Ok so I'm not exactly thrilled with how this chapter turned out. I even didn't post it right away in hopes I would find a way to make it better, but that was taking too long. I hope you all enjoy this newest chapter and I will keep working on getting the next finished. Only a few more to go and this story should be finished! Exciting right?!
Disclaimer: I don't own the show or its characters.
If you had told Jason this morning that he would be waiting to save Sam from Claudia, and with the help of Jerry too, he probably would've had one of his men get rid of you. He didn't know what made less sense; that Claudia was able to pull this off, that he had enlisted the help of Jerry, or that fact he trusted Jerry to actually help him. He had tried to get a hold of Spinelli, but there had been no answer which meant he was probably still at the police station under Mac's watchful eye and couldn't pick up. It meant Jason had to leave a message and just hope that it was received in time to be of actual use.
"Are you clear on the plan?" Jason asks coming back around a crate to find Jerry leaning back with his eyes closed.
Groaning and standing up straight Jerry turns to glower at Jason. "Let's see if I got it right...Claudia and the predictable henchmen will arrive shortly with the intention to escape. Presumably Sweet Samantha will be with them, if not we are to take out said henchmen and then you will proceed to interrogate Claudia with your predicable brutality. If Sweet Sam is with them we are to still take out the henchmen and then you are left to play the hero and I am free to leave this god forsaken town with your word that I have your protection following me. Does that sum up your grand plan?" Jerry asks with his trademark smirk.
Clenching his jaw Jason at first just nods. "Yes that sounds about right, but I guess the question is can I really trust you?" Before Jerry has a chance to answer the sound of a car pulling up causes Jason to turn and crouch around the crate to get a better view. "Looks like Claudia is here and she has two of her Rudy's men with her. I didn't see any sign of Sam though." Jason says in hushed tones turning back to Jerry.
"Well then it looks like you're going to have to trust me." Jerry says with the humor gone from his voice and a serious expression crossing his face. And then, before Jason had a chance to stop him, Jerry takes the couple of steps that puts him in sight of the car and Claudia.
"Jerry what are you doing?" Jason says almost silently through clenched teeth, but Jerry either didn't hear him or just ignores him. Leaving Jason to only listen to what Jerry has to say and silently curse ever trusting the man to begin with.
Jerry waited until Claudia had gotten out of the car to step out of the shadow of the crates, he knew the second he was spotted because one of Claudia's men reached for his gun. "We won't need any weapons." Jerry quickly says, but just to be safe raises his hands slightly in the air. He then has to resist a smirk when Claudia's head whips around to glare at him. "Isn't that right Claudia?"
"I wouldn't be too sure." She mutters barely audible for Jerry to hear. "What are you doing here?" She asks louder.
"Just interested to see how you plan to get yourself out of this mess you seem to be in."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Claudia says crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh come now Claudia, let's not be coy. You don't expect me to believe that, do you?" Jerry asks stepping forward to try and get a look inside the open trunk , but the two men were standing in the way. There still was no visual on where Sam was, but Jerry would be willing to bet she was in that trunk.
"I don't really care what you believe Jerry. Now how about you leave before I have my men take care of you? Or better yet, I'll take care of you myself." Claudia says waving her gun in the air for emphasis.
Chuckling Jerry shakes his head as he steps even closer to the car. "Claudia you truly are an amusing woman, it's really too bad."
"Shut up Jerry!" Claudia snaps, but then his words register. "What is too bad?"
"That Morgan is going to kill you."
Claudia forces herself to not flinch at the words, but knows she fails when Jerry's smile widens. "What makes you think Jason is going to even try?"
"Sweet Sam is quite important to him, he doesn't take to kindly to people who mess with those important to him."
"I don't care about Morgan and his little girl friend and I don't know anything about Sam McCall."
"Sure you don't." Jerry says nodding his head towards the trunk of the car."And those two are preparing to pull what out of the trunk exactly?"
Claudia didn't answer and the look she gave her men told them not to say anything either. "Jerry I'm getting sick of this little game you're playing or whatever. So I suggest you turn around and leave. Go back and crawl in to whatever hole it is you like to hide in Sonny and Jason find you. Because I'm quite sure between the two of us, you're higher on their list than I am."
"And why would that be?" Jerry asked now not only amused, but intrigued with how much Claudia would be willing to admit. He just hoped Jason was listening as he silently cursed behind that crate.
"Now who's being coy?" It's Claudia's turn to smirk.
"Coy? Me? Never, please explain what you're talking about."
"Please, you know what I'm talking about. It's practically common knowledge that you were behind the hit on Sonny that ended up putting Michael into that coma. Sonny all but has a bounty on your head."
"Ah yes." Jerry says struggling to withhold a smile she was playing right into his hand. Claudia was all but hanging herself and she didn't even know it. "And why would everyone just assume that? Ian Devlin was a fool and a terrible shot, two things I never like to ally myself with. Anyone who would put their trust in that man to shoot anything that was more than 5 feet in front of him is a fool."
"Devlin assured me he was more than capable of that shot!" Claudia snaps in anger. "The only fool was him for trying to lie about it and he paid for it."
"Quite right you are and lucky too. Devlin dying before Morgan could get him talking."
"It wasn't luck." Claudia scoffs lowering her gun and her guard. It took Jerry only a second to take advantage of that fact and pull his gun from out behind his back and aimed directly for Claudia.
"What the hell are you doing?" Claudia asks her hand with the gun starting to rise.
"Ah ah ah! Keep that gun down right where I can see it!" Jerry says before quickly glancing briefly at the two men standing frozen near the trunk. "And don't you two try anything either."
"There is three of us and one of you, what exactly do you expect to achieve here Jerry?" Claudia snaps, but listens to his warning and keeps the gun lowered.
"The numbers don't really matter Claudia, because there may be three of you, but if I shoot you Rudy's men are all but dead anyway once he finds out. Instead of killing me they would be wise to follow my lead out of town with the promise I will help them disappear."
"They wouldn't…"
"Oh they very well could and would I'm sure, but by all means lets test my theory."Jerry smirks, his finger moving towards the trigger.
"Bastard!" Claudia seethes, but doesn't relax until Jerry has moved his finger."What do you want?"
"From you, nothing, I've had my fill of amusement from you and your ignorance. You're beginning to bore me." And still with his hand pointed at Claudia he looks towards the trunk. "Now you two continue what you were doing before and remove Ms. McCall from the trunk. Gently."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Claudia shrieks. "You're going through all of this for Sam! What do you plan to do with her? No, you know what? I don't care. You can have her, take her off my hands. This woman has been more of a hassle than she's worth I'm sure. In fact this works out better for me because now when Jason comes looking for her all signs will point to you."
Jerry waited until Sam was out of the trunk and the one guard had his hands full holding her up before looking back at Claudia. "It's funny you should mention Morgan." Jerry says and looks briefly over his shoulder to see if Jason would recognize his cue…and he did. "Because look who is here! Pleasure of you to join us Jason, Claudia was about to leave without even saying goodbye!" Jerry says with a wide smile, enjoying the look of horror that filled Claudia's eyes.
"Enough talking." Jason says furious, his gun raised. "Hand over Sam now."
Claudia wasn't over her fear, but she had been able to cover it up quickly with a look of hatred. It took her a moment to trust her voice to not give her away. "What do I get in return?"
"Nothing." Jason says coldly. "You get nothing Claudia."
"Well that doesn't seem quite fair. You get your girlfriend back, Jerry apparently is going to walk away with his life, and I get nothing?"
"You want to talk fair Claudia? Is it fair that Michael had to miss part of his life because of you? Is it fair that he will live with a fragment of a bullet in his head? Is that fair? No! And that's on you, not Ian Devlin or Jerry, but you!"
"Don't you think I know that?" Claudia asks forcing her eyes to sting with tears knowing they wouldn't stop Jason from wanting vengeance, but it might slow him down. "I'm sorry for the pain I caused Michael."
"Well done with the tears Claudia, nice touch." Jerry mocks before Jason has a chance to respond.
"Shut up Jerry!" She snaps. "I truly am sorry for what happened to Michael."
"It's too late for that." Jason says with a shake of his head. He had noticed the tears without Jerry pointing them out, but didn't care. Claudia could cry all she wants and be sorry, it didn't matter to him.
"Can we get a move on here?" Jerry groans getting bored with the standoff.
Claudia didn't know what else she could say or do. She knew if it came to a shoot out she didn't stand a chance. Looking at both Jerry and Jason who were currently looking at each other, she inches closer towards the trunk, Sam, and the edge of the landing. With all other options lost Claudia reaches out and yanks Sam from the one man's arms and struggles for a second with the weight before standing tall with the gun pressed against Sam's head. "Like I said Jason what's in it for me?"
Cursing Jason shifts the gun away from Claudia since Sam now stood between them and points it towards the ground. "Claudia let her go!"
"You think I'm stupid? I know how this works, I let her go and you kill me."
"Yea, but don't let her go and he still kills you." Jerry says amused once again. "It really is lose-lose for you either way don't you think?"
"Shut up Jerry!" Both Jason and Claudia shout never taking their eyes off each other.
"What's your plan here Claudia?" Jason asks making sure Jerry had his gun raised on Rudy's two men so he could stay focused on her. "You plan to drag Sam's body down the dock and keep your gun trained on her at the same time?"
Claudia didn't respond because what was the point? He was right. She could barely hold Sam up, keep the gun on her, and keep an eye on Morgan. How was she supposed to move, let alone make it all the way to the boat? She couldn't. "Let me go and you can have Sam."
"You aren't going anywhere and you know it."
"Are you two just really going to stand there?" She yells at Rudy's men in a last ditch effort for help. The two men looked at Claudia and then back at Jason and Jerry, neither seemed sure what to do.
"If you two want to leave here alive I suggest you ignore her and go now. Tell Rudy that if Sonny or I find out he's been working against us with anyone again he will live to regret it and so will you."
"Run you fools!" Jerry says with a shooing motion when they both take too long to move on their own. They both listen to him then and practically run into each other in their attempt to get away. "It would be funny how clueless they are if it wasn't just so sad." Jerry says with a shake of his head. "Oh who am I kidding…it's still funny." He chuckles.
"What are you going to do now Claudia?" Jason asks ignoring Jerry and everything else around him, all his attention spent watching the hand holding the gun to Sam's head.
"I'm not just going to give her over to you, you know that right?" Claudia says shuffling a little closer to the edge of the landing so she could see the water out of the corner of her eye.
"You don't have any other choice." Jason says the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. Claudia was up to something. He could feel it but couldn't figure out what. She really wasn't crazy enough to think her plan was still going to work, was she?
"That's where you're wrong, I always have a choice." Then tightening her arm around Sam, Claudia turns towards the water firing off one shot behind her before stepping over the edge and falling down to the water.
"No!" Jason shouts watching almost in slow motion as both Claudia and Sam disappear from sight. Hearing the splash he rushes around the car and yells at Jerry over his shoulder. "I'm going to go after Sam, you catch Claudia! Make sure she doesn't get away!"
Jerry runs after Jason and catches him just in time to stop him from jumping in. "You're in no shape to fish Samantha out of the water Morgan." When Jason stares back at him in rage and tries to fight free from his grasp, Jerry just squeezes the shoulder he has grip of until Jason winces in pain. "So you aren't impervious to bullets after all, good to know." Jerry says letting go of Jason's shoulder and lifts his now blood covered hand as more proof that Jason's been shot. "You go in after her and I will be forced to try and rescue both of you and Claudia will get away. So you stay here on land and wait for Claudia to appear, I'll go in after Fair Samantha." And then before Jason could try and argue Jerry shrugs out of his suit jacket, dropping it and his gun at Jason's feet, and then dives headfirst into the water. Jason is left standing looking down at the splash Jerry created feeling a mixture of anger, pain, and fear building inside him.
Pacing along the edge of the dock and looks down at the water, a minute hadn't even passed yet but he still kept waiting for someone to appear. Hoping it would be Jerry with Sam, anticipating it being Claudia. Jason was paying so much attention to the water below he didn't hear anyone come up behind him.
Sam had been waking up when Claudia had stepped over the edge and could feel her feet leave the ground and then the free fall. When she hit the water her eyes popped open and her brain seemed to freeze for a second due to the cold water and the shock. She attempted to pull away from whoever was holding her, but their grip was firm and Sam wasn't completely clearheaded after being knocked unconscious. Clawing at the arm does nothing so Sam reaches up and scratches at where the person's face should be and find success when the arm around her goes limp. Pushing away she looks back to see Claudia holding a hand over half her face and glaring back at Sam.
Claudia just shakes her head and starts to swim away, kicking Sam as she does.
Sam first tries to swim after her, but her arms and legs feel too heavy to keep up with Claudia. Instead she tries to swim towards the top, but her limbs can't seem to even do that properly. Instead of moving towards the top of the water, she is just sinking further down. Her vision is starting to get dark around the edges. Still fighting, but her arms going weaker, Sam can see a figure of someone coming into her line of sight and she hopes its Jason. But once the person gets closer she recognizes the face as Jerry Jax and Sam once again tries to fight to get away.