Prompt: Sweet redemption, right in front of me
The Battle Of Who Could Care Less – 04
Sonny Corinthos undid the buttons on the cuffs of his olive green silk dress shirt as he watched his best friend pace back and forth in front of the fireplace in the massive suite he had rented for the night at the only five-star hotel in Oaxaca.
"What makes you think they're here, again?" Jason asked, stopping for a moment to stare out the open balcony doors at the sky. The sun was beginning to rise in the east and had painted the heavens a multitude of vibrant colors.
The Cuban sighed and glanced wistfully at his cell phone, willing it to ring. If it did, it would be Johnny and Max reporting on what they had found in the past two hours. "Michael said that Luke said they'd all be in hot water."
"It's an expression," Jason glowered, rubbing his palms together as he resumed his pacing.
Sonny squared his jaw and leaned back into the throw pillows that littered the designer couch. "It's also a pun – classic Luke humor." He rubbed his jaw, grimacing when he felt the stubble that had already formed there. "The smallest Mexican state is Aguascalientes – the land of hot waters. Luke knew exactly what he was saying when he told Elizabeth that. If I had to pick just one spot in all of Mexico where I thought they would be, that would be it." Jason continued to glower at the floor and his motorcycle boots made quiet scuffling noises as he shuffled back and forth over the thick carpet. "Relax, Jason; Johnny and Max are bound to find something and as soon as they do, we'll be there."
That was the plan: he had sent his two guards ahead to Aguascalientes with directions to search the area and its small rural towns for anything that even remotely resembled a clue. It was a small state – not even 5500 km2 – and he hoped that it wouldn't take too long to locate three American citizens. And once Johnny and Max found them, he and Jason would fly down and insist on taking Elizabeth home with them. It was as simple as that.
But Jason didn't look too convinced, and Sonny found himself trying to reassure him. "It'll go down quick, man. We'll get over there, we'll find Luke and we'll tell him that Elizabeth is coming home with us, nothing more to it. She was conned into going with them, anyway; she'll see it our way and let us get her home safely."
He watched as his enforcer let a slow breath whistle out from between his teeth. Jason rested one arm on the ornate marble mantle, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "…She's not going to want to listen to us, Sonny. Not after what happened."
It was the first time since he had returned from his staged death that Jason had actually mentioned the situation with Elizabeth. Prior to this, Sonny had depended on the guards to know what was going on across the hall; Johnny, the biggest gossip of them all, had been the one to inform him that Elizabeth had left Jason as soon as she saw his best friend alive and well on channel 7. So when Jason himself broached the subject, Sonny knew he couldn't let the opportunity go to waste.
Sighing uneasily, he clasped his hands in front of him and ducked his chin into his chest, peeking up at his best friend as the enforcer continued to stare out into the horizon. "Jason."
The younger man's dark cerulean orbs darted over to his and held, and Sonny took a deep breath, straightening and balancing his elbows on his knees. "Elizabeth left because I wouldn't let you tell her about me."
His best friend's face was haggard and drawn, his features tense, and Sonny noted the rigid set of his shoulders when he nodded – once.
The mob lord's voice was quiet and gruff as he pressed the backs of his thumbs to his lips. "I'm sorry I asked you to lie to her." Jason didn't reply, but his downcast eyes indicated that he at least acknowledged the apology. "If I knew this would have happened, I never would have made that request." Frustrated now with himself, he raked his hand through his curly black hair, muttering to himself. "I thought it was business, and that she didn't need to know; of course she'd take it personally. She trusted me to help her in the same situation and I didn't once think about it from her point of…"
"Wait – what?" Jason's intense blue eyes were trained on him and Sonny stopped, his mouth falling agape for a second when he realized what he had just been mumbling about. "What do you mean, she trusted you in the same situation?"
The mob boss tugged his ear, a habit he had picked up from his best friend, and clasped his hands in front of him once more. Shit. "Remember when you were in Spain a while back?" Jason's icy eyes narrowed and Sonny gulped despite himself. "Well…a Spencer-Cassidine war kind of…broke out."
He tensed when the enforcer prowled forward, his hands now balled into loose fists, and took the chair opposite from the couch.
Sonny pursed his lips, trying to find the words that wouldn't result in a monstrous hotel bill for damaged furniture. "It pretty much started when Helena Cassidine thought that Nikolas was in love with Elizabeth…"
Jason was glaring at him from across the ornately carved, miniscule coffee table and when the shrill ring of his cell phone interrupted him, Sonny was on the verge of jumping up and praising the Lord. Eagerly, he grabbed his phone from the endtable and studiously ignored his best friend's turbulent gaze.
"Boss, it's Johnny."
"What did you find?"
"Luke, Lucky and Elizabeth are definitely in Aguascalientes. It took us a while, but we think we have a lead – they might be in Calvillo."
"Calvillo?" He watched Jason rub his palms together, already anticipating a safe end to their trip.
"It's an agricultural town, one of the largest in Aguascalientes. There's a warlord in power – the people call him Don Buenaventura – Mr. Good Fortune, I think. In about ten minutes or so, I bet that we'll know for sure, but I just wanted to call you anyway and tell you that we're about eighty-percent sure they're here."
"Eighty-percent sure," Sonny repeated for Jason's benefit. "How did you find out?"
"We scoped a nearby town – Max can pass as a native pretty easily, and we sat around in a bar and he picked up bits of conversation. Apparently, there aren't very many tourists or foreigners in this part of Mexico, so any Americans traveling around are fairly conspicuous."
Jason's eyes darkened when he heard that, and Sonny winced. Conspicuous was not good. "And?"
"See, that's the thing – we heard a lot of talk about a guy named Roberto, and how he was helping the Libertad party."
"The Libertad party?" Sonny didn't like the sound of that, and neither did his best friend as he pushed himself off the couch and resumed pacing. "What are they about?"
"A covert guerilla group, from what I know," Johnny replied. "They're trying to remove Don Buenaventura from power, and this Roberto guy is helping them. They say that some friends have joined him – two men and a young girl. We're almost positive it's them, but we haven't found out if they're foreign or not, and we haven't heard any names specifically."
"It's them," Sonny got out, already standing up from the couch and facing Jason. "It has to be them. We'll be there as soon as we can; keep me posted if you hear anything else, and make sure the car's ready – we'll drive down to Calvillo together."
"Sure thing, Boss."
Without bothering to say goodbye, Sonny turned off his phone and slipped it into his pocket as he reached for the suit jacket he had left on the back of the couch. Jason was loading bullets into his omnipresent black Glock, and his eyes were dark and stormy as he shoved his way past Sonny toward the door.
"In the car, you're telling me everything."
"This is actually pretty nice," Elizabeth murmured, gazing around the spacious room as she unzipped her duffel bag. "Not bad at all." The four of them were standing in a bunker underneath the back quarters of the dingy bar. The room was massive and lined with row after row of clean white cots. There was a food storage facility in the far corner which was stocked with plenty of food and water just in case certain members of the party needed to hide out for an extended period of time, as they often did. There was a door leading to the bathing facilities where she had already noted the clean toilets and row of individual showers. The place was actually nicer than some of the hotels in the country, and she didn't mind their unique accommodations at all.
"It's not hard to please this one," Robert noted with a smirk as he walked over to the cot he had claimed since his arrival. As a foreigner, it was important for him to maintain a low-profile in the town, and he hoped that Lucky and Luke would be able to stand not leaving the hideout. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was in a far better position due to her being able to fit in physically with the other young women in the town.
"Well, this ain't no Hilton, but it'll have to do," Luke announced, opening his own duffel bag and pulling out a flask. "Ah, darlin', I thought we'd never be alone."
Lucky snorted and began to stack his clean clothes on a little mat underneath his cot before he grabbed his toothbrush. "I'll be back."
Elizabeth didn't even look up as her ex-boyfriend walked toward the far end to check out the bathroom. She carefully withdrew her clothes – short skirts, tank tops, flip flops – and neatly arranged them under her cot. She had brought along a little tote for her underwear and stockings for discretion's sake, and stowed that under her 'bed' as well.
Robert, who had been watching her unpack as he sat on his own cot nearby, frowned at her clothes and then looked up at Luke. "What'd she bring all those for?"
Elizabeth looked up at the two men, confused. "I-wasn't I supposed to?"
"Luke, you imbecile," Robert muttered, pushing himself to his feet and stalking over to where his best friend was making love to his engraved silver flask. "Did you tell her to bring all those…those…things?"
His best friend shrugged. "You said we needed a pretty little brunette that knew how to use her charms," he answered. "What was I supposed to tell her to bring – flannel pajamas, complete with padlocks?"
Robert rolled his eyes and raked his fingers through his thinning silver hair. "Luke, did you ever once think that maybe – just maybe – since we're in Mexico, we'd have her dress like a normal Mexican woman of her age and stature?"
Luke raised a brow and sat down on his cot, taking off his shoes before pulling his legs up Indian-style underneath him. "Sorry, but the little darlin' and I don't do normal. It's against our religion."
Seeing that it was useless to try to have a civilized conversation with his old friend – a point that had been proved to him time and time again since they first met – Robert turned to Elizabeth. She seemed like a sensible young woman, even though she did enjoy Luke's company.
"Elizabeth, I don't know exactly what Luke told you, but I can tell you this: you won't be needing those clothes." He regretted his choice of words when she balked up at him. "What I mean to say is, the party has already offered to supply you with all the clothes you need. You'll be completely taken care of."
"Okay," the brunette nodded, and Robert was surprised to hear a hint of relief in her voice. "What exactly will I be wearing?"
"Possibly a tunic top, a long skirt, sandals, maybe a cape-like garment," Robert answered, slipping his hands into his pocket. "Nothing too revealing or festive – we just want you to blend in, not capture unwanted attention."
The answer was reassuring and she smiled up at him. "Sounds fine by me."
"I have decided," Luke announced, cutting into their serious conversation, "that my Spanish name will be El Guapo." He frowned when his best friend snorted. "What? You get to be Roberto; I'm El Guapo."
"And that, my friend, is entirely debatable," the ex-commissioner replied, settling down on his own cot which stood one away from Elizabeth's.
Luke frowned sourly at him and capped his flask, standing up. "I'm gonna go upstairs and get a drink."
"Remember to stay in the back," Robert called as Luke disappeared. A moment of slightly uncomfortable silence stretched between them as he stared at the brunette only to find her staring back. She tilted her head to the side and offered him a small smile as she swung her crossed legs back and forth off the couch.
It took the hardened old detective a minute to find something reassuring to say. "Well, Elizabeth, I've heard wonderful things about you from Luke and I can tell you honestly that I look forward to working with you."
That brought a beaming smile to her face, and Robert mentally patted himself on the bat. He wasn't all that great with young women her age; he and Robin always had a special bond, but she had been very young the last time they had been together in Port Charles, and besides that, she hadn't even known he was her father for a good deal of their relationship.
But as he anticipated a similar admiring remark on her part, Robert once again found that the young woman threw him a curve ball. Tilting her head to the side and pursing her lips, the very picture of girlish innocence, she studied him carefully.
"What should I call you?"
If he had a mirror, he would have been able to see that his eyebrows had reached his hairline. "Excuse me?"
"What should I call you?" she repeated, nibbling on her lower lip as she let her flip flops fall to the clean floor. "I don't feel right just calling you Robert like Luke, and I don't think you'd like me calling you Mr. Scorpio…"
"Damn straight," he agreed. "Makes me feel old." He considered the question for a moment longer. "I suppose you can call me Big Daddy Scorpio." She rolled her eyes and he broke out into an easy grin. "No? I suppose it does sound rather like it came from a pornographic setting. How about…" he looked at the far wall, not really seeing it as his thoughts took him back to a time he hoped he'd never forget. "How about Robbie?"
Her illuminating smile reminded him so much of his own daughter's that Robert could have sworn his heart almost skipped a beat. But the petite brunette across from him didn't notice as she nodded her head once, still biting down on her lip. "Robbie it is."