Chapter 11:

Silence was key. The churning of the water as it broke on the rocks, the cry of a gull far above, the rustling of the wind through the leafy trees: none of it seemed enough to mask the heavy thuds of feet over gravel. The stones crunched angrily beneath his weight as he drew closer to the ivy-laced building. He kept his body low, his fists near his knees as he moved with a practiced fluidity through the bushes. He knew the sounds were just amplified by his anxiety; that he was actually being as silent as his intentions needed him to be.

Even with this new mantra in his mind, his heart was racing.

He came to a stop by the gate, hidden in a bush and the shadow of a tree. There was a camera scanning the area, moving slowly left and right in a lazy programmed pattern, but it could not see the assassin clothed in black. He reclined for a moment's rest against the trunk of his shelter, taking his phone from his pocket and, after checking the time on two watches, hit the walkie talkie feature. It buzzed to life and clicked patiently.

"I've reached the compound. There are no guards as far as I can see, but active camera systems. Excellent job tagging the boat, Stan."

"No problem, boss. You've got the boys on your tail, at a ten meter, thirty minute radius. They'll close in when I give them the buzz or if the time elapses. So it's up to you. You think half an hour is enough for this?" The intelligent, breezy voice replied almost too casually, as if they were just two geeks playing a game. It was easy to picture the young man reclining in his chair, Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned at the top, keen dark eyes glued to the computer monitor before him.

"It should be fine," he answered in a muffled tone, careful to regulate the pitch of his voice as not to alert the other sensory detectors on the camera, "All I need to do is get to Kristina. I'm not looking to pick a fight with Manny or any of his men. And if we've played our cards right, Manny shouldn't even be here."

"We're taking a bunch of risks here, man. It's really sloppy work. We've assumed so much, and you know what they say about when you assume-"

"Stan."

At the stern voice of his employer Stan inadvertently raised his hands in submission, then brought the phone back to his mouth, his dark skin flushing privately, "Sorry, you're the boss. You know what you're doing. Right. So let's get this show on the road. You pass by the camera on it's next sweep and get yourself inside. I'll keep the boys on standby."

"Excellent. Don't contact me unless it is a dire emergency. I'm know I don't have to tell you this, but everyone else: I can't risk being caught before I get Kristina, and I know you don't want to be responsible for…"

"Then I guess I better say this now," a new voice added to the conversation. Soft and dangerous, coy and clever, he easily recognized the smooth tone of Sam. There were five key players occupying this private radio frequency: Jason, Sam, Stan, Alexis and one of Jason's most reliable bodyguards. The rules set down by Jason dictated that they were only allowed to use the radios in case of an emergency or to transmit specific instructions or scheduled check ins. Sam, clearly, didn't heed the rules, "Be careful, Jason. I love you too much to let that mad man get you."

Jason smiled meekly at the ground, picking up a rock from the edge of the manicured gravel pathway he was hiding near. He played with it between his fingers, trying to remain focused on his mission, but finding it increasingly difficult even by listening to her breathe into the open transmission. Closing his eyes, he nodded for himself and said, "I should be saying the same thing to you, Sam. Don't let him put a finger on you. This is stupidly dangerous, and I'm sorry-"

"Oh shut up, Jason: you can't have all the fun," he could hear the honest laugh in her voice and he rolled his eyes as she continued, "Don't apologize yet. We'll just see how this goes."

"Excellent idea," Stan cut in, "conference time is up. Ready to get this ball rolling?"

Four voices responded affirmatively. Sam disconnected her radio first, followed by the two clicks of the bodyguard and Alexis. Stan fed Jason one more update on his fifteen-man cavalry, and then left him to his work. Jason pocketed the phone into a pouch on his belt.

Everything about his countenance changed in one instant. Work. He forced everything out of his mind. The danger he was in. The danger he was putting Sam in. Her beautiful voice. The goofy way she was excited about this little plan. The intense moment they shared before he left for the island. The taste of what might have been their last kiss. As he was shoving this all away he realized just how much he thought of her, which made it all the more difficult to clear his head.

Work. Get Kristina out of here. Return her to Alexis safely. Make sure Manny never has the opportunity to do this again. He nodded with each beat of his heart, each bullet point of his plan. One step at a time, he was going to make sure this worked.

His plan, as he explained it to Alexis and Sam in the living room of the lake house the night before, had appeared relatively easy. All they needed to do was hope Jason's men had gotten a tag on the cutter Manny escaped in and through that the position of his hideaway. With that information in hand Jason would, metaphorically, storm the castle. Meanwhile Sam, as much as Jason hated to do it, would distract pure evil himself. They would arrange a meeting with him to exchange Kristina for Sam. Alexis would make the call, desperate to have her second born back. Then Sam would try to force Manny into a private meeting with her.

It didn't matter if Manny understood why they would want such a dangerous thing, just that it was his perfect chance to capture her on top of Kristina and have his full deck back, and thus agree. If he smelled a trap he would bring back up, but Sam would not be left undefended. Alexis would call in a couple of favors to reinforce Jason's guard.

Police and mobsters.

There were many flaws in this strategy, now that it was in motion. For one, Alexis had been all too honest with her pleading and begging when Manny called the next morning to taunt them. She had been all tears, and her true heart was not lost to Jason and Sam. Jason just worried what sort of affect it had on Sam. She put on a brave face, seizing the phone when the moment presented itself and making her demands of the mad man. He left her visibly shaken, but she refused to let them know what he had said to her. She simply told them that everything was set up.

The biggest worry Jason had, and the next problem he saw, was with Manny's erratic behavior. There was no knowing, no guessing what he would try to pull once he met with his 'Sweetness'. Jason's ranks were pulled so thin he could only afford her four snipers. He hoped they would be enough, considering they had been a part of the first bungled rescue attempt and so already had an idea as to how things could play out, but there was ultimately no comfort to be had. There would also be plain clothed police officers and their own snipers adding to the trap. The very last thing Jason wanted on his conscience was Manny getting what he wanted.

Focus.

He rose slowly, mind blank, eyes fathomless, absorbing everything without distraction, filtering all the extraneous information out and only taking in what he needed to succeed. The camera turned slowly away from him and he moved with it, pulling against the fence in perfect timing to avoid both this and the camera stationed twenty feet away that was supposed to pick up what this one missed. It was easy to see that the two were moving in different speeds, and then it was just a matter of time and patience before a large enough hole appeared for Jason to sneak through.

Carefully, picking his way through the shadows of the trees that lined the walkway to the door, Jason made his way to the building. He pressed his back against the wall, opting to find another way in instead of using the front door. Thirty long sidesteps later he was at a back door, hiding in the darkness. There was a guard stationed here, which told Jason there was no camera. A quick glance around confirmed this.

He couldn't help but grin confidently. The guy was scrawny and held his gun like he was scared he might break it. Possibly a trap to lull any attacker in to a fault sense of security, but Jason wasn't convinced of that. He took his chance and charged, burying his fist into the man's nose before he had time to utter a cry. As he was going down he swung his rifle clumsily around and tried to pull off a shot. Jason pulled the gun away with an easy arch of his arm, then slammed the butt of it against the man's head.

He was down and out for the count, bleeding slowly for an ugly looking gash above his eye.

Jason slung the rifle over his shoulder, arm through the strap that was so designed. He looked around once more, checked the guard for anything useful and, with a set of keys he doubted had any importance in his pocket, he went to the door. It opened without a fight, swinging noiselessly in on its hinges as if in a grand gesture of welcome.

Jason drew a deep breath and stepped into the darkness that waited beyond, half expecting to be jumped and killed instantly.

Sam drew a deep breath and stepped into the dimly lit alley, half expecting to be jumped and killed instantly.

She saw him waiting for her, despite their agreement to meet on the hour. She glanced at her wrist watch, already knowing it would tell her eleven o clock was almost twenty minutes off. With the darkness crawling and, inexplicably, thickening around the thin shroud of light cast by the street lamp Sam felt as if she were trapped. She didn't want those shadows to touch her, unsure of what they might be hiding. But the circle of light that Manny was waiting for her in was claustrophobic, only a three foot radius of unhindered yellow.

She stood at the edge of it, her expressive eyes fixed on her tormentor as if formed of ice. She winced when he lifted his eyes to meet hers, his malice and torturous thoughts hidden almost completely. She hardened her glare, unwilling to lose ground so early.

"So what is this, Sam?" He asked, his voice level and alarmingly collected. It was almost more terrifying to see this normal calmness, because it reminded Sam that he was as human as she was. It put them into a singular category, and made her identify with his character. It would be easier for her to hate him completely, to wish him dead with every fiber of her being, if he always remained a monster in her mind. He raised his eyebrows in question, tilting his head slightly, "Are you setting me up for some sort of trap?"

"You came alone." It was more of a shocked statement than anything else, and escaped her lips before she had time to stop it.

"I did. You didn't, I assume? Hey, that's alright, I wouldn't trust me either. But I have to tell you something. Hopefully I can get it out without being shot down, huh?" He grinned with unfamiliar… warmth? and took a step closer to her. She felt her body pull backwards but her feet remained planted, captivated by this change. She was almost certain it was a trick, a game to get her guard down, but she played along almost willingly.

"If you know I'm not alone, then you'd better be careful," she growled.

"It's cute of you to worry," she frowned at him, wrinkling her nose in disgust. He stopped two steps in front of her, raising his hands as a magician would. Nothing up his sleeves.

Like I believe that, Sam thought cynically.

"I'm not going to go down here, though. You wouldn't risk killing me with Kristina still in my care, right? Right. Now listen, why don't you and I take a walk on the docks? Lose the bodyguards and the cops. Just you and me."

Sam felt the muscles in her throat constrict, a violent urge to either scream or vomit over coming her. She suppressed both, shaking her head violently. Manny looked at her pleadingly, his eyes resembling something like a dog that's been kicked one too many times. Lost between insanity and endearing. Sam steeled herself. She was stronger than his mind games.

"Yeah, sure, let's just take a stroll by moonlight. Just because you want to torture, rape and kill me. Why should I let something like that get in the way of trusting you?" She barked stiffly, looking over her shoulder hesitantly. She wished she could see the snipers and cops Jason and Alexis had set up. They would make her feel safe. Safer. With Manny alive, let alone so near, she doubted she could ever feel safe.

Manny grinned and revealed at long last a small slip of his true nature. It faded just as quickly as it appeared, his lips lowering over his teeth to turn his snarl into a casual smirk, "Smart. Listen, I may have agreed to come here but, like I said on the phone," and here Sam shuddered, "I've only come to see you. I still hold the key piece in this game, you understand. Kristina is just the press of a button away from being just another murder statistic in Port Charles."

To illustrate his point he took out a small palm pilot, and showed her the display. It looked like a phone number, with two places to hit with a stylus of the tip of a finger: dial or cancel. She doubted he would touch the latter. Nodding reluctantly she raised her hand and signaled for the snipers to fall back. If they did or not she didn't know, but she hoped they were was stubborn and rebellious as she was.

Not having planned for this deviation from the weak plan, Sam folded her arms over her chest, doing her best imitation of a person in control of both her emotions and the situation.

"You have my company. But I think it's only fair to warn you that Jason is only the press of a button-"

"I know that. You think I'd come here thinking Jason would really leave you alone? He's probably trying to get his shot off right now. So walk at my side, let me put my arm around your waist, and be my shield."

The only choice Sam had was to agree. For now she had to follow Manny's lead, this dance they did becoming all too familiar. Feeling unreasonably sure of herself, she let Manny slip his hand, like a snake, around her lithe body and pull her to him. He wasn't overly rough with her, though, she could feel his agitation in his movements. He was battling his urges, and it was only a matter of time before he lost out to his primal nature.