A/N:I do not own Twilight.

Adjournment

Chapter 16: This is Ridiculous

"Jamie, you disappointed me." Nathan Santiago stated bluntly as he finished his meal. "The only thing that has saved you up until now has been my generous nature."

"I've asked you not to call me Jamie," Jamison spat. "In the years that I've know you, there has never been a generous bone in your body," he finished.

"All these years, I treated you as a member of my family. My son." The older man spoke calmly but Jamison was not fooled. A plan that had been in play for two decades had fallen apart in the last twenty-four hours. "You were given a gift. The most delicate and important of duties."

"I can still fix this, Santiago. Please just give me more time." Jamison had never begged for anything in his life, but this was the end of the line.

The waitress chose that moment to approach the table refill their drinks. "Thank you Renata," Santiago nodded at the young brunette as she stepped away from the table. Santiago took a long drink before looking back at Jamison. "More time." There was a slight chuckle. "I granted you more time when you screwed up and tried to kill her that night. You screwed up again when you let her and the boy get away from you. I gave you time and unlimited resources to fix this mess, Jamie. This meeting was just out of courtesy. You should get your affairs in order. How many hours did you give Felix before you killed him and his sister?"

He knew it was a rhetorical question . "There's nothing I can do?"

"You had such potential. I was rather surprised when I learned what your plans were for the boy. I didn't know guys were your thing, Jamie. You should know, there are federal agents on the way to the island. I'm going to let them have Masen's bastard back. But I do want to know something. Tell me. Why did you try to kill my Angel that night?" Santiago's voice was soft but Jamison knew it wasn't a request.

"I could tell you a pack of lies, Santiago. But the honest truth is simply this." Jamison lit his cigar as he sat back in his chair. "I was so high that night, I really don't remember much of what happened. Felix pulled the security feed for me afterward." Jamison regarded his mentor one last time. "My first major mistake in twenty years and there is no mercy?"

"Jamie, I taught you everything I know. Felix was your right hand as much as you were mine. I give you the same mercy that you gave to him." Santiago stood up to leave and his body guards immediately fell in line behind him. He turned back to Jamison before exiting the restaurant, "How does it feel? Having been on top of the world and now you'll be counting down the seconds until I send my man for you."

"I intend to go out on top, Santiago." Jamison's smile was nothing short of feral. "Just make sure your man doesn't miss." Jamison counseled as he watched Santiago walk away.

-A-

Edward panicked for half a second when he regained consciousness. Only the sight of a very awake and alive Bella and a smiling Esme stopped the impending sense of terror that had taken hold of him when the building had come under attack. He sat up quickly when he realized they were currently in the morgue and Esme spoke before he could let the fear take over once more.

"Don't worry. You're not dead," the doctor grinned as she moved to help him into a standing position. He started to sway so she pushed him until he was sitting down.

"Well, that's not strictly true. Jamison's thugs think you are dead. So, yes. The two of you are recently departed." Carlisle informed them as he entered the room.

"What the hell happened?" Edward demanded.

"Our friend Miller has been working for Jamison. Apparently his job was to make sure that Bella was in her room when Alec Hansen and his group of terrorists invaded this morning. Obviously he failed. Emmett said you guys were on your way down when this happened."

"Yeah. What the hell exploded? Are you okay?" Edward demanded as he took in the bruising on Bella's arms and face. There was a cut at her hairline that had been bandaged. "You fell down a flight of stairs."

"Sure did and you fell on top of me when that grenade exploded." Bella confirmed. "I'm fine. Just a few bruises. You doing okay?"

"As long as you tell me we got Hansen I'll be just all right." Edward smirked.

"Then I guess you're fine. Hansen just revealed Jamison's plan to abduct Bella and take her to a remote island where he planned on tampering with her memories to make her forget all of us. " Carlisle informed them. "We also have a lead on Johnathan. If our luck holds, we could have him back by tonight."

"That son of a bitch. This is getting ridiculous," Edward swore. "Jamison needs to be stopped. Like yesterday. How many of them were there?"

"Eight if you include Miller, the two that made their way back to the helicopter that dropped them onto the roof in the first place and of course the actual helicopter pilot. There are three actual bodies in the next room waiting to be autopsied," Carlisle indicated the adjoining room.

"Why were they tossing grenades if the objective was to bring her back alive?"

"Best guess is that they decided the operation was a bust and that if they couldn't bring her back alive, better to ensure she was dead."

"You know, I think I may just kill Sebastian Jamison myself." Bella huffed. "Isn't it bad enough that the bastard kept me from my family for twenty years? Now he wants to go back to the way things were? What good could that possible be for him? It's not like we were some close family. He was more like an administrator, making sure our education was to his liking."

"Calm down please. Both of you." Esme ordered.

"Calm is not something I'm really feeling at the moment," Edward informed her. "More like search and destroy."

"Search and destroy. Now, that sounds like a plan," Carlisle nodded. "How about the two of you take the rest of the day to relax. I did want to meet with you and your brother about some information that Whitlock gathered for us first."

"You know who killed Senior?"

"We know who ordered the hit." Carlisle confirmed.

"Well, are you going to tell me or do I have to guess?"

"When Emmett is finished, we will discuss it and out plan on how to proceed. I just came down to make sure the two of you really were doing okay. Edward, you really do look like hell."

"Let me knock you down a flight of stairs and toss a grenade at you and then we can discuss how good you look. When this is over, I am so taking a long assed vacation."

"I will encourage that train of thought, just as long as you know Bella will not be traveling with you." Carlisle laughed at the shock that crossed both of their faces. "The two of you aren't as stealthy as you think. You will be happy to know that at the insistence of my amazingly intelligent wife, I have decided not to fight against my daughters choices in guys anymore. However, when this is over, the family needs to spend some quality time together. Can we at least agree on the one thing?"

"I would expect nothing less," Edward agreed.

"I am so looking forward to this all being over," Bella agreed.

^A^

"I've been waiting all evening for you to tell me what's going on, Director," Emmett prompted.

Carlisle nodded at the two men sitting across from him and took a deep breath before getting to the heart of the matter, "Thanks to some information that Jasper helped us uncover about the sniper that killed your father, we have discovered who the sniper was and who ordered the hit. Sebastian Jamison is not the top of the bad guy food chain. That honor belongs to Nathan Santiago. Jamison has been working for him all of this time."

"Who the hell is Nathan Santiago?"

"The guy pulling Jamison's strings. Nothing traces back to this guy. Legally he is clean. However, we have learned that the sniper that murdered Ed was hired by someone that worked directly for Santiago." Carlisle clarified.

"What do you mean worked?" Edward looked drained as he asked the question.

"The sniper is deceased." Carlisle's cell started ringing and he turned away from the guys to answer the incoming call.

"Edward, man I don't know how the hell to respond to anything that's happened today. My first instinct is to say let's find this Santiago character, put a bullet in his head and call it a day. Sound like a plan?"

"Sure, Em. Bullet to the brain, got it." Edward closed his eyes and leaned his head back in the chair. "Can we maybe do that tomorrow. I'm not up for it tonight."

"No problem. I'll excuse you for the evening since you got blown up today."

"Very generous of you, man. I appreciate that."

"Guys, the team we sent to Elsmere have rescued Johnny." Carlisle informed them. "He's on his way to the hospital. He has some bruising and appears to be in shock. We will know more when they get him evaluated."

Neither of the brothers knew exactly to take that information. They both liked the kid, but it was odd to think of him as family. Emmett stood up and looked at Edward, "I'll meet him at the hospital. You stay here, get some rest. I will let you know how the kid's doing." Edward started to protest, but Emmett cut him off. "It's been a long day. Let me do this. We can regroup tomorrow."

"Thanks, Em." Edward was grateful.

"I think you should get some rest, Edward. Bella has been set up in one of the offices on the second floor. Tell her we found John and I will take her to see him tomorrow." Carlisle instructed. "We can discuss Santiago tomorrow as well."

"Got it boss." Edward was not going to argue. He needed rest and he needed Bella. Everything else could wait.