, and respect.