Terrified, Remus tried to push away from her without hurting her – this is my mother? He was horrified – Pharaoh had tried to protect him from this and then he went willingly!  No wonder his brother was mad at him.  I’m mad at me – what kind of trash am I? he thought, as he managed to break away from her.

“Please Mom… don’t,” he pleaded as he felt the bile rising in the back of his throat.  His mother had kissed him, and not the way mothers are supposed to! 

Desperately, he attempted to stall. “What about Dad?”  He wasn’t sure what can of worms he might be opening even mentioning his father – the Gray Man had not mentioned him to Remus, but he was desperate.  And it worked.

Pulling away from him, his mother spoke with disgust, “Why would you dare bring him up?  You know…” she stopped, as she realized that he didn’t know. “Fine, Remus – if this is too soon for you – I can wait.  But not for much longer.”

She turned to leave and Remus let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, but as she opened the door, she turned back towards him.  “I will tell you this only once.  Your father,” she spat the word out, “is only an employee – nothing more.  He was paid for his service, stud fee, if you will.  He has no rights as your father, and I will not tolerate to hear about him as such!  I love you, Remus, but like everything else I love – there is a price.  Unless you want to pay the price, I would suggest you never mention him again.”  With that she left.  What price?  He was left feeling horrified, feeling violated and still… wondering.

* * *

Pharaoh was surprised to see his mother stalk by a few minutes after he had left them in Remus’ room.  He had expected them to be busy for a while and, mostly out of curiosity, he knocked on his brother’s door. 

This time, Remus answered it personally instead of just inviting him in.  Pharaoh did a double take when he saw his brother.  His face was pale, except for a smear of his mother’s lipstick, and he was trembling. 

Big brother mode – rusty from lack of use – kicked in, and he slowly led his shaken brother back to his bed. “It’s okay, kid, she’s gone now.”  As he spoke in a quiet voice, he realized for the first time since the “accident” that Remus wasn’t lying – he didn’t remember who he was!  The boy was too shaken by his mother’s advances to be faking.

Pharaoh covered his brother up and then went into the bathroom to get him a drink. “What happened?” he asked, concerned for his brother for the first time in a long time….

Remus, still shaking, but feeling comforted by his big brother’s presence, slowly told Pharaoh everything – everything….

Now it was Pharaoh’s turn to be shocked.  He held onto Remus, as sobs racked his body, and for the first time since they were kids, Pharaoh felt like he needed to protect his little brother.  There was something he could do….

* * *

The Gray Man and the Hardys had been watching the house for almost an hour and still had not seen anything.  Although it was early, they had expected to see Andreya or the boys, as they normally were early risers. 

Frank thought this was funny, seeing how he knew his little brother hated getting out of bed.  He was still smiling to himself at this thought when the Gray Man held up a finger to indicate that he saw one of the Plyth’s.

Three pairs of binoculars were trained on the house as they saw a lone figure leave by a side door and walk purposely towards the horse barn.

“Pharaoh,” Mr. Gray said for the benefit of Frank and Fenton.  Although they really needed no introduction as they watched him go in through the big open door. 

Frank knew that Pharaoh was a year older than himself but he was not prepared for how much he looked like Joe!  If he didn’t know better, he would pick him out of the crowd as his own brothers’ brother….

A few seconds later, the Hardys glanced briefly at Mr. Gray when he pulled a phone from his side pocket.  He had set it on vibrate so that it wouldn’t give their presence away to anyone who might be in ear-shot. 

Puzzled he said, “Hello?”  This was the private number he used exclusively for Joe to contact him, and until now it had never needed to be answered. “Remus?”

At the sound of Joe’s cover name, they both turned to look at him.  They saw him turn pale and immediately Frank felt a strong sense of dread – something was wrong…very wrong.  Frank looked at his father and knew he was thinking the same thing. 

A few seconds later, Mr. Gray hung up the phone and stared at them in disbelief. “That was Pharaoh.”

* * *

Remus woke up with another splitting headache and another flash.  This time however, instead of a visual flash, it was a name!  Jumping out of bed, he ran to the bathroom, fished out a Tylenol, and after downing it with a glass of water, he sat down at his desk and turned on his computer. 

After it had booted up he went on-line, and choosing a search engine he typed in “Iola Morton”.

* * *

Pharaoh put the phone back in his pocket, took out a cigarette and lit it.  His mother didn’t know he smoked.  If she did, she probably would have killed him – or at the very least, sold him.  He shook his head sadly as he took a long draw on the cigarette; the horses around him pawed nervously as they smelled the smoke.  It was dangerous to smoke in a barn.

He shook his head because he knew what the price was his mother had warned Remus about.  It was the price of slavery….

Remus didn’t remember and probably never would, Pharaoh thought enviously.  But for him…the memory haunted him, propelled him… enslaved him. 

Once upon a time, Andreya Plyth had three little boys, Pharaoh, Romulus and Remus.  Romulus was bad and his mother sold him into slavery.  Andreya Plyth had sold her own son as a slave and in doing so guaranteed the imprisonment of the other two.

“Oh Romy,” whispered Pharaoh, “I’ll always miss you.” 

Romulus and Remus were twins – not identical though, with Romy being much darker – more like his father.  Which was probably why Andreya choose him to be the example. 

And then when Pharaoh had resisted his mother’s advances, she brought Romulus back.  When she got what she wanted, she had him killed….

It had scared him when he heard Remus confess to him about the treachery that he was involved with, and then about his mother threatening him with “the price.”  Pharaoh hated what his mother did – he hated his mother, but he was also very, very afraid of her.  Remus offered him a way out, a safe way out.  All he had to do was make sure his brother got out first….

* * *

Biff was now starting to get scared… very scared, and very angry.  He had long since expected Joe to be back and rescue him, or at least to come back and make sure he was all right.  But as the morning came and there was still no sign of rescue, Biff began to think that maybe Joe wasn’t coming back for him.

Hungry and on the verge of exhaustion, Biff felt his face burning from tears of betrayal. 

Why, Joe? he asked. I was always there for you when you needed me….Why aren’t you here for me now?

Biff also knew that time was running out.  He had heard the one called Jeff tell the other man that there was a van coming in the afternoon to move their guests.  An auction was being held later that night and then they could take some time off until the next batch came. 

Oh God – he pleaded, please help me!  He didn’t dare look at his fellow prisoners but he knew they were all as scared as he was….

* * *

“What!” Both Hardys tried to keep their voices down as they shouted.

“It was Pharaoh,” repeated the man in gray, “he just said to watch for his signal and then to get Remus out.  Remus is in his room at the back of the house – third story, middle window.”

“What signal?”  demanded Frank, not even trying to hide his concern.  He was worried that Pharaoh would kill Joe before they got to him.  This had to be a trap…

“It could be a trap,” his father’s voice echoed his own thoughts, and the man in gray just nodded in agreement.

“Yes, it probably is….I’ll tell everyone to prepare to move in now – we can’t wait for his signal; Joe might be dead by then,” Mr. Gray said as he was already keying up the walkie-talkie that he had.

But before he could get a word out, he saw Pharaoh running from the barn, and although they were a fair distance away, they heard him shouting, “FIRE! FIRE!” and they saw a thick cloud of smoke rising from the barn.

“Everyone – MOVE!”  Gray shouted, jumping to his feet and racing towards the estate gate, the Hardys right behind him.  Even as they ran, agents, positioned closer than they were, were placing small explosives on the gate to blow the lock.

Frank ran with only one thing on his mind – I’ve got to get Joe back!