Jax frantically paced back and forth in his apartment.

He recently bought a substantial number of shares of Babco Conglomerated Steel and the market was about to open. With just 2 minutes until trading began, Jax was a nervous wreck. This venture was hopefully going to help fund a new project he was working on with Ned Ashton. During a brainstorming session, Ned and Jax decided to re-open Chloe Morgan Designs and expand the line to cover interior decorating and home furnishings. With some extra capital in their pockets, they would be able to get this idea off the ground. In the meantime, they had purchased a luxurious office space to bide their time.

One minute until the market opened. Jax anxiously sat down at his laptop, pulled up the Dow Jones web page and firmly pressed down on the refresh button.

Nothing

He waited a few more seconds and pressed it once again.

Nothing.

Breathing deeply, with sweat beginning to bead on his forehead, he was reaching for the refresh button a third time when his cell phone rang, startling him. He let it ring a few times before glancing over and saw "Lady Jane" appear on the Caller-ID. He contemplated letting his voicemail pick up since the market opening was mere seconds away, but grudgingly picked up the call.

"Hello?" Jax grumbled.

"Good morning dear. Do I ever have some great news for you!"

Jax glanced down at his desk clock and noticed it was already one minute passed the opening bell, but sat back down at his desk.

"Mom, not to sound short with you or anything, but do you think I could call you right back? I'm in the middle of a large business transaction."

"Oh sweetie, this will only take a minute of your time."

"So, tell me mom, what is this great news of yours?"

Jax looked down at his computer and considered refreshing one more time, but decided to wait until Lady Jane finished telling Jax the good news.

"You are never going to believe this," said a beaming Lady Jane.

"What am I never going to believe mom?" Jax emphasized.

"I received a postcard from your brother Jerry. He was in New Zealand but was on his way out of the county for, well obvious reasons."

"Mom, you know Jerry should not have written you. This created a direct trail to his whereabouts." exclaimed a furious Jax.

"Oh dear, you worry too much."

"Authorities could be monitoring your mail and this could lead them right to Jerry as we speak. I want you to burn that postcard and if anyone questions you about it, just act as if you never received any correspondence from Jerry. I would have expected Jerry to know he never should have made any contact with either of us since he's still at large from the FBI. I don't know why he would be this stupid."

He paused for a second.

"Wait a second. How do you know this was from Jerry? What did it say?"

"I don't know what you're getting at. Why would someone pretend to be Jerry? All he told me was that he was doing alright, lived in New Zealand for 6 months, got some extra work here and there and is getting by nicely."

"I just don't like the sound of this. Jerry knows better. He would never do this to either one of us. I just have a funny feeling about this." Jax cautiously said as he once again glanced down at the clock and realized five minutes passed.

Outside Jax's door, a package was delivered and placed by his doorstep.


Ned began rummaging through his keys to open up the newly purchased office that would hopefully house the re-established Chloe Morgan Designs.

"Thanks for meeting me down here Elizabeth. I'm really excited that you'd consider helping put Chloe Morgan Designs back on the map."

"Well, I was very close with Chloe when I worked with her before at L&B and she taught me a lot about the industry. Plus it will be fun to get back into my artwork. I've been pretty depressed after passing up on nursing school, so it will be nice to get my feet wet again."

"Your enthusiasm impresses me Elizabeth. Now we just have to hope Jax is able to come up with some extra cash for us to start expanding. We're going to have to open up some new plants in Europe, locate local and international buyers, and coordinate an impressive advertising campaign."

"You were very confident that Jax was going to pull through the last time we spoke. Do you think this is going to work out?"

"I've known Jax a really long time and he knows his way around this stuff. I was skeptical at first when he asked to go half on this with him, so I've got some money riding on this too. Speaking of which, let's see how much money we made this morning."

As he began dialing, Elizabeth picked Cameron up from his stroller and walked around the office building, pointing out all the hanging lights and windows that overlooked the pier.

"Jax, it's Ned. Where are you? Time is money. Call me back and tell me some good news."

He put his cell phone back in his pocket and pondered why Jax wasn't answering his phone. He watched as Elizabeth walked Cameron around the office and told her to check out the balcony from the back office. Ned, Elizabeth and Cameron walked past a few broken boards from what used to be the reception desk of the former company that occupied this space. They headed through the larger second office in the rear of the building, which lead out to a spacious balcony that overlooked the waterfront and the city below.

"Look at all those people down there. They look so small. Look over there Cameron; it's the park we go to. Do you see the swings?" Elizabeth cheerfully exclaimed as she pointed Cameron's finger in the direction of the park.

"He's such a cute little boy," a smiling Ned said as he waved to Cameron, who was still pointing in the direction of the park. "This is such a great age. They are old enough to start actually being people, but not old enough to start talking back to you."

Elizabeth laughed just as Cameron started to get fussy and wanted to be put back down in his stroller

"You can never tell what this little guy wants. But, I think we're going to have to go now. We have Mommy & Me today and we want to be late for Miss Rachel. He just loves finger painting. I think it runs in the family," Elizabeth chuckled.

"Thanks again for coming. I hope we can start doing something soon or else this office is just going to go to waste and I'm going to be out of a lot of money! Jax better know what he's doing this time. We all have a lot riding on this." Ned said optimistically, as he walked Elizabeth and Cameron out the front door.


Jax hung up from Lady Jane when he heard a knock on his door.

"Not now," Jax furiously said as he began to walk back to his computer.

"Jax, it's me," said a familiar voice as Jax sat down at his desk again.

He got up and opened the door to find a smiling Courtney holding a box in her hand.

"This was on your doorstep. But you seem to be pretty wrapped up with something else in here. Did I come at a bad time?" she questioned as she handed him the mysterious box.

"It's nothing. Come in. I just got off the phone with my mother and - it's nothing really. Just some family problems."

"So is that an 'I'm not going to ever tell you' secret or is an 'I'm not going to tell you until you ask me again what's wrong' secret?"

"Sorry for being so brief. It's my brother Jerry. You know he's on the run. Well, he supposedly contacted my mother and she was just so excited about it she had to call me first thing this morning."

"What do you mean supposedly? You don't think that was him who sent it?"

"I really don't know. He would never do anything like this, leaving a trail for the FBI to track down. He's much smarter than that."

"It might be a cry for help. Do you think he could be in danger?"

"If he really had to get word to me that he was in danger or needed money, there are other, less traceable ways for him to get in contact with me. This is just not typical of his past behavior. But you know what, enough about me and my family affairs, what brings you by this morning?"

"Well, I was just going to stop by for a morning kiss before work, but I'd much rather find out what's in that box you're holding," as she glanced at the box in Jax's hands.