Chapter 24
In the wee hours of the next morning Sam was awakened by a strange sound coming from downstairs. She opened her eyes to meet the darkened bedroom and listened carefully for sounds of Danny, but it wasn't her son roaming around downstairs or watching early morning cartoons…it had sounded more like a thud and then…nothing! Sitting up in bed, she listened keenly then she heard another sound - not a thud this time but more like a creak, the type the bottom stair made when you hit just the right spot. She'd been meaning to have it looked at but hadn't gotten around to calling the building maintenance, what with her life in chaotic upheaval in recent months and all. Sam thought maybe it was Danny after all but something in her gut told her it wasn't. Looking over quickly to the nightstand clock she saw that it was only five thirty in the morning - no, her son would be in his bed still tired from an exhausting fun day out.
Throwing the covers back, Sam eased the drawer open and grabbed the lockbox that held her gun, hurriedly punching the combination then clicking the clip in place. Tiptoeing to her wide open bedroom door, she stuck her head out for a second to check the hallway, then seeing it clear she quickly tiptoed to her son's room across from hers and pushed open the slightly open door. She always left Danny's door like that so she could hear him if he woke up during the night. Her tyke was fast asleep as she thought he would be, so tiptoeing back to the door she looked out carefully into the hallway again. It was quiet now but the hair on the back of her neck were in full salute and her instincts were screaming intruder. Closing Danny's door all the way before easing along the wall with her back pressed closely against it, Sam tiptoed towards the stairs. She knew someone was headed up them and she suspected that he'd slowed down and was treading carefully after he heard the creak that the first one made, a fact that would get them face to face at the top of the stairs - she would be waiting in the dark the second he made that turn.
Just then a tall shadow came into view, arm bent at the elbow with a gun pointed to the ceiling as he headed for the bedrooms. By the time he saw Sam she had come off the wall with her foot flying out to connect with his gut, then as he doubled over in pain she grabbed his shoulders and added a well placed knee for added injury. As he started going down slowly, holding his gut and trying to breathe, Sam smashed the butt of her gun into the back of his hooded head. He landed with a resounding thump and she knew that if he had company they would have heard it downstairs. Listening for any footsteps on the stairs she hurriedly knelt by his side and grabbed his fallen gun, sighing to herself when she noticed he had a silencer. Good, any shots fired would not terrorize her son and leave him traumatized. Just as quickly feeling his pockets, Sam reached into the one where she felt a bulge, yanking out the prized goodies she found there.
She patted the masked man's shoulder as she laid her gun on his back and grabbed a limp arm, "Thanks for bringing your own bracelets to the party buddy!" Quickly she pulled the other arm behind him and secured both together with a zip tie, then his feet, using a third one to lace the two together, leaving the intruder hogtied with hands and feet bound behind him while she grabbed his silenced gun in her right hand, her own in the left. Muffled footsteps downstairs indicated to her that at least one more intruder was in play and he had just come out from the home-gym area, given where the footfalls had sounded. Not hearing anyone else and not waiting for him to climb the stairs to get anywhere near Danny, Sam ventured down, stopping on the landing with the first intruder's gun pointed at the head of the other, "Make one fucking move and it'll be your last!"
Sam groped the wall and flicked the switch to bathe the room in bright light, seeing him freeze as commanded, gun in his right hand at his side as he stood facing her. "Drop it and kick it towards me!" Her command was cold but he didn't comply, merely stared her down as though contemplating his wisest move. She shook her head slowly in an attempt to deter him from whatever he was thinking to do - bum rushing her his likely inclination. "Do it and you die! I said drop it!"
When he still made no move to listen Sam lowered the silenced gun slightly and fired, hitting the intruder in the leg and watching him drop to his knee as he yelled out in pain. "Think I'm joking? I will not tell you again!" She practically barked at him. Obviously not wanting to test another wrong theory, he placed the gun on the floor and slid it towards Sam who moved rapidly to scoop it up with the left hand still holding her own gun. "Don't you fucking move!"
He was grunting in angry pain as he glared at her moving past him, gun still trained at his head as she laid the others down and grabbed for the cordless phone off the sofa. She hit the redial button, Jason being the last person that she spoke to earlier. She knew when he dropped them off and headed to the hotel that he wouldn't be able to sleep and she had been right - he'd been up pacing and thinking about his upcoming custody battle, rattled that his past might indeed prevent him from getting his son from the crazy nurse. He picked up on the second ring, which led Sam to believe he'd still been awake.
"Sam, what's wrong?" Jason knew the moment he saw her number and he noticed what time it was. She had convinced him earlier that he would be able to show that he'd changed and was now living clean, while Elizabeth was facing jail and had less than a clean record herself, so his worries were less heavy and he'd been able to stop pacing. Sleep had eluded him still, thinking about Sam and Danny and how much he'd wanted Sam to ask him to stay. "What're you doing up - is it Danny?"
"Intruders!" She knew she wouldn't need to say more before he'd be on the move.
"Are you hurt? Where are they?" He was already grabbing his gun and stuffing his feet into his boots, moving rapidly to the door.
"No. Both neutralized."
Jason pushed the elevator button and cursed that it wasn't on his floor. He wanted to head for the stairs but knew the thing would be faster, watching it as it ascended from two floors below. "Okay, stay on the line, Sam!" He quickly conferenced in Sonny's number, running onto the elevator before the doors even opened all the way, relieved when he heard Sonny's sleepy "Yeah?"
"Sam and Danny are in trouble - I need backup at the penthouse!"
"You got it brother!" He heard the click as Sonny hung up and he looked at the elevator numbers again, which were decreasing but not fast enough for him.
"Sam, you sure you and Danny are okay?" His voice trembled as he thought about them there with likely armed strangers invading their home in the middle of the night. The doors opened to the garage and he ran frantically to his SUV.
Sam watched the masked man bleeding all over her floor, pressing down desperately on the wound to apply pressure, and there was something familiar about green eyes that turned to glare in her direction. "We're fine. I can hold these fools till you get here."
She sounded convincing but Jason wasn't sure there weren't more of them around. They could have a getaway driver who would soon wander in to find out what was taking so long - or more of them could be lurking in other rooms of the penthouse, or just outside in the hallway. Tires screeched as he roared through the quiet streets to get to his family - thank God they were only minutes away. If they were harmed in any way, anybody who hurt a hair on their heads would suffer a fate so much worse than death.
"Who are you?" Sam had the feeling like she knew those eyes. "What's the matter - can't face a girl like a man when you break into her home to shoot her in her sleep?" She waved the gun a couple times in his direction, "Take that thing off, now!"
Again he hesitated as he glared at her stubbornly, still kneeling on one knee as blood leaked through the fingers pressing hard to his other leg, cold green eyes moving from the gun in her hand to her face and back. They stared each other down for a while and Sam knew the minute he'd made his decision, seeing it in his eyes almost as instantly as he leapt to his feet, putting pained pressure on the injured one as he rushed angrily at her, running into a hard football tackle. She raised the gun but before she could fire he'd closed the distance and was upon her and just when she expected to feel herself flying across the room, she heard the resounding sound of bone breaking and watched in shock as the would-be linebacker went flying backward on his ass, yelping in pain as he landed on his bad leg.
Sam jumped aside in surprise, just then seeing that Jason had torn through the door just in time to see the masked man rushing towards her and landed a mighty punch to his jaw before he could touch her. She continued to watch with gun trained at the man as Jason bent over and grabbed him by the front of the shirt, heaving him off the floor and running him up against the wall, smashing him once then twice, then letting go a powerful, double uppercut to the gut. As the man doubled over in pain Jason yanked the ski mask from his head and grabbed a fistful of hair as he lifted it to see. "You!"
"Simeon?" Sam was upon them, her gun still trained on the man as Jason smashed him in the side of the face again, his voice deadly when he asked, "Who sent you here? Are you targeting my family?" He was just about to hit him again when Sam touched his arm and said, "Jason wait!" She knew that Jason would beat him to a pulp before they got anything out of him.
"Wait for what, Sam? Just let me kill him!" His face was a furious hard slate as he kept his fist clenched and raised to land on the man's jaw again, "Let me kill this son of a bitch!"
Sam kept her hand on his arm as she lowered it to his side and addressed the man, "You heard my husband. He doesn't make idle threats so you better start talking - who sent you here? What the hell do you want with us?"
Simeon was braced in a crouching position against the wall, eyeing the deadly enforcer with a new fear in his green eyes but he kept up a brave front as he spat blood from his mouth and wiped it with the back of his hand. "I have nothing to say to you!"
Just then Milo entered through the open penthouse door and rushed over to the couple, four more of Sonny's bodyguards in tow, all armed to the teeth. "Jason, Sam - you guys alright?"
Sam watched the panic in the green eyes intensify when he saw five added guns trained on him and she knew it was just a matter of time before he talked. She was turned to Jason as he took her by the arms to make her face him, wanting to know the answer to Milo's question as well.
"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Watching as she shook her head he added, "You said there were two - where's the other one?"
Sam pointed to the stairs and Reggie and Marcus followed her indication, returning a minute later with the hogtied intruder swinging between them, still out like a light. David and Mario were going from room to room checking closets and alcoves, determined to make sure no other threat was imminent.
"Damn, Sam - you did that?" Milo was impressed by the sight of the man completely subdued.
"He's lucky I didn't gut him," she added for Simeon's benefit, seeing the shocked expression on his face when he saw his partner and knowing he'd think twice about breaking into her home again. "This one too - what the hell do you want with me?"
Jason didn't mind that he refused to answer. "We'll see how long you stay dumb, tough guy! Take them to the warehouse!" He moved aside as Milo grabbed Simeon by the arm and shoved him towards the door, then shoving him again when the man tried to gain sympathy for his limp.
Sam watched them all leave before she addressed Jason, "What are you doing? You're not in the mob anymore, remember? Let the police handle it - it's their job!"
Jason shook his head stubbornly, his face hard and determined, "Not this time - this is personal! They came in here to hurt you, Sam and I intend to find out why. This ends right here, right now!"
"Jason, you're trying to get Jake - you can't have two dead bodies pop up on you when you're getting ready to go to court!"
He grabbed her arms and stared angrily into her eyes, "They came at you, Sam! They targeted you and broke into your home where you're supposed to be safe - where our son sleeps! They will not live to do it again!" He didn't wait for a response but moved around her and hastily followed the others out the door, leaving a worried Sam to sigh resignedly before she locked the door and headed upstairs to check on Danny. She was so relieved to see that he hadn't stirred from anything that had happened around him, and she thanked God that she was such a light sleeper. Sam kissed her baby's head and soothed his hair while she watched his little chest…thank you God!
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Jason walked into the warehouse to find the two degenerates confined and waiting for him, Simeon tied to a chair with sleeping beauty now awake and at his feet, yelling for them to untie him. He started to bargain with Jason immediately, "I'll tell you anything you want to know, just untie me, please - my arms - please!"
Simeon looked like he would've kicked him had his feet not been bound to the legs of the chair. "Shut the hell up, Frankie, or I'll kill you myself!"
Frankie didn't appear to be the least bit afraid of Simeon but he obviously knew who Jason Morgan was. "Mr. Morgan, I didn't know she was under your protection, I swear! I was just sent to do a job, it was nothing personal - I didn't know who she was!"
Jason knelt down next to the man and gave him a cold deriding grin. "She's something, isn't she, my wife?" Despite how ragingly furious he was his heart swelled with pride at how well his wife could protect herself and their son, and he almost pitied the fools who'd learned for themselves firsthand tonight. "I bet you've never known anyone like her?"
The man looked like he wanted to pee himself, "Oh God, oh God…I didn't know. She came outta nowhere! I didn't touch her, Mr. Morgan - I swear I didn't know she was your wife!"
The cold grin disappeared as stony anger took over, "She didn't give you the chance to, but you broke into my home with the full intention of killing my family! What do you think I'm gonna do to you right now?"
Looking at him Jason knew that the man was well aware of his fate, evidenced by his next impassioned plea, "It wasn't my idea, Mr. Morgan! I was just doing my job, please - I have a family too!" He was almost sobbing out the last part.
Jason looked up to the stony one not flinching and stood up to tower above the man. "Let him loose." He kept cold eye contact as he waived Reggie over, "Cut his ties," indicating to Simeon, then backing up some as Reggie bent over to do as he was asked, the other men in the room taking up an open leg stance with their guns in lapped hands in front of them. They were ready if he tried to make a run for it.
Eyeing Jason warily, Simeon rubbed his wrists while standing slowly to his feet, looking unsure of what to do or expect. He didn't have to wait long.
Seeing Jason's telltale crick of the neck and wrestle shaking of the hands, Milo pushed his nose to the side and grinned at Mario who nodded knowingly - they were about to be entertained.
In a lightening flash Jason's fist connected to Simeon's jaw and the force sent him sailing to the ground. He felt the gash of teeth on tongue and the blood when it pooled his mouth as he laid there and looked up at the coldest eyes he'd ever seen.
"You're a bad motherfucker - c'mon let's see what you got!" Jason shook his arms again as he waited for the cur to get to his feet, circling him as he did, "Think you're gonna befriend my wife then attack her in her home in the middle of the fucking night? Come on bitch - let's go!" Simeon rose slowly and took a stance but before he knew what hit him, literally, Jason had rushed him so hard that he sent him flailing across the room to crash into the opposite wall, wailing on him the second his back made contact. Loaded fist after loaded fist smashed his face, his head, his chest and gut, uppercuts and crosses landing so fast and so hard that the man couldn't recover for a split second between each one. Everytime he fell to the ground he was ordered back up where Jason would pound him back down again.
Simeon must've realized that he was fighting for his life because he moved to fight back, finally landing a solid fist to Jason's side but in the same minute Jason grabbed him in a chokehold, using his knee to slam over and over into the man's body, finally pushing him to crash into the ground where he stomped his injured leg and twisted mercilessly, eliciting the most bloodcurdling scream from the would be assassin.
"Who sent you?" Jason bellowed furiously, using brute strength to ground his foot down and twist even more into the wound.
"Tony Pachello! It was Tony Pachello! Arghhhhh!" The anguished cry turned into a whiny whimper as Jason eased up on his assault, "It was Tony Pachello…"
Jason was still pacing with anxious adrenaline. "Where do I find him?" Simeon was no longer being tortured so he clamped up again, gingerly grabbing at his injured leg that was now on fire.
"Beechers Corner! He's at 235 Peter's Landing in Beechers Corner - he's waiting to hear that we're done!" It was Frankie screeching out information from across the room - seeing the pain inflicted on the injured man and not wanting any of if for himself. "You can find him in Beechers Corner!"