Secrets, Lies, and Other Acts of Love
Chapter 14: No Way Out
Helena’s private quarters
“You!” Helena says in a disgusted tone, but doesn’t lower the gun.
“Nice to see you again too, babe,” Luke is nonchalant. “I think we’ve got a stand off
here.
You let Lucky go and I let your hunk of the week go.”
Without a word, Helena puts down the gun she has been playing with. Casually, she
picks up a second pistol that is on her desk, aims it, and shoots Jacob through the
head, then turns and trains the weapon on Lucky.
“You were saying?” she asks as she slowly begins to pull the trigger. The echo of the
gun shot dominates the room.
Lucky throws his weight to one side and the chair he is sitting on turns over. Helena’s
bullet grazes his left temple and Lucky is dazed, but alive.
Luke runs to his son and helps him undo the binds that tie his hands and pulls the gag
out of Lucky’s mouth.
“Lucky!” Luke’s voice is frantic as he examines the blood coming out of Lucky’s
temple. Like most shallow head wounds, it looks worse than it feels.
“I’m okay,” Lucky whispers getting to his feet.
“Not for long.” Neither father nor son noticed Helena recover her composure and
raise her weapon again. “Two Spencers for the price of one.” She whispers mockingly. “I
wonder which will be the first to die. The one responsible for killing my beloved husband
and son. Or his demon spawn.” Helena pauses. “Of course I could kill one and keep the
other for my entertainment.....”
Luke stares at Helena in horror. Her gun is trained on both of them. He lowers his
own gun as his eyes meet Lucky’s. “Can’t we talk about this?” Luke makes his voice as
calm as possible. Helena’s gun turns in his direction. It is pointed right at his face. He tries
to ignore it. “I’ve always thought you and I have had this very special relationship all these
years- kind of a spider and the fly type thing except you never know which of us is
which.” Luke keeps Helena talking, desperate to buy himself time .
While his father distracts Helena, Lucky loosens the knife strapped to his arm and
flips it open so that the switchblade, sharp and deadly, is ready.
“How typical of a Spencer. Amusing to the end. I do so wish that I could convince
you to stay for tea, but I’m afraid that I have an appointment with Ms. Quartermaine that I
must keep. Something about whips and lashes. Or was that lashes and whips.”
Lucky feels some deep cold anger take over. He grips the knife in his hand and
watches Helena’s fingers on the trigger.
“Helena” Lucky spits the words out.
“Why yes dear?” Helena turns in his direction. “Any last requests?”
“Just one” Lucky whispers through clenched teet as he brings the knife up. “Go to
hell.”
The knife flies through the air and Helena screams. She drops the gun and Luke
picks it up.
Helena is holding her chest in shock as the blood begins to stain her elegant
clothing. She is in shock.
“Good throw,” Luke says aiming the gun at Helena. “Just give me a second to
finish this off and we’ll get out of here.”
“No,” Lucky grabs the gun from Luke and walks over to Helena. “If I had my
way, I’d make you suffer like you’ve made Emily’s life hell for all these years. I’d take that
damned whip that you used on her and beat you with it till you bleed to death. But since
I’m in a hurry, I’ll settle for this.” Lucky aims the gun at her stomach and holding it
completely steady shoots. When the smoke clears, the gun is steady in his hand and Helena
is lying on the floor, conscious with a stready stream of blood flowing out of the gaping
whole in her abdomen. “That felt good,” Lucky smiles as he holds the gun up again. This
time he aims it at her head, determined to get rid of Helena Cassadine once and for all.”
But before he can pull the trigger, all hell breaks lose and the compound begins to fall
in around them.
20 minutes earlier
The third level of the compound
Jason swore as they turned into another dead end. He felt like a rat in a maze, with
the only difference being that a rat wasn’t carrying an AK 47 or leaving behind him
carefully placed grenades.
Still, the end result was the same. He felt trapped. He estimated the guards were
about three or four minutes behind him, maybe less. He turned his gun to the security
camera and shot it. One less complication.
He looked around. One side of the corridor had a door and he tried it. There was no
luck, the door was locked tight.
“Let me try,” said Emily. “She lifted the gun Jason had given her and aimed it at
the lock, shooting it straight through.” Pushing her weight against the door, she opened it.
“Damn,” she whispered. “It’s just an utility room.”
Jason looked frantically around him. Wait, up on the roof a vent. He handed his
weapons to Em. “I’m going to try to open that vent so we can get into the
air-conditioning system. Cover me. If it comes through that door, shoot it.”
Emily nodded. She held the gun up, trying not to let her nervousness and fright
show. Jason moved to the vent, climbing a box to reach it, and trying to use his Swiss
Army Knife to unscrew the screws that held it touch. Just as he got the last screw out and
the vent opened, the door flew open. Automatically, Emily’s hand squeezed the trigger
and the three guards who stood in the doorway fell.
“Let’s go,” Jason yelled. Emily scrambled up the boxes and helped Emily into the
vent. He was just about to follow after her when he noticed that one of the grids was
marked “Danger”. Taking the gun, he riddled that unit with bullets.
“Let’s see what that does,” he whispers to himself as he pulls himself into the air
conditioning vent after Emily.
They follow the vent from one part of the complex to another. When they pass
over a deserted bedroom, Jason pushes the vent out and they enter the room. There are no
windows but putting his head down the hallway, Jason spots a sign that says exit a 100
feet away. This side of the complex is not heavily guarded. Jason looks at Emily, meaning
to tell her to hurry because he knows it will not take Helena’s men long to follow their
route, but he stops. She is suddenly pale and shaking.
“Emily?” he questions.
She looks up at him, a certain wildness in her eyes. “I killed five men,”
Jason looks at her. He remembers how torn up she was when they had to put her
dog Rauol to sleep that one year. He has become so used to killing, that he has forgotten
what guilt or remorse feel like.
“How do you live with it?” her voice is a whisper.
“I don’t keep ount,” he says calmly.
Emily nods. She is about to follow him out the door down to the stairway when
they both hear this tremendous roar like an avalanche coming down.
“What is that?” Emily screams.
“I think that’s what happens when you ignore danger signs,” Jason yells. “Hit the
floor.” He pulls her down seconds before the building seems to collapse around them.
The Hotel:
So far, so good Jonathan thinks as he watches the lobby of the hotel. He traded his
silver belt buckle and clothes for that young Mexican boy’s outfits. The clothes are a little
too small, but that serves only to make him less noticeable and blend in better he thinks.
He also gave the boy his shoes and watch. He wishes he had the nerve to go back for his
backpack. He would like to keep his mother’s photo with him. But the thought of going
back into that hotel room, with all of those bullet holes, with Sean’s dead body, make him
gag.
He’ll just ask his mother for a new one when he sees her he thinks.
He needs to sneak out of the hotel which means past the manager in the lobby. He
doesn’t anyone, or at least any adult, to see him.
Just then, a man dressed in black walks into the lobby to speak to the manager.
The man is wearing the same kind of gun that Jason and Luke had earlier when he left..
Jonathan hides behind a potted palm to listen to their conversation.
The man in the black suit reaches into his pocket and hands over some money to
the manager. “Mrs. Cassadine sent me to give you this in appreciation for all you have
done for her.”
The manager nods nervously. “What about the body upstairs?
“My men will be over to dispose of it,” the man says. “Mrs. Cassadine thanks you
for your consideration and patience.”
“Mrs. Cassadine is a generous patron,” the manager says counting his money.
“Should I notify you if the other two return?”
“Other two?” The man’s eyes narrow. “What other two? You did not mention the
other two when Jacob was here?”
The manager shifts nervously. aware that he has made the wrong kind of mistake
with the wrong kind of men. “I..It slipped my mind..I meant to call him when it comes
back....”He babbled on.
“You fool,” The man said. “You meant to ask for more money. Jacob should kill
you for this, but he will not.”
“Thank you,” the manager begins to bow over and over again.
“No,” the man says. “I will save Jacob the trouble.” With one fluid motion the man
raises his gun and shoots the manager in the head.
From his hiding point behind the palms, Jonathan involuntarily screams.
The mans head whips around.
Their eyes meet. The man’s mind races. The boy is no native. He is white.
American. The correct age. The Cassadine.
The man reacts but the boy is faster. Without a word Jonathan runs into the street
and tries to disappear in the crowd, the man with the gun hot on his tail.
Helena’s compound
It takes about fifteen minutes for the dust to settle. When it does the sight is
surrealistic and unreal. From the outside, the main building looks like a war zone. Huge
cavities left over from a series of explosions ring the perimeter. The main building itself
looks like someone stepped on it and crushed it into pieces. There is no movement, no
sound of life. Inside the building nothing stirs except the walls which still shake in small
little aftershocks.
Everything else, everyone else, appears to be dead or dying.
