Lucky Spencer had seen many things in his short time as a WSB agent, but what he never expected to see was Frisco Jones standing helpless.

Lucky took in at a glance the devastation of the hotel suite Frisco and Robin shared and swore softly, picked up his cell phone, and pushed a button. “This is Spencer. We have a code red situation. Right. The missing agent is Robin Scorpio. Right. No, I want a complete sweep team covering this entire block for witnesses. Somebody must have seen something. Then I want one of our best, no I want our best forensics team to cover this hotel room inch by inch. Every hair or fiber or anything that they find is to be analyzed and catalogued. No screw ups. And I want an immediate tale on Jason Morgan, Caroline Morgan, and Johnny D’Angelo. Don’t pick them up or move in close, I just want them followed. And I want hourly reports. Right. Thanks. We hope so too.” Lucky turned off the cell phone and looked at Frisco who was beginning to look a little less dazed. “Did I miss anything?”

Frisco shook his head and smiled gratefully. “You did good.”

“I was trained by the best.” Lucky said simply. “What’s the next step?”

“Wait a minute. If we have it narrowed down to three suspects, than why don’t we just pick them up and make them tell us where they have Robin?” Mac says impatiently.

“Too dangerous,” Lucky replies. “We don’t know what kind of situation Robin is facing. Until we have Robin secured, we don’t dare make a move on either Carly or Jason or even Johnny.”

“Man, I wish you hadn’t said that,” Taggert said as he entered the hotel room and let out a low whistle as he surveyed the destruction and chaos. “You boys have some kind of wild party and forget to invite me.”

“Robin’s been kidnapped,” Mac says abruptly. “What are you doing here?”

“Dispatch told me that you might be here. I had some information that the WSB might find useful that I thought you should hear.” Taggert pulls a reluctant Lark forward.

Emily, who had been standing quietly off to the side, looked up when Lark entered. “Lark? What?”

Lark walked up to Emily. “I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t change anything but I want you to know that I am sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Emily asks confused. It was almost morning, she hadn’t slept much over the last 24 hours, her grandfather had been brutally murdered, somebody had tried twice to kill her, Robin Scorpio had been kidnapped, Lucky and Frisco both seemed to believe that her brother was responsible for this, and now Lark, her assistant, was apologizing for something. Emily closed her eyes and sat down on the chair pulled off to the side of the room. When had she stepped into a bad episode of the Twilight Zone? And how the hell did she get out again?

“It seems Ms. Madison here has been providing Johnny D’Angelo with all kinds of information about you over the last year or so Miss. Quartermaine. Business information. Personal information. Things like what time you would be at a certain restaurant.”

“You spied on me?” Emily stared at Lark, the hurt on her face was rapidly being replaced with a growing sense of anger. “What did I do to you?”

“Nothing.” Lark replied helplessly. “I just...”

“He was blackmailing her. That’s all you need to know right now. The details have no bearing on this case.” Taggert cut her off smoothly and Lark flashed him a look of pure gratitude.

“Wait a minute,” Mac’s voice was a decibel level short of yelling. “I’m glad this one mystery is solved but somebody tell me what we are going to do about Robin.”

Frisco looks at Mac, an expression of cold ruthlessness on his face, “We do what we need to do.” Frisco pulled out his gun and checked it. “Junior, you still have that background information Robin had you pull on Johnny before we got to Port Charles.”

Lucky grimaced as he looked at his lap top. “No, but give me thirty minutes and a new computer and I’ll have it all plus more. I’ll be able to tell you every move the creep has made for the last month.”

“ELQ has a state of the art computer system and its only five minutes away.” Emily spoke up softly.

Frisco nodded, paced the room, closed his eyes tight to make a silent prayer, and then turned around. “All right. This is what’s going to happen next. Lucky, I’m putting you in charge of the main investigation into Edward’s murder. I need you to stay on top of everything- forensics, the autopsy, every thing related to the investigation passes through your hands. That includes the tails on Carly and Jason, the lab results. Everything. I’m also entrusting Ms. Quartermaine’s safety to you.” Frisco paused and took a deep breath. “Whoever is behind this, whether it’s Carly or Jason or even Sonny. They are not working this alone. The picture that Luke gave you of Johnny meeting with the Bolivian’s is proof of that. They’ll have a contract to fulfill and the murder of Edward tonight was only the beginning. They need to stop the building of that power plant and that means stopping you Emily. It’s going to be more imperative than ever that they eliminate you and they will try again. It’s up to you Spencer to make sure that they don’t succeed.”

“Wait a minute,” Lucky protests. “Who’s going to help you go after Robin if I’m here handling everything else?”

Frisco turns to Mac. “Mac will.”

“That’s crazy,” Lucky complained. “You need real back up.”

“I’ll have real back up,” Frisco said calmly. “A lesson for the future Junior, just because they are local law enforcement does not mean they aren’t good. Remember that. There is no one else I trust in my place besides you.”

Lucky and Frisco exchanged glances and Lucky found himself looking at Emily, quiet and withdrawn in the chair. She needed him here as much as Frisco did. He nodded. “I’ll handle it.”

“I know.” Frisco smiled absentmindedly. “Next, it’s real important that neither Jason or Carly panic or feel pressured. The surveillance teams keep their distance. We don’t do anything to provoke either of them into hurting Robin, stepping up their plans, or doing anything else rash. That means business as normal. Emily, you continue with the plans for the memorial service and your work at ELQ. Lark will continue as your assistant. If Johnny contacts you, feel free to tell him what he asks but the minute he hangs up or leaves you call Taggert or Lucky and tell them exactly what he asked and what you said. Do you understand?” Lark nodded. ‘Taggert, this is where you get the chance to get a taste of the excitement the WSB has to offer. Your job will be to help Spencer in any way he deems necessary. You are not to make a move without notification and approval.”

Taggert looks at Mac who nods.

As Frisco finishes giving instructions, Lucky walks up to his mentor and friend. “You will get her back you know. Hell, knowing Robin she’s probably managed to escape on her own by now.”

Frisco’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “They will pay for this. And if they’ve hurt her, they will die for thus.”

Lucky says nothing but nods. He turns to Emily. “Listen, I’m going to have Taggert guard your room while I’m at ELQ. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Emily nods. Maybe it’s the sheer depth of her exhaustion and the breakdown of her coping skills, but she reaches up to Lucky and gives him a friendly kiss on the cheek. “Be careful,” she whispers. She starts to walk out with Taggert, but turns to Lark. “Do you want to stay with me for a while. A few hours of sleep before we go in the morning will help us both feel better.”

Lark looks at Emily in astonishment. “You should hate me.”

Emily shrugs at meets Lucky’s gaze. “I’m too tired right now to hate anybody for any reason. Besides, I know what its like to be blackmailed. We all have things in our past that we are not proud of. No one has the right to use them as a tool to control us.” An absentminded smile crosses Emily’s face. “Don’t thank me yet. Just wait till we’re both flooded at work tomorrow.”

Lucky watches them both go and then turns to Frisco. “You’ll be at your cell.”

“Yeah. When you have the information make the call. In the meantime, Mac and I need to go have a chat with the one person who might know where Emily is.”

Mac nods. “Sonny Corinthos.”

“Right. He’ll at least be able to give us some clue on hiding places D’Angelo might use. I think its safe to say that neither Jason or Carly is dumb enough to lock Robin in a closet.”

“Who do you think it is?” Mac asks.

“For Robin’s sake I hope its Carly.”

“Carly? Why?”

“Jason is a cold blooded killer. That’s his job, however many designer suits he manages to wear and penthouses he buys himself. He and Robin were lovers once, but I’m not sure that would be reason enough for him to not hurt Robin. I don’t think Morgan would hesitate to hurt anyone who stood in his way. Even an ex-girlfriend.”

“And Carly?”

Frisco sighs as they elevator heads down. “Carly is slightly pathetic, very vindictive, and totally cunning. That makes her dangerous. But she is not as cold-blooded as Morgan. My guess is that she would keep Robin alive longer than Morgan, if for no other reason than to torture her.”

“I have to tell you that I don’t much like either scenario.” Mac muttered as he followed Frisco.

“Don’t worry.” Frisco said with far more calmness than he felt at the moment. ‘I’m not going to let anything happen to the woman I love.”

“That’s not a scenario I like either,” Mac concluded unhappily as he slid into the passenger seat of the rented car.

Somewhere

Robin looked at Luke glumly as she flexed her muscles and experimented with how tightly her hands and feet were bound. Too tightly. Across the room from her, Luke Spencer was also tied up and frowning. As tightly as they were both bound, they weren’t gagged which made Robin wonder. Wherever they were, Johnny obviously had no fear that they could be heard.

“I don’t suppose you have a Plan B up your sleeves?”

“Darling, I’m a Spencer. You should be thankful I even had a Plan A.”

Robin grunted as she experiment with moving different muscles in her wrists. She had tightened her muscles when Johnny had tied her wrists so that when she relaxed her muscles the rope would loosen. It had worked to a degree, but not enough yet to do any good. So far anyway.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to relax and calm down. Come on Scorpio. You’ve been in worse jams than this and come out okay. Remember when you rescued Lucky? That was a tight one but you survived. And the time in Ireland when you and Frisco went up against the group smuggling weapons to the IRA. It was damned close, but neither of you were hurt. Well at least not seriously. So think. What are your advantages here? One, by now Frisco knows your missing so he’s probably already on his way to rescue you. Too, you can tell by that smirk on Johnny’s face that he doesn’t see you as a real threat. Three, you’re a hell of a lot smarter than either him or his boss would be on a good day. Four, you’ve got a Spencer in the room with you. Maybe not the Spencer you want, but a Spencer nonetheless. Some of Lucky’s skills had to be genetic. Or at least she hoped so.

Johnny opened the door and entered the room, grinning at the two of them. “And how are my two favorite hostages doing at the moment?” He greeted them mockingly as he pulled up a chair, turned it around and sat down, the gun he held hanging casually at his side. “You seem to be a little tied up at the moment, so I won’t stay long.”

Robin briefly considered what was worse, being tied up by this creep or having to endure his bad puns. After a moment she realized it was no contest, it was definitely the bad puns.

“Why are you doing this?” Robin asked softly, keeping her voice lightweight and tinged with helplessness. “I know what your boss gets out of all this, but what do you get?”

“Money. Lots and lots of money. Enough to keep me in any style I want to grow accustomed to.”

“You’re a fool if you think the WSB isn’t going to figure this out. It’s hard to spend money from behind bars.”

“By the time those idiots at the WSB figure out their left hand from their right hand, the boss and I will be long gone. Did you know there are over 30 countries worldwide that do not have an extradition treaty with the United States? Some of them are even in warm and tropical climates.”

“So that’s the plan. Kill Edward Quartermaine and run. I don’t think its very smart of you to leave the job half done. I’ve heard that international terrorists can get pretty angry when you double cross them. You know they are more interested in stopping that project than in killing Edward.”

“Ain’t no double cross going to happen. We’ll finish the job before we go. Taking out the old man was the first step. Next the granddaughter and then we sabotage ELQ so that they don’t do business anywhere again.”

“You haven’t got a prayer of getting Emily Quartermaine,” Luke spoke up suddenly. “My son is too smart for you. He’s already beaten you twice.”

A look of pure hatred crossed Johnny’s face. “Your son is lucky, pardon the pun. But his luck is about to run out. The kid should have stayed dead and saved us all the trouble of killing him, Imagine, he’ll be the first person I’ve ever heard of who will get two funerals in one lifetime.”

“You bastard,” Luke exclaimed angrily.

“Tsk. Tsk.” Johnny leaned back casually. “I’d watch yourself Spencer. The only reason either of you is still alive is that the boss wants to be here to watch you die in person. Of course, in your case I might be able to talk the boss into letting you live. You’re particular talents” Johnny emphasizes the last words “have proven useful in the past and could in the future. Provided that you are willing to overlook this small difference of opinion.” “Go to hell.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say.”

Johnny turned to Robin and an evil smile filled his countenance. “It’s a damned shame you have HIV, a beautiful babe like you could probably convince me to let you live at least a few hours longer.”

Robin looked at him with eyes of steel. “You’ve finally given me a reason to be thankful for this damned virus. Thank you.”

“Little bitch. Too bad I have things to do or I’d make you regret that little bit of defiance.” He stood up and walked to the door. “Don’t get too comfortable. I’ll be back to finish the job before sunrise.

Luke watched him leave and then turned to Robin, surprised to find her smiling casual. “You happy about dying darling?”

“No one’s going to die,” Robin said calmly. “At leastwise not today. Not now.” She smiled at Luke. “I’ve just come up with Plan B.”