Chapter Twenty- Hunt You Down

Jason, dressed head to toe in black, crept down the hallway on the yatch. Ryan stumbled, leaning somewhat on the wall, behind him. Johnny took up the rear, checking behind them and shot any guard of Alcazar's that approached them. They checked the whole boat by now didn't come along the man they were searching for.

They heard voices coming from on the deck. Jason looked back at the two men following him, pointing up, and they nodded. At the next stairway, they headed onto the deck, ducking low as their heads rose into the crisp ocean air.

Jason immediately spotted Lorenzo attempting to get his wife and child onto a speedboat. They were about to climb down a ladder into the water.

All three men raised their guns.

"Don't move," Jason called out. His tone was lethal.

Lorenzo turned and met his eyes. Pure hate stared back at Jason.

"You," Lorenzo sneered "Oh, yes, the ever protective Jason Morgan who will travel anywhere on earth just to kill whoever he deems has hurt one of the women in the horde who rely on him. That was my brother's crime, no? Upsetting Miss Barret? Or so you thought."

Lorenzo whipped out a gun. Johnny took a few steps closer to him, not saying a word, and cocked his weapon.

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Sophia huddled behind Lorenzo, trying to shield her baby. She whispered into his ear, "Please, just come with me...we can jump...we could make it..."

Even now, she wondered how she could ever leave him behind. He hadn't always been this insane. It was the grief and guilt that drove him to this place. Once he wasn't a criminal at all, he was just a businessman who loved her and promised fifty years of happiness for their family- a life than she feared was turning into smoke right before her eyes.

Lorenzo went on, screaming into the wind, his tone bitter. "But what you killed my brother over, all his supposed sins, were just lies thought up by that whore, Brenda. She stayed with him because she wanted to. He treated her well at all times. Impeccable. He loved her."

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Johnny's jaw clenched. His finger ached to pull the trigger but the bullets could pass right through Lorenzo and into the women and baby if he did, so he knew he had to hold off till he could get a clean shot.

Lorenzo laughed. The sound was filled with rage, pain and revenge. "Well, that is neither here nor there now, is it? You murdered my blood. My beautiful, loyal, brother who should have lived to see a hundred."

Jason started to inch toward the woman and child, to drag them out of the way.

Lorenzo took a few steps toward a open briefcase. It was turned away from Ryan, Jason and Johnny.

"Don't even think about it!" yelled Ryan. Lorenzo froze in place, but his eyes glanced down at the briefcase.

Ryan started towards Lorenzo. "You sent those men that shot me. Do you know what they did? Held guns on my fiancee and my newborn son." Red flashed behind his eyes.

"Lavery," Johnny said in a clipped tone. Ryan stilled. He shook with pent up anger.

Jason looked at the briefcase then said to Sofia, "Go. Get out of here. Now."

Her eyes darted back and forth. "No," she whimpered "I can't leave. Lorenzo, please...please, make peace with them...somehow...don't let us end this way."

Lorenzo flinched at the pleading tone of her voice but didn't look back.

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Sofia looked over the railing at the water below. Wild, huge waves hit against the side of yatch. If she didn't go soon, she'd be underneath that water, her baby would be sinking, Lorenzo would be lost to her forever.

She had never hated Luis, when he was alive, though she saw what Lorenzo never could: the cruel sadism that lurked in Luis' dark eyes. Now she did hate Luis though, despised him to her core for putting this all in motion. She clutched her baby tighter and tried to think of some way to save them all.

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Brenda first drove to Johnny's apartment. When she parked at the curb, Carly said "Oh, no, no, no...don't think about getting out of this car. You do and I am taking off."

She reached for the keys but Brenda grabbed them first. Carly tried to snatch them back

Brenda had to quickly move her hand and body at the same time to out maneuver her. Carly practically crawled on top of Brenda to try and get the keys.

"Dial back the crazy," Brenda ordered, holding Carly off with one hand while she jumped out of the car.

Carly quickly followed her, ready to attack and get those keys since Brenda didn't seem to be keeping her end of the bargain by driving Carly to Pennsylvania.

"Hold up!" Brenda said as they stood on the lawn. "Don't even come over here acting all WWE on me again. If you are intent on going to see Kendall then we need back-up."

"None of those guards will let us go," Carly said. "Jason would have their heads if they did. We're on our own."

Brenda headed for the doorstep. "Well, whoever shot Ryan could still be around. When it comes to the Alcazar family, take it from me, you don't want them catching up to you without having some way to even out the odds."

She pulled out her key and unlocked the door, then glanced over her shoulder at Carly.

"We need guns," Carly said, the words were spoken slowly as she realized what the brunette was getting at.

Brenda smiled. "Yeah, big ones."

They both went to the firing range many times before with Johnny, because he believed they had to know how to save their own lives in the instance no one else was around to do it. Jason, on the other hand, firmly believed he would come and save Carly, or Brenda, in the nick of time and they should just stay calm and wait.

Calm was Carly's worst event, though. It led Jason to constantly fear for her but she couldn't do much to change her reckless nature. When someone she loved was in trouble she acted first and dealt with the consequences later.

After going inside the apartment and getting the weapons, the two women got into another argument about if Carly would wear a bulletproof vest for the car ride.

"Now you are being ridiculous!" Carly cried as Brenda threw it at her.

"Max."

A moment passed, Carly's face softened. She could nearly feel him there with them, still looking out for her, wanting to keep her safe. He gave his life in that pursuit, protecting Kendall just like he would have Carly.

Carly said, "Fine. Fine. Okay, lets just go. Damn, do you move slow. I could have been half way there by now."

"The way you drive...you could have been halfway to whatever emergency room you crashed closest to."

"Ha. ha. Screw you. Lets go."

Brenda grabbed the keys to Johnny's SUV that had bullet proof glass. Even though the limo that was shot up the day Max died had the same kind of glass in the windows, and the shooters had bullets that pierced it, it was still worth taking the precaution.

If there was anyway to talk Carly out of going, Brenda would have but she knew that she would end up the one drugged or slugged or ditched in some way - and Carly would end up gone, driving herself as best she could- if Brenda tried to slow her down another time.

They got back on the road. Their cell phones started ringing with calls from the guards who were left behind at the safe house. Brenda answered and explained the situation. When she hung up she told Carly, "You better call Jason. He isn't going to be too thrilled with you when he hears about this..."

"He'll understand."

"You aren't someone anyone could ever understand."

"He does."

"I certainly don't know how..." Brenda said.

"And you don't have to, wench," Carly said. She threw a smirk at her.

"Play nice, biatch."

"Or what? Will you tell Johnny on me?"

"Nope. I'll just make sure that when I am a bridesmaid in your wedding I look so good that no one even notices the bride," Brenda said, with a taunting little smile on her lips.

"You aren't gonna be an anything in my wedding."

"Sorry, chickee. 'Fraid I am. Jason just happens to love me."

"Oh! He puts up with you..."

"Out of love."

"You better not even think about touching him or hurting Johnny cause if you do I will, I promise you, think up new and painful ways to make you suffer."

Brenda gave her a look that said, Your crazy is showing, then answered, "Jason loves me as a friend. Damn. Why are you so territorial? I knew both of them before you ever even came to town..."

"That doesn't matter in the least. I took care of both of them when you flew off that cliff and didn't bother to call, write or even issue a press release that your famous model ass wasn't at the bottom of the Atlantic."

"I just bet you threw a party that day."

"How cruel do you think I am?"

Brenda raised an eyebrow but didn't answer.

Carly narrowed her eyes at her but smiled. "Just shut up and drive, will ya?"

"Me shut-up? You don't know the meaning of those words. Besides, now that I have you trapped, I wanted to ask you something anyway."

Carly heard the slight change in her tone, as all the snarking fell away. Softly, she asked "What?"

"Tell me what Johnny was like while I was gone."

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Javier dialed his cell, calling his boss.

He left a message, speaking in Spanish, " One of their vehicles is moving. I'm looking at the GPS right now. About to head out and track it down. Let me know what you want done with whoever I find. Doubt Morgan would be so lax as to let us get a tail on him but one of his men might not have checked for the transponder. Get back to me or else I'll just scoop them up and let you figure out later what kind of punishment to dole out this time."

He clicked his phone off. Grabbed his keys, jacket and gun, then headed for his car.