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The Quintessential Q
Chapter Sixty
Unexpected Company
The scream could be heard throughout the house. Jerry who had been getting himself a soft drink from the fridge in the kitchen winced. "Oh hell what now? I hope she didn't wake Michael."
Jerry comes out of the kitchen in time to see Carly put her coat on. "Watch Michael I'll be right back." Carly says in the grimmest of tones.
"Oh no, you don't."
"I'm going to kill her. You can't stop me. And I'll bet Taggart would take my coat and hold the bets." Carly gets her finger right in Jerry's face and starts waving it around.
"Take that finger out of my face or I'm going to bite it off. And I'll tell you right now-- Tyson has nothing on me." Jerry growls at Carly.
Carly, not used to Jerry snapping back at her, pauses in mid finger wave and drops her hands to her sides. But it doesn't last long and she is back to throwing her hands around and pointing to the study. "Do you know what I just saw on the news?"
Jerry groans. "When will I ever learn." He slaps himself on the forehead. "Your mum told me about this back when AJ was taking on water in Jakarta. Why Caroline? Why were you watching the idiot box? You never watch the telly. Why now?"
"But don't you want to know..." Carly protests.
"You were suppose to be researching Katherine's finances to see if she had made any sudden expenditures or bought any real estate lately. What happened to that?" Jerry interrupts her.
"I finished that. She hasn't. And Baldie still hasn't changed her PIN numbers from the time Em submarined her. Look, it's not my fault if AJ watched the TV last and had it already on the news. And don't you want to know what happened...."
There is a ring at the gate. Jerry goes over to the front door to activate the monitor. Seeing it is Jax he opens the gate and mutters to himself. "Saved by the bell."
"Who is it?" Carly asks curiously.
"Jax. I sent him over to Emily's office at Deception to track down any leads there." Jerry is surprised how fast Jax makes his way to the front door. He must have torn up the drive. There is a pounding on the door. Carly throws it open.
"What did you find out?" Just then she sees John standing behind Jax. "Un-uh No way! What is he doing here?! My husband and I have an agreement-- no uninvited Jacks in this house. And he can just Go to Hell because that's where his invitation is!"
"Well Hell just froze over, Caroline." John pushes by Carly into the house. "Nikolas Cassadine saw something in the tape and he burned a copy of the frame and took off." John tells Jerry.
"This is Cassadine related? I have to call my Uncle Luke." Carly turns to grab the phone.
"I don't think so, Carly." Jax says fast before she can dial. "Here's a copy of what Nik took. I don't know what it means, maybe you do." Jax hands Carly a copy of the shot. It's a crowd scene from the horseshow.
Carly looks it over fast. "So? Jerry and I already watched the tape about a million times." Then something catches her eye as she is handing it back to Jax. "What a minute. I know that face. How do I know that face?" Carly looks over her shoulder to Jerry. "Jerry?" Carly points out the face she recognizes.
Jerry shakes his head. "Never saw her at the Arena before; so it's no relation I know to Lucas' class. There were a lot of people there though. It was the biggest thing going in the berg last weekend."
Carly starts pacing the hallway muttering to herself. "It's not Rita, I don't know that face from Rita. Something to do with Em. I've never met her but I've heard about her-- what did I hear about her?" Carly snaps her fingers and points at Jax. "You do too know her."
"What? What are you talking about?" Jax grabs the picture back and looks again. He closes his eyes and winces. "I'll call New York." Jax starts heading toward the study.
"Great. Jax, you call New York; Jerry, you watch Michael; and you...." Carly glares at John again. "...get the hell out of my house. I have an errand to run; it won't take long."
Jerry grabs her quick by the back of the coat, reeling her back in. "Oh no, you don't. Where do you think you're going."
"I already told you. I'm going to kill her. If Taggart doesn't get there first, he is going to be really ticked." Carly bites her lower lip.
"Who... the woman in the picture? You know where she is?" John asks confused.
"I wasn't talking to you." Carly sneers. "But nope. Viki Porter just got on my last nerve."
Jerry groans. "Oh lord what now? For Goodness sake you already got the poor girl cut out of her father's will and she's under armed guard over at University."
Carly plants her hands on her hips. "Well the armed guard should have shot her. The stupid cow went on the eleven o'clock news and announced to the world Emily and Rita are missing. After everything Taggart said about keeping a news blackout. Now every looney tune is going to be calling in for a reward or to say they were abducted by aliens for anal probes or something."
Jerry runs his hands through his hair and closes his eyes sighing. "Dad, Help Jax with the research. Michael, by some miracle, is still asleep and AJ is on his way home."
"What do you think you're doing?" Carly asks Jerry suspiciously.
"I'm going to hold your coat. Come on, before I change my mind." Jerry shrugs into his own coat. "I'll distract the guard. But you better make this fast. We have other things to do tonight."
Carly throws her arms around Jerry's neck and plants a kiss on his cheek. "You're the best. You're driving."
"Damn straight I'm driving." Jerry growls. "Don't you have to get in a zone or something?"
"Nah. I can kick her ass with both hands tied behind my back and blindfolded. At least that is what AJ says." Carly says cheerfully. "And I've been wanting to do this for so long."
"That would be about the only way anyone would take odds. You blindfolded and arms bound. Course then you'd literally be kicking the cr...ud out of her." The voices fade as Jerry escorts Carly to her car and seats her in the front passenger side.
Jax comes out of the study to see his father standing in the foyer with his jaw around his knees. "What happened? Where are Jerry and Carly?"
"I don't quite know what happened but I think your brother just drove Ms. Quartermaine over to some girl's house to kick her bum."
"What? You must have misunderstood. Jerry keeps Carly out of trouble."
"Viki Porter?"
"OH." Jax says with dawning awareness. "Well that's different."
Nikolas takes the stairs two at a time up to the loft of the carriage house. "Thank goodness you're still awake!"
Lucky is spread out on the couch. His flannel shirt is unbuttoned baring his wiry chest. One leg is stretched out along the couch and the other is flat on the floor. Elizabeth is reclined against him. Her head rests on his shoulder and both of her legs are up on the couch beside Lucky's. Lucky has his hands around her waist although they might have drifted abit before the course was corrected by Nik's rude interruption. "Nice knock. And it would have been good to know that the PCPD was going to be searching the place earlier. That happen often, Bro?"
"Only when Emily gets kidnapped." Nikolas says flatly.
Elizabeth laughs but then stops. "You're not joking."
"I'm not joking." Lucky and Elizabeth straighten on the couch. Nik brings over the picture. He points to the face he'd circled earlier. "I think this is who has her."
"Oh my Gosh." Elizabeth blanches and her eyes go wide.
"Emily and I talked about her the night of the movie marathon. She's got an ax to grind. Nothing Emily could control but..."
"Lucky, I think her last known address was in New York." Elizabeth tells her hacker boyfriend interrupting Nikolas. Lucky has already gone over to the computer set up and started to get into his routine data bases.
"Great. So what's her name?" Lucky shrugs. Elizabeth comes over and types in the name for Lucky. Lucky looks up at Nikolas. "What are you going to do when you find her?"
"Get Emily back. This person's condition is wholly dependant on their cooperation."
"And who is going to get her cooperation?"
"Stefan knows a few people."
Johnny nods to Francis on the door as he goes into Jason's penthouse. Sonny is there in the kitchen on the phone to some of his sources while Jason is on the penthouse phone. "There were pictures delivered to the mansion." Jason hangs up the phone. Johnny continues. "They were of Em."
"Pornographic?" Jason asks flatly.
"No. The old man would have had a stroke then and there if they had been." Johnny sort of postponing what he has to say cause he knows it's going to make both Jason and Sonny nuts. "There was no sign of Rita but I think I know why."
"Why." Jason can tell that Johnny is beating around the bush and knows it isn't like his former bodyguard. Especially where the safety of his sister was concerned.
"They've got Em strung out." Johnny finally blurts it out. "It was a bare room. No details. A mattress on the floor. A figure in dark clothing holding her head up."
"Are you sure?" Sonny comes from the kitchen his laser gaze piercing through Johnny.
"Boss, I wouldn't be more sure if they had actually left the needle stuck in her arm. She was nodding. The pictures were delivered by a local messenger for cash-- no questions asked. He didn't get a good look at the guy. But Nikolas Cassadine evidently recognized someone from the tape of the horseshow."
"Who." Sonny demands.
"Some model by the name of Orchid?" Johnny shakes his head. "I've never heard of her."
"Gary Winslow." Jason comes out of thin air with snapping his fingers.
"What?"
"Emily was called in at the last minute to sub for a model who had gotten busted for drugs. She was modeling for Gary Winslow. Not just the model but also the photographer was busted." Jason remembers. "Winslow gave Em a hard time because she was not what he ordered. Like she was a quarter pounder from Mickey D's or something. Em subbed for the model and another photographer had to be called in. The new photographer is the one that took the picture of her that hangs in her office at Deception."
"Damn." Jason's longwinded, for once, dissertation prods Johnny's recall. "She was having problems at Deception. Some stick was trying to end run her and hire a model. She put the veto on the whole thing cause she knew the model was using and out of control."
Sonny flips open his cell phone again and calls Benny. "Benny, wake up. I need information now. Phone number and address on Gary Winslow. He's some dress designer in New York. Same with a model named Orchid. Run any vehicles while you are at it. And arrest records-- we need the codefendant on a drug bust that this Orchid was caught on. Not in the morning, Benny. Now." Sonny clicks the phone shut. Johnny turns to leave. "Where are you going?"
"It was a local messenger. They could be around here. And if they are around here, they're probably scoring around here too. I thought I'd go roust a few independents down on Courtland. Shake a few trees see if this Orchid bitch falls out."
"Keep your cell phone on." Jason insists. "As soon as we get the call back from Benny I'll be out there with you."
"Carly?! I'm home." AJ calls out. All the lights were on in the happy family house. He frowns when there is no answer hanging up his coat in the hall closet. "Carly?" He hears Michael crying from the study. "Michael?" AJ races to the study and throws the door open. Jax is pacing with Michael who is not a happy camper at having woken in the middle of the night to have some tall funny talking guy who was Not Grandpop pick him up. "What are you doing here? Where is my wife?" AJ insists snatching Michael from Jax. AJ sooths Michael as he paces the study only to come to a sudden halt when he sees who is sitting on the couch. "You. You can't be here. You have to leave. Now."
"Caroline knows I'm here, AJ." John Jacks shakes his head ruefully. He'd experienced not being wanted someplace before but never so obviously.
"Where is my wife?" AJ insists again.
"Well that's kinda a long story. I've got good news and bad news for you."
"Bad news? Is it Emily?"
"Sorry. I'm not doing this right. We don't really know anything about Emily although we're working a few leads. No, the bad news is Victoria Porter went on the eleven o'clock news and announced to the world that Rita and Emily were kidnapped."
AJ sags up against his desk. Remember the phone lines when Tony Jones had kidnapped Michael, and the total wackos that had called the mansion looking for a reward. "This is just what Taggart didn't want." AJ whispers then it hits him. "Oh please tell me Carly didn't watched the news tonight."
"The good news is Jerry is with her." Jax reassures AJ. AJ sets Michael down on Carly's prize carpet and going around the desk starts searching the drawers. "What are you looking for?"
"My checkbook. How high to you think the bail is going to be?"
A high rise building in New York. A well dressed man walks down a hallway to an apartment. He glances both direction and verifies the address against a piece of paper in his pocket. Seeing no trouble or witnesses he goes over to the stair well and opens it. "Coast is clear."
Five darkly dressed men heavily armed come out of the stairwell and efficiently break into the apartment. Each take a different room, but there is no one there and no evidence that any one has been there for awhile. The lead commando type flips on the lights. "Oh Gees. I'm going to want a bonus for this." The commando shudders as he looks around at what could only be described as a shooting gallery. There's drug paraphernalia and needles everywhere.
"And you'll get it-- if Mr. Cassadine gets the information he needs. Tear the place apart. Anything that might be a clue as to the whereabouts of Ms Quartermaine and her companion." Reese, Stefan's taciturn man of all affairs, informs the mercenary. He goes over to the answering machine and replays the messages.
Clad in jeans, boots and an old lined jacket, Johnny blends in with the street crowd down on Courtland Street. Or at least so it appears at first glance. Anyone who really looks at him can see that he is too vigilant to be a junkie and not cocky enough to be one of the street dealers. Johnny walks from one end of Courtland street to the other. From the seedy houses, to the seedier hotels, down to the abandoned, boarded up buildings at the end of Courtland down by the rail yards, Johnny eyes each person wondering which of them has a clue as to his sister's whereabouts.
This had been Moreno's stronghold in Port Charles. Once Sonny and Jason had rid PC of the big rat all the little rats had come scurrying out of their holes cutting out their own piece of the turf. The dealers realized once they get big they have to relocated, as soon as they make a name for themselves Sonny makes sure it's properly engraved... on their headstone. Johnny smiles at the thought. Whoever had dealt drugs to Orchid, drugs that ended up in the arm of the boss' little sister, had better have his affairs in order.