Carly supposed brandishing guns and shooting people's kneecaps wasn't the 'proper, polite' way to get information. When it came to her boys, however, proper and polite made way for ANY means necessary. And truly, it was amazing how seemingly tough guys sang when they were in a slight bit of pain. It was also amazing how much a woman could do to a man when she was angry, but couldn't take when she was done.
Sam stood beside a tree, tossing up whatever would come out of her stomach. Carly had a momentary urge, at one point, to go and hold her hair back. But, considering that her own dinner threatened to come up at just the sound of Sam's retching. If she had to actually watch it, she probably would have been down there, right beside her.
But, she'd done good. Carly had to give her credit, as much as she hated it. She'd managed to hold herself together, and it wasn't until they were outside of Royal's apartment that Sam had let herself go. It wasn't until they were hidden that she allowed herself the weakness that neither of them had dared to show inside. So, Sam could puke if she wanted. In fact, she could puke for both of them, and they'd just call it even.
But, all retching aside, they had their information. Royal had been surprisingly strong through the first bullets. But when they started inching up his legs, moving closer and closer to his groin, he became more vocal. When Carly shoved the gun into his crotch, he'd screamed like a little girl. When Sam grabbed his hair, jerked him forward and threatened to make him watch her "blow your shit to kingdom come," he'd told them everything they wanted to know. Well, almost everything.
Royal truly had no clue where Sonny had stashed the boys.
But he knew other things… Things that Carly didn't want to know.
Sam walked back over, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She groaned, then twisted her hands together. "I'm starting to wish I'd had something other than my gloves to stick in his mouth." She sighed and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "What do we do now?"
"We go to Manhattan and get Kristina back." Carly looked at her with exasperation. That should have been obvious. They got the information for a reason. What the hell else would they be doing?
"Not that…" Sam shook her head. "I mean about Royal." She turned her head back in the direction of the apartment building. They were far enough away to be able to talk without whispering, but still within eyesight of the building. "We can't just leave him like that, Carly. If we do, it won't matter if we bring Kristina home. We'll still go to jail for murder."
"Dammit." Carly sighed. "I hadn't really thought about that." She pursed her lips and tapped her chin thoughtfully. They'd both gotten so carried away when they finally heard what Royal had to say. They hadn't actually meant to kill him. But when he let everything out… There were two neat bullet holes in Royal's head because of what he had told them.
"Call Lorenzo, Carly." Sam sighed and shook her head. "He can get rid of the body. Royal was already planning to skip town, anyway, they'll just think that's what happened."
Carly looked angrily at Sam, but her rage was partially for herself. She felt like an idiot that Sam had to be the one to mention Lorenzo. Carly could say that she was just trying to do it all herself, trying not to get Lorenzo involved, but she knew that wasn't right. She was so far off into the land of "I can't believe this shit" that her brain was barely working.
"Ya know, if you keep this up…" Carly reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. It wasn't the one she'd carried before. Since they went to hide on the yacht, Lorenzo had given her one that couldn't be traced. She was grateful for that, right then. "If you keep coming up with ideas, I might have to hurt you. I'm supposed to be the brains of this outfit."
"Uh huh." She rolled her eyes. "I'd like to see you try. And I mean try to hurt me and try to be the brains of anything."
"Oh, you…" She shook her head and snickered. "I swear, when this is all over…"
"Yap yap yap. Make the call."
Carly growled and hit the speed dial to Lorenzo. "I'm taking a long vacation when this is over, and come hell or high water, it's a vacation nowhere near you."
Lorenzo paced the deck, stars winking overhead. On most nights, he would have soaked them in, enjoying the sheer loveliness the night sky had to offer. On this night, however, his mind was stuck on Carly; where she was, how she was, if she was safe. The fact that he had no clue of what the answer to any of those questions was filled him with concern and set him on edge.
He had hoped that the open, night sky would give him some kind of comfort, but all it did was make him worry more. The dark sky and twinkling stars gave him an infinite number of possibilities to fill his mind, an infinity of things that could have happened to Carly out there, alone. The only thing he was positive about was that she hadn't been arrested. His people in the PCPD would have let him know, but other than that… For all he knew, Carly and Sam could have drowned each other in the harbor.
There was another reason that he needed to be outside, though. He couldn't spend another minute in the inner confines of the ship with Jason Morgan so close. Granted, the man could easily limp his way on the deck, but at least up top, he wasn't closed in. And it made his threat to throw him overboard all the more powerful. Not that Lorenzo actually would, but it was a good threat, nonetheless. He'd yet to throw anyone overboard, but he had a feeling that Jason could very well become the first.
"Senor Alcazar?" Lorenzo turned slowly and waited. "Senor Morgan is asking to see you in his cabin."
Lorenzo groaned. Of course, he would beckon. Leave it to Morgan to pull him back into the depths of the ship. But, Lorenzo had to think rationally. Morgan was just as eager to get out there and help the woman as he was, so he wouldn't have come running up, knowing that he would just hinder his recovery. But still… He didn't like to be beckoned aboard his own ship.
He grumbled all the way below deck. Lorenzo stopped at the door and took a deep breath. The men had already agreed not to pull guns on one another at every single meeting, but Lorenzo still felt the need to have his bases covered. The holster that pulled tightly against his shoulders was only a small comfort as he walked inside the room, closing the door behind him.
"What do you want, Morgan?"
He rolled his eyes and groaned. "Have you heard anything yet?"
"If I'd heard anything, then I'd have told you." Lorenzo narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that neither wanted to be in the other's presence for an extended period of time. They could have done without the company, even if they were both lonely as hell. "They're both still out there, and I've got men looking for them. When they turn up, I'll know."
Jason sighed and rolled his head. "I hate that I have to be stuck here with you. But more than that, I hate that I can't be out there with Carly and Sam." He rolled his head back to the center and looked at Lorenzo. "Do you know what it's like, Alcazar? To not be able to help the people that you swore to protect? Do you have any idea what it's like to have to trust an enemy with your life?"
Lorenzo was uncomfortable. This moment… It wasn't a conversation he wanted to have with anyone, let alone Jason Morgan. This was his enemy, a man who had tried to kill him on Corinthos's orders more than once. Now, he wanted to have a talk. Why? To make himself feel better? To pass the time?
"I don't know where you think any of this talk will lead."
"To some kind of understanding. To some sort of truth that I need to find that's going to let me make it through being stuck on this damned yacht with you while Carly and Sam are out there doing what we should be doing. Hell, I don't know, Alcazar. Blame it on the morphine your doctor gave me."
Lorenzo sighed. "Fine," he said with a groan. He stepped back and leaned against the door. He folded his arms and was comforted by the bulge that rested beneath his left hand. "I swore to always protect three people. Sophie, Sage and Luis. All three of them are dead right now, because I let them down. You can hate my brother all you want. I know that you were on your way to kill him, anyway. Personally, I find it laughable that you or your boss could condemn anything that I've done when you're only real motivation for wanting my brother dead was because he and Corinthos wanted the same woman. You can claim it was business, Morgan, but we both know the truth. Luis died because of Brenda Barrett."
Jason was quiet as Lorenzo spoke, so he went on. "Sage died because I wasn't there to protect her, just the same as Sophie. So yeah, Morgan, I know what it's like to fail someone that I swore to protect. I won't do that again. I won't let Carly die because I can't be there to save her. I'm putting faith in her ability to protect herself, but I'm still looking for her. And when she calls me, or when my men find her, I'll be there."
"And the rest?"
"No, I don't know what it's like to put all my trust in an enemy, but I've shown twice now that I can put enemies aside. You're living proof of that. I helped you and that McCall woman because Carly asked me, too. Because it would have hurt her if you had died, and I couldn't let her hold that kind of pain. It's the same reason I pulled Corinthos out of that hotel fire. Because Carly would have wanted me to. And she'd have never forgiven me if I had let him die."
"And the reason you put a bomb in Sonny's car?"
"I never said I was perfect. Unlike you and Corinthos, I realize that my tactics are not always the best way to go about things. Granted, I realize that too late a lot of times, but I still realize it. And in the end, I was the one who got the most pain out of it. I was the one that almost died."
"If you're looking for sympathy, I'm more likely to give it to the devil first."
Lorenzo snorted a laugh. "I don't need sympathy from you anymore than you need it from me. Neither am I trying to become your friend. I have very few of those and I like it that way. Less people to be in harm's way. But, you're the one who wanted an understanding, and I'm giving it to you. We may not be the same man, Morgan, but we're of the same fiber. We've both done things that were wrong. We should both be spending multiple lifetimes behind bars."
"But neither of us are, and neither of us will."
"Exactly." Lorenzo sighed and stood up straight. "Now, if we're finished, I'm going back up top to…" He stopped as a sudden shrill ringing pierced the room. He rummaged quickly through his pockets until he came up with a phone. The lighted LCD told him who it was and as he answered the call he anxiously said, "Carly! Where are you? What…" He stopped and listened. He turned to stare across the room and watched as Jason sat up in the bed with a groan. "You need to get back here, now. Both of you. Let us handle it from here." Another pause. "Carly… Carly, you can't do that. I won't let you… Carly?" He sighed. "Yes, I'll take care of that, but Carly… Carly!"
The line went dead and Lorenzo let his arm fall. He looked into Jason's anxious face and sighed. "Apparently, Carly and Sam do know how to take care of themselves." That was as close as Lorenzo was going to get to telling Jason that he was right without saying the actual words. "Their suspect was someone named Royal, and they got the information out of him."
Jason spat out a curse. "I should have known. That son of a bitch… He was on duty the night Kristina disappeared. I think I mentioned that to Sam while we were at the PCPD."
"They found him, they talked to him, and they killed him." Lorenzo sighed, but Jason just stared at him shocked. "But, before he died, they got the information out of him. They know who kidnapped Kristina, why she was taken, and Carly has informed me that they're taking one of my cars and driving into Manhattan."
"Well?" Jason sat forward more, then groaned and fell back. "Who was it?"
He looked at him hard, pursed his lips, then said, "John Durant."
Author's Note: I realize that, to some, Carly's reaction to the reveal is going to seem off. Possibly as though she's not feeling it the way that most would think that she SHOULD be feeling it, but please, bear with me. There is a reason for it, and that reason will be explained as best that it can be in the next chapter. There's a lot going on right now, and I don't want to overload every chapter.
