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Chapter 54
"Where is my wife?" Lorenzo didn't even bother with a greeting when Jason answered the phone.
"She is my guest." Jason answered calmly. He had been expecting this call all morning. He was guessing that Lorenzo had first appealed to Palermo before calling him directly. Jason was also guessing that Alcazar's call had not been put through to Maximus. "You are welcome to come get her."
"I don't have a choice do I?" Lorenzo knew this was a trap, one he would most likely not return alive from. He would trade his life a thousand times over for Brenda's so not returning to Port Charles wasn't an option. "Is she hurt?"
"No." Jason said leaning back in his chair. "I will see you when you arrive." He said before hanging up the phone. He called Johnny. "Come to my office please, bring Cody."
"Five minutes." Johnny told his boss. He, and Cody, were in a meeting with Stan. The tech guy had found Hannah's home base, and the location of her current job. So after Jason made his report Johnny could tell what Stan had uncovered.
"What's up?" Johnny grabbed a seat, and Cody did too after getting some coffee.
"Lorenzo is on his way to retrieve Brenda. I'm guessing that he will not be flying into Port Charles because he's not a complete idiot." Jason told his enforcers.
"No matter how he arrives in the state he has to make himself known to be reunited with his wife." Johnny said with a cold smile. "We will be ready. We know for sure that he is not connected to Elizabeth's attempted kidnapping."
"How?" Jason asked leaning forward on his desk. They didn't think that was Lorenzo, but it couldn't be discounted.
"Because Stan found Hannah, and her handler." Cody said with a grin.
"Where?" Jason was thinking they could wrap all this up before he left for vacation which would be nice.
"She is currently in Santa Fe on a job. Her handler, someone named Zander Smith, is in Canton. He has a listing of all of Hannah's jobs on his hard drive. Sonny is listed, Liz is not." Johnny passed along. "How do you want to handle that?" They were going to have to send two teams out of town to do both jobs.
Jason leaned back in his chair. "Cody you handle Hannah, take Max with you. Renaldo and Marco can take out Smith."
"I'm going to try not to pout over the fact that Johnny is going to get to take out Lorenzo." Cody knew he was heading out of town, Johnny had seniority. "Stan wanted you to know that this is the end of the Alcazar bloodline. No heirs, not even illegitimate ones."
"I am aware of that. Maximus checked." Jason told his enforcers. "Cody find the guys and give them their assignments. Everyone can leave as soon as you are ready."
"You want me to bring anything back?" Cody asked his friends.
"Green chili sauce." Johnny loved the stuff.
"Will do." Cody said before leaving the office.
"Stan is worth his weight in gold." Johnny said with a grin.
"I just gave him a raise." Jason told his friend. "So what are we planning for Lorenzo?"
"I would worry that he was going to make sure people know he was coming to Port Charles, but he seems to really love Brenda. I have no idea why, but it seems to be the case. He won't jeopardize her. After we are rid of him, we will keep watch to make sure no one else is coming after us. Andy said that as soon as Lorenzo is on the plane, Maximus is going to give the order to wipe out everyone who works for him. He has a new family set to move into the area." Johnny was hoping that they weren't going to be a pain in the ass too.
"Maximus asked me to consider turning over my South American territory in exchange he will give me all of upstate New York." Jason had been surprised at the proposal.
"What are you thinking of doing?" Johnny knew Jason was thinking out loud, but he would give his friend an opinion if asked.
"I'm going to call him this afternoon and agree. I never wanted the South American territory, Sonny wanted a global presence. Having the majority of my holdings in New York will be easier." Jason ran his thoughts past Johnny. "I'll also have a bigger territory and all the piers." Which would be the base of Jason's power.
"It's a good move." Johnny would be happy to not ever return to South America except as a tourist. "I'm going to finish up your security for the trip. You tell Liz where you are headed?"
"No, she said to surprise her." Jason said with a grin.
"You will do that. I was surprised at your destination. I thought for sure you would go to Italy first." Johnny standing up.
"I need more time to show her Italy. I figure that would be our honeymoon destination." Jason wanted at least a month to show Elizabeth the country. "I think she'll enjoy this trip."
"I know she will." Jason said smiling. Liz was happy with anything Jason did for her. "I'll be in my office."
Jason nodded before reaching for the phone to call his friend. The one he was looking forward to introducing Elizabeth to.
"Morgan." Jason put down the papers that Diane sent over. His permits for construction had been issued and he was just reviewing the various ordinances that covered working at the waterfront.
"Hi, are you busy?" Elizabeth asked her boyfriend.
"I'm never too busy for you." He said meaning every word of that statement. He would drop everything for her.
"I'm going to lunch." She was smiling something he would hear in her voice. "I was wondering if you could join me."
"Do you want me to meet you somewhere or come pick you up?" Jason was good either way.
"Come pick me up. I'd like to go to Kelly's for lunch." Elizabeth knew it was time. "I'm planning on telling Tammy I won't be returning." Working there full time would not be healthy. Liz had talked about it with Dr. Winters at her session this morning. The doctor said going to the diner and eating occasionally was more than enough to banish the memories of the attack.
"Where are you?" Jason asked putting his papers away.
"The cottage." Elizabeth liked to paint after a therapy session. It allowed her to process what she had talked about with her doctor.
"Fifteen minutes." Jason told his girl already heading for the door. He needed to make one stop along the way.
"Okay, I'll wait for you here." Elizabeth said hanging up the phone. "Jason's coming to get me. You should see if Diane is free for lunch. You went to the park with me, there is no need to put you through this too."
"You aren't putting me through anything." Francis wanted that clear. "I'll call Diane and see if she's free only because I know getting through the day without seeing me is hard on her." He said with a grin hoping his young friend would laugh. She'd been quiet since leaving the hospital.
"Someone's ego is working today." Elizabeth said laughing.
"Look at me." Francis said keeping the joke going. "How could she not go through withdrawal?"
"I'm going to tell her you said that." Elizabeth would do no such thing. "Then she can remind you that you are the lucky one. Diane is amazing."
"You're just sticking up for her because you both are girls." Francis said grinning. "Let me see if she is available for lunch. If she's not then I'm tagging along with you and Jason."
"If she's not then you are more than welcome to join us." Elizabeth told her friend.
The ride over to the diner was quiet. Jason wasn't really sure what was expected of him other than giving his girlfriend the support she needed to make this visit. He wasn't sure what would happen after the visit either, so to be on the safe side he told Angie he was working from home this afternoon.
They parked and walked hand in hand to the restaurant. Elizabeth was shaking a bit, which he could feel but her steps never slowed as they reached the building. He swore he could feel her resolve to take this part of her life back. "Would you like to sit outside or inside?" Jason asked ending the silence.
"Inside." Elizabeth responded. It didn't really matter where they sat, just coming was all that needed to happen. Jason would be more relaxed if they were inside so that was how she made her choice.
As they walked up to the courtyard she saw that a good number of tables were occupied by Jason's guys. That wasn't odd, it was lunch time and the mob guys often ate at Kelly's. It had been this way since before she started working here, first it was to support Sonny's dad now it was to support Sal's girlfriend. They really did believe in taking care of their own. It was when they walked inside that Liz understood all those tables being taken by Jason's guys wasn't a coincidence. Every table inside was the exact same way.
"I figured you might relax more if you had some friendly faces around you." Jason said quietly. On his way out of the warehouse he had stopped by Johnny's office and told him what was going on. Jason then asked his friend to call some of the guys and have them head over too. Lunch would be on him today. This visit was going to go smoothly or someone was going to get hurt.
"Thank you." Elizabeth said looking up at her boyfriend and trying not to cry. Not upset tears but ones brought on by just how much he loved her. "Where should we sit? All the tables are full." She said laughing some.
"With Johnny and Milo." Jason said leading her over. The two guys were at one of the larger tables that sat six. He pulled out Elizabeth's chair and just as she sat Francis walked in with Diane. Jason waved them over.
"Full house today." Diane said taking her seat next to Liz. "I hear that you are going on a trip."
"Next week." Elizabeth confirmed letting her nerves settle. Lunch would be light, because her system couldn't handle anything else.
"I happen to have the afternoon off, if you'd like to do some shopping." Diane had cleared her schedule when Francis said why they were coming to lunch. She was a firm believer in retail therapy.
"That would be fun." Elizabeth said smiling. "I don't know where we are going. So I need some all-purpose dresses, as well as two nicer ones. For dinner and a meet and greet."
"Would you like to start at the consignment shop?" Diane was going to use the nicer dresses as an excuse to get Liz into one of the local boutiques.
"Okay. If we don't find everything there then I'm sure you will know where to go." Elizabeth said waving at Tammy.
"Hello there." The older woman was happy to see her friend. Liz looked good. "What's everyone having?" Tammy was guessing that before Liz left she would be serving notice effective immediately. Which was fine, Sal had given Tammy the heads up that Jason would want Liz somewhere less public.
"I'll have some chicken noodle soup." Elizabeth didn't even look at the menu.
"How about everyone else?" The older woman asked taking the gang's orders. "It will be right up."
"Tammy can I talk with you?" Liz asked before the owner got too far away.
"Come on behind the counter." Tammy could put up the ticket, they could have a bit of privacy, and Jason would still be able to see his girlfriend. "Are you leaving?" She wanted this to be easy on her young friend.
"Yes." Elizabeth would miss working here. "Will that leave you in a bind?"
"No. I replaced Penny, and Courtney, I have a few applicants who I can call to fill your slot. It's fine." Tammy assured her friend.
"Courtney left too? I thought she was just taking vacation." Elizabeth said feeling bad.
"No. She's not coming back. She said she wasn't sure how long she was going to be away. AJ mentioned a few months." Tammy passed along. "She's got plenty of money to sightsee between what her dad and her brother left her. I say take some time and travel if you can."
"Thanks Tammy. I did like it here." Liz said looking around.
"Even if you did come back you'd only end up leaving after your show. Thanks for the invite by the way." Tammy was excited to go. "Once you become famous it wouldn't do for you to be waiting tables." The older woman said smiling.
"I'm a long way from famous, but working on my art full time will be wonderful." Liz said smiling. "I should go back."
"Yeah, this is an employee only area." Tammy said with a grin. She wondered how long it would be before she was getting an invite to Liz's wedding.
Liz walked back and sat down. "Everything okay?" Jason leaned over and asked.
"It's good." Liz said relaxing.
He dropped her a wink before turning back to his conversation with Francis, while Diane asked Liz about what colors she might want to wear.
"Cody and Max left." Johnny had gotten up to take a message during lunch. Now he and Jason were heading back to the warehouse. Johnny had walked over to the diner, so he was riding back with Jason. "Marco and Renaldo are leaving shortly. They opted to drive. The two of them were way too excited to take a road trip. I see lots of fast food in their future."
"Let's just hope Renaldo's speeding doesn't get them arrested." Jason joked. Like Johnny the South American guard liked to go fast. Although he wouldn't indulge that need on a business trip.
"Lorenzo is waiting to depart." Johnny filled in his boss on the rest of the information Stan passed along. "Inclement weather is keeping him on the ground. It should clear up in the next few hours which means he will probably touch down on US soil early in the morning."
"Where is he landing?" Jason asked pulling into his parking space.
"Rochester. I figured I'd be on hand to welcome him back." Johnny would also be the one pulling the trigger. Lorenzo would not be getting the privilege of dying by Jason's hand.
"That's sweet of you." Jason said grinning.
"I'm all heart." Johnny responded laughing. "How long are you staying this afternoon?"
"I'm not. I'm just dropping your lazy ass off. I'm working from home, that way I'm there when Elizabeth is done shopping." Jason told his friend.
"She did good this afternoon." Johnny was proud of her.
"I just want to make sure." Jason knew he was hovering, and he had no plans to stop himself. "Get out. I'm sure Angie has faxed over plenty of work to keep me out of trouble."
"We both know you will still find a way to make mischief. Call if you need anything." Johnny said before getting out of the truck and heading inside.
Jason pulled off thinking he had Elizabeth's heart. He didn't need anything else.
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