Chapter 28

Jason walked into Sonny's, he had spent the last three days trying to locate de Salva and Conners. He was sure that they hadn't left town but still hadn't found any leads. They had been seen leaving the apartment building where they had found Munro and Bennet but nothing since. "Any luck?" Sonny asked as he handed him a drink.

"No, it's like they gone underground. The cops would have known if they had tried to leave Port Charles and no one has seen them in four days." Jason explained.

"I don't like this, we should have found them by now." Sonny took a sip of his drink then said, "On a different topic I think we might have a lead on some new warehouse space. I got a phone call earlier from a real estate agent that heard about the explosion and thought of us when a listing about a warehouse came across his desk."

"Do we know this guy?"

"No, his name's Jake Burton, he said he's new to the area, but had a successful business in Connecticut before coming here." The look Jason gave him told Sonny he wasn't sure about the guy. "I insisted on meeting with him in person before we'd agree to even look at the warehouse."

"When?"

"We're going to meet him tomorrow, he has an office on Hyde Street. If we think we can trust him then we'll set up an appointment to see the warehouse."

"So why did he contact you?" Jason wasn't sure he liked any of this.

"It sounded like he's trying to build his business here and thought mine would be a good name to tell people that I was a client. I'm not really sure though, that's why I want to meet the guy first." Since they had turned Munro and Bennet over to the police Sonny had been very cautious about who they met with. He knew that de Salva still had to have a few more men here and he didn't think de Salva was ready to give up yet. When he heard there was enough evidence that the PCPD had issued warrants for both de Salva and Conners he was impressed but so far no one had been able to find them. The fact this man seemed to be able to just vanish annoyed him. He sipped his drink and thought about what they had to do next to find them.

...

"Why did he want to wait? I want this over with." Jonathan was pacing in the living room again, he hated that he had to wait to make his next move against Corinthos.

"Oh, gee I don't know because he's a mobster and doesn't trust people and there have been attempts made on his partner's live not to mention someone destroyed his businesses." Jim was really getting very tired of Jonathan.

"There's no need for that kind of attitude."

"Yes there is, you think every time you make a plan it should just go off without a hitch, and when it doesn't you seem to think that if you just try to force the next one through it'll work and fix everything. You need to rethink things sometimes, you have to expect that other people will work on their own time schedule. You have to except that sometimes plans do fail."

"Are you trying to say we have failed here? I will take Port Charles from Corinthos." Jonathan was getting mad, how dare Jim talk to him like this again. "You know what I do to people that cross me."

"I do. I also know what you do to people that stop being useful, or that may know something about you, or that you just don't trust for whatever reason. I've been expecting you to kill me since you had Pauly murder Johnston. That man did what you wanted, he didn't give you any reason to doubt him, and you'd known him for years. Then you found out someone wanted to talk to him about Putnam and you killed him. You didn't even give him a chance to be loyal, you just killed him."

"I had no choice, he would have talked."

"You don't know that. You left Pauly behind because she was shot and might slow us down. Now he's in police custody and you'll make sure they get the evidence they need to keep him there. You are a bastard and you don't care about anyone but yourself. Do you even remember that you're married, do you remember what your wife looks like. You all but abandoned her for your obsession with taking over Port Charles and killing two people that happened to have momentary brushes in the past with people in your life."

Jonathan came at him but Jim was ready this time, Jim decked him and Jonathan hit the floor. "What the hell was that for?"

"You were going to hit me and I'm not taking your crap anymore. Our best people are locked up, one of our men is already dead and you still think it's a good idea to move against Corinthos. Fine we will but we will not rush into it, if Corinthos wants to meet me first then that's what I'll do. Then I'll set up an appointment to show him the warehouse. That gives us a little more time to plan our attack. He isn't a stupid man and you can't just act like you'll succeed because you want to." Jim held out his hand and helped him up.

"What has gotten into you?" Jonathan asked as he straightened his clothes.

"I don't want to die here, and I don't want to go to jail either. If you don't slow down just a little and think about what we need to do and make sure we have a good plan, that's what's going to happen."

Jonathan realized Jim had a point, he had been trying to rush too much. He had gotten so focused on what he wanted he had stopped thinking his plans through. "Fine you set up a time for Corinthos to go to the warehouse and I'll make sure our men know what has to happen and are ready." Jim agreed, maybe he should have hit Jonathan a while ago, before so many of their people had ended up behind bars.

...

"You're in a good mood this morning," Robert said as he entered the kitchen. Anna was humming as she read the paper, he came over and kissed her cheek.

"I am, we're meeting with Jean again today she has a few places she wants to show us for our office. Plus, between Munro and Holly and what we got from the WSB, the DA should have all he needs to put de Salva and Conners away for a very long time. Even Sean thinks this case is almost done or he wouldn't have gone home. I feel great."

"You do know that Holly isn't going to get much jail time, if any after she cut that deal with the DA," Robert reminded her.

"I don't think I care, I was mad before but now I just want all of this behind us. Besides her greed got the better of her but she helped get those websites been shut down and that alone should stop a few crimes. Even if they start a different one it'll stick it to the criminals that used those sites and they were even able to make a few arrests because of her."

"I like this attitude, and I can't wait for all of this to be behind us either. What time do we have to meet with Jean?"

"Not tell 11," Anna looked at him and gave him a knowing smile, "what did you have in mind?"

"Like you need to ask, I think we both need a shower." Robert took her hand and lead her out of the room.

...

"I think this is just what we need. It's not that far from headquarters either, that will be nice when we're working a case for the PD. It's even set up much like our first office was," Anna said as they looked at the third place of the day. There were two offices that had a door connecting them and a small outer office that if they needed could be used by a receptionist.

"Except here we'd both have a window," Robert said with a smile. "What's the rent here?" Jean pulled out some papers and the three of them sat down and went over cost. After half an hour Anna and Robert were ready to sign the papers, they had found their new office. After they signed all the paperwork Robert looked at Anna, "So Devane Scorpio or Scorpio Devane?"

"I'll give you this one, Scorpio Devane, but I think I want to keep Devane when we do get married this time."

"Oh really. Just Devane or hyphenate them?"

"I hadn't really thought about that before, I'll let you know," she smiled.

"I don't care what your last name is Anna, as long as you're in my life. Besides, you'll always be Devane either way."

"And don't you forget it Scorpio," she leaned over and gave him a kiss.

As they were about to leave the office Robert phone rang. It was Sonny, he wanted to see them so Robert told him just to meet them where they were. They weren't worried if de Salva knew they were meeting with each other now. He should know that everyone knew who and what he really is and that they were coming after him.

Robert and Anna were both leaning on a desk in one of the offices when Sonny and Jason got there. The looked around as they walked in, "So why'd you want us to meet you here?"

"This is now the office of Scorpio Devane Detective Agency," Anna told them. "We were just finishing the paperwork when you called Robert so it just made sense to meet here."

"You weren't the only ones meeting with a realtor today. We just had a very interesting meeting with a realtor saying they are new to Port Charles and has a warehouse that could be good for us."

Robert and Anna looked at each other then back at Sonny, "Was that's why you wanted to see us?" Robert asked.

"Yes, does the name Jake Burton mean anything to either of you?" Sonny asked.

"That's Jim Conners alias, he used that name when they came here."

"Yeah, so imagine how surprised we were then when we walked into a meeting and see Jim Conners sitting there ready to impress us, wanting to sell us a warehouse. We didn't let on that we knew who he really was and we have an appointment to look at that warehouse two days from now."

"That's good it gives us time to come up with a plan. I'm sure we all know this is a setup and there will be some sort of ambush waiting for you. Did he ask why you wanted to wait?" Robert asked.

"Yeah, I just told him I had business meetings that couldn't be rescheduled. So I take it both of you will be involved in stopping whatever de Salva has planned."

"Yes, did he give you the address?" Anna asked.

"No, but I assume that's something that can be traced back to them. I'm sure there hasn't been that many warehouses bought and sold in the last six months."

"We should be able to find that out. We'll need to make a plan with Mac and make sure you're both aware of what's happening. Give us tell tomorrow at four, then we'll meet again and go over everything," Robert told them. "We need de Salva to think he has fooled you completely, so we can't have too many of your men in the area. We know they'll be watching the area around there."

"OK, so should we meet here again tomorrow?" Robert and Anna agreed then Sonny said, "Congratulations on starting this place, I'm sure you'll have lots of business." They thanked him than Sonny and Jason left.

"Well I guess we should go talk to Mac, we have some work to do," Anna said, then she and Robert left their new office as well.

...

When Robert and Anna walked into the police station and saw Robin there they went over to ask her why she as there. "Uncle Mac called and said he wanted me to come down. Do you know what's going on?"

"No, he called us too and just said he wanted us to come in. I assumed it had something to do with the de Salva case," Anna told her.

Mac came into the squad room and walked over to them. "Thank you for coming. I need to ask if you would be willing to talk to Holly. She asked me to try, but she also knows that none of you really want to see her."

Robin turned and looked at her parents, "How do you feel about this?"

They looked at each other, then at Mac, "Did Holly say why she wants to see us?" Robert asked.

"She said that she really needed to talk to all of you, but wouldn't say what about."

"Mom, dad, I want to talk to her, and if you are willing to talk to her, I'd still like to talk to her alone first."

Anna took Robert's hand and pulled him aside, "I don't know if I can talk to her. I don't think I want to hear what she has to say or give her a chance to apologize."

"If Robin is willing to talk to her, why don't we just listen in on that conversation, if you change your mind we can go in and see what she wants to say to us. I don't know what she'd want to say to me either, I may have told her a little too much when I was trying to get her to tell me where you were."

"What did you do?"

"That doesn't matter," he smiled, "I'll tell you later. Let's tell them Robin can go in first." They told them it was fine if Robin talked to Holly, and they weren't sure if they wanted to talk to her. Mac called Miller over to bring Holly up to the interrogation room. "Robin we'll just be listening outside for now."

"OK dad," Robin went in and sat across from Holly.

"Are your parents coming? I was hoping to talk to all of you."

"They aren't sure they want to talk to you, Holly. Before you say anything there are a few things I want to say. I remember you from when I was a little girl, going to stay with you and dad, I thought you were so nice, I loved being at your house. Then when Faison took mom and dad went after her, you stayed with Uncle Mac and I, you were there for me when I really needed someone. What happened to that woman? Who is this person that came back here and tried to profit off of a cure that so many people needed? Who put my mom's life in danger to make some money? I don't understand."

"I don't know what happened to her either. I have made some horrible chooses this year, starting with endangering so many peoples lives."

"My life was one of them. If you had a cure you should have just given it to dad."

"I was mad that he was alive, and wasn't really thinking about much else then making some easy money, and telling him off."

"That's your excuse." Robin closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief, she took a few deep breaths then looked at Holly again. "Did dad tell you about when Grant Putnam took mom the first time?"

"It was more yelled at me but yes he did. Robin, I swear I had no idea about any of that, I didn't know what he had done to you, or Anna or Filomena. I thought I was just taking an easy job that paid well, get someone out of a place I knew my way around. I was angry when I agreed to help Putnam take Anna again, it was more money for me and I honestly thought Anna would be fine."

"So why did you keep telling dad to leave Port Charles, if you were planning to get mom away from him, why did he have to leave? Why did they need to be apart?"

"I didn't think they would hurt your mom, but I didn't know what they had planned for Robert. After I had helped Putnam escape, Jonathan de Salva contacted me again and told me to help him take your mother, and I agreed because they had just told me they told me how much they had always loved each other, and I was pissed off."

Robin couldn't believe what she was hearing, "You thought that it was Ok to take mom away from us because you were angry. Do you know how insane that is? You might not understand or care what they've been through the pain and the loss or how much they need each other, but I do. They needed each other to make themselves whole again. Do you want dad back, is that what this is about?"

"No, I don't. I just hated hearing that he loved her more, loves her more than me."

"So because they love each other, you felt mom should be taking away from dad again. What, because they haven't lost enough time together already?" Robin asked angrily. "They are happy and they deserve that, why shouldn't they get to love each other and be happy? Why should they be torn apart again?"

Holly felt the same as when Robert was yelling at her before she told him where Anna was, "You are his daughter. Robin, I wanted to try and explain to all of you why I did what I did, and tell you I'm truly sorry for my part in all of this." Holly put her head down not sure what else she could say.

Robin looked over when the door opened, her parents both walked in. "Are you really sorry about what you've done?" Anna asked as they came over to Robin.

"Yes, I am Anna. I'm sorry I put your life in danger."

"I can't say I forgive you because I don't, maybe in time I will, but not right now. After hearing everything you said to Robin, I will think about what you said but I just don't know." Robin got up and turned to leave with her parents.

"Robert, can you forgive me?"

He turned and looked at her, thinking about her question, could he forgive her he wondered. "I don't know, Holly. Maybe in time like Anna said, right now I am not ready to forgive you." Then they all left the room together. They didn't say much as they walked into the squad room, Anna and Robert knew Robin was still upset from her conversation with Holly. "Are you going to be Ok, we need to talk to Mac but it can wait if you want to talk," Robert offered.

"I'll be fine, I'm just going to head home. I needed to hear why she did it." Then Robin gave them both hug before leaving, and they went to talk to Mac.

...

The next day Mac was looking around the new office while they waited for Sonny and Jason to get there, "This is a nice place. How much are you guys going to be working?"

"Enough to keep us busy, we'll see what kind of cases come through that door I guess," Anna answered. Then there was a knock and she went to answer it. Sonny and Jason followed her back into the office where Mac and Robert were waiting. After they'd greeted each other they wasted no time getting down to business.

"We were able to find the warehouse that Conners bought shortly after they had destroyed yours. He bought it using the business name Manning enterprises, and Roger Manning is one of Pauly Munro's aliases," Mac explained. "We have the address and Robert and Anna have already been there to some do recon."

"What we found were few places to hide and several places to lay in wait to shoot people as they enter the main area in the warehouse." Robert went on to explain the plan they had come up with and what Sonny and Jason would have to do once they entered the warehouse. As long as their plan went off like they hoped Sonny and Jason shouldn't be in any danger. Robert told them that they should still come prepared for a shootout. There could always be that one stray person that comes in from an unexpected place and tries to play hero and take them out. Once they were all sure they understood the plan and what was going to happen they left the office again.

Robert and Anna went back to the station with Mac, they wanted to talk to Pauly about who might be in Port Charles that might be with de Salva ad Conners tomorrow. They were waiting in the interrogation room when he was brought in. "Oh, I wasn't expecting to see you two."

"We want to talk to you about your former boss. Well, I assume he's your former boss since he left you behind to take the fall," Robert said as Munro sat down. "We found some interesting information when we started looking into your travel history over the last six month. Why didn't you travel to Charlotte as Roger Manning, was that de Salva's idea?"

Pauly looked at Robert, he was actually impressed they knew about that. "Jonathan made sure I used my own name to travel that time. I'm amazed he hasn't sent in the proof that I was there when Johnston died. I know I'm going to do a lot of time, so I might as well just tell you that Jonathan de Salva sent me there to kill Marvin Johnston. If I'm going down I'm taking him with me he's not getting away with it this time. He didn't want him to talk to some guy that had insisted on talking to him about Grant Putnam, apparently, the guy works for the WSB."

"That man would be Sean Donely and he was there investigating for us, he's part of our team."

"Jonathan said you don't trust the WSB anymore so we didn't have to worry about them helping you. Was he wrong about that too?"

"Until recently that would have been true, but when Sean went there the only reason he had to tell them he works for the WSB was to get in to talk to Johnston. That's not why we're here though," Robert explained, "we want to know who's left here in Port Charles. We want to know how many men are here and would be involved if de Salva was planning to ambush Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan at a warehouse."

"Corinthos wasn't kidding about you all working together." Pauly looked down at his hands for a minute then started talking, "There should be only six men here, unless he's called more in, but then there'd be almost no one left in Miami. So I think there should only be Jonathan, Jim, and six other men."

"OK next question, are any of them a really good shot, could they act as a sniper from the rafters or a mezzanine?" Anna asked.

Again Pauly thought before answering, "No, not that could be trusted not to miss. The men that are here would be more likely to just open fire and hope for the best." It was clear that he knew de Salva was not going to help him in any way and he wanted to make sure they knew what they needed.

Robert and Anna talked to Pauly for quite a while trying to get as much information from him about what to expect tomorrow as they could. When they left they felt like they had a much better idea of what would await them tomorrow.

...

Jonathan had called all his men in Port Charles in for a meeting at the warehouse, they were all going to be involved tomorrow. They were all standing in the big open warehouse space. Besides himself and Jim, there were only six of them. He didn't think any of them would be able to handle this assignment on their own but for what he had planned that didn't matter. He would have really like to have had Pauly here and a part of him was now regretting leaving him behind. With him there Jonathan would have felt more confident in the outcome that he needed tomorrow.

"I'm glad you all got here quickly, tomorrow is our day. We will take out Corinthos and Morgan then Port Charles will be ours and the business will grow. For that to happen I need you all to follow my instructions." They were all listening closely, they all knew failure would mean that they would be the next ones de Salva cut loose. They still couldn't believe he left Pauly behind after getting shot because of that idiot Rick, these men all respected Pauly but feared Jonathan.

"Jim is going to be meeting Corinthos and Morgan here tomorrow, I want all of you up there on the mezzanine," Jonathan said and pointed towards the mezzanine at the back of the room they were in. "From there you should all have a clean shot at them. When it's time you have to move as a team, we can't give them a chance to see where the shots are coming from. You have to understand that Morgan is an incredible shot and we can't give him a chance to open fire."

"So we should aim for Morgan first?" asked one of the men.

"There are six of you, I would hope that you could take them both out at the same time. What's important is that you all start firing at the same time if just one of you opens fire before the others it could ruin everything." Jonathan looked at them when he was sure they understood he continued. "Once they are inside Jim is going to get a phone call and excuse himself, once he is out of sight that's when you make your move."

"So you want us to stay hidden, then once Jim is out of the line of fire we take out the other two. I think we've got it. Can we go up and find out where we can hide but still see what's happening down here."

"If you didn't I'd be disappointed and probably shot one of you," Jonathan answered. Were these men really up to this task he wondered? It's too late now to change anything, this is who he has and really the other men in Miami wouldn't be much better.

After the others had walked away Jim turned to Jonathan, "Where are you going to be when they get here? Do you want Corinthos to see you before he dies?"

"I thought I would but I think it's best if you and I say out of sight during the shooting. I wouldn't want either of us to catch a stray bullet."

Jim smiled, he was glad Jonathan still seemed to want him to stay alive. "If they are due here at noon, when did you want to get here?"

"I think if we get here around 11:30, that should be early enough for me to get out of sight, I'll be in the office furthest down the hall. I want them all here earlier though."

Once the men were happy that they knew where they needed to hide they rejoined Jim and Jonathan. "So we have it all planned out, once we're up there you shouldn't see us at all."

"That's good I want you guys here at no later than 10:30. We have to assume Corinthos is going to be in the area and watching for people coming in here. I'm coming in the back, Jim through the front and when we get here I don't want to see or hear you." They went over the plan once more then after Jonathan was satisfied they knew what had to happen they all left.

...

"We've got an early morning tomorrow we want to meet Mac and the others at eight, we should head up to bed," Robert suggested. He and Anna were sitting together on the loveseat, there was a nice warm fire burning in the fireplace.

"I know but I don't want to move yet." Anna's head was on Robert's shoulder and he held her close.

"Neither do I. How are you doing, I know we haven't talked about your memories in a couple days?"

"They aren't playing in my mind as much now and when they do I just start thinking about something else so that helps. I think the fact we dealt with them quickly and I know Ross is going to pay for what he did is helping me move on. That and the fact I have something to work on, getting our PI office ready to open is keeping my mind busy."

"That's good we can't risk any distractions tomorrow."

"I'll be fine." Then she looked up at him, "I know Sean just left but do you realize that in a little over a month we will have house guests again. Ann will insist that they come here for Christmas, she won't let Sean take that back." Anna's face lit up, "Oh, Robert we finally get to spend Christmas together again."

"I want them here. As much as I'm looking forward to spending it with you, I want to have as much family and friends around us as possible. I am actually looking forward to Christmas," Robert smiled, "you have no idea how odd that seems to me."

"I missed you so much at Christmas. No matter what was going on at some point I would find myself all alone crying, thinking about our house and that one wonderful Christmas. We were so happy, and I felt I would never be that happy again," Anna smiled up at him, "but I was wrong."

"If everything goes as planned tomorrow we can finally put this all behind us. Jonathan de Salva will be behind bars and we won't have to wonder if there's going to be someone else sent after us. Then we can truly enjoy it, you, me, a nice big tree, our family, and friends." Robert then lifted her chin and kissed her softly, "I can't wait."

Anna could picture what Robert was describing and was looking forward to that too, "Only tears of joy this year, I think you should take me to bed. We do need to be up early and I think we still have some things to do tonight."

...

Jonathan de Salva quickly ducked into the back of the warehouse, he had been watching the area for a little while and hadn't noticed anyone, so decided it was safe to go in. Jim should be arriving soon and he wanted to be inside when he got there. As he walked through the large open area he looked up at the mezzanine, trying to see if he could see anyone. Satisfied that they were hidden well enough that they wouldn't be seen he made his way to the office where he would wait for it to be over. Jonathan was a little disappointed that he wouldn't get to look into Corinthos' eyes before he died but if it meant he got Port Charles then he was fine with it.

He was just about to the office door when he heard the main door open and close, he checked the time and knew that would be Jim arriving. He wanted to talk to him before Corinthos and Morgan got there, so he waited in the hall. "Did you talk to the men this morning?" he asked when he saw Jim.

"Yeah, Mandez called when they all met up, just before coming here. I couldn't see them when I came in so they're hidden well."

"Yeah, I couldn't see them either. OK, go do whatever it is that you need to, I'll see you after the shootings done. I'll call about five minutes after they get here, alright."

Jim nodded that he understood then went out to wait for Sonny and Jason, he knows what the plan is but that didn't mean he wasn't worried. He was aware there was still a chance he could get caught in the crossfire. He went back and looked back up at the mezzanine, he still couldn't see the men up there so he hoped Corinthos and Morgan wouldn't see them either. Once they get here he had to remember not to look up there at all. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself then waited.

...

Sonny and Jason had seen Jim go inside, they just had to wait a little longer before going in themselves. "Are we doing the right thing here? I mean should we trust Scorpio's plan?"

"I thought you were past not trusting him. This ends today then we can go back to staying out of each other's way."

Jason looked over at him, "We have to trust that they are going to do their part of this, if not you and I could both end up dead."

"Yes we do, and it a good plan. Besides if Robert was going to double cross us he would want us to face justice not send us to our deaths. You're forgetting one very important thing."

"And what's that?" Jason asked.

"Robin. Scorpio would not purposely send us to our deaths and cause her that kind of pain. He loves her and knows she cares about us."

"You're right. I do trust him, it's just odd actually working with the police."

A look of understanding came to Sonny's face, "It's different, I'll give you that. It's time to get this over with, come on." They turned and walked towards the warehouse. Jim had called Sonny earlier that morning and told them the address and to just walk in when they got there. When they walked in they saw him right away. "Hello Jake, have you been waiting long?"

"I was just making a few phone calls while I waited, besides I think you're right on time." He walked over and shook their hands, "Let's get started, I believe this is the same size as the warehouse space you lost."

They were both looking around, they knew there were men in here waiting to start shooting at them. "What about office space?" Sonny asked.

"There is some, of course, right over here we have one small office that would be used for shipping and receiving. Close to the other entrance, there are three larger offices, one larger then the other two, they are somewhat separated from this part of the warehouse. I'll show you them when we make our way over there."

They walked towards the middle of the open space, right now there wasn't really much there a few shelving units along one wall, and they noticed the mezzanine at the far side. "Was that used for storage before?" Sonny asked.

"I believe it was, if I'm not mistaken that was used to store smaller parts and paperwork." Then Jim's phone rang, "Excuse me for one moment, look around while I take this." Then Jim turned and went back to the small office close to the entrance they had come in.

Sonny and Jason watched him walk away, then they started walking towards the back of the room. They had only taken a few steps when they heard the first shots. Before they could even pull their weapons they had both been hit several times. With their guns in their hands, neither of them had fired a single round, they fell to the floor covered in blood.