My birthday gift to all of you. Enjoy. I feel like I'm on a roll with all the writing I've been doing. Guess being sick does have a benefit. Enjoy.

Chapter 10

"Hey." Sam murmured quickly as she walked past Jason into his apartment. She turned to face him, noticing the anxious look in his eyes when he turned back to face her. "I did a sweep of the building."

"Any problems." Jason asked and he narrowed his eyes at her fidgeting. She did that when she was nervous.

She looked around the room, almost suspiciously, before turning her gaze back to him. "Yeah. Jake is there but so are a lot of other people." And she sighed in frustration.

They had found the location of a small warehouse thanks to Spinelli prying into their finances. It was located in the outskirts of town, but still in a moderately populated area. When she had gone by, she had thought it was very out of place, since it was surrounded by residential properties and developments for a few office buildings.

But Jason's son had been there. She didn't know whether she was very lucky or unlucky because she had been sneaking around outside, trying to find ways to enter unnoticed and of course, signs of Jake Spencer. A car had pulled up out front and two foot soldiers along with Sasha and Jake were just arriving.

"What they lack in actual security they more than make up for in manpower." And she tried to recall how many men she had seen there during the twenty minutes she had been there. "At least fifteen men."

Jason frowned. It was an odd amount to have in such a remote area. "They probably expect me to make a move soon."

"Well of course they do but that's not what I was talking about." She pulled off her jacket and threw it over the arm of the couch. "There are a lot of people that I recognized and I don't think that's not a good sign."

He followed her meaning. If she showed up with him when he went to get Jake, she would definitely be in more danger. The Russians might even realize that she had had a part in what happened to their fallen leader. "Maybe you should sit the rescue out then."

Her eyes narrowed slightly and her forehead creased delicately. "Why would you even say that?" She shook her head stubbornly at the determined expression on his face. "I am going to help you get your son back, Jason. I just think we need to strategize."

He looked at her blankly, still feeling that it would be too dangerous for her to be seen with him, let alone help him get Jake back.

She either didn't notice his discomfort or she was ignoring it because she kept on talking, never once stopping to look at him and notice that he was shaking his head slowly in disagreement with her tagging along.

"I was right." She smirked slightly at the predictability. "The Russians are relying heavily on Sasha now that he's gone." Her eyes grew troubled as she thought about how to deal with the problems they now faced. "She's going to be a problem so we need to deal with her sooner rather than later. I'm not sure if she will go away quietly so we may need to take drastic action."

She turned to him thoughtfully as a thought occurred to her. But her expression faltered when she finally realized he looked very frustrated. "What?"

"We aren't doing anything." His voice was firm and held no room for argument. And she could have slapped him for that. "It's too dangerous."

"Fine." She said simply.

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" It was too easy to get her to agree.

She nodded slowly. "Of course. I understand." Then she looked at him, her eyes full of laughter for some odd reason. "I'll get Jake and you can be the one to sit the rescue out."

Now she was glaring at him darkly. "Because I am going to the warehouse and getting your son back, Jason—with or without you if need be."

He realized she was warning him not make her decisions for her. "I'm sorry."

She nodded her acceptance. "Now that that's over with, I have an idea." It wasn't a foolproof plan but the Russians wouldn't be expecting it either. "And in order to carry it out, we're going to need to be able to work fast."

"What's your idea?" He saw the mischievous gleam in her eye and wasn't entirely comfortable when it was attributed to a plan to rescue his son but he trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't put Jake in jeopardy.

"I'll go in and look around for Jake." She explained that they would need a few Corinthos-Morgan men to help with a strike against the warehouse. "The ambush itself will be a diversion of course. And while I'm looking for Jake, you look for Sasha, and we take them both with us."

He was about to answer when a knock on the door interrupted him. He rose from the couch and walked towards the door. He opened it and was stunned to see Lucky Spencer on the other side.

"Hey, have you found anything yet." Lucky pushed passed Jason and walked into the penthouse. His eyes flared with disgust when he caught sight of Sam sitting on the couch casually with her legs folded underneath her as she leaned against the back. As if she was quite comfortable. He turned back to Jason furiously. "What the hell is she doing here?"

Jason shot Sam a questioning look but frowned when he saw Sam's eyes narrowed darkly, sparks of anger practically shooting right through Lucky's head. Her breakup with Lucky was a touchy subject so he guessed that it had ended badly but he had no idea there was so much hostility between the two.

"She's helping me." Jason finally answered, stepping around, blocking Lucky's view of Sam so that the cop was only looking at him.

"I don't want her involved."

"Excuse me?" Jason had heard Lucky perfectly but he still couldn't believe that the man was actually giving him an order. He heard Sam rising from the couch and winced at the harsh staccato her heels were making on his floor as she made her way over to the two men. If he didn't know she was angry already, he knew now.

Lucky shook his head in annoyance. "She can't be trusted." The cop sneered as he glanced at Sam and muttered darkly. "For all we know, she's in on the kidnapping."

"Oh, go to hell, Lucky." Sam snapped as her mouth curved into a sarcastic smirk. "You're hardly in a position to be my judge and jury." She came up right beside Jason now and he grabbed her wrist gently on instinct.

He could tell by the way that Lucky tightened his jaw that the situation was about to get worse and the last thing he needed was for Sam to fly off the handle and slap the detective and then get arrested for assaulting a police officer. Lucky Spencer was just the kind of prick to do that.

Lucky sneered at her and took a step closer. "I am Jake's father." Jason glared at him, warning him to shut up now but the detective seemed determined to fight. "And you've put my son in danger before. I don't trust you with his safety."

She wrenched free from Jason's grip but remained planted by his side as she pointed an accusing finger in Lucky's face. "I would give my life to safe that little boy." Sam vowed angrily. "You stand there and accuse me of being thoughtless and cruel but what about you?" She gestured to his service piece in its holster. "I could have your badge for what you did to me."

Lucky snorted incredulously at her and she bit her lip in frustration. "What you did for Elizabeth could land you in jail and I have absolutely no problem with reporting you. In fact, I'll sleep better knowing one of the most incompetent detectives I have ever met is off the streets."

"This is not helping anybody right now." Jason laid a hand on Sam's shoulder to help calm her down and ignored his increasing anger towards Lucky who was stupid enough to harass the only person who had found a lead on Jake's whereabouts. "Sam is already involved in the case and it's going to stay that way."

Lucky opened his mouth to argue but Jason stepped closer, silencing him with his infamous cold stare. "You asked me to find Jake. You shouldn't have a problem with how I decide to do that as long as Jake gets found and I need Sam in order to bring him home. She made a terrible mistake that summer but she is here now, helping me find him and bring him home safe so instead of being angry, you should be grateful because she found him."

The detective glanced in Sam's direction before he glanced back at Jason. "You've found him already?"

"Yes." Jason replied, gripping Sam's shoulder in support now. "We're working on a plan to bring him home right now."

"So you can go now." Sam added simply, ignoring the way his eyes narrowed even more and turned away from him in a dismissive gesture. She didn't give a damn about what Lucky thought of her after the way he treated her. He had proven more than once that he thought she wasn't good enough for him so she had stopped trying to win his approval.

When she looked back on the way she had acted when she was with him, she could feel her stomach turn. It was degrading the way she had turned herself inside out in order to be what he thought she should be and she vowed that she would never let any man treat her like that again.

Lucky looked at Jason as he spoke. "Just bring Jake back." Then he was gone.

Good riddance Sam thought to herself as Jason turned around to face her again, confusion swirling in his blue eyes. "I think we should bribe Sasha." She walked back towards the couch and sat down again.

Jason blinked a few times and then glanced back at the door. It was amazing how she had switched gears. "What just happened there?" He pointed towards the door as he came to sit down beside her.

Sam shrugged. "Bad breakup."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jason asked, looking at her in concern.

"No." Sam answered flatly and shook her head for emphasis. "It doesn't even matter anymore." Jason's expression remained doubtful so she nodded her head in assurance. "Lucky is an asshole and I've already forgotten everything he said."

"I know that he didn't believe in your innocence back when you were arrested."

"He was convinced that instead of working Jerry, I was actually his partner the whole time even though I'd been working with Lucky every step of the way. It didn't matter how many times I tried to reassure him. He didn't trust me. I don't think he ever did." Sam felt her anger flare at the reminder and couldn't help but wish that she had realized it earlier and not wasted her time. "And that's all it took for everything to fall apart."

Jason chose not to comment on the trust issue. That was still a sore spot in their tenuous friendship and he didn't want to open those wounds again so he opted for getting back to business. "I don't know if I like the idea of giving her money."

Sam was totally in sync with him as their gazes met and he could see understanding shining in her eyes. "It's no guarantee, I agree, but it's a lot cleaner than killing her."

He blew out a breath in frustration. "I'd rather not kill her but I don't trust her enough to believe that she'll just take the money and leave."

"She's a lawyer." Sam reminded him in amusement. "They love dollar signs. And given enough zeroes, Sasha would probably do anything we ask."

"Do you think she'd burn in hell for us?" She giggled and then looked at him, her eyes full of amusement and surprise.

"You just cracked a joke." A small smile curved his lips as he watched her giggle in delight at the event. "People don't give you enough credit for your sense of humour." Then they got back to discussing their options.