Chapter XIV

"Open your eyes, my gentle son
Take your leave and take your gun.
Follow your father to the hills,
Heaven gives and heaven kills."

Brynn Wydd, Wales

"Here it is," Heidi handed Alex the forged passport. "Philip said it was a piece of cake to get it from the print shop. It's amazing what a year's supply of beef tenderloin can do."

"And he bought the plane ticket with his mother's credit card?"

Heidi nodded, "Yes. He'll have it by tomorrow, and he also arranged for the car and driver to meet Max at the airport and take him to Pine Valley once he arrives in the US, according to the instructions you gave him."

Alex examined the passport, "Good. I can't thank you enough for doing this for me."

"You don't have to thank me, just make sure everything goes according to plan."

Mere meters outside the cottage, Justin Black sat amidst the bushes with his with his radio equipment, listening to their transmitted conversation. He radioed Charlotte, "I knew it, there is something going on. She is trying to get Max out of the country. The only thing I haven't been able to establish is when, but I'm certain it will be within the next three days."

"Good job Justin. Just make sure it doesn't happen."

"Of course."

Looking outside the cottage window, Alex suddenly noticed an unnatural beam of light coming from the bushes. She motioned Heidi to stop talking, and got up to turn the radio on.

"What is it?" Heidi whispered.

Alex ran her hand underneath the kitchen table and came across a distinct metal bump. "Dammit!"

"What is it?"

Alex moved her index finger to her lips and got the nearest sheet of paper and wrote down that her mother's spies were listening in on them and for Heidi to not say anything more.

Alex nodded, "We're going to have to change the plans." She moved over to the radio, to turn it off, knowing whoever was listening would get suspicious if it were turned on too loudly all of a sudden.

"Well, looks like it's still working after all," she said as though she had a sudden need to check the radio batteries, " Heidi, you must be tired after taking care of everything. Let me drive you back into town and we'll go over the details tomorrow."

"Alright," Heidi wasn't sure what to say, knowing her every word was being monitored.

Justin watched as they walked to the car together.

Wildwind, Pine Valley, PA

"Dimitri, would you have a look at this for me. Tempo is doing an investigation on this mining company in the Appalachians and I'd like to get your opinion on these figures. There's something here that just doesn't add up…" Edmund announced as he entered Dimitri's study.

His brother's arrival startled Dimitri.

"Hey, I didn't mean to make you jump. Is there something you're not telling me. You've been on edge all day?"

For the first time in a long time, Dimitri again felt the same inexplicable sensations he had felt so often in the past. This time it was feeling of impending dread combined with a strange sense of joy. The two conflicting sensations tugged at him, making him jumpy. However, he knew better than to mention them to Edmund.

"Nothing at all, little brother. Let me see those figures." He grinned at Edmund, "And don't forget to credit me for my keen business acumen, when you publish this article."

"Big brothers do these sort of things out of love…not for the glory," Edmund shot back.

"Glory, right…" Dimitri focused on the accounting statistics and tried to ignore the nagging sensations that wouldn't let go.

Brynn Wydd, Wales

Heidi and Alex stood outside, in the backyard of the cottage, watching the sunrise, over the green hills in the distance.

"So, you're sure you know what to do?" Alex asked Heidi once more.

"Yes, I've never been more sure of anything. I'm going to leave for the village by myself, and you and Max are going to follow later by car. Whoever is watching us will follow you and Max. You're going to lose the car that follows you, and as soon as you do, Max is going to exit your car. Then you're purposely going to let them spot you again, and, thinking that Max is still in the car with you, they'll continue following you. In the meantime, I'm taking a cab to Swansea and bringing Max to the airport."

"That's right, but you forgot something." Alex's expression was focused and serious.

"I can't go to the airline counter with him…I still don't understand why you want the taxi driver to do that," Heidi asked.

"It doesn't matter why, just promise me to let him do it."

"Of course." Everything was happening too fast, and Heidi's emotions were in turmoil. She would barely have a chance to say goodbye to the boy she loved like a son and when she thought of what the future held for Alex, she felt a gnawing dread in the pit of her stomach. "When Max is safely on his way to the US, what then, Alex?"

Alex didn't know what to tell her, "I don't know Heidi. All I can concentrate on right now is Max and getting him away from here."

"You have to think about how you're going to get back to your son. He needs you so much!"

"Stop it. Please." Alex pushed her thick hair away from her face; " I can't talk about this right now. I have to speak with Max before we leave." She turned around, but Heidi grabbed her arm before she had a chance to head back into the cottage. "When I come back from the Swansea we are going to talk about this. I'm not going to watch my best friend give up this easily."

Alex knew if she started to discuss what lay ahead, she would lose the small amount of self-control she still had left. "Don't you think I wouldn't do everything to be with Max? But I can't think of that right now. Right now his safety is all that matters, everything else takes a back seat, because if he's not safe, nothing else matters anyway, and now I have to say good bye to him, and I need all the strength in the world to do that…"

Heidi embraced her and cupped Alex's face in her hands. "I'm sorry…you go and see Max. Show him how much you love him. Show him so that he will always remember it."

Her words made Alex cry and Heidi wiped the tears away for her. "Don't let him see you sad, okay?."

Max was coming down the stairs, carrying his backpack.

"Max…come here," Alex called out to him, her voice still shaky. "I want you to come for a little walk with me, before we get in the car."

"Okay." He looked at her and tilted his head, as if trying to figure out why she was so serious.

"Are you excited about going on a plane trip?"

He nodded and gave her one of his lopsided grins, "Yeah. I can't wait."

Once they were sufficiently far away from Justin's spying view, Alex made him stop and kneeled down next to him.

"There's some important things that I haven't told you about this trip. Things that I need you to know."

Max didn't say anything but his eyes told her he was listening.

"There are some people that don't want you to go away, so I have to do things to trick them because it's very important that you go on this trip. When we drive into town together, there will be someone following us and I want them to think you're in the car with me, going to the airport…"

"But I will be in the car with you…"

"No…only until we get rid of the people following us, then I'm going to ask you to get out of the car really quickly and Heidi will take you to the airport in another car. Can you do that?"

He nodded, his expression serious. "Sure…but when are you coming to the airport?"

Alex had never lied to him and she was not going to start now. "I'm not coming with you, Max."

"But…" She saw his eyes suddenly fill with dread, "Why not Mum?"

"There's more I need to tell you and I don't have much time. Please Max, I need you to listen really, really carefully." She handed him a letter she had written to Dimitri, one that included a photograph of her and Max together. Then she handed him a jewelry box. It held the Omega watch she had bought Dimitri in New York City. "When you arrive at the house I'm sending you to, I want you to give this box to this man," she showed him a picture of Dimitri she had printed off the Internet. "Dimitri Marick"

Max looked at the picture, "Dimitri Marick, that's my Dad, isn't it? He has the same name as me."

'You're too clever for your own good,' Alex wanted to tell him, instead she said, "Yes. That's your Dad." She hated that the only picture she had to give him was a blurry computer printout.

"You sending me away to my Dad?" Max asked and Alex nodded. She had often told him about his father, told him that he was the most wonderful man in the world, and that if it were up to him he would be with him. But she had also told him that it never had been up to Dimitri.

Max's expression was now a mixture of anger and apprehension, and it made Alex feel sick to think of what she was doing to her son. Taking him from everything and everyone he loved, and sending him far away into an unknown world.

'But if it keeps you safe and away from Charlotte's grasp, it's all worth it,' she thought.

"My Dad doesn't even know me. What if he doesn't want me to be with him?" Max asked her sullenly.

Alex held him tight, wondering how much longer she would be able to keep her voice steady, "Oh, my baby, he'll take one look at you and he'll never want to let you go again."

"How do you know that?" he asked her doubtfully.

"You're going to have to trust me on that one,'' she told him gently, ''I've never lied to you Max, and I know if your Dad could have been here from the day you were born he would have loved you more than anything in the world."

"Promise me you'll come afterwards, to be with us?"

It was the one question Alex hoped he wouldn't ask. As much as she didn't want to break his heart, she wouldn't make him a promise that she might not be able to keep.

"You know I love you, don't you?" was what she said instead.

Again, it was as though he saw right through her efforts to avoid the question. He knew her so well it was scary. "I want you to promise me, Mum."

She ran her fingers along his face, "I promise I'm going to do everything in my power to get back to you."

Max started to cry and Alex knew he sensed what she was really telling him. An unbearable ache filled her heart and she didn't think she would be able to let go of him. She held on to him, tighter still and fought back tears, knowing that if she gave them a chance, she wouldn't be able to do what lay ahead.

"Shh…don't cry Max. I need you to be really brave today. Can you do that? Because there is one more thing I have to tell you."

He nodded, biting his lips to stop from crying more. He wanted to show her he was strong and it broke her heart. God, he was so much like his father. He held on to her and ran his fingers through her hair.

"Once you get to your father, he's going to ask you where to find me. He is going to ask you all sorts of questions, like where you lived and how you got to him. He'll ask you about me too. I need you to promise me, no matter how hard he tries to make you tell him where I am that won't tell him. Just tell your father that I'll come to you when it's safe. Can you promise me that, Max?"

"Promise me first that you'll come back to me." He looked at her, his beautiful, brown eyes were full of tears again.

"I promise I'll do everything I can…you have to believe that." Alex wiped the tears from his eyes, as Heidi had done for her. She picked him up and kissed him, feeling the salty wetness of his tears on her lips.

"I don't want you to be sad today Max. Today is going to be a fantastic day. You're going to meet your father and you are going to make him so happy."

She started to carry him towards the car. Max was silent in her arms and Alex knew he was still crying. Like Dimitri, had often done when he was tense, Max stroked her hair, letting it calm him.

Alex started to tell him about Dimitri.

"Did I tell you your Dad has a stable with horses? He's an amazing rider Max. He's going to teach you to ride too…and he can fence with swords. I'm sure he'll let you watch when he practices…" She kept on talking, both to distract Max and to keep herself from crying.

From afar, Justin Black watched as she entered the car, with Max.

"Do you want me to stop them now?" Justin asked Charlotte over the radio.

"Not yet. We don't know if she's taking him away today. I want you to stop her in the act. Just make sure you follow them and have backup ready."

"Of course, Ma'am."

When they were in the car Alex took off his backpack and fastened his seatbelt tightly. He still didn't say anything and she kept talking about Dimitri. While she spoke, he held on to her arm in silence.

In her rearview mirror, Alex saw Justin's poorly hidden car pull out and follow her. At first, she went slowly allowing him to tail her easily and then suddenly she picked up speed.

"Hold on Max."

Alex watched as Justin kept up with her with difficulty. Losing him wouldn't be hard. Not now that she knew he had a fear of speed.

Justin frowned in annoyance while he tried to keep up with her. "You'd think with Max in the car, she wouldn't pull these kind of stunts," he mumbled. The thought of the last time he was in his Porsche with her at the wheel made him slightly nauseous.

Alex lost him in minutes.

She grinned. "Too easy Max. Way too easy."

Justin cursed to himself in his Porsche. He wouldn't radio Charlotte just yet to let her know that he had lost her. There were only so many roads she could have taken; he felt that eventually she would turn up again. He went faster, feeling the car shake on the gravel road.

As soon, as Alex spotted Heidi in the village, she told Max to get out of the car, before Justin spotted them again.

"Ok Max, this is it. Go with Heidi!" Alex almost couldn't stand to look at his tear-stained face.

He held on to her tightly, not listening to what she was telling him.

"Come on Max, you have to go. We don't have much time to do this." She kissed him, "I love you so much, my little Count."

She watched as Heidi undid his seatbelt and gently eased him out of the car, picking him up in her strong arms. She closed the car door and said nothing.

"Mum! Don't go!" Alex heard Max yelling outside.

Alex pressed down on the gas petal and sped away.

'Don't look back,' she told herself, 'You'll never be able to keep driving.' Finally, with Max gone, she gave in to the tears she had held back and let them fall down her face uncontrollably.

Am I ever going to see you again?

Eventually, through her tears, she spotted Justin's Porsche in her rearview mirror again. She let him follow her now, keeping him just far away enough so that he would not realize that Max was no longer in the car with her.

Alex wiped away the tears with a shaking hand.

It was going to be a long drive to London.

Back in his Porsche, Justin was grateful to have spotted her again. He radioed Charlotte; "She's taking the highway eastbound. I'm going to assume she is heading for London, probably Heathrow. I'll radio Nigel and William to meet me there. She's going to be in for quite the surprise when she's at the airport."

"Good job, as always," Charlotte replied.

In the meantime, Heidi and Max were in a taxi, well on their way to the airport in Swansea, where Max would fly, as an unaccompanied minor, on a local flight to Dublin, and then continue on an international connection to the United States.

In order to give Max and Heidi a maximum amount of time, Alex slowed down considerably and by the time she parked at Heathrow International Airport, she knew that Max was already in the air, on his way to Dublin.

Alex saw Justin, and two other men, approach her car in the parking garage.

She knew she would not get far, so she didn't bother to try and run.

Justin held a gun to the window, ordering her to get out of the vehicle.

It was one of the other agents who noticed Max's absence, "Where the hell is the little boy?" he asked Justin.

Alex looked at Justin's shocked expression and allowed herself a smile of satisfaction.

Wildwind, Pine Valley, PA

After Stella had told her the bizarre news, Erica walked into the study to see Dimitri, who was still poring over Edmund's article.

"Dimitri," Erica bent down to kiss him on the cheek. "This is really odd, and I hate to bother you over an obvious misunderstanding, but Stella says there's an airport limousine driver at the gates, with a little boy. The boy says his name is Max and he insists on seeing you in person."

('Open your Eyes' Bergman, 1972)