"Anything?"
Jason laid the uncapped bottle of water next to Sam's laptop, where she typed away at her desk, then bent down so he could see over her shoulder.
"So far the prison break checks out - there was a bulletin in Brussels about it, where they rounded up all the escapees but one, and guess who fits the description?"
As Jason read the page she scrolled through, scanning the dates that matched up to the timeline of the new arrival in town, his gut triggered that spidey sense he was learning again to trust.
"Is there a picture?"
When Sam clicked the link to the next article, he eased back, somewhat surprised to find himself staring at his old face once again. Son of a bitch had been in a Belgium prison, just like he said!
"Oh, wow!" Sam's curiosity grew as she read.
"What?"
"These articles on the conditions in those places - I don't know how he lived like this for so long - listen to this…infested with rats and roaches, overpopulated, no exercise for three days at a time and then only for half an hour…". Sam looked back at him, "This would've driven you crazy! I'm expected to believe it would've taken you three years to break out of that hell?"
His head went up at the words she unknowingly used to give him comfort, her unwavering confidence in him and who he was, the underlining strength he needed to face this latest trial.
"What about the clinic?"
She looked back to the screen and expanded the next window to show him a map of the area. "I ran into a roadblock there - couldn't find a facility anywhere near Waterloo or surrounding towns - at least nothing as discreet as his story implies."
Anxious energy started him pacing slowly behind her, head bowed as his thoughts ran the different possibilities. "I guess if it's that covert they wouldn't exactly advertise for clients on the web."
"Exactly. Which is why Spinelli's using those finely tuned cyber skills to dig a little deeper, as we speak."
He watched her take a sip of water then teased, "You mean there's something you didn't pick up from the Jackal? I thought he taught you everything he knew?"
Her answering smirk transformed her face. "Not even if I spent my lifetime copying his every move…have you seen him in his element lately? He's a living, breathing analytical machine, zipping through back doors and loops to find the tiniest in…he's totally unreal!"
Jason nodded in agreement, then put his thoughts into words, "Okay, so we know he was really in prison in Brussels - at least that part of his story pans out, but…"
He started when Sam cut him off, her fingers hovering over the keyboard, "Wait a minute!"
"What happened?" Taking his place back behind her so he could see the screen again, Jason peered at the article she'd been looking at before, "We already saw that one - what?"
"Something's off."
"What is?"
"I'm not sure." She paused with brows knitting in deep thought. "You know when something is right on the cusp of your brain, or a word is on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't grab it?" She was eying the screen intently, but the answer still evaded her.
When he couldn't see for himself what she thought she was missing, Jason took her by both arms to ease her from the chair.
"Okay. Time to stop looking at it. Walk away…as a matter of fact, let's go home…it'll come to you when you're looking at it with fresh eyes later."
Reluctant at first, Sam gave in to him leading her towards the door, knowing he was probably right, since they'd been at it for hours and everything was starting to meld together in one huge jumble.
"Okay, okay but we can't go home."
"Why not?"
"Your case, remember? He's leaving for three days."
"Now?"
"Yep. You're up, pal! Your turn with the cheating spouse."
Jason sighed and continued moving her to the exit, "Just what I need…more lies to sift through."
"Hey, at least they're not yours this time and not your life they're screwing up!"
Pulling the door closed behind them, he grumbled beneath his breath, "Night's still young," then followed out the building, the unease that took hold since his double showed up, still growing in bounds. Everything they'd found so far just left him with more questions than answers.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Brad stepped inside and stopped in his tracks when the burly guard at the restaurant's inner door turned his way and took a step forward. Holding out the manila envelope nervously, he nodded towards the closed door being guarded. "He's expecting me."
"I know!" When the man stepped aside and jerked his head in invitation for him to open the door, Brad hurriedly did and ducked inside to find his appointment looking up at his entrance.
"Hey Doc - what you got for me?"
Clearing the lump in his throat, he approached the man in the dark suit seated at the desk, leaning back in the oversized leather-bound chair from where he ruled the town.
"Mr. Corinthos-sir, this is highly unethical." He cleared his throat again when the warning bells inside his head reminded him he was addressing the godfather. "I could get in a lot of trouble for this…I could lose my license."
Rising from the chair to move around the desk, Sonny came to a stop before the tech, eyeing him up and down, taking in the nervous tension that somehow didn't manage to kill the greed behind cagey eyes.
"Only if you get caught." Holding his hand out coolly, he waited for the man to place the envelope in it, then he flipped it open while still holding his stare. "If I thought you were the type to get caught we wouldn't be here."
Brad cleared his throat for the third time, hating the cotton that seemed to have taken up residence the moment he'd neared the waterfront.
"Still - it's - it's pretty dangerous." He watched Sonny remove the piece of paper and read it quickly before turning back to his desk, where he placed it and turned back to Brad.
"But you'd do anything for family, right? Knowing this helps Lucas's sister is the only reason you agreed?"
"Well…yes, of course. Sam is very important to Lucas - and to me too. I just don't see how this affects her in anyway…unless you care to share the det…" The word died on his tongue when the mobster's look was a warning one.
Reaching in his front pocket for a wad, Sonny removed the monogrammed money clip and flipped through the large bills, stopping at five. Looking up at the greedy eyes following his count, he hesitated to hold them out.
"Do I need to repeat the conditions to our little arrangement?" When he got the vigorous shake of the head he expected, he held the bills out, holding tight when Brad attempted to take them, his surprised eyes looking up in fear, "I know I don't need to repeat the consequences if not kept."
"No, Mr. Corinthos-sir! Not at all!"
"Good!" Releasing the bills, Sonny pushed the remaining ones in his pocket and the jacket back at his waist, before turning back to his desk. "We're done here."
Brad had a million questions that he knew better than to ask, instead tightly palming his profit and hurrying from the office and from the building. When Sonny Corinthos sends one of his goons to visit you at work with a special 'project,' you execute without questions or comments - and when he made said goons impart how perfectly top secret said project is to remain, you comply to keep your bones intact.
Jamming the bills inside his pants pocket as he hurried back towards the hospital, Brad grinned that he'd survived the task, and with a nice little bonus to boot. What did he care if some unknown person's medical information was now in the hands of the godfather? As long as it wasn't his or Lucas', and he didn't need to look over his shoulders because he crossed Sonny Corinthos, he was going to sleep like a baby.
Sonny leaned back in the chair and braced his head against the soft Italian leather, closing his eyes in thought on the news he just read. He'd spent his life in a business where anything could change on a dime, even as you relied on certain things staying the same to make it work. He hadn't kept his throne all these years by being stupid…from the very beginning, he'd used his head to get what he wanted. When he arrived in this town to manage a seedy strip joint, he knew that was not going to be his legacy or his life, so he paid keen attention and got in with the people on top who would take him places…then he rid the business of the Joe Scullys and Frank Smiths, whom had the power but didn't know how to wield it effectively. Where they used brute force, he used brain power. Where they stomped like giants, he crept like mice. The outcome? Both shot down and forgotten, while he surrounded himself with good people and built an empire.
The best instinct he'd heeded his whole career was the one to hire Jason Morgan. He'd had misgivings about getting a rich kid from the other side of the tracks involved in his business, when it could bring the wrong kind of heat and attention, but something in the kid had made him gamble on an unexpected outcome. He was volatile and hotheaded, but he was a sponge, with loyalty flowing from every pore. He learned everything Sonny had to teach - about the business, about life, about women - and he taught Sonny quite a few things along the way too. He'd never before been able to count on anyone the way he'd counted on Jason Morgan - at his highest or his lowest - that man had come through like nothing he'd expected, and Sonny was ashamed to say that there were several times during their brotherhood when he hadn't shown the same degree of loyalty, but they were fewer than the times when he had.
The door opened on a simultaneous knock and the product of his thoughts entered, closing it behind him and crossing to the desk, where Sonny sat in thought.
"Hey. Everything go okay?"
The familiar leather jacket crunched when he watched him take a seat in the chair in front of the desk.
"Yeah, shipment landed with no problems. They're sorting it in warehouse fifteen right now. I see you still use the same distribution routes?"
"Same ones - if it isn't broke, right?"
"Right. Didn't know if you'd faced any unusual flareups since I've been gone - enough to have to change things up."
Sonny reached over to the desk from his continued lounging position in the chair and tapped his fingers, going from studying his brother's face to the envelope with the bombshell.
"Naw - we straightened all that out a long time ago, remember?" When a nod followed, he sat up and cleared his throat. "So tell me, now that you've had a chance to look at the Canada situation - any suggestions?"
"Actually, I already took care of it. Somebody forgot to send the Harbormaster his envelope - that was the holdup."
"You remember that?"
"Of course I remember, Sonny. This operation runs as smoothly as it does because of the mechanics set in place - you taught me that a long time ago."
"I remember." Sonny's voice trailed as an old conversation replayed in his mind, one of the very first lessons he'd imparted when they started out. "I remember." He rose from the desk, moving to the cabinet for a drink. "How're things going with Sam? Have you had a chance to talk?"
"No, can't get her away from that bulldog long enough."
Sonny dropped an ice cube in the glass and paused. "Yeah, he's pretty protective." Turning back to the man, he offered one that was refused with the wave of a hand. "But Sam's pretty independent herself…if she wanted to seek you out she would have - believe that."
"I know who Sam is."
Returning to the earlier vacated chair, Sonny took a seat and a sip. "Not saying you don't - just reminding you she doesn't do a damn thing she doesn't want to. Maybe you're gonna have to take a loss on this one." He saw the tightening of the jaw that indicated a hard line was being drawn, and continued purposely. "I'm just saying - he's been very good to her and you're not going to find it easy to come between them."
"I shouldn't have to. How can she not know it's me, Sonny?"
For the first time since his arrival, Sonny could see what appeared to be genuine hurt and fear in the man he was constantly trying to get a good read on, and especially now, after what he'd learned.
"What is it that you really want…more than anything?"
"My life back!" He jumped up from the chair and took several long strides to pace in front of the desk. "I want to not have put my family through years of hell and grief - I want to be able to go home to my wife and my son and to have them know I never left them willingly! I want people to stop looking at me with doubt and know I am who I say I am…I want my damn life back!"
"It's funny…if you had arrived just a few months earlier than you did, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. We would've accepted right away you were Jason and no-one would've questioned you twice about it, you know why? Everything was so damn chaotic and turned upside down that the guy himself would've wanted you to take his life! He didn't want any part of it!"
He swung around angrily to face Sonny. "Doesn't that tell you something? Brain injury or not, I'd never turn my back on my family, not after everything we went through!"
"Haah…you did before."
"Sonny - that was different! I thought I was just a violent bastard who killed people on a whim…and you wanted me to take out that Ruiz guy - I didn't want to do it anymore. Besides, what are the chances I'd repeat those same mistakes I made a second time? And I didn't choose anybody over Sam then…I tried to leave town for her sake but I wasn't about to marry anybody else!"
"Give the guy a break - he couldn't remember loving her."
"How convenient!" His chin went up in defense. "So you still believe he's me?"
Gesturing to the vacated chair, Sonny used a calm voice to invite him back there. "Sit down - let's talk."
When Sonny's words made him realize how on edge he'd gotten, he sighed and took the offered chair. "I don't know how much longer I can watch some stranger living my life - I can't just keep leaving him alone with my family."
"He's not going to hurt them…think about it…he's had chance after chance, alone with them long before you came back. If he was going to do anything he'd have done it already." Sonny leant back and continued to study the face before him, looking for the slightest sign of deception. "He loves them - I've seen it."
Gripping the arms of the chair in anger, he ground his teeth to restrain himself again. "That doesn't make it any better. They don't know to be afraid of him."
"Do you honestly believe Sam could be duped that way? That she'd be all in with this guy and not pick up on anything shady about him?"
"Sam's always had good instincts but when she gets emotional it throws them off. He targeted her when she was grieving and alone…"
"She wasn't alone."
"What?"
"Sam was engaged when we found out who he was. She was going to marry Patrick Drake." He kept curiously looking for tells, dropping tidbits he expected to get the strongest reactions.
"Drake? That prettyboy preppie isn't even her type?"
"True…but after what happened to you she wanted a different life for Danny. She found him a family."
He thought about the years she'd had to go on without him there for support and how well she'd obviously done raising Danny, and he couldn't get mad at her when it was his life that led to her having to be a single parent for so long. "She's always wanted that…a family of her own. I always wanted to give it to her." There was a brief silence then his voice picked up softly, "I need to give her that."
"Need?"
"She's everything."
The soft, guttural whisper caught Sonny off guard, filled with so much raw emotion, he had no doubt of the feelings behind the words. But how?
He couldn't sit still anymore. The room was closing in and losing air with each passing minute that was robbing him of the one thing he desperately needed. He was half way across the room when he remembered to announce his departure.
"Everything's on target…I'm heading out."
Without waiting for an answer, he bolted from the room leaving Sonny to stare after him in wonder, his gaze falling again to the envelope, losing himself in thought as he rattled over all he'd just learned and where to go with it. Uncovering the truth was one thing…revealing it in a way that did the least damage to everyone concerned was quite another.
