Previously On General Hospital
"Lucky..."was all Keesha could get out before she started crying.
"Keesha, please tell what is going on. What has got you so upset like this? Did something happen in the meeting? " Lucky asked.
"Yes." Keesha said.
"Is it that bad?"Lucky asked.
"It depends on how you look at." Keesha said.
"Keesha, please just tell me what the hell is going on!" Lucky snapped.
"I'm leaving Lucky." Keesha said.
"Leaving? You can't leave! We're in the middle of an investigation." Lucky said.
"I can leave. I have no choice. You're looking at the new head of the French Task Force." Keesha said.
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Spinelli's Apartment
"What do you have for me Spinelli?"
Spinelli looked up from his computer screen to see Jason walking through his door looking even more upset than the last time he was there.
"Stonecold, the look on your face tells me that your troubles have yet to lift from those broad shoulders of yours."
Jason rubbed his forehead in frustration. He was surprised that after all the years of knowing Spinelli that a permanent crease wasn't rubbed into his head.
"Spinelli..."
"My sincerest apologies, for I wish I had better news. The files that you require are most difficult to attain."
"What are you saying? You can't get them?"
"No. I'm just saying that it will take more time than I thought to retrieve them. I under estimated the skills of my opponent."
"What do you mean?"
"It seems that a dummy file was created to trap and ensnare would be hackers. I should have seen this but the trap was well hidden. My foe is proving very formidable. Fear not, I shall prevail. For I have a rouse of my own." Spinelli said with a twinkle in his eye.
"What are you gonna to do?"
"I shall plant my own red herring by giving them what they are looking for."
"And that would be?"
"Me." Spinelli said with smile.
"You're going to get yourself caught?" Jason asked confused.
"Yes and no. I'm gonna give them me, just not really me, but it will be me..."
"Spinelli! I'm about two seconds away from kicking your ass. Get to to point, quickly." Jason yelled.
Jason saw the hurt look on Spinelli's face and he instantly regretted his actions.
"Sorry Spinelli. I didn't mean to yell or take my frustrations out at you. Just tell me what you're gonna do and don't be afraid to dumb it down."
"Your frustration at the recent events in your life is understandable Stone Cold and I take no offense."
Jason smiled a small smile. Spinelli really was a good guy. Most people would have told Jason to piss off for the outburst he just had. Spinelli like he always did, took it in stride and held no grudge against his friend. The only thing he wanted was to help Jason out. No matter what the consequence was to him. Jason didn't tell Spinelli this often but, he really was glad that he was in his life. In a business where friendship was a rare thing. Spinelli was truly one in a million.
"Thanks Spinelli. Now tell me about this brilliant plan of yours."
Jason listened to Spinelli's intricate plan. At first he got a little lost when Spinelli started to get technical about the programs and then started going off on a tangent about how he was the master of all cyberspace-dom. One glare from Jason was enough to get Spinelli on track. Once Spinelli was done he watched Jason mull over what he had just told him.
"Let me see if I understood you. You are going to create a fake computer persona that will spring the trap the FBI has set up for anyone trying to hack in. Once they have found the other you, you are going to allow them to hack into your system where they will read the dummy files you created about what we know. Inside one of the files will be a worm program. Once the FBI opens the file the worm program it will be come active and start sending what the FBI knows to your computer."
"And you said you're not computer savy. I would say that makes you far from a novice."
"I think you are starting to rub off on me."
"You should only be concerned if you want to drink mass quantities of orange soda."
Jason shook his head and laughed.
"Funny. My only question is, if this person on the other end is as good as you, won't they see this worm program too?"
"Excellent question. The answer is no. It will be buried under so many other algorithms that it'll be virtually undetectable."
"And your sure this won't come back to you in any way? We can't afford to get caught by the FBI."
"This will in no way come back to us."
Spinelli could tell that Jason needed a little more then just his word that nothing would go wrong. He had just the thing to make Jason feel better about this plan.
"Now Stone Cold, I know that you are still a bit leery of my plan but rest assured it will work. And just to set your mind at easy I have come up with a little extra reassurance. I put a little surprise in the worm program."
"What is it?"
"A computer virus. I call it Igor."
"Igor? What does that stand for?"
"Nothing. I just like the name."
Jason smirked then waited for Spinelli to continue.
"If Igor is activated then it will wait for it's master, namely me, to give a specific code. When the code is delivered it will wipe the FBI's main frame out."
"How soon can you make all this happen?"
"Tomorrow."
"Good."
Spinelli watched Jason's movements around the apartment since his arrival and noticed that the tense look on his face. He could see that Jason was still troubled. Knowing that Jason would most likely get angry at him for asking questions about his personal life, Spininelli decided to risk bodily harm and ask Jason how things were going so far with the ghost of his past.
"So, how goes things with the ghost of Jason Quartermain's past?"
Jason stopped what he was doing when he heard Spinelli's question. He had been trying all day to keep his mind free of Keesha and all things Jason Quartermain. It had been more difficult than he thought.
"Not well."
"Care to elaborate?"
"Not really, no."
Spinelli was about to press on when Jason held up his hand to stop him.
"I know you wanna know what's going on but I'm still trying to figure it out myself. So, let's just drop it for now. The more I think about her the more distracted I get."
"Well, you won't be distracted for long." Spinelli said under his breathe.
"Wait.. what? What are you talking about?"
Spinelli hesitated saying what he found but the look on Jason's face told him to go on.
"When I retrieved some of the data it showed that an agent was being transferred."
"Transferred? Where!?"
"Paris."
"When?"
"Tonight."
"Who is it?"
"I'm afraid it is the Nubian goddess, Stone Cold."
Jason felt that dead part of him clawing at his heart. He could feel it wanting to scream at the thought of Keesha leaving again. It took everything he had to try to keep from falling apart and letting that side of him win. He closed his eyes and forced that side of him to be quiet.
Spinelli noticed the look on Jason's face when said he said the Nubian goddess was in fact departing. He could see Jason's inner struggle and instead of asking if he was alright he gave him the time he needed to focus and center himself.
"I could try and stop the flight if you like?" Spinelli offered.
"No." Jason said.
Jason could hear the tortured screams of Jason Quartermain in his head. Knowing there was no way to silence him again he ignored him and pushed forward with what needed to be said.
"I don't want you to do that because it could tip our hand. Let things play out how they are supposed to."
"But, Stone Cold if the Nubian goddess leaves, how will you resolve what ever is going on between you?
"I have no idea Spinelli. Maybe it's for the best. Right now whatever is going is only getting in the way of what I really need to be concentrating on and that's finding out who shot Ric." Jason said.
He was just about to ask Spinelli something when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Without even looking to see who it was he answered it.
"Morgan. Hey Max. You talked to your contact? What did he say? Ok. Ok. That's good Max. I'm gonna get with Spinelli and let him know what you told me. Does Sonny know what you just told me? Good. Tell him I will be at the house in about twenty minutes. Right. Bye."
"I take it Max found something?" Spinelli asked.
"Yup. His contact knows someone in the FBI and it seems that Ric's shooting is linked to something much bigger."
"Like what?" Spinelli asked.
"That's what I'm going to find out about now. I'm heading over to Sonny's to find out what Max's contact had to say. In the mean time, you just keep at what you're doing and I'll contact you the moment I find out more.
"Ok." Spinelli said.
Jason started to head towards the door but stopped short because the other side of him kept bugging him.
"Spinelli."
"Yes, Jason?"
"Let me know when Keesha's plane touches down in Paris. I just want to make sure that she got there ok."
"I will." Spinelli said.
Jason nodded his thanks to Spinelli and felt that other side of him calm down somewhat. Without another word Jason left the apartment and headed towards Sonny's.
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City Hall Parking Garage
"Hey, I think I found something." Keesha yelled to Lucky.
Lucky and Keesha had been searching the garage area where Ric was shot for hours hoping to find something that the evidence techs may have missed when they were collecting evidence after the shooting. Although Lucky reassured her that the techs went over the place with a fine tooth comb Keesha felt that one more look couldn't hurt. Especially since the surveillance tapes they reviewed showed the black car that Lucky spotted leaving the scene had been in the parking garage several days before the shooting occurred.
The tapes revealed that the black car had parked at several different spots in the garage and would sit there for hours observing their target and his routine. Never once did the driver or any other occupants of the vehicle get out of the car. They also made sure to park where the plate of the vehicle was always obscured. This meant the suspects were smart. Real smart. And smart criminals were always dangerous. But even smart criminals can sometimes make a mistake and that is what they were hoping for.
Lucky walked over to Keesha who was standing over a grate looking down at something.
"Whatcha ya got?" Lucky asked flatly.
That made thirty. Keesha had been keeping count of the words Lucky had spoken to her since they arrived at the garage. The talk (or argument) they had on the ride over had not helped ease the tension between them due to her leaving for Paris. This was not how she wanted things to end between them. She already had enough unresolved issues in this town and she was determined not to make Lucky one of them.
"There is something down here in the grate. When I shined my flashlight light I caught the glint of something."
"Could have been some change that dropped down there?"
"Yeah, it could be but I wanna be sure. The grate looks like its screwed in. Do you have anything in the back of your car that might be able to loosen up the screws?"
"Yeah, I got some tools in the trunk of my car. I'll be right back." Lucky said then headed to his car to get his tools.
A few minutes later Lucky was back with his tool bag. He looked at one of the screws and saw they were flat head screws so he reached in the bag and pulled out his flat head screw driver and started working on one of the four screws.
Keesha was on the other side of grate watching Lucky try and unscrew the first one. She figured there was no use in standing around watching Lucky so she might as well help out with the others.
"Do you have an extra one? I can work on the other two over on my end."
"Yeah."
Lucky reached in his tool bag and tossed the other one to Keesha.
The screws were in tighter then they thought. They both were fighting just make one of them turn.
"Damn, these things are in here good." Keesha said through gritted teeth.
"I know. I can barely get this thing to turn."
Lucky decided to try and put a little more elbow into it and finally got his to start moving.
Taking his cue, Keesha also tried to put a little more muscle into hers.
Just as the screw started to move her screwdriver somehow slipped off the screw head and cut the palm of her hand.
"Ow! Shit!"
Lucky's head snapped up and he quickly moved over to Keesha who was cradling her hand as the blood dripped out. He brought Keesha's hand over to him to get a better look at the cut on her hand. It was bleeding profusely and he had nothing on him to stop it.
"We need to get this bleeding under control. C'mon I have a first aid kit in the trunk."
Keesha nodded and followed Lucky over to his car.
Lucky popped the trunk and pulled the first aid kit out. He grabbed the gauze out of it and quickly wrapped it around her hand. It wasn't long before the blood started to come through.
"I think we need to get to you the hospital. I'm gonna radio for unit to be en route here with an evidence tech to come and check out what's in that grate. Think you can hold on for a couple of minutes?"
"Yeah. I'll be fine. Go ahead and radio it in."
Lucky nodded then went over to his side of the car. He opened the door and grabbed the radio mic and called to dispatched. He quickly relayed all the information to dispatch who advised that a unit would there in five minute to relieve them and wait for the evidence tech to arrive.
Once he acknowledge the transmission he walked back to Keesha who was still cradling her hand.
"A units on it's way. They'll be here in five minutes. How are you holding up?"
"Fine." she said softly.
Lucky moved closer to Keesha to try and get a better look at her hand. When he tried to reach out for it she moved away from him.
"I said I was fine. You don't need to worry about me." she snapped at him.
"I was just trying to check on you. You don't have to bite my head off." Lucky said mumbling the last part while looking down at this feet.
Just as Lucky lifted his head he quickly came face to face with a livid Keesha.
"Bite your head off? Bite your head off?! You have some nerve Lucky Spencer. You've barely spoken to me since finding out I was going to Paris and most of that was only when you really needed to. I cut my hand and now you can't stop talking. If I would have known that a little blood would get you talking I would have cut my hand hours ago. Need I remind you that I didn't want to go. I am being forced. Keyword here. FORCED. To go. I wanted to stay here. I fought to stay. I wanted to finish the case here because my gut is saying this is where we'll find all the answers. I wanted...you know what...never mind. The rest doesn't matter."
Lucky listened to Keesha and instantly felt horrible. He didn't interrupt because really, what could he say. Everything she was saying was right. There was no reason for his anger to be pointed at her. She didn't ask for it and she sure didn't deserve it. This was not how he wanted to spend his last few hours with her. He felt like a jackass for wasting what little time they had. He hoped he could make it up to her.
"You're right. You're right. I've been a complete asshole about this whole thing."
"And..."
"And... I shouldn't be taking my frustrations out on you. I just couldn't see past my anger to see how much I was hurting you in the process. And what you say does matter. It matters to me more than you know. I can only hope that the rest of what you were going to say was that you also wanted to stay because of a certain PCPD Detective."
Keisha moved a little closer to Lucky. "Well, yes a certain PCPD Detective did have something to do with my wanting to stay."
"Really." Lucky said closing the gap between them.
"Oh yes. I'm gonna miss Cruz so much." Keesha said with a smirk.
"Cruz!"
Keesha could help but laugh at Lucky's expression.
"That's not funny Agent Ward." Lucky said trying to stifle a laugh.
"No, your right it's not funny, it's hilarious."
"Shut up and let me do something I should have done when this first happened."
Keesha watched as Lucky picked up her injured hand and brought it to his lips. She felt a small shiver as his lips made contact with the skin that was not covered by the gauze.
She figured it must have been her mind playing tricks on her because her hand hurt a little less after the kiss. A small moan escaped her lips and it was not missed by him. He looked up at her and smiled a knowing smile at her.
"I take it you like my lips there?" he asked with a smirk.
"I plead the 5th." Keesha said rolling her eyes at him.
"You may plead the 5th, your body on the other hand, was speaking loud and clear."
"Hush." Keesha said smacking his arm with her good hand. "Here comes the units."
Once the relieving officer and evidence techs were briefed on what was needed, Lucky made his way to the car were Keesha was waiting for him. She smiled as Lucky held the car door open for her making sure she didn't have to use her injured hand.
Keesha playful rolled her eyes at Lucky and tried to slap his hand away as he tried to fasten her seat belt. A stern look from him silenced her when she started to complain that she could do it herself.
With her safely secure Lucky quickly got in the car.
"Let's get that had of your looked at and then we can head back to the house..." Lucky couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't want to say to pack. Packing meant leaving. Leaving meant Paris. Paris meant no Keesha. No Keesha meant...
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt her hand on cheek. Keesha smiled sadly at him. She was sure that he could see the same pain in her eyes.
"I know. I feel the same way too." she said softly. " Let's just make the most of the time we have together. OK? No more fighting?"
"No more fighting." Lucky said.
"Good. Now, how about you get me to the hospital so I can stop bleeding all over your car?"
"No, problem. You just sit back and relax. I got you." Lucky said as he started the car.
Yes, you do. Keesha said to herself.
As Lucky drove towards the hospital he made a promise to himself that whatever hours he had left with Keesha, he was going to make the most of them.