Picks up directly after Book 1 ends.

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Chapter 39

You may call it in this evening
But you’ve only lost the night
Present all your pretty feelings
May they comfort you tonight
And I’m climbing over something
And I’m running through these walls
I don’t even know if I believe
I don’t even know if I believe
I don’t even know if I believe
Everything you’re trying to say to me
– Believe, Mumford & Sons

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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Garage: Parking Lot

Elizabeth Webber made a face as she slid off the back of Jason’s bike and removed the helmet. “I really hate speed limits,” she muttered, stowing it on the back.

“After,” he promised. He smoothed her tangled hair away from her face and dipped down to kiss her. She sighed, leaning. Two days since everything had changed and there was still a little piece of her that didn’t quite believe that it could be real. That nearly twenty years after they’d met, they could finally have a chance to get it right. He drew back. “After,” Jason repeated. “We’ll go to the cliffs.”

“You might as well let me drive when we’re in the city,” she said, letting him tug her towards the double front doors of the garage he’d closed on the day before  — the garage he’d be opening in a few weeks as he reclaimed his life after returning to Port Charles two months earlier.

“I just let you drive a few weeks ago—”

“That was for Christmas—”

Jason unlocked the doors to the lobby and held it open for her. “Special occasions. You want to drive in the city, you need to get a license—”

“I know Jason Morgan isn’t giving me a lecture about following the law—”

He just smirked and fished his cell phone out of his pocket as it rang. “It’s Spinelli—”

Elizabeth let him take the call from their resident technology wizard and went over to flip on the light switch, flooding the small lobby area with bright overhead lighting. She went to the glass doors that separated the lobby from the bay where they’d actually do the work to check those—

“Yeah. Okay. Thanks. No, I’ll let you know. I need to talk to Drew first—”

At the sound of Drew’s name, Elizabeth turned back to see Jason sliding the phone back into the pocket of his leather jacket. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know. Spinelli’s been monitoring Nina’s phone — she’s been leaving a lot of messages for Valentin, but Spinelli hasn’t seen a lot coming back the other way.”

Elizabeth frowned. “Do you think it means something?”

“Spinelli does. I don’t know,” Jason repeated. He went towards the back of the lobby, through the door that led to the breakroom and office. She followed. “He says the messages are angry. Nina didn’t know he was going and she’s upset he’s not returning her calls. Just a few texts here and there.”

“Maybe he’s having an affair,” Elizabeth said, leaning against the door frame of the office. “You guys didn’t know why he’d go to Turkey — and didn’t Robert say the WSB didn’t know anything either? An affair would explain it, don’t you think?”

“It would,” Jason admitted. He leaned against the rickety desk. “Robert also said the WSB wasn’t forthcoming. They don’t approve of us investigating on our own—”

“Well, they need to get over it. Their agency funded this damned experiment,” Elizabeth retorted. “They gave the keys to the kingdom to Victor Cassadine and he used it to hurt you—and Drew. They should be lucky we’re only trying to find out what the hell happened and not burning them to the ground—”

“Which is the argument Robert and Anna have been trying to make to Frisco Jones,” Jason said. “They’re trying to get into see Maddox—”

She bristled at the reminder of the doctor who had betrayed her—and their son. Andre Maddox had been the architect of the protocol used to steal Jason’s memory and implant them into Drew—and he’d put the trigger in Jake’s brain, nearly causing their son to unleash a deadly biotoxin—

“There’s nothing else Maddox can tell us that we won’t get from the files. I know it’s hard to wait for Spinelli to decrypt them, and the ones we have haven’t been useful but he’s got what he wants. He got transferred to a cushy WSB prison where he still gets to work for them.” Elizabeth shook her head. “And even when he did say anything, it was all cryptic bullshit—”

“Anna still has hope, and I’m not going to tell her how to do her job,” Jason said, gently cutting in. He held out his hands and she sighed, letting him tug her closer. “I know Maddox is a sore spot. I didn’t know him, but you did. And Jake trusted him. We’ll keep going through the files, but—”

“But you’re getting restless.” Two months since he’d come home and he was no closer to finding out who was responsible for keeping him locked up in a coma for those five years. Valentin was their primary suspect, but they had nothing proving his involvement. It was too easy for Victor and Helena to be the answer — because Jason had been chased home from Russia—someone hadn’t wanted him released from the coma.

But who was that someone? And how many secrets did Helena still keep that could prove deadly? Two years dead in the grave, and she’d still reached out her bony fingers to nearly kill Jake and everyone else Elizabeth loved.

“I’m surprised you didn’t get on a plane to Turkey as soon as Spinelli told you,” Elizabeth admitted. “Is what what you need to talk to Drew about? Going?”

“We agreed to wait a few days until we felt like there was a reason. I don’t know if we have one, but if Valentin is having an affair—if it was that simple, shouldn’t we just be able to find a money trail? He can hide that from his wife—”

“But Spinelli should have found it by now.” She nodded. “I know. I want to get to the bottom of this, you know that. I want you—and Drew—to have your answers.” She brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. “I also want you to be safe. We just got you home. I’m not in any hurry to send you back into danger.” She winced. “That sounds like I’m telling you not to go, I’m not—”

“I know—”

“And I can’t believe I just used that word—” she groaned, let her forehead fall against his. He stroked her arms, sliding his hands up and down the fabric of her white peacoat.

“What word?”

“Safe.” She made a face. “I said I want you to be safe—this is exactly the crap you pulled on me for all those years, and here I am—”

“I know we think Helena targeted me because she wants—wanted—to punish you. But that does not make any of this your fault.”

“I know. But that doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty.” She tried to smile. “You’re probably enjoying the shoe being on the other foot, huh?”

“Luke and Lucky are already in Turkey,” Jason reminded her, not rising to the bait. “They agree with the WSB. So far.”

“And those are two more people you don’t trust.” She bit her lip. “You want to go, don’t you? Just to be on the ground.”

“Maybe,” Jason admitted. “But—”

“Then you should do it.” She cleared her throat, stepped back. “We’ll keep working the files here, and you and Drew can see if there’s anything to know over there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. And if Drew can’t go, I will. That might be fun, actually.” She perked up at that idea. “I haven’t been in the field in years, but I held my own the last time—I was so good Helena ordered Nikolas to murder me—”

“If Drew can’t go, you’re the first choice,”  Jason promised, and she narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“You’re only agreeing because you know he’ll go and you’ll never have to keep that promise—”

“Hey, if we’re going up against the Cassadines—” Jason drew her in for another kiss. “There’s no one else I want by my side.”