The Murder of Edward Quartermaine
Chapter 10

Frisco Jones motioned to the helicopter pilot to set the
helicopter down since the open door and the loud roaring noise
of the propellers made any attempt to converse impossible. Once
down, Frisco jumped out of the chopper and motioned the pilot
to take it back up and continue the search from air.

On the ground, the road had been blocked off and the
WSB’s first response team had already began an extensive
search of the crash site. The rented SUV lay at the bottom of an
embankment, the fire that had raged a short while ago put out by
a chemical extinguisher.

“Agent Jones?” A young man in his late twenties
approached Frisco. “My name is O’Hare. I’m the lead on this
team.”

“Any sign of my man or the target?” Frisco asked.

“No sir. No sign of any survivors at all.”

Frisco nodded. “And what was the last communication
from the field?”

“That he had picked up a tail. We were sending a team in
to intercept, but your agent indicated that the tail was too close
and that he didn’t have time.” O’Hare paused. “There are
indications that the car received multiple gun shots from high
caliber weapons. The lab boys will have the details in the next
few hours.”

“You said no sign of survivors? Any sign of victims?”

O’Hare shakes his head. “No, but with a fire that hot
anything left is going to be consumed. Forensics might find some
remains in the rubble.”

“Or they might not be there at all.”

“Highly unlikely sir. If they had survived the accident,
why haven’t they shown themselves by now. My people haven’t
exactly been quiet about their presence. Besides, if the gunshots
didn’t kill them I don’t see how anyone could simply walk away
from that crash.”

“Let’s just say that Agent Spencer is extremely lucky,”
Frisco says, trying to mask his own worry. Damn. He didn’t
need this. It would be bad enough if they had lost the target, but
to lose the kid too. The three of them made a good team and he
knew that Robin looked at Lucky like a kid brother. As for
Frisco, as much as he liked to tease Lucas Lorenzo Spencer
Junior, he had grown to really like the kid.. There weren’t many
people that Frisco would trust to guard his back. Junior was one
of those few

“Talk to me about the terrain. What about a land search.
With those thick trees I don’t think an air search is going to be
effective.” Frisco thought for a moment. “Especially if Spencer
thinks that someone other than the WSB is after them.”

“Luckily these are the White Mountains not the Rockies,
but they the terrain is still rugged, steep, full of places to hide, or
places where a body could be and we wouldn’t find it. We can
sweep with heat seekers and other devices which will help us.”

“All right. I want a full sweep of the area radiating from
the crash site as ground zero. I want every possible person out
there searching for these two.”

“Yes sir. How realistic are our chances of finding them
alive? I’ve heard of this Spencer, he’s a whiz kid of some kind
with computers. Do you really think he could survive this?”

Frisco grinned for the first time since the chopper had set
down. “If there’s one thing I know not to do, it’s underestimate
a Spencer. Especially this Spencer. If there was a way to save
the target, he found it.”

“The target is vital.” O’Hare says softly.

“Extremely.” Frisco says flatly as he leaves the younger
agent to give the orders and makes his way down to the crash
site himself.


Marcus Taggert had to admit it as he stood around the
center of Sonny Corinthos’ penthouse and watched the WSB
sweep team go through the place. This was fun. He should have
brought a camera. He wondered how much grief Mac would
give him if he asked one of the official police photographers to
take a shot of him. Just one shot of him doing something
outrageous. Jumping on Corinthos’ bed. Drinking milk from the
carton in his kitchen. Just a little something to remember this
day....

“Stop daydreaming Taggert,” Mac Scorpio barked at his
senior detective. “I want you upstairs supervising the search of
the bedrooms. If Corinthos is behind the attack at the Outback I
want him and I want him clean. No room for an appeal.”

“Commissioner,” One of the WSB agents yells out. “I
think you might want to look at this.”

Mac and Taggert enter the spare bedroom that Sonny
converted to an office. Inside, the WSB agents have taken a
series of file folders out of his filing cabinet and have opened
them up to show their contents.


Mac takes one look at the papers inside the folder and
feels his jaw clench shut. “I think we found what we were
looking for. I didn’t think any of this was Sonny’s style, but I
guess I was wrong.”

The papers spread out on the floor are blueprints,
drawings, costs, spreadsheets, newspaper clippings, all focusing
on the Bolivian plant being built by ELQ. Most damning of all,
paper clipped to the file are two pictures. One of Edward
Quartermaine. One of his granddaughter Emily. Both are marked
with an X in red.

Mac turns to Taggert. “Go tell Robin she can call the
Justice Department and have them file charges against Sonny
Corinthos for domestic terrorism.”

“I’m on it,” Taggert says, wondering absently as he
leaves the penthouse why this isn’t as much fun anymore.


Kelly’s

Jason Morgan looked at his former lover with eyes that
bordered on hungry. God she was still beautiful.

Robin Scorpio looked at her former lover with eyes that
were simply distrustful and wary. She didn’t need this at this
moment. She really didn’t.

“Jason,” she acknowledged him curtly and turned to
sidestep around him, deciding to take her chances with the
coffee at the PCPD after all.

“Wait a minute.” Jason reached out and grabbed her
shoulder. Robin bit her lip against the pain. Jason dropped his
hand. “Is that all you are going to say?”

“Yes it is.” Robin said irritably. Jason shakes his head
and reaches for her shoulder.

“Don’t you think you owe me a little more than that?”

Robin laughed and pulled away. “I owe you? If I
remember correctly I’m supposed to be dead to you and since
dead people don’t usually carry on conversations, I’m out of
here.”

“Wait a minute. You can’t just leave like that.” Jason
says unevenly. All of the times he had pictured his and Robin
meeting again, never once he had imagined it like this. With her
indifferent to him and him desperate to talk to her. Wasn’t she
the one who was suppose to be desperate? Wasn’t she the one
who supposed to be begging him to talk to her? When had it
turned around on him like this?


Robin can feel the anger growing in her. “I stopped
listening to you three years ago when you told me that you
decided that Carly was more important than I was.”

“I didn’t choose Carly. I chose Michael.”

“Right. The child you stole from his father.”

“My son who I saved from the Quartermaines.”

“You played God Jason and you still don’t see that do
you? Michael was AJ’s son. At the very least AJ deserved to
know that. No, AJ isn’t perfect but you know what- neither are
you. Neither am I. None of us are. You took one look at AJ and
decided that he couldn’t possibly be as good a father to his son
as you could be. You made that decision. You didn’t give him a
chance. It never even crossed your mind that fatherhood might
change AJ. It changed you. Why wouldn’t it change AJ? I know
this is a hard concept for you to grasp but in real life people
grow and change and learn. Sometimes they even make
mistakes. I know I did.”

“Are you saying that our relationship was a mistake?”

“No, you were a lesson I needed to learn and I learned it.
I know what I deserve out of life and its someone who doesn’t
ask me to be what I’m not.”

“You betrayed me. What the hell did I ever do to you?”

Robin smiled sadly. Thank God for Frisco. “You forced
me to live a lie to hold on to you. I loved you Jason. I thought I
could do anything for you. But I was wrong. Somehow those
last few months we spent together I stopped being me and
started being who you wanted me to be. Someone who would
keep a secret that should never have been kept. Someone who
would accept the fact that another woman and her child had a
hold on you. Someone who actually believed for a while that
coming second in your life was better than not being in your life
at all. Maybe I did betray you by telling AJ what he deserved to
know. But I betrayed myself over and over for you.”

“I loved you.”

“Maybe you did. Maybe you thought you did. But you
don’t do to someone you are supposed to love what you did to
me. Do you have any idea how badly you hurt me?”

“Is that why you stayed away all these years? To avoid
me?”

“God Jason did you even listen to a word I just said? My
life isn’t about you anymore. I didn’t stay away from Port
Charles because of you. I hate to disillusion you but I don’t live
my life for you anymore. I haven’t spent the last three years
sitting around waiting for you to forgive me and declare me alive
again. I did that for myself. I have a life of my own. I have a job
that I love. Friends. Family. I even have a man who loves me and
who I love more than I ever imagined it was possible to love
someone. A man who doesn’t put me on a pedestal or asks me
to be anything other than who I am. Someone who makes me
stronger, not weaker.”

Robin pauses. “I don’t hate you Jason. I just don’t love
you anymore. And at this particular moment I don’t like you
much either.”

“This is crazy. You are the one who betrayed my trust.”

“Get over it Jason. I saw AJ and Michael the other day.
Michael seems happy. I’m sorry that AJ won’t let you and Carly
see Michael, but after the way you two plotted and tried to trick
him even after he knew the truth, I don’t blame him for not
trusting you. The sad thing is that you never realized that
Michael needs more people in his life, not less. I really think that
if you and Carly had been willing to simply include AJ in his
child’s life, all of this mess could have been avoided before it
even started.”

“AJ did not deserve to have Michael after threatening to
take Michael away from his mother.”

Robin shrugged. This conversation was pointless. “Is that
how you see things? Is that how you justify what you did? AJ
bad. Jason good. AJ the sinner. Jason the saint. Is everything in
your world so black and white. Wake up Jason. This isn’t a
badly written soap opera with shallow one note characters. This
is reality. I understand how married to Carly you might want to
escape reality, but reality isn’t all that bad once you accept it.”

Robin turned to move past Jason.

“This conversation isn’t over.”

Robin groaned. “Why do people keep saying that to me
lately? Yes this particular conversation is over. I’m tired of
rehashing the past with you. Truthfully, I’m just a little tired of
you at the moment.”

Jason is about to protest when Taggert arrives to
interrupt them.

“Excuse me,” Taggert grins mockingly at Jason. “As
much as I hate to disrupt this touching reunion, Mac sent me to
get you Robin. He needs you to call the Attorney General for an
arrest warrant on our friend.”

Robin looks at Taggert. “They found something?”

Taggert nods. “Something big.”

Jason’s gaze moves from one to the other. “Robin you
are working for the police?”


Robin laughs. “Me? Work for the PCPD? Now why
would I do something that mundane with the rest of my life.”
She turns to Taggert. “No offense meant.”

“None taken.” Taggert smiles. He knows what’s coming.
Twice today he could have used a camera. Maybe it was time to
invest in one of those pocket ones and carry it with him. At least
as long as the WSB was in town. They made life interesting.

“Although in a way you are right,” she smiles consolingly
at Jason. “I am an officer of the law.” Robin reaches for her
badge, flips it open, and shows it to Jason. “Robin Scorpio,
WSB”

“What?” Jason’s jaw drops as he stares at the badge.
“You’re a cop?”

“I prefer the term secret agent. Makes it sound so much
more glamorous and interesting, don’t you think?”

“The WSB? Then you know about Sonny’s arrest and
that agent searching my penthouse and ...” Jason voice trails off.
What in the hell is happening here? First she doesn’t beg his
forgiveness, than she tells him that she’s moved on with her life
in every way possible, and now it turns out that Robin, his
Robin, is a WSB agent.

Robin smiles. “Know about the search of your
apartment? Know about Sonny’s arrest?” She shakes her head
softly. “Who do you think gave the orders?”

And ignoring Jason’s stunned gaze, Robin follows
Taggert away from Kelly’s leaving Jason standing behind and
looking totally lost.

After a few blocks of companionable silence, Robin turns
to Taggert. “You enjoyed that way too much.”

Taggert grinned. “Admit it, so did you.”

Robin said nothing, only smiled.

After another moment, Taggert spoke up. “So tell me,
how does one go about joining the WSB?”


The White Mountains

Lucky Spencer looked at his watch as they paused to rest
by a stream. It had been three hours since the crash and by his
estimate they had traveled ten miles or so at the very least. There
had been no signs of pursuit, which made him think that whoever
had been in that car that attacked them was gone.

He looked over at Emily who was gratefully taking a sip
of water from the stream. They were both bruised and battered
from the crash, but all in all they were in pretty good shape.

Thank God for dual air bags.

Emily looked up at him. “So, what do we do now?” Her
tone lacked the hostility he was fast getting used to. She really
had been great these last few hours. He knew she had to be
hurting and she had to be tired, but she wasn’t complaining any.

“We find some kind of shelter and we wait for the WSB
to find us.”

“What about those guys?”

Lucky shakes his head. “If they were chasing us I’d know
it by now. My guess is Frisco or Robin or both are back at the
crash site now organizing a search. It might be a few hours but
they will find us.”

“Are you sure? What if they think we are dead?”

“Frisco knows better.” He almost grins at Emily. “I’m
from Port Charles. Nobody from Port Charles ever really dies.”

Emily almost returns his grin. Lucky catches his breath.
He looks around him and spots rock overhanging the side of the
mountain a short distance from them. They should be able to
find shelter underneath at least temporarily. “Come on,” he tells
Emily as they continue on.

Thirty minutes later, they are settled for the moment
underneath the overhang. Lucky has made a fire, but even so the
cold mountain air leaves Emily shivering. She sits a few feet
away Lucky trying to roll herself into a ball to conserve her
warmth.

“Are you okay?” Lucky asks with concern.

“Other than the fact that there’s a good chance that
either my boyfriend or my brother tried to have me killed this
morning, for the second time I might add, I’m fine.” Emily says
harshly. “My secretary keeps telling me I should get back to
nature more. I’m sure knowing that I’m here enjoying this
beautiful scenery will make Lark happy.”

“Still a city girl?”

“Always. Forever.”


“Good to see somethings never change.” Lucky grins. He
watches her for a moment. “You’d be warmer over here. Share
body heat and all that.”

Emily shakes her head. “Warmer maybe. But I’m safer
over here.”

Lucky’s smile fades. “Do you hate me that much?”

Emily doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.” She stops when she sees
Lucky pale. “When I think about it. Most of the time I don’t
think about it. I have other things in my life now.”

“It shouldn’t have happened.”

Emily flinches inwardly. Those words are as hard to hear
now as they were over a year ago. “Let’s just pretend it didn’t.”
Hadn’t she said those words a year ago too?

“Then can we go back to being friends. At least until this
mess is over and everything is back to normal.”

Does she even know what normal is anymore? She is
silent for a moment and then senses Lucky’s intense blue gaze
on her. Why is she so damn aware of him? Knowing that he
expects some kind of response, she nods.

“Then get over here so that you don’t freeze. I didn’t do
all of this to keep you alive just so that you could die of
pneumonia.”

Reluctantly, Emily moves closer to Lucky, but after a
minute or so decides that he is right, his body warmth does
mingle with hers to make her feel warm even in the cold air.
Almost unconsciously, she curves her body against his, lays her
head on his shoulder, closes her eyes to relax and within
moments gives in to the exhaustion from this morning and the
lack of sleep last night..

This was a mistake, Lucky thinks to himself. The feel of
her next to him is giving him ideas that have nothing to do with
friendship. He closes his eyes and remembers the last time they
sat like this. It had been the day his world had collapsed under
him and Emily had been there. She had been his rock. They had
ended up on the Quartermaine estate, sitting by the lake on a
blanket counting the stars over head, talking quietly, and
drinking. Or at least he had been drinking. Emily had just been
quiet and silent. It had been his idea to cool off in the lake and
they had gone in.

He groaned as he remembered what Emily had looked
like rising out of the water, the strange awareness in the air that
connected them, the surge of desire that had overtaken him. He
remembered her touch, her taste, her essence, Then he
remembered her heartbreak the next morning.


He was right. It shouldn’t have happened. So why
couldn’t he stop thinking about it. And wishing in the back of his
mind that it would happen again.

Encircling her in his arms, he leaned back, closed his
eyes, and fell asleep too.

Port Charles

A silent figure stands and watches the commotion going
on in Sonny Corinthos penthouse apartment with a slight grin.
Corinthos was about to discover that for all of his
self-importance and smugness, he was little more than a pawn in
this game of chase.

The figure glances at its watch and notes the time with a
smile that is both cold and joyful at the same time. Emily
Quartermaine was dead. Now, within the hour, Edward
Quartermaine would be dead too. Emily’s murder had been
delegated to trusted individuals. The old man....the old man
would be a personal pleasure.