In this farewell
There’s no blood, there’s no alibi
‘Cause I’ve drawn regret
From the truth of a thousand lies
So let mercy come and wash away
– What I’ve Done, Linkin Park

---

Saturday, September 27, 2008

 General Hospital: Emergency Room

“Yeah, yeah, thanks Audrey, I appreciate it—” Lucky frowned when he turned a corner and saw Jason and Patrick in a heated argument. Was it about Kate Howard’s shooting? Why would Patrick care about any of that—

Deciding he deserved answers, Lucky strode across the room reaching Jason just as Patrick walked off in the other direction. “Aren’t you supposed to be over international waters?” he asked scathingly. “Or did you let Elizabeth go to Italy alone while you fixed all Sonny’s problems again?”

Jason clenched his jaw, then closed his eyes, and shook his head lightly. “No. She was on her way home, and—” He looked at Lucky. “There was an accident. She’s alive, but she’s on her way to surgery for some bleeding—” His hand, which had been resting on the counter, fisted tight. “Maybe a concussion. I don’t know what else. Patrick didn’t give me a lot of details.”

Lucky tensed. “She’s in surgery? Damn it.” He looked past Jason, down the hallway where Patrick had disappeared. “What happened? What did you get her wrapped up in?”

Jason scowled. “Nothing. It was an accident—”

He scoffed. “Right. Kate gets shot and two hours later, Elizabeth is run down—but, sure, it’s not about you.” Lucky shook his head. “Great. Great. This is the last thing I need right now,” he muttered, dragging his phone out of his pocket.

“What the hell does that mean?” Jason demanded, and Lucky whipped his head up.

“My sister is catatonic from your boss’s wedding celebration,” Lucky bit out. “We’ve been trying to get her a deal with the DA’s office so we can transfer her to a facility that would prevent this from happening, but you couldn’t keep a sniper out of the wedding. I told Nikolas letting her go was a bad idea—”

“This wasn’t my fault—”

“No, it never is. This is why Elizabeth doesn’t want you anywhere near our kids,” Lucky told Jason, taking pleasure in the way the other man flinched. “You got Michael shot in the head. Sonny’s kids have been through hell since he came into the picture—” He grimaced. “I’m not going to be able to go to California. Not with all of this going on. Elizabeth is too soft on this and if I’m not around to remind her—”

“What are you talking about?” Jason stepped towards him. “Where are you going?”

“Nowhere now. She wants to bitch about Sam being around the boys, but last time I checked, the only one putting people in danger is you. I’m going to have Sam pick them up from Audrey’s, and you can tell Elizabeth that if she has a problem with that—”

“Sam isn’t going anywhere near them,” Jason cut in, and Lucky rolled his eyes, already scrolling through his contact list for Sam’s number. He lifted the phone to his ear.

“Sam, hey, I need you to go get the kids from Audrey’s and bring them—”

The phone was torn from his grip, and Lucky made a grab for it, but Jason had it. “Don’t go anywhere near Audrey Hardy,” Jason said flatly. “I’ll have the guards stop you if you even try.” He snapped the phone closed and leveled a murderous glare at Lucky—one that had him fighting not to swallow hard and take a step back.

“What do you think you’re doing—”

“Elizabeth is in surgery,” Jason said, tightening his hand around the phone. “She’s not dead, and you’re not going to treat her wishes like they don’t matter. Sam isn’t getting anywhere those boys—”

“Who’s going to stop me?”

“I am,” Jason said, and Lucky snorted. “Because Jake is my son, and you don’t have the right to do a damn thing with him.”

Lucky widened his eyes, took a step back. “What—” He looked around them, and they’d garnered a few stares. He swallowed hard. “What are you—”

Jason tossed Lucky the phone and he had to scramble to catch it. “You want to play games, Lucky? While Elizabeth is in surgery and can’t stop you? Fine. Jake is my son, and I’ll have a court order for paternity rights by Monday morning. You don’t have a custody agreement with Cameron, and you never bothered to adopt him. So they’re staying with Audrey, and I’ll have Diane file a temporary restraining order to keep them right where they are, and believe me, I’ll make sure she gets an affidavit from Amelia Joffe. See how Sam feels about that.”

He stepped closer, and Lucky couldn’t stop himself from taking a step back. Jason hadn’t looked at him like that in years, and it was unnerving to be on the other side of the man who killed more than his fair share of mafia rivals.

“Elizabeth is going to be pissed—”

“She wanted to do this six months ago. A week ago. I’m the one holding back, but we’re done with that now. You’ve got a choice, Lucky. What’s it going to be?”

Lucky exhaled slowly. “It looks like I never had a choice at all, did I? You and Elizabeth just deciding for all of us. Fine. You want those kids? You want to play daddy? Have at it. I’m done.”

He headed for the double doors and stalked out of the emergency room.

Jason seemed to come back to himself, and look around, his hard gaze sending anyone still watching hurrying away. Damn it. He dragged a hand through his hair and went for his own phone.

“Cody? Yeah. I need you to double up security at Audrey Hardy’s house. Yeah, the boys are with her now, not Spencer. I’ll fill you in on the rest later.”

He slid the phone in his pocket. If Elizabeth had been at the church with him today, she wouldn’t have been on the road. If he had called her from the police station, if he’d had Diane call her sooner — if he’d done anything differently, Elizabeth wouldn’t be in surgery right now.  Everything he’d done to protect her had failed. He’d left her alone, unguarded, and now she was in the operating room next to Kate.

When she woke up, Jason would have to tell her what happened with Lucky, and she’d probably be upset with him for making a scene. For putting himself in between Lucky and Cameron which really wasn’t any of his business, but just like that night on Spoon Island when he’d told Lucky about Jake, Jason hadn’t been able to stop himself.

He’d handle that when the time came, but for right now, Jason could only think about Elizabeth and the boys and keeping them safe. Everything else could wait.

General Hospital: Surgery Waiting Room

“How much longer before we know something?” Olivia demanded. Her dress swished as she stalked towards the door, then whirled back. She stabbed a finger at Maxie. “You. This is your place. Go find out what’s going on. You know who to ask—”

“I’m not a doctor, okay!” Maxie threw up her hands. “Matt said it would be hours! Spinal surgery—”

Olivia moaned, pressing her hands to her mouth, turning away. “God. God. What if she can’t walk again?”

“Then we’ll figure out how to make wheelchairs look stunning,” Maxie bit out. “Okay? She’s Kate Howard, one of the most influential women in the damn country!”

“She’s Connie—”

“She’s Kate—oh, I can’t do this anymore! You’re insufferable, and as soon as Kate wakes up—”

“Until she does, you little twit, you’d better remember I’m the family here, not you. So you wanna stay in this room, you wanna be near Kate?” Olivia demanded. “You’d better knock it off with the attitude.”

“Excuse me?” Maxie drew in a sharp breath.

“You heard me. Kate might find you amusing, but you’re just a bossy little bitch with a mouth bigger than her brain. Keep talking to me like this and you’re out—”

“Ha! Just try it, you condescending nitwit! How do you think I got Matt to give me any information in the first place?” Maxie planted both hands on her hips. “I’m on the emergency contact list which means the only person Kate wanted here was me!” She huffed. “And probably Sonny if he can stop getting arrested long enough to get here.”

“Oh, no, no—that bastard isn’t getting anywhere near my cousin!”

“What are you talking about? He’s her fiancé! He should be here with us right now—” And as soon as he was bailed out, Maxie thought, he’d be able to take over fighting this horrible woman. No wonder Kate had run from Bensonhurst screaming.

“You wanna push it, blondie? You really think being the emergency contact is going to protect you? Wanna take that risk?”

Maxie opened her mouth, then closed it, suddenly unsure if it would protect her.

Olivia smirked. “That’s what I thought. Keep your mouth and thoughts to yourself, and let the adults handle this.”

Maxie pressed her lips together, fisted her hands at her sides, wanting to let all her fury fly. Not trusting herself, she whirled around and headed for the door.

In the hallway, stepping off the elevators, Maxie spied an ally. Finally. “Spinelli!”

“Maximista—oof—” Spinelli grunted when the blonde threw herself into his arms. Tentatively, he embraced her back. “Never fear, the Jackal is here.”  

General Hospital: Hallway

“I thought you’d gone home.”

Sitting on the floor, at the sound of Nikolas’s voice, Johnny lunged up. “I just wanted to see her—”

“She’s sleeping.” Nikolas hesitated. “At least, I think she is. It’s—” He cleared his throat. “It’s hard to know sometimes. I’m sorry.”

Johnny nodded. “Nadine told me about California. If you think that’s the best way to help her, to bring her back, then okay. It’s just—” He cleared his throat. “I could go, right? I could just be there. You could tell me where, and then when she starts to recover, I’ll go away, and she won’t even have to see me if that’s the problem—”

“I want Lulu to have fresh treatment with new doctors.” But now Nikolas seemed more kind, his tone gentler. “My mother? It started like this. Drifting away until we couldn’t bring her back. I didn’t want her to go to that wedding.”

“But—”

“I don’t know if this is permanent like my mother.” Nikolas looked away, his throat working hard as he absorbed his own words. “But if it is, she’ll have the best care possible. But for now, Johnny, maybe it’s for the best if you went home.”

Johnny shook his head. “No. No, I love her—”

“I believe you, Johnny. I really do. But this isn’t going to be fixed overnight. And maybe not weeks or months.” Nikolas put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “And Lu wouldn’t want you to sit around and wait for her to come home. If she begins to get better, if she asks for you—” he made a face, “—you have my word that I’ll send for you.”

“Do you—do you promise that?” Johnny said. “I know you hate me. That you blame me for this—”

“It’s easier to blame you.” Nikolas looked impossibly old as he looked towards the hospital room. “No, she shouldn’t have gone to the wedding. But she wanted to go. And I know how hard it is to say no to the woman you love.” He cleared his throat. “Go home, Johnny.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

Nikolas watched his sister’s boyfriend leave, and turned when he heard his brother’s voice in the other direction. Lucky came around the corner, his expression thunderous.  “What happened?”

“I don’t even know where to start,” Lucky muttered. He leaned against the wall, took a deep breath. “I just got into it with Jason in the emergency room.”

Nikolas frowned. “About the wedding?”

“That. And, well, Elizabeth. Jason stood her up at the airport, and Elizabeth was on her way home, and got into a car accident.”

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Nikolas had grabbed Lucky’s arm. “What? Is she okay? Where—”

“All I know is she’s in surgery, Jason wasn’t really helpful on the details. He was too busy telling me what to do with my kids.”

Nikolas fell back, furrowing his brow. “I don’t understand—”

“I left them with Audrey, you know, because I thought this would be—” Lucky looked past him, towards the door of Lulu’s room. “I didn’t know how long it would be. But with Elizabeth in surgery, I thought I’d be stuck here all night. I called Sam to pick them up—”

“Sam? Lucky. You told me Elizabeth didn’t want the boys around her—”

“Yeah, well, I—” Lucky shook his head. “I guess I overplayed Jason’s guilt,” he admitted, irritated. “I did it in front of him, and Jason got pissed at me. I told him Elizabeth was going to have to deal with it in court, and I was angry because, well, this is the whole reason she asked me to raise Jake, right? Because of the danger. Kate gets shot and of course, I’m worried about the boys being around Jason. I was gonna put my foot down about it, and he just—”

Realization set in, and Nikolas nodded. “Called your bluff.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Shit.” Lucky slid down the wall to sit on the floor, his knees drawn up. “Told the whole emergency room Jake’s his kid, and threatened to file paternity papers on Monday, and get Diane to keep me from the boys if I put them near Sam.”

“Well, Jake, yeah, but Cam—”

Lucky looked up at Nikolas, regret swirling. “I never adopted him. There’s no custody order. I have zero legal claim to him other than what Elizabeth allowed. I never—I never needed to do anything. He just…he was mine. But he’s not. Because Jason’s making me choose.”

“He’s not—”

“There’s—” Lucky stared straight ahead, refusing to look up. “There’s more. There’s a reason Elizabeth doesn’t want the boys with Sam. A—” He winced. “A good reason. And Jason knows it, too. He’s got a witness that could really screw Sam’s life up. He threatened to make her part of it. To get a statement from her.”

“Ah.”

Lucky wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I told him I was done. You know. And I was. With the conversation. But—he said Elizabeth’s already changed her mind. That Jason’s the one that’s been holding back from claiming Jake. I guess—I mean Michael screwed him up pretty bad.”

Nikolas slowly slid down to sit next to his brother. “You can understand that. He raised Michael for a little while. You don’t turn off that kind of love.”

“No, you don’t.” Lucky looked at him. “I could fight, you know. I could get your aunt or another lawyer. I’m the one that’s taken care of Jake. I was there in the middle of the night, walking the room while he was teething. Agonized over fevers. And Cam—they’re mine, Nikolas. And I could fight for them.”

“You could,” Nikolas said slowly. “You’d probably win some visitation. Even with Jake. You know, Jason fought for Michael back then.”

Lucky frowned. “What?”

“You probably don’t remember because it was just around the time you, uh, left us,” Nikolas added. “But Jason fought to keep seeing Michael on the same basis you’d do it. I know he won, because Alexis was his lawyer. He just…ended up not keeping up with it. Or maybe he walked away. I don’t — we weren’t exactly close.”

Lucky’s head fell back against the wall, his eyes lifted upwards. “If I do that, I have to stay here. Otherwise, Jason’s just going to take over. You didn’t see him. The way he looked at me. He didn’t care who heard about Jake. We’re not alone on an island. It was a crowded room. Elizabeth is going to wake up, she’s going to hear that I was going to put Sam with the boys, and that’ll be it. I’ll have to stay here and fight for my kids.”

“Or,” Nikolas said, “you could agree to Elizabeth’s apparently very good concerns, and go to California, leaving Sam here. You’re the one that has to choose, Lucky.”

“Not really a choice, is it?” Lucky asked bitterly.

“Don’t do that. Don’t cop out on this. I’ll be out there with Lu and Mom. You can visit. You want your kids, Lucky, I’ll pay for a goddamn lawyer. We’ll find the best family attorney in the state. Say the word, and I’ll make it happen. You have a choice. You said it. Biology isn’t everything. Where was Jason for the last year and a half? He chose to let you claim his son. And Cam? He’s never known anyone other than you. Say the word,” Nikolas repeated, “and we’ll fight to the end.”

Lucky looked at him then, and Nikolas saw that his brother had already given up. “Lucky—”

“I had to push it,” he murmured. “I don’t know what made me do that in front of Jason. I knew how Elizabeth felt about Sam. I guess I thought I’d only be dealing with her. That she would back down.” There was a beat of silence as Lucky seemed to absorb his own words.

“Lucky—”

“I don’t know. I just—I’m tired. My little sister is gone, crawled inside herself and we can’t get her back. Mom—she woke up for a little while, and it was like magic. What if—what if we never get her back? Nikolas? What if this is genetic, and Lu is like Mom? What if that’s just it?”

“I’m not going to think about that—”

“I just—I don’t know how many battles I want to fight where I know I won’t win. Not in any way that matters. Because, yeah, maybe I get to stay in Jake and Cam’s life, but it’ll be Jason with them every day. Is that what I want? A front seat to the man who stole my family getting to keep them? Or do I take door number two and watch my sister waste away like my mother is?” Lucky closed his eyes. “Neither’s a great choice, Nikolas, so don’t judge me for not being in a hurry to make a decision.”

General Hospital: Emergency Room

Carly wrapped the ends of her cardigan around her more tightly, her dark eyes searching for a familiar face. No one was answering her calls. Not Sonny, Diane, Jason — and no one knew what had happened in the church. Was Kate really hurt? Had there really been gunfire?

“Why am I not surprised to find you here?”

Carly turned, frowned when she saw Jax striding through the entrance himself. “Jax. Oh. Good, good. You have to know something, don’t you? I can’t find someone who will tell me what happened. Jason’s not answering—”

“Don’t worry, Sonny’s just fine. He’s been arrested for assaulting Johnny Zacchara,” Jax bit out. “I can guess he hadn’t had enough violence for the day But you can go bail him out if you want. Maybe get in a quickie now that he’s available.”

Carly inhaled sharply, and Jax grimaced, looking away. “That is a terrible thing to say. I never wished any harm on Kate—is she—God—please don’t tell me—”

“She’s still alive. For now. Olivia said she was in surgery.” Jax rubbed his jaw. “That was a low blow, and I’m sorry. I just—” He swallowed hard. “I told her. I told Kate not to do this. She’s a friend, and I care about her. But she, just like every other damn woman in my life, just had to prove me wrong. You’d think I’d learn to stay far away from any woman connected to that son of a bitch.”

Carly closed her eyes. “What do you want me to do, Jax? What can I possibly do to fix this?”

“Don’t ask me that question. Not standing in the spot where a doctor told me you’d miscarried our child. Where the doctors told us Michael would never wake up again,” Jax said roughly. “When is it going to be enough, Carly? Do you have to lose Morgan to get it through your head?”

She pressed her lips together, folded her arms around herself, wishing that she could somehow chase the cold that had settled into her bones. “It’s enough. I told you months ago it was enough. I have full custody, don’t I? I made a mistake—”

“He’s a mistake you’ve made over and over again for a decade, Carly. I’m not interested in being another piece of roadkill. Excuse me. I need to find Olivia. You should go home,” he said, his tone softer now. “Be with Morgan. Call your mother. And for God’s sake, leave Sonny in jail where he damn well belongs.”

General Hospital: ICU

Jason closed the door behind him, stepping out into the hallway as Cody approached with another man following. “Hey.”

“Hey. This is Jimmy.” Cody touched the guard’s shoulder. “Francis sent him over to be on the door here so you don’t have to worry about anything. Diane called from the PCPD — Sonny’s not getting out of lockup tonight, but he’ll be arraigned tomorrow and probably make bail..”

Jason grimaced, folded his arms. “Okay. Kate? How is she? Do we know anything?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cody said with a short nod. “Spinelli’s with Maxie and the cousin, Olivia. They’re getting regular updates. Kate’s still in surgery, and they expect it to last at least three or four more hours. Spinal surgery,” he added. “Patrick Drake got called to scrub in and assist about an hour ago. The bullet is in a really rough spot. They’re worried about paralysis.”

Jason exhaled. “Okay. Tell Spinelli to stay with Maxie, but if he could—” He cleared his throat. “If he could look into Elizabeth’s accident.”

Cody’s eyes sharpened. “Do you think it’s related?”

“No,” Jason said, but only after some hesitation. “No,” he repeated a bit more firmly. “No, there’s no reason to think that. But I just—I want to know more about the accident. Spinelli can get the traffic cameras, can’t he? And you’ll talk to our guy in the PCPD?”

“Sure. Sure.” Cody glanced past Jason where Elizabeth lay in the bed, her eyes closed, her face pale. A bruise bloomed on the side of her face, a dark purple splotch from her jaw crawling up to her cheek. “How is she?”

Jason half-turned to look at her—”Stable. Her liver was…it was causing internal bleeding, but they’ve stopped it. Some bruised ribs. Mostly from the airbag. It was—” He cleared his throat. “There’s a concussion.”

“I’m sorry,” Cody said. “There’s nothing about the shooting yet. Cops are still all over the scene, and they’re keeping all the records close so our guy doesn’t know much yet. All we know is what we thought at the beginning. Shooter was in the vestibule upstairs. He must have come in with the guests, hid the gun in his jacket.”

“Yeah. I wanna know where the Zaccharas were,” Jason said. “Not Johnny. I think he’s clean.” He paused. “He wouldn’t have brought Lulu to the wedding if anything was planned. I know that much. But I don’t trust Anthony or Claudia.”

“I’ll look into it. We doubled up the guards at Audrey Hardy’s house. A car out front and at each of the cross streets. We didn’t think you’d want us to knock on the door.”

“No. I talked to her earlier when Elizabeth was out of surgery.” And that had been a fun conversation, Jason thought, since Audrey was confused as to why it was Jason and not Lucky or Patrick calling. She’d seemed suspicious and a little confused, so Jason hadn’t thought it was the time to request a guard be put at her door. She said she’d be at the hospital as soon as she handed the boys off to Lucky. “That should be enough for now. Thanks.”

“Yeah. Call me if you need anything.”

Jason watched Cody disappear down the hall, then went back inside the room. He sat down next to Elizabeth, took her hand in his, and promised himself—and her—that he wouldn’t leave until she woke up and he could see for himself that she would be all right.

Crimson Pointe: Foyer

Johnny threw open the door, stalked through the foyer and headed straight for study at the back of the house, but he was waylaid in the living room by Claudia.

“Whoa, you look like you’ve been through a hurricane—” Claudia held up her hands, swept her eyes down his disheveled form. “I thought the stick was the only casualty—and don’t give me that look, I watch the news, John. I wasn’t up in Port Charles with a rifle or whatever the hell was used.”

“Yeah, maybe not, but where’s Dad?” Johnny demanded. “I’ve been calling him for over an hour, and nothing—”

“Uh, that’s a funny question,” Claudia began, a bit hesitant, but she stopped and they both turned when they heard the familiar squeaking of wheels.

A moment later, Anthony rolled into the living room, and came to a stop. “I hear things got a little hairy up at the wedding.” He leaned back, clasped his hands in his lap. “It’s a shame what you miss taking a nap.”

“A nap?” Claudia asked. “Is that where you were? I looked everywhere—”

“You came into my rooms?” Anthony demanded. “What have I told you about barging in—”

“It was the middle of the damn day, Daddy, no, of course I didn’t go look in your bedroom—” she closed her mouth. “So you didn’t go to Port Charles?”

“What, you think I rolled myself into the church and no one noticed?” Anthony snorted derisively. “You got your mother’s brains, that’s for damn sure.”

Claudia scowled. “That’s not—”

“She didn’t ask if you shot Kate,” Johnny cut in and Claudia looked at him. “Did you leave the house? Maybe go meet with someone who could get into the wedding?”

“Now why would I do that? We got ourselves a peace agreement, don’t we? Corinthos invited my boy to his wedding in good faith.” He lifted his bushy brows at his son. “You go mute, boy, or you gonna tell us what happened?”

Johnny’s gaze was dark as he spoke. “Kate was shot as she walked down the aisle. The room exploded into chaos. She’s still in surgery. And Lulu? She’s catatonic. They’re taking her to a clinic in California. So that’s what happened. You happy?”

“It’s a shame about poor Looloo,” Anthony said with a wistful sigh. “Fragile girls, you know. They really don’t last long. We should send flowers,” he said to his daughter. “You take care of it. I’m famished.”

And then he rolled away, Johnny and Claudia staring after him.

“Maybe he really didn’t do this.”

Johnny swallowed hard. “Do you actually believe that, Claudie, or do you just want to?”

“I want to believe that our father wouldn’t do anything to put you in danger or in Sonny’s cross hairs when it took the better part of a year to get you off that list.” Claudia exhaled. “But then again, he also killed your mother and sent mine to an insane asylum, so you know, there’s that.”

General Hospital: Elizabeth’s ICU Room

Everything felt heavy, and opening her eyes felt like fighting through layers of gray and black swirling—

The room around her slowly came into focus — first the sights with the white ceiling directly overhead, the feel of the scratchy cotton sheets beneath her fingers, then the beeping sounds — the familiar clicks and beeps and taps of her workplace—

How had she made it to the hospital? Wasn’t she going home? No. She should be in Italy, shouldn’t she?

Her lips parted, and Elizabeth’s head lolled to the side. A blurry figure sat at her side, and she blinked a few times until they came into focus.

“Jason?”

The word was barely audible, pushed past her sore throat and cracked lips but his head still popped up, and his eyes locked on hers before his mouth curved into a smile of relief. “Hey.”

He reached for her hand, brought it to his lips. “Hey,” he repeated. “You’re awake.”

“I’m in the hospital…” Awareness was flooding in—and then came the pain. She winced. Everything was on fire and ached. “Oh, and everything is awful.”

With his other hand, Jason pressed the call button. “They didn’t want to give you a lot of pain meds until you woke from the anesthesia.”

“What—” She licked her lips. “What happened?”

“Car accident. On the way back from the airport.” Jason gently stroked her hair and she sighed, closing her eyes. “But you’re okay. Concussion. Some bleeding. It could have been so much worse—” He stopped, and she heard him inhale sharply. Elizabeth opened her eyes, frowning. “I’m sorry. I should have been there.”

“In the car?” she asked, mystified.

“Or you should have been with me.” He kissed the inside of her palm. “But it’s okay now. Because I’m not going anywhere.”

Her eyes felt heavy, stinging. “Someone could see,” she said, hating herself even as she pointed out the obvious. Unless he’d closed down the floor—

“Let them. I’m staying right here. I love you.”

Her lips curved into the barest of smiles even as she started to slide back into sleep, the conversation already nothing more than a fading memory. “Love you…”

Warehouse: Cargo Dock

As night descended, and a shell-shocked Port Charles prepared for sleep, a man picked his way through abandoned pallets and boxes until he reached his destination — the cargo dock opening out on the lake. Behind him, Lake Ontario was pitch black, the horizon merging water and sky into one.

Another man waited — shorter, stockier, and older. His gray hair was thinning, and his face resembling a bulldog. He turned at the sound of the footsteps. “You take too long,” he said, the words halting, the Russian accent thick. “I am not a man you should make to wait.”

“Ah, well, I think a little patience never hurt anyone,” came the response in a cool British accent. Not his native accent, but a useful one he’d adopted over the years. “Particularly when one has such valuable intel to share.” The man lifted the blond brows that matched his thick head of hair. “I’ve spoken to my brother if you’d care to know the results of your handiwork today.”

“Mine? No. No. This not me. I wait for you as you say.” The other man narrowed his eyes. “This is you, yes?”

“I do admire the elegance of a single shot, the red against a white back drop, but alas, I lacked the connections to get inside without tipping my hand. And it is very important that my dear brother thinks I have turned over a new leaf.” He pursed his lips. “Well, this is quite interesting. We have a new player on the field.”

“We take advantage. Hit them where it is hard. I have connections in hospital. I make sure woman does not wake up. We gather Corinthos and Morgan. Bullets in their skull.”

“That would, ah, be one way to get what you wanted. But how does that you get the contacts in the organization? I thought you wanted me to convince Jason Morgan or Sonny Corinthos to work with you. Had I known you intended to eliminate them—”

“Patience runs thin. They have many chances. It is time for results.” But the man made a face. “So I should not kill this woman?”

“I think our darling Kate Howard has served her purpose for the moment. I’m much more intrigued by another patient brought in this evening. Give me a day or two, my dear Karpov, and I will tell you the best way to capitalize on the gift we’ve been given.”

“I give you two days, and then I move.” Andrei Karpov lifted his chin. “It is time they know who is in charge.” He strode past his partner, his footsteps soon fading into silence.

“I really need to vet my clients more thoroughly,” the man murmured. He retrieved his phone from the inside of his suit jacket, pressed a speed dial. “Hello, brother. I’ve just heard the terrible news. How can I help?”

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