Chapter 8 - Part 1

The docks were completely silent, which should have been Sam's first warning.

She had left the apartment she shared with Jason after yet another heated discussion had turned into a full-fledged fight. Sam was more worried about Jason's hair-trigger temper now than she was about any potential danger Sonny was putting Emily in. Sam loved Jason, and one of the reasons why was his total devotion to his family. The way he was acting now, though, was something different. Lately, she had been witness to a rage in Jason she had thought he only ever displayed towards enemies. The anger inside of him was dangerously close to bubbling over, especially in light of him finally seeing that his little sister and best friend were, in fact, very much together. He was taking his frustration out on the people closest to him, and right now, that meant Sam.

So she had left, not running but still exiting at a speed that belied her small size. Sam had tried to be there for Jason, to shoulder his pain from Sonny and Emily, while still dealing with her own pain caused by Alexis. Unfortunately, it seemed that Jason was not in a place where he could do the same thing.

"Well, I don't know what you want me to do, Sam!" he had bellowed, eyes wide and burning in a way Sam had never seen before. "I can only deal with so much drama at once! First Sonny and Emily, now Sonny's making bad business decisions, which could actually cost Emily her safety! Carly's running around town with Jax, and Michael keeps coming to me to get his parents to start caring about him and Morgan again! I know you're dealing with the fallout from finding out Alexis is your mother, but honestly, Sam. You said you don't want her to know, so why are you still so focused on this? I can't handle Alexis coming down on me, too, because you lose your temper and tell her everything!"

In the back of her mind, Sam had hoped that Jason would follow her, that he would see she only wanted to help him deal with Sonny and Emily in a way that would leave them all standing together in the end, but the farther she ventured into the docks, the less likely she knew that possibility became. It hurt, she realized, to see that Jason was so unable to handle the problems of the people he cared about. It hurt more, Sam realized, to now wonder if this was something she could expect for the rest of their lives.

She stepped onto one of the platforms and tried to see out across the water to Spoon Island. It was dark and the fog was rolling in thick, and after a few minutes she could barely see two feet in front of her.

That should have her second warning.

From behind her, Sam heard a scuffle against the wooden planks. Whipping around to face the sudden noise, she tried to see through the fog. "Who's there?" she asked.

She heard more scuffling, and immediately cursed herself for revealing her position. Jason was concerned that Sonny had been lax in dealing with various business threats recently, and she knew that she was in danger by association. When she still heard sounds but no one revealed themselves, Sam panicked, immediately thinking that Manny was finally throwing off his veneer of reform and coming to finish what he had started.

Sam was terrified, but she refused to allow anyone else to exert control over her life. The trouble with Jason had broken the proverbial camel's back, and she was sick and tired of feeling emotionally tied to so many other people. It was time she took care of herself first. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus the dim light that shone through the fog. Manny could try to take her, but she wasn't going without a fight.

The first set of arms grabbed her from behind. Sam screamed as loudly as she could, determined to make this as difficult as possible for whoever was after her.

"Damn!" a man's voice shouted behind her.

Good, Sam thought grimly as she struggled, let him be deaf for a few minutes. She twisted her body, trying to worm her way out of the vice-like grip around her torso. If she could just get her arms free...

"He said she'd be a handful," another man said, this time from in front of her. In the fog, Sam could only see a dark shape move to stand before her; only dark, Asian eyes were visible beneath the full body coverings. She didn't see his hands, nor the hands that held her body still. Gloves, then. They didn't want to leave trace evidence behind.

Even in the thick fog, enough lamps illuminated the night for Sam to see what the second man was holding in his hand: a syringe.

"No!" she cried, kicking the man in front of her firmly in the groin, causing him to drop the needle.

"Shit!" he hissed, falling to his knees. "Did you have to do that, lady?"

Sam wasted no time being flabbergasted; did they honestly think she would let them drug her? Changing tactics, Sam abruptly went limp in her other attacker's arms. Unprepared for her to cease fighting, the first man relaxed his grip enough for Sam to shimmy out of his hold and start running.

"Get her, you idiots!" The second man, the downed Asian, shouted into the darkness.

Sam made a break for where she thought the stairs were, knowing now there were other people on the docks, but having no idea where they were. In the back of her mind, Sam catalogued everything she could about her attackers so she could inform Jason and Sonny. She tried to think of enemies they had who used drugs and stealth tactics. Yakuza out of Manhattan, maybe...

A wall stopped her from getting away. Or, she thought as she fell to the ground, a human who was just built like a wall. Sam braced her hands on the ground in preparation to get up and fight, but the next words out of the new man's mouth stopped her.

"He didn't say Scorpio would be this tough to get."

Scorpio? Sam thought wildly. These men were after Robin? These men thought she was Robin? Jumping up from the ground, Sam looked around, trying to find the other men who attacked her. She heard their footsteps echo on the wood, and knew they were almost upon her. She was boxed in, and at a disadvantage in the foggy night.

The first two men approached her again. One of them had the syringe in his hand again, and Sam prepared to fight him off.

"So, ready for another kick, are you?" she postured, trying to buy herself enough time to escape. Where were the guards that Jason had so insistently placed on her in the wake of Manny's renewed stalking during the epidemic?

"Look, Dr. Scorpio," the Asian man said. "This would go a lot easier if you just came with us. We have orders to avoid physical harm if at all possible."

Was it worth revealing their mistake? she wondered. Would telling them they had attacked the wrong woman do more harm than good? Would they just decide to kill her in order to cover their tracks? Sam knew she had to stall.

"I don't give a damn what your orders are!" she said. "You want me, you have to tell your boss exactly how I got to be in such bad shape, because you are gonna have to hurt me to get me to come with you."

The first man who had attacked her chuckled. "He didn't say Scorpio would be such a spitfire."

"Yeah," said the man behind her, "But he did warn us not to take anything about her at face value."

Sam was shocked, but stared insistently ahead at the man holding the needle. He was the danger, she knew. He was also the one the other two seemed to be looking towards for guidance. So, the leader of this little assault, then? He was the one who knew what was going on, and he was the one who would be thinking things through the most carefully. He was the danger.

"Who are you?" she asked, eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"

The man behind Sam stepped closer as the man with the needle moved in front of her; she saw the third man draw his gun and scan the area. He was playing scout while the other two completed the assault...no, she realized, looking at all the facts. The abduction.

These men were trying to kidnap Robin.

"Who the hell are you!" she screamed.

The man with the needle sighed and glared at her. "You know perfectly well who we are, Dr. Scorpio," he hissed out her name. "Our mission is your retrieval with a minimum of injuries. This will go much better for everyone involved if you don't fight us." He stared at her in the haze, his eyes glittering with something Sam couldn't identify.

The other men stopped moving, obviously thinking she was cornered and therefore no longer a threat. They seemed convinced that Robin Scorpio was not the type of woman who fought losing battles. As she waited for the men to make their next move, Sam remembered Robin's steadfastness during the train crash, her determination throughout Jason's sickness, and her stubborn will to live during the epidemic. Smirking, Sam realized that these men's assessment of Robin's character couldn't be further from the truth. She also realized that she and Robin had more in common than she had ever thought.

They were both survivors.

The man with the needle approached her, and Sam watched his eyes flash with something she would have called remorse in anyone else. Preparing to go down fighting, all four of them paused when they heard shoes scuffle against the wooden planks of the next dock. Someone was approaching, and from the way the attackers abruptly ceased their movements, Sam knew that this new person was not one of them.

Praying she was not about to get an innocent person hurt, Sam grabbed onto this chance to escape with everything she had. In the moments the men waited to identify this new person, Sam drew in a breath and screamed at the top of her lungs.

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Life, Jesse Beaudry thought, was finally settling into something resembling normalcy.

His life had never been ordinary, in the most common sense of the term. Or the most uncommon, actually. Though he had long since gotten over feeling sorry for himself, he could admit that no one should ever have to experience the kinds of traumas and losses he had at such a young age. He had felt like an old soul, bitter and hardened by the brief passage of time. He had lost everything, from his family to the very self-identity he had built up in the wake. Begin a cop had seemed like a saving grace, until he was fingered as crooked. If he could not make this new life he had built up from the ruins of his old one work, then he would have had nothing left to live for. Jesse had thought his short life was finally over.

It had been the best thing that ever happened to him. Maxie Jones had stormed into his life like a whirlwind, an impressive feat for someone who was confined to a hospital bed for much of their early acquaintance. Since then, they had seen each other through drugging, stalking, train crashes, and an encephalitis outbreak. Jesse smiled and fingered the receipt in his pocket. He and Maxie were long overdue for some good old-fashioned romance.

Which was why he was on the docks that night. Maxie's vague description of the "family meeting from hell" that was keeping her occupied for the evening had provided Jesse with the opportunity to arrange a surprise for her. And, if he said so himself, it was a damn good surprise.

Being a police detective in a small town like Port Charles might not have paid as well as some other careers, but since the epidemic Jesse had stashed away enough money to rent a day on the small yacht that Maxie always admired when they passed the Waterfront. It wasn't lavish or expensive, and Jesse was certain the boat would not last very long in deeper waters. But for one afternoon, for a picnic under the sun, surrounded by the open ocean and the girl he loved, it was enough. In Jesse's life, enough had never happened before. For the first time, enough was perfect.

He was walking along the deserted docks, smiling to himself and wondering if Maxie would be free for a late dinner or movie, when he heard the scream. In an instant, Jesse's carefree mood vanished and was replaced with the single-minded focus of his police training. He lightened his steps so as to avoid detection, and reached into his holster to draw his gun. Off-duty or not, Jesse had long since learned that when it's dark and someone screams, it's better to have a weapon than to not.

Voices were picked up by the light breeze, and Jesse recognized the sounds of several male voices and a single female voice, the voice that had screamed. He heard scuffling, and cursing, and Jesse abandoned all pretense of stealth. He pounded down the stairs that separated the docks from one another, peering into the foggy night. Gun held solidly in front of him, Jesse announced his presence to whomever was there.

"Police! Freeze!"

----------

Sam's eyes shot up at Jesse's voice. Thank God, the police! she thought. Taking advantage of the distraction, Sam tried to run from the men. She was just out of arm's reach of the man behind her when she felt someone grab her arm and yank her back. Suddenly, she felt the needle pressing into the skin of her throat and a hand gripping her upper arm, holding her close to another body. Sam's eyes widened as she realized that the situation had just gotten a lot worse.

Jesse came down the stairs, trying to catalogue as much as he could about the scene in the thick fog. He could clearly see three bodies -- big, probably men -- surrounding Sam McCall. Two of the men had guns pointed at Jesse, while the third man held Sam in front of himself, a needle against her neck in threat. Jesse couldn't be sure if there was anybody else waiting in the shadows, but it didn't really matter. In the back of his mind, Jesse wondered why Sam had been allowed outside Jason's presence without guards. These guys had to be Manny's thugs.

"I'm PCPD!" Jesse said firmly. "Drop your weapons!"

None of the men said anything. Sam needed Jesse to get help; she knew he was thinking this was gang related, but Sam couldn't shake the feeling that whoever was after Robin, it wasn't the mob. Her eyes widened when Jesse stepped into her sight, and she realized he was alone. Cops never acted alone; they were with their partner at all times. The only reason a cop wouldn't be with their partner was if they were off duty. Sam's eyes slipped shut momentarily; her gut was telling her that this was going to get very ugly.

"I said, drop your weapons!" Jesse shouted again, raising his gun into position to fire. He looked into Sam's wide and fearful eyes, trying to will her to stay still. He could get off a clean shot if she didn't move. Sam stared back, her eyes trying to tell him something, but he couldn't figure out what. In an effort to keep her calm, Jesse spoke. "Sam, I need you not to move, okay?"

"'Sam'?" One of the men with guns said in shock. "Who the hell is that?"

The other man with a gun whipped his head around to look at Sam and her captor. "This isn't Scorpio?"

Scorpio? Jesse thought wildly. What the hell...

"Sam!"

All eyes turned to the new figure bounding down the stairs, gun firmly in place ahead of him.

"Jason!" Sam cried. He had followed her! "Help!"

Glaring at Sam's captors, Jason growled. "Let her go!"

For the first time since he became a cop, Jesse was glad to see a known mobster. At the very least, in this they were on the same side. This might even end well.

One of the men whipped around to face the one holding Sam. "Who the hell did we grab?"

The other man shook his head. "The intel doesn't matter now. Retreat, and leave no witnesses!"

The docks broke into chaos. Jesse and Jason exchanged grim looks, and each squeezed their triggers. The two men fired back, and pushed Sam and the third abductor to the ground; quickly standing, they fired again. Jason ducked behind a crate and used the shield to protect him as he shot at one of the men. He couldn't risk Sam getting caught in the crossfire, so he forced himself to only concentrate on the men with their guns out. Jesse followed Jason's lead, also taking cover behind a bunch of crates. He fired again, hoping to keep them in disarray long enough to either call for backup or, at the very least, get the weapons and syringe away from Sam. Standing up to shoot again, Jesse felt grimly certain that Jason Morgan was not about to let these men escape alive.

Sam tried to push her head up to see what was happening, but she was shoved back to the ground by the man on top of her. "This would have been so much easier if you had just come with us!" he hissed.

Twisting to the side, Sam tried to glare at him. "I'm not Robin, you idiot! You got the wrong woman!"

She must have been in shock, because she thought she saw the man narrow his eyes and nod his head. She didn't have time to ponder it, however; Sam's eyes widened, and she gasped as she felt the needle slide into her skin and pressure increase as the man depressed the syringe.

"No!" Jason screamed, seeing what was happening. He bolted out from his cover, firing off shot after shot at the men. Jesse followed suit, taking advantage of Jason's cover fire to come at the men attacking Sam.

One of the men fell to the ground, bleeding profusely from his chest. The man on top of Sam jumped up an pulled his own gun, preparing to fire.

Two more shots rang out, and two more bodies fell to the ground.

Sam was fading out of consciousness, but she clearly saw Jesse fall. The attacker who had blocked her escape route also jerked and fell forward; it must have just been her imagination that the shot came from the gun above her. Sam's vision was fuzzy, and her mind felt even fuzzier, but she couldn't have seen the man who just drugged her shoot one of his own people. She thought she heard someone whispering into her ear, "See what you made me do?" followed by the sound of footsteps retreating, but that must have been the drugs.

The last thing she remembered before passing out completely was how salty the air smelled. She wasn't sure if it was from the blood or the water.