Ch. 13
Jason and Keesha had spent the last few weeks together. Carly had noticed, the Quartermaine's noticed; hell, it seemed that everyone in Port Charles noticed that Jason Morgan had a new love interest. Everyone saw the truth except for Jason and Keesha. Keesha loved spending the time with Jason; the kids also seemed to have taken to him and loved spending time with Jason, Jake and occasionally Jason's step son, Cameron. They had also spent a lot of time with Carly and Sonny's kids. Justus loved to spend time with Michael and Morgan and Maya and Kristina had become fast friends. The two girls were had the similar interests that included being spoiled rotten.
Keesha had been amazed at how easily she fell into life in Port Charles with her family. She had almost allowed herself to forget why she was back in good ole Port Chuck. And that is when they struck. Keesha and Carly had been out looking at houses; Keesha having decided that she might as well settle down. The package had been delivered to the lobby of the Metro Court. When the two women returned, Keesha received the greatest scare of her life.
"Mrs. Livingstone, this came for you today", said Adam at the front desk.
"Mmmm, it's really thick Keesh, what in the hell can it be?" Carly asked.
"I have no idea. There's no name, no return address."
"Wait, Keesha don't open it. Adam, how was this delivered?" Carly questioned.
"Messenger service, about an hour ago."
"Carly what are you doing?" Keesha asked.
"You haven't been in this life for long; you need to be more careful. I think that we need to have someone come and look at this." Carly said.
Keesha laughed and said, "Carly I think you've been in this life for too long. This is probably just files from the lawyer regarding Daniel's estate"
"Or, a bomb from this sicko, Mariucci."
Keesha's eyes widened and her throat constricted. "You don't honestly think…?" Keesha questioned.
"When you're in this life, you can't be too careful. I'll call Sonny and have him send someone over."
Keesha looked at the package again and shook her head in agreement. 'How has my life gotten to this point? What did I do to deserve this?' Keesha thought.
Carly pulled out her cell phone and dialed Sonny. "It's me, Sonny. I need you to send someone over to the hotel. Keesha received a suspicious looking package and I … I just want to make sure that it's … what its not a" Carly stopped. She didn't want to say the words. She didn't want to think that this mob boss, Mariucci would really kill her new friend. She also didn't want to scare Keesha more than she already was.
Sonny understood what she was saying. "I'll send someone right over."
"Thank you" Carly said before hanging up the phone.
Sonny looked at Jason.
"What is it Sonny?" Jason asked.
"Keesha got a uh… package at the Metro Court. Carly thinks it looks suspicious and wants me to send someone over to check it out." Sonny said, unable to meet his best friend's eyes.
Jason was on his feet immediately. "Get Jameson on this. I'm going over there."
"Jason, there is nothing that you can do. You aren't a bomb expert; I'll get a professional on this. I need you finishing up with this Zacharra business. I need you to focus, Jason. You can't start running off half cocked. I know you care about Keesha but I need my right hand man on our business."
Jason stopped halfway out the door. He turned to look at Sonny. "So, if this was Carly or Kate or any of your other women, you would just let someone else handle it?"
Sonny was taken aback. This was the closest that Jason had come to admitting what he felt for Keesha. Sonny sighed and sat back in his chair. He picked up the phone and dialed Jameson. "I need you to get to the Metro Court. There is a package that you need to look at. Jason will be meeting you there." Sonny said into the phone.
Jason met Sonny's eyes and with a slight nod, Sonny gave his best friend his consent. Jason turned and ran out the door of Sonny's office and out of the coffee shop.
Metro Court
Carly and Keesha had taken the package to the vault. Carly had hoped that if it was a bomb, that the vault would be able to contain any damage that might be done; if it went off. Carly had told Adam that when Jason got there, that he should be directed to the vault.
Jason and Jameson got to the hotel within minutes of one another.
"Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Jacks is in the vault with Mrs. Livingstone. They would like you and you associate to join them there.", Adam said when he saw them approach.
Jason ran to the vault with Jameson on his heels. When he saw Keesha he grabbed her in an embrace and whispered in her ear that everything would be alright.
Jameson had opened his bag and pulled out his equiptment. He took the package that Carly handed to him and ran his Presence Plus object dectection sensor and scanned the envelope. Everyone in the room held a collective breath as he noted the contents. He let out a sigh when the contents were revealed to him. "Its mostly papers, there seems to be something metal in there, but it looks to be a cell phone; and it looks to be clean. If you want, you can go wait outside and I will check out the cell phone", Jameson offered.
Jason pushed both Carly and Keesha out the door before they could respond. Once outside the door, Keesha clung to Jason. He felt her shaking and wrapped his arms even more tightly around her. Moments later, Jameson opened the door to the vault. His eyes met Jason's and he said, "Mr. Morgan, you need to see this."
Jason followed the younger man into the room. Spread out on the floor, were dozens of pictures. Jason picked up a couple and was met with the faces of Maya, Justice and Lila starring back at him. Keesha and Carly made their way into the room. Jason heard Keesh gasp. He turned to her; he hadn't wanted her to see these.
"Jason… Jason" Keesha said before she collapsed to her knees in the midst of dozens of pictures of her children.
Jason knelt beside her and collected her in his arms.
"There was a note, Mr. Morgan."
Jason looked at Jameson "Read it"
Mrs. Livingstone, there is a cell phone amongst these pictures and you need to use it.
Keesha looked at the phone and instinctively picked it up. She opened it and noticed that there was a number on speed dial. She hit the number.
"Put it on speaker phone" Jason said. Keesha did and they all listened as it rang.
"Hello Mrs. Livingstone, I see you got your package. You have beautiful children, Keesha. May I call you that?" the man asked.
"No, you may not. What do you want with me, Mr. Mariucci? Why are you focusing on my children? You said that this had to do with me and Daniel and now I get pictures of my children. What do you want? Why are you doing this?" Keesha screamed into the phone.
"Mrs. Livingstone, I've given you time. And you chose to spend it with Mrs. Jacks and Mr. Morgan. I feel that you have forgotten that we have quite a bit of business to deal with. I just wanted to send you a reminder, so that you could refocus your efforts onto what is important."
"I don't know what you want. Just tell me what it is and I'll find it, My husband may have wanted to do business with you, but I don't. I just want to keep my children safe. Tell me what it is you want?" Keesha said through tears. "I will do anything."
"I know you will. You now have this cell phone. We will keep in tough through it. Don't even think of having Mr.'s Morgan or Corinthos attempt to track me through it that will only get your kids killed. Just do what I say, and everything will be fine. Before I go, I would like to wish a good day to you, Mr. Morgan." With that, the line went dead.
Jason's eyes had never left Keesha's. When he heard Mariucci's last words, Jason's eyes closed and his chin sank to his chest. 'This has something to do with me and Sonny. Mariucci is trying to kill two birds with one stone.' Jason thought to himself.
Carly stood back on her heels and watched as two of her closest friends were being torn apart.
Jason went to Keesha and pulled her onto his lap. She sat there and cried into his shirt. Jason pulled out his phone and dialed Sonny. "We have a problem. Mariucci needs to be dealt with, soon."