CHAPTER NINETY-SIX
A Gathering of Eagles
After Jax had left, Sonny directed Max to the docks. He took his briefcase and walked onto the gambling boat, going straight to the bar. After ordering a shot of scotch, he asked for Luke. The bartender said he'd send word that Sonny had arrived.
There had been a time when the two men had been closer, had partnered in several endeavors and used one another's resources. But since Lucky's supposed death, a gulf had sprung up between them, one that had never really been healed, even when it had been proved that Sonny's business had had nothing to do with his disappearance. Their lives had gone in different directions and that had been that.
Sonny stared down into his glass, thinking. He wondered if their separation had happened because somewhere deep inside, he'd been jealous of Luke. He'd found the love of his life, had had children, raised a family with her. Something Sonny had never quite managed to achieve. He and Lily had never had a chance; and Carly's lies and deceptions had kept them from making the life Sonny had always dreamed of. And even though he loved Michael as though he were his own flesh and blood and always would, the truth was, he wasn't his son. One day, Michael would ask about his birth-father. He might even choose to seek him out. If he were ever given another chance to father a child of his own...there were so many things in his life he would change...
Before he could dwell on those thoughts any longer, Luke appeared. The two men looked each over warily as he approached. Luke came to stand before him. "It's been awhile, Sonny."
"Yeah, it has been, so let's get to it. You said you had some important business to discuss?"
Luke nodded. Then his gaze went past Sonny. "Uh oh..trouble approaching at twelve o'clock."
Sonny glanced in the direction of Luke's gaze and saw Jax entering the casino. Jax saw them at the same time, turned and headed in their direction.
"He's no trouble. Not tonight, anyways."
Luke looked sharply from Sonny to Jax and back to Sonny again. "You sure about that?"
Sonny nodded. "Yeah, he's in on the deal." He ignored the incredulous look Luke shot his way.
By this time, Jax had come up to them. Luke looked him over, one eyebrow raising in subtle amusement. "Has Hell frozen over?" he asked amiably. "Or am I just imagining all of this?" The way that both Jax and Sonny were looking at him didn't seem to faze him at all.
"You said we have business?" Sonny reminded him.
Luke's expression changed and was instantly all business. "Indeed we do. Is he involved?" When Sonny nodded, he turned to Jax. "You sure you want in? Can your reputation stand being seen in my company?"
"I can stand it if you can. And I do business with whomever can deliver the goods."
"I'm thinking the same." Luke snagged a bottle of Stoli from behind the bar. "Are you into Russian vodka these days?"
"Very much so."
"Sonny, follow me. Jax, wait a minute or two and I'll have you shown in. Can't have your white knight syndrome rubbing off on me – I tarnish real easy. It may not matter to you, but I DO have a reputation to maintain."
Sonny followed Luke from the casino area to his private offices. They walked in and Luke went to his desk. He pulled out two glasses and began opening the vodka bottle. "I think we're both going to need a drink."
"Forget the drink, I've waited long enough. What's going on, Luke?.. " he started to demand but his voice trailed off into stunned nothingness as another door opened.
"Boss-man…" Johnny limped through the doorway, leaning heavily on Jason. He was looking pretty bad. Sonny's heart clenched in his chest. Johnny had taken a bad beating. And it looked like it had been done by professionals. His face was barely touched, just a bruise on one cheek and a split lip, but the way he moved told Sonny that his body was in serious pain. He watched as Jason helped Johnny to a seat on the small sofa that was against the wall and to the left of Luke's desk. Johnny's face grimaced in obvious hurt as he lowered himself down.
"Are you okay?" Sonny asked, his voice tight with tension..
"I'm okay." Johnny answered; he nodded and winced again as a fresh wave of hurt shot through him at the motion.
"What happened? What happened to you and Alexis?"
Before Johnny could answer, a knock sounded at the door. Luke answered it and let Jax in. He looked around the room, then his eyes fixed on Johnny. "What is he doing here?"
"He was watching over Alexis." Sonny began to explain but Jax interrupted him.
"Was? What happened." he took an angry step towards Johnny. "Where is she? Why didn't you do your job!"
"He was doing his job!" Sonny snapped at Jax as he jerked at his arm. "Shut up and take a good look at him and then tell him that he wasn't doing his job!"
Jax shut up and looked at Johnny closer, seeing his bruises and his pain-filled expression for the first time. "Oh my God.." he murmured. His sudden anger drained out of him as quickly as it had come on him, leaving weakness and fear in its place. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Alexis…."
"He took a pretty bad beating, but still managed to get away from where he was being held and swim back to the mainland trying to get help. Does that prove he was doing his job good enough for you?" Jason looked at Jax for a long moment, his bright blue eyes hard.
He turned back to Sonny. "I had one of our doctors come in and give him a once-over. He has a concussion, two cracked ribs and a lot of bruising across his abdomen. The doctor recommended that he check into a hospital so that they can check for internal or deep tissue injuries with an MRI but Johnny refuses to go."
"Not until we get Ms. Davis back. I'm okay; just some pretty good shots to the guts and the ribs. If it was worse, I'd know it." Johnny insisted. He looked at Sonny. "It was Lane. His guys came out of nowhere. Took me down after I had moved away to give Carly and Alexis some privacy... I...I should have never left her alone." His eyes hardened. "Carly..she set the whole thing up."
"Carly?" Jax said unbelievingly.
"What does Carly have to do with this?" Sonny asked at the same time.
"She called Ms. Da – Alexis while we were still out at Windermere." Johnny explained. "And she was waiting for us when we docked. She had something on her mind, and it looked like she was looking for a fight. For some reason, seeing me only made her madder. She wanted to talk in private. Alexis agreed to it, so I took a few steps away. I didn't count on walking into an ambush."
"I can't believe Carly hated Alexis so much that she'd go so far." Jax said quietly, stunned by this information.
Sonny looked at him. "You didn't believe Carly was involved at all. What made you change your mind?"
Jax reluctantly pulled a sheaf of papers out of his coat's inside pocket. "I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier, but I have some information on the computer phishing that put you in jail." He told Sonny. "The phishing originated from the IP on Carly's computer."
"And yet you want to keep on playing cheerleader?" Luke asked.
Jax shook his head. "That Carly hates Alexis, I can buy that; they were never the best of friends and I know she has her own reasons for hating Alexis these days." Here Jax shot a meaningful glance at Sonny, one that did not go unnoticed by anyone else in the room. "But I find it hard to believe that Carly would go so far as to kidnap Alexis to get rid of her."
"Carly has reason to hate Alexis these days? I know she's never cared for your lawyer, and I can guess that Alexis is the one who drew up your divorce papers, so I can see why Alexis was not one of Carly's favorite people, but the divorce has been a done deal for a little while now, so what's with the hate these days in particular?" Luke asked. He looked from Sonny to Jax and back to Sonny again, watching as neither man answered. After a long minute, his gaze narrowed in sudden comprehension..
"Oh. I see. Hmmm...We Spencers are a resourceful bunch when we put our minds to something." Luke said sarcastically. "But even though I wouldn't have guessed Carly to be so desperate as to make such a move, the evidence is pointing in her direction. Is this a case of hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?"
Sonny didn't answer, but returned Luke's questioning gaze with a stony look..
Luke studied his face for a minute then shrugged. "At least your taste in women has improved, Sonny. I'll give you that. Form and function combined in a long-legged package. Not bad at all, Corinthos."
"Whatever Luke. But bringing in men to take out Johnny?" Sonny thought out loud. "That's not Carly. Where would she get the muscle from?"
"But what about the phishing stuff from Carly's computer?" Luke asked. He was clearly playing devil's advocate. "Maybe she hired the muscle the same way. Or at least found them."
"It doesn't necessarily mean it was her. Think it through." Jax said. "That computer is in the office of a popular nightclub. People coming and going all hours of the day and night with supposedly nothing else on their mind but having a good time. Staff, guests, anyone besides Carly could have gotten access to her system. If it hasn't been phished from another remote location. Carly could have been set up so thoroughly she never knew what hit her until it was too late."
"And that's why she's disappeared?" Sonny asked.
"Well, who would believe her if she declared her innocence? Her ex-husband? Her loving uncle?" Jax's eyes swept over them with barely concealed disdain. "Maybe she found out too late to do anything about it and ran."
"I don't know, Jax." Luke said. "I never claimed that we Spencers were law-abiding citizens. Maybe the thought of Sonny and Alexis drove Caroline over the edge. I could tell you stories about her momma…." Luke caught himself and shut up. "Why are you so sure my little niece hasn't been caught with her hand in the cookie job on this one?"
"Because in spite of everything that I've heard that Carly has done in the past, kidnappings and physical attacks takes things to a whole new level, wouldn't you say?" Jax answered. "I'm not so quick as some to think the absolute worse of her."
He looked at Johnny. :Are you sure Carly was in on this? Did she say anything that implicated herself?"
They all turned back to Johnny. His eyes were burning bright with anger as he took in what Jax had told them. But then he closed his eyes, and thought to himself for a moment. He opened his eyes and looked at them. "I have to tell the truth; I don't know one hundred percent if she did or didn't have anything to do with it. Sonny, you know me. I would never steer you wrong. So no matter what I think, all I know is that she made the phone call that put Alexis and me on the docks. And I know how much Carly hates her. And then she played me so that I left the two of them alone for a so-called private conversation. But one thing for sure, that Lane guy definitely is in on it. It was his guys that came up behind me and took me out- they beat me so bad I almost lost consciousness... but I knew they were after Ms. Davis." he looked at Sonny and he struggled to keep his composure. "I fought back, Boss, I did..."
Sonny saw the guilt in Johnny's face, heard the pain in his voice and knew it was groundless. He shared his sense of helplessness and rage, but knew the bodyguard had done all that he'd been able to. Sonny did his best to reassure his man that he didn't hold anything against him. Sonny moved and knelt before him, reached out and laid a comforting hand on Johnny's shoulder. "I know you did, Johnny, I know you did everything you could."
Johnny looked unconvinced but continued his story. "... . I figured that I'd play along with being totally out of it so I could get back to Alexis and see what I could do to get us free. So when they thought I was out, they dragged me back onboard the boat. That Lane guy was there and he was standing too close to her; I couldn't take the chance that he wouldn't hurt Alexis if I tried anything. They took me below until we got back to the island. We got off the boat and they took us inside, but when she realized that he was going to take us down into the basement, she started to fight back."
He looked into Sonny's eyes. "I never saw Ms. Davis look so scared. They didn't hurt her, but then his guys really went to work on me." Johnny paused and swallowed heavily and his eyes were suddenly haunted. "I could hear her begging for my life. Every time they hit me, she begged Lane to have them stop. I kept hearing her beg, even after they separated us and threw me into a cell alone, all I could do is hear Alexis' voice, begging for mercy...for me..."
Johnny tried to go on but couldn't, obviously overcome by his own words. After a long silence, he spoke again and they could all hear the naked anguish in his voice. "I know why Alexis was so scared – they took me down through some tunnels. She must have known they were there…. She told them she'd do anything they wanted if they would just …stop hurting me." His voice dropped as he spoke and his last words were forced out in a strained whisper. He fell silent; it was obvious he couldn't speak anymore. Luke splashed some liquor in a glass and handed it to him. Johnny's hands shook as he raised the glass to his lips and downed it in a single swallow. He hung his head, unable to continue.
"That was the last time Johnny saw her." Jason finished the story for him.
"So how did you get involved?" Sonny asked Luke.
"Hey, I was minding my business on the Star, out for a midnight walk and lo and behold, I see a little something moving in the water. You owe me a serious dry cleaning bill, by the way." he said conversationally to Sonny before continuing his story.
"So I go fishing and came up with an interesting catch. Johnny was half out of it, but he does mention Alexis' name and something about not being able to protect her. Now I don't know - didn't know what was gong on, but I do know how to keep my mouth shut. Never trust the airways... they're way too easy to infiltrate; and I oughta know. I got Johnny to my private quarters without being seen and then I decided to take a walk on the dock while I figured out what my next move should be. I ran into your junior partner, there." Luke nodded towards Jason. "..told him what was up and we agreed that we should play this close and quiet and lay low. He had Johnny looked after and I called you. Sorry to have been so cryptic, but in case your phones were tapped, I didn't want to tip our hand."
"Our?"
Luke shrugged. "What can I tell you? Despite the family connection, Natasha, unlike the rest of the bloodsuckers, is the warm fuzzy Cassadine; I've always had a soft spot in my heart for her. It sounds like she's in trouble. Major trouble, if you and the Aussie are keeping company. Whatever's going down, I want in."
