Chapter 13

Tad and Dixie walked into the Montgomery dining room. Ted went over and put his hand on Jackson's shoulder. "Any word on Spike and Erica?" Jackson shook his head. "Where's Kendall?"

Zach spoke up. "She's on the phone with Bianca. Probably making arrangements for Bianca to fly out. How'd it go in Minneapolis?"

Tad looked away, and Dixie answered. "We didn't get anything out of the adoptive couple, but we got a DNA sample. The lab is running a test right now."

Zach stood up and hugged Dixie. "With Madden disappearing again, I hope the little girl is Kate." His cell phone rang and he saw that it was from Chris. "I'll be right back."

He went through the living room and out onto the veranda. "Any news?"

"No, not on Erica and Spike. But there's someone else missing."

Zach sat down on the porch swing, filled with dread. "Who?"

"Greenlee Lavery was planning to fly back to Pine Valley, but she never made it to her jet in Paris. I had someone going to the airport to check it out, but I don't know how much progress he's made – he won't answer my calls."

"Greenlee? Why would Madden take her?"

"I don't know for sure if her disappearance is connected to him. It may just be a coincidence."

"Why are you telling me about this? It's not that I don't care about Greenlee, but the news might be more relevant to Ryan."

"I've tried calling him – I keep getting kicked to voice mail."

Zach tapped his finger on his leg. "Have you been keeping tabs on Greenlee since she left Pine Valley?"

"I had no idea where Greenlee was all this time. One of my contacts ran into her a couple of days ago and gave me a heads up."

Zach narrowed his eyes. "You have a contact that knows Greenlee? Well enough to know about her travel plans?"

There was a very short pause. "I didn't say he knows her."

Zach rubbed his forehead. "What aren't you telling me?"

Chris sighed. "Look, are you going to pass the information on to Ryan or not?"

"Why don't you come over right now and tell him yourself? Oh, I forgot – you want to keep your resurrected status a secret. You know, if I go in the dining room and tell Ryan and Jackson and everyone else what happened to Greenlee, it might slip out exactly who gave me that information."

Chris swore softly. "I give you my word that I will tell you everything you want to know about this contact – but not right now. You may think I'm an asshole, but you know that I always keep my word. Right now the important thing is telling Ryan what happened to Greenlee."

"And Jackson."

"I think the fewer people…"

"He's her father!"

"Fine! Ryan and Jackson. No one else. And Jackson cannot know where you got the information."

"He's going to ask."

"Make something up. You're good at that. There's something else you may want to let them know. Greenlee is eight month's pregnant."

------------

Madden came over and scooped Greenlee into his arms. She screamed "No! Let me down!"

As she struggled, he bellowed, "Greenlee, if you fall you'll harm the baby."

She stilled and he carried her upstairs to her room. Erica followed, trying to reassure her.

Greg set Greenlee on the bed. "Precisely how far along are you? When was your last examination?"

Greenlee grimaced. "I still have a little over three weeks till my due date. I was at the hospital yesterday because I had some contractions. The doctor told me it was false labor brought about by stress."

"Did he do an ultrasound on the baby?"

She gave him a mutinous look. "I'm not telling you a damn thing."

"Don't be absurd! I need to know the baby's condition - how big he is, whether he's facing the right direction."

Erica grabbed his arm. "What does it matter? We can find all that out when we get to the hospital."

Madden glared at her. "I am an obstetrician. I'm perfectly capable of delivering this baby right here."

Greenlee's eyes widened. "I'm not letting you touch me!"

Erica grabbed his other arm and pulled him to face her. "You can't do this – it's too risky. What if something goes wrong? What if she needs a c-section? Bianca gave birth in a cabin and almost bled to death!"

"As I said before, I am a physician. I am well aware of the risks and perfectly capable of handling them." He turned back to Greenlee. "I would, however, like as many facts going in as possible. Your baby's health depends on it. It's up to you, Greenlee. Since your water has broken, we have 24 hours to get the baby out before his life is endangered."

Greenlee laid her head back, her body wracked with pain and terror. Tears coursed down her cheeks. Erica sat down next to her and started to stroke her hair. She leaned in and whispered in Greenlee's ear. "Let him deliver the baby. Once the two of you have a clean bill of health, we'll make sure that he doesn't get his hands on him. I promise you."

Greenlee gazed up at her and saw the sincerity and determination. She nodded weakly. Swallowing hard, she said, "When the doctor performed the ultrasound, he said that the baby was very big and strong. He commented," her voice hitched, "that if he'd been born yesterday, he would have been just fine."

Greg beamed. "Excellent! Now we just have to make sure that the birth goes smoothly. Erica, you keep Greenlee calm and comfortable. I'm going to go collect everything I'll need for the delivery." He left the room, a spring in his step.

Erica made sure he'd been gone a few minutes, then squeezed Greenlee's hand. "I'll be right back, I need to find something, anything, that I can use as a weapon."

-----------------

Zach looked into the guest room to check on Kendall. She wasn't there. Hmmm, she must have gone back to the dining room while he was on the phone. He turned to head down the hallway and almost ran into Dixie. She waved her hand to the guest room, indicating she wanted to talk privately. When Zach closed the door, she asked, "Have you talked to Chris recently?"

He held up his cell phone. "Just a few minutes ago."

She looked relieved. "Oh good. I tried calling him a few times after our plane landed last night, but couldn't get a hold of him. I'll try him again."

Zach put his hand on her shoulder. "Dixie, he's bad news. I know he helped you in your search for Kate, but I think from now on you should stay away from him."

She looked taken aback. "Stay away from him? After everything he's done for me? Zach, he spent an entire year of his life devoting himself to finding my daughter. He used every resource he had to try and track down Madden. He was my rock."

"Stamp has his own ideas of what's right and wrong. If something triggers his outrage, he has no problem going to extremes to deal with it." Dixie raised one eyebrow. "I know, I know, I don't have room to talk – but it makes my point. If someone like me thinks he's extreme, then the man is definitely toxic."

"Zach, he had no reason to help me. I wasn't an assignment. What if his superiors had found out what he was doing with his time and money?"

"Chris has a lot of discretion from the higher ups. I'm sure most of his work nowadays is delegated, so he had time to help you. Don't forget that you knew he was alive – it was in his interest to keep your mouth shut."

Dixie shook her head. "We were both in the same position. If I ratted him out, he could rat me out. Chris went above and beyond, and for that I owe him a great deal. Just as I owe you a great deal. I wouldn't turn my back on either of you."

Zach pressed his palms together in a prayer-like gesture. He was clearly frustrated with her. Dixie tilted her head. "What was your association with him, anyway? Until now, I thought you two were friends."

Zach sighed. "I worked for him on occasion. He always paid me well, but it wasn't voluntary. If I didn't complete the assignments he gave me, then he was going to reveal to the world that I was Alexander Cambias, Junior."

Her eyes widened. "He blackmailed you?"

Zach nodded. "He was a master at finding people's weaknesses and exploiting them. Most of the time he used criminals for his dirty work. Granted, most of his projects were for worthy goals. Many lives have been saved because of what we accomplished. I think in many cases I might have taken the job if he had just asked."

"But he didn't. He tried to control you."

Zach was silent for awhile. "There were some assignments that I would not have done if my identity weren't at stake. Although…he never asked me to do anything I would not have done under any circumstances. He knew just where I would draw the line and never tried to make me go over it."

"Wow. This is a side of him that I never knew about. He sounds downright Machiavellian."

"I'd bet the odds that he's a direct descendant. Look, you have to make your own choices about who you associate with. I just wanted to give you fair warning."

Dixie smiled. "Thank you. So…did Chris have any news about Erica and Spike?"

Zach took a deep breath. "No, but he had some other news that I need to share with a few people."

They both stood up and left the room, making their way back to the dining room. Tad gave a disgusted look when he saw them come in together. Zach nodded to Ryan. "I need to speak with you, Jackson, and Kendall." He looked around. "Where is Kendall? I thought she came back here?"

Ryan shrugged. "I haven't seen her. I thought she was still talking to Bianca."

Zach rubbed his chin. "She needs to hear what I've just found out. Maybe she's somewhere else in the house."

Ryan approached Zach. "She might have gone for a walk or something. If you have news, tell us now. You can always repeat it to her later."

Zach gave a short nod. "It's about Greenlee." His cell phone rang again.

-------------------

Kendall finally made it through security and raced to her gate. A combination of surly security personnel and a group of people that they thought were Middle Eastern (but turned out to be from Brazil) had resulted in chaos. The arguments started just her stuff was going through the X-ray machine, so she couldn't use her phone at all. It was a nightmare.

Kendall barely made it to the gate in time. After she took her seat, she whipped out her cell phone. She had only minutes before the pilot told them to turn off their electronic devices. She dialed Zach's number. He's probably discovered her missing by now. She would have called him much sooner if she could have. She already felt horrible for leaving him like this.

Zach answered on the second ring. "Kendall? Where are you?"

"I'm so, so sorry, Zach. I meant to call you sooner but I got held up. I'm…I'm at the airport. I'm about to take off for Paris."

"Airport? Paris? What the hell is going on?"

"When Bianca called, she had a lead on where Dr. Madden might have gone. It's very possible he's somewhere in France right now."

"You're pursuing a lead and you didn't tell anyone?"

Kendall winced. "I'm telling you now. Zach, I was told that this was the last flight to Paris until eight tonight, and I wanted to be able to catch it. I knew that we wouldn't make it if I told you and we argued about it forever. You're so paranoid about my health, I couldn't take the chance that you would try and make me stay in Pine Valley."

There was a long silence. "Have I been that much of an ogre?" He was deeply hurt.

"Oh, Zach…not an ogre. Just way too protective. Look, I figured you and Ryan could take the later flight and we could meet up in France." Kendall heard the announcement for them to turn off their electronic devices.

Zach sighed deeply. "And what are you going to do until we get there? Go after Madden on your own?"

"I'll be with Bianca and whoever it is she's working with."

"Whoever who is? Explain to me again what this lead is about?"

"Bianca found out somehow that Greenlee was all set to board a private jet to Pine Valley, but never got on. She totally disappeared. Not long before that, a private jet arrived from New York." The flight attendant came over and told Kendall to turn off her cell phone.

Kendall held up her hand. "Apparently the jet left the U.S. only a few hours after Madden would have taken Spike and Erica."

The flight attendant gave her another warning. "Yeah, hold on! Zach, I know it's a crazy idea, but it's more solid than anything else we've got. Bianca and her friend are trying to find the New York jet's pilot. Not the football team. You know what I mean."

"Kendall, I already knew about Greenlee from Chris. He said one of his contacts told him about her intended trip. Is that the guy that's with Bianca?"

Another flight attendant came over, demanding that she turn the cell off. "I don't know his name. I heard him talking in the background. He sounded familiar. I gotta go, they're gonna throw me off the plane if I don't turn this damn thing off. I'll call again once we're in the air. I love you!" She hit the end button, smiling sheepishly at the flight attendants.