Chapter 30 – Divide and Conquer

About four hours later someone banged on the front door and Johnny ran and peeked out the window and saw Max. He opened it and John rushed past him. "Where is she?"

Johnny ran up the stairs ahead of him and opened the door and pointed. John was so relieved that she is okay. He looked up and caught Jason's eye.

"She's fine."

"Thank you," he whispered back. He lay down beside her and kissed her on the head. When Max had shown up at his door, he thought she was dead. He never wants to let her go again.

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"What the fuck is going on, Max?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know. When we went to Sonny's, no one was there but Tess. There wasn't one guard—no one and Enzo was dead. I drove over there again after I dropped Jason and Tess off here, and there was still no sign of Sonny. So, I decided to drive to New York and get John. Tess was pretty shaken up and I figured she probably needed him."

"That was probably a good thing to do. Let's hope we make it through the night. Want some coffee?"

Max nodded. "Yeah."

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Around 5:00 am, the walkie went off and the guard at the gate was yelling, "Fuck! They are here."

Max and Johnny briefly glanced at each other before Johnny ran upstairs. He flicked the light on and Jason and John sat up, instantly knowing it had to be bad. "Get them in the panic room now!"

Jason woke up Liz and John roused Tess. They followed Jason a few rooms down and then into a walk-in closet. He punched in a code and a door slid open.

"Do not come out of this room. I will come and get you when it's safe. I will say, 'Winsor' and you will know that it's okay to open the door." It is one of the paint brands that Liz uses.

He quickly kissed her and said, "I love you," before leaving the room. John shut the door and looked around. There are monitors, a fridge, water, food storage, and a small bed.

"Tess, take the bed," Liz said.

"No. Let's put the mattress on the floor and we can all sit on it and lean against the wall." She can tell that the small cot was not made for three people to sit on.

John did what she asked and he waited for them to settle down. Grabbing a blanket that was sitting on a chair, he turned out the light and walked over to the mattress. He sat in between them and put his arms around them both as they cuddled into his side. They tried to rest, but none of them could sleep.

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At the Alcazar mansion, the power had been turned off and they were under attack as well. The guards had escorted Skye and Lorenzo into their panic room where they clung to each other as they wondered about the safety of their daughter. Someone had caught them all off guard and it was going to be a long night.

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Milo drove Sonny and Claudia to a safe house in Connecticut. They had been out to dinner and the last call that got through came from Enzo telling them to run and that it was really bad. Claudia was a mess wondering if Tess had made it out alive. Given the enormity of the attack, she didn't know if anyone else had survived. It wasn't until they were safely in the house that she sobbed.

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Jason, Max, the two guards, and Johnny managed to hold off the infiltrators. The guard at the gate was killed but the other two had managed to survive. They were exhausted as the sun finally rose and they knew there would probably be a break in the action.

The guards usually changed at 6:00 am, so the new crew had made their way towards the house and Johnny filled them in. They were going to cover while everyone else tried to get a few hours of sleep.

"Winsor," Jason said after knocking on the door.

The door slid open and Liz jumped into his arms. "Are Johnny and Max okay?"

"Yes."

John helped Tess up and they walked towards the door. "What now?"

"We get some sleep and then we decide if we stay or leave town."

They went to the bedroom and settled in. John and Tess decided they felt safer sleeping in Jason and Liz's room so they crawled onto the mattress on the floor. They all slept for four hours and then Johnny got them up.

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Liz cooked everyone breakfast and they had just settled at the table when they heard someone at the door.

Jason motioned for her to stay and soon came back with Skye.

"Mom!" Liz yelled as she ran and hugged her.

"Mija, I'm so glad you're okay," Skye said tearfully.

"Are you hungry?"

"A little..."

"Sit down. I'll make you an omelet," Liz said moving toward the stove.

Lorenzo sat in the living room. "Where's Sonny?"

"I'm assuming he's in Connecticut," Jason said. They always have an escape plan and he figures Milo had followed it.

Lorenzo handed Jason a throwaway cell phone. "I picked up a few up at Walmart on the way over. At least we can communicate again."

Jason nodded and gave one to Johnny.

"I have about ten men on the way over here. We lost about ten last night or I would have brought more. I called one of the other families and they are sending more our way. Another ten men will be here by noon. That should give us ample protection," Lorenzo said.

"Max is on his way to Connecticut to pick up Sonny and Claudia. I think it is safer if we band together. We have plenty of rooms here," Jason said.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Gentleman, I see you all had a rough night." Ronnie moved toward them. "Normally, I wouldn't care about the local mob scene. Hell, if you killed off each other, it would save me a lot of paperwork, but given the magnitude of your problem, I cannot turn my back on this. How can I help?"

Jason id surprised. "As you already know, all of our families were viciously attacked last night. We think it has something to do with Sam McCall."

"Well, that's very interesting that you should mention her. They found her dead in her cell this morning," Ronnie said as he waited for their reactions.

"How?"

"It was a drug overdose."

Jason glanced at Johnny and then turned back to Lorenzo. "I knew someone was pulling her strings."

"Perhaps I can shed some light on that. Do you have a DVD player?" Ronnie asked.

Johnny nodded and grabbed the disc from Ronnie's hands.

Once it was cued up, they waited for it to start.