"Christopher, I should hang up, you know, I have to work tomorrow morning," she said, just to give him a chance to get off the phone if he wanted it. After all, they had been talking for a good forty five minutes.

"Just stay a little bit longer. Stay with me," he pleaded.

"What time is it there?" he asked.

"It's twelve or one, I don't know."

"Don't you have to be up for the babies feeding anyhow in a little bit?"

"No, I don't. Pamela does it by herself now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I think they're almost sleeping through the night. Both of them. At least John Robert is, because I never hear him and he would wake me up. 'Course they get up awfully early."

"Wow. But that's so exciting they're sleeping through the night. That's big isn't?"

"Talk to me about your work. The company. How's it going over there?" Regine asked. He had talked about everything except himself.

There was a pause, and then he said, "I don't want to depress you."

"You can depress me. That's what I'm here for."

"Really?"

"Yeah, that's what friends are for."

Christopher let that one go. He hoped they were on the path to being more than friends. But if this was friendship he wanted it for the rest of his life.

"So tell me. What's depressing you?"

"Basically, I'm coming to realize that all my dreams are ruined. You know, ever since I was in college, all I wanted to do was start this company, help develop some clean energy. Restore my family's name in the energy business. Make my father proud, you know."

"Yes," she coaxed.

"And now, I see that because of this horrible entanglement with the cartel in our company, there's nothing to be salvaged. It's all going to go down the drain."

"Well, then you'll have to start again. Start anew."

"I don't know. I think it's all spoiled around here. Too many criminals with their fingers around our throats. It would be dangerous. I wouldn't want to raise a family here now."

"Well there lots of other places in the world that need clean energy. Every island in the Caribbean is horribly dependent on outside resources. Broaden your horizons. And don't give up, no matter what you have to do."

"Yeah. I guess I'm speaking to the queen. The queen of don't give up."

"That's right," she laughed.

"Did I ever tell you the story of how I schemed to get to medical school?" Regine asked.

"No, tell me." He was loving this.

"I'd gotten admitted, you know, into medical school, but I had no money. I needed money. I needed, an awful lot of money for four years of med school. How am I going to make it? So I hear somebody saying the Miss Universe pageant is big money."

"So I say, how's this tall skinny girl going to win the Miss St. Kitts and Nevis crown? I have no poise, I have no charms, just a brainy student all my life."

"So I get my aunties to make me a dress. So they work really hard and I enter this competition and my neighbor does my hair and they do my nails. All this stuff I never had any use for. And they get me all spruced up, you know, so i enter the big contest. A week at the big hotel some of my cousins work at, making beds. Nobody in my family could ever afford to stay there. And surprise, surprise. I win!

"Wow. That's great!

"No. It's not so great. That's when the hard work starts. For a year I have to hustle, to get my travel money, sponsors for my shoes, my make up. Money for my dresses and costumes. To pay for it all. It seemed like such a waste. Money going down the drain. But, I have to represent my country. At the end of that ordeal I only managed to salvage enough for two years of medical school."

"But that's my dream, you know. Nothing and nobody's going to stop me. Even if I'm forty years old when I finish, I'm still going to be a doctor, because that's what I have to do."

"You're an inspiration to me, Regine."

"There you go. There you go, use my story."

Later, Christopher reflected how far she had come to make her dreams come true and the fact that the only thing standing between her and her dream was money. Money had never been an issue for him, in getting his education.

He became so consumed with the thought of her being able to finish that he made a call to the Granada Medical School to find out exactly how much it would cost to finish those two years.

He realized he had it sitting in his bank accounts. He had an executive vice president's salary and no one to spend it on. And he could think of no better use for that money than to put Regine through school. But the challenge was, how to give it to her? He was pretty sure she would never accept the money.

So he called back the Dean of Saint George's Medical School and asked about becoming an anonymous donor of a scholarship in the name of a certain young person. He stipulated that if she refused it or questioned it's source they should inform her that it would be given to another student. It was a chance he was willing to take in order to keep her off the scent. But then he realized, that if she suspected him she would simply ask him. And he didn't want to have to lie to her. So he would have to make himself scarce and stop calling her. That was the only down side.

Pamela was sitting at the kitchen counter working on her tablet. She had continued where Christopher had left off, trying to track John Ross' departure. It wasn't enough to post pictures on the cloud drive. There was no response, she didn't know if he ever saw them. She wanted to find him.

Unfortunately, there were an awful lot of flight destinations from San Juan airport on the day that he had left. She sifted through them, trying to find anything that would make sense or ring a bell, or seem like a John Ross Ewing move. "If anybody can find you, baby, it's me. Because I know how you think. And I'm not giving up till I find you. These boys need you. I need you."

Regine walked in at that point, holding her cell phone.

"What's the matter?" Pamela asked.

"I'm in shock," Regine answered.

"Why?"

"I…I just got a call from my medical school. It was the Dean. They are calling me back."

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently someone's... they've found a scholarship and they're offering it to me." She looked up in confusion.

Pamela didn't hesitate. She got off her stool immediately and hugged her. "That's wonderful!" she said.

"It's so unexplainable," Regine answered.

"What does it matter?" Pamela said. "Take it. Take it! Your mom will be so happy!"

"Did you do this?" Regine asked, suspiciously. "I mean, I know you love my mother."

"I wish. But I don't have it. My resources are counted. I don't know when my husband will be back, if ever. I have to look out for my finances."

"I couldn't agree more. That's why I wouldn't want to take it."

"Regine are you crazy? Why are you looking a gift horse in the mouth? You told them you would take it, right?"

"Well, not yet. I thought I had to talk to you first. I made a commitment to John Ross to help you take care of the babies."

"Listen to me. I will be fine. You have to do this. You have to go on and become my baby's pediatrician. He he he." She started giggling. "Girl, what's wrong with you. Go! Go and follow your dream. Call that Dean back. "

Regine still seemed rooted to the spot, so Pamela said, "Come on, I'll help you pack," and pulled her arm.

Regine wanted to talk to Christopher. She had a suspicion that she wanted to verify. But she had no number for him. He was the one who always called her. "Call me. Call me now."

Christopher was busy with other matters. The CIA had pulled him in for one of their secret meetings.

"God, I hate it when you guys do that," he told agent Patricia Barker when they fake-kidnapped him and brought him to a secret location.

"You must realize you're being tailed night and day by the cartel," she said.

"I know. I can't sneeze without being videotaped doing it."

"Well, then don't complain about the precautions we take."

"Alright what's this meeting about?"

"We want you to approach Elena Ramos."

Immediately, Christopher went on the defensive. "What for? You can't use her. It's very dangerous. You have to keep her out of it."

"We are of the opinion that she can be made to turn against Trevino," the other agent, Lloyd, spoke.

"Are you insane? Her brother disappeared, probably killed at the hands of the cartel. What do you think will happen to her if they even suspect her?"

Barker said, "Christopher, listen. We have evidence that she was in collusion with Trevino to hijack your company. Wait, wait, let me finish. We're not saying she knew about the cartel. We don't think she knows even to this day how corrupt her boyfriend is?"

Christopher frowned.

"But sooner or later she's got to know. It's better if we tell her than if she pokes around and starts to suspect something. We are giving her a onetime only chance to turn on him and show us where the bodies are buried. And then, we will slip her into witness protection immediately."

Christopher had a very bad feeling about this. Of foreboding.

But the agent kept talking, laying out the CIA's plan. "We've tracked her movements. She takes the baby to see her mother every Tuesday. We want you to confront her at that time, with her mother present, and convince her that this is her only chance of getting out."

The other agent, said, "We'll come into Southfork and whisk her away right then and there."

Now it was Christopher's turn. "Great plan, yeah, great plan. And what excuse am I going to give for being at Southfork in the middle of the day? Huh? When it all goes down? Trevino is very jealous of me and my prior relationship with Elena. He doesn't want her anywhere near me."

"Hopefully, with the evidence Elena can give us, we can finally shut him down."

"And if you can't? He will be like a cornered rattlesnake and he'll come back and strike."

On the Tuesday in question Christopher sneezed so many times at the board meeting that his aunt said, "You know, Christopher, you should be in bed and not here infecting the rest of us with your flu."

"I think you might be right, Suellen. I'm sorry I came in myself. I'm going home."

"We'll hold down the fort. You just get better," Suelen smiled.

Nicholas Trevino made an excuse at the end of the next agenda item, for a bathroom break. He immediately took out his phone and called Elena.

"Hello, darling. How's the baby. How are you today, I left early."

"We are excited. You know Tuesday is our day to visit abuela."

"I know, I know, I remember. And that's why I am calling. I don't think it's such a good idea for you to go there today. Christopher has just left here to go home with the flu. I thought if you knew, you wouldn't want to expose the baby to that."

"Oh, but we're already here." Mama is making me lunch and we're having such a good time. Don't worry, I won't let him anywhere near the baby."

There was only silence.

"Tell you what, I'll go to Mama's place to put Andrecito down for a nap, and she can bring my lunch over. Okay? Don't worry, Daddy." She laughed.

Nickolas took several deep breaths to calm down his anger, when he hung up. He had no other alternative than to go back into the board room.

Christopher walked into the kitchen at Southfork and surprised Eli's mother taking a tray out. "Carmen, where's Elena?" he asked.

"In my apartment. Why?"

"I have to talk to you both."

"If you want I can get you some lunch, too."

"No, thanks. The last thing on my mind is lunch."

"Christopher! No, stop, you can't come in here. I heard you have a cold." Eli tried to stop him from coming in.

"From whom? Ah. Nicholas." He said. "Don't worry, I don't have a cold. I only said that to get out of a meeting."

Elena frowned. "What's going on?"

"Elena, sit down. Carmen, don't worry about the food."

"Eat, m'ija, before it gets cold."

He had them both at the table now. And he was heart sorry for the shock he was about to give them.

"Elena. Huh," he wanted to drag his feet. "I know you conspired with Nicholas to takeover our company."

Carmen gasped. "Is it true, m'hija?"

"I have proof. Lot's of it. But I don't care."

Elena now spoke. "I had my reasons. Cliff Barnes showed me the seismic studies on my father's land. There was oil there. Your family stole it from mine."

"It could be. I don't plan to deny it. J.R. might have played your mother dirty. I don't know."

"That's it? You don't know?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. You are in danger. Your baby's in danger. Your mother's in danger."

"Christopher, what are you talking about?"

"Nicholas Trevino used you, to get a foothold, but he wasn't working for Cliff. He was working for the Ochoa Cartel."

"Oh my God." Carmen was starting to cry.

"They have taken over Global Energies, in order to launder money. It's true. Our family has been working with the CIA, to try to get them. But it's a horrible mess and there's no end in sight."

"Nicholas is not like that—" Eli tried.

"You have no idea what Nicholas is like! He owes big money to the cartel and they own him! He cannot take a step without them knowing it, and he can't have any loose ends. Not ever."

Eli covered her mouth with her hands. "Christopher, I…I can't believe any of this."

"Why do you think John Ross and Pamela are gone? Because the minute he found out about this John Ross took his family out of here."

"Santo Dios," Carmen was beside herself. "Was…is…Andres involved in any of this?"

Christopher put his hands over hers. "The CIA has found evidence…that Andres was murdered. And they think Trevino ordered it. Andres might have found out what they were doing."

"Oh my God. O my God. Oh my God."

"Listen to me. Both of you. Grieve for him later. Right now, you two have to be strong and save your lives."

"Elena," he looked directly at her, but he didn't know if she could take it in. "The CIA has offered to get the three of you into witness protection, and to get you out of here. Provided you cooperate with them and give them everything you know of his movements."

"I swear to you, I didn't know anything about the cartel. I don't know how useful I can be."

"Don't tell them that. Just take their offer and run with it. Once they have you in witness protection they can't take it back."

The two women looked at each other and in one instant, they made their decision. "When do we go," Carmen asked.

"Now." Christopher said. "You leave everything behind. No goodbyes to anyone. We'll just ride out to the west meadow and you get on a helicopter and leave."

"Christopher," Eli had the baby in arms now. "I'm sorry Christopher, I'm sorry I lead the snake into our company. I'm sorry for everything."

Christopher hugged her now and said, "Just make a new life. And never look back."

"Carmen, we're going to need a lot of your prayers. Please keep them coming." He hugged her too.

"Tell your father…I don't know what to tell him. I'm so ashamed."

"Carmen, you've been nothing but good to us."

When he'd gotten them on the helicopter he stood there, watching it until it was just a pin prick. It was a good thing. But now all hell would break lose. He had to really perfect his poker face for what was coming. And tonight, the family had to have a strategy session and get their stories together. Carmen had asked for time off to visit relatives. Elena had come and gone from Southfork in the afternoon, leaving her mother off at the airport. Nobody had seen them since.