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CHAPTER ELEVEN

"I knew you were too good to be true." A soft but heavily accented voice whispered as Sam felt someone pull her backwards roughly, anchoring an arm around her middle while pressing a knife against her throat.

Sasha. Sam realized it was the Russian lawyer and silently chided herself for being caught unaware. Her mind raced, as possible scenarios that might help her escape flashed through her mind.

The problem was that while there were a few scenarios that might work, she realized that they would only help her and as she stared at the little boy playing with his toys on the floor, blissfully unaware of the danger that surrounded him, she knew that she had to save Jason's son first.

She had to completely remove Sasha as a threat before she could even think of plotting her escape.

She allowed Sasha to pull her out of the room and into the hallway but as the slick lawyer tried to round a corner, Sam dug her heels in, refusing to go an inch further.

Sasha raged at her to cooperate or she'd kill Jake which only served to strengthen Sam's resolve. She grabbed hold of the knife with one hand while bringing her other arm up fast and then driving her elbow back into the other woman's ribcage and heard the sickening pop of a few ribs being cracked.

The injury caused Sasha's hold on the knife to loosen and Sam seized the opportunity. She increased her grasp on the wrist holding the knife, tightening her fingers around it until she had a vice-like grip. Then she quickly twisted the wrist, breaking it instantly, which caused Sasha to immediately drop the knife while she cried out in pain but unfortunately for Sasha her pain was just beginning.

She kept a tighter hold on the wrist still, ignoring the desperate way Sasha was clawing at her hand with her other arm, and pulled roughly on the limb, swinging it back around and then once again pulled the arm backwards, an angle that was unnatural for the limb so the shoulder was immediately dislocated, and she imagined it felt like her arm was being pulled out of its socket.

"STOP!" Sasha cried desperately as she held her wounded arm. "Please." She howled miserably.

Sam glared down at her mutinously. "You brought this on yourself." And she shook her head in disapproval. "You don't mess with family or kids," she emphasized the last word to drum into the woman's head how badly she had screwed up, and to cover for the fact that she had almost inadvertently revealed the truth. "That is the number one rule in this business." Sam retrieved her own knife from the ground and placed it back into the holster around her ankle and picked her gun up from off the floor, pointing it at Sasha. "And this is better than you deserve." She fired once, aiming straight at the woman's chest.

Then she turned back around and headed towards Jake so she could get them both out before the entire warehouse blew.

Jason watched in horror as the warehouse exploded while Sam and his son were still inside. "JAKE!" He screamed his son's name, hoping that somehow what was in front of his eyes was not happening. He began looking around frantically for any sign of life or indication that anyone had escaped.

"JAKE."

But there was nothing visible. He was standing so close that he could feel the heat of the flames against his skin and dropped to his knees in anguish. His son was gone. The woman he loved more than any other was also gone because she still cared enough to try to rescue his only child.

"Jason!" A voice rang out through the deafening silence.

He snapped his head up, searching for the owner while he listened intently to his surroundings in case the person spoke again.

"Jason." He turned towards the sound that came from the side of the warehouse and kept following the weak whimpers he could hear more clearly as he drew closer.

A few seconds later, Sam appeared holding something in her arms covered by a blanket. Her face was covered with ash and she had numerous scratches, including a gash that looked bad above her left eye but otherwise she looked unharmed. "Here," she said, holding over the bundle in her arms, gesturing for him to carry the load.

"Don't worry." She insisted with a reassuring nod. "He's fine. Not a mark on him."

Jason grabbed his son from her arms and held him close in a bone-crushing embrace. Jake squirmed enough to get the blanket off his head and he appeared with a wide grin and sparkling blue eyes.

He glanced at Sam, fighting to control his emotions, knowing that he was barely holding the relieved tears in. She wasn't. Tearful brown eyes met blue and he launched forward, pulling her into the embrace with his son. "Thank you."

Sam was still for a moment or two, still processing what had happened until she felt the kiss on her forehead and Jason tightening his arm around her. "Thank you so much, Sam." It took less than a second for her to return the hug, swinging an arm around his back while the other snaked around his neck.

"You're welcome, Jason." She whispered, feeling a rush of emotion as the man she thought she would never forgive; the man she still loved with all her heart raised his head to look at her. She nodded in confirmation. "You're welcome."

Elizabeth Webber bolted out the front door of the Spencer home, and sprinted down the front porch steps like there were people chasing her. Jason had just finished parking the large black SUV when she got down the last step.

He opened the driver door and her mouth fell open in confused disappointment when she saw that his arms were empty. He was looking towards the back of the SUV and she followed his gaze, feeling a surge of anger stronger than she had ever known when she saw Sam McCall closing the rear left passenger door, and worse yet, she was holding her youngest son in her arms.

She surged forward, racing over to where Sam was standing and regaining her bearings as she bounced her baby boy on her hip. "Give me my son!" She shouted, startling Sam whose head snapped up in surprise. "Give him to me NOW."

Sam's brow wrinkled delicately at the demand. "Okay, okay, just calm down." The woman spoke as she carefully handed Jake over to Elizabeth's outstretched arms.

"Oh, thank God!" Lucky exclaimed with a smiling Cameron in his arms as he came upon the scene, walking right over to Elizabeth and kissing Jake on the head. "I am so glad to see you, buddy." Cameron reached around his father to hug his little brother.

Lucky then turned his gaze to Jason and Sam in gratitude. "Thank you for bringing him home." His gaze rested on Sam for a minute. "Both of you." He added meaningfully.

"Can you take them inside?" He heard Elizabeth ask suddenly. He frowned when he faced her, wondering why she would want to be parted from her son so soon but she quickly explained that she wanted to get Jake fed and cleaned up as soon as possible.

"I also want to have a few minutes with Jason." She added as an afterthought, looking over to the man she was currently infatuated with. Lucky rolled his eyes at how fleeting her big realization about who the hit man really was and how worthless her promise was to stay away from him. Nevertheless, he set Cameron down and took Jake from her arms, reaching down to grab Cameron's hand and headed inside.

"Don't you want to be with your family right now?" Sam asked Elizabeth softly, obviously not hearing the exchange between the two parents.

Elizabeth glared at her. "Shut up, Sam. What the hell are you even doing here anyway?" Sam narrowed her eyes at the harsh statements but squashed her annoyance down, looking at Jason in response to the woman's question.

She suppressed the urge to laugh when the woman realized her meaning and Elizabeth's gaze shot to Jason, bolts of anger practically shooting straight through his head.

"You brought her with you?" Elizabeth screamed in fury as she speared Jason with a black glare and then glanced back at Sam, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "I told you to stay away from my children. I warned you what would happen if you ever came near them again, you spiteful bitch!" The woman took a few steps towards Sam, violent rage sparking in her eyes but Jason stepped in between them, tugging Sam behind him and blocking her path.

"Sam is the one that found Jake in the first place and she is also the one that got him out of that warehouse before it exploded, Elizabeth!" He raged at her, his sympathetic understanding of the woman's coldness and abrasive attitude instantly subsided and was quickly replaced with outraged anger. "She risked her life when she went into that warehouse to save your son, and Sasha Danev almost killed her. She was actually caught in that blast but instead of saving herself, she took the time to grab Jake and get him to safety."

He regarded her angry expression and narrowed his eyes at the crocodile tears that were now sliding down her cheeks in abhorrence. "Sam is the only reason your son is still alive and this is how you treat her?" He screamed, shaking his head in disgust. "You should be down on your knees in gratitude instead of looking at me like I'm the hero. If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me because I am the one that almost got him killed."

He felt her small hands on his forearm before her voice registered. "Jason," Sam called to him, putting her hand down on his arm and gripping it tentatively so she wouldn't spook him. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to sneak up on him when he was this angry. "We did what we came to do. Jake is home. He's safe now." He looked down at her, and his eyes were growing softer by the second. "Let's just go. OK?"

They stared at each other for a few intense minutes. "OK." He nodded his acquiescence a few seconds later, taking hold of Sam's hand, intertwining their fingers as he turned his back on Elizabeth, and headed back to his SUV.