Sam opened her front door a couple of hours later to find Shawn Butler there. "Hi, Shawn. Come on in."
"Thanks," Shawn said before walking in. He immediately noticed Spinella working away on his computer. "Hey, Spinelli."
"Hello," Spinelli said without even bothering to look away from his computer. He needed to focus every bit his attention on the man that had taken his godson.
"Do you know anything, Shawn?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Your man has been in contact with a guy who specializes in fake IDs. I'm sorry to say that I helped him with that, not knowing his intentions. I gave him the name of this man," Shawn admitted. He'd remembered this Jake guy the moment he'd seen the picture in the paper. He instantly felt guilty. "I'm sorry, Sam."
"He probably would've found this guy anyway. Please just tell me what you know," Sam said.
"I managed to get this guy to tell me what he gave Jake. He sold him two sets of IDs, one for him and one for Danny. He also provided false birth certificates for them both," Shawn said.
"Do those IDs include passports?" Sam asked with some fear in her voice.
"Yes, but just because he has the passports doesn't mean he'll use them," Shawn said in an effort to reassure her. Inside though, he was sure Jake had used those passports. His actions made his intentions clear. He was planning to disappear with Danny. He wasn't coming back.
"Don't lie in an attempt to spare me, Shawn. You know he used those passports. He left the country with my son, didn't he?" Sam asked.
"Yes," Shawn said after a minute. "It's almost certain that he left the country with Danny. Getting those IDs says a lot. He planned this and it wasn't to extort you or cause you discomfort for a while. He did it because he wants Danny. I don't know why, but it's clear that he does. He's not planning to come back. But just because he left doesn't mean we can't find him and get Danny back."
"What name is he using?" Spinelli suddenly asked. He'd started paying attention when Shawn first mentioned the IDs. He could try to track the kidnapper through his alias.
"He's going by the name Brian Wilson with his 'son' Daniel Wilson. He kept Danny's name the same, probably figuring that just changing one of their names would be enough. The name 'Daniel' is very common and training a toddler with a new name wouldn't exactly be easy," Shawn said.
"I will try and track him by that name," Spinelli said.
"It's highly unlikely that he's gonna leave a paper trail with those names. He's been very smart so far, only getting caught because I'm helping. He's not gonna be stupid enough to allow any records to be shown with those IDs. My guess is that he only got them so that he could leave the country, since that requires a passport, and in Danny's case, a birth certificate as well," Shawn explained.
"I will still try," Spinelli said as he went back to work.
"I will keep trying to find them, Sam. I'll do whatever I can to get Danny back to you," Shawn said.
"Thank you," Sam said before leading him to the door. As soon as she opened it, she was greeted by Dante. "Dante, come on in."
Dante glanced at Shawn before making his way inside.
Shawn, meanwhile, walked out and Sam closed the door behind him.
"I am going to continue this in the kitchen," Spinelli said before taking his laptop and heading to the kitchen.
"I don't want to know why Shawn was here or what Spinelli is currently doing. I can of course guess, but I would rather leave it at that since I'm a cop and would have to do something about it if I learned they were interfering with an investigation, so I'm going to forget I even saw them," Dante said.
Sam nodded that she understood. "Did you find out anything?"
"Yeah. Jake rented a car the day he took Danny under a false name. He used the name Brian Wilson and he apparently has the license to back the name up," Dante said.
"He has passport with that name too and one for Danny under the name Daniel Wilson. He also has a birth certificate for him," Sam said. She thought about not telling him, but Dante might be able to find out more if he knew.
"Again, I don't wanna know how you know that. Is there anything else I don't wanna know how you know?" Dante asked.
"No," Sam answered.
"Alright, well, we've gotten the license plate information, as well as the make and model of the car. We will find it," Dante promised.
"But they won't be in it. Jake has passports. He's taken my son out of the country," Sam said quietly.
"Even if that's true, finding the car could help us figure out how far away he got on land before getting a flight. If we find out where he flew from, we might be able to find out where he went. Someone could recognize him or maybe he made a mistake and paid with a credit card under his new name," Dante said.
"I don't think that's likely," Sam said. Jake had planned this well. Shawn was right. He wasn't going to be stupid enough to leave a paper trail. He only did it with the rental car because he had no choice. They would've taken all his information down before giving him the car.
"There's still a chance though. Just try to hang on, Sam. I"m going to do everything I can to bring Danny home. I know what it's like to have a kid out there with a lunatic. I won't stop until I find him," Dante promised.
"Thank you," Sam said.
"I should go. I'll let you know when I know anything else," Dante said before heading to the door.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Jake was sitting on the couch of his hotel suite in Costa Rica watching Danny play with his toys on the floor. Thankfully, things were still going pretty smoothly. Danny had asked for Sam a couple of times, but Jake was usually able to distract him. Soon that wouldn't work though.
It didn't work for Jake at all. He tried to distract himself from thinking of Sam, but it didn't work in the slightest. He kept thinking about her and what she had to be going through right now. He knew she was probably going crazy back in Port Charles. Her son was gone and she had no idea where he was.
Jake felt guilty about hurting Sam. He didn't want her to worry. The thought of her hurting and being afraid had him wanting to go right back, but he couldn't. Danny's life was in danger. He knew that. He couldn't say even to himself how he knew it, but he that this child would be hurt if he went back to Port Charles. Danny needed to be away from Port Charles until Jake could find and stop whoever was a danger to him. The problem was that he didn't know how to do that.
Just then, Danny got up and climbed up on the couch with Jake. He then got up onto Jake's lap and snuggled up against his shoulder.
Jake held him tightly. "Hey, buddy. You getting tired, huh? I bet this when you usually take a nap."
Danny didn't answer. He just closed his eyes and began to fall asleep.
Jake just held him there in his arms. "I'm sorry, Danny. I know you're gonna be hurt by all this soon and I hate that, but I have to protect you. I gotta make sure no one can hurt you. I don't know why. I don't know what the danger is or why I feel this need to protect you so badly, but I do. I have to protect you and I will. No one will ever hurt you, pal," he promised. It was a promise he'd keep. He would die for Danny. That was something he knew deep inside him. He would do whatever he had to to protect this child. No one would ever lay a hand on him.
