Secrets, Lies, and Other Acts of Love:
Chapter 11- Gambles and Mistakes
.
The El Rico Hotel
Mexico
“So, what’s the plan?” Sean asked as the they sat in their hotel room. True to his
word, Sean had got them into El Sueco. Of course his method of transportation left a lot
to be desired- riding in the back of a farmer’s truck along with the chickens, pigs, and
goats. Lucky would never forget the sight of Jason- the notorious mob boss- with
chickens on his lap. The only one who had truly enjoyed the hour and half bumpy ride
from hell had been Jonathan. The six year old had spent the entire ride giggling and
trying to keep a very persistent goat from eating his backpack.
Lucky smiled at the young boy who was now sleeping soundly on the bed. Lucky
was amazed at how important the boy was fast becoming to him.
“The plan is to get Emily out,” Jason said simply.
“And you plan on doing this how?” Sean made no attempt to keep his sarcasm in
check, sometimes he had difficulty believing Jason had ever been a Quartermaine. “If
you want to beat the wicked witch of Greece you will have be five times sneakier and
ten times smarter. Maybe we should have brought Edward along on this little trip.”
Jason growled but said nothing.
“It would be great if we could get someone inside Helena’s compound,” Luke
said. “It would be a lot easier to rescue Emily if we knew exactly where in that massive
fortress Emily was.”
Sean shook his head. “No way. Helena’s boy toys are pretty much brainless but
they are absolutely loyal and extremely lethal. The WSB has tried for decades to
infiltrate her organization- no one who goes in ever lives to come out.”
“Everyone has their price,” said Jason.
“Not these guys. In their country, its an honor to serve the Cassadine. And dying
for a Cassadine pretty much guarantees you sainthood.”
Lucky only half listened to the conversation. He had been watching the town
from the hotel window. Across the street, was a small cantina that, judging from the
number of men going in and out, was the social center of the town. It was in fact
probably the only bar for miles and miles around.
“So basically, “ Sean felt the need to summarize. “ All we have to do is sneak
into the most heavily fortified compound in the Americas, locate a prisoner who we can
assume will be heavily guarded, and then get out again in one piece. And to think, I left
behind a cushy desk job in Boston for this little escapade.”
“I’ve got it,” Lucky smiled and turned around.
“Got what?”
“The perfect plan. Absolutely, positively foolproof.” It was remarkable how
much like his father Lucky looked at that moment.
“Absolutely positive no,” Luke repeated for the fifth time and for the fifth time
Lucky ignored him. “I’m not about to let my son march alone and unarmed into Helena
Cassadine’s web.”
“I’m too old to ask for your permission,” Lucky retorted calmly. “And for the
chance to rescue Emily, I’d march into hell alone and unarmed.”
“Hell or Helena’s place- same difference. It’s still a reckless plan.”
“Actually it’s not a bad plan,” Sean spoke up thoughtfully. “Not bad considering
a Spencer thought of it. It might just work. And I don’t hear you coming up with
anything better.”
“I agree, “ Jason said.
Luke gave in reluctantly. “Okay. I’m outvoted.”
“As long as you are not outwitted old man- don’t let it get you down,” Sean
consoled him.
“Then we’re agreed,” Lucky said impatiently. “ I go into that cantina. Alone. I
get drunk, as obnoxiously drunk as possible. Or at least I pretend to. Hopefully in the
process I attract the attention of as many of Helena’s men as I can. One of them
recognizes me and decides to score bonus points with his boss by giving her and an early
Christmas present- me.”
“Except that you’ll be wearing a homing beacon that will let us track your
precise location once you are inside. And we can rig up some kind of wire so that we
can hear you. Once inside, you find Emily and then we rescue the both of you.” Jason
finished.
“I still don’t like it,” Luke says. “There are too many holes in your plan. Too
many unknowns. We don’t know that Helena won’t have you shot on sight. We don’t
know that she will let you and Emily see each other. We could just be giving her another
hostage to hold over our heads. Or a Spencer to kill. The odds are not in your favor on
this one Cowboy.”
“The odds don’t need to be in my favor, they need to be in Emily’s,” There is not
a trace of doubt in Lucky’s voice. The last few days have been his own private hell. “I’ll
take odds that are a 100 to 1 against me if that one chance means saving her.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say Cowboy,” Luke shakes his head, not knowing
whether to be angry at Lucky or intensely proud of him. He settles on the latter.
“Heaven help you, that’s what I thought you’d say.”
A short while later:
Sean and Jason are busy working on the wire and a few other last minute
surprises for Helena. Lucky is sitting on the bed next to Jonathan, careful not to wake
the young boy. His hand traces a gentle path down the boy’s cheek. From his chair
nearby, Luke watches his son.
“Emily and I might not make it out of there alive,” Lucky whispers.
“I know,” Luke closes his eyes at the pain the thought brings.
“What will happen to him?” Lucky wonders looking at Jonathan.
“I imagine that I’ll take him to the Q’s or maybe even to Nikolas.”
Lucky shakes his head. “ With Helena still around, no one can ever know that he
is Emily’s child. No one. If his parentage was to be discovered, Helena would find him
and everything that Emily has sacrificed for him would be meaningless.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Luke sighs wondering what the world has done to
deserve Helena’s presence in it.
There is silence and then Lucky’s voice softly, “ I want you and Mom to raise
him.” Luke looks up startled. “Hear me out,” Lucky pleads. “If no one knows who his
parents are, I think you and Jason can keep him safe. Or as safe as possible. And Mom
will love him, even if she doesn’t know that he’s her grandchild. He’ll have two older
sisters to spoil him and the best father in the world to teach him all about the world. “
Luke finds himself near tears, but not surprised. He has watched his son fall in
love with the boy over the last two days. He wonders if Lucky knows himself how he
feels about Emily and her son.
“What do I tell your mother?”
“Not the truth,” Lucky replies. “You can’t ever tell her the truth.” His voice
grows softer. “I can’t believe I’m telling you to lie.” Then his voice grows stronger.
“Tell her Jonathan is mine. Tell her I had cheated on Liz years ago- a one night stand
when I was too young and too stupid to know better.”
“She won’t believe me.”
“Make her believe you,” Lucky’s voice is fierce. “If you tell her the truth she will
tell Nikolas and Jonathan will be in danger. I promised Emily I’d keep her safe. I failed
her. I won’t fail her son.”
Luke winces at the guilt in his son’s voice. It is a feeling that he knows well. He
wants to tell Lucky that it is not his fault, that there was nothing he could do. But Luke
knows from his own guilt over Laura’s kidnapping that such platitudes are meaningless.
Luke considers the ramifications of his decision and then nods.
“Thank you,” Lucky says gratefully.
There is more silence. Lucky looks up to meet his father’s eyes.
“I’m not coming out of there without her,” Lucky states.
Luke turns away so that Lucky can’t see his pain. “I’ve known that all along
Cowboy. All along.”
Helena’s compound:
Emily is lost, but she has not yet been found and she is grateful for small
miracles. She has been carefully moving from corridor to corridor for thirty minutes
now. She has learned to avoid the circular paths of the security cameras. But she knows
that she can’t stay hidden forever. There are too many guards and too many cameras for
her to avoid them all. She fingers the syringe filled with tranquilizer she holds in her
hand. She is running out of time. As soon as Helena discovers she is missing, the entire
compound will be locked down tighter than the Quartermaine mansion on a school
night.
Footsteps. Emily quickly ducks into a doorway. Two men, both heavily armed,
are coming down the corridor. Emily holds her breath, if they come all the way down to
where she is they will spot her. She can feel her heart pounding like thunder.
The guards stop about a 100 feet from where Emily is.
“Brown,” The older guard motions to the younger one. “Ms. Cassadine needs a
complete inventory of this merchandise before she ships it out to be sold next week.”
The second guard nods and disappears into the room while the older guard returns down
the corridor in the direction he came from.
Emily waits until he is gone before stepping into the hallway. “It’s now or
never,” she whispers to herself as she fingers the syringe.
Gathering her courage, Emily follows the guard into the room.
“Who are you?” The guard looks up as Emily enters and his weapon
automatically rises until it is pointed right at her. Emily forces herself to not to flinch.
The guard may be young and inexperience but the gun most definitely is not.
“I....” she forces her voice to sound weak and helpless. “ I woke up in this room
alone....I don’t know where I am....” She lets her voice trail off pleadingly as she slowly
moves closer to the guard.
The guard lowers his weapon and begins to smile. Emily moves even closer,
holding the syringe in her right hand.
“I can take you to Mrs. Cassadine,” The guard offers- visions of his reward for
returning an escaped prisoner dangling in his head.
“Could you?” Emily’s voice becomes flirtatious as she moves extremely close to
the guard. The weapon lowers completely. Emily flashes a smile and moves to whisper
in the guard’s ear. “That would be absolutely...” she pulls the syringe out of her pocket,
“hell!” She finishes as she plunges the syringe into the guard’s neck. The guard’s
surprise lasts for only a second but its long enough for Emily to knock the gun away
from him. By the time she has scrambled to retrieve the gun, the guard is out.
“Oh God,” Emily tries to stop shaking. Telling herself to get a grip, she holds
back the urge to be violently sick and removes the guard’s clothing. Discarding her own,
she puts on the guard’s. The clothes are baggy, but an improvement. She tears a strip
from her robe to tie her hair back with and slips it under her shirt. Carefully, she picks up
the gun, checks to make sure it is loaded, and puts it in the holster she borrowed from
the guard.
Then, praying silently, Emily heads back into the hallway to try to find a way
out.
The cantina:
Lucky was drunk. Not as drunk as the patrons in the bar though he was, but
drunker than he planned on being.
He had been sitting on this barstool for almost an hour working on finishing the
bottle of Tequila in front of him. He had been as loud and obnoxious as he could be and
all eyes had been on him since the minute he entered. In the corner of the bar, Sean
slouched keeping a careful eye on Lucky. From the hotel window, Jason and Luke used
binoculars to keep track of the action.
“Another bottle of Tequila,” Lucky slurs the words and sloshes the liquor as he
attempts to pour it into the shot glass.
“I think you’ve had enough,” a voice says at his side. Lucky looked and forced
himself to hide his grin. Jacob. The guard who had smashed his head and taken Emily
from him in Malibu. He had a score to settle with Jacob but he would be patient. For
now.
“Do I know you friend?” Lucky whirls around on the barstool, knocking the
Tequila bottle so that it spills on Jacob. Not as satisfying as killing the bastard, but it will
do for now.
“I think you do, “ Jacob grabs Lucky’s arm. “I think you do.”
Lucky makes only a half-hearted protest as Helena’s guards lead him away from
the bar.
The fish had swallowed the bait.
Thirty minutes later, Lucky is being led through the corridors of Helena’s
compound. Despite the twists and turns, he tries to keep track of where they are
heading. He is strangely calm- his mind focused on the task ahead.
The four guards surrounding him have tied his hands behind his back, but Lucky
is already loosening the bonds. As far as he is concerned, everything is going as
planned.
They turn the corner and run into another guard.
“Excuse me.” The guard mumbles and Lucky looks up in shock when he
recognizes the voice.
So great is his relief at seeing her and so strong is his feeling that for the first
time in his life Lucky forgets every Spencer rule of survival.
“Emily?”
“Lucky?”
“My, my..” says a cold voice from behind them. “What a sweet reunion.”
As Lucky looks into Emily’s face, he hears Helena’s commands to the guards
and realizes the enormity of his mistake.
He may have just doomed them both.
