A man with short curly hair and brown eyes and a Hungarian accent stepped out of the shadows, "What have we here? You look a little young to be an agent."

Matty looked at the man. He'd seen his picture in the file. He was older and his curly brown hair was graying but it was Addi Birol. The mastermind behind everything.

Matty had no idea what to do now. He couldn't move. Whatever this goop was. He fell into unconsciousness. He woke up and he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back to a chair. His head was pounding. He was in a small room alone.

Addi Birol came into the room brandishing a gun, "Hello, young man. I would like to know who I have the pleasure of killing before I kill them. Who are you?"

Matty was terrified. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. No, he couldn't lose his voice again now.
His hands were handcuffed behind his back. He needed Birol to look at his wrist. To see the mark. Then he could save Joey and Jamie.

Birol took his gun and put it against Matty's forehead, "I ask again, boy. Who are you? Why are you here?"

Matty needed to speak now more than ever. If Birol knew he really was he wouldn't kill him.

Matty willed everything inside of himself to speak, his voice finally came out, "I'm the real Alexander Stetson, sir. I came to turn myself over to you, so you'll let my brother and cousin go."

Addi looked at him, "I have Alexander Stetson in the other room. Now I just got here. I have not actually seen the other boy yet. Are you an undercover agent that just looks young?"

Matty spoke, "Move the hair on my left ear. I have the scar from Gregor . Look at my wrist. I have the brand. I'm number 13, Alexander Stetson, sir. The son of Scarecrow. It's me you want. Let my brother and cousin go."

Birol went over to him. "I know your parents. Surely their son would not be this stupid to just turn himself over to me so easily. The son of Scarecrow is deaf and mute. You are speaking. Now let's try this again. Who are you?"

Matty looked at him, "I can speak, sir. I have the brand if you look at my wrist. Please sir, let my brother and cousin go."

Birol took out a needle and injected something into Matty's forearm. "A little bit of truth serum. It will also weaken you."

Birol undid Matty's cuffs and looked at his wrist. "Brands can be faked. We will see if this washes off later. Get up. I have another way to verify your identity."

Birol had him get up and then he re-cuffed Matty's hands behind his back.

Birol spoke, "How did you find me? This place."

Matty spoke, "I asked Lazlo. He gave me the information. You should kill him for being a rat."

Birol laughed, "Yes, well good help is hard to find, and believe it or not he is one of my better lieutenants. I know this is some sort of trick. Your father would never let you come here willingly."

Matty answered, "No, he wouldn't. He doesn't know I'm here. He thinks I'm safely hidden away at the agency right now. So does my mother."

Birol smiled, "Aww your mother. She is one strong woman. Beautiful too. I had the pleasure of her company a few years ago. I didn't get a chance to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I already was juggling a couple of sisters at the time. This time though? Maybe this time she and I can spend some time together before you kill her."

Matty vowed in his head to kill this man the first opportunity he got. But whatever Birol had injected him with was making him feel weak. Birol had to practically carry him to the next room.

They walked into the room. He saw Jamie shirtless with bare feet, tied to a chair and his face and chest were all bruised up.

Jamie looked up and saw Matty and said, "No. Oh god, no."

Birol spoke, "This boy claims he is the real Alexander Stetson. Is he correct? Is this your little brother?"

Jamie looked at Matty, "No, I have never seen this kid before. Lee was going to send an undercover agent to pose as my brother. This isn't Alex. He's not my brother."

Birol nodded, "Very well, then you will have no problem with me putting a bullet in his brain in front of you."

Birol took out his gun and put it to Matty's head again and cocked the trigger.

Jamie spoke, "Wait, don't kill him. I lied. He is my brother. Would you believe that I'm not the real Jamie King? I'm the undercover agent. Kill me instead."

Birol laughed, "I like you. You remind me of your mother. I know you are the real James King. You are famous after all. I have seen your work. It is quite good. I think this just might be the real son of Scarecrow. Now let's go see the other boy. Shall we? He has been getting the conditioning meant for you. Don't worry you'll see your brother again very soon when you kill him."

Birol dragged Matty by the arm to the next room. Matty felt so weak. Everything was spinning. But he had to fight that feeling. He needed to be strong.

He saw Joey laying on the table. He was also shirtless. His eyes were glossed over. He was just staring into space. He seemed drugged out of mind. He didn't even acknowledge Matty or that anyone new had entered the room.

Birol walked over and checked Joey's ear. Then pulled him up a little and looked at his back.

"This boy was never one of our trainees. He has no scars at all. There is also no mark. How could you all be so stupid? I should have handled this myself. I swear there is not a brain among any of my men. Take your shirt off, Alex."

Matty took his shirt off. Birol looked him over and especially his back where his scars were. His scars were old and not as noticeable as they once were, but they were still there.

"Yes, you are the real Alexander Stetson. Aren't you? I recognize Gregor's work. I am guessing we need to prepare for battle. Your father is probably not far behind. We will need to start quickly. Jakob, stop the treatment of this one. It is the wrong boy."

Jakob spoke, "Addi, if I stop now. The withdrawals from the drug may kill the boy"

Birol spoke, "Well then it will save on bullets. Unhook the wrong boy and then hook up the right boy and begin the conditioning."

Birol walked over to the door and barked some orders in Hungarian. Then two men came in and unhooked Joey and carried him out.

Birol smiled, "Your turn."

Matty needed to fight. Get out of there. But whatever he had been injected with. He could barely move. Everything was going slowly. Matty needed to fight though. They moved Matty to the table and strapped him down.

Then the doctor came out with a head set with glasses and attached it to Matty's head.
Birol spoke, "Prototype technology. If this works, I will be a very rich man."

They hooked up an IV to Matty's arm. Then they started playing a movie on the headset. There were strange images. Then images of his family with different horrific images next to them. The brainwashing had begun. Matty needed to not pay attention.

He needed to tune out. Turn the world around him off. He started reading "My Side of the Mountain" in his head. He heard Jamie's voice reading it to him. He was going to fight back. That book had helped him last time. Maybe it would help this time. He closed his eyes so he couldn't see the images playing on the glasses they put on him.

He tuned out the world around him and just focused on the book.

He wasn't sure how long he had been wearing the headset and glasses when they removed it.

Then the doctor asked him a question. "What is your name?"

Matty answered, "My name is Matty."

The doctor then went and got Birol. "Are you sure this one is the right boy? He's giving the wrong name when he answers."

Birol looked at him, "Could be some sort of trick but he is someone. Ask him his full name and date of birth."

The doctor nodded, "What is your full name and date of birth?"

Matty didn't want to answer but he felt compelled, "My name is Alexander Matthew Stetson. I was born September 24th, 1989."

Birol nodded, "You go by your middle name then?"

Matty nodded, "We were in hiding. It was my real middle name. I like it better than being Alex. I could not remember being Alex. It felt right to be Matty."

Birol spoke, "Interesting. At least the truth serum is working."

Matty had his own question, "Why do you want to hurt my family so much? What did my father do?"

Birol smiled, "He put me in prison for a long time. But I did not hold a grudge, it is the nature of this game. I never needed revenge for that. But then he went and killed my brother."

Matty spoke, "You took me before my father killed Gregor."

Birol laughed, "Yes that is true but it was not revenge, we picked you because you were valuable. You were a little young for the program but just by a few months. Your father has made a lot of enemies that would be good money for the son of Scarecrow. That is why we took you."

Matty spoke, "You hurt my mother. You hurt me. You hurt my father that way. Why do you want me to kill my whole family? Just make your money off selling me to the highest bidder then. Leave the rest of my family out of it."

Birol spoke, "I want to see if this conditioning works. Program a boy to kill everyone he loves. Essentially this new technology we have developed. We can make it so we can turn anyone into a killer. The amount of money we would make off of this technology would be incredible. Revenge for Scarecrow killing my favorite brother is just icing on the cake."

Matty spoke, "Gregor was an asshole. I don't see how he could be anyone's favorite anything."

Birol spoke, "Oh I promised my mother I would watch over him before she died. Scarecrow made me break that promise to my mother. Enough questions from you. I ask the questions. Did you leave a message for your parents on where to find you?"

Matty nodded yes, "Yes sir. But my parents won't know I'm missing until the morning."

Birol nodded, "Very good then. It is 6AM now We probably still have a couple of hours before they realize you are missing. Where is this message you left?"

"The holding cell I was staying in. I wrote the warehouse number on my mom's note."

"So, we will have to move locations. We are not quite ready for the family reunion. We will leave the imposter child behind for them to find as a message."

Matty looked at Birol, "Please don't kill Joey. My father doesn't even like Joey all that much."

Birol smiled, "I doubt that is true. But because you turned yourself over to me. I will repay you by leaving it entirely up to the boy. The withdrawal symptoms may or may not kill him. We will let the agency find him. You can do the honors of killing him along with the rest of your family when the time is right if he survives."

Matty then said, "Leave Jamie behind too. I can kill him later as well. You just need me."

Birol laughed, "I like you. You are very brave like your mother. I almost want to give in. But alas, I think we will keep your brother as motivation for you to cooperate. He will also be the test to see if the conditioning works. Oh don't give me that look. You will be doing him a favor. The price of artwork will go way up when he is dead."

Matty needed to get out of there. At least Joey had a chance to survive now.

There was activity as Birol's men packed everything up quickly. They then moved Matty to the back of a van next to Jamie.

Jamie's hands were handcuffed behind his back too. Matty started tapping on Jamie with his foot. "Are you alright?"

Jamie tapped back, "You're asking me that? Mom and Lee are they alright? Lee's still alive, isn't he? The fact that they have you. They didn't kill Lee, did they?"

Matty nodded yes. "Mom and my dad are both fine. They probably don't even know I'm gone yet.'

Jamie tapped, "How is that even possible?"

Matty tapped, "I snuck out of the agency to save you and Joey."

Jamie tapped, "What the hell were you thinking? Lee is going to lose his mind when he finds out they have you too."

Matty tapped, "I couldn't let them kill you and Joey in my place. This buys them time."

Jamie tapped on this, "If we get out of this, Lee is going to kill you. If he doesn't I will. How could you be so stupid? You gave them exactly what they wanted."

Matty nodded, "I couldn't live with myself if you or Joey died in my place. If you and Joey end up being alright. It will have been worth it. I don't care what happens to me."

Jamie looked at him," Matty, this is going to devastate your dad. You're his baby. "

Matty tapped, "And your mom's baby. I'm not going to let you die for me. I won't kill you. Whatever they do to me, I won't. I'm going to fight it."

Jamie looked at him, "Matty if you do succumb to the brainwashing, and the worst happens. I understand. I know it's not you. Ok? if you have to kill me to save yourself. Do it."

Matty nodded no, "I won't. No matter what they do to me."

Jamie looked at him in the eyes, "I love you, Matty. I want you to know that while you are still you."

Matty tapped, "Quote My Side of the Mountain to me. You read that to me when I was little. It kept me sane last time. Do you remember it?"

Jamie nodded, "Yeah, it's been a long time since I've read that. But I will."

Then Matty looked at Jamie, "If you get out of this and I don't. Tell Mom and Dad that I'm sorry and I love them. Tell Leann and Phillip I love them too."

Jamie tapped back, "You'll tell them yourself. If I don't get out of this and you do, tell Phillip I'm sorry, I love him and to never grow up. Tell Mom, Lee, Joey, and Leann that I love them. I guess my dad too."

Matty nodded, "I won't have to. We are going to get out of this, somehow."

Notes:

Jamie and Matty better get out of this situation somehow. I need them to be in Prodigal Son III.

Next chapter - Matty and Jamie get moved to the new warehouse.