Chapter 9

He was so close to just handing Brenda off to the Balkan wrapped up like a Christmas present with a big red bow, he was getting sick and tired of her bullshit. What the hell was she thinking? He told her to not leave the penthouse, even had Dante babysitting her ass, all he had to do was watch her, make sure that she didn't leave. Didn't her selfish ass know how many people's lives were on the line because of her including Lucky and Sam? Especially Sam. Lucky just risked his undercover position working for Interpol to infiltrate the Balkan's organization and take him down, but now, the Balkan will probably realize that Lucky was working with Jason all along. And Sam, she was dressed up and pretending to be Brenda so that she wouldn't get hurt. He didn't like it, but he had to admit it was a great plan, until Brenda and Dante fucked it all up. The idea of handing her off to the Balkan was sounding much better with each second that went by. As he ran to the alley behind his penthouse, he found Brenda and Dante were in a hug with a dead man lying on the ground. "What happened?" He came to a stop just next to the couple in an embrace, wondering what Sonny would think about the relationship between his girlfriend and his son. They claimed it was innocent, well it looked a little too familiar.

"Jason…" Brenda released Dante immediately and ran to Jason, her hands flying around his neck and embracing him. He always made her feel safe and she really needed him. She was thankful that Dante was there again, but she really needed her protector.

"What happened?" He repeated a little in a forceful tone looking at Dante. He tried to pry Brenda off of him, but thought twice as she held on to him and cried. A part of him felt bad for her, she wasn't made for this life, she wasn't made for Sonny's world, or Sonny himself. She needed someone like Jax, but that would just throw Carly's world out of orbit. No, what she needed, was to go back to Rome. Feeling a little guilty for thinking so harshly, he circled his arms around her and held her to comfort her while her sobbing increased.

"Again…." Brenda sobbed against his chest. "Just like last time…. I killed him…. Oh God…." She buried her head again and cried for the two men that she killed.

"Shhh…. It wasn't your fault…." Jason whispered to her, feeling bad for his friend. "But I need you to tell me what happened, ok?" He kept his tone soft and pulled out of her embrace. "Just tell me everything." He was still pissed at the both of them, but he needed answers.

Seeing Brenda so distraught, Dante chose to explain. "I was sitting there on the couch…. I thought she was upstairs…." He started to rub the back of his head.

"I… I hit him over the head with the vase…" Brenda finished. "I'm sorry ok, but I couldn't let you guys risk your lives for me, not you and especially not Sam…" She looked around, ready to apologize to Jason's girlfriend but saw no one. "Where is she?"

"She's with Lucky waiting for the Balkan to show up, and I SHOULD BE THERE!" He yelled out, he couldn't control his voice, then lowered it again when he saw her flinch towards Dante. "All you had to do was just sit there and wait, but instead, you put EVERYONE at risk." He took a deep breath. "Do we know who this guy is?" He asked stepping towards the body and not apologizing for shouting, at this point he just didn't care anymore.

"No ID on him." Dante shook his head. "He just told us that the Balkan was waiting for her."

Just didn't understand that part. Why would the Balkan send his man here when Lucky had a meeting with him at the warehouse, supposedly holding Brenda? It was dawning on him, it was a setup, and the minute his cell phone rang through the silence, Jason realized that he was right. "What's wrong?" He asked Max as soon as he picked up. He could feel his blood run cold.

"We were ambushed, it was a setup!" Max yelled into his phone as he kept firing towards the crates that the Balkan's men were hiding behind, his brother right beside him.

"DAMN IT! Where's Sam?" Jason was barely holding on to his rage. His body was gearing up for a fight, the cold was being replaced with hot anger, boiling his blood and warming up his body. The beast was ready to come out.

"I don't know! Her and Lucky left the back way and they headed off to the docks, towards Kelly's, but some of the Balkan's men ran after them." Max said then fired off a few shots, he smiled at hearing the grunt from his enemy, one more down. "We can't get to them, we've got our own problems." He rose up and fired again and again, having sick and tired of hiding, he needed to help his friends.

"I'm heading to the docks, do what you can and get me some guys there!" He hung up without saying goodbye already taking steps towards Sam's direction. He looked back to Dante. "It was a setup, it was a MOTHERFUCKING SETUP! He knew! He knew what we were doing! Somebody tipped him off and now my men, Sam and Lucky are fighting for their lives." He turned to run but Dante grabbed his arm to stop him.

"What do you want me to do? I have to call this in." He said motioning over the body and a distraught Brenda.

"I don't give a FUCK what you have to do, just leave me out of it. I have to find Sam!" Jason took off running towards the docks, he was glad that he only lived a few blocks down from them. With each step his boots hit the pavement, he hated himself that much more. How the hell could he have left Sam? Why would he leave her? He thought they had an hour, thought that they had time so that he could check up on Brenda and then make it back to Sam on time, but no, once again, he let her down. He left her alone….. now he just prayed that he would find her safe and alive.

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"Which one do we take?" Lucky asked Sam, looking into the mouth of the cave that led into the secret passageways of Wyndemere. The castle was full of them, over three dozen secret rooms, secret hallways, secret hideouts and crawlspaces that led one part of the house to the other. He remembered exploring some of them, but no one knew where they all were, except for Helena. Nikolas only knew a few of them, and his insight would be helpful right about now, but he wasn't here. It was just him, Sam, and Robin's cousin, and a about four of the Balkan's men chasing after them.

"I don't know." Sam shook her head looking from one entrance way to the next, hoping to jog her memory. "The last time I found it was when we were here for the Black and White ball, I… I don't remember."

"Sam that was four years ago…"

"I know, I know… I don't know which one it is, but I do know that one of them leads to the stables and one of them leads to Nikolas' study. Either way we can't stay here!" She turned around as she heard Aidan fire off some shots towards the enemy's direction. They couldn't see much in the dark but she saw that he was able to get one of them, bringing them down to three, good, one for each of them.

"Ok, ok, I say we just split up, three caves, three of us, and three of them." He looked over at Sam and was happy to see that she was accepting it and not arguing, they didn't have the time. He was scared for her but he knew that she could handle herself. He admired her for that.

"NO!…" Aidan shook his head furiously. "There is no way that I'm leaving Samantha alone! I'll go with her." He reached down and grabbed her hand, holding on tighter when she tried to pull away.

"Look, I appreciate your concern but I can take care of myself…" She yanked her hand back and turned towards the caves. "I'll see you guys on the other side!" She said to them just before she turned and ran through the far corridor.

Just before Lucky took off, he looked over at Aidan while he was firing for cover. "Look, I don't know you man, but I do know that you need to keep your distance from Sam." Lucky shook his head thinking about how Aidan grabbed Sam's hand. "If the Balkan's men don't kill you…. Jason will." With that said, he ran into one of the other corridors firing at the men that were chasing so that he could give Aidan cover as well as he ran to a different corridor and out of sight. Lucky prayed that they would get out of this alive.

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Making it down to the docks, Jason ran down the stairs looking in all directions, hoping to find Sam or even Lucky. "SAM!" He called out but he didn't hear anything. "LUCKY!" Not a word, not even gunfire. He was about to head towards the way of the warehouse when he saw Max, Milo and a few of his men running toward him. "Did you see Sam or Lucky?"

"No…" Max shook his head and bent over with his hands resting on his knees to catch his breath from running. Milo, seeing Jason was losing his patience while Max was clearly resting, he spoke up. "We took care of the Balkan's men, our cleaning crew are there now, but no Jason, no sign of Sam or Lucky."

Cody jumped in. "I saw some damage from erratic gunfire, and we passed by a body that they must've taken out, so we know that they were headed here."

Nodding, Jason wasn't sure what to do. He thought it was a long shot but he had to try, pulling out his cell phone, he decided to call Sam. He listened as the ringing started, but as soon as it rang on his end, he heard it ring out into the night, it was her cell phone, it was here on the docks. He motioned his men to look for it as they all turned to the sound, he looked everywhere when Milo suddenly call out to them. "I found it!" He held it up, it was laying at edge of the pier. He was pissed that she had dropped it, but it could be their only clue to finding her. He looked down and seen all the loose rope lying around, Max spoke his thoughts aloud. "They must have taken a boat."

"There's another one missing over here too!" Cody called out as he saw the same ropes flung hazardly around. Someone was in a hurry.

"We need a boat!" Jason looked around frantically for another boat, something, anything to get them out into the water and after Sam. The only thing around was the launch that took them over to Wyndemere. That would do. He ran towards it, his men following right behind him. With Nikolas out of the country, no one was here to take them over to the island, so he did the only thing he could: he stole it. With his men on board, Jason punched it down as fast as it could go not sure which direction to take. He heard his men call out and point to Wyndemere where he could hear shots and see gun blast going off, they were on the island, and so help him that if Sam was hurt, the Balkan would see the beast unleashed.

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She couldn't see a thing, barely two feet in front her, it was pitch black except for the occasional cracks in the cave that the moon's beams peaked through. Every now and then she was able to see and then darkness would take over. But she couldn't stop, she couldn't go back, she could hear one of the men coming after her, they were going to kill her…. Unless she killed him first. She looked back remembering one the cracks in the wall that she just passed through, a soft pale light was coming through, not enough to light the place, but just enough to see the man pass through. Ducking down, she pulled out her gun and waited.

"There's nowhere to go so you might as well give up!" The man called out into the darkness. "Come out and I promise to take it easy on you….. after I'm through with you."

Sam cringed at the eagerness in his voice, she could see him smile as he came into view and it sickened her. Not wasting anytime, she aimed and fired, a direct hit to his heart, he was dead but she had to keep moving, she didn't know how many more were coming after her. She hated to kill him, but she knew that it was either her or him, and she had way too much to live for. First thing she would do when she got out: kick Brenda's ass, second: kick Brenda's ass again for good measure.

Holding out her hands in front her, Sam wasn't sure how much longer this corridor was until her hands bumped into something massive in front of her. Standing back a bit, she looked up to see just a slither of the moon's rays shining down from the crack in the rock ceiling 30 feet above her. In front of her there was a wall, not a rock's dead end, but cement. This was it, she found it, but now she had to find a way in. She remembered finding it in the study, the lever underneath the mantel opened the wall up from the other side, but how do you open it up from this side? Looking around, she spread out her hands and felt all around her, a lever, a loose rock, something that would open the wall. She froze when she suddenly heard a sound coming from behind her. She turned and was shocked to see another opening, back as far as where she killed the guy, another entrance way, one that ended at the exact same spot she was in. She could hear someone coming through. She ducked once again and waited for the perfect shot, but when she raised her gun aimed as the man came into view, she froze. It was Aidan. "Aidan!" She stood up and called out to him. She watched as relief flashed his face as he came running towards her.

"Oh thank God you're alright." He embraced her in a tight hug, relief overwhelmed him that his Samantha was ok, that she was alive and was right here with him. "I'm so glad I found you… it seems my corridor led to yours." Just as it should be, he thought to himself.

"Look, we found it." She pulled out from his hug and ran to the wall. "It's the passageway to Nikolas' study, we just have to find the lever…" She turned to face the wall and continued with her search. "Just look over on that side." She pointed out the other side of the wall and they both searched frantically when all of a sudden…BOOM!... the blast sounded out and radiated throughout the cave, the force shook them. Aidan threw himself on top of Sam as the cave collapsed all around them.

When everything was quiet, Sam poked out her head coughing at the dust around them. "What the hell was that?! And where in the hell did they have time to find a grenade?!" She brushed off the dust and rubble from her clothes, turning to Aidan as he did the same.

"I don't know." He walked up to the rock wall that just enclosed them in, both passageways were gone. "But they effectively blocked us in." He looked up to the moon filtering through the crack high above them and followed its glowing path down to her beautiful face, she looked ethereal, magical, even with the dust and rubble in her hair, she was a fantasy…. And he was alone with her….. finally.