He stepped into the upstairs hallway, hoping he wouldn't have to do what he was planning. But it wasn't right. The Federal Ones could not use him like this, or Stone Cold either. He had cost Jason too much; he had to make up for it. He had to take responsibility for his own actions.
"Very good, Mr. Morgan," Rayner said in that hateful, menacing voice. "Now let's discuss your next assignment.
Spinelli ran downstairs and burst into the living room. Jason was sitting on the couch, running his fingers through his hair. Winifred was there, too; Spinelli had no idea why. She stood beside Rayner, who was standing by the door as if he owned the place and was just waiting for someone to knock so he could invite them in.
Spinelli watched the Federal One's smug, superior expression with a feeling of hate like he'd never experienced before. When he looked at Winifred, all he could feel were sadness and guilt. She had taken him for a fool and he'd allowed her to cause him to put Jason in this predicament. But if his plan worked, all would be well. If it didn't work, he would be in prison for the rest of his life, but at least his friend would be free of this torment.
"Cease and desist, Federal Ones. The Jackal will not let you persist in this treachery!"
He put his laptop on the desk and opened it as they stared at him.
"He did what you wanted. Now you honor the deal or The Jackal will exact his revenge and you will have no choice but to arrest him, rendering your bullying tactics toward his mentor null and void."
"Spinelli," Jason began.
"No, Stone Cold, it's over. I'm not gonna let them do this to you. I'm responsible for the crimes I committed. You saved me and I'm grateful, but it's not worth what it's doing to you. You did what they demanded of you; now it's time for them to honor the agreement."
He turned to Rayner and Winifred.
"I've created a virus that will fry your systems within seconds and I will release it if you do not honor your agreement with Stone Cold immediately. Either free me or lock me up, but if you don't do either within the next five minutes, I will release the virus and every bit of data you possess will be sent into the blackest of black holes in Cyberspace. The countdown starts now."
He clicked his mouse. If Rayner did not agree within the next five minutes, Spinelli would not be able to stop the virus.
"Oh, and just in case your little Cyber mole there tries to hack into me to stop the virus, know that it will be released prematurely and then I won't be able to stop it. I will end up frying this computer, as well as hers, but it's worth the cost of another laptop to get my friend out of the mess I created."
"Spinelli, don't do this," Jason said.
"He's right, Mr. Spinelli," Rayner said. "You'll be locked up for life if you do this. I won't be able to-"
"You're not gonna blackmail my friend anymore! No longer will you force me to be his Sword of Damocles."
"My what?" Jason asked.
"He can't hold my freedom over your head anymore; I won't allow it."
Rayner gave him a look that was probably meant to intimidate him. But Spinelli had been intimidated for far too long. He could do something about this situation. Saving Jason from the torture of having to betray one friend to save the other was worth a lifetime in prison.
"You can try to stop me if you wish, Treacherous One," he said to Winifred. "Does my betrayer wish to go to war in Cyberspace with The Jackal? It'll be a short one whether you manage to hack into me or not; this virus is going to be released in-" he paused and looked at the countdown timer on his program. "Four minutes and thirty seconds."
Winifred looked at Rayner for help.
"If she manages to hack into me, the virus will be released prematurely," Spinelli reminded Rayner. "If that happens, you will have no choice but to arrest The Jackal. Then you will have no leverage on Stone Cold. Do you wanna take the chance that The Traitor Priestess will lose the war, or do you wanna man up and honor your deal, thereby freeing my master. You can do what you will with me; lock me up or free me, and I will not release the virus. But I will not be used as a weapon against my friend. What's it gonna be, Agent? Stone Cold's freedom or the FBI's destruction? You have four minutes to decide, although, I would advise you not to take that long because once this timer reaches zero, there will be nothing I can do."
Rayner turned to Winifred.
"What do you think, Agent Leads? Is he bluffing?"
"I don't think so. He's The Jackal. He's not called the Assassin of the Internet for nothing. But I will try if you want me to."
Rayner looked at Jason as if to ask for help. Jason smirked and shook his head.
"You told Stone Cold that you would not press charges against me if he did what you wanted. He gave you Anthony Zacchara, which, unfortunately, also means that he gave you his friend, Sonny Corinthos, because he worked with Anthony. You got what you wanted. Are you an honorable man, Agent Rayner, or are you just a coward who needs to use other people to get what you want because you're not competent enough to catch the bad guys on your own?"
"Spinelli," Jason said sharply.
"I hold all your information in my hands," Spinelli continued, barely hearing Jason. "I wonder what I can find out about you before the FBI's entire computer system parishes forever. What skeletons would The Jackal find in your proverbial closet? There may be enough time for me to find out and take you down with me."
"My record is spotless," Rayner said angrily.
"Then why do you need to use pawns like me and Stone Cold to catch the criminals? Is what you're doing even legal? You would not allow The Brusk Lady of Justice to accompany Stone Cold into your meetings; you told her it would be better for The Jackal if she remained outside of the loop, as it were. I wonder how your superiors would feel about your methods. Maybe I should notify them as to why their system suddenly went the way of the dinosaur… After the virus is released, of course; I could place an anonymous call. If the virus is released on time, my system will be unaffected; it is only if The Priestess hacks into me and manages to send your system to an early grave that mine will go with it. If the virus is released at the correct time, I can place an untraceable call to the FBI with the pertinent information before you have the chance to put the cuffs on me. Consider your options carefully, Federal One. You have about two minutes."
Rayner looked trapped and a small part of Spinelli, a part of himself that he didn't like very much, enjoyed seeing it.
"If I have Agent Leads destroy all evidence of your criminal activities as if it never existed," he asked when they all saw the countdown timer reach two minutes, " will you destroy all copies of this virus?"
"Yes," he said, not telling them that he had a modified copy of the virus that would only be used for people who hacked into him from now on.
He would implement that virus once this one was destroyed. Anyone who hacked him from now on would be hacked back an their system reduced to Cyber dust. But no others systems, including his, would be effected, only the system used to hack him.
Rayner nodded to Winifred. Spinelli paused the virus program and watched as she destroyed his files, both in Cyberspace and in hard copy, and everything she had on her flash drives and external hard drives, and the copies that were in the FBI's main frame. She backed up her data thoroughly; Spinelli had to give credit where credit was due.
He stopped the countdown timer, terminated the program and destroyed all copies of the virus he had named TROTJ, The Revenge of The Jackal. He had one more copy in a secret location, but would keep his word and destroy that later. He would have to trust that Winifred would do the same. That made him nervous, but he had no choice. Besides, Rex would insure that if she ever tried to hack into him again, she would pay dearly. Rex, named after the person he had originally thought had hacked him, was the name he'd chosen for his modified virus.
"Pleasure doing business with you both," Rayner said sarcastically.
He motioned for Winifred to follow him and the two of them stormed out of the Penthouse.
"Were you really gonna do that?" Jason asked as he handed Spinelli an orange soda while Spinelli himself destroyed the last copy of TROTJ.
"Most definitely."
"You could have gone to prison for life!"
"He had you trapped in a different kind of prison. He was using me as your jailer and I wasn't gonna let him do that anymore. He arrested me in the first place for crimes I did, in fact, commit. I wasn't gonna let him punish you for my actions."
"But you committed those crimes for me."
"Not all of them; everything they had on me, yes, but I've helped others with my Cyber skills. Maximista has prevailed on The Jackal more than once to gain access to Couture in order to gain the upper hand at Crimson."
"But what if they decide to use this against you? What if they try to get back at you for costing them their informant?"
"We each destroyed all copies of the incriminating evidence. I no longer have that virus and we have to trust that Winifred no longer has copies of my files."
"And if Winifred is not as honorable as you?"
"Then The Jackal will be fitted for an orange jump suit, but at least Stone Cold will be free to maintain order in Port Charles without the threat of my incarceration hanging over his head. If I am arrested, it will be for the greater good."
He could sense Jason's doubts.
"I couldn't let you take full responsibility for my actions. What kind of man does that? You say I'm a kid, but I'm not a child. I may be young, but I am an adult and as such I need to take responsibility for my own actions. What you were doing was eating away at you and I couldn't allow that to continue. I would be a very poor friend if I did that; I would never again be the great friend you said I was the day after my release."
"Look, I'm sorry I've been so hard on you lately. It was myself I was mad at, not you. I mean, you never would have been in this mess if it wasn't for me."
"I accept your apology, but I knew what I was getting into, Stone Cold; I've known from the start. The Jackal is not nearly as naïve as Maximista believes. But I did trust Winifred and-"
"Winifred spoke your language, perfectly. She idolized you."
As Jason spoke, Spinelli opened his orange soda.
"She pretended to idolize me. I was nothing more than a means to an end."
He took a drink as Jason put a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen, don't beat yourself up over Winifred, Spinelli. Everyone looks for a perfect match and you thought Winifred was yours. You love Maxie, but Winifred seemed to be the perfect friend. Even if you didn't end up with Maxie, maybe you would have ended up with Winifred if she'd been genuine. You see the good in people and that's one of the best things about you. Would you still be my friend if you didn't see the good in me?"
Spinelli shook his head.
"You saw in Maxie what she refuses to let most people see. You believe in her. You know her, so you forgave her for what she did to you to keep you away from Winifred. Most people would have had nothing more to do with her after that. And you're probably the only friend I have who would ever even think of spending a lifetime in prison to avoid me having to do something painful."
"But The Jackal's legal troubles may have forever destroyed any chance of reconciliation with Mr. Corinthos, Sir."
"What happened between me and Sonny is on us; you're not responsible. Whatever will happen with me and Sonny from now on is also on us; you're not responsible for that either. I know you wanna help me, but you need to stay away from Sonny. There are some things you can't and shouldn't fix. Understand?"
Spinelli nodded.
"Understood."
Spinelli's cell rang as Jason patted his shoulder.
"Greetings, Maximista."
"Hi. Are you busy?"
"Do you need The Jackal's assistance?" he mouthed to Jason, who shook his head.
"No," Spinelli told Maxie, then drained his orange soda.
"Well, I'm done for today. Wanna hang out?"
"Most definitely. The Jackal has much to tell you."
"Oh no! What happened?"
"No, they are tidings of great joy. Want me to come over?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way home now."
"I'm on my way, too, then."
"Take the car," Jason said, handing him the keys with a smile.
"Grateful thanks."
"Hey, wait a minute," he said as Spinelli headed for the door.
He stopped and Jason surprised him with a strong hug. As he hugged his friend back, he felt a sense of peace, acceptance and belonging. If this turmoil with Sonny and the FBI hadn't broken their brotherly bond, nothing ever would.