Chapter 20

David watched as Chris paced back and forth. He had no idea what was going on now. He'd stood there, in a state of shock, as Chris negotiated with Vanessa for the release of Ryan and Zach. His mother was alive and had kidnapped two men. Not that David gave a damn about Lavery or Slater. He was still trying to absorb this radical development. David looked around, wondering where Leo could be at this point. His eyes fastened on various men walking purposefully towards their destinations. Because of the fact that Leo had plastic surgery, he could be any one of these men. The only thing David would have to go on is height and build. He wanted to murder Chris. He wanted to murder Vanessa. David had no doubt in his mind that the only thing that would have kept Leo from coming back to Greenlee is if his psychotic mother threatened her in some way. Chris might believe that she wasn't mentally ill, but David figured she had to be certifiable to treat her own son that way. He pulled a lot of shit in his day, but he would never deliberately sabotage the happiness of his children. Babe might like to think that he had a hand in messing up her life, but even she couldn't argue that his intentions were honorable. Vanessa on the other hand…Vanessa knew that Greenlee was everything to Leo, and she had set out to destroy their bond at every opportunity.

David's thoughts returned to the present as Chris murmured repeatedly, "Pick up the phone, Ryan. Pick up the phone."

David frowned. "You're not talking to my mother anymore?"

Chris shook his head. "She told me she let them go, and then I heard what sounded like the phone hitting the ground and the car taking off. I think she threw it out the window and left Ryan stranded. Hello? Ryan? Is that you? Finally!"

Apparently Ryan had retrieved the abandoned cell phone. That meant Vanessa was escaping. David wasn't sure what to think about that. He didn't really care whether she was brought to justice, but he was concerned about her ability to come back at some point and wreak havoc in their lives again. For right now, though, she was the least of their troubles. Her desire to escape would keep her busy for awhile. They still needed to find Madden. There was also the question of Leo. "Chris, does Ryan know where Leo is?"

Chris frowned. "Yeah, Ryan, hold on." He looked at David. "He just told me that Zach got a voice mail from Kendall when they got off the jet. She and Bianca and Leo were headed to some unknown town in the countryside. He tried to call her back, but got no answer. Possibly a signal problem. What's that, Ryan? Okay. Okay. While you're doing that, I'll get my men to locate you via GPS so we can pick you up. We'll talk later." He hung up. "Ryan's going to call Cambias to find out if they know where Bianca and the rest might have gone. I'm going to get his GPS." He turned his phone on again and dialed a number.

David felt a vibration in his hand, and realized that Zach's cell phone was ringing. He answered it. "Hello?"

"Zach? This is Tad. Is Ryan with you?"

David chuckled. "Thaddeus Martin. I'd say it's good to hear your voice, but that's only true if you have some information about Madden's whereabouts."

There was a short silence. "Hayward? Did I dial the wrong number?"

"No, this is Zach's cell phone. Zach and Ryan are indisposed at the moment. Don't worry; I wasn't the one that disposed of them. That honor goes to my dear, sweet, not-so-departed mother, Vanessa."

There was an even longer silence. "Vanessa is alive?"

"Yup. And so is my brother Leo. Their resurrection is courtesy of the also-not-dead Chris Stamp. Chris is with me right now, trying to locate Lavery and Slater. Here being Charles De Gaulle airport."

"Jesus Christ! Vanessa, Leo and Chris Stamp are all alive? Add Dixie to that number, and you'd have the makings for an episode of the X-Files."

"Speaking of Dixie, you remember the guy who was helping her try to find Kate, the one you liked to refer to as Eurotrash?"

"Ian Wells? What about him?"

"Ian Wells and Chris Stamp are one and the same. He and Dixie apparently had their own little Play Dead Club going on, there." He heard Tad sighing, and savored the pleasure of sharing that tidbit with Thaddeus. "So now that I've caught you up on all that I know, you want to tell me why you were calling Slater?"

"I want to talk to Chris."

"He's busy right now trying to find his son. Did you get a lead on Madden?"

"Hell yes I got a lead. His nurse, Hazel, finally broke. She told us the location of a chalet in France, and I'm betting dollars to doughnuts that's exactly where he's holed up with Erica."

"That's fantastic. Give me the address and we'll go check it out."

"I'm not telling you a damn thing. I'd really prefer giving this info to Ryan, but if it's a choice between you and Chris, he's the lesser of two evils. Put him on the phone, or I'm hanging up."

David muttered, "Son of a bitch," and went over to Chris. "You're gonna want to take this call, Stamp."

Chris shook his head. "I'm still trying to get that GPS."

David shoved the phone in his face. "It's Tad Martin, and he has Madden's whereabouts."

Chris's eyebrows shot up. "Joe, I gotta take a call. Let me know when you've got those coordinates." He hung up, and then took Slater's phone. "Hello?" He held the phone away from his ear, and David could hear Tad yelling something. He chuckled. Chris shook his head and put the phone back to his ear. "Do you think you could stop bitching long enough to tell me where the hell Madden is? Or was Hayward lying?" He took out a small notepad and began writing. "Perfect. I'll let you know when we catch him. Dixie already warned me to take him alive. I'll do the best I can." David chuckled again at the look on Chris's face. Obviously Tad had a few more choice words for him before he hung up.

Chris's phone rang, and he checked the display. "It's Joe." He answered it. "Tell me you've pinpointed their location." He began to write some more on his pad. "How far is that from here? Okay. I've got an address that I want you to run through the computer – I want to know how far away it is from here and from where Ryan is." After a pause, Chris wrote some more on the pad. "Got it. I owe you one, Joe."

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Bianca settled into the passenger seat and sighed. "You know, I thought Pine Valley citizens could be suspicious and uncooperative. Hometown's got nothing on these people."

Kendall rubbed her face. "No kidding. I was so excited when that old woman gave me the address to the chalet, but then no one would give us directions! I was about to get violent."

Leo looked back at Kendall. "We're about 45 minutes from the chalet. While I'm driving, keep checking your phone to see if we can get a signal. We might have better luck on the road."

"God, I hope so! We need all the help we can get."

Bianca frowned. "What we should have done is call the police from a land line."

Leo shook his head. "Those villagers weren't about to do us any favors. Besides, Madden might pull a desperate move if he sees the cops pull up with sirens blaring. We need to ambush him." He put his hand on Bianca's. "I've been in a lot of dangerous situations in the past four years. I'm well trained for this sort of thing. Even if we can't call for help, I'm sure we can pull this off. We have to." He turned to face forward, gripped the steering wheel, and took a deep breath. Then he started the car.

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Ryan and Zach continued walking towards the farmhouse in the distance. Ryan had found out from the Cambias people the name of the town where Bianca, Kendall and Leo had likely gone. He tried calling Chris, but was bumped to voice mail. He sighed. "How far away do you think we are from the town? I was told it was an hour and a half from Charles de Gaulle, but I have no idea where we are in relation to it."

Zach shook his head. "We were driving for about an hour, but you're right. We could be in the opposite direction. Chris would have to drive an hour to get us, and then it could be as much as two and a half hours from here to the town."

Ryan nodded, his expression grim. "There's no telling whether they'll still be there when we arrive. Knowing Leo, as soon as he finds out where that chalet is he's not going to wait around for us to get there. And I don't blame him. I'd want to get there as quickly as possible."

"Right. If they've left by the time we get there, then we'll have to waste precious time getting the same information. Dammit!"

Vanessa's cell phone rang, and Ryan answered it. "Chris? I found out the name of the town. I want you to…what's that? You have the address to the chalet? That's great! Listen, don't waste time coming to pick us up. You head there immediately. There's a farm house not far from here – maybe they have a car we can use. Okay. Okay, we'll do that. Chris, I'm counting on you to keep everyone safe. We'll be there when we can." He hung up and then entered a series of numbers into the cell phone. "He gave us the number of a guy named Joe who has our coordinates. When we find a car, he'll give us directions on how to get to the chalet. We're a couple of hours from there. Let's get a move on." They began to trot in the direction of the farm house.

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Erica sat in a nearby chair, a contemplative expression on her face. Greenlee narrowed her eyes. "Uh oh. You've got that Obi Wan Kenobi look on your face."

Erica blinked and stared at Greenlee. "What look?"

"Obi Wan Kenobi. 'I feel a great disturbance in the force.'" She shrugged. "Leo was a big Star Wars fan. Anyway, it means you look like someone was walking over your grave. What were you thinking about?"

Erica bit her lip. "This strange feeling came over me." She shook her head. "No, not a gravelike or….forcelike feeling." She took a deep breath. "This will sound crazy…"

Greenlee smirked. "Crazier than me quoting a sci-fi movie? Spill, Erica."

Erica began to fidget with her bracelet. "Kendall and Bianca are close by, somewhere. I can feel it. I don't know, maybe Kendall flew to Paris to be with Bianca."

Greenlee's eyes widened. "Or maybe they found out about the chalet and are on their way!"

Erica held up a hand. "Greenlee, I don't want to give you false hope. It's just a feeling. It could just be something I conjured up because I miss them so much."

Greenlee leaned forward. "Don't dismiss it out of hand. Bianca knew somehow that Bess was really Miranda. She felt it. I knew almost immediately when I was carrying Ryan's child, even before I took the pregnancy test." Jack started to cry, so Greenlee stood up and lifted him out of his little drawer. "Maybe your daughters are close by. It's something to hold onto." She glanced at the kitchen doors, swaying back and forth to try and soothe her son. "Greg's been gone a long time. Waiting for him to make his next move is making me crazy."

Erica narrowed her eyes at the door. "I know what you mean. I have an idea I'm mulling over. It's a bit risky, but it might bring things to a head sooner. Let me think about it some more."

Greenlee nodded and sat down. If by some miracle Kendall and Bianca really were coming to the rescue, that probably meant Ryan was with them. After all, Spike was his son too - or so he thought. She wondered how he would deal with finding out that Spike wasn't his son, but lo and behold he did have a child after all. She wished she had gotten over her anger sooner, and moved back to Pine Valley when she found out she was pregnant. She wouldn't be in this mess now. She wouldn't have met Max and had her emotions thrown out of whack thinking about Leo again. Oh Leo! If he were still alive, he would have sensed that she was in danger and come looking for her. She supposed she should be thankful that she was with Erica and Spike – there were people were looking for them. But it was the loneliest feeling in the world to realize that no one had a clue she was missing. Not because people didn't care about her, but because she had pushed them all away. Jackson, David, Ryan. Even Kendall. If she ever got out of this mess, she would make sure to change all that. She would make sure that she and Jack were surrounded by family. She had thought that it would be easier on her battered heart if she closed it off to love. No one could hurt her if she didn't allow herself to care. Now she realized that a heart without love simply stopped beating altogether.