14. Breathing In Breathing Out

It was simple, like ripping a Band-Aid off. Quick and instantly painful, but it gets the job done. However Jeff knew far too well that no matter which way he did it, the news itself would be shocking and heartbreaking. He has already experienced it twice, with both himself and Jem's reaction to Alan's real identity, but it had to be done. His sons deserved to know the truth about that the teenager they all were chasing across the country for was in fact their younger brother, who was previously presumed dead. That is why during the plane ride to LA, he gathered his sons as well as Jem and his sister in order to talk in private and allow them digest the information before they landed.

Jem and Haley sat in their seats, both quiet and waiting expectantly for what was about to happen, meanwhile his sons with the exception of Scott were confused and more importantly curious as to what Jeff had to say. Scott was just sitting there, glaring angrily at him like a pissed-off cat, and jumped right to it the moment everyone had settled down, "What is going on, dad? Is what I heard you and Jem talking about in the hall true? About Alan?"

Normally if the topic of the conversation wasn't sensitive and delicate he would have chuckled over his son's impatience and blunt manner, but things weren't like that at all and he couldn't continue allowing his oldest son living in the killing suspense any longer. So he sighed heavily and said dejected, "According to the FBI lab, Alan Shepard is indeed your youngest brother Alan Shepard Tracy. The same boy we thought we lost thirteen years ago in that accident."

The room went silent, uncomfortable and even worst the prior suspense with most of them being oblivious over this information. How he missed the brash noise and bantering from his sons, but their reaction was understandable and he shouldn't expect them to digest the revelation that easily. However the silence quickly ended and was immediately replaced with several upset and confused voices trying to overpower each other. Again it was expected that the news wasn't well received and certainly not well accepted, but the loud noise was starting to hurt his ears and giving him a major headache.

Still he waited until they all started to calm down enough for them to have a civil conversation without the yelling or until one of them started to crack and braved themselves to ask the important questions he did not have all the answers. It was John who took the courage to ask, "If…what you are telling us is really true, that Alan is our Alan, then how in the world did he end up in an international criminal organization when he went missing during an avalanche accident in the mountains?"

"I don't know, John," Jeff answered dejected, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I wish I knew how things became so messed-up, but I really don't know and we won't know anything for certain until Alan is apprehended and Fermat is retrieve from these people."

Hearing that last part made something snap in Scott since he slammed his fist on the chair's armrest before he stood up and exclaimed, "So what is going to happen to him after that, huh? He is going to be arrested and put in prison for god knows what charges and there is nothing we can do about it! The kid have already lived through hell and doesn't deserve more even with all the actions he has done up till now and most likely is going to continue to do."

Virgil supported his older brother's claims and said, "Yeah, nothing is going to change for anyone if he is being arrested and put in prison. For nine years he has lived in a prison created by horrible criminals that forced and tortured him to do their bidding. The only peaceful life he has ever had was when he lived with Jem and Haley, how can anyone think that taking him away from that is going to help anyone?"

Jeff couldn't agree more to their claims and reasoning, but in the end his hands were tied. He might be a billionaire, able to get anything money can buy, but there was no way he had enough power to fight against the law. The only thing he could hope for was that the FBI and the law would treat this case good and fairly, taking in all the considerations to the circumstances behind Alan and his course of actions.

However he kept his thoughts to himself, so instead he began to explain the circumstances he knew about Alan with Jem supporting and giving his own version of raising Alan for the last four years. He and his sons didn't necessary show it, but they were indeed curious about how the baby in the family grew up to be despite the excruciating past with a criminal organization. Some stories were amusing to listen to while others were sad and even maddening over Alan, but the full picture was that despite Alan growing up without his family's traits and views on certain matters there was no doubt that the teen didn't have the famous Tracy family traits.

And by the time the plane landed in LA, they were caught up to most of the stories that Jem and Haley wanted to share with him and his family. Even though they didn't know everything about the lost son and brother, considering that there was not enough time to learn about a life they had no clue about and even if they did it would again be hard to process everything, but nonetheless they had a job and that was to track down Alan and Fermat. And make sure that the two teens returned back to where they truly belonged, hopefully safe and sound, but again only time would tell and at this moment time was of an essence.

The destination was clear and determined. No reason to hesitate or turn back from the path he had chosen in order to rescue Fermat and possibly even bring down the Golden Cobra for good. However here he was, hiding a great distance away from the bad guys' lair and was actually insecure how he was supposed to proceed from here. Alan couldn't simply walk up to the front door and demand them to give up Fermat, because there was no way they were going to do it without making a deal that everyone including himself were unwilling to hold up, but then again he didn't have that great choice of options. Which left him with the option to sneak in, grab Fermat and get out hopefully without getting caught. However that plan was risky enough, even more than he liked it to be, and it really didn't give him much reassurance that he would get through this without either getting severely hurt or worse get killed in his effort. That is why he took even extra precaution in what his next steps were going to be instead of just sneaking into the place and stumble into the dark. So he sat there for hours, watching the huge unassuming building that looked more or less abandoned especially since it was located in the outskirts of town. It was a mystery how these guys managed to stay hidden and in business at all, considering that they didn't make much effort in real estate deals, but then again they probably moved around the countries a lot, never staying at one place for too long, and probably also had some connections with the law enforcement and other political organs. Nevertheless it both amazed him and frighten him over how much power the criminal organization he used to 'hang' with had and how much was at stake if he failed, seeing as he wasn't the only one who would pay the price. Fermat, Blaze, Renée, Jem, Haley and even the Tracys would be caught in the crossfire if he made even the slightest mistake. So he had to make sure that there were no unanticipated flaws in his plan once he began to set it in action and enter the demon's lair.

As Alan sat there, slightly bored to death since there wasn't much for him to do beside watching what was happening around him, the thought that he was actually for once appreciated his training. It had ultimately helped him being a better observer and was able to take close notice in the guards routines as well as capturing the security cameras that was placed all over the place. Since he had stayed there he knew that every guard shift happens every three hours, leaving a short time window where there were no guards around the side door to no-end alley. That was one perfect opportunity, but he needed to plan even further ahead than just getting in to the building. Getting in was the easy part, finding Fermat and getting them both out were the hard part, and given the fact that he didn't have the building plan, which he couldn't get from city hall either since everyone was looking for him, he had to think hard as to the most reasonable or rather the most seemingly reasonable plan the Boss and Vinnie along with his goons could come up with. But what kind of wicked ideas could the people that trained him and tortured him for years come up with? That was the real question.

Fear. That's the watchword. Fermat thought he knew fear before. He was scared and afraid of many things and instantly caved into that fear, unlike Alan who experienced so much fear in his life yet always fought through it all and simply stopped being afraid of everything. It was always something he admired about his friend, something he could be able to have, but he wasn't and there was nothing he could do about it. There was a bomb somewhere in this building meant for Alan in case he got through and wouldn't go along with the deal to join back in to the organization. Knowing Alan, there was no way he was going to agree to it since he remembered enough about his past to know that nothing good could ever come out of agreeing to such a deal, and hence why Fermat was now fearing for his best friend's life.

And the matter didn't light up once Blaze came back into the room to guard him, but then again he was a hell of a lot better than the Boss as company and maybe he might pull some information out of him. Both to ease his troubled heart and mind and also to hopefully to get Blaze to work with him instead of against him when it came to Alan.

"P-please, d-don't harm him," Fermat asked, although it sounded more like begging in his ears, but nonetheless he was desperate and if he had to reduce himself down to lower his pride as a man and ask for the safety of his friend then so be it. "H-he only d-doing this b-because of m-me."

Blaze shrugged his shoulders, "That doesn't matter. He knows what he has to do in order for you to gain your freedom, and if he is unwilling to pay the price then he has to face the consequences. Consequences he should have faced four years ago and now it has come back to haunt him. Ironic really, that the Ghost is the one being haunted and not the other way around."

Although he tried to sound heartless like he didn't care what were to happen to Alan, Fermat knew that his guard was only acting like this to fool him or rather fool himself into believing that he didn't care what would happen to Alan. If you grew up with someone for nine years, having a sibling-like relationship, then there was no way he could turn those feelings off and suddenly pretend they didn't exist. Despite everything that had happened between Alan and Blaze, he firmly believed that they sincerely cared about each other and wouldn't want harm to come upon them if they had the power to stop it. Especially Alan would fight to the death if he had to just for the sake of his loved ones.

"T-That's just a p-piece of c-cra…garbage," Fermat huffed as he folded his arms against his chest and stared at the older teen. "W-whatever issues y-you two might have with e-each other is n-not important. Alan c-cares about y-you and you c-care a-about him, t-that's what m-matters. H-he doesn't d-deserve to get h-hurt or w-worse die because of h-he wish to be f-free and l-live an o-ordinary life. D-don't you agree?"

Blaze didn't say anything, but it was obvious as the day that he was actually thinking about what he was saying and that was something for a guy who was probably taught how to withstand extraction of information when he probably was still in his diapers. Then Blaze just sighed heavily like he was feeling suddenly tired or receiving a major headache, and said defeated, "Okay, fine. I give up. What do you want me to do?"

Fermat grinned proudly over his accomplishment, especially since he didn't think he would have been able to convince him in the first place, but he took what he got and began forming a few ideas that could be used for a plan either to get them both out of here or help Alan in some way or get other kind of help to assist or all the above. Blaze turned out to be very critical to most of the ideas, rather insufferable to handle, which made him wonder how in the world Alan managed to avoid picking that trait up during his early years, but in the end they found some common ground where they both agreed and was willing to do their part. The only thing they had to do now was execute the plan at the perfect place and at the perfect timing. Easier said than done.

Scott didn't like this. Not even the slightest. Who was this kid, Houdini? Seriously, how can one teenager disappear in one of the few places in the world where it was almost impossible to stay hidden in? He had no blame clue, but apparently his recently discovered-little brother did and used his talents to his gain in the most infuriating situations like this one.

As it turns out Alan had once again slipped through their fingers and they had no leads to where he was or where he was going. The feds were already on the move, trying to gather any information they could on him despite the fact that it seemed pretty useless when Jem had already warned them beforehand that Alan wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be, in which case he probably didn't seeing as he was still missing and making everyone else seem like fools running around for him.

Lady Penelope and Parker had oddly enough pulled themselves back and not really included anyone in their conversation. That was pretty normal except that they acted very suspicious about it. However he didn't care much about them at the moment since his thoughts were mainly on Alan and the well being of his other brothers that he didn't notice Jem sneaking up on him before his friend said, "See how easy it is?"

Scott jumped in surprise and turned around to see his friend, who seemed strangely calm and amused despite the circumstances, which is why he replied slightly annoyed, "Geez, you scared me. Never mind…what do you mean with how easy it is?"

"The worry, as well as how easy you come to love him despite not really meeting him in an ordinary scenario."

He huffed in response and folded his arms against his chest, probably looking like an angry five-year-old, but he didn't really care about it since Jem did have a point with his statement.

"It's instinct. I… or I guess I should say both of us, we can't help it. We feel compelled to love and care for them, and is willing to do anything to protect them," Scott said wearily, letting go some steam and simply feel the defeat and tiredness. "I care about Alan and want to protect him, even though I don't know the person he is now, I can only hope that my family and I can establish a real relationship with him after this whole thing blows down."

Jem gave a reassuring smile, "I'm sure Alan will want a relationship with you all, at least once things has calmed down and he has wrapped his head around it once he hears the news that is."

Breathing in. Breathing out. The night has finally fallen in, allowing him the perfect moment to infiltrate the building that was holding Fermat captive. Despite remembering several separate events that where much more frightening and dangerous, Alan couldn't help feeling the cold chills running up his spine as a warning that he was indeed terrified to walk into the devil's lair and once again go through the seven or eight levels of hell. However he knew that it was worth the risk and the consequences by doing so, but you really can't stop your fear. The only thing you could do was face it with open arms and work from there. That's was being brave really means.

Alan had already packed the few things he need for the mission, changed into dark clothes that made him easier to blend in and go unnoticed, and was all in all ready to go. When the guard that was walking around the premises left in order to be relieved for the next guard, he instantly took the opportunity and snuck into the property. He sprinted past the front of the building and headed to the side door to no-end alley. Of course, a security alarm code was already placed on the door in order to access entrance in. Luckily he had been prepared for this and began tampering carefully yet swiftly with the control system. He could feel the warm sweat on his hands, both from the stressing activity he was doing as well as from the warmth coming from his gloves. However he managed to ignore it as he slowly disarmed the alarm and the code to the door. The 'click' sound was like hearing angels sing in Alan's ears as he turned the door handle down and opened the door, quickly enter and closed the door behind him before the guard or anyone else's got the chance to notice his presence.

The room was entirely dark, making it hard to even know for sure if there were invisible laser beams around the room or any other kind of security function, but he took a chance and hoped that there wasn't. If he was wrong then he just had to improvise. Word of the day, improvise.

He shook his head by that thought as he continued down the dark hallway and when he reached the end he turned to the left, thinking that if he was keeping Fermat somewhere it would be not near any entrances and furthest part of the building. Hopefully was right in his assumption.

Anyways, he walked down another dark hallway, locked doors on each side until he tried the door at the end. It opened up and he stepped right in to warehouse-looking and feeling room. Similar to the one he and Renée fought when they were first reunited. However he realized right away that he wasn't alone in the room when he saw the Boss, Vinnie and his goons standing there waiting for him.

"Welcome back Ghost or do you prefer to be called Alan now?" The Boss asked with mock sincerity. Alan sneered and clenched his teeth together as he realized that not only had he walked himself into a trap, but it also was the same dangerous trap that he had been entrapped in four years ago.

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

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 and probably badly written as well, but I needed to get on with the story. And also sorry that this chapter is shorter than usual, since I'm busy with a written assignment I wouldn't have time to write more this week or next week. Besides today this story is officially one year old, amazing how much time has passed, and I wanted to give you guys an update to celebrate.

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