When you fall, I’ll take my turn
And fan the flames as your blazes burn
We can’t wait to burn it to the ground
When you fall, I’ll take my turn
And fan the flames as your blazes burn
We can’t wait to burn it to the ground
– Burn It Down, Linkin Park

---

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Maslak, Istanbul: Lab

Luke pulled his fielder’s cap low, covering his forehead, then stepped up to the front desk. “Bir imzaya ihtiyacım var,” he said, tapping the clipboard where he wanted the receptionist to sign. If she found his Turkish a little rough, she said nothing. Only completed the signature. “Teşekkürler,” he said with a nod, keeping the group of men who had stepped off the elevator in the corner of his eye.

Move to the side. Just a little. Just—ah.

Jackpot.

Kiremit House: Kitchen

Luke paced the small room back and forth, waiting impatiently while footsteps echoed overhead, then on the steps. Finally—Nikolas came in, followed by Britt, with Lucky close behind. “I found him.” His smile was almost too gleeful. “I found him, and I found the lab.”

“You found Valentin?” Nikolas repeated. He came forward, seized Luke’s arm. “Where? What was he doing?”

“Spinelli was right to put this place at the top of his list. I had a feeling about it as soon as I showed up.” Luke whipped the cap from his head, tossed it on the table. “Just not enough foot traffic to be a real clinic, you know? But I waited, and I cased the place overnight. I sent in one of the WSB guys who came back with some photos — it was definitely a clinic, but no patients. Set up for medical research. I sent him home in case I found anything useful. I figured you didn’t want it getting back to Port Charles.”

“No. But how can you be sure—”

“Early this morning, I went in on a delivery assignment around the time the place opened, figuring it might be my best shot to see who shows up first thing. And there he was. Valentin Cassadine—” Luke flipped around his phone, tapped the screen. “What do you say to that?”

“Yeah, that’s definitely him,” Nikolas said tightly. Britt leaned over his shoulder.

“I know the guy next to him,” Britt said. “I think—can I see it—” Nikolas handed her the phone. “Yeah, this is Joseph Klein.”

Luke nodded. “Yeah, Spinelli said it was why he’d put Maslak first. So if he ran the lab in Russia, he’s running it here. That connects Valentin to the Russian lab. So why did he relocate Klein here?”

Britt folded her arms, knitted her brow. “I worked with him in Russia. At the lab in St. Petersburg right out of medical school, and then last year when I was on Jason’s case. He was running the lab there. Joseph talked about Turkey once. It’s been forever since I thought about it—we were friendly enough when I was there the first time, but I avoided—”

“Get to the point,” Nikolas snapped, and she focused on him, confused by the snap in his tone.

“He has family here,” Britt said. “I think he said a grandparent was Turkish. It was one of the languages he knew. Russian, German, Turkish. It made him pretty valuable, especially to my mother. We both left the lab in St. Petersburg at the same time. I went to New York, and he came to Turkey. Hey, is that place on Sumpter or Sumner—”

“Sumer,” Luke said. He tipped his head. “You didn’t think to tell us that you knew the guy who was running the lab in St. Petersburg?”

Britt folded her arms, looked at Nikolas who was glaring at her, then back at Luke, bewildered. “I didn’t know you were looking for him. Nikolas knew everyone I worked with back then. I gave him names to research a year ago. And I forgot Joseph had anything to do with Turkey until I saw his picture again. We—”

“Why the hell should we believe you?” Nikolas bit out. He grabbed her arm. “You’re still keeping secrets. What did I say—”

“Hey, back off—” Lucky said, but Britt was already pulling her arm back.

“Okay. Okay. You know what? Go to hell. I’m done with this.”

She whirled around, stalked down the short hallway and ripped open the front door, slamming it behind her.

“What’s your problem?” Lucky said to Nikolas. “She was telling us what she knew—”

“Where was this information before?” Nikolas shot back. “I’m tired of finding things out after the fact—”

Luke grimaced. “If we piss her off too much, she might decide to burn down the world. She knows where Valentin is now and could make a call home to save her own skin—”

“I’ll take care of it.” Lucky turned, jogged after her, leaving Luke’s grimace to deepen into a scowl. He did not like that development.

“Talk to me about this clinic,” Nikolas said, drawing Luke’s attention back. “Let Lucky deal with Britt.”

Kiremit Caddesi

Britt, in her fury, had opted to make a right when she’d left the house, which meant she was going downhill and had a hell of a head start. Lucky jogged after her, trying to find her brown hair among the groups of tourists.

He found her two blocks down, on the corner, leaning against a traffic light. “You didn’t get far.”

“My passport is in my room,” Britt said. “And you know it’s not easy to get a good fake these days. I lose that, I might as well turn myself in.” She looked at him. “You elected to make sure I didn’t call home and snitch?”

Lucky made a face. “It was suggested you might take that route. That’s why they think I came after you. But I wanted to apologize—”

“Don’t bother. You didn’t do anything, and I can’t complain that your father and Nikolas don’t trust me. I haven’t done much to earn trust from anyone. No point in being surprised.” She closed her eyes. “I just needed a minute. I deserve the crap they throw at me, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy to take it.”

“Neither one of them is in a position to judge anyone else,” Lucky said. “My old man does nothing but lie until he’s forced to tell the truth. And Nikolas—well, you know he’s not clean. He’s lying to his own son, pretending to be dead. He had Hayden Barnes shot to protect his secrets. What you did, Britt, you did. But I don’t think you’ve lied to me yet. That’s more than I can say for either of them back at the house.”

“I should have thought about Joseph,” Britt murmured. “But I put him on a list for Nikolas a year ago, Lucky. Everything I just told you? It’s probably available online. But Luke didn’t bother to even look at Spinelli’s list until yesterday, did he? We didn’t even see it. Maybe if we had, I would have seen that address, and it might have clicked.”

“I don’t think Dad showed it to any of us, including Nikolas.”

“The problem is your dad doesn’t trust Nikolas either. So I don’t know what we’re doing here. Nikolas would have found this lab a long time ago if he’d bothered to take me seriously. Which he clearly doesn’t.” Britt looked away, back over the street. “I keep thinking if I do one more thing, it’ll be enough. I just—I need for it to be enough, and it never is. So I’m going back, Lucky, but I’m packing my things and leaving. I’ll keep my mouth shut, but—”

“Okay, so my dad and Nikolas suck, but I’ve been okay, right?” he asked. She sighed. “We’re making progress. You and me. On those files. There’s medical shit I don’t understand. And I have the context you don’t. So come back and help me, okay? I’m the one with friends at the PCPD. I can help you with the charges, and no one thinks I’m dead back home.” A deadbeat maybe.

“I should have my head examined,” Britt muttered. “Fine. Fine. I’ll come back. It’s not like I really have any other choice.”

Kiremit House: Study

After Britt’s outburst and dramatic exit, Nikolas had gone upstairs to watch over the street, to watch for their return and Luke had followed.

“I say let her go,” Luke told him. “She’s keeping secrets, you saw that—she knew where we could look—”

“She did give me a list of names last year. I was distracted and forgot about them,” Nikolas said, a bit shamefaced. “I was balancing so many things, and it just—I put it to the side. When she couldn’t wake Jason, I didn’t even think about following up. I don’t know if Klein was on there, but maybe he was.” Nikolas looked at Luke. “If I’d looked at that list, I might have found this lab long ago. I just…had other priorities.”

“Yeah.” Luke grimaced. “And if I’d showed her the list, then—okay, fine, on this one, maybe she’s on the right side. But that doesn’t mean we need her—”

“I told you, Luke. She has information that we don’t—how about that little tidbit about her in Scarsdale, New York? Confirming that Liesl worked at that lab for more than just a day or two. She was on this project long term. That’s something. Look, I lost my temper with Britt. I shouldn’t have.”

But she’d lied to him before. Repeatedly. It was just simpler now to assume everything she told him was false and sort it out later, even if it ruffled her feathers. He wasn’t interested in learning the hard way that Britt had tricked him again.

He looked back out the window, saw Lucky and Britt appear, walking towards the house. “Okay. She’s coming back.”

“You’re going to regret that girl staying on, Nikolas, and if she screws with my boy, it’ll be on your head.”

“Yeah, fine—” The door downstairs opened, and there were footsteps. A moment later, Lucky appeared in the doorway, followed by Britt. “You found her.”

“I’m staying,” Britt said, lifting her chin. “But I’d appreciate if you’d wait for me to actually lie about something before—”

“Hey, you’re breathing, aren’t you?” Luke said. “That’s all the courtesy you’re getting from me—”

“Run over any toddlers today, Luke?” she asked coolly, and his face reddened. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She flicked her gaze to Nikolas. “I didn’t lie about Klein—”

“Luke and I just put our notes together. I should have remembered the names from last year. And Luke should have showed you the addresses. It might have saved us time.” Nikolas shrugged. “But you haven’t earned our trust, Britt—”

“You and I can agree to disagree there,” Britt retorted. “Because I think I have done everything you’ve asked and swallowed every nasty shot you—or you,” she spat at Luke, “have made. But even I have a limit to how much I’m going to take. I’m doing my best.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“I’m going back to work.” Britt turned, disappeared. They heard the steps a moment later.

“She makes another comment about Jake—” Luke began.

“What, Dad, you’ll run her over with your car, too?” Lucky cut in, and Luke closed his mouth. “You want to throw her lies in her face, Dad, I can give her a list of your greatest hits. How about pretending you loved my mother more than anything else, but having an affair with Holly Scorpio? Or maybe the time you shoved her to the floor at a disco—”

“All right, all right.” Luke swallowed hard. “We all got our demons. Let’s just let them stay buried.”

“That’s all I’m saying.” With another cool look, Lucky disappeared. They heard his bedroom door slam a moment later.

Luke glared at Nikolas. “You see? Already twisting my boy. I’m going back to the lab to do something useful.”

Kiremit House: Britt’s Bedroom

She sat on the edge of her bed, her hands flattened against the mattress on either side, and asked herself again — why was she doing this? Why did she believe, after all this time, that Nikolas would finally forgive her and give her the ability to go back to her life—

She just wanted the charges of child endangerment to go away. She still had two more years before the statute of limitation was up, and then she could go back to the States, move somewhere new, get admitted to the medical board, and go back to her life. Start over. She was still young enough to do that.

There was a light knock on her door, and Britt sighed. “Come in.”

She didn’t have to ask who it was — no one else would make the trek of all the flights of stairs. “What?”

“You’re not going to look at me?”

She twisted, found him leaning against the closed door. “What?” she repeated.

“I want to start by saying I meant what I said out on the street. You’ve never lied to me, at least that I can tell. You’ve played it straight, so that’s how I’ve treated you.”

“Yeah, so what?” Britt moved from her bed to the desk chair, drawing up one leg. “You change your mind?”

“I’m saying that because I don’t want you to misunderstand what I’m about to say.” Lucky hesitated. “You’re keeping secrets.”

Her eyes went hot, and she jerked to her feet. “You said—”

“I said I didn’t think you lied to me, Britt. But that doesn’t mean I believe you’ve told us everything you know is relevant. And why would you? I know my brother. I know my dad. You need to keep some pieces back, don’t you? Leverage. You need to protect yourself.”

Tears burned at her eyes. “Why are you saying this—”

“Because I think you might be ready to trust someone, and neither of them are good candidates. I am.” He flattened a hand against his chest. “I’ve played it fair all the way through, Britt. I think I’ve earned a measure of your trust, just like you’ve earned mine.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t expect you to tell me everything. I’m not going to tell you everything either,” he added. “Because some things—well, some of those things are just for me. But I want you to know you can trust me. So, a secret for a secret.”

“A secret—” Britt slowly sank back onto her chair. “Like what?”

“Something that only I know, so if it gets back to Nikolas or my dad, I’ll know it came from you.” Lucky raised a brow. “You in?”

“I don’t—” She swallowed hard. “What if this is a trick?”

“I’ll go first.” Lucky paused, focused on her. “Jake. You know about him, don’t you?”

“Yes—”

“The summer he came home, almost three years ago. Nikolas tracked me down in June. I live in Dublin. Or I did before all of this. And he found me there and told me Helena had opened up the west wing again. It hasn’t been open since my mother was a prisoner on the island. He knew I could get on the island quieter than he could, so he asked me to check it out. When I went there, I found Jake. Living with Helena.”

Britt frowned. “I knew that—”

“Nikolas gave me the tip that sent me to my son. It wasn’t until we’d taken him home, until I’d given Jake back to his mother and made it right—until then, I was too overwhelmed to ask questions.” Lucky’s eyes were unfocused, as if he were back in that moment. “And I realized that Helena had simply handed Jake over. No worries. No fights. I went back to Greece. And I asked a few questions of the servants.” He paused. “Nikolas knew about the west wing almost a year earlier. He’d visited it often. Spending hours with Jake.”

Britt’s breath caught. “He knew?”

“For months. Even as he told Elizabeth that Jake Doe was Jason, Nikolas knew that Jake was alive and said nothing to her.” Lucky looked at her, his gaze sharpened. “That’s my first secret. My brother lied about my son. And continues to lie.”

“That’s—” She rubbed her chest. “That’s awful. You thought he was dead—”

“Elizabeth shattered into tiny little pieces when Jake died,” Lucky murmured. “She was already having a rough time. I wasn’t helping — I ripped into her after the affair. So did pretty much everyone else. It’s funny — you know that she was treated so much worse than I was when I cheated twice as much? Anyway.” He took a breath. “She had a nervous breakdown after Jake died. Nikolas knew that. He knew what Jake being alive would mean to her. I fell apart. I couldn’t function in Port Charles. Everywhere I looked—” Lucky gestured. “Everywhere I could see all the ways I’d failed. As a father, as a husband, as a man—all of them. Losing Jake broke what was left of us. And Nikolas knew that.”

“And he kept quiet.”

“Yes.” Lucky took a deep breath. “I never confronted him about it. I couldn’t. We started tracking down Helena, and I wanted that to be the focus. And I couldn’t stand for Elizabeth to know. It was bad enough I had to live with it, but to tell Elizabeth, my mother—” He shook his head. “So I didn’t. I kept it to myself. You’re the only one who knows.”

And she could see it, in every line of his body. She could see the truth. “I don’t have nearly as many secrets as you might think,” she said slowly. “Some of them, I don’t even know that I know. Like Klein’s connection to Turkey. So maybe we’ll find more as we go through the files. But there’s something I can tell you. I just—” Britt folded her arms, looked at the floor. “Your secret is about something that was done to you. This is something I should have told Nikolas. And didn’t.”

“I don’t have a lot of love for him, Britt. Whatever you say, it’ll stay right here.”

She nodded. Well, it worth was a try. She could just…slide it out slowly. “Last year, with Jason’s case, when I told Nikolas I couldn’t wake him up, it was a lie.” She looked at Lucky, whose expression remained blank. “I went to Russia, I used my father’s name to get inside. But I had worked there before, so it was easier. I needed Faison to get access to Jason. I spent a month working on his condition. And I was just about to complete the treatment when my mother showed up.”

“Liesl.”

“Yes.” Britt licked her lips. “Faison found out I was using his name to get to Jason—or Patient Six. That’s what they called him. My mother told me that what I was doing was interfering with my father’s plans. She knew about Nikolas. I don’t know how. I swear I don’t. She told me if I didn’t listen, if I didn’t stop trying to wake up Jason, she’d make sure Nikolas was dead. So I stopped the treatment. And I left the clinic. I told Nikolas I couldn’t do it, and he didn’t call for my help again until last week.”

Lucky tipped his head. “Why didn’t you tell Nikolas that Liesl threatened you? That you were forced to stop?”

“Who would believe me?” Britt said. “Do you think Nikolas would ever believe that I didn’t know how my mother found me? I kept my mouth shut because Jason had nothing to do with my goal in clearing my name. But—the final treatment. I switched out the sedatives they were using on him, and he received it anyway.”

“So that’s why he eventually woke up.”

“Yes. I don’t know if my mother knows it was me. I thought maybe Nikolas would be happy if Jason woke up eventually. But he didn’t contact me and I just—I kept it to myself.” Britt shook her head. “Anyway. That’s my secret.” For now. She could survive Nikolas knowing about that — but if Nikolas knew that she had a pretty good idea why Valentin had needed to kill Nikolas in order to gain his inheritance—

She didn’t trust anyone that much. She wouldn’t live to regret it.

“Okay. So we have our agreement.” Lucky stepped away from the door. “I’ll get back to work.”

Maslak Lab: Office

DENIED.

The screen flashed, and then went black. Valentin scowled and reached for his cell phone, intending to get the best hacker on this job — he’d reached the limit of his own abilities, and damn it — he needed to get into the protocol files —

But as he picked up the phone, he saw the number of missed calls from Nina had ballooned to more than ten, and he had six additional voice mails. He grimaced. For the moment, as far as he knew, he’d managed to slip out of the Istanbul Airport without a trace to leave behind for the idiots back in Port Charles.

But even idiots could eventually stumble on the truth.

He was running out of time.

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