"Ouuoh." Why did her head feel like the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was pounding its way through it? Sam lifted her hand to touch the side of her head and then she remembered - someone had ambushed her from behind. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut before she slowly opened them to pure darkness. Closing and opening them again slowly, she listened for any sound that might indicate where she could be. Not hearing anything, she ventured to raise up on one elbow, the throbbing pain making itself even more pronounced in protest. She wanted to cry out at the pain but caught herself in time, thinking that her captor was more than likely close enough to hear any sound she made. As her eyes slowly became adjusted to the dark, objects began to take shape around her. She was laying on a twin bed crammed in one corner of the room with a chair next to it. The only other object appeared to be a sink with a mirror over it at the opposite end of the room. Sam had no idea where she was and as she laid back down to soothe her throbbing head, she listened intently for any sound on the outside.
She laid there for a minute before she tried sitting up again, this time noticing that her left hand was restricted by something cold and heavy. What the…there was an iron cuff on her hand with a chain running to the side of the bed. Using her other hand to feel along its length, Sam could tell that it ran to the top left corner of the bed and disappeared down the leg. She tried sitting up fully and was hit by a sudden bout of nausea that left her dizzy so she laid back down one more time. Okay, Sam, take it easy for a second, let it pass then get the fuck outta here.
All of a sudden the room was flooded with bright, painful light and Sam flung her hand up to cover her eyes as she squeezed them tight again. "Oh, good, you're up! Welcome to the party sunshine!" The voice was coarse and grating, and Sam forced her eyes open again so she could get a look at its owner. She was half expecting it to be her mark, thinking maybe he had somehow figured out that he was under surveillance and had gotten the drop on her, but the short stocky balding dweeb with the thick accent was not him. She'd never seen this guy before and he looked more like a hired henchman than the corporate type. Sam eyed the gun holster that ran across his shoulder to his waist, weapon in tact, and she wondered if he was alone. He was definitely stronger than her so she wasn't about to engage him in hand to hand combat, but there's more than one way to skin a cat - she knew she could take him.
As if to answer her unasked question he said, "we've been waiting for you to make an appearance. Sorry, didn't realize I hit you so hard." There was nothing sorry in his tone.
Mock now, bigboy, Sam thought. She cleared her throat against the gravel, "where am I? Who're you and what do you want?"
"Questions, questions. That curiosity is why you're here right now."
He was moving closer to the bed and Sam felt at a disadvantage lying down so she sat up, this time fighting through the nausea to swing her feet over the side and place them on the ground, rubbing her temple as she went. "So, I have you to thank for this headache. Payback's a bitch, you know that, right?"
He was laughing at her. "You probably weigh ninety pounds wet and in case you didn't notice you're chained up and at my mercy. I think you're the one who should be worried about payback."
She wanted answers, she could antagonize him later. "Why am I here? I haven't done anything to you, I don't even know you."
"Ah, but you know some other people, dangerous people who's business you should've stayed out of."
That didn't tell her a damn thing. She knew lots of dangerous people. The throbbing in her head was subsiding and her vision was getting more clear, but he didn't need to know that. "Ooouii, my head. How long have I been out?"
He checked his watch, "I sometimes forget my own strength I guess. You've been sleeping for almost nine hours."
Nine hours? That would make it around three or four in the morning. Spinelli knew she was missing by now. He lived across country but they still worked together long distance and one of the stipulations of their partnership and their friendship is that she must check in regularly when she's out on assignment. Every four hours unless the situation calls for longer, and in those cases, tracking is necessary. She should've checked in at eight the night before and then again when she got to her destination in Vermont. He would be tracking the Lojack on her car by now, so hopefully these idiots drove it to wherever they were holding her.
He'd bent over by the bed and laid a bottle of water and a sandwich on the chair. "Here, breakfast is served. You might want to keep your strength up for what's coming your way." He chuckled mockingly as he headed out of the room, locking the door behind him.
Sam looked over at the chair and smirked. As if she'd eat or drink anything from them. What kinda rookie did they take her for? She still didn't know how many of them there were nor where she was. She needed a plan to be ready for whatever they thought they were going to do to her.
Meanwhile, back at the MetroCourt, Jason couldn't sleep a wink. Sam hadn't checked in all night. It was not like her not to call Danny before bed, so when that didn't happen he'd thought maybe she was in a spot that would've comprised her cover at the time, so he let it go, but when she didn't check in by the time she should've gotten to Vermont he started to worry. Something wasn't right. He'd had a hard time getting Danny to sleep, he'd tried everything but his son kept insisting he had to wait up for Mommy because she always called in kisses before bed. He'd finally crashed when he couldn't fight the nods anymore.
Jason looked over at his son sleeping soundly in the middle of the huge bed and he leaned over and kissed his head softly, then got up and walked over to the balcony doors. He didn't want to risk calling her phone just in case she was being covert at the time, so he sent her a text instead: check-in. His fingers drummed anxiously against the phone as he waited for her reply. The phone beeped and he quickly read: I'm fine. Call you later. His fingers began drumming again. Something still wasn't right, he could feel it, he could feel her. He texted again: David was waiting for his bedtime story - you promised. Another beep and he read: I know sorry, I'll call him tomorrow.
His heart skipped a beat and his lungs lost air. Sam was in trouble. Either someone had her phone, or she was being forced to answer what someone else dictated. Sam would've picked up on his code and called to make sure he knew she was safe. Jason looked over at his sleeping son again and hurriedly dialed Carly's number. She answered on the third ring.
"Jason? It's four a.m., what's wrong?"
"Sorry to wake you but I need your help. Can you come over to the hotel?"
"Is it Danny, is he okay?"
He didn't want to say much over the phone. "Can you come?"
"I'll be right there." Carly hung up and jumped out of bed. She knew he didn't want to talk over the phone and if Jason was calling her this early it was deathly important. She wasted no time getting to the hotel, pulling her coat on over her pajamas and donning a baseball cap. She got to the suite and not wanting to wake Danny by knocking, she let herself in using her master key. "Jason?" she whispered, then saw him come out of the bathroom, clad in all black. He saw her and came out to the living area, looking back at a still sleeping Danny as he moved her to the side.
"I need you to stay with Danny for me." At the question in her eyes and raised, upturned hands, he continued, "Sam's missing, I have to go find her."
"What do you mean, Sam's missing?" Carly hadn't meant to be loud and Jason shushed her as he looked back towards the bed to see his son turn in his sleep. In a hushed tone Carly asked, "where is she? What happened?"
Jason ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know. She hasn't checked in since yesterday and I sent her a text but it wasn't her that replied. Somebody has her, Carly."
"Who?"
"I don't know. I need to go by her office and see what case it was that was taking her to Vermont. I knew where she was headed but I don't have the details." Just then his phone beeped in his pocket. Jason reached for it quickly, hoping it would be Sam calling him to say she really was fine, but it was Spinelli. The minute he saw Spinelli's name on the screen his worse fears were confirmed. "Spinelli!"
"Yes, it is I, Stonecold! I fear I call bearing sad tidings as I dread our Fair Samantha is at peril."
Jason ran his hand over his mouth and swallowed. He knew it! "I was afraid of that, what do you know, Spinelli?"
"The Fair one has missed all check-ins and all missives requesting confirmation of her well being were returned minus the agreed upon coded lingo. Stonecold, she is in dire need of our assistance!"
Jason started pacing restlessly. "I know she was headed to Vermont, what case was she working on?" He listened intently as Spinelli gave him the details of the embezzling case and the parties involved. "Where in Vermont was she headed, Spinelli?"
"Alas, that is yet another matter of grave concern, Stonecold. I took the liberty of engaging the Lojack system on Fair Samantha's vehicle and am stressed to relay that it's been immobile in the same location for quite some time. Said location is on it's way to your phone momentarily."
"Good, I'll find her car and go from there. Thanks, Spinelli, I'll be in touch." Jason hung up and looked at a worried looking Carly. "I have to go, take care of my son. Tell him I went to get Mommy and we'll see him soon." As Carly nodded, her hands clasped over her mouth and nose, he went back into the bedroom, kissed his son's head again, then returned to the living area, grabbed his duffle from the couch, stuck his gun in his waistband and headed out the door, his leather jacket flapping out behind him. "I'm not coming back without her."
Sam was getting a little anxious in the room by herself. She needed to get out of there but she needed to know more about what she was up against. She started reaching for the bobby pin in her ponytail when she heard the key being turned in the door. This time it was a different visitor, this one was tall and lanky, his angular face looking hard as he stopped at the open door to eye her lasciviously. He made his way slowly into the room, closing the door behind him and walking towards the bed, looking over at the untouched water and sandwich. Shaking his head slowly at her he went, "tsk, tsk, somebody's being a disgruntled guest. Don't you know it's bad manners to refuse your host's refreshments?" He stopped and stuck one hand in his pocket, the other resting on the gun in his holster, similar to the one the other goon wore. His eyes travelled the length of her body thirstily, making Sam's skin crawl.
She knew that look, had seen it on so many captors over the years and it never failed to turn her stomach. Son-of-a-bitch…why did every evil fucker in the universe always seem to want to rape her? Son-of-a-motherfucking-bitch!
"Sorry, I had a huge lunch last week." She needed to get him talking. "So, who're you? Where's bigboy?"
"Don't worry about him - I've got everything you need right here."
"You normally drag poor, defenseless women off the street and leave them chained to a bed for kicks, or is there something you want from me?"
He continued to eye her coldly. "You're going to be here for a while so you might as well get comfortable. Now, where are the copies of the recording?"
Sam wasn't exactly surprised, disappointed yet again and very sad to have her suspicions confirmed, but not surprised. "Nicholas? Nicholas did this?"
He laughed dryly. "Lady, your family makes my set of psychos look normal any day. Yeah, your cousin wants everything you have with him on it. Everything - so where is the rest of it?"
"The police already have the recording. Why would he do this now?"
"Evidence comes up missing all the time and the Cassadines have eyes and hands everywhere - that copy won't even see a courtroom. Now, if there are other copies floating around out there, then that won't be so good for the prince, you get me? So start talking."
"Like hell!"
He smiled at her like that was the answer he'd been waiting for. "Guess I'll just have to check to see if it's on you then. Your cousin did tell all of us to be very thorough." He bent over her and grabbed her breast roughly, running his hand down between the valley and over her stomach, easing himself down onto the bed to get closer to her. His eyes were dark and cold and he was leering at her like he'd been waiting to do this all night.
Sam laid there, fighting the bile that sprung to her throat when he touched her, waiting patiently for him to get in place, and as soon as he slid lower down her body to reach her jeans, she grabbed her chance. Lifting her legs and swiftly locking them around his neck she squeezed with all her might. It was easy for people to always underestimate her size, but years of jogging, boxing, yoga and combat sport gave her the core strength of someone twice as big, and she would happily show this goon how she liked being touched without permission.
His hands came up to grab at her legs and Sam squeezed even harder, feeling the veins of his neck strengthening against her thighs as he struggled to breathe. His eyes were bulging with disbelief and his leer had turned to panic as he found himself unable to get air, and still she squeezed, bringing the chain from her cuff to wrap around his neck and pull as hard as she could. She felt the grimace on her face as she remembered his unwelcome hands on her breast and she squeezed till she felt him go limp against her. She squeezed for another few seconds of added surety, then started to reach for his holstered gun when she heard the door opening again. She had just gotten the butt in her hand when a third unknown assailant came in, shock registering at the sight before him just before he reached hurriedly for his gun.
Sam fired off before he could unholster, sending two shots into his chest, watching his body thrust from the force of the bullets before he slumped over to the floor. Shit, now bigboy would be coming and she was still pinned under the goon on the bed. She heaved and pushed him off her as she hurriedly searched his pocket for the key to her cuff. Shit, shit, shit!
Jason was frantic. He'd followed Spinelli's directions to Sam's SUV and found it parked outside a diner on the outskirts of town. The doors were open and her gear was still there, but no Sam. He had to find her. Shit, shit, shit!