Emily Quartermaine slowly regained consciousness, aware of nothing more than a painful throbbing in her head and this vague sense that she would be better off remaining in the blessedly cool darkness than remembering whatever it was she didn’t want to remember.

She groaned silently, or at least she thought it was silently until her groans elicited a response.

A response that came in a voice she recognized.

But that was impossible. She remembered Sarah as the blonde beauty who the awkward teenager she had once been had admired in a vague sort of way. Sarah had been beautiful, got good grades, and dated the guy Emily had had a major crush on forever.

But that had been five years ago. Sarah had gone to Europe and except for periodic postcards, nobody in Port Charles had seen her over those last five years.

So that couldn’t have been Sarah covered in blood holding Michael with an automatic weapon in her hands.

It must have been an hallucination, a flashback from her recent bout with drug addiction. Jesus she must not be as together as she thought she was.

She moaned softly again as the pain increased with her ability to think and feel.

“Dammit Cates.” Even as she heard the harsh voice, Emily felt a cool and soothing cloth placed against her forehead. “Why the hell did you have to hit her so hard?” The slight note of concern in Sarah’s voice seemed at odds with the memory Emily had yet to decide was real.

“You would have preferred I kill the little bimbo?” The cynical voice asked casually. “That can still be arranged. Easily.” A pause. “After all it isn’t like you to leave witnesses hanging around. Or at least not live witnesses.”

“Nobody else dies. Not today anyway. Not if I can help it.” Sarah looked at the nasty bruise on the side of Emily’s head. “Do you think she needs a doctor?”

Jagger shook his head. “Getting soft on me Webber. First I can’t kill her, now you want to find a doctor?” Emily felt a few fingers painfully probe the swelling. “She’ll live. I didn’t hit her that hard. Why do you care?”

“She’s my sister’s best friend.” Sarah replied evenly. Once she was my friend, back when I was capable of being a friend she added silently. “I’ve cost my sister her family. I’m not going to cost her any friends.”

“I know this chick...” Jagger looked at the unnaturally pale form in front of him. The girl looked to be about 21, with long sable brown hair. He wondered what color her eyes were. Green maybe? “Isn’t she that model that tried to commit suicide a few months ago? Hell that even made the news in that God forsaken island in the South Pacific we were on.”

“Her name is Emily Quartermaine.”

“The sister.”

“Yeah.”

“I thought they were estranged. I thought they hadn’t talked to each other in months.”

“You thought wrong apparently. Jesus we really blew it today. First the wife dies and now this.”

“I still know how we can take care of this.” Jagger reminded her.

Sarah shook her head. “There has to be an alternative.”

“What if there isn’t? We have a mission to accomplish Webber and this could screw the whole thing up.”

“Then we’ll think of an alternative. Plan A didn’t work, so we move to Plan B. Either way the general dies and anyone who gets in our way dies with him.”

“Except her.”

“Except her.”

Jagger watched his partner carefully. First she’d lost it when Morgan’s wife died and now she was nursing, actually nursing, this Emily Quartermaine.

They should never have come back to Port Charles. Jagger knew how much being on home territory, being surrounded by memories of your past life before the Consortium, could disrupt your equilibrium, make it hard for you to do what you know needs to be done.

Damm Kosokov for coming to Port Charles. Damn Morgan for inviting him.

Somewhere inside himself Jagger cringed a little when he heard the girl moan softly in pain.

In the right light and in an alcohol induced haze, she could have been Karen.

He damned himself for the momentary flash of guilt and weakness he felt, however slight it was. He had a job to do and more was at stake than the lives of a few individuals.

Emily opened her eyes reluctantly and found herself staring into a pair of velvet brown eyes, eyes that reminded her of....She bit her lip. She wasn’t going to go there.

Her gaze left the handsome young man and surveyed the room she was in. A cheap run down motel. She knew about these kind of places first hand.

“You’ve come down in the world Sarah,” Emily’s voice croaked.

“You wouldn’t say that if you had seen some of the places I’ve stayed at.” Sarah said quietly. “I’m sorry you got pulled into this mess.”

Emily ignored the nauseating pain and sat up. “What mess?” Her glance landed on a sleeping Michael on a cot in the corner. She remembered the blood. The gun. It hadn’t been her imagination. “What is going on? Why is Michael.....” Oh God. “You killed Carly.”

Emily could feel the grief overwhelm her. Another person in her life dead. She had never really liked Carly, had liked her less after the fiasco she and Jason had pulled on AJ and all that had happened afterwards. Some things she would never forgive Jason and Carly for. Like the destruction of her family. But in the last six months, Carly had gone behind Jason’s back to let Emily see Michael. Her godson had been the one good thing in her life for the last year or so and she had Carly to thank.

She was truly sorry that Carly was dead.

“No,” Jagger spoke up, unsure why the silent condemnation in her eyes bugged him, but it did. “We didn’t kill her. She died because your brother is in over his head and doesn’t even know it.”

“Jason...” The pain in her head made forming coherent thoughts hard but Emily knew she had to try. “It’s business as usual with Jason. He and Sonny control the mob just like they always have.”

“No. No Emily they don’t. This last year they got a rival, someone far more powerful and deadly a threat than Moreno ever hoped to be. Jason and Sonny alone couldn’t fight a takeover of their territory. They needed guns, money, people, and they needed a show of strength that would make their rival think twice about trying to take over their territory.” Sarah paused a hard look crossing her face. “So they linked up with an Eastern Europe gun smuggler to supply him with weapons and a place to launder his money and set up legitimate businesses. The gun smuggler’s name was Kosokov. He was a former military officer with a past reaching back to the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. He had the money and the power base they needed to hold off their rivals. The fact that the man was a known war criminal with a trail of atrocities littered behind him didn’t seem to bother them.”

“Jason wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t deal with gun smugglers or war criminals or anybody like that.. That’s not like him.”

“Can the hero worship kid.” Jagger spat out. “Big brother did exactly that, he made a deal with the devil and his wife paid the price.”

“Then I’ll talk to him. Once I tell him about this guy he won’t do business with him.”

Jagger didn’t know whether to be revolted by her naivete or touched by it.

“You don’t get it. Your brother is in and with Kosokov the only way out is in a body bag. If Kosokov doesn’t kill him for backing out on the deal, then Kosokovenemies will kill him and anyone close to him to get to Kosokov.” Jagger inserted.

“What kind of man is this Kosokov?”

“He’s a monster. His name is linked with mass murders of entire villages throughout Eastern Europe. The number of women and men he had tortured, raped, and mutilated is beyond comprehension. When it comes to Kosovo, the lucky ones are the ones who die.” Sarah’s blue eyes turn inward and the vacant look in them scares Emily more than her words.

“What do you plan to do?”

“I’m going to kill the bastard.” Sarah said simply. “And your brother is going to help me get close enough to do it.”

“Jason? How are you going to convince him?”

“Simple.” Sarah’s eyes were hard and cold again. “If he doesn’t agree to help us, then you and Michael die.”

Looking into her eyes, Emily realized that Sarah meant every word and for the first time since waking up, Emily was afraid.

The Penthouse

Jason Morgan arrived home, mentally tired and physically exhausted. His job lately had left him feeling uneasy. He didn’t like the arrangements they had entered into with Kosokov. Sonny had set up all the details. They would provide the guns, Kosokov the money. The new influx of cash added to Kosokov’s resources should be enough to hold off Carlos Hesser’s takeover. Jason shrugged as he took off his leather jacket, sometimes he thought they would all be better off if they just let Hesser takeover. Except that Jason knew too much for them to let him walk away a second time.

He paused as the quietness of the penthouse suddenly hit him. No bodyguards. No Carly. No Michael.

He went over to the counter too look for a note or something from Carly. It wouldn’t surprise him if she had taken off to her mother’s for a couple of days again. She did that so often that Jason had set up a bedroom for Michael at his grandmother’s.

No note. Jason sighed. She was probably out shopping again. Or maybe she was with him again....He stopped himself. Carly’s infidelity wasn’t something that he wanted to think about at the moment.

He had married Carly for the best of reasons. Michael. After....everything, Michael had needed some stability in his life. He needed two parents who would be there for him. And Jason could think of no reason why he shouldn’t marry Carly. The fact that some part of him might have still been in love with Robin was irrelevant. Robin had married and moved on with her life. He’d seen her once when he had been in London. She had looked happy. Jason had made his decision, if there was no future with Robin, than he might as well give Carly and Michael what they wanted and what they deserved. A family. He didn’t love Carly, but he liked her and considered her one of his closest friends. And there had never been any question about the sex between them being hot. Together they could give Michael the home he needed.

So they had married. But it hadn’t taken long for things to fall apart. Carly had been bitterly disappointed when living together didn’t lead to Jason falling in love with her as she expected it would. So they had drifted apart. Jason into work. Carly into a series of discreet affairs that Jason really didn’t mine because they made her happy. Of course the one affair he had had had thrown Carly into a jealous rage that scared Michael, so Jason had stayed faithful after that. Their lives together had still centered around the son they both loved. It hadn’t been the marriage either of them had once imagined having, but it hadn’t been that bad so far.

He smiled. Maybe when things had settled down, he’d take Carly on a vacation somewhere. Maybe Sonny’s island. Michael would like snorkeling and playing on the beach, Carly could suntan in the lap of luxury.

He’d just about begun to feel rejuvenated when the phone rang.

“Morgan.” He answered.

“Your wife is dead. We have your kid and your sister. Unless you want them dead too, you’ll do as your told.”

“Who the hell is this? What kind of joke are you playing?”

“No joke Morgan. Here’s someone you’ll believe.”

“Jason.” He hadn’t heard his sister’s voice in almost six months but he still recognized it immediately.

“Emily.....Where are..”

The other voice came back on. “We’ll be in touch. Be ready.”

Before Jason could respond, the line went dead and the penthouse was silent again.