Chapter 10

Hour 10 - 6:00 AM

Elizabeth walked into the Spencer house to pick up the boys. She had made a quick pit stop at home to change her clothes because she knew that if Lucky had seen her still in scrubs he would know something was up.

"Hey, I didn't expect you so early, I haven't even gotten the boys up yet." Lucky said as he came down the steps.

"I was awake so I figured I would come over early since I left them with you last night… and I missed them."

"Are you ok?" Lucky asked. "You said you didn't feel well last night and you still look a little under the weather."

Elizabeth chuckled, "Is that your way of saying that I look like shit?" Lucky shook his head and she continued, "I didn't sleep real well and I guess I'm just still a little sick."

Lucky pointed up the stairs, in the direction of the bedroom where the boys were sleeping. "Do you want me to just drop them off at Audrey's or daycare so you can go home and rest some more?"

"Oh, no, I'll be fine. I just want to go home and spend my day off with the boys… maybe go to the park."

Lucky knew that she could be stubborn so he did not push the subject. He helped her wake the boys up, dress them and load them into the car, both still half asleep. "If you change your mind I can swing by on my break and take them for you." Lucky offered as he closed the door to her car.

"Thank you Lucky but, really, I am fine."

He accepted her words and went back into his house. Elizabeth sat in the drivers seat of he car and wished she believed what she had just said. She was nowhere near fine and could not stop worrying about what was happening back at the Safe house. Claudia seemed like a loose cannon, not caring much who she hurt or if she herself even got hurt. Elizabeth just hoped that she had correctly rationalized the situation and Claudia would not put any innocent children in danger. Sure Anthony had a history of going after the families of his enemies but there was something about Claudia that told her that she wouldn't.

Spinelli had been working for hours and was finally growing tired but he fought it. He felt that he was so close to finding the source of the wire transfer. He had looked at so many account numbers that he was starting to lose focus. He stood from the couch and stretched his arms as high as he could reach. "Oh, the sugary rush of a frosty orange soda could aid in my alertness." He said out loud, to himself, then rushed in the kitchen and ran back to the couch. He managed a few big gulps from the bottle then coughed when one of them went down the wrong pipe. Orange soda spattered on his laptop and he groaned in frustration. Minutes later he had his soda mess cleaned up and was once again revitalized from his coughing mishap. He went back to searching anonymous offshore account information, hacking through ironclad firewalls in an attempt to uncover the identity of the account holder on the account that was the source of the wire transfer to Jerry Jax's account.

The accounts he was accessing were set up with complete anonymity which made it much harder to discover the account holder… but there was always a way such as a digital signature or random wire transfer from an account from a U.S. bank. So far he had located the bank, it was a small bank in the Cayman Islands and the account had been opened about two weeks before the attempted hit on Sonny. Now that he had located the account it would not be much longer before he had the guilty party.

"So, you think that you can kill me, kill my father and your problems will be solved? What about my brother? Are you going to throw him into the mix?" Claudia asked.

Jason shrugged and did not change his grave expression. "Nah, your brother thinks rationally, unlike your father and you."

"You think you would get away with that. The police would be on you so quick."

Jason shook his head and moved to stand in front of the door. His arms were crossed over his chest as though he was obstructing her exit. "See you don't understand what I am saying Claudia." Jason spat. "Yes I cared deeply for Michael, I raised him when he was a baby. And I WILL find out who was behind the shooting… and I WILL handle that situation." He paused and his eyes darkened even more. "But you see Jake, he IS my son. If anything or anyone hurts or even threatens him… I will not just kill them but I will torture them. They… you… well, if you are threatening my son… you will wish I had pulled the trigger and killed you tonight. That would be easy compared to what I would put you through. You don't know the least bit of what I am capable of."

Claudia stood and crossed the room to where he was standing. She was slightly shaken by the earnestness of his words but tried to hide it. He saw the apprehension in her eyes as she spoke. "I don't doubt that you would kill anyone who threatened you family. I would do the same for my brother. I can see that you are a passionate and loyal man. You may try to hide it but believe it or not, we are a lot alike. We put up this front like we don't care about anyone or anything… no mercy, no feelings. But deep down all we want is what everyone else has and we know we will never have it. Just kill my father and we can all have exactly what we want."

She could see that he was thinking. She was not sure if he was thinking about killing her father or just trying to figure out how to kill her right then. Yes, she wanted her father dead but at this point she needed him to do it so she could have it to hold over his head if and when he discovered that she was behind the botched hit on Sonny. She had covered her tracks well and ensured that nothing could ever be traced back to her or Johnny. She hoped that the trail that was left would point exactly where she wanted it to.

"I will kill your father if you agree to leave town… and NEVER come back."