Merry Fucking Christmas | 02
Jason swung his Uzi in a lazy arc at his side, aware that everyone was staring at him but not particularly concerned. Johnny had already moved into the center of the room and was taking stock of their surroundings. Their men had come up behind him and Johnny was issuing quiet orders.
He already knew where he'd look for Rosebud first, so Jason took a minute to check out the partygoers they'd stormed in on. There were several elderly men, a fair amount of middle-aged men, just a couple guys his age, a wealth of middle-aged women, and a good enough amount of young women.
His gaze came to rest on the two women that Johnny had noticed earlier, and he considered them briefly. The brunette in red was hotter than the blonde in purple. The blonde seemed more Johnny's style; he was way into blondes and always had been, even back at their preparatory school in Oxford.
As for Jason, he didn't really have a type, but he noticed how the blonde one in purple had her hand on her hip and was arching her back, watching the whole situation shrewdly. Her mouth was curved into a pinched frown, and he just had a feeling that her attractiveness was matched by her inner crazy. The brunette, on the other hand, had her chin tucked a little, and her large eyes were on him and the others as she quietly took stock of the situation.
Something told him that her inner crazy didn't match her friend's, and she wasn't as reactionary as other women might have been. He didn't know anything about her, but these simple clues culled from her body language hinted that she'd be better suited for him.
Ugh, now he was the idiot that needed to focus on the task. If John caught him zoning out like this, he'd never hear the end of it.
Before he moved to join his best friend, Jason caught the way that one or two of the older men moved slightly to shield the brunette from his gaze as he walked past. An older woman was behind them and leaned closer to the girls, and the brunette caught her gaze and offered her a small, forced smile. Obviously, he'd hit on something here. This woman wasn't just a random guest: it was clear that she had ties to several people in this room.
Well, well. He may just have happened upon a local sweetheart. She might come in handy later.
He was standing at Johnny's side, vaguely frowning at the townsfolk. Why the fuck did they all look so scared? He had been very clear earlier: They needed something and they wouldn't leave until they had it, so it was in everyone's best interest to stay the fuck out of their way. It wasn't rocket science, and he couldn't figure out why some of these people looked like they might faint.
Jesus.
This was the problem with townies: they were all completely clueless. This was why he hated small towns like Port Charles so much. He'd been born here as the bastard son of Alan Quartermaine, and thankfully, his mother had the sense to move him to Manhattan when he was a toddler so he wouldn't have to put up with all the idiots.
His great-grandfather Edward Quartermaine had made it possible for him to attend one of New York's best private schools, and Jason had always had a good, albeit long-distance, relationship with him. When he hit his teenage years, his mother decided that a move to England was in order. She moved in next to her brother's house in Oxford, and Jason had started attending a preparatory academy where he had met Johnny for the first time.
When they moved across the pond again after matriculating, it was Johnny's first time in the states and Jason had been the one to show him around New England. They'd always stuck to the big cities, but now their travels had taken them to upstate New York, and Jason just wanted to get the Rosebud and get on out.
He really hated this goddamn place. The Brothers knew of his unfortunate ties here; it figured that they'd send them back.
Thankfully, Monica Quartermaine wasn't here. Neither was his asshole father, nor Edward. The entire Quartermaine family had fallen out with Carly, who Jason had never met personally, after she and AJ, the legitimate son, had divorced, and the grudge was still very much intact, apparently. That was the silver lining here: at least he didn't have to deal with any of those people. Edward wasn't bad at all, but it still wasn't worth dealing with the rest of those bastards just to see him.
"Where's the owner?" Johnny snapped his fingers, his gaze landing on Jason's ex-sister-in-law. "You. Candy. Get over here."
"It's Carly," the woman growled as she slowly made her way closer, making Jason smirk. Johnny knew very well what her name was and had deliberately chosen not to use it.
"Doesn't matter," his friend replied in that typical cavalier tone of his. "Are the other floors of this hotel accessible?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Carly gritted her teeth. "There was a fire here a year ago. Everything's been closed down since."
"And no one's had access to those floors in that time aside from your contractors?"
"Correct."
Johnny turned to him, ignoring the fuming blonde. "I really don't think it's going to be up there. It'd be too risky – someone could find it, it could have been built over, destroyed, any number of things could have happened."
"I'm with you," Jason agreed. "It's got to be on the main floor somewhere."
Carly didn't like being ignored, especially when she was being held hostage in her own hotel. "What are you assholes looking for?"
"Easy, sweetheart," Johnny sneered, moving right past her and shouldering her as he did. "Biting your tongue might spare your tongue. Think about that."
He motioned to one of their men. "She's annoying. Get her away from me, over there with the others."
He stood with his hands on his hips in the middle of the room, considering their options. "If we managed to track this thing down to the Metrocourt, it won't be long before the others get here."
"Ethan was saying that he heard they were right behind us in Queens when we were picking these up," Jason said, swinging his Uzi up into the air. A couple of the women screamed and he glared at them, instantly silencing them. "Right, Ethan?"
The man in question nodded. 'Yeah, I tossed a tracker on one of the cars the last time they were chasing us down. We lost them, but they almost caught up to us in the Burroughs. And if they managed to catch up to us there…"
"It won't be long until they find us here," Johnny agreed quietly. "There's got to be a way to throw them off our trail without leaving the hotel."
"Or you could leave and take this pissing contest somewhere else," Carly called out angrily, causing Johnny to roll his eyes.
"Can't we muzzle her? Her voice is like nails on a goddamn chalkboard."
"We're not leaving until we get what we came for," Jason informed her icily. "What if we make the hotel look deserted? We almost missed this place – maybe we can throw them off."
Johnny snapped his fingers, already running with the ideas. "The windows on the sides of the building open into the alleys. If we make sure the lights are off in those rooms, no one would be able to tell. That just leaves the front doors. Ethan, you still got that spray paint?"
"Plenty," came the answer as the one known as Ethan took off his backpack and pulled out three cans of the stuff. "I brought along extra for that message we left on the side of that abandoned warehouse. Figured, better safe than sorry."
"Black out the windows," Johnny ordered. "Make sure no light gets out. If we can throw them off the trail, we can buy ourselves some time and really scour this floor."
"You are NOT blacking out my win-"
"Relax!" Jason's terse voice silenced Carly's yell and he waved his gun, signaling his men to keep her back. "We'll take care of it. Look, it's in your best interest to put up with us now – as soon as we have it, we'll be out of here."
"What are you after?" a tall man with golden hair asked, and Jason recognized him as his ex-sister-in-law's new beau. AJ had mentioned that Carly had roped another rich businessman into marrying her – or at least, proposing – and this had to be the guy. Jack something or other. "What is it?"
"You don't need to worry about that," Johnny replied breezily.
"Maybe I can be of assistance," Jack something or other persisted. "I'm Jasper Jacks."
Oh, Jason thought. Jasper. Not Jack. Jasper. That was still a fucking dumb name, and if this guy was honestly engaged to Carly, he was pretty fucking dumb, too.
"How lovely for you," Johnny sighed, clearly uninterested.
"I can get you whatever you want."
"Unless you know where the Rosebud is, no, you can't."
"I can get you money," Jax cut in. "However much you want if you just leave. No one has to get hurt."
"That's what we've been saying," Johnny snorted. "And, please – it's not your money we're after. Your money couldn't be less interesting to us, Mister Jacks."
The rest of the men chuckled at the offer, clearly in agreement with the young man.
"Look, if you leave right now-"
"Someone get him to shut up," Jason interrupted, sounding bored, and one of their men moved forward to subdue Jax. He sat down next to Carly, but remained clearly on edge.
"Are those windows blacked out yet?" They almost were. "Good. Alright, let's spread out and look. Some of you stay here, just in case someone's been planted to get the Rosebud out of here before we can find it."
"You four over there, you two over there, you three over there," Johnny directed. "Ethan, you stay with me and Jason. The first thing we need to do is find someone who knows his or her way around this place."
"If we started working our way over from there-" Jason turned, and as he did so, caught a flash of movement in the corner of his eye. His reflexes were sharp – occupational hazard, really – and before his assailant had a chance, Jason reared back and struck him. The man went down instantly like a sack of potatoes, and a couple women screamed.
"Lucky!"
Jason looked up and instantly met the terrified gaze of the pretty brunette from earlier. Realizing she had screamed, the woman had clamped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. He'd already heard her.
Johnny, too, was looking at her, and saw the horror in her eyes. "You – who is he? What's his story?"
The brunette stared at him, her fingers trembling slightly, and it was clear Johnny's terse bark wasn't going to put her at ease. Jason cleared his throat and her eyes darted back to his, and he gestured to the young man on the floor.
"Who did I just knock out?"
She must have responded to the calmness in his quiet tone, because she lowered her hand from her mouth. Swallowing nervously, she began to wring her fingers. "Uh…He's Lucky Spencer. He's a cop for the Port Charles Police Department."
Johnny rolled his eyes, turning angrily to his best friend. "You knocked out a cop? Jesus Christ, what the hell's the matter with you?"
"I had no way of knowing he was a cop," Jason retorted, stepping over the man's body. "Besides, he'll be fine. He'll wake up with a headache and be fine."
"Yeah, and toss your ass in jail," Johnny grumbled.
"Yeah, when has that ever worked?"
"…Good point." He cleared his throat and planted his hands on his hip, his Uzi casually tucked against his side. "Okay, like I was saying before you were so rudely accosted, we need to pair up with someone who knows this place and search this floor from top to bottom."
All three of them looked at Carly, who, though pale, scowled back.
"Not her," Johnny said quickly. "She annoys the living fuck out of me."
Carly's shoulders straightened, and they could almost hear Jax sigh with relief.
"How about…" Johnny's gaze slid toward the brunette that had answered Jason's question and her blonde friend in purple that he'd admired earlier. "…those two?"
