The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
AFFLICTION
BY TROG |
CHAPTER
18 |
CHAPTER 18
Todd ran across the hospital parking lot heading for emergency.
After dropping Tea off at The Palace he ran by the penthouse to shower and change. Swinging by Dorian’s to see his children had proved fruitless--Starr had left for school and Blair had taken the baby out with her. When he called Briggs at The Sun, Briggs had informed Todd that Ben Davidson had been shot and Vicki had been trying to reach him with the news.
As he made his way through the maze of corridors he finally saw a familiar face. Sam was leaning against a wall, his face buried in his hands and Nora was beside him with her hand draped comfortingly around his shoulder. On a bench near-by he saw Vicki and Jessica. Vicki’s face was buried in Jessica’s shoulder as they sat quietly, without moving.
“Sam...what’s going on?” asked Todd on approaching him.
When Sam looked up Todd noticed that his eyes were wet and his face pale and drawn.
“Todd. It’s Ben...he’s been shot...he’s...he’s...gone,” said Sam.
Todd looked at all of them...from Sam to Nora to Jessica while Vicki had not raised her head, then walked into the hospital room nearby. Ben was lying on the bed, his body and face covered with a white, wrinkled sheet. A small stain of blood had soaked through the sheet where his head was and it glared at him, bright and grotesque, like some hideous bull’s-eye on a deadly target. Reaching out his hand, he touched the large corpse, and feeling the hard coldness beneath stepped back quickly in fear. Walking slowly out of the room he finally walked over to his sister and sat on the other side of her.
Jessica looked up at him looking lost and confused as he took her hand.
“Mom? Mom...Uncle Todd is here.”
Vicki moved lethargically, finally looking up and noticing Todd for the first time since he’d arrived. Her eyes were swollen, rimmed in red from crying and her face looked ashen and grief-stricken. She put her hand out and touched his arm trying to communicate something to him as her mouth trembled and opened to speak but no words would come out. It just hung slack and mute as her eyes tried to relate the horror of what she had witness--the death of her beloved husband. Tears gushed suddenly from the corners of her eyes and she emitted a loud and terrible cry as Todd took her into his arms and she sobbed into his neck.
Her cries were loud and agonizing, coming from a place so deep within her that her body shook violently with each of them and they echoed mournfully off the walls around them causing everyone within range to feel her profound grief. Nora held Sam as he began to cry anew and Jesse cried softly into her hands.
“It’s okay....I’m here,” said Todd, holding an inconsolable Vicki.
“Ben’s dead...my love is dead...my husband is dead,” she cried into him. “What am I going to do, Todd?”
Todd continued to hold her but he had no words of comfort. Rocking her against him he stroked her hair affectionately as if she was a little girl who had just awakened from a terrible nightmare, thinking that his mere presence would be enough, like when he comforted Starr. When Vicki’s crying had stopped a terrible silence fell over them.
As they drowned in their grief Todd noticed Bo Buchanan coming down the hallway followed by Antonio in uniform, Asa and Renee. From the look on Asa and Renee’s faces it was obvious that Bo had broken the news to them about their son.
Everyone nodded silently in acknowledgment as Vicki rose to greet Renee who took her in her arms and cried with her, their mutual sadness multiplying.
“My son...my son. I had so little time with him, Vicki...it’s so unfair...so unfair,” cried Renee into Vicki’s arms. The two women wiped their tears and walked silently into Ben’s room, closing the door behind them but their cries could still be heard from within.
Asa was pale and quiet as he looked through the glass panel of the door, watching Renee and Vicki mourning his son, a son he had hated for most of the short time they had known each other. Asa reached up and wiped a falling tear, overcome with guilt and sadness...and regret.
“What the hell happened?” asked Todd walking up to Bo and Antonio.
Bo looked up at Todd, obviously shaken by the death of his half-brother.
“We’re not sure yet. Vicki said that she and Ben were sitting in their kitchen early this morning, having breakfast, when she heard the window shatter, then she looked over at Ben...he’d been shot. The crime scene was pretty clean accept for the broken glass...we canvassed the area for witnesses...but we’ve got nothing. It looks like a professional hit...that’s all we’ve got till we get a report from ballistics, but I don’t expect much. I guess Ben‘s past finally caught up with him.”
Bo walked over to Asa and put his arm on his shoulder.
Todd stepped away from them and raked his fingers through his hair, dazed and confused. “A professional hit” thought Todd as he replayed his conversation with Ben in his head from a few days ago. Ben had recognized Tea’s husband...he said he was a hitman known as Goldenboy...and that his secret identity was his insurance. Todd shook his head slowly coming to the terrifying realization of the danger Tea was in unknowingly.
Antonio noticed Todd’s anxiety and walked over to him.
“Hey man, I’m really sorry for this...for Vicki and your family. I didn’t know Ben that well but he seemed like a decent guy,” he said to Todd who looked as if he was in shock.
Suddenly Todd grabbed Antonio’s arm and pulled him down the hall, away from the rest.
“I need to talk to you. Come by my penthouse later...it’s important!”
Antonio stared up at Todd’s terrified face and a cold chill ran through him.
“What’s going on, Todd? What’s this about?””
Todd stared at him, afraid to trust him with Tea’s safety, but too desperate to remain silent.
“It’s about Tea...”
Antonio started to walk away, shaking his head.
“Oh, no...I’m not getting involved in anything between you and Tea...”
Todd reached out and turned Antonio toward him violently.
“She’s in danger...and...I need your help.”
Antonio watched Todd suspiciously and yanked his arm away from him. He didn’t trust him , but he also knew that Todd Manning was not a man who scared easily and at this moment...he looked terrified.
“Alright...I’ll stop by after work...but this better not be some scam to try and get Tea back, Todd! I won’t let myself be used ...and I won’t let you wreck her life again.”
Todd nodded quietly in acknowledgment as they walked back toward the room.
to be continued...
2002 Copyright by Trog
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