Chapter 42

Patrick paced the living room of his house as he talked to Emma on the phone. "Really, I had no idea that Grandpa Noah knew how to fish too?"

"Well, he's not as good as Uncle Mac but he does put the worm on the hook for me." Emma giggled.

"That is great baby. I'm glad you are having fun." Patrick felt a mixture of joy and sadness listening to his little girl. Joy that she was able to let go of what had happened for a little while and have some fun and sadness that she was in this position in the first place.

"Grandpa Noah said you are going to bring Mommy home." Noah had spent some time talking with his granddaughter, reassuring her that her parents loved her and her safety and happiness were more important to them than anything. He wanted her to understand that she did the right thing by hiding the day Robin was taken. "He said I was a good girl because I listened to my Mom and did what I was told."

For once, Patrick was grateful for his father's need to butt in to his personal life. "That's right and when I bring Mommy home she will tell you the same thing."

"Promise?" There was a ton of hope and belief coming from her in that one word.

"I promise baby. Your Grandpa Robert, Grandma Anna and Uncle Mac are all working with me and they brought Mommy home to us before." Lucky walked into the room with a folder and Patrick reluctantly got off the phone with Emma. "Sweetie, Lucky is here so I need to go but I love you and I will talk to you tomorrow. Have fun with Grandpa Noah and be good."

"I will Daddy – I love you too." Patrick felt the tears he had been holding back fall down his cheeks as she hung up the phone. As silly as it was, he didn't want to cry while he was on the phone with his little girl. He was certain that Emma would hear it and it would destroy all the progress that she had made.

Patrick turned to Lucky. "What do you have for me?"

Lucky sat down on the couch and Patrick joined him. "First things first – the GPS isn't working on the phone and the phone itself hasn't been used in days, not since we spoke with Jerry." Jerry had walked out the front door of Patrick's house three days ago and promptly disappeared. "The good news is that Spinelli has managed to track down the general area where the phone was last used thanks to cell phone records – somewhere near the Adirondack Mountains."

"That makes sense – when Marcus told me about their engagement he said they were going to honeymoon there." Patrick was convinced that Marcus was with his father and they working together to keep Robin away from her family.

"I know – it's also where Grant took Anna the second time he kidnapped her. We already checked out the place where he took her and that was empty but at least we have narrowed down the search area." Marcus opened up the file. "We have also proved that the Marcus Banks in the plane was not the man we met here in Port Charles. The new dental records proved that the Marcus who died was a loner who disappeared years ago. It looks like Maksim kidnapped him and stole his identity. He killed Marcus and then he faked the plane crash to give us a false sense of security so we would let our guard down."

"Well it worked." Patrick shook his head. "How could I have been so blind?"

"He fooled us all." Lucky took a deep breath. "There's more – turns out that Maksim Chernin really is a doctor."

Patrick raised his eyebrows in surprise. "A doctor of what?"

"Psychotherapy." Lucky pulled out some papers. "He was finally given his doctorate after submitting his doctoral dissertation to 6 different universities and being rejected by all of them over ethical concerns. An internet university finally awarded him his Doctorate 7 years ago."

"Ethical concerns?"

"His dissertation was on using the Stockholm Syndrome to a positive effect in war time situations. It included uses of different drug protocols, hypnosis, post-hypnotic suggestions and negative reinforcement to make a person completely dependent on their captor." Lucky felt sick telling Patrick this.

"Jesus Christ Lucky – are you telling me that he has been planning to do this to Robin for years? That his first attempt was just practice for what he is doing to her now?" Patrick needed a release for his anger so he kicked the coffee table, knocking it over.

"Look, I understand where you are coming from but the good news is that we are closer to tracking them down and Robin knows how to fight them. I don't know what Marcus is doing to her but she is a fighter and she wants to come home to you and Emma." Lucky stood up and headed to the door. "I'm going to touch base with Robert and Anna. We are planning on leaving for the Adirondacks in the morning, the WSB is already setting up a safe house for us there. I take it you are coming with us."

"Just try and stop me." Patrick walked over the door to show the man out.

"Ok – I'll pick you up at 8."

Patrick nodded and shut the door behind Lucky, locking it securely. After taking one last look at their wedding picture, he headed to their bedroom to pack for the trip.