EPISODE 11: HIDDEN SECRETS

"Hey, baby," Michela Forsythe sauntered over to where Carlos was briefing his men. Her hand trailed up his arm and lingered on his face. "I'm back."

Carlos Santini grunted and swiped her arm away. "Can't you see I'm working? Not now."

Michela pretended to pout then slowly walked near the room where Carlos was holding her father and brother.

"You've gone too far this time, Carlos. The police love him. They'll do anything to save him."

At one time, she would have given him anything he wanted if he had only asked. Now she remembered the old days, the recent days and all the other days combined. It blended together to make quite a bizarre story. But she couldn't tell anyone the truth about her. If she did, she could die.

Tonight it had taken quite a bit of convincing to make Carlos believe she was still working for him and that everything she'd done in the last six months had been to his benefit. It had been hard, but she'd done it. He was willing to forvie her for trying to kill him.

He definitely wanted something from her family. There was no question about that.

While his back was turned, Michela ventured down the hall and away from the commotion. She had to find her father and she had to do it before Carlos realized she was gone.

A noise startled her, and she fell to the floor. The impact jarred her even more than she expected. This was the position she was in when she heard a scuffling at the far end of the hallway. It startled her. None of Carlos' men would be in this wing of the building. Someone else had to be in ForeCross. Michela Forsythe crawled into the shadows of a doorway. All the offices locked electronically on this floor which meant, she had no where to hide.

***

At times, it was almost like a prison. The clock tower high above the Gateway City shone like a beacon in the darkness. The night tonight was more biting than usual, Roanna Ambrose noted. She threw her hooded cape down onto the couch. She wouldn't need it in here, inside her own home. No one in her apartment would care that she was a scarred freak.

The computers surrounded her in an arc. Every bit of any type of electronical information was right at her fingertips. She accessed the police scanner and heard a report that surprised her – the elevator in the ForeCross Building had plummeted to the ground floor! Why hadn't internal security been alerted?

Ro swung her chair to a second computer monitor. The sound was off! She slammed her hand upside the monitor.

"Stupid computer," Ro muttered. It always seemed to flake out when she needed it most. The security monitor was going crazy. There were people in the building. More people than just the police.

"Piper?" Roanna whispered into a mini microphone. "Piper can you hear me?" She cursed when her friend didn't answer.

***

Piper Ferguson watched as the EMTs wheeled Diana Forsythe away in the ambulance. She had hidden herself in the shadows when the police arrived. No one even knew she was there. No one except the man across the street who wheeled away like a bat outta hell when the ambulance disappeared into the night. It didn't matter. She didn't have time for the stranger anyway. She had other things to attend to. Roanna was calling her name over the wireless microphone.

She raced for the stairs. Piper thought about what had happened in the elevator. Someone had wanted them either dead or out of the way, and Piper was betting on the latter.

While the police started to arrive, Piper disappeared around back of the structure. She had no trouble accessing the secret elevator that Roanna used daily since her benefactor had given her the penthouse rent free. Roanna's anonymous patron seemed to echo her friends need to find her parent's killer. Tonight, she hoped Roanna was on the ball and up to speed on whatever was going on in the building tonight.

"Ro? Is everything all right up there?" Piper asked, finally deciding it was safe to use her com-link.

"It's about time you graced me with your presence."

"Don't you do anything besides work?" Piper couldn't help but ride Roanna about her lack of a personal life.

"Just the other day I visited your sister in London."

Piper snorted. "Did you actually see her or did you skulk in the shadows with your cloak and hood?"

Roanna winced. "I did run into that friend of hers, Stone Jacobs. So, it's not like I was unsociable."

"Really? Did you let him see your face?" The connection between their com-links remained silent. "I take that as a no."

"I had no choice in the matter. I ran into him, literally."

"Ro, when are you going to realize that your scars aren't that bad. You're still a very beautiful woman."

"I used to be a beautiful woman before that psycho threw acid in my face."

"You can't hide up there indefinitely."

Roanna grunted in frustration. "Enough of this. I need you to..." A security monitor blasted out an alarm centered over the east wing. That was in the general direction of where Piper was currently located. She had to make a decision. If she had Piper check out the east wing, that left only herself to break into Cathedral and save Quentin and Caine. She hesitated momentarily knowing her past with Caine. But she had to put that aside. Their lives were in danger.

"What was that?" Piper asked.

"I need you to check out the east wing. There is an intruder alert and that isn't the area where the bad guys have converged."

"Bad guys? We have bad guys?"

"Yes, so go and kick some criminal butt. I'm taking the south wing. And remember. Be careful."

Roanna knew she couldn't wear her cape in a situation where she might have to use her black belt experience. She would need to be free of that restraint. So she went to her only other option... the mask. It only covered the part of her face that was scarred but it concealed her identity well enough. She just hoped Caine didn't recognize her.

***

Caine glanced around the dark room. Cathedral ceilings and wall sized windows marked the major features of the room where he and his father were being kept bound and gagged. He had never been in this wing of the building before, but it had all the classic Forsythe markers that showed his father's influence. He was tired of waiting like a coward. He had to do something to get them out of the building. Caine was pretty sure his father was alive, but he'd been beaten severely.

It was obvious that whatever the captors wanted, Quentin hadn't revealed what they needed to know. If he had, Caine and his father would already be dead.

"Dad," Caine whispered. His voice was urgent. "Dad, can you hear me?"

His father's head bobbed and blood dripped down his chin and onto his expensive slacks. This definitely could not be good.

***

Lucky Faraday remained silent as he made his way to where Carlos was keeping his prisoners. The room was electronically locked, but he had a fancy little device designed fr just such an occasion.

"I'm going inside," Lucky whispered, to his commander who listened via com link.

"Dammit, man. You know how you should be playing this. Back up is two minutes away. Hang tight."

Lucky could tell Harrison was getting frustrated with him, but what else was new? "No can do, chief. If I wait, I lose the element of surprise." He inched forward through the hallway stopping at the appropriate door. He placed a small device onto the door just above the keypad. It quietly sounded a dozen or more tones until it discovered the correct combination. It revealed to him a series of digits which he punched into the control panel. The door opened easily.

"I'm in." Lucky had barely uttered the words to the chief when he felt a gun shoved into his back.

"You move, and you're dead."

***

Quentin's head lagged on his chest and Caine was not liking the seriousness of the situation.

"You see that?" Carlos joked? "That's the first sign. Blood from the ears. He has the virus and you're next... unless you give me what I want."

"And what, pray tell, is that?" Caine struggled with his restraints. He had to get them both out of there. He had no clue why they had become the target of a mad man. "Money, however much, it's yours. We can give you whatever you want. Our family is very wealthy."

"I'm sure it is, brother. But it's not money I require. It's recognition, power." Carlos Santini slammed his hands on the arms of the chair Caine was strapped to.

"All my life I've been overlooked by this man," Carlos motioned toward Quentin. "But no more! No more!

The lunatic had to be crazy. Caine didn't know what he was talking about. Caine wasn't his old man's greatest ally, but he knew him well enough that he would never outright ignore anyone, even a man as insane as Carlos.

"I'm sure we could come to some sort of agreement," Quentin replied in a hoarse whisper.

"Agreement? Agreement? You let me rot in that orphanage for nearly my entire life. And you knew about me – you knew! And you didn't care. I saw the birth records, you know. Everything is documented. I know your dirty little secret!"

***

Stone Jacobs wasn't sure what had brought him back to the Gateway City, but this wasn't the reason. Saving Honor had been the right thing to do, buy he knew he had another purpose here. He remembered the night he had kissed Mila. It was a crazy thing to do, but he was drawn to her... he always had been. It was in that moment of reflection standing outside the hospital emergency room doors when he saw her. She appeared like a apparition in the night, as if what he had been thinking about had come into being.

Mila Ferguson stood across the street exiting a cab when two hoodlums approached her. Stone didn't hesitate to react to save what was his.

The thought took him aback. When had he started to think of Mila as his?

He couldn't think about that now. Her chilling screams called out to him. Stone ran across the street. He shouted at the men who continued to struggle with Mila. One grabbed at her purse while the other focused on her luggage.

"I've called the police," Stone yelled, holding up his cell phone. He really hadn't. He just wanted the men away from Mila.

The thug yanking at her purse tugged it free from her and he and the other man started to take off, but Stone was now in their path. It was the only escape route available.

"You know, it's not nice to steal things that aren't yours," Stone said, calmly.

"It's mine now," the thug protested. "Finders keepers."

"It doesn't really go with that outfit." Stone reached for the purse and slugged the man in the face at the same time. The thug released the purse to block the blow allowing Stone to retrieve the article from him. Then as an extra bonus, he tripped the man who was still eyeing Mila's luggage. He fell flat on his face on the pavement. When sharp sirens pierced rent the night air, the two thugs scrambled to standing positions and then ran off, disappearing into the night.

Stone handed Mila back her purse. She was shaking so severely he put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched when he touched her.

"Leave me alone," she screamed. "Go away! Please go away!"

"Mila, it's me. It's all right. The men are gone."

Stone could understand why she was reacting this way. She was in shock.

Mila finally looked up and acknowledged he was standing there. She wasn't used to the kind of violence the Gateway City offered at night. She had been sheltered from the truth, probably for far too long.

Mila thrust herself into Stone's arms. "I was so scared." Her voice stuttered. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along."

"You would have survived, Mila. You would have survived. I know the Ferguson women. They scratch and claw and beat their way out of danger."

"That's not me. That's Piper. She's the athletic one, the violent one who can handle things like this."

***

He couldn't believe his luck. Tonight he was having Honor dealt with so he could be with another woman and gain what he couldn't find with his wife. There was nothing he could do but pray Diana was still alive and thus still within his reach.

Austin McRae walked slowly back to his car as to not draw the attention of the police positioned outside the ForeCross building. He kept glancing back to the building knowing Diana wasn't there but wondering how it had all come to this. Suddenly, an old woman appeared out of nowhere and he nearly tripped over her.

"Excuse you." Austin muttered, angry that this woman had come upon him without him noticing.

She grabbed his left hand and began gazing at his palm. "Mmm. Interesting."

"Where'd you come from?"

"The ether between here and there," the gypsy said, mysteriously. "Not really here. Not really there, but in both places at the same time."

The lady had to be crazy, a definite psycho. Either that or he was starting to see things. And if he was going to start seeing things, it would be old, wrinkly grandma figures in orange shawls and knit caps.

"Oh, make no mistake. I am really here, Mr. McRae." She stared at him with knowing eyes, as if she knew every secret he had ever kept hidden. "After today, everything for you will change."

"Please God, let's hope so." He wrenched his hand free from her grasp. "I don't have time for this." He needed to get to the hospital and check on Diana. She was his ticket to the good life.

"Everything will change tonight." The gypsy's voice sounded as if it was whispered on the wind. A second later, a police siren whizzed by. By the time Austin turned around, the gypsy woman had vanished.

***

Roanna scaled the cat walk like a pro and latched her repel wire onto the rooftop, securing it. It had to be able to hold all her weight. With her dark red hair and midnight black outfit, she would be invisible enough. She only hoped no one could see outside the floor to ceiling windows.

She latched herself into her gear and eased over the edge of the building. She knew exactly what floor they were on. All she had to do was break down the window and wound the bad guys quickly enough to get everyone out safely.

"I can do this," she coached herself.

Without another thought she launched herself down the wire and toward the window where Quentin and Caine were being kept.

***

"Do you really think my father cares that you know a secret about him?" Caine was going to do anything to break free from this monster and then beat the man senseless. He almost had his wrists free. He could tell he was gonna have a hell of a rope burn in the morning.

"I think your father will definitely care what I have to say, brother." Carlos kept emphasizing the word brother like it had some significant meaning.

"You're crazy." Caine had worked his bindings off his wrists. Now he only needed a distraction to lean down and free his feet.

In that instant, gunfire pierced the window. He couldn't tell where it was coming from until the large window on the far wall shattered and a figure on a repel wire crashed through. It was a woman. She was dressed all in black and looked like an avenging angel out for vengeance. Her mouth was twisted in a scowl. She approached Carlos as if she had no fear.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you that kidnapping is wrong?" Roanna held her gun on Carlos. Caine jumped up and grabbed the one from him.

"My mother didn't teach me much of anything except to make my father pay for his sins. And he will pay. This won't stop me." Carlos held up his hand and a group of men circled around the three of them.

"Well, it looks like his mother taught him another thing... how to play dirty." Caine and Roanna glanced from man to man.

"It's six against two." Carlos said with a velvety voice. "Oh goodie. In my world, that means, I win and I get another hostage."

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What could happen next?
Who has a gun pointed into Lucky's back?
Are Roanna and Caine going to take on the bad guy contingent?
Will Austin go through with his plan to kill Honor?
Find out next time!

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copyright 2001 all rights reserved. Toni Walker