Section Seven
Nikolas watched Luke pace from one end of the jet to another, occasionally pausing to glare at the medical files and single DVD they'd managed to salvage from an elaborate surveillance system. He really couldn't blame the man; the information there had stunned him as well. How Luke had found the hidden room Nikolas would never know and it was a testament to Luke's ingenuity that he'd been able to get the DVD suck in the machine out, without destroying it, as he had the machine. The information on that one DVD had shaken him to the core.
The medical files helped them piece together what must have happened. The young man they had known for the last few years had not only figured out he wasn't the real Lucky Spencer, but had found the real Lucky. Nikolas hoped Luke would snap out of this soon and figure out what to do, despite what must be going through his head. Lucky needed help, both Lucky's needed help, and he didn't have a clue where to start looking for them.
"Dr. Malus?" Colins said from the door, carefully avoiding looking in.
"What is it Colins?" Malus said looking up from the screen where he was watching Lucky and Jeremy playing cards.
"We were unable to retrieve the information you wanted from the house. Nikolas Cassadine and Luke Spencer got there before we could get back." Colins said carefully, not moving from his spot in the doorway.
"And they found everything?" Malus asked incredulously. He knew for a fact they were there for less than fifteen minutes.
"I'm afraid so, sir," Colins said evenly, "Spencer found the hidden room much faster than anticipated."
Malus sighed and closed his eyes. It was his own fault, really. He hadn't expected Spencer to team with Cassadine, and when they did he had counted on their long standing animosity to slow them down. Instead they seemed to be moving twice as fast.
"There's nothing that can be done about it now." Malus finally decided, he had intended for the information to come out eventually, albeit a lot slower and in a much more controlled fashion.
"Just be sure nothing can be traced back to me or the company. And double the security on Lucky and Jeremy."
"Yes sir," Colins said, backing out of the doorway.
Malus watched the closed door for a second before turning his attention back to the computer screen. He didn't approve of poker. Lucky had shown a weakness for gambling many years ago, and even though the kid had managed to overcome the obstacle Malus still tried to keep Lucky away from anything that could prove a temptation. But watching the small smile on Lucky's face as he shuffled the cards he decided he would let it go for now. He hadn't seen the kid that animated in years.
The city was blanketed in pure white, street lights making the falling snow sparkle. Sonny Corinthos stared blankly out the window of his penthouse, oblivious to the spectacular view. A short knock, followed by the sound of the door opening made Sonny turn.
"Jason." He said by way of greeting as his friend and right hand man closed the door behind him.
"I couldn't find anything." Jason stated without preamble, "Whatever Luke's doing, he's doing it quietly."
Jason noted the tightening of Sonny's shoulders at the news and wondered what Luke had done to make Sonny so nervous. The two had been ignoring each other for the most part lately.
"I was afraid of that." Sonny said turning back to face the window, "It means, whatever it is, he didn't go looking for it just because he was bored." Jason nodded agreeing with the sentiment. Luke got bored easily, and when he found something interesting to play with he wasn't quiet about it.
"Check the Cassadine front." Sonny said after a minute. "Things have been quiet there for a while, but you never know with Luke."
Jason nodded to Sonny's back and walked out of the penthouse quietly.
Nikolas paused in front of Luke's hotel suite. After they had found the medical files and DVD at the house, Luke had thrown a very deliberate tempter tantrum. Nikolas supposed he should be grateful the man had left the Cassadine jet before going on his tirade. But the bill the hotel had sent for the trashed room had been considerable and Nikolas wasn't sure which would have been less expensive to pay for. He didn't blame Luke for needing to vent, but there would be time to rail at the world later, after they had found Lucky.
Nikolas opened the door cautiously, taking in the disarray that had once been an orderly, high priced hotel room. Broken furniture littered the floors and broken glass glittering like diamonds covering nearly every available surface, crunched under his feet as he moved.
He had expected to find Luke passed out drunk somewhere, so it came as a surprise when he found the man hunched over a laptop, not a single liquor bottle in sight.
"Have a long night?" Nikolas asked, looking around to note that every room of the suite was in a similar state of chaos as the entranceway.
"Have your professional detectives managed to find anything useful?" Luke asked without looking up, ignoring the question.
"Nothing we didn't already know." Nikolas admitted reluctantly. "The house was being rented, paid for in cash every month. Oddly, the identity of the man renting the house was traced to Canada, and he hasn't been seen since October of '93."
Luke looked up at that and any doubt Nikolas might have had about the man's sobriety was instantly lifted by the sharp look in his eyes. "Tell me." Luke ordered.
Nikolas paused deliberately, and found a chair that had miraculously managed to survive the destruction and sank down into it, pulling out the sheet of paper his detectives had provided him with. "Robert Johnson." He read, wondering what had caught Luke's attention.
"Let me guess," Luke said raising his hand to stop Nikolas from continuing, "Mr. Johnson was married to a woman named Linda and they had a ten year old son named Kevin." Luke said inexplicitly and Nikolas glanced at the paper in his hand confirming everything Luke had just said. Nikolas sighed in agitation. Why did Luke ask for the information if he'd already found it?
"I take it you tracked down the same lead?" Nikolas guessed wearily.
"No," Luke said, and Nikolas stifled an angry reply when he saw the distant and haunted look in Luke's eyes. "That's the identity Laura, Lucky, and I were using just before we came to Port Charles."
Nikolas blinked, trying to get his mind around the implications of that.
Luke leaned back in his chair, staring at the computer screen in front of him, a frown deepening the lines on his face. Nikolas suddenly got the impression that Luke was no longer aware of him.
"Someone wants me to know that they understand who I am, what I'm capable of." Luke paused, and Nikolas waited for him to continue. This was a side of Luke that he'd never seen, though he'd always known it must exist. Luke's reputation for being cunning and ruthless was well deserved, despite the outrageous and carefree persona most people saw.
"Lucky went to school on a scholarship." Luke said, reaching a hand out to touch the keyboard. "He took the maximum load of classes each semester and got his bachelor's in a little under two years."
Nikolas nodded, his people had already uncovered as much. He'd even had them send him a copy of Lucky's transcript and had been impressed by the nearly perfect scores.
"He took most of his classes online," Luke continued, almost murmuring, "But a few were taken on campus." Nikolas kept quiet, almost afraid to break the spell. Luke wasn't really sharing information, he was thinking out loud, and Nikolas was certain it wouldn't take much to see a return of the insanity that was usually Luke Spencer.
"What I can't figure out," Luke said sitting up to look at the computer screen closer, "Is why now? This guy has held Lucky for years. Why did he suddenly decide to bring the truth to light now?"
"Maybe he didn't intend for anyone else to figure it out." Nikolas said taking the chance that Luke really wanted a response. "Maybe he just wanted to bring. . . Jeremy. . . here." Nikolas' voice caught slightly on the name. It was hard to accept the fact that the brother he'd gotten to know over the last several years wasn't really his brother.
Luke shook his head, "No, I've been left a very deliberate trail of breadcrumbs. I was meant to follow and I was meant to find this." He said holding up the single DVD they'd managed to salvage from the house and Nikolas blinked again. When had Luke taken that from the Cassadine jet?
"Which means there's a clue somewhere that wasn't left deliberately," Luke continued, focusing all of his intense energy back onto the computer, "I just have to find it."
