Chapter 17

Kendall hugged her sister tightly. "Binks, I'm so glad to see you!" She pulled back and stroked Bianca's hair. "I know we saw each other less than a month ago -- during that last crisis that hit our family. Why do these things keep happening?" Her face crumpled.

Bianca pulled her in for another hug. "Oh God, Kendall. I can't imagine how terrified you must feel. We'll find them. We'll find Spike, safe and sound."

Kendall murmured into her hair, "I think you can imagine how I feel."

Bianca shook her head. "My situation was different. I was told that my daughter was dead. You know Spike is out there somewhere, alive, and you can't be with him. It's the same with Dixie. She's been looking for Kate for four years. If Miranda was missing, I think I'd go insane."

"Well, the other difference in our situations is that Dixie and I still have hope of being reunited with our children. Your hope was crushed. Deliberately. By Babe." She looked over at Leo, who had been standing to one side. "But I guess crushing people's hopes is par for the course in Vanessa's twisted little family tree." She stepped away from Bianca and went over to Leo. "Leo?" He nodded. She glared at him. "Do you have any idea how much pain you've caused? Greenlee…Bianca… The ripple effect of your actions…" She paused and looked away. "You know what? I want so much to tear into you for what you did, but I don't have the energy. My child is missing. A child that I never would have had, ironically, if you hadn't faked your death. I'm not going to waste time with recriminations. We need to find the people we love, so let's just get on with it."

Bianca put her arm around Kendall. "We have a lead. Retcon Industries has ownership of a chalet in France. Madden is really paranoid – so far no one has been able to find an actual address for this chalet. The exact location is missing from all of the documents that we've been able to find. But…" She held up a finger, smiling, "my people have been able to uncover a spending account set up in a small town a couple of hours from here for groceries and other household expenses. There's been some activity in that account recently, including the purchase of baby items."

Kendall let out a tiny gasp. "Spike."

Leo cleared his throat. "We thought we'd head there immediately and start asking around."

Kendall bit her lip. "We should wait until Ryan and Zach get here. It will only be two more hours."

Leo shook his head. "I don't want to cut them out of the loop, but we need to act fast. I'm worried that Madden's pilot will figure out Bianca and Lena's little charade and tip him off that we're closing in. Let's just go to the town and make our inquiries. As soon as Ryan gets here, we can call him and fill him in. He can join us wherever we are at that point."

Kendall sighed. She had the sneaking suspicion that before the static cut him off, Zach was urging her to stay put until he got there. But Leo's concern about the pilot shouldn't be taken lightly. "Well, thank God for cell phones. Let's move."

Leo nodded once and held out his hand towards the direction of the parking lot. "So who's the guy flying in with Ryan? Zach, did you say his name was?"

They started walking through the airport terminal. "Yep. He's an old friend of yours, Max."

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Greenlee was more exhausted than she'd ever been in her entire life. When Madden reached out to put the baby in her arms, she almost didn't have the strength to take him. But there was no way in hell she was going to pass up this opportunity to hold her precious child. Besides, she wanted to get him away from Madden. She gazed down at her tiny son. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Madden hovered, "I need to examine him, make sure he is the picture of health."

When he reached his hands out, Greenlee growled, "Don't touch him! He's perfectly fine. Perfectly perfect, in fact."

As Greenlee was helping her baby to latch onto her breast, Madden reached into his medical bag and withdrew a syringe. "You've lost a lot of fluids, Greenlee. I want to give you something that will help keep you from becoming dehydrated as you nurse him." As he was reaching for her arm, Erica's hand shot out and knocked the syringe away. It bounced against the end table and shattered. He glared at her. "What is the matter with you?"

Erica narrowed her eyes. "That was complete bullshit and you know it. You were going to drug her so that you could take her baby without a fight."

"Don't be absurd! Why would I take her baby from her?" He rummaged in his bag some more. "Damn it, that was the last one. Now I'll have to fetch another syringe." Glaring at Erica, he took his bag and walked out the door.

Erica went over to the door and peered out, watching him disappear down the hallway. Satisfied he was gone, she turned to Greenlee. "We have to go to the kitchen now. This is our only chance. He's planning to dope you up. After what I just did, I'm betting I'll be next."

Greenlee blinked. "Tell me again why we have to go to the kitchen?"

Erica rolled her eyes. "In my last two trips I wasn't able to get far enough to find anything before he came back. There's no time to keep looking in other rooms. The kitchen is our best bet to find weapons. There has to be something there. Besides, once we get there, we're going to have barricade ourselves in until we can figure something out. Might as well hole up someplace that has provisions."

Greenlee leaned her head back. "I don't know if I have the energy to make it there."

"Greenlee, we don't have time for this. Focus on keeping your child safe. That will give you the strength."

Greenlee nodded wearily. "You're right." She carefully laid the baby down on the bed and eased her legs over so she could sit up. After a moment, she took a deep breath and stood up. Erica came over with a robe she found in the closet. Greenlee scooped the baby up and followed Erica out the door.

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Tad stared at the ringing telephone. The caller ID showed that it was the DNA lab. He glanced over at Dixie. She was white as a sheet. He picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

Dixie clasped her hands together in silent prayer. She watched as Tad listened to the person on the other end of the line. He nodded a couple of times, then thanked the person and hung up. He put his hand over Dixie's clenched fists. "The little girl wasn't a match."

Her throat constricted. "No! No, no, no, no, no!" Tears fell from her eyes as she lowered her forehead to rest on top of Tad's hand.

"We're going to find her, Dixie."

She lifted her head. "How can we do that if Madden is missing? You know how hard he was to find before. He has even more incentive to disappear, now."

"Ryan and Zach will find him."

"Yeah, and probably kill him before he can say anything."

Tad looked grim. "I'll call them, make sure they understand that he needs to be taken alive."

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ryan's number. It went to voice mail. He tried Zach and got the same response. He next tried Jackson. He got ahold of him, and was told that Ryan and Zach were on their way to Paris, and that was probably why they didn't answer their cells. They were due to land in an hour. When Tad hung up with Jackson, he suddenly had an idea. He dialed Josh's number. "Josh, it's Tad Martin. I need your help. The cops have already questioned Madden's assistant, Hazel, and she's pretending that she doesn't know anything. I think maybe she might open up to you. Will you come with me so that we can find out what she knows?" Josh assented and Tad arranged to meet him at the clinic.

Tad stood up. "Dixie, I'm heading over to the clinic to question Hazel. I need you to do me a favor. Ryan and Zach will be landing in Paris soon. I need you to keep calling their cell phones. As soon as you get ahold of them, find out what they know, what they're planning next, and make damn sure they don't put a bullet in Madden before we can get our hands on him. Got it?"

Dixie nodded and impulsively reached out to give him a hug. "Thank you so much, Tad. If anyone can get anything out of Hazel, I know you can do it."

He looked down at the woman that he had loved for so long, mourned for years, and recently sparked in him such resentment and anger. Unable to help himself, he gave her a quick, hard kiss, then turned and walked out the door.

Ryan came out of the cockpit, having been summoned there by the pilot a few minutes ago. Zach gave him an enquiring look. "We're going to be landing soon, but that wasn't why he called me in there. Since our cell phones don't seem to be working, Chris relayed a message to us pilot to pilot. He and David had some trouble commandeering a government jet, so Chris cashed in a few markers. Get this – he got ahold of a Concorde." Zach's eyebrows went skyward. Ryan nodded. "He's going to be landing less than an hour after we get there. He wants us to wait so we can all coordinate our plans. Yeah right!" Ryan chuckled and sat back down in his seat, buckling his belt.

Zach tapped his arm rest. "I think we should wait for them."

Ryan gave him an incredulous look, then narrowed his eyes. "I know why you want them to help us."

"I doubt it."

"You're thinking of the blackout and lying to Ethan. You feel sympathy for Chris and David because they also took extreme measures to help someone, which blew up in their faces. You want them to have the chance to redeem themselves." Zach looked away from him, clenching his jaw. Ryan went on, "Then there's the fact that you helped Leo create a new identity, while his loved ones were back in Pine Valley mourning his death. You're trying to make it up to David."

"I don't have to make a damn thing up to David, after what he did to Maria."

Ryan shook his head. "You like to pretend you're a bad ass, but you have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. You hate David, but you still felt he deserved the truth."

"Stuff your psychoanalysis, Lavery. I don't have a compassionate bone in my body."

"Keep telling yourself that." Ryan regarded him for a moment. "You'll make a great father for Spike."

Zach glared at him. "Stepfather. Just because you have another baby on the way doesn't absolve you from your responsibility to Spike."

Ryan scowled. "If Spike were my child, I would never turn my back on him. I would love him just as much as Greenlee's baby. I do love him, more than I can say. Let's face the facts, though. I no longer have a biological connection to Spike. Kendall isn't going to want me around making things complicated."

"Kendall is all about complicated, and you know that. She'll give you all kinds of shit if you try to bow out of being a part of Spike's life. I guarantee you right at this moment she's daydreaming about rescuing Spike, Erica and Greenlee, and convincing Greenlee to come back to Pine Valley so they can raise their children together with you, me, and…"

"Leo? Don't forget Leo, Greenlee's first and true love. I'm sure she could be convinced to let me be a part of our child's life. But with Leo's resurrection, any possibility of her becoming my wife again is gone." Ryan chuckled ruefully. "This is becoming a pattern. Yet another woman I love is having my baby and raising it with another man."

"You're assuming she'll forgive Leo for faking his death for four years. You saw how pissed she was at you, and you were only gone a few months."

Ryan shook his head. "I don't want her to turn to me just because she's hurt by what he did. I saw them together, Zach. Greenlee loved me very much, but it wasn't even close to what she had with Leo. If he really is alive, they deserve another chance. I love them both, and I'll do what I can to make it happen."

Zach shook his head. "You're more altruistic than I would be."

When the Cambias jet landed, Zach and Ryan disembarked. Ryan looked around. "From what I understand, this is the same field where the Greenlee jet is supposed to be parked."

Zach nodded. "Hopefully Kendall is around here somewhere with Bianca and Leo." He started walking towards the hangar, checking his cell phone for any messages from Kendall. There was one and he listened to it. "Son of a bitch!" He looked over at Ryan. "They aren't here. They're following a lead in the French countryside – she didn't give the name of the town. All she said is that they're chasing down the location of a chalet owned by one of Madden's dummy corporations. Goddamn it. I tried to tell her to stay put until we got here, but either the static got in the way or she's ignoring my wishes." Ryan raised one eyebrow and Zach rolled his eyes. He dialed her number, and was bumped to voice mail. "Wherever they are must not have reception. Now what?"

Ryan took out his cell phone. "I bet Bianca used her sources at Cambias to get the lead. I'll call them to find out if we can get the same information." He started to dial the number, when he noticed Zach staring at something in the distance. He looked and saw an older woman walking purposefully towards one of the jets on the tarmac. "Do you know that woman?"

Zach took a deep breath. "I know her as Sophie Prentice. If all our theories are correct, her real name is Vanessa Cortlandt."