Chapter 11- Hot on the Trail
Without removing her eyes from the bomb, she put them on. She ran her hand over the side of the shell, and her eyes widened.
"Oh my god" she said with a gasp.
"What is it?" asked Jason, filled with concern
"Look at this" she said pointing.
"Yeah, so, it's the serial number" said Sonny as he and Jason looked closer
"Look at the 9" she said
"That's weird it's backwards" said Jason, furrowing his brow in confusion
"What are you getting at?" asked Sonny
"There has to be a reason for that" said Serena
"Maybe it's a trademark" said Jason
"Or maybe, the person who made it was dyslexic"
"That's going out on a limb" scoffed Sonny
"Yeah, seriously Serena. How many dyslexic bomb makers do you know?" asked Jason with a chuckle
"Only one" she said very seriously.
"Alright, let's go over the plan one more time" said Jason
Serena sighed. "Jason, we have already gone over the plan 19 times"
"So, let's make it an even 20"
"You're really pissing me off, you know that?" she asked him, rolling her eyes.
The two were sitting on Sonny's private jet, flying off the Miami. That was where the guy Serena knew of was located.
"I know" he said. "But you still love me anyway" he said with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But right now, it's not based on personality; it's totally on your shallow looks. I just can't resist those eyes and abs" she teased.
"I can live with that" he said as he bent down to kiss her. Her head was resting in his lap, and he was absentmindedly stroking her silky hair. "Now, about the plan"
"Alright, alright. We barge into his house, you get him in a chokehold, hit him until he talks, maybe cut off something of importance, and if that doesn't work, we go through his files"
"That is not the plan" said Jason, his eyes narrowing at her.
"It should be" she said with a roll of her eyes.
"Usually I'm the one with the violent ideas and everyone is telling me to tone it down"
"Guess you never met a girl like me" she said with a smile
"Your right about that. Now please, please, please, just go over the real plan" he said
She sighed and lifted her head off his lap. She looked him straight in the eye and said, in a very serious tone, "do you have OCD?"
"Haha. Very funny. Look, I've never worked with a woman I loved before. And I'm just scared that something's going to happen to you. I know that I shouldn't be, and that you've lived your own life before I ever came into the picture, and you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. But I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you. I love you with all my heart and I never, ever, want to even have to think about losing you"
Her anger subsided and her face softened as she heard what he said. She slowly reached up and caressed his cheek, feeling his stubble beginning to appear. She smiled at him, and slowly reached over and kissed him. It was a sensual kiss, sweet and tender.
"I love you too" she said. "And thank you for caring about me. It's nice to know that someone loves me enough to go over a simple plan twenty five times"
"It was only twenty" he mumbled looking down at his feet.
She gently kissed his cheek and said "and that's how I know that you love me"
He looked up at her and kissed her. After they broke away, she snuggled into his arms, tracing the outline of his chest muscles with her finger.
"Alright" she sighed, "so this plan." He smiled at her and she continued "I put on the slutty clothes, pretend to be one of his call girls. Well I distract the guards; you sneak in the back, carefully avoiding the security cameras and other assorted traps, grab the files from his computer, and then give me the signal once you're out"
"Which is…?"
"Two rings on my cell phone"
"Good. And what do you do if any one gets even the slightest bit too touchy"
"Kick their asses"
"Exactly. Alright, I think we got it"
"Good, now, what's plan B?" she asked
"What do you mean?" he asked her
"Jason, this is so far fetched, it's never going to work. I say we shoot first and ask questions later"
"You really are the female version of me" he said slightly amused.
"Not with those plans I'm not"
"Hey, this is Sonny's plan. I would never, ever, have any other men fawning over you. Besides, no one's happy with this. Sonny was bugging out when it came to his 'baby sister' pretending to be a hooker"
Serena opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the co-captain. He came out to let them know they would be landing in 15 minutes. Serena grabbed the bag and went into the bathroom. 10 minutes later, she emerged, and Jason's jaw dropped to the ground.
"So, what do ya think?" she asked, spinning around
"I, uh, wow, god, my, I, uh"
"Jason Morgan, are you speechless?" she asked, a twinkle in her eye
Unable to speak, Jason just nodded. She was wearing a tiny skirt, high heels, a tiny top that barely covered anything, and heavy makeup. She looked like the perfect hooker- not gross, but still slutty.
"You going to be ok?" she said sitting down on his lap
"What are you doing?" he asked, unable to answer her question
"I thought I could practice my lap dance" she said seductively.
She leaned in, and was about to kiss him, when the co-captain interrupted again.
"Mr. Morgan, Ms. Martinez, I just wanted to let you know that we're landing now, so you should sit down and fasten your-" he stopped when he caught site of Serena. "Wow" he said.
She giggled a little, and an angry Jason eased her off his lap, and walked toward the poor, trembling co-captain.
"Jason, come on, do you blame the guy?" asked Serena as she got up to stop Jason from slugging the fearful man.
Jason mumbled some incoherent phrase, and sat back down and fastened his seatbelt. Serena did the same next to him.
As they landed, Serena slipped her hand into his and closed her eyes. She slowly counted down backwards from 10 in Spanish
"Are you ok?" he asked her, seeing her suddenly pale face
"No, not really. I was never good with the idea of being in a hunk of metal that is pummeling toward the ground"
"Don't think about it that way. Think of an incredibly high tech machine gracefully coming back to the earth"
"Diaz, nueve, ocho…" she said, her eyes still closed.
Jason squeezed her hand, desperate to take away any fear she had. He decided the best way to do it was to distract her. He reached over and kissed her cheek, letting his lips linger on her skin as he tasted her. He felt her taking deep breaths as she tried to remain calm. He kissed her neck, and her hand, and her forehead. He eventually made it to her lips. The plane gave a sudden lurch just as he was about to slip his tongue into her mouth, and he pulled away as she dug her nails into his arm. She squeezed her eyes shut and refused to let go of Jason's arms for anything. He tried to calm her down, but nothing but the feeling of the plane touching down on the ground worked. As the plane sped down the runway, she slowly opened her eyes and loosened her grip on Jason's arms. When she pulled away, he had indents in his skin from where she had held on.
"Sorry" she said bashfully as she kissed the little marks to make the pain go away.
It always seemed to work with them. Her kisses could heal anything.
"It's ok, it feels better already. Besides, now I have something to use against you"
"Oh yeah?" she asked in mock anger
"Yeah, the tough Serena Martinez is afraid to fly"
"I have no idea what your talking about" she said, but the smile on her face said something completely different
"It's ok" whispered Jason as he leaned in close to her like he was telling her a big secret. "I like it. It's nice that I get to protect you from something" he finished before kissing her cheek.
She turned her head into his kiss, desperate to feel his soft lips on her skin. She intertwined her fingers with his, and he wrapped his free arm around her
"We're here, we have to get off the plane" said Serena, although she didn't want to
"I know" sighed Jason, looking just as disappointed as she felt.
An hour later, the plan was set into action. Jason watched behind a bush as Serena walked up to the guy's compound. His name was Carlos Herena, and he was one of the most expensive bomb makers out there. He also had a perfect track record when it came to protecting sources and getting the job done. Few knew of his dyslexia, but Serena had heard Adrian and Armando working with him once before, although she never saw his face and he never saw hers.
A guard stopped Serena midway, and although Jason could not hear what they were saying, he saw her put her hand on his arm and smile. The man smiled back, and led her inside. Jason pushed his worry aside, and crept around to the side of the compound. He scaled the high fence, avoiding the barbed wire. He received only the tiniest cut on his hand, and he simply put his hand in his mouth to suck away the little blood that was trickling down. Now was no time to worry about a little cut. It was important to get the information and get Serena out of there as quickly as possible.
Jason was now on Herena's property. He walked over to the main house, happy to see that Serena had done her job. All of the guards were missing, obviously congregated around Serena. Jason came across a door. He carefully cut the security wire, and then picked the lock. He pushed it open, holding his breath in hopes that he did not miss some sort of security device and set off an alarm. To his relief, the only sound the door made was a tiny creaking sound. Jason walked into the house, and made his way to the center. Serena had managed to secure them floor plans through some contact she had, and he knew exactly where the home office was. He soon found the door, and carefully picked the lock on that one as well. The computer sat in the middle of a big mahogany desk. Jason slipped the blank CD out of his pocket, and put it into the disk drive. He set it up so that the hard drive was copied on to the disk. All of Herena's files would be his, and Herena would have no idea. The computer began to transfer it, although to Jason's dismay, it was going extremely slow.
"Come on, come on" he whispered, willing it to go quicker, and trying not to imagine Serena in any trouble.
Meanwhile, Serena was in the midst of distracting the guards. They kept a respectable distance away from her, but Serena still didn't like that they were looking at her like a piece of ass. She knew that if Jason was here, they would all be in a whole lot of pain. Unfortunately, the guards made quite a racket. Confused by the noise, the one person Serena was dreading came face to face with her- Carlos Herena himself.
"What the hell is going on here?" he asked in a thick Cuban accent
"Sir, this came for you" said one of the guards, pulling her by the arm and treating her like she was some sort of package sent in the mail.
"I didn't order a girl today" said Herena, getting so close to her that she could smell his foul breath. She had to try her hardest not to flinch as he came even closer.
"My madam thought you could use a little TLC. A free gift, just for being such a loyal customer" she said, trying to act as sexy as possible without becoming completely grossed out.
Herena got even closer, and lifted one hand to her. He cupped her neck, and ran his hand slowly down the front of her, feeling her curves. She wanted so badly to wince. She didn't like this man touching her. She knew that this was the part where she should get out. She should start kicking ass. But she knew that then there was the risk of Jason being found out. And she wasn't willing to risk his life. Instead, she put up with Herena's touch, and tried to tell herself in her head that it was Jason touching her. If she could only convince herself that this disgusting man's chapped hands, foul breath, and heavy cologne were Jason's soft hands, minty-perfect breath, and light, perfect aftershave.
"Let's go somewhere more private baby" said Herena in her ear, as he led her into the house by the wrist.
Herena led her into the bedroom where he started kissing her. She couldn't help but pull away from him. No amount of telling herself it was Jason touching her would work.
"What is it?" asked Carlos, less concerned about her then having to stop kissing her.
"Um, it's a rule. No kissing on the lips. Sorry" she said, trying to sound convincing. She had heard that some rings had that rule, and she seriously hoped that whichever high priced madam Herena went to enforced that rule among her girls.
"Ah yes, I forgot" said Herena, throwing her roughly down on the bed. He started kissing her everywhere else, and Serena desperately tried to convince herself it was Jason.
"It's Jason kissing me, it's Jason kissing me" she repeated in her head, trying to stop any tears that were threatening to fall.
100 percent. Jason was finished. Now, all he needed to do was get Serena out safely. Jason pocketed the CD, and hurried back outside. He dialed Serena's cell phone number, and then let it ring twice before hanging up.
Serena heard the faint sound of her cell phone ring twice. It was Jason, her knight in shining armor- rescuing her from all of the bad.
"Thank god" she whispered under her breath. Herena was so captivated by her breasts, that he didn't even hear her.
"I'll be right back" she said
"Why?" he asked, still kissing her neck
"Umm, I think this needs to be spiced up, and what better way than me getting some special toys from my truck"
"Come on baby, you don't need anything. We have enough right here" he said, pressing her body down to the bed.
He pressed hard against her mouth with his chapped lips. She tried to fight him off without seeming too forceful. But he wouldn't hear anything of it.
"You know, I really have to go" she said, slipping out from underneath him.
"I don't think so baby" said Herena as he grabbed her and roughly threw her against the door. The doorknob jammed into her back, and she cried out. He ignored her though, and kissed her again. He was holding her arms above her head so that she couldn't move. She tried to kick out, but her legs were pinned to the wall as well. As she felt his lips on hers, she bit down hard. He grunted and pulled away, putting his finger to his lips to wipe away the blood that was pouring out of it.
"You little bitch" he growled.
Before she could react, he pulled his arm back and slapped her clear across the face. She wobbled on her high heels, and was flung across the room, hitting her head on the floor. She managed to murmur Jason's name before falling unconscious.
Jason was outside, waiting for her, desperately wondering what was wrong. Unable to wait any longer just thinking about her being in trouble, he scaled the fence for the third time and made it back into Herena's compound. He got into the house and searched every room, his gun out and ready for business. He heard sounds coming from one room, and he kicked open the locked door. His heart caught in his throat at what he saw. Serena was lying in a bloody heap on the floor, and Herena was tearing at her clothes and hitting her. Her shirt was lying on the floor next to her, and she was only wearing her skirt and bra. Her head was bleeding, and she was unconscious. He could see her cheek starting to bruise, as were her arms, and blood slowly trickled from her lower lip. His fear was soon replaced by anger.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Herena
"Someone you really don't want to piss off" said Jason, shooting Herena in the chest twice without thinking.
Herena's eyes widened and he gasped for air before falling to the floor, dead. Jason took off his jacket and put it on Serena. He held her in his arms, willing her to wake up.
"Come on baby, come on" said Jason to her as he held her.
She opened her eyes, much to his relief.
"Jase?" she mumbled
"Shh, I'm here" he said, kissing her. "But we have to get out of here" he said as he scooped her up in his arms.
Guards were coming at them from all sides, and quiet honestly, Jason had no idea how they got out of there. But they did, and they made it back to the jet. Once they were out of harms way, Jason took to inspecting Serena. He breathed in shallow breaths as he looked at her bruised and bloodied body. He knew that he shouldn't have let her get involved in the business. He laid her down on the couch and went into the bathroom. He emerged with wet cloths, and he got some ice as well. He pulled out the first aid kit and started taking care of her. He first cleaned the cut on her head and put a bandage on it. He held the ice to her cheek, caressing her face as he did. God she was beautiful, even when she was unconscious.
"Jason" she mumbled, coming to again
"Hey" he said softly
"What happened?" she asked, putting one hand to her throbbing head.
Jason explained everything to her, and she just moaned.
"I never had a damsel in distress complex until you showed up in my life" she said
"You're not a damsel in distress. You're a fighter" he said, toying with her hair
"One day, I'll be the one saving you" she said
"You already did" he answered softly, and she just melted. He gently kissed her, and it would have been perfect. But the cut on her lip reminded him of that asshole Herena. Jason suddenly pulled back as he remembered what he did. He had killed Herena. Oops.
"Sonny's going to murder me" said Jason with a groan
"At least it'll give me a chance to save you" said Serena with a smile.
She pushed her hair back, letting it fly freely as she sat up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and breathed in his perfect smell. As much as she hated to admit it, she was scared when Herena was attacking her. She wanted to be in Jason's arms, and have no one but Jason hold her and kiss her. He wrapped his arms around her, just as glad as she was that she was safe, if not more. She winced as he did this, causing him to pull back.
"What's wrong?" he asked
"It's nothing" she said. "I'm just a little bruised up" she said
"Let me see" he said as he tried to see her back. She eventually turned around and he sucked in a shallow breath when he saw her, trying to keep his anger in check. She was covered in bruises from both the doorknob and him throwing her down. Jason kissed her back, and put ice on it, but he was unable to keep his eyes off the bruises and her scars. The scars were all that remained of the lacerations and welts that her father had given her. She had been through so much pain. But so had he. His was emotional, and hers was physical. Together, they balanced out. Once the ice melted, Jason dried off her now wet back, and removed his shirt. He put it over her head, and she lied down on his bare chest. She traced his muscles with her fingers.
"I love seeing you shirtless" she said with a smile
"And I love seeing you shirtless" he said
"And then why did u pluck yours off and cover me up" she asked teasingly
"Because what you want means more to me than what I want" he answered truthfully
"Oh" she said, unable to say anything else. She had never been loved like this before. She cuddled closer to him, and he closed his eyes, feeling extremely content. Right now, his only problem would be dealing with Sonny and his anger over Herena's death. So much for not letting anyone on to their leads. Oh well. Serena's safety was more important than Sonny's piece of mind. At least Jason hoped it was.
A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter. Remember to review!