One Of Those Days by iletudrive

[JRK Archiver]

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Summary of the story: Elizabeth sees Jason for the first time in months and winds up following his kidnappers, falling out of a plane, and nearly getting herself killed, all in one day.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 1


~Island~

Elizabeth Webber blinked hard trying to clear the fogginess from her vision. She may be alive but that ‘safe poison’ that Nikolas had given her was wreaking havoc on her system. Her head had felt like it was going to fall off, ever since she had woken up a few hours ago, but in a perverse way, she had gotten used to that. This new side effect of the drug however, was very unnerving to her, because now she was seeing things.

She had to be seeing things, because less then 20 feet from where she sat on the beach was Jason Morgan. She’d heard a motorcycle approach and hadn’t given it much thought. Well her heart had sped up and she had trouble breathing, but other then that she’d never even thought it could really be him.

Curious because the motorcycle was the first sign of life she’d seen in the area since she’d woken up, she had turned to look, and to her surprise a familiar sight greeted her. A familiar black leather jacket, well-worn jeans, and a blue T-shirt, confirmed his identity even before he pulled off the seldom-used helmet, exposing his short spiked hair. It was blonder then the last time she had seen him, so he must have been out in the sun. He was also tan and that showed off the blue of his eyes, so clearly when his eyes met hers, that she lost her breath.

She closed her eyes and began to count in her head. One, two, he couldn’t be here. Three, four, he was as far away from her as he could get. Five, six, and she didn’t blame him.

“Elizabeth.”

Seven, eight, that was so not his voice calling her name. Why would he say her name when he’d left without a word to her after that fateful night in the park?

“Elizabeth.”

Nine, ten, damn he smelled good though. Of course he always smelled good. It was always so hard to be around him, because his closeness made her think those thoughts that she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about. Thoughts about him and her.

“Are you okay Elizabeth?”

“Just a minor breakdown,” she muttered. Damn now she’d lost count. She felt him sit beside her, but kept her eyes closed. She didn’t want to see the coldness in his eyes. A coldness that she knew had to be there when he looked at her.

“Will you look at me?”

The request was soft, of course his voice was always soft when he spoke to her. She frowned, or at least it had been until she’d started frustrating him every chance she got.

“Please.”

She opened her eyes, and turned to look at him, and confirmed what she had always suspected, that he was one of those men that got better looking every time you saw them. “Happy?” She asked before closing her eyes and turning away.

Jason sighed heavily and shifted on the sand beside her. “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t even know where here is.” She couldn’t help but feel stung by the coldness in his voice. “I just woke up there,” she gestured behind her. “In that house.”

“In that house?” Jason questioned. “Open your eyes and look.”

She did as he asked and looked at the house he was pointing at. “Yes that’s the one.” She turned back to face the water, doing her best to ignore the proximity of the man beside her.

“Goddamnit Sonny.” Jason got to his feet.

Elizabeth stared at him in surprise, he normally didn’t talk like that when he was around her. She watched him pace and realized that he wasn’t angry at her, but because of her. He was angry because she was here, where he obviously didn’t want her to be. She felt chilled at the realization, but she couldn’t blame him. How could she blame him for not wanting to see her? After all she had been a bitch to him the last several times she had seen him.

Jason rubbed at the back of his neck and stared at the crashing waves. The last person he had expected was to find here was Elizabeth. Sonny had asked him to come here to help keep someone safe for a few weeks, and he’d agreed. He didn’t know that person would be Elizabeth. If he had known he probably wouldn’t have agreed, he shook his head at that thought. No he still would have come but he would have been prepared to see her.

Not much surprised him, in his line of work he had to be prepared for the unexpected. But when he had pulled off his helmet and saw her sitting on the beach watching him, he had been stunned. He smiled ruefully, he had been feeling edgy all day, and now he knew why. As crazy as it sounded some part of him had known that she was near.

“I take it you didn’t know I was coming?” Elizabeth asked when she couldn’t stand the silence between them anymore.

“No I didn’t know it was you that Sonny wanted me to keep an eye on. If I had known…” he trailed off.

He wouldn’t have come. She finished the thought for him. She didn’t blame him in fact she understood it. She had wrecked his life once. So why should he want to get near her again? Feeling chilled she rubbed her hands over her arms, and kept her eyes on the turbulent ocean. “You don’t have to stay.” Her voice remained steady as she offered him an out. “I’ll be fine here alone, Sonny was just being cautious.”

“I doubt that.” He turned back to look at her and let out a sigh. “The mere fact that you’re here tells me that something serious has happened.”

“You don’t know? Oh that’s right I’m a surprise.” She pulled her sunglasses from her hair and slipped them on, grateful for their dark lenses to shield her eyes from his probing gaze. “I’m dead.”

“What?”

Elizabeth regretted her bluntness and tried to joke it off. “What? Don’t I make a good corpse?” She posed for him, but he just continued to look at her. “Well I was a believable enough corpse that Helena believed that Nikolas had followed her instructions and poisoned me,” she sighed. “So I guess that’s all that matters.”

“Nikolas poisoned you?” Jason scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Yes and no, he gave me a drug that made me look dead and gave me a hellacious headache to boot. But the important thing though, Helena thought I was dead.” She kept talking hoping he wouldn’t ask, but of course he did.

“Why?”

“Why?” She stalled for time and looked over at him. The sun was cresting at his back causing bright highlights to shoot through his hair. With his hands on his hips, and his chiseled good looks, he looked like a very displeased Greek god. She knew her answer would upset and probably hurt him. And she was tired of hurting him, she wanted to make things up to him but she didn’t know how, or if he would let her.

“Yes why?” He repeated and almost immediately he knew why. The realization caused a mask to descend over his features.

Elizabeth saw the mask arrive and hid the flinch when she saw it. She felt tears prick the back of her eyes, and blinked hard to force them back. She had finally become one of them to him. One of those people that he didn’t like, that he hid from, one of the ones he detested. She had never dreamed that she could feel any worse, then she already did, but she was wrong.

The loss and hurt caused the words to spill out of her. “Why? Surely you can guess Jason. Why would I fake my death? Drink something when I’m not sure what it would do to me? Why do I wake up in the morning? Why do I exist? Why have I dropped out of school, dropped all my friends but one? Why don’t I paint anymore?” She asked bitterly. “Why did I give you up to turn into a prop for someone I used to love?” She got slowly to her feet. “So in answer to your question. Lucky is why I’m here.”

Jason couldn’t help but be surprised by her outburst. She had always told him things that she never told anyone else, but she normally didn’t let that much out at once. At the mention of Lucky though, everything he was feeling shut off. He rubbed at the back of his neck, he didn’t want to hear about Lucky. He didn’t want to hear how much she loved him, he had been trying to block that out of his head for months now. “I see.”

The cool disinterest was evident in his eyes and it cut her deep, but she brazened it out. “I doubt that, but we’ll let it go.” She bent over and picked up the blanket. “I’ll make it easy on you Jason. I won’t try to talk to you, I won’t bother you, in fact I’ll even leave the room when you come in. That way you don’t have to revert to your block of concrete trick.” She turned to face him. “Does that sound fair?”

“Elizabeth don’t be like this, I don’t expect you to avoid me while were here, it’s just,” he spoke quickly before she could walk away. But now the only words left to say were the ones that would hurt her. “But you are right, I don’t want to hear about Lucky and your life.”

Sunglasses were a marvelous invention. They could protect someone from seeing when words drove a stake through a heart.

“I don’t want to be free, I want to be with Lucky.”

What goes around comes around, she realized. She didn’t try the fake smile that she had been wearing for over a year now, knowing he would see through it in a heartbeat. Instead she kept her face impassive and nodded her head. “That sounds fair Jason.” Her voice sounded normal to her ears and for that she was eternally grateful. “I’m going to head inside now. I’m pretty thirsty.”

“Okay.” He couldn’t quite keep the relief from his voice. He needed a few minutes to adjust to being around her again.

She heard the relief and smiled wryly, he couldn’t wait to be rid of her. She turned and headed for the house. “For what its worth Jason its nice to see you again.” She called from the door. She closed the door before he had the opportunity to reply. That was if he even wanted too.

Jason shrugged out of his jacket and walked towards his motorcycle that was parked on the drive. He needed to call Sonny and find out why Elizabeth had been drugged. Her rambling explanation left a lot of blanks that he needed filled in. He didn’t want to question her, because she would try to explain her reasoning and that was the last thing he wanted to hear.

He pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at it for a long minute before looking at the house. He’d hurt her. She had tried to hide it, but he’d seen the hurt that he had caused her. He shouldn’t feel guilty about it but he did. After all she’d made all the decisions in their relationship, not him. No. He corrected himself and set the phone on the ledge that ran along the drive. They didn’t have a relationship, not really, Elizabeth wouldn’t let one develop between them.

He wanted to go inside and check on her, old habits died hard he guessed, but instead he crouched by the bike. He had been meaning to change the oil on the bike, and now was as good of a time as any to do that. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself from looking at the house every now and then. Christ he’d only been around her for 15 minutes, and it already felt like he was right back in the same place he had been for the past few months in Port Charles. He didn’t like that. He didn’t know how he was going to survive a few weeks of this.

~Inside~

Elizabeth pulled on a long sleeved lightweight sweater and moved to the window. He was still there, working on his bike, just like he had been when she had went in to take a shower, when she had gotten out of the shower, while she got dressed, and when… ah the hell with it, she knew he would never leave her alone as long as he thought she was in danger. But she’d much rather have him here because he wanted to be here, instead of having to be here.

“Wishful thinking Webber.” She grumbled as she moved to the bed to pull on her hiking boots. “Kind of like you getting dressed for a motorcycle ride that is never going to happen.”

It didn’t hurt being prepared though. She knew better then almost anyone how much he loved to ride his bike, and she doubted he would leave her alone while he did ride. A part of her hoped that if they did go for a ride like they used too, things might get easier between them. Judging from the awkwardness that had happened on the beach an hour ago, it couldn’t get much worse.

All of those times that she had told him she couldn’t see him anymore, they had still managed to connect, with their eyes if nothing else. She couldn’t help but remember the night of the first Deception launch party, when her and Lucky had returned to Kelly’s.

Emily had been nervous and a little scared, Zander had been on edge and Jason had been tense and a little frustrated. She had seen that as soon as she had walked in and she had wanted to find out what had happened. But when Lucky had walked by Jason like he wasn’t even there, she had followed him like the obediently trained dog that she was rapidly being turned into. She couldn’t help but look back at him though, and when their eyes had met, she’d felt such a sense of longing to hold him that it had shocked her.

Elizabeth frowned at her reflection in the mirror and pulled a brush through her hair. For someone who had vowed never to be a fawning girlfriend whose main goal in life was to make their man happy, she had sure changed her tune awfully quick. At that awful memory she dropped her brush and tried to pinch some color in her too pale cheeks. Even with the makeup she had put on, she was still too white.

“Face it no one would ever believe you were once in the hunt for a modeling contract.” She grumbled before heading back to the window.

Jason was still by his bike, but it was all put together again. So he must have finished whatever he had been doing to it. He stretched then and her eyes couldn’t help but lock on his chest, and shoulders when the thin cloth of his T-shirt stretched tight over his muscles.

Ogling him from a second story window wasn’t very mature. But she had missed seeing him so much that she couldn’t work up enough embarrassment at her behavior to walk away from the window. He dropped the rag he was wiping his hands with on the ground and pulled on his jacket, before turning away from the house and towards the street.

Elizabeth focused on the street as well when she saw the tense way Jason was standing. She became tense herself when she saw the redhead. The woman was tall probably 5’9” with long red hair that was cascading over her shoulders. Her curvy figure seemed to overflow the sundress she was wearing. Hell if she breathed too hard she might pop one of those thin straps that were holding the dress up.

The faint sound of her laughter drifted up to her open window and Elizabeth felt the jealousy burn inside her, as Jason talked to a woman, who looked like sacrifices should be made to her. If that little bitch touched his arm one more time she was going to rip her hair out from her dyed roots, she thought darkly, when the redhead took Jason’s hand. Maybe it was time to go outside.

Jason began to follow the woman down the drive and Elizabeth almost screamed in disbelief, he was leaving? Just like that? Her curse trailed off when Jason suddenly jerked and he staggered back, turning slightly towards the house before collapsing on his back on the driveway. Elizabeth could barely make out a red spot that had suddenly appeared on his blue shirt.

The redhead stepped back, and pulled the red thing from his shirt and tossed it away, then stepped back as a black four-door sedan came screeching to a halt next to her and a prone Jason. Two men got out of the car and quickly moved over to them, they nodded while the redhead spoke.

Elizabeth covered her mouth and watched wide-eyed from the second story window, she needed to get some help. She had to help Jason. The bigger of the two men, bent over Jason, and picked him up in a fireman’s carry, while the other opened the trunk of the car. She winced for Jason as the man dropped him in the trunk, the thud as he hit the bottom reverberated in her ears.

The thud broke the paralysis she was under and she began to move, no actually she began to run, she tore down the stairs and headed for the door. She had no idea what she was going to do she just knew that she couldn’t let them take him. That she would do whatever she had too, to get him back. She spotted the handle of a decorative cane that was in a pot by the front door and pulled it out and pulled open the door. She flew down the stairs just in time to see the car pull out of the drive.

“Hey.” She screamed at the car and hurried down the drive, but the occupants of the car gave no sign that they heard her, and kept driving away. “I got to get help. I need to call Sonny.”

She turned back towards the house, when her eye fell on the motorcycle. If she took the time to call Sonny Jason would be gone, and he’d have to waste all of this time finding him. But if she could follow them to wherever they took Jason, and then call Sonny, they would have a head start. She hurried to his bike, after taking a look at the car that was traveling at a slow pace, on the long straight road running parallel to the beach.

Elizabeth was about to climb on when a glint of metal caught her eye. On the ground in front of the rock ledge, was Jason’s gun. Without even thinking about it, she crossed to it and picked it up. It felt heavy in her hand. A nervous giggle escaped her lips when she looked at her hands. She had a gun in one hand, and what turned out to be a large umbrella in the other hand. Lara Croft, she definitely wasn’t. She dropped the umbrella, then peered at the gun. She saw the safety was still engaged so she tucked it in the back waistband of her pants. The metal was cool against her skin, and it was unnerving to think about. She saw a sleek silver phone on the ledge and picked it up, hooking it on her waistband, with a final look at the dim taillights on the car, she climbed on the bike.

“God Jason I hope you were only teasing about the wind thing and my weight.” She muttered as she levered the bike up and tried to free the kickstand. The bike leaned precariously and she battled it upright. “Christ it is heavy.” She put her hand on the key. All of those times she had been riding with Jason and he had let her drive, he had always started the bike for her. “Please.” She turned the key and nothing happened.

Her eyes whipped to the car that was nearing an intersection at the edge of her sight, if it turned she would lose the car. She couldn’t lose the car. If she lost the car, she would lose Jason, and that wasn’t acceptable to her. She closed her eyes and let herself remember how Jason had started the bike all those times. She kept her eyes closed and turned the key the same time she worked the clutch, and it caught.

The engine roared to life and her eyes flew open, the car was making a left turn. “Here goes everything.” She muttered before putting the bike in gear and sending herself forward into the wind.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 2


~Airport~

“@#%$.” The exclamation was loud and was followed by a loud crash as the bike connected with a large trash bin. Elizabeth was jarred forward but manage to keep her seat. The engine died immediately and for a minute she could only sit there stunned.

“You were worried about nothing Jason, this was a piece of cake.” She took another breath and finally climbed off the bike, after noticing that there was no need for the kickstand. The front wheel of the bike had been wedged between the trash bin and a wall, and that was holding it upright.

She checked the gun and made sure it was still secure. The weight of it was comforting against her skin and there was a strange feeling of power that she felt when she touched the gun. Next she checked the phone and it was still hooked on her waist. She crouched down beside the trash bin and looked for the car she had been following.

She found it almost immediately, it was next to a very large and very old looking gray plane. The plane’s cargo hold was wide open and people were standing on its ramp talking. There were propeller engines visible on the wings. It looked like an old plane from a movie, she almost expected to see a tank roll out of the back. She noticed a set of four drums about ten feet closer to the plane and quickly looked around. When she saw no one was looking she sprinted for the drums and held her breath when she didn’t stop on a dime and actually hit one of them, causing a hollow ring sound to echo.

Elizabeth waited another minute before she peered through the cracks of the barrels at the plane. The redhead was giving orders again. What a flaming bitch. Concentrate Webber, she ordered herself and pulled out the phone. She flipped the flap down and looked at the phone in confusion. What the hell kind of phone was this? There was the normal keypad but in addition to that there were twelve, count them twelve other buttons. “Where the hell is the on switch?”

She covered her mouth when she realized she had spoken aloud, her eyes searched the area, but no one seemed to hear her. She began to hit the buttons, and after the 6th one the phone gave a little beep and the keypad lit up. Hot damn. This was probably what Jason used when he spoke to Sonny, maybe that was who he called last. She hit redial but nothing happened.

“I already told you Morgan has to be alive upon delivery, or the bounty will not be paid.”

The redhead’s voice drifted over to Elizabeth and the words made her look up from the phone. Bounty?

“But I owe Morgan.” A dark haired man was saying, fingering a livid scar on his face. “And I am going to collect.”

“Look.” The redhead interrupted. “I said he had to be alive upon delivery, I didn’t say what kind of shape he had to be in.”

Elizabeth blanched and turned back to the phone. This thing must have a memory system. She hit a few buttons but nothing happened. She was running out of time. She quickly punched in a number from memory, crossed her fingers and hit send. After what seemed like forever the phone began to ring. “Pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up.” She chanted quietly. “Nuts voicemail.”

At the beep she began to speak. “Nikolas its Elizabeth. I know I’m not supposed to call but something bad has happened. You need to get to Sonny and tell him Jason has been kidnapped. Some redhead bitch and a couple of guys shot him with something, threw him in a trunk and took him to the airport. I heard them talking and they say he has to be alive upon the delivery, but other then that, anything could be done to him.” Elizabeth looked back at the car. “You need to tell Sonny to get some help here and now. @#%$…” She dropped the phone and rolled away from the drums when she saw a forklift bearing down on the drums.

Elizabeth quickly scampered over and hid behind some crates that were about 20 feet from the plane. She looked back at the forklift in time to see its wheel roll over the phone she had been using. So much for the Calvary she thought bitterly. She checked on the people by the car in time to see the big man pull Jason from the trunk and disappear up the ramp and onto of the plane.

She needed to get on the plane. If that’s where Jason was, that was where she needed to be. But how? She watched the woman give a few more orders to the man with the scar, before she got back in the car and drove away. Great one person gone, she shook her head, but there were still about 10 other people around the plane. How could she get on with no one seeing her?

She watched as the forklift rolled up the ramp and offloaded the barrels on the plane then backed, back down. She tapped the crate thoughtfully.

“Wait up Gary.”

A man’s voice sounded from right in front of the crate and Elizabeth hunched closer to the boards trying to make herself invisible.

“Come on Ray. We got to get this plane out of here, before the regular crew gets back.” Another voice called back to the first.

“I know.” Ray grumbled and pulled off his over loaded tool belt and rested it on the crate for a minute. “I just have to rearrange this sucker.” He called moving his tools around. “Jesus.” He cried and some of his tools went flying, when Gary touched his back.

Elizabeth bit hard on her hand to keep from screaming when a hammer fell from the side and hit her in the head. She quickly caught the hammer before it could slide off her and onto the pavement. She held her breath hoping he wouldn’t decide to look for it.

“You don’t want to make these people mad Ray. So move your ass.” Gary ordered.

Elizabeth stayed in place for another minute after their footsteps had faded away. She gripped the hammer in her hand and looked thoughtfully at the crate, before checking where the forklift was. It was loading crates from two pallets over from her. She had a few minutes. She put the hammer up to the side of the edge, claw end first and went to work.

~Airplane~

“I have got to be insane.” That mantra was one she had been repeating over and over, ever since she’d crawled inside the crate almost an hour ago. She had managed to hold it together when the forklift put her on the plane. She was a little unnerved when the crate was shoved around on the floor of the plane. And she did her best not to scream through takeoff, which was always a nerve-racking time for her. But now she was close to losing it, and it was because of the sound. The incredible loud sound of the engine, was slowly driving her nuts.

Her one thought through all of this was to stay with Jason, and to do that she’d had to get on the plane. Thankfully she had managed to do that. But now she didn’t have a flaming idea of what to do next. “Getting out of the box might be a good start.” She muttered finally and tapped on the lid of the crate with her hammer. It had occurred to her after she had gotten in the crate, that another crate might be placed on top of hers sealing her in, but that knowledge had come too late for her to do anything about it. Thankfully for her it hadn’t happened.

Elizabeth eased the lid of the crate back slowly, keeping a firm grip on the hammer. She sat up and looked around the back of the crowded plane. Thankfully she didn’t see anyone else back here, just a lot of drums and crates. She climbed out of the crate and walked towards the front of the plane. The roar of the engines was so loud it was almost deafening so she didn’t worry if anyone could hear her. She spotted Jason finally, he was strapped in a seat against the front of the plane.

“Jason.” She hurried over to him. He was held upright by the seatbelt, his head was on his chest, his eyes closed. “Please be okay.” She set the hammer on the ground and quickly checked for his pulse. “Thank god.” She cried in relief when she found it, and felt the steady beat of his heart. “Jason?” She tilted his head up so she could see his face, but his face was slack.

She took another second just to breathe and then began to check him fir injury. Her main focus was his chest, looking for the red spot she had seen when he had fallen unconscious. She didn’t see any blood on his blue shirt, but she was still worried. She undid his lap belt and pulled on his shirt. “Excuse me. I just need to see if you were shot.” She spoke automatically. Her hands slipped under his shirt and she pushed it up his chest. “Sorry that my hands are cold. But have you noticed how freezing it is back here?” Inane though the one-sided conversation was, it was soothing to her.

Elizabeth moved her head closer to his chest, but other then a speck of blood, high on his left pec there wasn’t a mark on him. “Good.” Relief at him being okay, soon gave way to knowledge that she had her hands all over his chest, and her mouth was practically hovering over his skin. “I should probably put your shirt down now.”

Reluctantly she lowered the shirt, and ran her hands down it to smooth it out, she hesitated at the waistband of his jeans. “You know what? I think I’ll let you tuck it in when you wake up.” She looked back up into his face. “Speaking of which I really wish you would wake up now. Please Jason I could use your help here.”

She put her cold hands on his cheeks and got to her knees in front of him. “Please, we’re in trouble here.” But there was no response from Jason, not even a sigh. She shivered again from the cold and looked longingly at his leather jacket. “I don’t suppose you want to share?” She dropped her hands from his face, and ran them over his chest one more time. “I didn’t think so.” She took his hands in hers. “Jason I need you here, I’m running out of ideas. You’ve always been here when I needed you, and even though I haven’t returned the favor lately, I still need you to do that again. Please.”

Elizabeth jolted when the door on her left opened. She barely had time to move behind a nearby crate before the man with the scar walked out of the cockpit carrying a gun. No it was more then a gun, she thought to herself. She had a gun, she could feel the gun’s weight still snug at her back. The thing in his hand looked more like one of those ouzi’s they always used in the movies. It looked big, it looked scary, and it looked like they were in more trouble then she’d thought.

“Well Morgan, after all of these years, we’re finally in the same room again.” The man with scar moved closer to Jason who had slumped forward in his seat. “Do you know how many times I have dreamed about this?” he paused. “Try every night.”

Now Elizabeth had dreamed about Jason every night too, but she had a feeling they were different dreams, at least she hoped they were.

Scarman shoved Jason’s head back so it hit the wall. “I’m not allowed to kill you, but there are so many things I can do to you, that will make you beg me to kill you.”

Elizabeth swallowed hard at his threat and pulled the gun from her pants. Again she couldn’t help but notice how heavy it was in her hand. She pushed the safety off and shifted her hold on it, until it was in firing position. Could she do this? Could she actually shoot another person? She’d once held a gun on someone, on Tom Baker the man who had raped her. She had once dreamed of killing him, but in the end she couldn’t. In the end she couldn’t take even his miserable excuse for a life.

Now she was holding a gun again, but this time she was holding it not in vengeance or any sort of revenge, but in order to protect someone else. Would that? No could that make a difference?

“I think,” Scarman locked a round into place in the gun. “That I will start with your knees.”

Her hand shook as she pointed the gun at him, the same time he raised the gun and pointed it at Jason. “Don’t.” Surprisingly the order came out firm.

Scarman turned from Jason and saw her standing behind the crate. The surprise turned to wariness as he saw the gun in her hand. “Where the hell did you come from?”

“That doesn’t matter.” Elizabeth kept her voice firm. “Drop the gun and back away from Jason.”

He saw how the gun was shaking in her hand, and he could sense the fear coming off of her. “Or what?”

She blinked. “Or I-I will shoot you.”

He smiled then. “No you won’t, you don’t have it in you.” He turned back towards Jason.

“Stop I don’t want to do this, but I will.”

He could hear the tremor in her voice and dismissed her threat. “I don’t think so. Once I take care of him, I’ll have some fun with you.” He raised the gun and pointed it at Jason again.

She didn’t even think about it, when the time came she simply reacted. She pulled the trigger a split second before he did. Amazingly enough she hit him in the shoulder, and it caused his arm to jerk. So instead of hitting Jason, the bullets hit the wall behind him.

Elizabeth was frozen in place, as she watched the man scream in pain and lower the gun. She began to move around the crate when the plane suddenly bucked sending her from her feet and crashing back into a drum, the gun in her hand went flying.

Scarman went flying as well, and his gun fell from his limp fingers. The plane nose-dived suddenly and she felt herself flying forward, until she connected with a crate. When the plane leveled off again, she opened her eyes and spotted his gun lying on the floor, about ten feet away from her. She knew she needed to get the gun before he did.

Elizabeth dove for the gun, crawling the final few feet, her hand closed over the butt of it, the same time he grabbed her ankle and pulled her away from the gun. She screamed and tried to kick free of the hold but couldn’t.

Scarman pulled her down then flipped her over so she was pinned underneath him, she kept struggling but she couldn’t fight his strength. “You @#%$ bitch.” His bloody hand gripped her chin hard and he rapped her head against the floor of the plane. “I’m going to kill you.”

Stunned as she was Elizabeth remembered what she was supposed to do, she went limp in his hold, like she had passed out, and his grip on her loosened enough that she was able to bring a knee up and ram it into his unprotected groin.

“Ooof…” The air came out of him and he hunched over. Elizabeth quickly pushed him off of her and scrambled to her knees. She was crawling to the gun again when the plane banked sharply.

Jason slipped from his seat at the violent movement of the plane and he fell on the controls for the cargo ramp, engaging the doors, causing it to open.

Elizabeth turned back when she heard a siren begin to wail in the room, the noise of the engines seemed to get louder, and a wind began to whip through the cargo bay. “Oh god.” She muttered when she saw daylight begin to reveal itself as the bay door began to open.

The wind was already wrecking havoc in the cargo hold. Loose papers, and other lightweight material were already being sucked out of the ever-widening hole. Then a barrel went through as well, and the crates began to shift. Elizabeth felt the pull of the wind herself and she desperately looked for something to hold onto, but she couldn’t find anything. “Jason.” She couldn’t help but scream his name as she began to slide backwards on the floor to the opening.

She rolled to the right in order to miss a crate that went by, her hands looking for anything to slow her. She had almost reached the opening, when she managed to grab hold of a cargo net and stop her slide out the door. She hung there, keeping her eyes closed for a minute in relief. She opened her eyes then immediately rolled to the right as another barrel went flying by her.

Her eyes searched for Jason but he was safe, his body was wrapped around some sort of stick that seemed to be bolted to the floor, so he wasn’t sliding anywhere. She had to close the door, before she was sucked out of it. She began to work her way up the net. The wind didn’t seem to be as strong along the side of the plane. If she could get away from the hole, and stick to the side she should be fine.

She rolled again when a large crate went by, then tried to move again, only to let out a shriek when a hand closed around her ankle again. She turned back to look and saw Scarman. He was half in, half out of the plane, his bloody left hand was wrapped around her ankle.

“Help me.” He screamed.

“Grab the net.” She yelled back automatically. Her first instinct was to help him even though he had hurt her, and was trying to hurt Jason.

Instead of doing that he began to crawl up her body, by grabbing onto her right leg. Elizabeth screamed in pain as the weight of his body seemed to pull her leg from her hip socket. “Stop it use the net.” She looked up when she heard something begin to tear. The cargo netting was giving way because of his additional weight. “Stop it’s tearing.” She screamed.

“First I’m going to throw you out of the plane and then I’m going after Morgan.” He screamed at her and levered his way farther up her body.

The netting tore some more and Elizabeth screamed in fear. That fear and the pain caused her body to react like she had before. She kicked out with her free leg, and caught him on the chin, he fell to his side and his grip on her knee loosened for a second before tightening again. She kicked again catching him across the nose.

“No.” She screamed loudly, she’d had time to turn around and look, time to regret, before he let go of her leg and spiraled out of the plane. “Oh god.” Elizabeth gasped. “What did I do?”

She buried her face in the netting and let the tears come. She couldn’t move, she had killed someone, yet she hadn’t meant too. The plane gave another lurch and it drew her from her grief. She had to think about Jason now. With that realization she began to crawl again. After what felt like hours, and left her arms burning she finally made it free of the open ramp and by the side of the airplane. The suction wasn’t as strong as it had been, it must be because they had lost altitude, but the fear of being sucked out of the plane wasn’t there anymore.

She looked at the closed cockpit door, and the bullet holes in it. The question was why had they lost altitude? Before she could lose her nerve she hurried to the door and pushed it open. Just as quickly she closed it. “Oh god.” She covered her mouth and fought the need to be sick. “Jason.” She hurried over to him and pulled him over so his head was on her knees. “You’ve got to wake up now. The pilot’s dead, there’s blood and broken glass everywhere. There’s no one flying the plane, we keep losing altitude, and there are mountains coming up.” She tapped on his face. “Please help me Jason.” She begged him.

Jason remained limp. “God what do I do?” She ran a hand over her hair. “I can’t fly, the pilot’s dead. Jason can’t fly. What do you do when an airplane is in trouble?” She babbled aloud trying to calm herself. “Parachutes.” She carefully set his head on the ground and went to look for them.

“Found them.” Elizabeth called after a minute. She stepped closer to him only to stop with a frown. “I found 2 parachutes, and there are two of us, but only one of us is conscious. How the hell is that supposed to work?” She dropped the parachute and began to pace. “I can put them on both of us and shove him out of the plane before I jump. But who would pull the cord?”

“Or I can wear one and just hold onto him.” She rolled her eyes. “Get real, you’ve seen people parachute in the movies there is a yank after you pull the cord, there’s no way you could hold onto him. And besides you’re not strong enough to hold onto him for the whole trip down.”

Elizabeth crossed back to the parachute. “I figured it out Jason.” Her voice was overly chipper as she put her hands under his shoulders and began to drag him to the opening. “You’re going to wear the chute, and I’m going to hang onto you. What do you think?” She huffed out a breath and tugged him another few feet. “Well if you don’t like that idea I suggest you wake up and give me a better one.” She tugged hard again and slipped down on her butt. “Jeez Jason for the first time ever I wish you were Lucky, you would be so much easier to move.” She jerked again and put him into position by the opening.

Elizabeth hurried back with the chute, she didn’t know how much time they had left. She remembered from watching the discovery channel that you could only use a parachute after a certain altitude, because if you were too low, it wouldn’t be able to slow your descent before you hit the ground. “Let’s not think about hitting the ground.” She admonished herself and began to work first one leg through the loop at the bottom then his other. She worked the chute up his body, over his thighs, before moving to his shoulders again and tugging from that end to get it snug over his ass. She propped Jason up while she worked his arms through the loops. “Damn but you smell good.”

“Focus Elizabeth.” She eased him back down, and moved so she was straddling his hips while she hooked all of the individual locks into place. “There’s the rip cord.” She announced unnecessarily, before turning to look out the opening and the blue sky that was visible. “Please wake up Jason.” She turned away from the blue yonder and focused on him again.

She ran a hand over his face, but he remained asleep. “Alright I can do this. I’ll just wrap myself around you, and we’ll fall out of the plane. Then I’ll pull the cord and hold on tight. It will be so easy.” A tear slipped from her eye, and she quickly wiped it from her face. “You’re not allowed to die Jason.” She pulled on his jacket tugging him up so he was sitting. “Do you hear me?”

She looked toward her right again at the open sky. “If I don’t live there’s something I want you to know.” She turned back to him, and leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “I love you Jason Morgan.” Then she pressed her lips against his non-responsive ones for minute. “I just thought you should know that.” She whispered against his lips when she pulled away.

Before she had a chance to give into her fear of dying, Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck and jerked hard to the right. She fell down on the ramp and brought Jason with her, gravity took over from there, and they rolled off the ramp and into the wind.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 3


~The Wild Blue Yonder~

It felt stranger then she’d thought it would feel, to fly. Or, she corrected herself to fall through the air. Her mind kept replaying an old cartoon she had once seen.

“I fly?”

“No you fall.”

Elizabeth would much rather be the one flying then falling. Her arms were locked around Jason’s neck, her feet hooked at her ankles around his hips, and her face was buried in his neck. She couldn’t quite bring herself to open her eyes, but she knew she had too. She had to pull the ripcord or they really would die.

“That isn’t flying, it’s falling with style.”

She really needed to stop watching cartoons.

Elizabeth turned her head to the right and opened her eyes looking for the horseshoe like handle. It seemed a lot farther away then it had been when they had been on the plane. “God.” The word barely reached her ears. The wind stole the words as soon as it came out of her mouth.

Reluctantly she let go of Jason and reached out with her right hand towards the handle. During the few seconds it took her to grab it her brain had plenty of time to play out worst case scenarios in her head. The chute wouldn’t open and they would die. She wouldn’t be able to hold on with the chute opened and she would go splat while Jason fell at a much slower rate.

In the end Elizabeth didn’t have a choice, she tightened her grip, closed her eyes and yanked on the cord. She was anticipating a hard jerk and wasn’t disappointed. Jason’s body stopped its freefall abruptly and skyrocketed upward as the chute expanded, and thankfully she went along for the ride.

After the initial shock of being alive wore off, she gradually realized that the pressure of the wind wasn’t as strong as it had been. She felt a strange pressure at her back that was propelling her even closer to Jason. It was hard to breathe, but at least they had stopped freefalling.

As they drifted the compulsion to open her eyes was growing inside of her and she finally gave into temptation and opened her eyes. The sky was a brilliant blue, sort of like Jason’s eyes, she looked at him but he was still out, she couldn’t believe he was missing this. She wondered if he would even believe her when she told him what happened. Feeling braver Elizabeth looked down.

“Oh man.” It was unnerving to see the ground below her, with nothing between her and it, except thousands of feet. It was unsettling but not as scary as she’d thought it would be. She relaxed slightly deciding she might as well enjoy the ride, because it looked like they were going to survive it. She would feel a lot better if Jason’s arms were wrapped around her, and helping to support her weight though. She still felt a bit precarious, like she could fall.

As if she had spoken the words aloud a sudden gust of wind came from underneath them and caught her off-guard. Elizabeth screamed and tightened her arms around his neck, when her foot jerked and slipped free of his hips. She tried to wrap her legs around him again, but it was hard to move against the force of the wind. Another blast of wind came from the side and without someone to control the parachute, and move it with the wind, the chute began to twist.

Elizabeth tried hard to hold on but the spiraling they were doing kept increasing and her arms were getting tired of holding her up. Without her legs to help support some of the weight she was beginning to slip.

“Jason wake up.” Elizabeth screamed for help as they were buffeted by the wind again and her hands slipped farther apart. Another rotation, and her hands broke loose of each other and slipped from his neck.

Elizabeth managed to catch herself by grabbing his hips. “Wake up.” The wind rocked them again and again she slipped. Gravity began to work and her body slid down his, until she was gripping his right leg around his thigh, her legs were kicking out trying to propel her back up.

Her strength was going, and she couldn’t help but look down again. The ground was a lot closer then it had been, but it still seemed to be too far away to live if she fell. But gravity was an unforgiving thing. You couldn’t beg with it, or trick it, in the end it would win. Elizabeth slid further down his leg until she was holding onto his boot.

Tears slipped from her eyes and she tried to lever herself back up his body. The wind whipped them again and tore her free. “Jason.” Elizabeth screamed as she began her freefall into nothing.

~Port Charles Underground Lab~

Nikolas looked through the glass at his dead father and tried not to get sick. He’d always known that his grandmother was ruthless, but until this point he hadn’t known that she was insane as well. Insanity was the only way he could explain her actions. No rational person would freeze someone for 20 years, the mere idea of it sounded like the stupid plot of some asinine soap opera.

He looked around the lab, grateful that Helena had let him alone after her disclosure. He didn’t know if he could act like he knew he was supposed too. There was no way for him to prepare himself for this revelation. He had thought she had reached her pinnacle of cruelty when she had ordered him to kill Elizabeth, but to freeze her own son and then propose to unthaw him after twenty years was truly idiotic.

“She is insane.” Nikolas admitted, focusing on his father again. It was strange to look at him, the only exposure he could ever remember having with his father was through portraits and photographs. Now here Stavros was, he looked the same as he had in the photographs, but it was still different. “I hear you were insane as well. I have to wonder if it runs in the family,” he sighed. “I hope Laura’s genes are the dominant ones.”

“I won’t let her win. I won’t let her continue to use, threaten, and kill people all in the name of her endless quest for power and domination.” Nikolas rested his hands on the glass. “So I will do whatever I have to do, to convince her that I support her. If that means I tell her I can’t wait for her to resuscitate you, I’ll do it.” He lowered his voice. “But hear me father, if you are truly in there, if she is successful, and for some ungodly reason she manages to bring you back. I will do whatever I have too to destroy you and her. I hate you both for what you’ve done, both now and in the past.”

Stavros’ face remained impassive but inside he seethed. This was not the Nikolas he had expected.

Feeling a little more in control, Nikolas shifted so he was leaning against the chamber, and pulled his phone from his pocket. After this he needed a feeling a normalcy. The first message was from Stefan. He pressed the volume up on the control pad trying to hear what his uncle said. If he needed another reason to hate Helena, Stefan had just provided it.

Stefan was in jail for the murder of Chloe and he’d had no choice but to leave him in there. For that alone he could kill Helena. His musings were broken off when a loud feminine voice came over the receiver. He pulled the phone away from his ear to lower the volume.

“Nikolas it’s me Elizabeth. I know I’m not supposed to call…”

Nikolas pressed the phone to his ear and listened to the rest of her message. Fear clutched at him when he heard her swear and then the line go dead. According to the memory she had called at 4:18 p.m., he looked at his watch it was 5:40 now. He needed to get out of here. He put the phone away and headed for the door.

“Nikolas where are you going?”

He wiped the concern from his face and carefully stripped all emotion from his eyes before turning to face Helena. “I was ready to leave. I have no desire to be around my father. He is dead after all.”

Helena moved further into the room. “But what if he wasn’t? Surely you have considered how wonderful that would be. You have missed your father your whole life. What if I could give him back to you?”

Nikolas looked her in the eyes and had no qualms in lying to her. “I can’t allow myself to dream of that grandmother. I have no desire to be disappointed. You are correct I have dreamed of meeting my father, but I will not get my hopes up for something that will never be.”

“Oh my darling Nikolas.” Helena paused by Stavros, she was thrilled with his reply, she readied herself to fulfill his dream. “You see…” she glanced down at Stavros and trailed off when he opened his eyes and shook his head.

“Grandmother I really do need some time alone.” Nikolas turned back to the door. “I’ll see you later.”

Stavros pushed the glass up as soon as Nikolas closed the door.

“Stavros why did you stop me from telling him?” Helena stepped back so he could get out of the container.

“Not now mother.” Stavros ordered in dismissal before heading out the door and following his son.

~Splat~

Elizabeth’s scream was cut off when she hit the water at full speed. The force of the impact traveling propelled her deep under the water. The impact stunned her, her breath was gone, her mouth open, and the suddenness of her stop stunned her so, that she did nothing for a second. Pain entered her body along with the water and that propelled her to move. She began to kick, trying to fight her way to the surface. Her lungs were burning, when she finally broke the water and found the daylight again. She sucked in air and floated in the water. It was hard to force air back in her lungs. Fear was still clogging her throat, making it difficult to breathe.

Elizabeth focused on the shore, which was about 10 yards away and forced herself to move towards it. After an eternity her feet touched the ground and she staggered the rest of the way out of the water and collapsed on the sand. The contact with the sand finally broke her fear and reaction began to set in. Her shaking intensified as she coughed up water.

She had done it, she’d jumped out of an airplane without a parachute and she had survived. She laid there for a few minutes longer trying to let that fact sink in. Jason’s image suddenly entered her head and compelled her to move. She struggled to her feet and looked around hoping to see a parachute.

Her eyes widened as she finally took in her surroundings. She was at the edge of a small lake or lagoon. There were cliffs on three sides of it, the only way out was through the shore and to the trees visible behind it. The beach she was on was only about 25 yards long.

“Jason.” She yelled and her voice echoed back to her. “That makes a lot of sense Webber, calling for a man who is unconscious.” Elizabeth shook her head and began to walk towards the trees, wringing the dripping water from her hair as she did.

~*~

“Jason, great now I’m back to screaming again.” Elizabeth muttered as she walked through another set of tress. She had been looking for Jason for almost a half an hour now and it was getting harder and harder to battle back the fear.

What if he had landed in some water too? If he was still unconscious, and the parachute covered him, he could drown. Or what if he continued to ride the wind, he could have landed miles away from her. She didn’t even know if she was heading in the right direction.

“I’m trying to stay positive here Jason.” She announced to the squirrel on the ground beside her, startling it so it took off running. She had discovered it was easier for her to go on if she talked. “But I left all my positive pills in Port Charles, so I’m existing on reality here. And reality is scary as hell for me.” She entered a small clearing and couldn’t help but notice how dark the sky was getting. She had to find him before night fell.

“Suck it up Webber.” She ordered and plunged into the next grove of trees. She had learned the hard way that she needed to watch her step if she didn’t want to fall. She was so busy watching the ground that she let out a scream when something went brushing by her head.

“Jesus.” Elizabeth cried, jerking backward, her hands automatically going to her head to protect it. She focused on the area around her and was stunned when she saw a pair of boots hanging there a little above eye level. “Jason?”

She took her first easy breath in hours when she realized that he was still inside the boots. The smile faded when she realized he was still unconscious. “Why a tree Jason? With everyplace you could have landed, why did you have to pick a tree?” She demanded putting her hands on her hips. “And a tall tree to boot?”

Elizabeth studied the tree he was hanging from, there were several limbs low enough that she could climb them if she had too. There was also a branch a little over his head that went out far enough that she could probably reach his harness. The only thing was, she couldn’t help but remember the last time she had climbed a tree. That time she had found the ground rather rudely and ended up with a broken arm. That had been her last tree climbing experience. When she used to sneak out of Audrey’s she had thanked god for the trellis on the side of the house, otherwise she would have never went anywhere.

“I suppose I could just let you hang there, the main thing is that I found you and I know you’re okay.” Elizabeth moved back over and took up a position underneath him and looked up at him. “What you have no opinion?” Even when he was unconscious she couldn’t help but tease. She knew that most of it was born out of relief that they were both still alive, but still it felt good to be around him again. Her eyes caught a smear of blood on his forehead and her relief faded. She touched his boot, turning him so she could see his face clearer in the dim light.

That slash of red made up her mind for her and she headed for the tree. She rubbed her hands on her still damp pants before jumping up and grabbing the lowest limb. “Oh nuts.” She grumbled when her already sore muscles wept at that move.

~Docks~

“Sonny.” Nikolas stepped out of the shadows when he recognized the man heading his way.

“Nikolas.” Sonny stopped in surprise and looked around. “We shouldn’t be seen talking.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Nikolas kept his voice low, and his eyes trained on the man in the suit. “I got a voicemail from Elizabeth. She said Jason was kidnapped and she followed the kidnappers to an airport.”

“What?” Sonny shook his head automatically. Jason was too good to be caught off-guard, especially if Elizabeth was around him. “That’s impossible.”

“Is he with Elizabeth?” Nikolas demanded and when Sonny didn’t answer he went on. “Then its possible. Elizabeth sounded scared on the phone and she was cutoff rather abruptly.” He was trying to block out the memory of how the call had ended.

“Did she say how many?” Sonny nodded at Johnny for him to come into hearing range.

“She said it was a redheaded woman and two men. She also mentioned that Jason had to be alive on delivery but that was it.” Nikolas ran a hand through his short dark hair. He had hoped by sending Elizabeth away that he was getting her out of danger, now it seemed like he was sending her into it. He could tell from Sonny’s expression that he had no idea that this had happened, or that it was even a possibility, and that concerned him. Sonny had never struck him as the type to be caught off-guard. “Look Sonny she was talking on the phone and then she sort of screamed and it went dead. They might have her now too, you know where she is, so help her.”

“I will.” Sonny snapped, trying to think. “She said they were at an airport?”

“Yes.”

The distant sound of voices reached their ears and all three men tensed. “You need to leave.” Sonny ordered Nikolas.

Nikolas wanted to protest but knew Sonny was right. “You have to keep me informed.”

Sonny nodded and Nikolas hurried away.

“Johnny contact Manny and have him check out the house. He should still be there, he wasn’t supposed to leave until Jason checked in with him.” Sonny began as he headed down the docks towards his waiting limo. “Then get Francis to the penthouse, he’s going down there. Have Benny start checking, this sounds like a professional grab. Since they didn’t kill him there, it’s probably a bounty shot. Find out who wants Jason, I don’t like this.” His eyes flashed angrily, someone was going to pay.

Stavros waited until he couldn’t hear their voices anymore before stepping out of the shadows. So Elizabeth Webber was not only alive, she was with Jason Morgan. He frowned in the direction his son had disappeared and his son was working with the mob against Helena. The white of his teeth flashed in the dark as he gave a feral smile. There was so much of him in his son, he began to whistle under his breath as he headed back to the lab.

~The Woods~

“Oh God, I’m sorry Jason.” Elizabeth called to him as she dropped down from the tree and hurried over to where Jason was lying in a heap on the ground. “I didn’t think you’d fall quite so hard. Please be okay.”

She crouched beside him, and pulled on his shoulder until his head was resting on her knees. “Jason?” She whispered his name, while running a hand over his face. The blood on his forehead, that had scared her so, was already dried. She felt the scratch, along his hairline that had caused the blood, next she checked his pulse and sighed in relief when she found the steady beat of it.

Elizabeth shifted so she was sitting on the ground and tugged on his shoulders so his head and shoulders were on her lap. Night had almost fully claimed them and the trees around them were beginning to come alive with their night noises.

“So this is fun.” She spoke nervously. She enjoyed the outdoors, but little miss nature girl she was not, and truth be told she would much rather look at the sky then dark tree limbs.

Elizabeth glanced at Jason whose eyes were still closed. She sighed and touched his face, at least while he was unconscious he couldn’t be cold to her, so for that she was relieved. But it was rapidly coming to a point that she would rather have him awake and stiff with her, then asleep leaving her all alone.

“Well I think I’ll go explore a bit, and see if I can’t find a better place for us to rest.” She put his head back on the ground and got to her feet. “Don’t go anywhere.” She shook her head, man she needed help.

~Penthouse~

“Mr. Corinthos.” Manny spoke nervously, knowing his boss wasn’t going to like his report.

“What did you find?”

“When I got to the house the front door was wide open, there was a radio left on in the room Miss Webber was using, and her curling iron was still on in the bathroom. Jason had definitely been here, it looks like he was working on his bike, some parts are still spread out on the drive.” Manny paused and shook his head in confusion. “I even found an umbrella from the house, on the ground next to some oil bottles, but it hasn’t rained here in weeks. But there is no one in the house.”

“Damn.” It was looking more and more like what Nikolas had told him was correct and Jason had been grabbed. “Elizabeth said she trailed them to an airport. There are only three airports on the island, one commercial and two private ones. I want you to check them out carefully.” Sonny warned him. “I don’t want to tip anyone to the fact that we know he’s gone. And I don’t want anyone else to find out about this.”

“There’s more, on the ground I found a dart, it’s very small like it would fit a gun.”

“That would explain how they got Jason without a struggle.” Sonny waved Francis and Johnny in the room when the penthouse door opened.

“After you check the airports call me back. Francis will be on the next flight, he should be there in about 5 hours. You’ll follow his lead when he arrives.” Sonny ordered and hung up before Manny had a chance to reply.

Sonny faced the new arrivals. “It looks like what the Cassadine kid said is true. Jason was at the house and now both of them are missing. I haven’t been able to reach Jason on his cell either, and that’s a first.”

“I’ve got Benny checking around,” Johnny offered. “So far nothing.”

Sonny poured himself a scotch, he was trying to keep his focus on two levels, one as a concerned friend, the other as a worried partner in a dangerous business. “We need to find him and Elizabeth, and we need to find them now.” He focused on Francis. “I don’t need to tell you how important this is, do I?”

“No.” Everyone knew Sonny considered Jason family, and he probably knew better then anyone just how much respect Sonny had for Elizabeth.

“We need to keep this as quiet as possible. If word gets out that Jason Morgan is missing or dead, things will get much worse.” Sonny reached in his desk, retrieved a phone and tossed it to Francis. “Use that for communicating with me, and give it to Jason when you find him.”

Francis nodded and put the phone away. “I should get to the airport. My flight leaves in 45 minutes.”

Sonny nodded and held out his hand in farewell, letting his eyes say what he couldn’t bring himself to speak aloud. “Find them.”

~Clearing~

“God Jason I think my couch is easier to move then you.” Elizabeth grumbled and managed to drag Jason a few more feet before having to rest again. Luckily for her there had been a clearing on the other side of the trees she had found him in. The clearing even had a small stream and that was where she was heading for.

If nothing else her adventures today had given her a new respect for gravity. There was an incline leading down into the clearing, but unfortunately for her, it stopped before reaching the stream. So she was back to the dragging method, and muscles she didn’t know she had were screaming at her in revolt.

“I suppose I should tell you that I borrowed your bike.” Elizabeth began conversationally as she reached under his shoulders again and tugged hard. “I didn’t really have a choice,” she huffed out a breath. “It’s fine I’m sure you won’t even notice that scratch on the right side.”

She gave another hard tug and her feet slipped out from underneath her causing her to fall hard on her butt. She laid on the ground in exhaustion, part of Jason’s upper body was pinning her legs to the ground and studied the sky. The first of the evening’s stars were beginning to come to life, she was glad it was a clear night. Reluctantly she sat up, they were on a relatively flat patch of grass about 7ft. from the stream. “You know what? I think here is a good spot to rest.”

Elizabeth shifted carefully and got to her feet heading for the stream. She knew there were probably a dozen good reasons why she shouldn’t drink from the stream, but she was so thirsty that she couldn’t think of one. Still she sipped in moderation, only enough to quench the worst of her thirst.

“I don’t suppose you have a handkerchief?” She turned to face him. “I doubt you do.” She studied his jeans. “And it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for me to go looking in your pockets for one. It would be fun though.” With a slight laugh she turned back to the water and dipped her arm in the cold spring.

She crossed back to him and used her now dripping sleeve to bathe his face, getting off the remains of the blood and the dirt. She also hoped that the coldness would awaken him, but Jason slept on. “You know I’m going to start calling you Rip if you keep this up.”

Elizabeth sighed and sat on the ground next to him, the day had taken its toll on her, and exhaustion was seeping in. “I suppose I should keep watch, for what I have no idea, but that’s what they always do when someone is lost in the woods.” Her eyes widened. “Of course the other thing they do, is get chased by some crazed axe murderer. But lets not go there.”

A screech sounded from the woods, and she shifted a little closer to Jason. “Are you cold?” She asked even though the night was still pretty humid. She rested her head on her knees, and her eyes began to drift shut. “I think I still have some of that drug in me, because I’m awfully tired.”

Another screech sounded but she didn’t even flinch, her sleepy eyes were locked on the steady rise and fall of Jason’s chest. Once he woke up, things would change between them again, he would put the wall back up between them. The wall that she had helped him build. She hated that wall. She bit her lip and considered her options. This would probably be the last time, hell the only time, that she could sleep with him.

“You wouldn’t mind too much would you Jason?” And even if he did, she would have a memory to take with her. She shifted so she was lying beside him, then argued with herself for a half a minute before moving and laying her head over the steady beat of his heart. “I’ll just close my eyes for a minu…”

[JRK Archiver]

~Lab~

“Stavros where did you disappear to?” Helena pounced as soon as he walked through the door.

Stavros paused and studied her coldly. “What has set you off this time?”

“It’s that damn Webber girl. I searched her things for the ice princess and couldn’t find it anywhere.”

“I thought the Spencer boy threw it in the river.” He commented stepping farther away from Helena as she pressed closer. He really loathed the perfume she insisted on bathing in.

“My sources tell me that she got it back. That was another reason I wanted Nikolas to kill her, so we could get the diamond back.” Helena paced away, missing the look of craftiness that crossed Stavros face. “Now the girl is dead and I may never retrieve it.”

“Don’t worry mother, things have a way of working out.” Stavros said with a smirk, before heading out the door.

“What do you mean by that?” Helena turned around but he was gone.

~Clearing~

The first thing he felt upon waking was the pain in his head. He hadn’t had a headache this bad since he had woken up in the hospital the first time. The second thing he became aware of was a slight weight pressing on his chest. Jason opened his eyes and the world seemed to be out of focus, he closed his eyes and waited a second before trying again.

This time things came into focus, he realized he was staring up into a starry night. He tilted his head and looked down at his chest, frowning when he saw brown curls. He pushed past the headache and tried to remember. Sonny. Motorcycle. Beach. Elizabeth. Bike. Elizabeth. Woman. Gun. Elizabeth. The memories hit him quick and he sat up quickly, his arms tightening on Elizabeth automatically bringing her up with him. His eyes scanned the area, and he didn’t recognize anything, but he had the feeling they were alone.

He frowned down at Elizabeth when she didn’t stir at his movements. “Elizabeth?” He tilted her head by the chin, her eyes were closed, and he could feel her breath on his hand and sighed in relief, she didn’t look hurt. He laid her back on the ground and got slowly to his feet. Besides the headache, his right knee was throbbing a bit. He ignored that and moved to the stream and drank. The longer he was awake the more sure he was, that they were alone in the middle of nowhere. He frowned back at Elizabeth. He needed some answers and he wanted them now.

“Elizabeth.” He crossed back to her. “Wake up.”

~Plane~

“Would you like a drink?” Deanna the perky blonde stewardess asked for the fifth time in 20 minutes and was disappointed when she got the same reply.

“No thank you.” Francis barely even looked up from his magazine. He had learned the hard way about women like her. If you even looked at them, they never let go. Clingers are what Johnny called them, and that suited this woman to a tee.

Deanna couldn’t quite stop the frown as she moved on to the only other interesting male in first class. “Would you like some more champagne?”

“Yes of course.” Stavros smiled at the woman she was a little vapid but eye-candy nonetheless.

~Clearing~

“Elizabeth.” Jason repeated her name again, and checked her pulse in concern. He had been trying unsuccessfully to wake her for a few minutes now.

“Just a little longer gram.” Elizabeth mumbled and tried to turn on her side.

Jason smiled slightly and shook his head. “Elizabeth wake up.”

Her eyes shot open at the tense command, it took her a second for her to place the voice, once she did she sat up quickly and catching Jason off-guard she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank god you’re finally awake.”

Jason’s arms tightened automatically around her, he had missed holding her so much, and it felt so right having her back in his arms. The distance he was trying to keep between them, disappeared the minute he held her.

“I was so afraid you were never going to wake up.” His neck muffled her words, but she was afraid to let go of him.

“I’m okay.” Jason ran a hand over her back soothingly, his hand came in contact with the skin on her lower back, and it surprised him. That surprise forced him back into reality and he drew back from her.

Elizabeth let her arms drop reluctantly and was quiet while she studied him. There was a full moon, so there was plenty of light to see his face, but some of the angles were unreadable, hidden in shadow.

“Where are we?” Jason asked after a minute. “How did we get here?”

“I don’t know where we are, and it’s a complicated story.” Elizabeth smothered a yawn.

Jason rubbed at his eyes and sat back on the ground, his knee was throbbing too much to keep crouching. “How?”

Elizabeth frowned at his withdrawal from her. Even after everything they had went through he still was pulling away from her. All the tension and stress of the day finally caught up with her and she let it out in a flash.

“I’ll tell you how? It was the little redhead bitch you were flirting with, she shot you with something and let two of her goons throw you in a trunk and I had to follow you. And you know what? They took you on an airplane, so then I had to find out a way to get on the airplane.” She sucked in a quick breath and then hurried on. “And I got hit by a hammer trying to do it, but did I let that stop me? No.” She shook her head. “I got on the plane, and when Scarman tried to shoot you I stopped him, and we fought and then…” Warning sirens went off in her head and she moved on, she wasn’t ready to deal with what she did to Scarman.

“Then the pilot was dead and no one could fly the plane and I couldn’t wake you up. God Jason you could stand to lose some weight or muscles, you’re no picnic to move, let me tell you.” She glared at him. “So we had to parachute before we crashed and then we fell out of the plane. Of course you were still unconscious so I fell away from you and hit the water.” She looked at her sweater, which had shrunk. “And this was new, and now it’s small, all because you wouldn’t wake up. Then I had to find out where you landed and once again drag your ass down here, and why did all of this happen?” She was nearing the end of her tirade and by now was yelling at him. “Because you had to flirt with a @#%$ redhead.”

Jason’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 4


~Airport~

Francis stretched again while he waited in the customs line. Five hours on a plane always took it out of him. Even flying first class, like Sonny always insisted, was rough. He was too tall and broad to fit easily in those seats for that long of a time. And with the blonde viper of a flight attendant ready to pounce every time he moved, he couldn’t get up and walk around like he normally did.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of women, in his line of work he couldn’t have that bias. He had no qualms about dealing with a woman holding a gun on him. But when faced with a woman who wanted nothing more then to get in his pants, and it was another story. Francis shuddered and banished her from his mind as he stepped up to the customs agent.

“Take your break Rosalita.” A swarthy looking dark-haired man, with the nametag of Rodrigo tapped her on the shoulder.

“Yes Senor.” The diminutive woman hurried away being careful not to look to closely at the man on the other side of the counter. She had worked here for 25 years, she knew when to look at someone and when to look the other way.

Francis set his carryon on the counter and held out his passport.

“Business of pleasure sir?” Rodrigo asked taking the passport and ignoring the bag entirely.

“A little of both,” Francis replied easily.

“Enjoy your stay.” Rodrigo handed the passport back and turned to the next person in line. His mind was so busy calculating what he would buy with the money he had just earned from Mr. Corinthos that he barely even glanced at the next passport, before stamping it.

Stavros took his passport back and trailed Francis from the terminal. He had to admit that Corinthos paved the way for his employees.

Francis stepped out into the light mist that was falling and his clothes began to stick immediately. It may be November but it was still humid as hell down here. He spotted his ride immediately and headed for the car. “Manny.”

“Mr. Carnivale.” Manny pushed away from the car and reached for his bag.

“Knock it off Manny, you know my name is Francis.” He kept hold of his bag and opened the passenger door. “Let’s get going.”

“Anything you say Carnival.” Manny replied with a smirk before shutting the door. Francis hated being teased about his name, of course that meant he always did it.

Francis glanced at his watch it was 11:50 p.m., he could take the time to kick Manny’s ass but that might set his schedule back, so he made a mental note to do it before he left town. “What have you found out?” He asked once Manny was settled.

“I’ve narrowed it down to one airport, the one out on Toronado Lane. Apparently the employees there were very mysteriously given two hours off, from 3:00 to 5:00 today. That’s never happened before.” Manny checked the rearview out of habit and pulled out into the heavy traffic that was still flowing.

“That sounds promising. Who ordered it?” Francis stayed relaxed even as Manny began the ritual of passing the cars at a breakneck speed. He had been here so many times before, that he knew the only way anyone got anywhere was by driving like a bat out of hell.

“A Mr. Guttroal ordered it, apparently him and most of the employees frequent a bar on the Southside called El Gatto.” Manny drove like normal, since he wasn’t guarding anyone, and they weren’t on any sort of alert, he didn’t bother to check for a tail like he normally would.

Francis closed his eyes and said a prayer at the mention of El Gatto. Maybe she wouldn’t be there anymore, maybe she had quit, or died, or maybe she would have forgotten. He snorted in disbelief and maybe he could fly. Once he found Jason he was going to kick his ass for making him go to El Gatto to find out about him. He began to work out the kinks in his neck and shoulders, he was going to need to be ready for anything by the time they got to the bar.

“If you lose the car you won’t like what will happen.” Stavros warned the cabbie.

The Cabbie’s eyes went to the rearview mirror and then quickly skittered away and he stepped on the gas. There were some people in this world you just didn’t question.

~Puerto Rico~

She frowned at her computer screen in disbelief. The deposit she was expecting still had not arrived in her account. You wouldn’t believe it by looking at the classy serene looking brunette, but she was seething mad. No one stiffed her for a job, no one.

“Are you coming to the Casino?”

The low masculine voice, with a hint of an accent came from behind her and to the right and belonged to her latest paramour. She turned with a sultry smile and studied the dark-haired man who was lounging on her sofa the way only devastatingly rich and handsome men could. Her experienced eye took in the Armani Tux that fit him like a dream. “Not right now.” Her voice was low and pleasing to the ear. “I was expecting something from the office and it hasn’t arrived yet.”

“Pity.” With ingrained grace he pushed off the sofa and crossed to her. He had learned early in their relationship never to interfere with her work. He brushed a kiss on her lips. “Join me soon cara.”

“Perhaps.” She said coyly and turned back to the computer before he could respond. One look at the screen and he was instantly forgotten. The bounty she had earned in retrieving Jason Morgan should have been deposited in her account when the plane had landed in Boston. That was three hours ago, she had given the client an extra two hours grace time, but it still hadn’t arrived.

With a sigh she got up from the computer and crossed to her trunk, a few touches and she had trigged the hidden panel, exposing her tools. It was time to remind the client what happened when she wasn’t paid. But first of course, she needed to make sure she couldn’t be tracked.

~Clearing~

“Elizabeth.” Jason finally managed to find his voice about a minute after her outburst. It had taken him that long to recover from her last line. He couldn’t remember hearing her curse before. “Are you al…”

“Shut up Jason I’m still talking here,” Elizabeth interrupted him with a glare. “Now you have been sleeping for hours and hours, while I have been running around here trying to save your ass.” She broke off to yawn. “Now don’t get me wrong it’s a nice ass, I don’t mind saving it, but I really don’t feel like talking to you right now.” She yawned again and stretched, before peering up at him. “I’m tired, I’m hungry, and all of my muscles feel like they’re in revolt because I’ve been dragging you around forever. So you are just going to have to wait for further explanations.”

She ignored his stunned expression and laid back on the ground. “I’ll tell you everything later, and when I do you can go back to giving me that look of disapproval and disappointment, that I am unfortunately very familiar with, but for now will you kindly be quiet so I can get some sleep?” Without waiting for his response she rolled on her side away from him and closed her eyes.

Jason rubbed a hand over his face and tried to figure out what the hell had happened. Elizabeth was mad at him that much was obvious, but for what exactly, wasn’t entirely clear. But what bothered him the most, was the disapproval and disappointment she seemed to think he was going to use on her. He had never looked at her like that. “Elizabeth.”

“Be quiet Rip.”

That stopped him. Rip? Maybe she was hurt in someway, he hadn’t seen any signs of violence on her, but even though it was a full moon, it still wasn’t as clear as daylight so he might have missed some injury. “Elizabeth,” he tried again, he wasn’t just going to let things drop.

“Elizabeth?” Again there was no response, he shifted closer, heard her deep even breathing, and sat back in surprise. She had fallen asleep already. He needed answers, so he entertained the thought of waking her up and demanding them from her, in fact his hand was already on her shoulder to shake her awake.

She sighed sleepily and drew his attention to her face, the moonlight slanted over it and he could see the dark shadows under her eyes and he dropped his hand. She had looked very pale and thin on the beach earlier today, and for her to fall asleep in less then a minute, meant she was near exhaustion.

For now he’d let her sleep, she wasn’t going to be going anywhere without him, so answers to his questions could wait for the morning. He pulled off his jacket and folded it up into a pillow. Then he crouched beside her and carefully slid his hand under her head and lifted it high enough to slide the coat underneath it.

Her breath was warm on his hand, and her skin was soft to the touch and he reluctantly pulled his hand away from her face. Elizabeth sighed and settled more securely on the coat. He couldn’t stop himself from running his thumb over her exposed cheek. It was soft to the touch, and warm under his hand. The texture of it was familiar to him almost as familiar as his own. “Goodnight Elizabeth.” He whispered finally.

“Night Jason.”

Surprised at her response he dropped his hand and moved farther away from her. He stared blindly out at the night and tried to remember just what the hell had happened. Most of it was a blank, and the more he tried to remember the more his head hurt. He could remember flashes of conversations, but they were jumbled and made no sense to him at the moment. It was hard to concentrate because he still felt groggy, no doubt thanks to the drugs he had been given.

He smothered another yawn and leaned back on his elbows to study the sky. It was strangely peaceful here, even though he didn’t know where here was, he didn’t feel uneasy and that surprised him. He glanced at his watch, the illuminated dial read 12:15 he had lost over 6 hours of time. He yawned again and sat back up trying to stay alert. Peaceful or not, he shouldn’t let his guard down, especially because he wasn’t alone here.

Elizabeth rolled over in her sleep so she was facing him. Whatever happened he needed to make sure that she got out of this safely. From her earlier ramblings it was clear that some things had happened, that she seemed to blame him for. He could also tell from what she hadn’t said that something had happened that had scared her. The knowledge of the fact that she had been scared while he was unable to do anything to help her, made him angry, angry enough that he was going to be damned sure that nothing else happened to her.

Jason was surprised to find himself lying on the ground next to her, he didn’t even remember moving. One of her hands was shoved under his jacket, the other was on the ground a little in front of her face. He rolled on his side and mimicked her position. He knew he needed to stay away from her, that she had the power to hurt him even when she wasn’t aware of it. But she looked so vulnerable and beautiful in her sleep that his defenses crashed down.

It wouldn’t be that bad to just let go of the hurt and the anger for the rest of the night, and instead focus on being near her again. His eyes drifted closed and his last conscious thought before sleep claimed him was how nice her hand felt under his.

~Puerto Rico~

“Darling what are you doing?”

“Sorry Anton but I need to leave.” She brushed past him into the bathroom to get her makeup bag.

“Just like that?” Anton was stunned. He was the one that left, he was never the one being left. He had pursued her since the moment he had seen her in Monte Carlo two months ago. That in itself was unusual. Normally women flocked to him, he was very rarely the pursuer, and she had led him on a merry chase as well. She had only agreed to see him last week.

“I’m afraid so.” Mentally she ran through her checklist, she could see the surprise on his face but that was easy to dismiss.

“Marie if you leave now I can’t promise that I will be here when you return.” He used the line on her that many a woman had used on him, confident that it would work.

The woman he called Marie flicked her brown hair off her shoulder and stared at him through narrowed blue eyes. Anton was easy on the eyes, tall, of course with her height he had to be, the dark hair and dark eyes set off his tanned skin, his body was well conditioned thanks to the frequent trips he made to the gym. He was also wealthy, single, and interesting enough that he didn’t bore her after a single date. In short he met her criteria for a lover, he was young, handsome, single, and dynamite in bed. None of that helped him now however, because he had just crossed a line with her that had no return.

“Anton I don’t deal well with ultimatums.” The words came out in her clipped British accent. “But since for the most part I have enjoyed our two week interlude, I’ve decided to overlook your ill-advised ultimatum.” She moved closer and placed a hand on the cool silk of his shirt. “But don’t pretend this meant anything more to you then it did to me, a little affair between two willing adults.”

“Is that all this was?”

“Yes and thankfully all affairs run their course.” She pressed a kiss to his lips and drew away quickly. “And ours has ended, so goodbye Anton.”

Anton was so stunned by her words that she had almost reached the door before he spoke. “I think I lov…”

“Anton don’t be trite.” She never even paused. “Time to move on dear,” and with that she was gone. Only to be followed by a very amused porter with her luggage.

~El Gatto~

“Are you okay?” Manny asked. “I’m only asking because you’ve been staring at the door for the last five minutes now.”

“I’m fine.” Francis snapped and reluctantly got out of the car. He’d seen her car in the parking lot. Even in the garish streetlights, the hot pink VW Bug was easily recognizable, she was still here. He took a deep breath trying to prepare himself for what was sure to come. “Here’s what were going to do. We find Guttroal and get him out of there.”

“You don’t want to question him inside?”

“No.” Francis rely was vehement.

“What about other employees?”

“No Guttroal and get out, if we’re quick enough she’ll never even know were here, I mean no one will ever know that we were here.” Francis cracked his knuckles for the third time in 15 minutes and fidgeted in place. “So are you clear on what were doing?”

“Yeah.” Manny eyed him warily. He had never seen Francis look ruffled before, seeing it now was making him uneasy.

“Then lets go.” Francis reached for the door handle then let his hand fall away. He took a breath, made the sign of the cross, then pulled it open and disappeared into the dark.

Nerves were a catchy thing, Manny made a sign of the cross before following Francis into the smoke and the base that was El Gatto.

“Move the car so it has a view of the alley and the front door.” Stavros ordered. There was no way that Francis would leave the building without him knowing it.

The Cabbie sighed and did as he was ordered. So much for getting rid of his fare.

~Airport~

“Business or pleasure miss?” Rodrigo sucked in a breath trying to make his chest expand, and his gut shrink, it never seemed to work out in quite that way, but he still tried it.

The blonde practically cooed at him and handed him her passport. “Pleasure honey,” she drawled the words in her thick west Texas accent. “And if all the men here on the island look like you I’m going to have a lot of pleasure.”

Rosalita nearly gagged trying to hold back her laughter. Rodrigo was a balding 50 year old weighing about 300lbs, with an extra large palate. The blonde must be smuggling something.

Rodrigo beamed and pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth to lock his dentures back in place. “Well Miss Rabbitt I can’t guarantee that but I,” he paused long enough to work his wedding band off his fat stubby finger, “get off in two hours.”

“Really?” She reached for her passport, and her eyes lit with anticipation. “Then you better call me Jessica, and call me at my hotel when you get off.”

Rodrigo goggled at her, so stunned that she had agreed that he could only stare after her as she left. Too late the knowledge hit him. “Wait Jessica, what hotel?” He yelled after her but the blonde was long gone.

Rosalita chortled in glee at the devastated look on her boss’s face. Men were all the same the only way they could think was through their pants.

“That was fast even for you boss.”

The woman now called Jessica paused to study the cowboy who had fallen into step beside her. She craned her neck and looked up at the dark-haired man in the beat-up cowboy hat. “Well that one was more clueless then most.” Her honeyed accent was gone, and the farther out of the terminal she got, the less her walk looked like a leisurely sashay and the more it resembled a cat stalking her prey.

“You sure know how to ruin a guys vacation plans.” He groused taking the bag from her resisting hand, and earning a glare in the process. As usual he smiled at her iced irritation, the dimples flashing in his cheeks.

“Cheer up Hawk, if you’ve had one blonde bimbo, you’ve had them all.” Feeling no pity at all she stepped out into the night.

“That’s cynical boss, what happened did the Prima Donna try to claim ownership?” He moved past her to a Land Rover that was illegally parked in front of the doors.

“He wasn’t a Prima Donna,” she growled before following him. “Anton was a very nice diversion.”

“Anton?” He said with a jeer. “I was hoping you would have found the time to get laid before coming back here, it would put you in such a better mood.” Hawk opened the car door for her and grinned at her livid expression. “Be careful now Jessica doesn’t know how to fight.” He warned her, recognizing the martial gleam in her brown eyes.

Her eyes narrowed as she considered her options. He was the only man she worked with on a continued basis, the only one in her organization, and why she put up with him was a mystery. He was easy to look at, dark black hair that spilled over his collar, his light green eyes were set off by his tan chiseled face. His rugged 6’2” frame was made of muscles that came from real labor and not a gym. His angelic face won the women over in a flash, and his easy affable charm won over the men so they let their guard down, and that was when he struck. Most never even knew what hit them.

She shook her head and ran a finger down his cheek. “Why Hawk,” she drawled slowly. “Women of Texas don’t fight they castrate.”

Hawk swallowed hard and shut the door after she slid in the car. Working with her was never boring.

“So what did you find out?” She reached immediately for the radio and turned off the big band music she knew he was listening to.

“Well after your call and interruption, did I happen to mention I was in a hot tub with a little cutie and the things she said she could do with her…”

[JRK Archiver]

“Hawk how many times must I tell you that I don’t want to hear about your conquests?” She interrupted with a snap. “Now what about the plane?”

“The client was right, it never showed in Boston, in fact it never even got to Florida. It went down about an hour and fifteen minutes after take-off.”

“Damn,” she drummed her fingers on her thighs. “Any survivors?”

“Well.” Hank drawled taking off from the curb right before the parking police could put the ticket on his jeep. “Apparently it had been strewing debris for at least fifty miles before it finally went down. Everything that was in the cargo hold of the plane was long gone before it went down.”

She has a momentary flash of an unconscious Jason Morgan strapped in a seat in the cargo hold. “Anything else?”

“There’s a witness who saw a parachute.” Hawk pulled a map off the dash, and tossed it to her. “It came out of the plane about 15 minutes before it went down. So while the Coast Guard are at the crash site, the parachute went down about fifty miles from there.”

“Don’t they know that?”

“No.” He grinned and whipped around a police cruiser that was only doing 50. “This witness isn’t very forthcoming.”

“Good.” She reached past him to turn on the dome light.

“Mm-mm,” he sniffed deeply. “New perfume? The Prima Donna had good taste.”

She deliberately elbowed his ribs when she leaned back against the seat, satisfied with his muttered oath, she moved on. “Where about?” She asked looking at the map.

“Near that five island chain called Devils Dream. I got a plane ready to take us to the one on the fringe, it’s the only one with an airport, the others we’ll have to search by boat.”

“Good.” She grabbed the handle in concern when he took a curve at about 30 miles over the posted limit.

“Do you think Morgan is the one who survived?”

“Of the three people on the plane, he would be my guess.” She leaned back and marshaled her thoughts on what she knew of Jason Morgan. She knew almost everything one person could know about him. When she took on a bounty she was nothing if not thorough. “The only reason I took this bounty was the appeal of tracking him. Even in our circles he’s very elusive.”

“I know, I spent three months trying to get a line on the guy.” Hawk commented.

“I have to admit finding him was even more difficult then I had thought it would be.” She reached for her bag in the backseat. The bag that the customs agent had been too blinded by lust to search. “But once we did find him, catching him was pathetically easy. There was no challenge at all.” She was still disappointed in that.

“I noticed that.” He kept one eye on the rearview mirror when she pulled out a long barreled gun. “It was a surprise, given his reputation I was expecting it to be harder too.”

“I know that reputation is what made me look forward in matching wits with him.” She pulled the clip from the gun and checked the rounds. The feathers of the tranquilizer darts stood out in the dim light. “But apparently he is better than that. I have to believe that he was the one who made it out of the plane, and probably the reason it crashed. The other two don’t have the survival instincts.”

With a frown she held up a dart and studied it. “When we get home remind me to see Winston he must have gotten the load wrong in these darts. With someone Morgan’s height and weight, this should have knocked him out for over 5 hours, more like 6, there was no reason for him to wake up mid-transport.”

He could hear the excitement in her voice, and couldn’t help but be drawn too it. That excitement was part of the thrill that he got every time he worked with her. “So are we going after him?”

“Of course.” She put the gun back in her bag. “I don’t get paid until I deliver him,” she peered over at him. “Alive Hawk.”

“Spoilsport.” He grumbled and stepped on the gas, they had a plane to catch, the Devils Dream was waiting for them.

~El Gatto – Alley~

The side door burst open and Manny ran out of it so fast he couldn’t stop his momentum and crashed into some boxes on the other side of it. Francis emerged after him and immediately turned to press on the door trying to close it. “Manny get off your ass and help me.”

Manny got groggily to his feet.

“Get the trash bin.” Francis ordered, turning around and pressing his back against the door, trying to find more traction with his feet to keep it closed. He pitched forward when someone shoved hard on the other side of the door. “Move it.”

Manny hurried to the overflowing green bin and pushed on its side, shoving it towards the door. As soon as it was in range, Francis grabbed one of the bars and pulled it into position in front of the door.

“Jesus Christ Francis what the hell was that?” Manny demanded trying to suck in some much needed air.

“That was Bad Betty.” Francis explained, trying to tuck in his shirt. He frowned down in surprise and pulled it out when he noticed a piece of his shirt was missing. It was jagged on the sides, it looked like someone had bit his shirt off of him.

“Bad Betty?” Manny asked, rubbing at the blood on his forehead. “Why the hell didn’t you warn me about her? I would have brought in my gun, no I would have taken in my shotgun.”

“I thought she might have calmed down by now.” Francis said defensively.

“Francis she tried to rip your spleen out through your throat, if that is her calmed down, I don’t want to see her pissed.” Manny looked warily down the alley, hoping no one would appear at the front of it, trying to finish the job they had started in the bar. “What did you do to piss her off?”

“We don’t have time to talk about that.” Francis tried to change the subject. “Now about what Guttroal said.”

“The redhead who paid him off jives with what the Webber girl said.” Manny moved towards the car. “Did you date Betty? Because that would explain the hostility.”

Francis ignored the comment and moved to the car. “I didn’t like his description of her, it sounded familiar to me.”

“Yeah, but I believe him when he says that he didn’t hang around to see what she was doing. We need to find someone who was at the airport then.” He jerked to a halt when a redheaded guy stumbled out of the bar and cut in front of them.

Manny peered after him then turned back to Francis. “So is Betty allergic to the outdoors? I mean why didn’t she come chasing us from the front?”

Francis ignored him by focusing on the drunk guy who was trying to climb on a motorcycle. His eyes sharpened in interest when he recognized the bike. He was beside the bike before the drunk could figure out how to sling his leg over the side. “Where did you get this motorcycle?”

Ray turned bleary bloodshot eyes on the man talking to him. “Hey man.”

“Whoa he’s tanked.” Manny waved the alcohol fumes from his face.

“Where did you get the bike?” Francis repeated.

Ray turned and looked at the bike. “I found it.”

“Where did you find it?”

Ray belched. “What?”

Patience gone Francis grabbed Ray by his collar and slammed him against the wall. “Where did you get the bike?”

“Easy Francis.” Manny looked around for any onlookers.

“This is Jason’s bike.” Francis explained. “So where did you get it?”

“The airport.” Ray cried. “Damn man take it easy, the owner won’t be using it again.”

“What do you mean by that?” Uneasiness entered his system.

“Because the owner is dead. His plane crashed man, you can’t drive if you’re dead.” Ray stated obviously.

Dead? Jason was dead? That couldn’t be right. The words Jason and dead just didn’t go together. Besides if Jason was dead what did that mean for Elizabeth?

“What the hell are you talking about?” Manny demanded angrily all humor gone.

“Dead as in corpse, as in pushing up daisies.” Ray explained. “What are you drunk?”

“Look pal you don’t want to get stupid with me.” Manny snarled gripping Ray by the shirtfront.

“Ease off.” Francis ordered and pulled a photo from his pocket. “Is this the guy who’s dead?” He asked holding up a photo of Jason.

Ray squinted blearily at the photo but it kept moving on him. Finally he grabbed his head in his hands to hold it still. “Yep that’s the guy I wasn’t supposed to see.”

“He was on the plane?”

“Yep, two guys carried on the plane, but we weren’t supposed to notice that. Gary said we were being paid to load crates and not notice things. So I tried to do that, but looking at that redhead made me see him.” He put a hand over his heart. “The redhead was so stacked.”

Francis pulled another picture from his pocket. “Was she on the plane too?” He demanded holding the photo of Elizabeth in front of the drunk.

Ray grabbed his head again and looked at the photo, bringing the brown haired girl into focus. “She’s cute.”

Manny smacked him on the head. “Was she on the plane?”

“Nope only three people were on the plane and the crates and now they’re all at the bottom of the ocean.” Ray began to laugh. “Wonder if they can swim.”

Infuriated Francis decked him, sending Ray to the ground and into unconsciousness.

“He’s drunk he might be wrong.” Manny spoke quickly trying to calm Francis. “I mean I would’ve heard.” He stopped himself with a winch.

“What?” Francis demanded.

“I caught the tail end of a news report, while I was waiting for you, it was about a plane crash that happened a few hundred miles from here.” Manny explained reluctantly.

Francis still didn’t want to believe it, and he wouldn’t until he saw Jason’s body. “Wait if Jason was snatched at the house how did his bike get to the airport?”

Manny ran a hand through his hair. “Well I heard a strange story while I was looking for information. At the time I didn’t give it much thought, but now.”

“What is it?”

“Apparently, there was a motorcycle that raised a little hell in town today. It sideswiped two vendor carts before careening after a black car, the person driving it was a brown haired girl.

Francis couldn’t help but grin. That sounded like the Elizabeth he had once guarded. “Let’s go to the airport, maybe we can find a ghost there, that knows what happened.”

“A ghost?” A confused Manny asked following him to the car.

“Wake up.” Stavros smacked the Cabbie in the back of the head. “They’re leaving.”

~Clearing AM~

Jason woke up slowly and groggily realized that he wasn’t alone. He opened his eyes and saw brown hair. It took him a minute to realize he was holding Elizabeth, it seemed like one of them had moved during the night. He shifted slightly and the jacket under his head crinkled and he realized that it had been him that had moved towards her. His leg was over hers, his right arm was around her waist, and she was snug against him and still asleep.

He closed his eyes and let himself breathe in the strawberry scent of her shampoo. He had never held her like this before, and he was surprised at how well they fit together. Surprised and unnerved, because for months now he had been trying not to think about how he would like to hold her like this. He moved slowly and carefully away from her, afraid that if he lingered to long he wouldn’t be able to leave her at all. He stretched and got to his feet. His right knee twinged a little in pain, and he wondered again what had happened yesterday.

He crossed to the stream and drank some water, the water was ice cold and woke him all the way up. He glanced at his watch, it was 7:00 am, he decided to let her sleep for a while longer, while he scouted around. He took a careful look around the clearing but didn’t see anything that bothered him. Jason sighed and started to walk, he wouldn’t go far, if she needed him he would still be in earshot.

~*~

Jason frowned up at the parachute, and empty harness that was hanging from a tree. It hadn’t taken him long to find it, his only concern was it was the only parachute that he had found. He studied the ground and saw grooves in the soft dirt, it looked like someone, more then likely him had been dragged away from the parachute. He shifted and his knee tweaked again. At least he knew what happened to his knee now.

Part of Elizabeth’s ramble from the night before came back to him. “So then we fell out of the plane and then of course you were still unconscious so I fell away from you and hit the water.” She looked at her sweater, which had shrunk. “And this was new, now it’s small, all because you wouldn’t wake up."

He had scanned the area but he hadn’t seen any body of water that would have been deep enough for her to hit and get drenched enough to shrink her sweater. He frowned up at the parachute again, besides if they parachuted out of a plane, how the hell had his chute opened?

“So I fell away from you and hit the water.”

What the hell did she mean by that, she fell away from him? Concern and anger were gradually working through him along with fear. It was the fear that worried him, he wasn’t used to feeling like that, especially over something that he couldn’t change. It was time to wake her up and get some answers. He had only taken a step when he heard a rustling coming from his right.

Instantly alert, he bent down and pulled a switchblade from his boot, flicking it open. He had allowed himself to forget that there was a good chance they weren’t alone in this place. He looked back in the direction of the clearing, he didn’t want to take a chance of her waking up alone. The noise sounded again and was louder. He couldn’t risk her being hurt.

Decision made Jason stepped to his right his hand gripping the knife tightly. He pushed at a branch and moved carefully in the brush trying to be as quiet as he could. About 10 yards off the path he heard the noise again directly in front of him. He shifted his grip on the knife, turning it into a slashing position and moved closer. He pushed by a branch and took another step and then everything went black.

Quiet surrounded the bushes for another minute, before the animal life of the forest began to make noises again.

~Clearing~

“Jason.” Elizabeth sat up with a scream. She had been falling again, and this time she knew she wasn’t going to hit water. She looked around and saw the trees and realized she was on the ground. She moaned lightly and rested her head on her knees trying to control her breathing. The falling off the cliff dream suddenly had a whole new dose of reality for her.

Once she could breathe normally she opened her eyes and looked for Jason, expecting to see him asleep beside her, but he was gone. “Jason?” Her eyes searched the small clearing but he was nowhere to be found. Afraid she shot to her feet. “Jason.” Her scream echoed around the clearing, stilling the sound of the birds in the trees.

Where was he? He was here wasn’t he? Her eyes fell on his jacket on the ground, and she sighed in relief, he had been here. But where was he now?

“Jason.” She yelled again and listened in vain for a response.

“Don’t do this to me.” Her voice sounded husky to her ears, but she spoke trying to hold the fear off. What if the people who had taken Jason the first time had found them and took him while she was asleep? She knew he wouldn’t leave her here alone, but he wasn’t here. That had to mean…. “Jason.”

Through all of the insanity of the last day she knew she would be okay as long as she kept in sight of Jason. She knew he would be okay, because she would be here for him. But now he was gone, he was gone and she was alone.

“Jason where are you?” She called out again, but no one answered her not even the birds.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 5


~Clearing~

“Okay so I’m not going to panic.” Elizabeth cried loudly startling some birds that were sipping at the stream enough to take flight. “I am going to be a calm and rational person and I'm not going to panic.”

She ran a hand through her flyaway curls and began to pace. “I would have heard it if someone had come here and taken Jason away. He’s so big that it would have taken at least two guys to carry him out of here.” After all her own muscles were aching from dragging him around the day before.

“Besides they would have taken me too. They wouldn’t have left me behind so I could follow them again. I mean really, look at what happened, the last time they did that. I got him away from them.” She ignored the little voice in her head that told her that, that was due more to luck than any skill on her part.

“So they would have taken me as well as Jason. They wouldn’t have just left me here,” her eyes darted to the right and saw nothing but woods. “In the middle of nowhere,” they moved to the left and saw the same. “All by myself.” She hesitated and then whispered, “Would they?”

She sank to her knees in the still damp grass of the early morning. “So much for not panicking. I rationalized myself right into this state.” Her stomach growled loudly drawing her attention away from her less than happy thoughts. “Oh shut up.”

“Shut up Jason, I’m still talking here.”

Her hand went to her mouth, she had never told Jason to shut up, but for some reason that sure felt like a memory to her. Elizabeth rubbed hard at her forehead trying to dispel the worry and the tiredness she still felt and searched for an elusive memory.

“Oh god.”

She gasped in dismay when the image of Jason’s shocked face arrived first in her mind, close behind it were the words that had caused his expression. Her words to be exact, to be more exact her words about a @#%$ redhead. “This day keeps getting better and better.”

How could she have gone off on him like that? She flopped back on the ground to study the sky. He had only wanted to know what had happened and she had let him have it right between the eyes, and now he was gone.

Elizabeth felt tears prick the back of her eyes and quickly banished them, crying wasn’t going to help her one bit. She knew that Jason was still hurt because of what had happened between them months ago. And she had no doubt surprised him by going off on him last night. But there was one thing she knew without a doubt. Jason would never voluntarily leave her here alone. Not only wasn’t he that type of man, she also knew that he still cared about her, maybe not as much as he once had, but he still cared.

But Jason was still gone and she was here alone. She was alone and she was tired of that. She didn’t want to be the only one in this situation anymore. Technically she had been with Jason, but an unconscious Jason just wasn’t the same thing. She picked up the jacket and buried her face in the soft leather it still smelled like him. She wanted him to come back and help her out of this mess. Even if he was angry with her, she just wanted him back.

After awhile she raised her head and worried her lip, before beginning to reason aloud again. “The last word I would ever use to describe Jason is typical. But in then end he is still a man, and no matter how atypical he is, there are some universal truths about men.” She remembered all the times that she had went riding with Jason, or had just sat and talked with him. She had his attention that much was true. But there was a part of him that had always been alert, in case trouble should arise. She had never asked him about it, but she had seen the way his eyes would sweep an area before he let his guard down. The primal male at its best, searching for danger.

“So since I wouldn’t tell him what happened yesterday, he probably felt the need to find out on his own.” She set the jacket to the side and got to her feet. “That means he probably decided to look around when he woke up.” The more she thought about it, the more excited she got. Making sure that he knew every inch of their surroundings was exactly something Jason would do, especially if he was worried for her safety.

“So he either got lost, or went so far that he can’t hear me when I call for him.” She headed for the edge of the clearing and nearly went down when she tripped over her bootlace. She righted herself and hurried on. She could stay here and wait for him to return, or she could go looking for him. “I need your quarter again Jason.” She muttered flashing briefly on a quarter in the jewelry box at the studio.

Elizabeth frowned and bent down to lace her boot up, before she could do anymore damage to herself. “I’m right.” She practically squealed in delight when she saw the distinct outline of a boot print in the loose dirt in front of her. She looked beyond it and saw the print of a right boot a giant step away, at least for her, but a normal step length for Jason.

“He did walk out on his own. Rational thinking is such a good thing.” She glanced back at the clearing and sucked in her lip again while she debated. If he came back and she wasn’t here he was going to be worried, and pissed. Her stomach growled again and she turned back towards the woods. She wouldn’t go that far, she’d just scout around.

Elizabeth looked down at the ground and began to follow his trail, taking a step and a half for every one of his. A giggle ripped out of her, sending a squirrel scampering for cover. “Yesterday I was a bird and today I’m a dog. God what’s next?”

~Airport~

“So what type of ghost are we looking for? One like Casper, or one like Bruce Willis?” Manny was getting tired of looking at an empty terminal. They had been looking at the terminal for hours now, and it was getting pretty old. The first strands of dawn were breaking and the dark of the night was fading into the gloom of an early morning.

“You’ll see when I find one.” Francis replied shortly, keeping his eyes locked on the hangar.

“Okie dokie.” It was the same response he had been given every time he asked. He began to drum his fingers on the steering wheel again. He hated waiting, and waiting with Francis while he was in this mood wasn’t real entertaining. He knew that what the drunk had told them had shaken Francis badly. Hell it had shaken him. Jason seemed indestructible.

“Stop that.” Francis hissed.

“What?” Manny looked over in question, “oh.” He stopped drumming his fingers. He needed to focus Francis on something else. Of all the people he worked with, he felt he owed Francis the most. Francis had helped his sister and himself relocate to NY, he had brought him into the organization. Francis had even taken a bullet for him that would have no doubt ended his life. He needed to help him out now.

Manny unconsciously began to hum while he tried to think of how he could distract Francis. He was almost willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of letting Francis pound on him, if it would help him. To do that all he had to do was annoy Francis.

Francis shifted on the seat and shot him a glare in warning.

Annoying Francis had become a pastime to him, so it wouldn’t take much, and besides he had new ammunition now. “So did you ask out her sister while you were still dating her? Is that why she’s so mad?”

“What?”

“Bad Betty. Did you try to date her sister at the same time? Is that why she wants to maim you?”

Francis ignored the question. There was no way in hell that he was going to tell Manny about Betty, he would rather face her again then give him that information. Was that movement by the crates?

“No huh?” Manny began to drum his fingers while he thought some more. “I know a pet. She wanted you to take care of her pet and something happened to it. That’s it isn’t it? Because I know how women can get attached to their pets. My ex Christa had a rabbit. The ugliest little sucker you ever saw. The little bugger’s hair was falling out, leaving great bald spots everywhere.” He shuddered at the memory. “Anyway she went out of town, and brought the bunny to my place to take care of while she was gone.”

“Manny.”

“I think she forgot about Bubbles. Heck I forgot about Bubbles when I was around Christa.” Manny ignored Francis’ glare. “Christa just had that ability that women seem to have, that makes it hard for a man to think around them. I think it was her size too small sweater.”

Manny reflected on that image for a minute before hurrying on again. “I do think that Christa blew the whole thing out of proportion though, women have a tendency to do that. I mean Bubbles was only doing what she always did. What she had been doing for years, what was ingrained in her as a hunter. It wasn’t her fault that the bunny was pet, she just thought it was lun…”

“Manny.” Fed up Francis turned on him. “The last thing I want to hear about is Bubbles. Have you ever realized that the reason you don’t get dates anymore is because of Bubbles? That the reason we never play cards anymore at your place is because of Bubbles? That Bubbles is worse than anything Sorel ever tried to do to you?”

Manny hid his grin while Francis went off on him. At least now Francis wasn’t thinking about the possibility of Jason or Elizabeth being dead, so he had done his job.

“Bubbles, what the hell kind of name is Bubbles?” Francis grumbled turning back to the window. “I’m stuck in a car with the idiot after seeing Betty and he wants to talk to me about Bubbles.”

Manny let him grumble for a few more minutes, when he finally wound down, he decided to let another one fly. “So it wasn’t a pet, and it wasn’t a sister. Did you ask out her brother?”

Francis was out of the car and halfway to the fence surrounding the terminal before Manny even made it out of the car. “What’s going on?” He pulled out his gun and trailed Francis.

“I’ve found the ghost.” Francis climbed the fence and took off for a set of barrels about 15 yards away. “Cut off the retreat.” He pointed to a set of crates that were about 20 feet beyond that.

Wondering about Francis’ sanity, Manny hurried to comply with the order. His hand tightened on the gun when Francis disappeared behind the barrels and the sound of curses and a fight reached him.

“Hold still you little @#%$.” Francis’ muffled oaths filled the air.

This ghost thing was sure a feisty one, Manny thought when another colorful curse of Francis split the air. His musings were cut off when a slight figure in black emerged from behind the barrels and made a beeline straight for him.

“Hold it.” Manny ordered, brandishing the gun. But the figure ignored the command and kept charging him. At the last second Manny dropped the gun and braced for impact. The hit knocked him from his feet and back into the crates. The figure that had hit him, immediately began to squirm trying to break free.

“Ouch.” He yelled when he felt teeth on his arm. Infuriated he brought up his fist and pounded on the lump that he thought was the head. He hit it again and again until the squirming stopped.

“Good.” An out of breath and bleeding Francis gasped and bent over at the waist. “You caught her.”

“Her?” Manny pushed the slight figure from him and it rolled over exposing the painted white face of a girl, with black garish smudges surrounding her eyes. “The ghost is a girl?”

“This one is.” Francis noted. “You better grab an arm, she’s going to be pissed when she wakes up.”

Manny frowned and took an arm, studying the girl’s hand while he did so. Her hand was unnaturally white, not a speck of color on it, except for the jet-black fingernails. She was probably 5’0” and if she weighed a 100 lbs he would be surprised. But damn was she strong. He looked at his arm and wasn’t surprised to see blood coming from where he had been bitten. What did surprise him was how the bite mark looked to him. “Francis I thought you said we were catching a ghost.”

“I did that’s what they’re called.” Francis kept a finger on her pulse, waiting for it to speed up to signal her wakefulness.

“They why the hell do I have bite marks that look like they were made from the fangs of a vampire?" Manny held out his arm.

~Warehouse~

Sonny sipped at his coffee and tried to focus on the latest crop report about cocoa beans. But after reading the same line for the third time he knew it was no use. On a disgusted sigh he closed the folder and slammed away from the desk, sending the chair into the wall with a decided thud. It was 7:06 am and he still hadn’t heard a thing about Jason or Elizabeth.

At the thud Johnny stuck his head in the door, and reluctantly entered the room when Sonny waved him in. “Problems?”

“Where the hell is Benny with the information I need?” Sonny asked. Impatience was all but shimmering in the air around him.

“He’s waiting for confirmation.” Johnny’s reply was monotone and the same reply he had given his boss every five minutes for the last hour.

Sonny narrowed his eyes at Johnny but whatever he was going to say was cutoff when his cell phone began to ring. He practically leaped to the desk and opened it up. “Hello?”

“Boss I got some news for you.”

“What do you know Francis?” Sonny demanded.

“We found the airport Elizabeth was talking about. Apparently an old DC-10 was used. I got confirmation that an unconscious Jason was onboard along with a pilot and one hired muscle. The woman who snatched him left before takeoff. I also got it from another source that Elizabeth snuck in a crate and was placed onboard the plane.” He shot a glare at Manny when he let out a snort. Manny tapped a bandage on his arm and shook his head. Francis ignored the disbelief, Manny had never spent time around Elizabeth he didn’t know what she was capable of.

“She got on the plane?” Sonny was both relieved and worried. If she hadn’t got on the plane that meant she had disappeared. The fact that she had gotten on the plane voluntarily was good, at least she wasn’t in some new danger. However danger she was in was enough to worry him.

“Yes.” Francis stepped away from a glaring Manny.

“So we need to find out where the plane landed and get our people there.” Resolve was coursing through him again. “So where did it land?”

“It didn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

Francis sighed and delivered the bad news. “The plane went down a couple hundred miles off the coast.”

Sonny sank limply in a chair. The image of the last time he had seen Jason’s face and the quick dismissal he had given him, hit him and he felt ill. “It crashed?”

Johnny jolted at those words. His line of work was definitely a risky one, but Jason always had this air of indestructibility around him that made it impossible to think of him dying. He smothered a groan when another thought occurred to him. Sonny said Elizabeth was on the plane too, that meant that she was dead as well.

“Are you sure he was on the plane?” Sonny asked hoarsely.

“Yes he was on it. I found a reluctant witness who saw a parachute come out of the plane before it crashed.” Francis tried to give his boss the same hope he was clinging to. “Apparently something went wrong on the plane. It was spilling its cargo for miles before the engine began to sputter.”

“So there was at least one survivor?” Sonny perked up at that and hope surged through him, followed almost immediately by guilt. “Are you sure she was on the plane?”

“The source isn’t 100% reliable,” Francis conceded. “But my gut tells me that she was. You know her boss. Despite the way it was the last time he was in town, if Jason was in trouble you wouldn’t be able to get her away from him.”

“I know.” Sonny moved slowly to the window and stared blindly at the water. “You need to find the survivor.

“I’ve already chartered a seaplane to take us to the island chain near where the parachute was spotted. It’s a set of islands called the Devil’s Dream.” He could almost feel the weight of the silence on the other end of the line. “I will find out who it was.”

“Good.” Sonny’s voice was hoarse as he fought back the emotion.

“There’s more and I don’t like it. We’re not the only one tracking the survivor.” Francis came up short before running into a tall dark-haired man with a goatee. He waited until the man moved on to another seaplane tied up on the dock before speaking. “There was a guy here before us, who spoke to the same witness and encouraged him not to tell the authorities what he saw.”

“I don’t like that.”

“It gets worse, it seems that the guy came back later on with a woman and they chartered a plane to take them to the Devil’s Dream,” he glanced at his watch. “By the time we get there, they will still have over a three hour head start on us.”

“Was it the redhead?”

“No she was a blonde, but other then that her description is the same. Look boss I got to go. I’ll call and report as I go.” Francis began to head for the seaplane that Manny had longed disappeared inside of. His eyes automatically flicked to the other seaplane that was getting ready to leave and the dark-haired man at the controls.

“Francis.” Sonny’s voice was cold. “You’re first priority is finding Jason and Elizabeth. Then and only then do you deal with their trackers.”

“Will do.” Francis acknowledged and closed the phone. “Let’s get this bucket of bolts airborne.”

Sonny frowned at the phone. The demons that were always present in his mind, in his memory, were begging for release, but he battled them back. “Johnny I want to see Benny now.”

Johnny was out the door before Sonny had even finished.

Sonny rubbed a hand wearily over his face. Jason or Elizabeth. Jason or Elizabeth. If only one of them survived how could he ever explain it to the other one. Elizabeth was someone he had vowed to protect. While Jason was someone he needed in his life more then he needed his right arm. Jason or Elizabeth. Jason or Elizabeth. How could he hope for one to be alive if it meant the other one was dead?

~Woods~

Elizabeth stared up at the parachute and then glanced around looking in vain for a blonde head. He had made it this far that much was obvious from the prints. And since his prints went in several directions around here, he had obviously spent a lot of time looking up at the tree. She swallowed hard remembering the nasty thump he’d made when he hit the ground. Hopefully he would think he fell out of the harness on his own.

“Jason.” Her call echoed around the trees. She was debating on whether or not to head back to the clearing when a noise to her right caught her attention. “Jason?” She listened for his reply or the noise to repeat itself. But only silence met her ears. She sighed and studied the ground again, she was now at an area that had grass so she couldn’t tell which way he had went.

A faint noise reached her ears and she looked to the right again. There was definitely something in the bushes over there. “Jason I’m about to do something I think you’ll hate.” She began conversationally. “I’m about to take an unnecessary risk with my life, so this is your cue to come out and tell me not to do that.”

Elizabeth looked around hopefully, but Jason didn’t magically appear. With a groan of reluctance she moved off the path and towards the deep brush that the noises were originating from. She kept her eyes on the ground not wanting to go flying forward again. She moved the branches out of the way and disappeared into the brush.

“Ouch.” She cried loudly and brought her hand up to her mouth to suck at a cut. “Damn thorns.”

“Elizabeth.”

Her eyes went wide and she looked around searching for Jason when the sound of her name reached her ears. “Jason where are you?”

“Over here.” Jason called back.

Excited to have finally found him she began to hurry in the direction of his voice. Her eyes were whipping around trying to find him. “Keep talking.”

“You’re getting closer, but watch your step.” He warned her a second too late.

She tripped over a hidden rope and pitched forward hitting the ground hard. She stopped her forward momentum by holding onto a stump.

Jason brushed the dirt from his eyes and focused on her head which had appeared over the edge of the pit he was standing in.

“Thank god.” She couldn’t remember ever feeling so relieved as she was now, looking down into his upturned face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” God it was so good to see her. “I couldn’t stop myself when I fell, and wound up down here.”

“Can’t you climb out?” She asked before she really studied where he really was. He was standing in a pit, his head was about 6 feet from the edge. The pit was probably 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, and it was definitely deep.

“No the sides are too smooth there’s nothing to grip.” Jason was feeling unusually frustrated. He had been in this pit for hours now. “I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

Elizabeth bristled slightly at his rebuke but decided to let it slide. “I’ll try to find something that we can use to get you out of there.”

“Great,” he muttered and her head disappeared from view only to pop back in view a second later.

“Don’t go anywhere.” She said with a smile.

“Cute Elizabeth,” Jason grumbled. “Do you think you can save the jokes until I’m out of here.”

Irritation flashed again and she gamely tried to battle it back. “I’m looking.”

Jason leaned against the wall and waited. He was close to the edge. He hadn’t felt this frustrated in months not since, he frowned, not since the last time he had been around Elizabeth. This frustration was different though, it was born out of an unusual sense of helplessness, but it still brought back bitter memories.

“Here.” Elizabeth called before tossing a long vine over the side and hitting him in the head. “Grab a hold of this and climb up it.”

Jason rubbed at his head and looked dubiously at the vine. “And what is going to be at the other end?” He asked jerking on a length of the vine to test its strength.

“I will.” She jolted forward when he yanked again.

“That won’t work. You’re not strong enough to pull me out of here, or to support me as I climb up. You need to find something else.” Jason ordered shortly.

“Yes master.” That time the irritation couldn’t be held back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What are you doing in this pit in the first place Jason?” Elizabeth demanded. “You know I’m busting my butt trying to get you out of this mess, so there is no need to get snotty with me. It’s not my fault you’re in there.”

He pinched his nose wearily. “Just find something to tie it onto please.”

“Good idea.” Elizabeth glanced around the pit and saw an old tree right near the edge towards the right. “I found a tree.” She hurriedly crossed to it and began to tie the vine off. “You know Jason it’s strange. In Port Charles it always seems like you’re in control of every situation. But down here your not. Okay it’s ready.”

Jason wisely bit back his retort and began to climb up the vine.

“It’s lucky for you that I’ve been here to help you out of these messes that you’ve gotten yourself in.”

He scowled at that remark and moved farther up the vine. He reached up higher on the vine and it snapped sending him plunging back down to the earth.

“Jason are you okay?”

Jason closed his eyes and forced the air back in his lungs. “Yeah.” He got slowly to his feet. The frustration, tiredness, hunger and anger that had been building inside of him built until he couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Jesus Elizabeth are you trying to kill me?”

Stunned she could only stare down at him.

“Do you think you can find something stronger next time?” He asked acidly.

“You think you can lose some weight?” Elizabeth retorted. “Because after dragging your ass around for the last day let me tell you, you can stand to lose some weight.”

“I’m not fat.” He cried.

“No your solid and your yelling at me and I don’t know why. You’re the one who decided to go exploring like some Daniel Boone here not me.”

“And why is that Elizabeth?” Jason fired back hotly. “Because when I asked you to tell me where we were and what happened. And all you could say was shut up Jason.”

Elizabeth flushed at that but was angry enough herself to respond. “Well you were the one who had been asleep for hours yesterday not me. So forgive me for being tired.”

“Tired? Hell.” Jason snorted. “You weren’t tired you were in some snit because I spoke to another woman. Let’s see what did you accuse me of? I remember now, flirting with a @#%$ redhead.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened in surprise as she recalled accusing him of that. “She’s the reason we’re…”

“Be quiet Elizabeth it’s my turn to talk and yours to listen. So I talked to another woman so what? Am I suddenly not allowed to talk to another woman when I’m around you?”

“Jason.” Elizabeth shot to her feet and tried to cut him off.

“You’re allowed to jerk me around for weeks while you waffled between Lucky and me, but you get mad at me if I talk to another woman.” He couldn’t seem to stop talking even though he knew his words were cruel. “Did I make a mistake in talking to her? Yes. But you know what it was my choice to make, and unlike you I make choices.”

“Jason shut up…” She tried to cut him off again.

“Don’t tell me that,” incensed he broke in. “I’m not finished.”

“Jason,” Elizabeth screamed in frustration and pointed beyond him. “There’s a snake.”

“What?” His retort trailed off when he heard a hiss coming from right behind him, followed by the telltale sound of a rattle. “Oh man.”

[JRK Archiver]

Part 6


~Snake Pit~

“Don’t move Jason. Don’t even breathe.” Elizabeth hissed the words the same time the rattlesnake hissed behind him.

“I think I know that Elizabeth.” Jason kept his voice calm. “How far away is the snake?”

“Uh,” god she was horrible at gauging distances. “Probably a little over two arm lengths.”

“Mine or yours?”

“What?” She cried in confusion.

“My arms or yours?” He kept his voice calm, hoping she would pick up on that.

“Yours.” Elizabeth tore her eyes away from him and searched the area around her, desperately searching for something, anything that she could use to get him out of the pit.

But there was nothing.

Jason turned his head slowly, very slowly, and tilted it downwards searching for the snake. The rattle gave its position away even though its coppery skin helped it blend into the dirt and leaves surrounding it. It was coiled slightly, its head raised a little higher then the rest of it’s body, almost as if it was poising itself getting ready to strike.

He swallowed hard and turned away. The snake definitely hadn’t been in the pit with him this whole time. He would have noticed it. So it must have come out of one of the many holes that were in the side of the walls. He was uneasy because where there was one snake there were usually more. And there were a lot of holes in the dirt walls that they could come out of.

A lot.

Elizabeth had found another vine, this one still attached to a tree, and was tugging on it hoping it would reach the pit and Jason. She yanked hard to test its strength and fell back on her butt with a slam when it snapped. The impact stole her breath, but she quickly got up to try again.

Her eyes darted back to the pit to check on Jason. Was it her imagination or was the snake closer than it had been a few minutes before? She had to get him out of there. Her eye fell on a large flat rock a few feet away. Maybe she could throw the rock and flatten the snake. “And maybe when you miss the snake will be so pissed that it will take a hunk out of Jason in retaliation.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Why couldn’t they have crashed in the middle of a jungle? There they had thick strong vines that would support people. All you had to do was look at Tarzan or George of the Jungle and you could see that. “Wonderful Jason may die and you’re thinking about B-movies.”

“Elizabeth can you come to the edge? I want to see you.” Jason called out softly.

She immediately dropped to her knees beside the opening. “What?”

“Don’t cry please.” He requested when he saw the tears on her face.

Elizabeth touched her face in surprise. She hadn’t even been aware that she was crying. “Do you have a plan to get out?”

“No.” He heard the rattle behind him. “I have a knife. I think I’ll have to use that.”

“A knife against a snake? Are you nuts?” Elizabeth demanded.

“We don’t have a choice.” His voice was quiet but that didn’t lessen the firmness of it. “But first I need you to go back to the clearing for awhile.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief and for a second all she could do was sputter. “Y-you want me to leave you here, alone, with a snake?”

“It’s for the best.” He knew he would more than likely get bit and he didn’t want her to see that. He didn’t want her to watch him die.

“Unbelievable.” She surged to her feet, her voice rising in anger. “What? Do you think that I’m too delicate? That I won’t be able to handle what happens when you foolishly attack a snake with a knife?”

“Elizabeth.” Jason tried to interrupt.

“How many times have I told you that I’m not some precious little doll that needs to be wrapped in cotton and protected?” She looked at the tree beside her, the first glimmer of an idea coming to her. “I’m strong Jason. A lot stronger then you seem to give me credit for. Heck stronger then I give myself credit for.” She gripped the tree with one arm and squatted beside it. “Jason I want you to move slowly, very slowly, towards this wall.”

“What are you doing?” He didn’t like the way she was talking. Nerves entered his system. Nerves that had nothing to do with the snake.

“I’m going to get you out of there. You are not allowed to die on me.” She looked down at him, her eyes filled with determination. “So move.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Jason in the last 2 days I’ve taken a drug that could have killed me. I’ve chased kidnappers, I’ve fired a gun, I have even fought with a man. I’ve jumped out of a plane with no parachute, and I landed hard enough in water that I swear I knocked some fillings loose. I hurt in places I didn’t even know I had and I am not about to let all of my work fall apart because of some damn snake.” She sucked in a breath and looped her other arm around the tree until her hands clasped. “So…move…your…ass.”

Jason filed her words away for future reference. The words themselves were easy to ignore at the moment, because her actions were beginning to scare the hell out of him. “What are you up too?” Forgetting himself for a minute he inched forward and the rattle sounded again, longer and closer, than ever before.

“It’s simple Jason and really quite logical.” She tightened her hands and took a breath to prepare herself. “I’m going to swing my legs over the edge and hold on to this tree. Then you will grab a hold of me and climb up and out of the pit.”

“No.” Fear for her made him move and he heard the snake slither closer behind him.

“Yes.” Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly in prayer. “Relax Jason you’ll be the second person to use my body as a ladder in a day, only this time I won’t kick.”

“Don’t.”

But it was too late, he saw her legs swing clear of the ground and she slid down the wall, until the only thing keeping her from the ground of the pit were her arms that were wrapped around the base of the small tree. “Pull yourself up. Now.”

Elizabeth muscles were already taut, because of her exertions of the day before and perspiration formed on her brow. “I can’t,” she managed to say finally. “At the moment I’m not strong enough. You’ll have to pull me up after you get up there.”

Jason risked a glance back at the snake that had indeed moved closer. It was on a long branch now, it’s head moving from him to Elizabeth.

“Go now Jason while I still have the strength or we’ll both be stuck down here.” Elizabeth warned him.

As soon as she spoke the snake locked on Elizabeth and Jason moved. The toe of his boot caught the edge of the branch and he flipped it kicking both it and the snake backward into the wall. He didn’t wait to see where the snake landed, he was at her back instantly, his hands reaching up to her.

Elizabeth swallowed a groan when she felt his hands on her waist. She couldn’t stop the next one when his hands moved up, found her shoulders, and took his full weight on her tired arms, when his feet left the ground. Her arms seemed to stretch and her hands wanted to fly apart but she held on, knowing if she let go they would both die. She could feel his breath on her neck as he continued to scramble up her body and she couldn’t hold back the scream of pain any longer. Her hands and arms were slick with sweat from the exertion and she began to shake, but still she held on.

It felt like hours, and the strain was getting to her. She thought she would die if she had to hold on any longer, and then the weight was gone. She forced an eye open and blinked the sting away when sweat got in her eyes, and focused on Jason who was on the ground above her.

He was safe.

Her smile was weak and she heard the angry hiss of the snake at the same time her strength finally fled, her hands slipped free and she began to fall.

~Puddle Jumper~

“You ready to tell me more about these ghosts? I think I have a right to know. After all we are taking the word of one of them and flying in this rattletrap.”

Francis glanced at his watch a little amazed that Manny had waited this long before questioning him. He glanced to the pilot, but with the headphones the man had on, he knew he couldn’t hear them. “What do you want to know?”

“For starters how did you know where to find her? And what the hell is a ghost?”

“Ghosts are extreme Meth junkies. They are hooked that much is obvious, but they make no attempt to exist in society. They’ve dropped off of the human life radar, and exist in their own subculture. Ghosts rarely come out during the day. They wear dark clothing, paint their face and hands white, no color at all. They always have shades on, anything bright bothers their eyes. They live only for the drugs.” Francis kept his eye on the blue skyline visible out the window.

“Okay.” Manny could see that, but there had to be more to it than that. “But how did you know to find them at the airport?”

Francis sighed knowing Manny wouldn’t let it go until he knew it all. “I told you that they hide during the day. They don’t like sunlight, but that doesn’t mean their not awake, and watching. They love to watch. They like cool, dark places to sleep, and live in. That old airport was used as a military base for a while in WWII. There are a series of tunnels below ground. A whole city lives under there. A city with a lot of eyes.”

Manny was, to put it bluntly, fascinated. “How come I’ve never seen them then?”

“You have,” Francis focused on him. “At night when you get off a plane, how many times do you get stopped by beggars before you hit the car?”

“A lot.”

“Right and normally, because of who we are, and why were here, I bet you just stuff some money at them, without even looking and hurry on. You don’t want draw attention to yourself so you pay and move.”

Manny couldn’t even begin to count how many times he had done just that. One of Sonny Corinthos’ rules was never, ever draw attention to yourself. Since he had cut his teeth as a courier, on these milk runs he had learned very early on that if you gave the beggars money they got out of your way quicker.

“Their smart enough to know which people to hit and which to ignore. They know who will pay and who will try to find a cop. They get the money for drugs, and then they disappear, until the next night. But they’re always around.”

Manny eyed the bandage on his arm with new eyes. “Damn man, besides the Tetanus shot I’m going to need to be tested for things aren’t I?”

Francis nodded. “Sorry I should have warned you. They don’t like to be cornered, especially that close to daylight. If we had the time we could have waited for night and questioned one another way, but we were pressed for time. I knew are only hope was to snag one before they disappeared into their hide below ground. You don’t want to hunt for a ghost below ground if you can help it.”

“How do you know so much about these ghosts?”

Francis popped his knuckles in a nervous habit that he had been trying to break. He’d known that question was coming, he just didn’t know if he wanted Manny to know what only 4 other people knew. He had boxed himself in on this one.

“Francis?”

“I know because I was a ghost once. A ghost on that island.”

Manny couldn’t have been any more surprised if Francis had suddenly announced he was dating Julia Roberts. “You were a Meth head?” He shook his head in denial even as he asked the question.

“I was 10 and alone. It’s easy to fall when your 10.” Francis kept his tone bland like telling Manny this didn’t bother him, but he couldn’t look at him. “I never knew my dad. Hell I don’t think my mother knew who my dad was. She O’D when I was 8. I found her, I found her stash and hit the streets. When no one gives a rat’s ass about you, you don’t care yourself. I was hooked by age 9. All I cared about was the next score, the next high. I stole, panhandled, ran numbers for bookies, anything to get more. If you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it.”

He ran a rigid hand through his hair. “Soon you wake up only for the next high. You get high, and you want to be higher. And then you crash and you want to die, but instead you start all over again. You become something else, something less then a person, and you don’t even care.” He rubbed his hands on his jeans. Talking about it always made him feel dirty, and he knew that feeling would be with him for weeks. “You know why they call us ghosts?”

Manny didn’t even try to answer, he didn’t think Francis would have heard him, if he did.

“Because people, the good people of the world, they don’t see you. They walk around you, by you, sometimes even through you, but they never see you. To them you’re not even human anymore. You’re a ghost.” Francis focused on the younger man and saw the shock reflected on his face and turned away with a sigh.

Manny studied the sandy haired man next to him with new eyes. Francis had always seemed so smart. In fact of all the guards, and most of the people in the organization he was the smartest of them all. Not only street smart, but book smart, rumor had it he had even been a cop once. It was hard for him to believe that the man beside him used to be a 10-year-old drug addict.

It was hard but he could see it. Francis’ eyes had, at times, seemed so much older then they should be. The intensely private man had more secrets then most and they were secrets he should have been allowed to keep. He saw the proud line of Francis’ shoulders as he looked out the window and made a promise to himself that Francis would never regret trusting him with his secret.

“How did you get out?” Manny asked when he could.

“One person looked past the clothes, the drugs, the paint, and saw the boy. And he was stubborn enough, mean enough, and dumb enough that he kept coming back and trying with me,” he shook his head in wonder. “It took a long time, but eventually I began to change.”

“Is that why you helped me?”

“Maybe,” Francis shrugged. “Maybe I saw parts of myself in you when I caught you trying to steal my wallet. But you were never really like me Manny. You had love in your life. Your sister loved you then, loves you now, you would have never gotten lost like I did because of that love.”

The pilot turned around and pulled the headphones from his ears. “We’re heading in for landing.”

Francis nodded and tightened his seatbelt. He knew things would be different between him and Manny from now on. Manny’s hero worship of him had felt good, but now he knew that would be gone, and maybe that was for the best. He definitely wasn’t someone to be looked up too. But he still felt the loss. He hoped Manny wouldn’t say anything to the others, but he wouldn’t ask him not too.

If there had been any other way to find out the information they needed without tracking a ghost he would have done it. But Elizabeth and Jason were more important then his shameful memories of the past. Hell he would take out a front-page ad in the Port Charles Herald, if it meant finding them alive.

“Francis I have one more question.”

Manny’s statement drew him from his thoughts and he braced himself. “What?”

“Did you call out another woman’s name during sex with Bad Betty? Is that why she is so pissed?”

Francis looked over at him in surprise, searching his friend’s face for disgust or disappointment. But he found none.

Manny grinned wickedly. “I know you called out a man’s name during sex.”

Francis laughed in relief. Maybe it would be okay.

~Snake Pit~

“No!” Jason yelled and grabbed for her, catching her wrist before she could slip out of reach.

Elizabeth cried out as her momentum jerked to a stop. Her head was focused on the ground, on the snake that was just a few feet below where she was hanging.

“I’m going to swing you. Kick with your legs and reach for the ledge.” Jason ordered as he began to move her.

She saved her breath and just tried to obey.

Jason felt like everything was moving in slow motion, and that was taking far too long. He saw the snake hike its body up to strike, at the same time Elizabeth kicked with her leg seeking the edge. The next few seconds he knew would never leave him. He yanked hard on her arm, the same time the snake jumped for her. Elizabeth’s body stiffened and she screamed the same time he pulled her free of the pit and they began to roll away from it.

They rolled to a stop several feet away. Elizabeth was pinned underneath him and for a second all he could do was rest on her in relief. But then he remembered her scream, he remembered the snake striking out at her, but most of all he remembered the way her body had snapped to alert.

He sat up his hands pulling on her clothes, his eyes searching her skin trying to find where the snake had bit her. He knew he was speaking but he didn’t know what he was saying. He pulled on her pants near her ankles looking for the telling holes of fangs.

“Jason.” Elizabeth sat up and touched his face.

“Where?” Knowledge crashed into him and driven by fear he shook her shoulders. “Where did it get you?”

“It didn’t Jason, it just hit my foot.” Elizabeth cried tears spilling from her eyes.

He drew back. “Which foot?”

“My right,” she fell back slightly when he pulled it up searching for damage. “Jason it didn’t bite me, it just hit my foot the same time you pulled me up.”

He focused on her and she could see the fear in his eyes. “You screamed.”

“It scared me.” She dashed at the tears on her cheeks. “But you got me out.”

“Are you sure?”

“It didn’t get me Jason” She clutched his hand as the reaction tremors of relief set in.

“Jesus Elizabeth,” he enveloped her in his arms. Her shaking was catchy. Soon he felt it too. He buried his face in the crook of her neck. The fear and tension drained away leaving only adrenaline and anger.

Her arms hurt, but she wrapped them around him anyway, trying to get closer. If she could she’d crawl inside of him. Nothing or no one had ever felt more solid and alive to her at that moment. She tried to burrow closer and suddenly he was gone.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again.” He ordered shaking her again, this time in anger. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Anger was as catchy as nerves and she quickly fired back. “I was saving your life.”

“Don’t you ever risk your life to save mine. I’m not worth that. So don’t ever do that again.” Now that he knew she was safe anger over her actions had him by the throat.

“Why not? You’d do it for me.” Elizabeth jerked back so his hands fell from her shoulders and shoved at his chest. “Get off me.”

Jason refused to move, and remained half-sitting on her legs. “That’s different.”

“Why?” She hissed. “Because you’re a man?” She demanded scornfully. “I told you once that I wouldn’t walk away from you if you were in danger. I meant that.” She pushed on his chest again, but she may as well have been pushing concrete. “Though right now I don’t know why I felt like I had to save you. You are such an…a…a…an idiot.” She finished finally shaking again but in anger instead of relief.

He caught her hands and pinned them behind her back, bringing her chest into contact with his own. She tried to pull away but couldn’t, her eyes were shooting sparks at him but he ignored that. “We’re fine.” He whispered in her hair when she twisted her face away from him.

The tears spilled from her lashes and he felt them on his throat. He shouldn’t have yelled at her. Not right then, it was too soon. She stopped struggling to get away, he let go of her hands and she immediately wrapped her arms around him. He tightened his hold on her. “It’s okay Elizabeth.”

He pulled on the back of her head forcing her to look at him and brushed the tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry I yelled.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry,” he trailed his lips over her still damp cheeks.

His mouth seemed to have a mind of it’s own and brushed over hers. The first pass, the touch was so light he could barely feel it. The second pass over her lips was a little longer, and he could feel the slight quiver of her lips under his. He shifted and settled more fully on her and on the third pass of her lips his mouth stayed there to claim.

He didn’t give her the opportunity to refuse the kiss, in that instant he just conquered. The fear of the last few minutes rolled out of him and for the moment his restraint was gone, and he finally allowed himself to take what he wanted.

And he wanted Elizabeth.

The kiss was raw and wild, and just a little bit mean, but she didn’t withdraw. In fact she gave, and that made his body hum in want and anticipation. His hands slid over her, learning her body, soon he pressed her back to the ground his mouth never leaving hers. For once he wasn’t thinking, he wasn’t doing the right thing, he was doing the selfish thing. This time he wanted to be selfish and he lost himself in her soft wet mouth.

A part of him knew that he must have been crushing her. A part of him realized that he could even be scaring her, but he couldn’t make himself stop. He couldn’t stop anymore then he had been able to stop wanting her all these months they had been separated.

And now that he had finally tasted her, he wanted so much more from her.

He heard her moan, a weak accepting sound that purred out of her throat and it drove him to take more. But the more he took the more she offered. His mouth nipped at her chin, before roving over her throat and she arched her neck to give him better access. Her seemingly helpless surrender both excited him and worried him. It was the worry that got through and he pulled away while he still could.

Jason looked down at her. Her eyes were still closed, her cheeks flushed, her breath was coming erratically through lips that had been rendered swollen by his. Her eyes opened slowly and he could see the desire and offer in them and he got to his feet backing away from her tempting expression. His eyes dropped from her face and fell on the exposed flat, pale skin of her stomach. His hands no doubt had shoved her sweater up, exposing the skin and the edge of her bra.

He had done that to her, he clenched his hands trying to regain control, because at that moment he wanted nothing more than to finish what he had started with her, in a moment of anger. He wanted to take and take from her, until the need he had for her was finally sated.

But he wouldn’t.

He walked away from her and stared down into the snake pit. A part of him felt like he was still trapped in a pit, this one of Elizabeth’s making, and he didn’t like the feeling.

“Jason?”

At the breathy sound of his name coming from behind him, he turned and looked at her, his expression blank. “That shouldn’t have happened. It was a mistake. One I won’t make again.”

[JRK Archiver]

Part 7


~Snake Pit~

“That shouldn’t have happened. It was a mistake. One I won’t make again.”

The pain his words caused ripped through Elizabeth with all the power and force of a tornado and left her insides ripped up just like a storm would. Bowing her head in an effort to hide it she merely nodded. Her eye fell on her exposed stomach, and automatically pulled her sweater down. Pooling her resources she began to get to her feet. Each movement was slow, precise, and incredibly painful.

Jason tried to harden his heart to the hurt he’d obviously caused her. His eyes left her to sweep the clearing again in an effort to give her the privacy she obviously wanted. Yet they were drawn back to her, when she sighed. The sigh almost broke him and he bit back the instinctive need to apologize.

Pausing with her hands on her knees and her head down she took another breath to stave off the dizziness she was feeling and tried to get a handle on her emotions. The need to hide her hurt from him was prevalent in her mind, yet totally unnecessary. Jason always saw through her no matter what she did. He even saw the things she didn’t want to admit were there at all, and yet she still had to try.

“Elizabeth?” Jason asked when she stopped moving.

Call it numbness, self-protection, or latent survival instincts, what to call it she didn’t know, but she did know that it would hurt her to look at him in that moment so she stalled. Bending down she untied her bootlace and began to tighten the laces. “I understand Jason. What happened was just a reaction to all the stress it didn’t mean a thing.”

The words were light and forgiving. They might have even been believable if her voice hadn’t sounded so hollow and empty.

Jason heard an angry hiss coming from the pit behind him and at that moment he wished he were back inside of it, with the snake. Facing an angry rattlesnake sounded much better then facing a hurt Elizabeth. Especially when it was a hurt that he had intentionally caused her.

“Can we go?” Elizabeth risked a glance in his direction. “I’m tired of rattles.” Actually she wanted to get as far from this place and its tumultuous memories as she could. A mixture of highs and lows were in this little clearing and it was time to leave them behind.

“Yes.” Jason agreed immediately and began to lead the way out. His cautious eyes scanned the ground and he quickly spotted the rope that had help spring his flight into the snake pit. If he’d had any doubt that they weren’t alone on this island it was gone now. Pushing the incident with Elizabeth to the back of his mind he began to concentrate on the most serious problem they faced. Getting off this island.

Elizabeth was caught off-guard by a thorny branch that hit her in the wake of Jason’s passing. The sting of the impact brought her out of her emotional upheaval long enough to level a look of warning at his back. Moving quickly she sidestepped another branch and the look quickly morphed into a glare. By the time they were free of the thorny brambles and back on the path, the hurt was long gone and irritation and anger had taken its place. With a roll of her eyes she stepped around him when he stopped on the path. “Are you coming?”

“In a minute,” Jason replied and pointed to the tree. “Where’s the other parachute?”

“There isn’t one,” Elizabeth answered absently.

“What do you mean there isn’t another parachute?”

“It means what it sounds like. We both rode that one out of the plane,” she looked pointedly at the path. “Can we go now?”

Jason crossed his arms over his chest and refused to budge. He wasn’t going anyplace until he got some answers. “How could we both fit in one parachute?”

“We couldn’t,” irritation had her snapping the words out. “I hooked you into the chute, rolled us out of the plane and held on.”

“Was there another parachute on the plane?” Jason asked quietly.

“Yes.” Too late she realized the trap she’d unwittingly walked into. Nervously she backed off a step. “Can we go? I’m really thirsty.”

“Why didn’t you wear a parachute?”

The words were some of the quietest he’d ever spoken to her, yet they had her backing up another step. Scanning the expression on his face she knew he wasn’t going to move until he got the full story. With a put-upon sigh she decided to give him the abbreviated version.

“You were unconscious, so obviously there was no way you could open a parachute. I knew there was no way I could hold on to you the whole way down, so I went with the obvious answer. I strapped you in the chute and held on,” turning on her heel she began to move away. “And it worked we’re both here on the ground, safe and sound.”

“Except your sweater shrunk,” Jason called after her.

Elizabeth’s step faltered mid-stride. “W-what?”

Taking a step closer he pulled the memory from the fog in his mind. “So then we fell out of the plane, and you were unconscious, so I fell away from you and hit the water. And this was new, not it’s small all because you wouldn’t wake up.”

He quoted her words verbatim and watched the guilty way she gnawed at her lip, looking everywhere but at him. “Is that what happened?”

“Maybe,” she felt his eyes on her. “Yes, that’s what happened. After I pulled the cord we started to spin and I lost my grip on you and fell,” she saw the way his eyes hardened at that and hurried on. “But as you can see I’m fine.”

“What the hell were you thinking?” Jason demanded. “Forget that you obviously weren’t thinking.”

“Newsflash Jason,” incensed Elizabeth interrupted him. “You weren’t really there. You have no idea what was going on up there. The pilot was dead and we were going to crash. We had to get off the plane, or we would die. I did the only thing I could to get us both out of there, and you know what? It worked. You have no right to get mad at me for saving your life.”

“Did it ever occur to you to wear a parachute as well so if you did lose your grip, or after pulling my cord, you could let go and pull your own?” Jason shot back.

“I…” Elizabeth sputtered. “I…” infuriated because his plan made so much more sense, and would have saved her those hair-raising minutes she stomped her foot in frustration. “I asked you on the plane if you had a better idea, and you were strangely silent. So you have no right to second guess the decisions I made,” she moved closer and faced him down. “That’s right Jason I made a decision and according to you it was another wrong one, but hey it worked.”

Both of them flashed back to the snake pit and neither wanted to deal with the consequences of what had happened there.

“I’m leaving.” Elizabeth turned on her heel and headed for the clearing. “You can stay here and bitch about the fact that I risked my life to save you and it worked. Or you can let it go and realize that as bad as my methods may have been they saved your ass and come with me. At this point I don’t really care what you do.” With that she moved off leaving a still fuming Jason in her wake.

~Devil’s Thumb~

“Hawk if your finished hitting on the female population of the village I would like to get on the boat and get off this island,” she interrupted him midline.

Hawk smiled ruefully at the Senorita he was speaking to and rolled his eyes in the direction of the frowning blonde. “Now Jessica honey if you would calm down you may realize I’m getting some useful information here.”

“The only information you’ve gotten from the Chiquita over there is the fact that her bust size is bigger then her IQ,” Jessica said crossly. “And as fascinating as her Betty Boop imitation is, we do have other places to be.”

Hank rolled his eyes at the woman he had been speaking to and jerked a thumb in Jessica’s direction before making another sign with his hand. The brunette nodded in understanding.

“Did you just call me crazy?” Jessica demanded from right behind him.

“Boss you really need to get the lingo down. I didn’t cal you crazy, I said you were loco,” Hawk corrected her with a lazy grin.

Narrowing her eyes Jessica inched closer.

“Easy now, I got us information. Apparently a few natives saw a parachute land on one of the islands.”

Jessica tapped her foot and waited, but Hawk rambled by her, heading for the dock. Irritated she spun around and trailed him. “Did Betty over there know which island? Or were you too sidetracked to ask?”

“You know you have such a fascination with my love life that I am beginning to think you’re jealous,” Hawk drawled coming to halt to study his steaming boss.

“I am fascinated,” Jessica never missed a beat. “I’m doing a thesis on the mating habits of the male of the species and how it is only one stepped removed from the primate family.”

Hawk’s easy grin faded at her words and it was his turn to catch up to her.

“You’ve already provided me with eight pages, two more and your section will be complete,” climbing on the powerful speedboat she could all but feel his glare on her back, and smothered a grin. “But for now I’d really like to know which island were heading too.”

The bad thing about working with his boss was even after all of these years he never knew when she was lying and when she wasn’t. He was beginning to doubt he ever would. “The one at the far end. The one the islanders call Devil’s Ghost.”

Jessica shook her head. “Where do they come up with these names?”

“They call it the Devil’s Ghost for a good reason,” Hawk’s expression brightened and he rubbed his hands together. “Apparently no one who ever goes to the island is ever seen again,” he leaned closer. “But when the wind is blowing right, you can hear the sounds of screams and moans coming from there.”

Taking in his amused expression and the gleam dancing in his green eyes she sighed and moved past him. “Hawk some day you’re going to have to grow up.”

~Clearing~

Elizabeth was still riding the edge of her temper when she stormed into the clearing. She never fought with Jason. Even when she had been jerking him around, they really hadn’t fought. But now it seemed like that was all they could do, and she didn’t like it. Knowing that the friction was coming because of her didn’t make her feel any better either. What she needed to do was to just take a breath and not let his coldness get to her. He had every right to be upset with her, and he had every right to take a jab at her if he wanted too. It was just she wasn’t used to him doing that.

Tensing in spite of herself when she heard him enter the clearing, she began to move towards the small stream. “I drank some of this last night, but I didn’t want to drink too much. Do you think it’s okay to drink?”

“I found a waterfall a little ways off, it feeds the stream here. The water will probably be cleaner there, and it’s also the direction we need to head. Do you want to go there?” Jason asked.

Turning around to face him he could see the surprise on her face. “What?”

“Nothing,” she began to move past him. “I was just surprised you asked my opinion.”

“Elizabeth we’re in this together,” Jason touched her arm when she moved by him, when she froze he dropped his hand. “Thank you for saving my life, both on the plane and back there with the snake. I don’t like that you put yourself in danger to help me, but I can’t change that you did.”

“Fair enough,” Elizabeth smiled slightly in his direction and took the first easy breath in awhile. Bending over she went to pick up his jacket and battled another blast of dizziness. Blinking hard she tried to force it away and hoped with everything in her that this wasn’t another side effect from the drug she had taken.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” straightening she tied his coat around her waist. She wasn’t about to tell him about the dizziness. If she did she would have to mention the drug she took, why she took it and Jason would go all-cold on her again. He said he didn’t want to know about her life in Port Charles, and the least she owed him was to abide by his wishes. She wouldn’t bring up Port Charles and all the trouble there, she could at least give him that. “Which way?”

~Port Charles~

Sonny Corinthos was pacing, and that in itself was unusual. His normal pattern of behavior when he was really worried about something was to stay in one place. He could stand or sit in one spot for hours, his mind stuck on what was bothering him. At times he couldn't move if his life depended on it. But apparently this wasn't one of those times.

Since learning of the possibility of Jason being dead. He quite literally hadn't been able to stand still. Maybe if he kept moving the words wouldn't be able to catch up to him and it wouldn't be real. He tried to concentrate on Elizabeth. As much as he liked her, and had wanted to help her, he found he could function better if he focused on her possibly being dead then Jason.

That made him a bastard.

But at least he was still moving. He hadn't gotten sucked into the darkness that was always waiting there for him in his mind. All he had to do was keep moving and he would figure a way out of this situation for everyone involved.

Johnny pressed his body harder against the wall and warily eyed his boss. Sonny wasn't behaving like Sonny, and that was beginning to worry him. He watched as Sonny ran a hand through his hair, muttered something then paced back to the window. Yes he was definitely worried. Sonny didn't even seem to realize that he had gotten a coffee stain on his jacket. That sort of thing was something his meticulous boss always noted.

Keeping one eye on his boss, and one eye on the clock he cursed Benny for taking so long to come up with some news on who wanted Jason badly enough to charter a plane and kidnap him. Sonny's path of pacing was getting shorter and shorter and he knew his volatile boss was coming close to exploding. He only hoped that Benny would get here before that happened, so he could take the full-force of it. In answer to his prayer a knock sounded from the door next to him.

Moving quickly Johnny opened the door slightly, and all but jerked the silver-haired accountant inside the room.

"Where the hell have you been Benny?" Sonny demanded as soon as he entered the room. "I said I wanted the information on Jason immediately. That was hours ago. What the hell have you been doing?"

"I'm sorry it took a little time, I wanted to make sure I had everything before I updated you," Benny began in his customary drawl.

"Now Benny."

Eye's widening under the threat of the glare he was receiving Benny hurriedly complied. "About 5 months ago a request was circulated. Someone wanted Jason Morgan, not dead, but in their custody by a specific date. I didn't pick up on it then, because it wasn't a hit.” Pausing Benny braced himself for the wrath of his boss.

“Go on,” Sonny ordered quietly coming to a halt behind the desk.

“About a week after the initial request was made it was withdrawn. Most assumed that whoever requested the jack had changed their minds. As we know now, it was pulled because someone accepted the jack.”

“Who did it?”

“Unique Unlimited,” Benny said with a sigh.

Johnny nodded in understanding, now it was beginning to make sense.

Sonny caught the nod from the corner of his eye and turned on the bodyguard. “You’ve heard of them?”

“Oh yeah, their the best in the business. Personal security, designing systems, jacks, kidnapping retrieval, explosives, hell you name it and you can’t find a better company,” Johnny answered.

“I know,” Benny nodded in agreement. “If we’d been using them this whole time we wouldn’t be completing construction on our 4th warehouse.”

“So their good at hits too?” Sonny tried to lead the conversation back to the important part.

“No they don’t do hits,” Johnny moved farther in the room. “Defensive driving, arms training, explosives, chemical weapons overview, the best you can find outside the military but they don’t do contract hits.”

“Yeah they’ll train someone how to kill but won’t actually take the job themselves.”

“If you two are finished with your mutual admiration club I would like to get back to finding out who wanted Jason,” Sonny snapped.

Chastened Benny nodded and looked at his notebook again. “The contract was not to kill Jason, only to have him in custody by a specific date.”

“What date?”

“October 15.”

“That’s in three days,” a thought occurred to him and he leveled a glare at his squirming accountant. “About this Unique International…”