Chapter 7

Zach watched as Reggie put his arm around Kendall and spoke to her in a low voice, his expression indicating that he was probably telling her what he would love to do to Greg Madden if he got his hands on him. Zach shifted his gaze to the flower arrangement on the mantle, as he contemplated to himself what Chris/Sam/Ian had meant about Ryan's real family. Zach wanted to question him about that cryptic statement and a lot of other things, but he had realized at that moment that he'd been gone from Kendall too long. She was suffering and needed his support. He stood up and told Chris they'd talk later, then left the room.

When he got back to the neonatal unit, the cops arrived and began a lengthy interrogation of everyone involved. David had disappeared by that point, and no one brought up his name. They had mutually agreed that the cops didn't need to be splitting their focus. Priority number one was finding Madden.

They did tell the police about Erica's disappearance, and the officer said that Derek Frye was on his way to the Montgomery mansion to question Jackson. After the cops finally finished with them, they went on to the mansion to see Jackson. When they got there, Derek was telling him that normally Erica could not be officially declared a missing person until 48 hours had passed. Her accusation of a previous kidnapping attempt could not be taken into account because it had gone unreported. However, the kidnapping of Spike had altered things. Derek was looking at the two incidents as linked, and therefore investigating them in conjunction.

The cops went to go set up shop in another room. Kendall gave an officer a key to the condo so they could retrieve whatever they would need to aid in the search. Derek put in a request for an Amber alert. When Kendall heard his words, she broke down into tears again. Zach went over to Kendall and held her. Erin arrived and sat on the couch next to Ryan, her arm around him. Jonathan took Lily somewhere away from the noise and confusion.

Jackson called Bianca and told her what was going on. He persuaded her not to make a late night flight out of Paris when there was still the possibility that they could catch Greg before nightfall in Pine Valley. He convinced her to wait another day to see what happened next. He handed the phone to Kendall and she talked with her sister for a long time.

When she hung up, Kendall paced the living room floor. "Okay, so what does happen next? What can we do now? We have to be doing something. My baby is out there."

Jackson came over and put his hands on her shoulders. "Sweetheart, there's not much we can do right now. There are people out there covering all the bases. Routes of escape, possible destinations, likely places they might stop. Word has been put out so that the general public can be on the lookout. At this point it's just a matter of waiting for information to come in."

Kendall shook her head. "That's not enough! I can't just sit here…twiddling my thumbs. What if my baby is crying for me? What if he wants to hear his mother's voice. I'm going crazy."

Jackson rubbed her arm. "Kendall, as much as the thought of Erica being in danger kills me," He paused, striving to maintain calm, "I have to say that I hope she is with Greg. If he has your mother, then you can bet that she will be fighting for her grandson. You couldn't ask for a better person to love and keep watch over your little one." Kendall's anger dissolved into grief again. Jackson pulled her to him and held her.

The doorbell rang, and Reggie answered it. Opal came in. Seeing Jackson and Kendall embracing, she let out a wail. "Oh my stars, it's true isn't it? Erica and Spike have been taken by that madman!" She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around the two of them. "Oh you poor things, what an awful, awful thing to happen. After everything you all have been through." She pulled away and regarded Ryan. "I'm so sorry your sweet boy is missing." She clapped her hands against her cheeks, tears rolling down her face. "Oh, but if anyone can get away from that horrible man and get Spike back home, it's Erica. She's the fiercest mama bear I ever did know."

Kendall pulled away from Jackson. "You're right, Opal. Jack said the same thing. My mother will protect Spike, keep him safe. And if I'm going to be a chip off the old block, I need to get off my ass and do whatever it takes to find them." She grabbed her purse.

Zach stepped forward. "What are you going to do?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I haven't decided yet, but I know what I'm not going to do: sit around here and mope and moan. You can either come with me, or get out of my way." She headed towards the door, and Zach followed suit, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Leo dragged himself up the stairs, pausing at the entrance to his building. He waited a long moment for the nausea to pass, then pressed the intercom button to his flat. A tinny voice answered. "Who is this?"

Pressing his face flush against the speaker, Leo called out, "Mooootherrr. Mommie dearest! It's your pride and joy. The apple of your eye. It's Leooooooo!" He sang the last two words at the top of his lungs.

There was a buzzing noise as Vanessa triggered the lock mechanism. Not trusting himself to climb more stairs, he took the decrepit elevator to the third floor. When he got off, Vanessa was waiting at the door and unceremoniously yanked him into the flat. Slamming the door, she glared at him. "What the hell were you thinking with that performance out on the street?" You just completely blew our cover!"

Leo slouched onto the sofa and scoffed. "It's….it's…" He blearily tried to focus on his watch. "It's really late. I don't think our 'mark' was strolling by at that particular moment. And even if he was, he probably would have decided I was stinking drunk." He paused a moment, then burst out laughing. "Guess what? I am stinking drunk!" He roared at his own joke, then stopped abruptly when his dinner threatened to become resurrected. "You know…I think that last Skull and Crossbones was kiiiind of a bad idea."

Leo took deep breaths. The last thing he wanted to do was ralph at his mother's feet. It didn't help that she was bending over him, about to launch into one of her tirades. "You're pathetic! As talented as you are at our line of work, you still manage to be completely maudlin when it comes to that snip of a girl. I rue the day we ever came to Pine Valley and you set eyes on Greenlee Smythe. I wish I'd succeeded in killing her while I had the excuse of being crazy."

Vanessa gasped as Leo sprang up and grabbed a fistful of her shirt. Yanking her towards him, he held his face millimeters from hers. "If you say anything like that again, you'll find out just how much of your homicidal genes you passed on to me."

Fear sparked in her eyes momentarily, followed by exasperation. She wrinkled her nose at his boozy breath. "Leo, quit saying such nonsense. You would never kill anyone. None of my boys have it in them to kill in cold blood. There is no homicidal gene, because I'm not homicidal. I was a business woman." She disentangled her blouse from Leo's fingers, and walked over to the window. "People die in that line of work, it's a hazard of the industry. On occasion I had to give the order for someone to be taken out if they were interfering with operations. The truth is, I find that aspect of management distasteful, which was why I never handled things personally. Except for that one time with the chauffeur. I've explained to you how horrified I was by it afterwards."

She sighed and put her hand on her chest. "As for Frankie's death…it still haunts me. I blame Chris Stamp for what he did to me. Those drugs he gave me affected my judgement, made me lose control." She turned back to Leo. "I didn't mean what I said earlier. As much as I despise Greenlee, I would never have tried to kill her if I had been in my right mind." She looked down, her expression one of regret and shame.

Leo clapped his hands together. "Bravo, mother. Even after all this time you're still a master deceiver. Much as I enjoyed this encore performance, it won't work as well as it did four years ago. Don't get me wrong, I believe most of what you say. Those anti-psychotics really did send you over the edge. The thing is, mother, that you were already staring down the abyss." Leo leaned forward and looked down, as if standing on a cliff. "All your pretty words don't change the fact that the reason Chris went after you was because you were a drug lord. You were responsible for the deaths and addictions of hundreds of people. Maybe you weren't waving a gun around, shouting 'Say hello to my little friend,' but you were and still are a ruthless, cold-blooded, narcissistic, money-grubbing, power-worshipping PIG." He spit the last word out, and paused to wipe his mouth.

Leo stabbed his finger at Vanessa. "I gave up my life for you! Literally! I emotionally wrecked the woman I love for you…for my brothers. You asked me earlier what the hell I was thinking. Good question! Were you worth it? NO! Were my brothers worth it?" He laughed mirthlessly, "I saved David's ass, for what? So he could continue fucking with people's lives? He helped some bimbo keep Bianca from her baby! I wanted to go back to Pine Valley and choke the shit out of him for that one."

Vanessa folded her arms. "That bimbo is your niece."

Leo shook his head in disgust. "Yeah, another shining addition to our family tree. She takes after her grandmother, except she got her claws into a Chandler instead of a Cortlandt."

Vanessa put her hands on her hips. "If you were so disgusted with your family, why did you choose to remain dead? Why not let Chris throw the lot of us in jail to rot while you run back to your precious Greenlee?"

Leo sank to the couch. "Because by the time I realized how stupid it was of me to protect you all, Greenlee had moved on. She fell in love with Ryan." He closed his eyes, trying to keep the room from spinning. "I couldn't wreck her world a second time by popping back into her life. I figured Ryan would make her happy. I thought they would be good for each other. I had no idea…no idea he'd pull the same stunt I did." He put his head in his hands. "Now she's all alone, mother. I can't do it any more. I can't turn away from her. Not for you, not for David or Trey or anyone. She's my wife, and I love her."

"Leo, you need to pull yourself together. We are so close to getting an inside track to Lazare. It's only a matter of time before we get the goods on him. You think I'm ruthless, what about him? He's responsible for thousands of death."

"I've read the dossier, mother! I was completely on board with taking the son of a bitch down, but that was before I saw Greenlee again. I'm not doing this anymore, I'm finished. Let another team come in and romance Lazare and his daughter."

"Dammit, Leo, it's not that simple. You can't just switch off undercover teams, this sort of groundwork takes months to lay down. Months that Lazare will be out there…"

Leo stood up, interrupting her. "Shut. The hell. UP! Chris may buy into all his 'save the world' speeches, but I know you sure as hell don't. You know damn well that if I walk away, Chris will no longer have a babysitter for you. Since he's too busy to keep an eye on you himself, he'll just go back to his original plan and drop you off at the nearest federal penitentiary. You don't give a damn about Lazare, and you certainly don't give a damn about me!" Leo swept his hands outward. "I'm done, Vanessa." Leo went into his bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Vanessa paced around, trying to figure out what she should do. Call Chris and warn him that Leo was unraveling? But what if it was just drunken ramblings? Maybe all he needed to do was sleep it off. She bit her lip. She'd see how he was in the morning. She hoped he came to his senses. The last thing she ever wanted to do was hurt her precious son. But if she had to…she would.

Chris drove around, keeping an eye out on Erica's car. It was a waste of time. She wasn't in an accident. She was kidnapped. Chris had every resource at his disposal keeping track of all routes of escape. There was nothing that he could do himself at this point, which was why he was driving around. He had to be moving, doing something, even if it wasn't really productive.

He'd never loved any woman as deeply as he had loved Erica. Ryan's mother had been sweet and brought out his protective instincts more than anyone. But Erica had the combination of fire and femininity for which pedestals had been created. When she cheated on him with Jackson, it brought him to his knees – something not even the most cunning criminal had ever accomplished. The opportunity to fake his death could not have come at a better time. Erica's power over him had been too great.

Leaving Pine Valley had also given him an opportunity to keep a closer watch on his two latest employees. It usually wasn't a concern. He had ways, such as freezing a person's assets, to dissuade them from disappearing. In some of the more restless ones he implanted a transmitter under their skin. In the end, their two choices were to work for Chris or go to jail. Unfortunately, Leo had no criminal record. At any time he could simply get on an airplane and fly back home. Chris could have manufactured a felony, but he knew that it would be a mistake. The key to getting Leo's cooperation was to appeal to his soft side.

It had never been Chris's intention to recruit Leo along with Vanessa. When his men fished Leo and Vanessa out of the river, their plan was to leave Leo on the bank to be found later. However, just as they were carrying Vanessa away, Leo woke up and saw what was going on. They had no choice but to bring him along. The more Chris thought about it, the more he realized that Leo could be very valuable to him. After all, part of Vanessa's success as a con artist had been her partnership with her son.

Chris rarely felt guilty for the way he manipulated others. He always convinced himself it was for the greater good. What purpose was served by Vanessa rotting away in a jail cell, when she could be seducing much-needed secrets out of men like Victor Lazare? The U.S. government had been trying to nail this man for years. Lazare supplied arms to certain places in Africa where so-called soldiers used them to terrorize villages. Lazare didn't care that his weapons were used to rape women and murder children. He only cared about money and his precious Renee. That was why Leo and Vanessa had been perfect for this assignment.

As much as he had justified to himself that he was doing the right thing in convincing Leo to fake his death, it had been very hard to witness the outcome of his actions on a personal level. There were many people in Pine Valley that loved Leo, and were crushed by his death. Even after Chris left town, he had to keep track of everything that happened and how it would affect Leo. There were many occasions when Chris had to talk him out of heading home, like the time Michael Cambias's preliminary hearing was televised to the world, and Leo watched Bianca's testimony. Chris knew that Leo hated him with a passion, but he hated himself even more for letting Chris manipulate him. And the more Chris took advantage of Leo's vulnerabilities, the more unclean he felt. He overcompensated by being even more of an asshole.

Chris found himself by the beach near Slater's casino. He parked and walked along the beach, ignoring the die-hard sun worshippers soaking up the last of the late afternoon rays. It was time to start thinking about retiring. It was becoming harder and harder to do what needed to be done in his line of work. He was losing his edge, he was becoming too personally involved in his assignments. It was why he kept fucking up. There was no room for mistakes in this business. He needed to clean up the messes that he'd made thus far, and after that he would pack it in.