Fragile Stone
This was the perfect moment for her knight in shining armor to rescue her. Courtney Matthews sat blindfolded on the hard floor. Her hands were tied behind her back and her mouth was gagged. She could hear people speaking softly, but it was mostly in Spanish. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her and took off her blindfold. It was the man who had lured to the van.
"Don't be scared," he said. "We won't hurt you yet." He sneered at her and took out his cell phone. "Lets give your boyfriend a call."
*
Jason Morgan walked into the house and immediately sensed that something was wrong. There was no sign of Courtney in the bedroom; the bed hadn't been slept in. Just then, his cell phone rang. He could hear someone sobbing on the other end.
"Jason?" It was Courtney's voice. "Jason, please help me." She continued sobbing on the other end of the line.
"Courtney, where are you? Who's with you?" Jason said.
"I—"
She was cut off by a deep voice. "This is Eddie Chavez calling on behalf of Sammy Tagilati."
"You son of a bitch, if you hurt her, I'll—"
"What are you gonna do, Morgan?" Eddie said. "You can't touch me because you can't find me." The loud click as he hung up was an echo of his parting words.
*
Sonny sat alone in the darkened living room. The curtains were closed. The lamps were off. Carly came down the stairs, uncertain on what was going on. "Sonny?" He remained motionless. Carly reached to turn on a lamp.
"Don't," Sonny said. His voice sounded lifeless.
Carly took a seat next to him in the dark. She always felt like she knew him better in the darkness. She knew the sound of his breathing, the way his body felt; it was this bond she had with him. She wrapped her arms around him. "It's going to be all right."
*
Jason entered the festival cautiously. He had spent most of the day with Hector Garcia gathering information on where Eddie Chavez would be hiding. Now he was back at the last place he had seen Courtney, hoping he would find a witness or a clue on where she was taken. He felt someone tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. He recognized the little flower girl.
"Senor?" The girl raised the lavender flower Jason had bought for Courtney.
"Where did you find this?" Jason asked in Spanish.
The girl took his hand and led him to a secluded area that was away from the festival. "I saw them take her," she said in Spanish.
"Can you tell me who?" he said.
"Four men," she said. "They put her in a van and drove away."
"What did the van look like?" Jason asked.
The girl thought about it. "Blue with the words Speedy Delivery on the back."
"Gracias." Jason smiled at her and turned to leave when the girl stopped him. She handed him the lavender flower.
"Give it back to her when you find her," she said.
*
Eddie sat across from Courtney, his eyes locked with hers. One of his men walked in with a cell phone and said, "Sammy wants to talk to you." Eddie got on the phone. "Yeah?"
"You do remember that there's a part two on your trip, don't you?" Sammy Tagilati said sternly.
"Don't worry. I have some men taking care of it right now," Eddie said.
"You watch the girl until I tell you what to do with her," Tagilati said, "but you need to get Morgan out of the way now."
"I said I got it taken care of, Sammy," Eddie said. "Morgan is gonna be no problem."
Courtney began to worry at the sound of Jason's name. "What are you going to do with Jason?" she asked after Eddie hung up.
"You know, your boyfriend and me, we have a lot in common," he said.
"Jason is nothing like you," Courtney said. "You are a monster."
"So is Morgan." Eddie stood up. "We do the same job. I'm Tagilati's right hand man. Morgan is Corinthos's right hand man. We protect them, do what they say, we even kill—"
"Shut up."
Eddie smiled. "Afraid to hear the truth?"
"From you? Yeah, right."
"I am telling the truth, honey," Eddie said. "Morgan and I, we're killers. This is our life." He lowered himself until he was face to face with her. "So, you see, we're not that different." He placed his hand on her leg.
"Don't touch me," Courtney said. If she wasn't tied up in her chair, she would have slapped the evil grin off his face a long time ago.
Eddie liked the fierceness he saw in her eyes. He smirked and stood back up. One of his men came in. "Eddie, we gotta meet with Lopez."
Eddie looked at Courtney one more time before leaving.
*
Sonny picked up the package that had arrived for him earlier. He opened it and found a tape recorder. He pushed play and Courtney's voice came on. "What do you want from me? Answer me!" There was a shuffle in the background and a man's voice came on. "You are gonna be fine, just as long as your brother does what he's told." Sonny could hear Courtney crying and then the tape stopped. He stood still for what seemed like an eternity. He finally moved and picked up his cell phone, dialing Jason's number. If Courtney had been taken, that meant something had happened to Jason because he would have probably risked his own life to prevent Tagilati's men from taking Courtney. But Jason answered his phone. "What the hell happened?" Sonny said. "Where's Courtney?"
"Sonny, I—"
"Someone sent me a tape with Courtney and Tagilati's men," Sonny said. "I counted on you to keep her safe, Jason."
"Dammit, Sonny, I know that," Jason said. "Don't you think I'm working on finding her?"
Sonny sighed. "I'm coming to Brazil."
"No, you're not—"
"Jason, I need to find Courtney," Sonny said.
"You need to stay in Port Charles and take care of Tagilati," Jason said. "I promise you that Courtney will come home. You have my word."
It was silent for a moment on Sonny's end. "She's my sister," Sonny said. "I love her."
"I know." Jason hung up with Sonny. "I do too."
*
"Here are the photos we took his morning." Garcia showed them to Jason. "Looks like we have a match."
Jason saw the Speedy Delivery van parked outside a laundry service building. "Are your men ready?"
Garcia nodded.
"Then, we will go tonight," Jason said.
*
Carly slept soundly in bed as Sonny stood by the bedroom window. He looked outside at the city at night. In his hand, he held a picture of him and Courtney. Carly had taken it awhile ago, claiming she had to test the camera to see if it worked or not. He traced Courtney's face and smiled bitterly. He remembered hearing about a land formation somewhere in Asia. It was made of rocks and had stayed together for thousands of years until one day it just started to fall apart. No one knew why, but people said it could have been from all the pressure of trying to stay together in one piece for so long; it couldn't take it anymore so it just collapsed. Sonny turned away from the window and closed the curtains before joining Carly in bed.
END FRAGILE STONE
