Chapter 25; The Hunted:

Sonny hated bad news, and he knew that's exactly what Max was about to give him. Giovanni hadn't called to check in yet, immediately letting Sonny know that something was wrong. The older of the Giambetti brothers looked as nervous as Sonny had ever seen him. Maybe that was because Max hated lying to his kid brother. Sonny knew that, he just didn't care. He'd had enough of his men trying his patience.

"What is it?" he asked. It was nearly two in the morning and he hadn't been to bed yet. He had no intentions of sleeping tonight. At least, not until that bitch journalist was somewhere accessible.

Max sighed heavily. His big body tensing under the weight of his news. He swallowed hard. No other way to say it. "Giovanni… is dead."

Sonny's coal eyes remained passive for all of a second while he thought about what Max had just told him. Giovanni… dead? How could that be? He'd never seen a more skilled… well… other than Jason. The man could hear a pin fall on cotton, how in the hell?

"How?" he asked

"Shot to the heart."

The next breath Sonny took burned like acid in his lungs. His mind conjured many scenarios, none of them good. "Where… was he found?"

"The surgical floor of General Hospital," Max told him. Sonny ran a hand across his chin, his eyes screaming murder and Max continued on with all that he knew. "He waited until the nurse's rotation change when the mid-shift nurses checked on the critical patients. Gino saw him go into the building on the west side but…"

Sonny went to the phone, picked up the receiver and dialed a number from memory. He waited for an answer but didn't get one. "Was Jason's motorcycle found at the hospital?"

That seemed to throw Max off. "I… don't know, Boss." He stammered when Sonny slammed the receiver down. "W-we…didn't think to check." The thought that Jason could have saved the woman had never entered Max's mind.

"Go find out," he said before picking up the receiver again. Max hurried out of the door before Sonny started to speak again. "Stan… yeah, it's Sonny. I want you to find out everything you can about Cordelia Roberts. I mean, everything. I want to know what she holds dear in the world, you got me. Good." He hung up with every intention of ripping everything she held dear in the world away… starting with his best friend.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Oh, good, you're awake," Cordelia was saying while walking back into the bedroom. He hadn't been asleep that long, and hour tops. She eyed Jason trying to sit up in the bed and hurried to place the tray of food she carried at the foot of the bed to help him. "Hey, hey… hang on." She reached for him, taking hold of his side - the action sending little sparks through her that she tried to ignore - and helped him rest lightly against the headboard with a pillow behind him. "There…" she said with a little smile. "Better?" When he nodded, she moved away to retrieve the tray of food.

"What's all this?" Jason asked, slightly amused by the rising red tint in her cheeks.

Cordelia slid the tray of hot soup in front of him. "I found some soup in the pantry…" she told him. "I have to say, I'm very impressed with all the amenities you guys have here. I don't know why I thought a mob safe house would be… I don't know… sparsely furnished with a fold-out wall for guns or some shit." She laughed a little and looked around the massive bedroom. "Nothing like this."

Jason smiled genuinely. It was nice to see her like this. "Well, we try to move with the times." He forced his eyes to look away from hers when they fell into silence. He looked down at the food and his stomach rumbled in response. "I guess I'm hungry but…" a wave of nausea hit him. "I don't think I can eat."

"Well, you have to," Cordelia told him. She picked up the spoon and held it out to him. "You lost quite a bit of blood and you need your strength." She continued to hold the spoon out to him, her expression one of determination. Jason chuckled a little and took the spoon from her.

He struggled while he used his left hand to eat the chicken noodle soup she prepared for him since he was shot on the right side. "Okay, I don't feel right eating and you haven't."

"What makes you think I haven't?" she asked. He pointed accusingly at her stomach when it rumbled and she rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said and sat on the bed. She reached over and took a few of the crackers she'd laid out for him. Stuffing one of them in her mouth, she smiled. "Happy?"

"For now," he said and tried to continue eating the soup but found it difficult with his left hand.

Cordelia tried to hide the smile she got from watching him. He looked so… helpless; something she never thought Jason Morgan could be. Seeing him like this…and the way he looked earlier when he was asleep made her see him in a new light. She'd tried for a long time to see him as only Jason Morgan the Mob Enforcer but now she was seeing him as Jason Morgan the Man.

"Let me help," she said while moving closer to him. She took the spoon from him and dipped up some of the soup. When he held it out to him, he looked at as if she'd grown a second head. Cordelia blushed slightly when she said, "Was just trying to help."

"No, it's not that," Jason replied after a moment of silence. She dropped the spoon into the bowl when it seemed as if he had something important he wanted to say. Looking up at him expectantly, she waited. "Why are you… helping me?" he asked and it was clear from Cordelia's expression that it wasn't what she was expecting to hear.

With her brow furrowed, "Because you…" she laughed a little. "…you looked like you were having trouble."

Jason studied her face. She was hiding something. "No, I got that. It was just that… at the hospital you seemed… angry with me. I mean, I get why you helped me after I got shot but this is taking it a bit far."

She looked honestly offended. "Was just trying to help, Jason," she said and started to move away when his hand shot out and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Don't do that," he said softly.

"Don't do what?" she asked, trying hard to regulate her heartbeat. She always had a hard time being close to someone - especially someone she was attracted to. What was worse was that she felt immense gratitude for him saving her life…more than once. That threw an all too genuine emotion into an already complicated situation. She forced herself to look into his eyes.

"Don't cover up whatever you're feeling out of gratitude. You don't owe me anything. You've saved my life just as many times as I've saved yours." He let her go. "If you're angry with me for leaving, say so. I know you have questions so ask them."

Cordelia felt...flustered. She'd never had anyone but Rex call her so easily on her emotions, and even Rex didn't do that with as much ease as Jason just did. It frightened her really, the way he knew her. It seemed uncanny that...somebody could see that deeply inside her soul.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Morgan," she replied. Shaking her head, she tried to clear her thoughts. The lack of medication made it hard for her to focus. Looking up into his blue eyes she asked, "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Save my life?" She scoffed. "Again... Why did you go against Sonny in the first place?"

It was Jason's turn to look away. "I explained that to you." He really couldn't explain it any better than he had. Especially when... he really didn't know why himself.

Nodding skeptically, Cordelia said, "Right. You said you felt guilty for having me kidnapped." She looked out into the living room where he'd held her captive and realized that was the moment that changed everything. Even then, they understood each other. "That doesn't explain why you saved me tonight. Especially now that Sonny obviously wants me dead."

That awkward silence fell between them again. Neither of them daring to look away so they stared at each other. It was a battle of wills with neither side winning. Jason thought about telling her that he cared for her, but he wondered if it would change anything. He'd still be married and she'd still have that pit-bull of a best friend whispering in her ear (whispering, yeah right, he thought) about how dangerous he was. Jason even knew Rex was in love with her... he knew a lot about Rex he was sure the PI didn't want Cordelia to know. And because he cared for her... he wouldn't tell her.

"Because...I care for you," he said thoughtfully, careful to not let on about the fact that he was attracted to her. "And I told you I'd help you get your sister home safely." He watched as she nodded sadly at the mention of her sister. "We're friends."

Jason thought he saw something break inside of her when he said that. Thought he saw something in her eyes but when she raised her eyes to his, whatever he saw was gone. She wasn't aloof but she was more distant than she'd been the whole night. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to feel those little spark shoot through his body again like they always did when they were together but he stopped himself.

"Right," Cordelia said softly. "Friends." She exhaled sharply and tried a small smile. "Well, friend, why don't you tell me what you found out while you were away."

Jason shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "I was in Venezuela following up on a lead." Cordelia shifted to a more comfortable position on the bed. "I don't know how familiar you are with Jerry Jacks..."

"Sociopath who held the MetroCourt hostage. Involved with everyone from the Russian and Italian mafia to the IRA in Ireland," she interjected. "He certainly gets around. What was he doing in Venezuela?"

"Apparently, working for the Zacharras. He's the liaison – for lack of a better word – for their drug operation." That was news to her so he clarified. "Part of the reason for the mob war is the Zacharras have been shipping through our ports. We've only recently found out that it's drugs."

"Okay..." She remembered him telling her about the DA's daughter Sam McCall working on the docks to uncover the drug ring. She was certain the information came from her. A curious thought struck her, "Why Venezuela?"

"That's just a first port," Jason said. "Have you ever heard of a man called Adriano Santos?" She shook her head. "He's the guy who took over the Alcazar territory down there. He's in league with the Zacharras and some foreign diplomat."

"Okay, I'm officially confused. Where do the drugs go?"

"All over the world," Jason told her. "But the main concentration is Iraq."

"Iraq?" Cordelia looked genuinely confused. She couldn't understand what... then it dawned on her. "The Zacharras are shipping black market drugs to Iraq and selling them to insurgents after they test them here in area hospitals," she answered her own question. She would think about that later, right now she had another question. "What does this have to do with my sister and the man who has taken her?"

He hated telling her this. "The girls are taken from all of the world, but most of them Iraqi as...payment for the drugs. They're rounded up by insurgents and..." His voice trailed off, he couldn't finish that. "The man who took your sister works for the Zacharras. When the drugs shipped out, so did the women." He touched her hand before telling her the next part. "They were put on different cargo ships and taken to different ports. Jerry was about to tell me where they take the women but he was shot in the head before he could get it out. He's in a coma in a Venezuelan hospital."

Cordelia felt her sister slip away another inch. She wondered if she'd ever see her again. "Okay... so Jerry isn't an option any longer. What's next?"

Jason let her go when it appeared she was becoming uncomfortable. "Santos is coming to Manhattan in two days for a meeting. He's trying to acquire some of the Alcazar territory in the States. He'll need friends to do that, so he's going to attend the Five Families meeting."

Catching on to his train of thought, "You want to attend that meeting?" she asked.

"No," Jason said. "I want to make sure he's unable to attend." He paused. "Maybe get some answers about where the other ship goes."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," Cordelia began. "You want us – and I say us because there is no way in hell I'm letting you do this alone and no, it is not up for discussion – to kidnap an arms dealer while he is on his way to a mob meeting? One that your employer will most likely attend. Did I forget to mention that your employer wants me dead? You still haven't explained that, by the way." She paused, lifted her hands in an amused gesture. "Assuming that we can... what makes you think he'll do anything to help us?"

Jason considered that. He wouldn't dare tell her that he already had a plan in mind... especially since it didn't involve Santos leaving the room alive. Instead he said, "We just need him to think that you have something to offer."

"Like what?" she asked incredulously.

"Money," he said. "We're going to make him think you're a potential buyer for the girls."

"Okay," she said. All of this seemed a little too risky for her. "Okay, so instead of kidnapping we're just...distracting him." Jason nodded. "Okay, fine. Provided we're even able to do that, what makes you think he'd believe that I want those girls for that reason?"

"Leave that up to me," he told her. "I'll take care of everything."

Cordelia didn't like the sound of that. It made her nervous. "Okay, fine. But you're forgetting something important. Sonny is on the rampage," she reminded him. "And I'm pretty sure that somebody who works for the Zacharras know you went to Venezuela and will be out for blood as well. We still have to wait two days for Santos to get here."

Jason looked over with fire in his eyes. "We just have to stay alive until then."