Ten Little Spies - Episode 8

Episode 8: Unknown Fears
by Toni Walker and Sabrina Carol

Gia Doyle, Bobbie Sullivan, Kevin Fairchild
and Maxie Demarco in Ten Little Spies

When he thought he was far enough away from the scene of the kidnapping, he pulled the red wig off his head and scraped off the latex that was adhered to his face making him seem like a totally different person.

"Mission accomplished," Mackenzie Gray said into a hidden transmitter. "Hand off was successful. We should reach home base in twenty."

"Roger that," the controller answered into the ear piece. "Catch you on the flip side."

Before Mac could defend himself, someone from the backseat grabbed him. It was Alison Corday.

He brought the van to a screeching halt.

"Leave us alone," she screamed. Her fighting skills were next to nil and Mac overpowered her easily.

Her eyes were rimmed with tears. She wouldn't look him in the face. Mac was sure she was afraid of what she'd find.

"Look at me," he said softly. She shook her head no, but Mac forced her face up. "Look at me."

Alison's eyes opened and a sense of relief washed over her features. "Mac? Oh, my God. Thank you God." Then she became more serious. "Oh, no! Jared. Something has happened to him, Mac. I think he's dead."

***

"You got a strange call you might not want to return." Melanie was not the best secretary in the world, but she did have one thing going for her -- she knew the inner-workings of The Legacy like the back of her hand.

Bobbie Sullivan wasn't sure he even wanted to return the call based on Melanie's reservations. "Who was it?"

"A nurse from the infirmary. Said and I quote, 'The apple got Kevin.' I'm not sure what that means, but she was very distraught." Mel adjusted her black glasses. She wore them as a fashion statement. Bobbie was sure she didn't need them.

"The nurse didn't happen to mention her name, did she?"

Melanie flipped though the legal pad she'd been taking phone messages on. "Maxie Demarco. Here's the number." She handed him a slip of paper. "If you decide to call her back, good luck with freako."

Bobbie wondered what the nurse meant by her strange message. There was only one way to find out. He signed out of Legacy Headquarters and made his way down a network of hallways that led to the secret infirmary.

It looked like pure chaos had erupted.

***

The hours they worked on Kevin Fairchild seemed to pass by her in a daze. Maxie Demarco assisted the doctors, but she wasn't really connected to her body. Her mind seemed to wander away from her. She could only see Kevin, look at his face. She had worked so long to make sure she was here when he woke up. Maxie even wore her hair long and straight because she knew that was how Kevin liked it.

He couldn't die now, he just couldn't.

She bargained with God. She'd be a better person. She'd work harder. If only he would let Kevin live.

"We're losing him," one of the doctor's yelled.

Maxie looked up at Mitch Grayson. His face was grave, worry lines wrinkled his forehead.

"He's not going to die, is he?" Maxie couldn't help but ask.

"Not if I can help it, he isn't."

Maxie couldn't see Mitch. She couldn't see he was a handsome available man. She could only see Kevin. Since she had walked into his hospital room, it had only been Kevin.

The steady beep of the heart monitor became erratic bounces in frequency. when the tone flattened out and droned a single note, Maxie screamed.

***

Bobbie Sullivan watched from the seats above the operating room. Usually, these seats were filled with student doctors learning their craft, but today it was oddly empty.

He heard the piercing scream from below as one of the nurses fainted. Kevin had flatlined for half a minute. And to him those thirty seconds seemed like an eternity. The doctor in charge had the nurse carted away so he could finish operating on Kevin.

Whatever had been in that candle must have been deadly. He didn't know what to make of the events that were unfolding. First, Jared and Alison had been hurt by a candle, then he had learned of Rudy Kent's sudden demise via a candle, now Kevin and an apple candle? Someone was targeting agents, and Bobbie needed to find out who it was.

By the time Bobbie made it down to ground level, he could see the nurse who had fainted was now hysterically sobbing at the door to the operating room.

"Kevin, you can't die. You just can't." She kept repeating the words over and over which gave Bobbie a major feeling of the willies.

"Are you all right?" Bobbie asked the nurse. She didn't seem to hear him and only stared at Kevin's prone body.

Okay, he thought to himself. That woman is a little scary.

When Mitch Grayson exited the operating room Bobbie confronted him. "Is Kevin going to be okay?"

"He's stable for now. As far as I can tell, the gas from that candle was so intense it literally tried to eat away his organs from the inside out. And considering he just woke up from a coma, I'm thinking he's not having one of his better days."

"But will he live?" Bobbie asked.

"As long as he stays in bed and tries to heal, he should be fine. But I know Kevin Fairchild. It won't be easy keeping him in that bed."

Bobbie laughed nervously. "I know what you mean. He's kind of bull headed."

The doctor left and Bobbie couldn't help but notice the nurse was still staring transfixed at Kevin's form while the other nurses wheeled him into the recovery room. As the gurney passed Bobbie, Kevin's hand flailed out and grabbed Bobbie's wrist. His eyes opened in wide horror.

"You have to save Michela and Faith and the others," he whispered hoarsely.

"What?" Bobbie didn't immediately connect to what Kevin was referring to.

"It exploded around us. They could still be in there."

It was then Bobbie realized what Kevin meant. "Oh! Bulgaria. The monastery."

"Yes," he whispered. "Save them, please."

What could he say to that? The monastery explosion was three years ago. But for Kevin it had only been yesterday.

"I'll do what I can," he told Kevin. Kevin seemed to believe Bobbie would be true to his word and he fell back onto the gurney unconscious once again.

Maxie's eyes that had once been filled with tears were now burning with fury.

"Why didn't he say anything about me? I am the one who watched over him, cared for him. Not her! Not Michela! Never Michela!"

Bobbie didn't try to talk to her, he merely walked away. When Kevin woke up he was going to find that things had definitely changed over the past three years. And not only that, he now had his very own groupie stalker to contend with.

***

He'd be damned if he'd turn on the lights and illuminate his position. Blood trickled from the cut on his bottom lip and dripped down his chin onto his black t-shirt.

"We have to get out of here," Jazz Demarco whispered to Ethan.

Ethan Fairchild grabbed a few various items and began putting them together. The end result was some sort of trap for Gia.

"You're not a subtle man," she said, admiring the trap.

"I don't have time for subtle."

He went back to work on the elaborate mechanism he'd created to catch Gia in her own web. It gave Jazz time to make a phone call from her cell. It rang only once before someone on the other end picked up.

"It's me, Jazz," she said softly. "You were right. Following the clone has brought KF agents out of the woodwork just like you figured. Simon Falconer and Gia Doyle." Jazz paused for a moment listening to the person on the other end. "Simon's toast. The building collapsed while he was still inside. No one will even suspect I set the charges that unsettled the foundation of the cabin. They'll just think the helicopter crash destroyed it."

"What about Gia," the man asked.

"Gia? Well, Ian... that is what you call him, right?" The man answered in the affirmative. "Ian has set up quite a fancy trap for her. Consider her dealt with."

"Don't underestimate Gia Doyle, Jazz. She and her brother have managed to slip past me before. I don't want it to happen again. Take care of her then move on to Mackenzie I want the entire KF team gone and out of my hair."

"Whatever you say, Mr. F. I'm on it."

Franklin Fairchild smiled and leaned back in his chair. Everything was falling into place perfectly.

***

"What are we going to do?" Alison was near hysteria.

"Leave the driving to me." Mackenzie Gray said the words with such authority. It was hard to see him as anything other than a virile male. It was a tribute to his acting abilities that anyone would see him as a red-headed van driver that could fade into the background as if he had never been there.

The baggy clothes were definitely a red herring. Dressed like he was, no one would suspect what a hot bod he had under all those layers. Alison Corday held herself steady as the van jostled around. All she could think of was that she wanted to throw up and lie down. And she didn't care in which order she did them.

Alison had the beginnings of one mother of a migraine, and all the jostling wasn't making it any better.

"How did you get involved in a kidnapping attempt?"

"Trust me, Alison. You don't want to know what has been going on." Mac turned away from the steering wheel and tossed a glance into the back of the van. "How are you feeling? Woozie?"

Alison paused briefly. "Sort of."

Mac grimaced at her vague answer. "Define sort of."

"Just a little light headed now and then. I'm sure it's nothing."

He checked the road ahead gauging how far it was until they could stop. "We're almost there. Sit tight."

Alison wasn't very good at sitting tight. In fact, she sucked at it. What did they want her to do? Sit around and wait for some white knight to save her? Screw that.

Mac knew trouble was brewing when Ali became very quiet in the back of the van.

"What are you doing back there?" Mac wasn't going to trust that Ali would stay out of trouble. In fact, she was pretty much known for it.

"Nothing," came back the reply.

"Ali?"

She sighed. "If you must know, I'm looking for some clothes. If you hadn't noticed, I'm only wearing this little less than nothing hospital thing."

Mac smirked at her tone. "Oh, I noticed. I definitely noticed."

Then a noise behind her pulled her attention from her task. It was Jared. He was awake!"

"I noticed too," Jared Quinn croaked in reply. He body then convulsed and his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Mac!" Alison screamed. "Stop the van!"

He could hear the worry in her tone. "It's okay," he said. "We're here. We're at the safe house." He stopped the van. It skidded to a halt spewing gravel in all directions. He quickly jumped into the back seat. "What's wrong now?"

Mac could see Jared flopping around the gurney like a fish. This definitely was not good.

An hour later, Mac and Echo had Jared stabilized. At least as stable as they could get him without medical training.

"The name's Kain Newcastle, but most everyone calls me Echo." His hair was a bizarre mix of yellow and black highlights offset by the sparkle of his sterling silver eyebrow ring.

Jared Quinn tried to speak, but his body still wasn't in his total control. He was getting too old to play Superman. At the age of thirty-three he felt the pain of saving the world much more than he used to, today more than ever.

"Hey, don't worry about a comeback. I won't take it personally." Echo smiled and with that one action, Jared found he could trust him.

Echo turned to the other two people in the room, Alison and Mac. "I think he's going to be fine once the medication Kaye gave him wears off."

Mac Gray watched as Jared fell into a deep slumber. It was the third or fourth time the man had pulled himself out of a dead sleep in the last few hours. It was making Mac a bit nervous.

The room fell gravely silent after Jared succumbed to sleep. Echo, being ... well, Echo, had to lighten the mood. "Wanna play a little Legacy trivia?"

Mac didn't seem game, but he relented. There was nothing better to do at the moment.

"Did you know this guy has the record, bar none for partners? The first one?" He snapped his fingers until a name came into his mind. "Sylvia. She went completely nuts over him. Started stalking him -- the whole nine yards. Then the one after that, Grace, wasn't really cracked up to be an agent. She started doing drugs and in one of her 'phases' tried to put a bullet in his head. It's story after story like that right down the line. A list as long as your arm. I am kidding you not."

If Echo had one talent besides talking, it was finding out the dirt on what was happening with anyone.

"What?" he asked innocently. "Some people play Solitaire -- I like to be informed, so I snoop."

***

Bobbie had been searching the archives trying to find anything that would help him discover any clues to why the Candle Killer would be targeting Legacy agents. Thus far, he hadn't been having much success. It was near the point where he was about to give up that Bobbie found the security tape.

The digital video was a meeting between Franklin Fairchild and the late, Philip Lancaster.

"You can't be serious," Philip was saying. He was obviously shocked by what Franklin had muttered that was too low for the video camera to pick up.

"None of them can ever know." Franklin said a bit louder. What he said next was the real shocker. "They can never know that I am not their father."

Bobbie was joined by fellow controller Jeffrey Sogard ,who was one of the few people Bobbie had ever learned to trust in the Legacy.

"Who do you think he means by 'they'?" Bobbie asked Jeffrey. The younger Jeffrey was helping Bobbie gather the facts regarding the Candle Killer. Two heads were always better than one.

"It could be anyone," Jeffrey told him. He rewound the video watching it again. "We have to find out what Franklin said that we can't hear. I would rather be certain of my facts before I accuse my superior of anything."

"It's just a gut feeling I have, but I think there is something fishy here. Can you check into this for me. I have to continue on this Candle Killer investigation."

"I thought Mr. Fairchild told you to stay out of it." Jeffrey glanced at him with suspicion.

Bobbie gave his friend a telling look. "When have I ever been able to stay away from a mystery like this?"

"I'll do my best to find out what this is all about. Just be careful, Bobbie -- And watch your back."