13. Oliver Twist Is Calling

Stupidity wasn't something he was well known for, not even to the slightest if you asked anyone who knew him fairly well, but due to his reckless tendencies sometimes his plans might be considered stupid to the point of complete lunacy. This was probably one of those times his plan might be too reckless and stupid for his own good, but then again that made the whole plan ingenious.

Alan had already fair idea where the organization was keeping Fermat or rather he knew exactly where they were keeping him, thanks to Renée, and the only thing he needed to do was get there. Unfortunately the feds had grown impatient and desperate and sent out pictures of him everywhere, making his low profile a lot more harder to keep, but with the recent changes of his appearance he wasn't as concerned about the feds finding him as he probably should. Hopefully it would also mean that the organization were just as desperate to find him before he reached the home base and Fermat, which might be a good thing now that he thought about it. Nevertheless his plan to get there was simple, obvious and probably most importantly risky. He was going to take the long route and take the bus route to the location that happens to be in Los Angeles.

One of the good things about taking this course of action was that once you paid the ticket with cash no one really had any paper trail that linked back to you, which was exactly what he wanted and was looking for, however the bad thing was that someone might recognize him despite the massive changes. After all hair dye, badly cut hair and a dark blue baseball cap don't exactly make you invisible. That is why he carefully observed his surroundings while keeping his appearance unnoticeable until the announcement that his bus was about to leave.

So he got on the bus and found an empty seat next to the window not far from the back of the bus. Shortly afterwards the bus started to move and began driving the long road to LA. And seeing as there wasn't much he could do at the moment to occupy himself with, he decided to just let his mind wander freely and daydream as the surroundings from the bus window came and went in quick motions. His life had once upon a time seemed like a scene from Snoozeville, but now it was everything but snoozy and he wasn't sure whether he was supposed to be glad or not about the changes. Frankly he thought the whole being a professional super criminal was better to swallow than the fact that he was son of one of the biggest billionaires in the world. He was stubborn and reckless to a fault, nowhere near as sophisticated and strong moral sense as he had seen with Virgil and the other Tracys. However as much as he tried to deny the family ties and kinship he had to that family he knew far too well that it was true, and he didn't need to have his memories to tell him that. Not when the clues have been lying there right in front of him.

He sighed heavily and leaned his face against his right hand while his arm rested against the window. He had to stop thinking about his biological family and his family problems in general. None of that was going to help him regarding saving Fermat. So he once again forced those thoughts away and began planning further what his next course of action was to be.

It was a standard procedure. Nothing complicated or unusual in any way, just simply collect forensic evidence, run it against the computer database to see if something popped or stuck out and then move on to next piece of evidence. It was that simple, however somehow one of the rookie lab techs at the FBI had gotten the idea to take the blood samples from Alan Shepard and Virgil Tracy that were found at the motel and decided to instead of running it against the criminal database she compared to two blood samples against one another and received the most unexpected result. Lab technician Cara Goodman thought she had done a mistake when she saw the result on the computer. Just make sure that she wasn't wrong she ran it three times and got the same result each time. So there was apparently no mistake and she suddenly felt more than obligated to inform Agent Farrell and the people it was regarding about this huge and unexpected information that she had gotten a hold off. That is why she was heading towards the meeting room where she was being told where the agents as well as the family members of the victim and suspect of the kidnapping case.

Once she stood outside the door of the meeting room she knocked the door carefully before she opened the door and asked to talk to Agent Farrell. Everyone in the room including Agent Farrell looked surprised and most of all confused over her presence, but no one said anything and the agent simply stood up and walked out the door while closing the door behind her so they could talk.

"What is it that was in need for my attention, Cara?" Agent Farrell said wearily, rubbing her temples like she had an ongoing headache. "Please be something important or useful to this case because right now everything about this case is just complicated."

"I guess what I have for you is only going to make this a lot more complicated," Cara answered, pulling out the file from her arm and handed it over to Agent Farrell. Agent Farrell took the file and began reading the content, only to express even more tiredness and confusion to what she was reading. Cara realized this so she went straight to the point and explained, "I made a mistake and compared the two blood samples against the suspect Alan Shepard and Virgil Tracy."

"So? You made a mistake. As long as it didn't compromise the evidence then you just have to run it again."

Cara shook her head and continued, "That's not it. It is what the test proved. Well…to plain simple according to those almost identical lines from the blood samples from the two boys, they are familiar match with each other."

Agent Farrell eyes widen in shock most definitely not expected that kind of news and was more or less reluctant to say those words out loud since she said incredulous voice, "You are telling me…that Virgil Tracy and Alan Shepard are related."

"Closely related," Cara corrected. "To be more exact, they are brothers."

"Half brothers?" Agent Farrell was desperate to find anything that didn't come to the conclusion that was more or less lingering in the air. Again Cara shook her head and denied the assumption or rather the Agent's hope in her opinion, "No. They share the same father and the same mother. So no matter how much you don't want it to be true, DNA evidence never lie or waver. Your suspect Alan Shepard and Virgil Tracy are biological brothers. The question is what are you going to do about that information."

Agent Farrell didn't say anything, obviously conflicted as to what she was supposed to do whether to follow her ethical duty or her duty to the FBI, but whatever she chose to do with that information was absolutely none of Cara's business. From her point of view she had delivered the information she had discovered and what happen after that was out of her control. That is why she took the opportunity to leave and go back to her work, not thinking any further about the blood relations between the suspect they were chasing and the distraught rich family.

She wished that she could consider this was good news. Seriously, at least now she knew who exactly Alan was or might have been before his amnesia and his association with the Golden Cobra, but no matter how she wanted to sugar coat it there was no way that this information was good at the moment. What was worse she had no clue what she was supposed to do, tell the Tracy family as well as the Cassidy siblings that the teen they all were chasing was more closely related than small connecting lines or keep quiet and hope for the best seeing as in the end she and the rest of the bureau was going to arrest him and put him in jail for his criminal offenses?

That was currently lingering in her mind as she walked back into the meeting room and barely listened to the conversation that was going on without her. It wasn't until her partner patted her shoulder and announced that they were taking a short break and see whether there had been any phone tips or such regarding Alan's appearance. Most of the people left the room to stretch their legs or go back to the leads and angles on the case, except for Jeff Tracy that is. It was almost like fate was telling her what she was supposed to do giving her the opportunity to talk to Mr. Tracy alone. And who was she to question fate?

She stood up from her seat and went straight up to the man and asked plainly, "Do you think we can talk privately? There is something I have recently discovered that I think you should know about."

Mr. Tracy was obviously confused and reacted in a similar manner like I did with Cara, but didn't see the dark clouds that was practically hanging in the air that told him that whatever she was about to say was going to be awkward as well as confusing and hard to accept. However he didn't deny her request and the two of them left and went into the empty room next door and shut the door behind them.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about? I suspect whatever it is you don't want to share it with the rest of the group," Mr. Tracy folded his arms against his chest and waited for her response, which she felt even more reluctant to share now, but she ignored her brain and answered, "The information I have is very sensitive and most certainly not something that would do any good right now if it was put in the open."

"So why tell me about it if this is so sensitive?"
Awkward and uncomfortable, she rubbed the back of her neck and said quietly, "Because this involves you, your family as well as Alan."

She stopped, taking a deep breath while thinking that it was just like ripping a Band-Aid off before she continued explaining in a heavy and serious manner, "One of our lab techs processed the blood that was gathered at the motel, both Virgil and Alan's, and instead of run it against the criminal database she accidently compared the two samples against each other. It turns out that they are a match."

Mr. Tracy tilted his head even more confused now, "They are a match to…what exactly? Are you trying to tell me that Alan and Virgil is related?"

"Closely related, as close as brothers actually," She said quietly while giving a hint of innocence.

That most definitely knocked Mr. Tracy's cool and collected persona instantly. Actually to be more frank he looked like he had just seen a ghost or something and was more than ready to vomit or faint on the spot. Whichever comes first apparently that is why she pulled out a chair and directed him in it before either of those options happened. Mr. Tracy seemed totally out of it as he continued mumbling over and over, "How? What? That's simply impossible…"

She took the other available chair and answered almost apologetically, "It is possible because it's the truth. From what I know about your family history your wife and youngest son died thirteen years ago, correct?"

Mr. Tracy nodded, "Yeah, in an avalanche accident. Although we didn't find the bodies the chances were that they didn't make it, but I never imagined…so you are saying that my baby son that I believed was dead along with my dear Lucy have been alive this whole time? And that my son has been brought up to be a professional criminal and is currently now on the run and out looking for Fermat to get him back?"

She didn't answer, but in the end she didn't have to since he already reached his own conclusions and his face fell into his hands and quietly began to sob. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but didn't offer any comforting words or such because she had a feeling that no matter what she said wasn't going to help or ease the revelation any more or any less. Although she might have given a grieving father the best news in the world by telling him that his supposed dead son was actually alive, but in reality she felt like a butcher that had at this very moment poked and prodded in an area that would only cause more grief and sadness and more importantly complicate thing even more than it already was. And just on Mr. Tracy's part. But also on his sons, the Cassidy siblings and more importantly Alan's part.

This had to be a dream. There was no other reason or solution to it. Only there probably was reasonable explanation how everything he once believed to be true was just a disguise. Alan Shepard, the fugitive teen on a dangerous mission, was in fact his youngest son who he had believed died in an accident along with his mother thirteen years ago. And as much as hearing this brought joy and relief to his poor heart it left the million dollar question, how and why in the world could this have happened and who had brought this upon themselves to take his son and then set him up with a dangerous criminal organization that pretty much abused him for years?

He had no clue what to do about this discovery, but he knew what he wanted to do. Establish a relationship to his estranged son; even help him out in this huge crisis he was tangled up in just because he wanted another chance to help him when he had not been able to before. However putting that aside he wanted to know more about his youngest son on a personal level, figuring out what kind of person he was and had become, and the best way to do so was to talk to one of the people in the world that seemingly knew the best on that matter. His adoptive/foster brother and father figure Jem Cassidy.

Of course as of this moment neither he nor his sister was great fans of the Tracy members and there was no way they were going to talk to him or anyone else about Alan in a personal setting in fear that the information would be used against them later. However he wasn't a man who gave up once his mind was set, especially since it had become quite a family trait that was not always a good thing, but nevertheless he was determined to know more about Alan. Which is why he practically caught him off guard when he came out of the men's room and jumped in surprise and gasped, "God, what are you trying to do? Giving me heart attack?"

"No," Jeff shook his head. "However I was hoping to talk to you about Alan if you don't mind."

"Talk about Alan? What? Haven't you heard enough about him from the feds and that Henri guy? I'm pretty sure you know a lot about Alan by now," Jem answered as he began walking back towards the meeting room. Jeff followed, "You can say I'm persistent and overly curious. So amuse me and tell me something, anything at all. It doesn't have to have anything to do with what is currently going on."

Jem stopped and turned around to look at him, clearly suspicious and was mentally weighting options whether he should talk or not. At first he thought that the younger man was going to reject him, but surprisingly he decided to talk a leap of faith and replied, "Okay, normally I wouldn't even consider you proposal. But I'm going to bite on this one, but first answer me this why exactly are you interested to know? And please don't tell me its because you are interested or curious on the matter. I'm a cop and I know when I'm being screwed over."

Lord, this man was driving a hard bargain. What was he supposed to do, tell him the truth or tell a lie and hope for the best that it wouldn't be discovered? After all, he didn't really want to spread the word out about Alan's identity, especially before he had the chance to talk to Alan and the rest of his sons about this, but then again it sort of involved Jem and his sister too and who knows maybe they could even help convince Alan to talk to him once the situation had blown over.

"Agent Farrell shared some interesting information about Alan to me, something that neither of us want to go around right now," Jeff disclosed, not wanting to go into detail, however the boy was like bloodhound and wouldn't accept his answer. He glared and waited for a better explanation. So Jeff sighed, "Blood samples on Alan and Virgil from the motel was processed and it was a perfect match."

Jem reacted exactly like he had done, completely and utterly relieved as well as heart broken over the news. The younger man leaned against the wall before he slipped and sat down on the floor, sobbing heavily. Jeff wanted to comfort him, but wasn't in the right position to be comforting his oldest son's Air Force friend, who was not exactly on good terms with any Tracy men except for Alan of course. Nevertheless once Jem calmed himself down he asked, "I was always so worried about the possibility that his biological family would show up and take him away from me and my sister, but knowing that what kind of family you are I know that you can offer him a lot more than we ever can."

Jeff shook his head, denying the claim, and said comforting, "You did the one thing I wished I could have done. You gave him a chance, a chance of a normal life despite all the pain and hardships he has been through and you loved and trusted him, and he gave you love and trust in return. As of right now neither I or his brothers have remotely a place in his heart anymore, he can't remember or rather he wouldn't be able to since he disappeared and was presumed dead when he was only three years old."

That certainly got his attention and he exclaimed, "What! You thought he has been dead all these years and that's why you didn't search or make a claim on him before."

Jeff gave him the short version on the avalanche accident that supposedly claimed Alan and his wife and how the accident had affected not only him, but also his sons including Scott.

"Alan's death hit Scott very hard, those two were very close and had more of a father/son relationship than the average sibling relationship," Jeff explained, while reminiscing the period when Scott at the age of thirteen grieved the incredible loss of both his mother and younger brother. That was one of the dark and lowest points of his oldest son's life and honestly something that he didn't want to repeat itself now that Alan was actually alive.

Jem sighed wearily and ran a hand through his hair, "I knew that there was something he kept bottled up inside, something my sister noticed as well, but he never said anything and wouldn't talk about it. Besides the other secrets he had that one might actually be the main reason Haley and Scott broke up in the first place. All because he didn't want to talk and relive the death of his brother."

"Yeah, I just hope that he take the news that his baby brother is indeed alive and is actually our current fugitive looking after redemption," Jeff tried to smile, but his worry and concern clouded his judgment. He knew perfectly well that his oldest had a ferocious temper and would definitely not take the news with ease.

Unfortunately Scott found out a lot sooner than what he expected and more importantly wanted him to know, since Scott exclaiming angrily loudly interrupting him and Jem, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT! OR RATHER IS IT TRUE WHAT YOU TWO WERE TALKING ABOUT AND CLEARLY KEEPING BETWEEN YOURSELVES?"

Surprised, both he and Jem turned to see Scott standing there and looked more or less he wanted to murder someone on the spot, presumably him and possibly Jem and any other person who knew about this. Nevertheless it was pretty obvious that the secret he was hoping to stay quiet for a while didn't stay secret and now he was left dealing with the damage control. The question was only how he was supposed to do that?

Scott was pissed off and impatiently waiting for the explanation to what he has heard, so that he later can deny and reject the whole possibility (even though it wasn't a possibility) and simply shout and yell at them for lord knows how long. So Jeff wasn't sure whether it was fortunate or not that the agents on the case came running down the hallway and simply shouted out, "We got him. Alan is in LA, just gotten off the bus stop and drew attention to himself due to the people that was waiting for him and are currently fighting it out as we speak."

Let's just say the discussion about Alan's true identity and parentage was put on hold since the opportunity to apprehend the teen before he met up with his former crowd was better than dealing with the catastrophe of a sixteen year olds making.

Did they really think he was that stupid? Seriously, he was a trained professional criminal and he didn't even have to be that to know that the men in black suits that surrounded him from the moment he stepped out of the bus was definitely not what they claimed to be. One of the suits held up a federal badge and said, "FBI, you are under arrest Mr. Shepard and we are here to bring you in."

Alan frowned and his eyebrow went up in question, "You can't honestly believe I would fall for that. The feds aren't that good at tracking, so there is no way they could have been here before me. And besides out of all the agents I have seen none of them were expensive designer shoes. Care to try again?"

The response he received was the two guys pulled out their guns while the leader of the herd retrieved a black whip from his suit inner pocket, pulled it hard a few times before he threw the whip at him. Alan didn't avoid or deflect the attack, gladly accepted it at the same time ignoring the harsh pain he felt as the whip was wrapped around his wrists. Ignoring the flashbacks on Vinnie's favorite method in disciplining him, he pulled and yanked the whip. Taken by surprise the leader let go of the whip and Alan seized the opportunity and in one swift movement untied the whip around his wrist and flung it the hardest he could against the goons legs and feet. Some were knocked down on their feet while a few remained standing and immediately leaped into action by throwing their punches at him. Once again he used the whip as a perfect weapon, handled it with swiftness and great ease, and one by one each goon fell unconscious on the ground. When he had taken the last one down, who ironically happened to be the leader of the bunch, he leaned over to his taken down body and whispered quietly into his ear, "Tell your boss, that I'm here and I'm ready to bring the whole organization with me unless he let my friend go. I'm sure there are plenty of secrets and stuff that no one want to be exposed to the public, ultimately ruining everything the organization had worked for and taken pride in doing for several years."

Obviously he didn't have that much memories that held much importance or evidence against the organization and lead to its doom, but the bad guys didn't have to know that. And honestly it would be an embarrassment that the people who trained him to be a professional liar, but then again it wasn't if they actually fell for his bluff.

The leader lost consciousness shortly afterwards and Alan didn't waste any time making his escape, especially since this scene right now most definitely caught the law enforcement as well as the feds attention. So he retrieved one of the goons gun and then made his escape in the crowd filled with people, blended perfectly in and without anyone noticing him disappearing from the public eye.

Fermat had been brought back into the office after he woke up the second time. Apparently they feared that if Alan did somehow get inside the first place he would search for him would be the cells and from there they could calculate and plan what their next move would be. However Fermat knew better than anyone that while Alan was smart enough to come up with a foolproof plan he was too impulsive and when he had a clear goal in mind he wouldn't be up for making any mistakes on his path. So the prospect that his best friend would simply be taken down for something so predictable was actually hilarious.

However being cooped up in an office without anything to do or allowed to talk to anyone was not hilarious at all. In fact it was driving him mad and there wasn't much he could do about it either unless he wanted an injury or a scar on his body that told the story. But it seems like he didn't have to go far to find something interesting because the Boss had called in Blaze for his presence at the office almost immediately, but the strange part was that the boss seemed overly calm and amused by something to be up to his usual game of evilness in the world. And he quickly found out what the man had in mind when Blaze entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"I have a job for you to do," the Boss said with an amused grin. "And it has to be done as quickly as possible, because I'm not sure how long it will take for our guest to arrive and his present need to be prepared before then."

Blaze froze on the spot as he said, "Are you asking me to prepare a bomb for Alan?"

Fermat's eyes widen as well hearing that information. If he had ever been afraid and concerned for anyone's life including his own before then this was probably the cherry on the top.

"Of course, you are the bomb expert. While Alan was the prodigy and Renée gifted in her jewel heists and prostitution, you are the best bomb maker as well as cracker."

Blaze shook his head, obviously not taking much pride in being the designated bomb expert in the organization. Nonetheless the boss continued on, "Get going and start working. I will give further details of where the bomb is going to be placed."

Blaze looked like he wanted to ask or rather argue some more, but the boss dismissed him and Blaze apparently didn't want to push it in case the man got pushed over the edge and do something impulsive. So he left the room, leaving Fermat once again in the company of the boss. However unlike the last time the boss didn't seem too interested in indulging and sharing what he had in store for Alan and Fermat wasn't sure whether he should be concerned or not about this sudden change of action. The boss completely ignored him and simply let him off to do the heavy thinking of what is to come next and the consequences that followed after. Once again he prayed for whatever god or deity out there to help his friend and save them from what he feared would be an incident described as humanity being burned to hell.

The strangest thing happened. Her cellphone was ringing and she couldn't think of anyone having a reason for calling her at this moment, especially when she had let out messages that she would be unavailable for the time being. However that wasn't the strangest thing it was a blocked number calling, which means that someone from her circle was trying to contact her and that was impossible since her number wasn't listed anywhere. Ignoring the concern, allowing curiosity to take over she accepted the call and said simply, "Hello, this is Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward. How may I help you?"

"This is Oliver Twist calling and I was hoping that what I tell you and have plans to do will be kept confidential until this blows over."

Penelope recognized the voice, thinking it was risky and more or less idiotic for that person to call her, but she thought over it carefully. And honestly didn't see the harm and at least hearing what the proposition was before she made a decision, so she answered lightly, "What do you have in mind?"

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Thank you for the response I have been receiving, hope you guys like this chapter.

I hope everyone have had good holiday, and I hope everyone has gotten a good start on the new year. So since school has already started I can't promise when or how often I will be updating on this story, but I will continue it and write on it during the few moments I have time to spare and write.

And as for those of you who reads or have read my other TB story, Whispers In The Dark, I can inform you that it is now finished and if there is any confusion or comments regarding that story please refer yourself to that particular story.

Sorry by the way that this chapter was sort of written fast, but I needed to get on with the story. Now some of the Tracy members know the true, what is to happen next we will just have to wait and see. So anyways please, please, please continue reading and express what you think of my work because otherwise I might be dejected and more reluctant to continue and finish this story, which I really do want to finish.

With that said, please please please continue giving me reviews, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon as its done.

xXrebelgirl07Xx