A/N The next few chapters may seem a bit choppy because they do move along quite quick. I needed to show several things happening at the same time...May 6th is a busy day
Chapter Fourteen
Morning 6th May - Metro Court
Jason woke early the next morning. He was exactly where he always wanted to be, content with Elizabeth in his arms and his boys sleeping soundly close by. His family was safe and under his protection. It was amazing how normal and right it felt to him. He spent the next hour watching Elizabeth sleep, until he heard a faint noise and looked over to see Jake and Cameron stirring in the room's second bed.
"Momma" called Cameron and Elizabeth sat bolt up right causing Jason's arms' to fall away. He smiled and wasn't overly concerned that she seemed a bit disoriented. He smoothed a hand through her hair and she looked at him smiling, confusion leaving her eyes. Then she leaned forward to look at Cameron and noted Jake too was awake and sitting up.
"Cam it's okay baby come over here with me and Jason" her voice husky with sleep, she put her hand out to him "you too Jake".
Jason and Elizabeth moved to the edges of the bed they shared leaving a space in between them. Cameron lifted the covers off himself and Jake and both got out of bed and made their way over to Jason's side of the bed. He reached down and helped each climb over him to take up positions on the bed between Elizabeth and himself. This is how his life should have been, he thought smiling.
"We're hungy momma" Cameron told her.
"Is that right? You too Jake" she questioned with a smile
"Yeth" Jake replied with a giggle as he snuggled up to her.
"We want pancakes. Do you JasUn?" Cameron asked turning to look over his shoulder at Jason.
"Sounds good to me Cam." he smiled and glanced a hand down Cameron's back. Jake smiled at him from his position snuggled under Elizabeth's chin.
"What about you Jake?" Jason asked.
"Yeth' Jake replied moving away from his mother to move closer to Jason and Cameron. Elizabeth eyes grew watery, this his how their life should have been she thought, turning loving eyes to Jason.
"How about we all get dressed and I'll call room service" she squeaked not bothering to hide the rush of emotion she felt.
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It was a loud and boisterous breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs, orange juice, coffee and hot chocolate. Johnny and Francis had joined in after being officially introduced to Cameron and Jake who both seemed quite fascinated with their new friends.
Jason helped feed Jake while Elizabeth had her breakfast and Cameron led a lively discussion about everything from motor cycles to grasshoppers. Jason left the group and took his coffee in to the adjoining room to make a few phone calls. Sonny's European contacts had come up with several flight plans that had been submitted from Moscow to JFK and Athens to JFK by private planes for the previous month. All had several stopovers, some including Canadian airports. The information had been handed over to Spinelli to try and track. He'd hacked in to air traffic control systems and was in the process of eliminating the flight plans that had not actually been used. Then it was a matter of obtaining boarding manifest information for each "flown" flight plan. It was long and arduous work but Spinelli was confident. His other piece of work, to monitor the parolee register, had not come up with any information as yet but, Jason's instincts told him he was in town.
Max had set up a safe house and it was decided that they would stay in the hotel rooms for the day and move to the safe house under the cover of darkness later that night. Jason walked back in to the room he'd shared with Elizabeth and the boys. Johnny was answering Milo's knock at the door. Milo greeted Johnny informing him he was ready to work. "Hey Milo! Come in and sit with the boys for a while? I need to talk to Elizabeth , Francis and Johnny in the other room" Jason ordered.
"Sure Jason. Hey Cam, Jake are we watching cartoons?" Milo asked rubbing his hands together as he moved in to the room to take a seat on the floor next to Cameron and Jake.
"Yeah Spongebob" Cameron replied.
"Oh man that dude is freaky I love him" Milo replied. Jason gestured to Francis and Johnny to head in to the room as he took Elizabeth's hand to follow them.
"You want me here for this Jason?" Elizabeth asked confused.
"Yes! I want you to know what I have planned to keep you and the boys safe so that you will be comfortable about it" he told her softly.
"Okay!' She smiled grateful that he was keeping her in the loop. She was more settled with Jason looking after them but it was still unnerving just waiting around.
Jason detailed his plan, that Francis, Johnny and himself would be their primary guards and go to the safe house with Elizabeth and the boys. Max, Milo, Andrew and Marco would be back up and support. When it came time to deal with Helena and Tom; Johnny, Jason and Cody would deal with them, leaving Max, Milo, Andrew and Marco to guard Elizabeth and the boys at the safe house.
Jason turned to Elizabeth.
"Max has left the gun you asked him to get for you at the safe house" he said closing his eyes at the thought, as both Francis and Johnny frowned.
"Is that necessary Jason? I don't like the idea of Elizabeth having a gun" Francis voiced his concern, and Johnny nodded in agreement "me either" Johnny told him.
"You think I do?" Jason sighed. Then shook his head "The truth is Helena is an unknown quantity. We know she has links to the Russian mafia, she has an endless supply of money. We have no idea who or how many she has brought with her. But it's important to me that Elizabeth feels safe, and she asked Max for the gun, she can shoot it, so it will be at the safe house if she wants it" the last spoken as his eyes conveyed his complete faith in her.
"Thank you" she told him.
"The other thing is" he swallowed "Elizabeth has already gone up against Helena. She knows what she's like and what she's capable of, I trust Elizabeth to be careful"
"Alright! So we sit tight until this evening? Those boys are going to go nuts being stuck in here all day" Francis observed
"Carly is organizing movies and extra toys" Jason told him with a chuckle "Hopefully it will be okay" to which Francis grimaced.
"Spongebob will keep them occupied for a while" Elizabeth chuckled.
"Great" Johnny grimaced "look forward to it."
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He walked out of the bathroom of the dingy little room to hear a brief knock on the door. He moved quickly to look out the window and saw only Ari on the other side of the door. He opened and Ari pushed past him abruptly.
"We have some business to discuss" he informed him.
"I thought I had to go and register for parole?" Tom questioned.
"Yes but you have plenty of time and this will only take a few minutes" Air replied.
"I'm listening" Tom responded as Ari walked to the rickety desk and place the large brief case on it and opening it. He removed the billfold, the gun, the large hunting knife, the cell phone, the car keys, the packet of gauze and the chloroform placing them neatly on the desk.
"Keep this cell phone on you at all times. There is only one number programmed and that is me."
Ari picked the cell phone up and handed it to Tom who immediately inspected it. "Madam has supplied you with a gun and knife. She cares not how you kill Ms Mccall only that it is done." he paused for Tom to acknowledge he understood "Madam wants you to incapacitate Ms Mccall with the chloroform, then call me immediately for further instructions" he paused then reiterated "Do you understand that you are not to kill her outright until I give the say so? You need to grab her and get her somewhere that you can't be seen, the chloroform is perfect, then once you have her out of sight, you contact me for further instructions. Once those have been carried out you kill her. Go back to Jakes. Spend some money" he gestured to the bill fold "and then return here for the night. Any questions?"
"Are the car keys for me?" he asked not at all perturbed with is instructions.
"Yes the car is the grey compact parked outside room 20" Ari responded.
Tom Baker nodded "I need to get and register with a parole officer".
"Of course! Madam wants this done as soon as possible so that you can move on to Elizabeth Webber and her children" Ari reminded him
"If your surveillance information is correct about Ms MCCall's movements. It will be done tonight." Tom replied matter of factly.
"Good! Madam will be pleased" Ari nodded as he closed his briefcase and headed for the door.
A short time later with his small bag packed with Ari's gifts, he left the room to find the car and head in to Port Charles to register for parole.
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Jason laughed, he couldn't help it. The Gods must have been smiling when they'd found the Spongebob Squarepants marathon. Cam and Jake loved it and Elizabeth was amused and sketching everyone in the room. Jason just didn't get it, this Spongebob thing was freaky. He kind of reminded him of Spinelli and he could tell the outrageous cartoon was doing Francis and Johnny's collective heads in, where as Milo was as engrossed as Cam and Jake.
Jason shook his head chuckling again. His current position on the floor at Elizabeth's feet, leaning his head back against her knee, Cam and Jake within touching distance was most comfortable but he decided to take pity on his old friends and work colleagues. Knowing that Johnny and Francis never traveled without a deck of cards he challenged them to a game of poker.
"At last" & "God yes please" sighed Francis and Johnny respectively.
Jason's cell phone rang as he was settling in to a seat at the small table with Johnny and Francis. He leaned back in his seat, retrieved the phone and checked the caller ID..
"Spinelli? Have you got something"
"Yes Stone Cold! Tom Baker registered at Port Charles Police Station with a Brad Copeland" Spinelli told him chilled to the bone that the man would dare to enter Port Charles again and threaten the fair Elizabeth.
"Good work Spinelli" Jason responded. "Got an address for him?"
Spinelli hesitated and then swallowed the lump in his throat " ah yes Stone Cold, he gave his address as room 2" he gulped again " at Jake's bar. But when I checked with Coleman it's registered to a Sly Eckhart" he waited for the curse and wasn't disappointed.
"Son of a bitch" he ground out in a hushed voice. "Thanks Spinelli. Any word on Helena?"
"Nothing definitive yet Stone Cold. I have eliminated half of the flight plans"
"How much longer Spinelli?" Jason demanded.
"Stone Cold these flight plans may not yield any useful information." Spinelli countered.
"I know Spinelli" Jason's voice getting louder "Just how long to work out if any of them are useful?"
"I'd say another 3 or 4hours" Spinelli muttered not wanting to admit to the time frame.
Jason swore under his breath "Okay. Just keep me informed please"
Jason hung up before he heard Spinelli's response. He wasted no time calling Sonny and with out preamble told Sonny the situation.
"It's me. Spinelli got a hit on" Jason paused to see if anyone was listening to him and seeing Elizabeth's intense gaze on him continued with "the guy. He registered this morning and gave his address as Room 2 at Jakes. I need you to send someone over there to watch that room and when he returns to grab him"
"I'll send Santo and Tommy over there. They can take him to the warehouse and we'll call you straight away" Sonny promised.
"Thanks Sonny" Jason relaxed. Soon one threat would be eliminated.
"How's things there? Is Elizabeth more relaxed with the three of you there? How's the kids?" Sonny asked.
"Johnny and Francis haven't changed and Elizabeth was very happy to see them. I don't know if relaxed is the right word but she feels safer. Elizabeth is sketching everyone in the room, Milo, Cameron and Jake are watching a Spongebob Squarepants marathon" he paused as Sonny chuckled and continued "and I took pity on Johnny and Francis and we're playing poker"
"Good!" Sonny responded "Sit tight and I'll be in touch.
"Thanks again Sonny" Jason watched as Johnny dealt the cards.