Chapters 36 & 37 CHAPTER 36: CHANGING HORSES   At Kelly's, the meeting between Lisa, Jason and Mark continues. Jason smiles disarmingly before speaking softly, "I believe you were about to tell me why your boss is late." Lisa copies Jason's smile, "She had an emergency business meeting and is unable to attend." Jason turns to Mark, "Would you excuse us for a while? Miss Smith and I have a few things to discuss." Mark starts to protest, but a look from Jason keeps him quiet. Silently, he stands and makes himself scarce. Jason turns back to Lisa, "What the hell is going on? I don't deal with underlings and errand girls." Lisa takes a deep breath to prepare herself for what she's about to do. "I want to work for you, Mr. Morgan." Jason laughs slightly, "Did you arrange this meeting for that?" Lisa shakes her head, "I arranged it because I was ordered to." Jason nods, "And what are you ordered to do now?" "Handle it." "This is your version of handling it?" "Mr. Morgan, my boss has hung me out to dry one too many times. She's careless, and in this business, that's not a good trait." Jason can see that she's serious, but he's slightly bothered by Lisa's lack of loyalty to her boss. "IF you were to work for me, how could I be sure that you wouldn't sell me out like your current employer?" Lisa looks in his eyes and honestly says, "She never had my loyalty." "I see." "Any information you want or need; it's yours." "What do you get out of the deal?" "I get out of Tracy's organization. She's blackmailing me into staying. And I get protection for myself and my family." Jason sits back, "You lose your power and your title." "You could crush her with one swift kick. I can manage the territory, just like now, except for you instead of her." Jason's not stupid and can recognize a good opportunity when he sees it. It helps that he can tell that Lisa is honest about her intentions. "Feed me the information as I request it; don't give her any indication of what you're doing. And just in case you think of doing the same thing with me, don't worry, you won't live long enough to think about it twice." Lisa smiles, "Thank you, sir. You won't regret this." Jason stands up, "No, I won't." With that, Jason gives a signal to Mark and they both leave. Lisa sits back and smiles again. Her plan is working perfectly. In Switzerland, Cassandra Corbin serves finger sandwiches to her guests, Kevin and Lucy Collins. Lucy takes one of the sandwiches and takes a bite out of it. She marvels at the wonderful taste, "You made these?" Cassidy nods, "Sure did." "That is absolutely amazing. Doc, did you try this? It's wonderful. I always wanted to cook like this, you know? All the pretty little foods with the pretty little taste. Not that the taste is pretty little, that's not what I meant at all. Just that it's a little taste, or rather a light taste. Anyway, I always wanted to cook like this, but face it, Doc here is the family chef. I couldn't cook if my life depended on it, not that it ever has, depended on it. My life, that is. But you know what I mean. I tried taking lessons once, but that never worked out..." As Cassidy's eyes widen as Lucy rambles on, Kevin cuts her off by stuffing the sandwich in her mouth, "Lucy, just eat the sandwich. You can fill Cassidy in on your culinary skills later." Lucy rolls her eyes as she eats the sandwich. Cassidy laughs, "Do you always keep food on hand?" she asks her brother. Kevin glances over at Lucy before answering, "Not usually, but I see the value in it." Lucy reaches over and smacks Kevin on the arm and he and Cassidy both laugh again. "Now look Doc..." Lucy is interrupted once again, but this time because of the shrill of the telephone. Cassidy stands to answer it, "Excuse me," she says to Kevin and Lucy. "Hello?" "Check your fax machine," the familiar but irritating voice of Cassidy's private investigator says before hanging up. "I swear I hate that guy," Cassidy mumbles as she walks over to her fax and pulls off the current document. "Damn," she says as she reads it. Kevin crosses over to her, "What's the matter?" Cassidy sighs, "Cari's older brother ran away yesterday." "Cari's brother?" Lucy asks. Nodding, Cassidy continues, "Jerry has another son, with Miranda Jamison. I've been keeping up with what he's doing, because of his connection to Cari. Miranda and her husband raised William, as well as another child they adopted, Patrick. But William just took off, and no one seems to know where he went." Thinking briefly, Kevin asks, "Does William know about Jerry?" Cassidy shrugs, "Miranda made it a point of keeping it from him, but he could have found out." Her phone rings again, "Busy day," she says before answering. This time the voice that greets her is more friendly, "Cassidy, honey, how are you?" Cassdiy smiles, "Lesley! I'm fine. How's Port Charles?" Lesley sighs, "Honey, I have some bad news. Staci's been kidnapped." "WHAT! How did this happen? Nikolas and Gina must be beside themselves, not to mention Stefan and Laura. Is there anything I can do? Do I need to have someone stay with Cari so I can come to Port Charles?" "No, Cassidy, Stefan thinks it would be best if you and Cari stayed there. It's safer until they know who took Staci." At the looks of curiosity and concern Cassidy gets from Kevin and Lucy, "Is everyone else okay?" "Lu was shot during the kidnapping. She's fine now and is coming home from the hospital today. Laura's been briefly hospitalized because of the stress this has put on her. Everyone else is worried sick. The FBI, the PCPD and Nikolas and Lucky are working on trying to figure out how to get her back." Cassidy takes a deep breath, "Kevin, Lucy and the girls are here with me. Do you need for Kevin and Lucy to come back?" "No. Keeping them away from all of this is probably best. Go on with everything like normal and we'll keep you updated from this end." "Okay, give our love to everyone and if anyone needs anything, have them call me." "I will, honey, take care." "Bye," Cassidy says before hanging up the phone. She turns to Kevin and Lucy, "Staci's been kidnapped." Next door to Cassidy's, a slender wisp of a boy searches through huge, empty cabinets, hoping to find something to eat. He sighs as he sees that the cabinets are still empty, just like all the days before. It's been days since he's had a full meal. 12 year old Simon Alexander Moore walks around the sparsely furnished living room of the large house. Indentations remain in the carpet where furniture once sat; bright spots in the paint on the walls indicate where large, ornate paintings used to hang. He takes a pewter picture frame off of the mantle and takes out the picture, leaving it on the mantle. Sighing again, he walks into one of the many bedrooms in the house. He looks at the figure lying on the bed, totally unresponsive. "Don't worry, Mommy, I'm gonna find us something to eat soon. I promise," he says softly before kissing her on the cheek and walking back towards the living room, still clutching the now empty picture frame. Tears glint in the corners of his silver grey eyes. The figure on the bed merely gazes into nothingness in response. CHAPTER 37: QUESTIONS ASKED   Serena Baldwin hops up off the sofa as the doorbell rings, "I'll get it, Daddy," she shouts back to the kitchen. "Okay baby," Scott's voice echoes back. Serena opens the door to see Lisa standing there. She smiles, "Hey Lisa." She steps aside so Lisa can come in. "Is your Dad here?" Serena nods, "He's in the kitchen, go on back." Lisa smiles, "Thanks." She goes in the kitchen and sees Scott sitting at the table going over some paperwork. Nervously, she asks, "Isn't the kitchen an odd place to work?" Scott doesn't look up, "Not if you're hungry." Lisa sits down next to him, and quickly says, "I've got a question for you." "Shoot." "Somebody did." Scott puts down the paper and looks over at her, "What are you talking about?" "Somebody shot Lesley Lu Spencer." "And this is my problem?" Lisa folds her hands in front of her, "It could be." Scott stands up, "Are you threatening me?" "Not me, but I know that you and Nikolas Cassadine aren't exactly chummy." Scott laughs slightly, "You could say that, but what does Laura's daughter have to do with Cassadine?" "His kid was kidnapped. I have this nagging feeling that the police are gonna be knocking at your door soon. Hope you've got a good alibi, and I'm not it." Lisa stands up and starts to head out. Scott takes her by the arm, "What is going on here?" Lisa sighs, "Just promise me that you didn't have anything to do with Staci Cassadine's kidnapping." Scott looks deep into her eyes, "I wouldn't kidnap a kid. I know too well how it feels. True, I don't like him, but I wouldn't ever do that to a kid, ANY kid. I thought you knew me better than that." Lisa smiles, relieved, "I do. I just needed to hear you say it." Scott pulls her into an embrace, "What happened? I've never seen you so shaken." "I'm the one that found Lu." She pulls back and looks at him, "She's my sister, and I had to pretend that I don't know her at all. It's driving me crazy." Scott shrugs, "Then tell someone." Lisa nods sarcastically, "Oh yeah, that'd work. 'Hey Lucky, guess what, I'm your older sister that your father never knew about.' That would go over like a lead balloon." Scott steps back a couple of steps and looks at Lisa, "There's something else on your mind, isn't there?" "I'm gonna help Lucky find her, but I could use your help." Scott nods and motions for her to sit back down at the table. He sits beside her, "What would you like to know?" "You left PC for a while and just came back right before I came, right?" Scott nods, so Lisa asks her next question. "Why?" He shrugs, "Well, a lot of reasons. One of them did involve Cassadine. One of his ex-employees wasn't very happy, and said he had a plan of revenge. He was a college chum of mine, so I thought I'd see what he had up his sleeve. I didn't like it, and told him so. I haven't heard from him since." Lisa frowns, "Could this guy be responsible for the kidnapping?" Scott shakes his head, "Nah, he wouldn't have the guts or the know-how to pull off anything so elaborate." "Hmm. What was the guy's name? I want to check him out, just in case." "Derek Barrington." Lisa's eyes widen at the name. "You sure?" Scott nods silently. "Damn," she says, slamming her fists on the table. "I'll see you later." She leans down and kisses Scott on the cheek, "Thanks," she says before dashing off. Robin rocks Anna while softly singing to her. Jason stands on the upper floor balcony, watching her and smiling. Robin looks up at Jason, "Well you could come down here, you know." Jason smiles back, "I just need to take care of a couple more things, then I'm all yours." Robin feigns shock, "I thought you were all mine before. Who's the other woman?" "Her name is Anna. She's quite a bit younger than me, though." Jason looks at the phone before finally picking it up and dialing. He gets Lucky's answering machine, "Typical," he mutters before hanging up, refusing to leave a message. As Jason comes downstairs, Mrs. Landers comes out of the kitchen, "Should I wake up Michael for breakfast?" Robin shakes her head, "Nope, let him sleep as long as he can. This is the first morning he's not been up at the crack of dawn. I'm enjoying the quiet." "MOMMY!" Michael's voice reverberates through the halls. Jason looks at Robin, "You spoke too soon." He leans over and kisses Robin, then kisses the baby. "I'll go bring him down for breakfast." "Thanks," Robin says, looking down at her sleeping daughter, "I finally get one to sleep and the other one wakes up. Robin stands up and puts Anna in her bassinet. Upstairs, Jason goes in Michael's room, where Michael is standing up in his crib, "Hey, there's Daddy's big boy. How would you like to go downstairs for breakfast with your old man?" Michael smiles, "Yep," he says, outstretching his arms towards his father. Jason picks up Michael out of his crib and they head downstairs, with Michael babbling incessantly the whole way. The doorbell rings, just as they get downstairs. Robin answers it. Mark is standing there. "Hello Mark," she says politely. Mark looks a bit sheepish, "Good morning, Mrs. Morgan. I'm sorry to bother you so early, but I need to speak with Jason." Jason crosses over to the door and hands Michael to Robin. "Come on, let's go outside." Jason leads Mark out the door. "What's wrong?" he says blankly. "Harris is gone." Jason gives Mark a hard stare, "What do you mean, 'gone'? I thought we had men watching him." Mark looks down, "We did. He gave us the slip. James seems to think that he headed for Florida. He's got some contacts there." Jason nods, making a quick decision, "I'll call our people in Florida and tell them you're on the way. Will you have any problem with your professors?" Mark shakes his head, "I'll tell them my aging mother is hospitalized down there, and they don't think she's going to make it." "Good. Stick with that story. I want to know of all of Harris' contacts in Florida and we get them followed as well. He's trouble, and I want to know EXACTLY what he's up to." Mark nods, "I'm on my way." Lucky frowns as he looks at the screen of his laptop. "Damn, damn, damn!" he fusses, slamming his fists against the table. "What's wrong?" Nikolas asks as he silently walks in the door of Lucky's apartment. "You should lock your doors." Lucky looks up, "Mmm. This handwriting doesn't have a match." Nikolas sits at the table opposite Lucky, "What do you mean?" "I took the note that the kidnapper sent you and scanned it. I've been running it through different databases trying to match it to any known person's handwriting. But, unless Staci's kidnapper is a known criminal, the record wouldn't be here." Nikolas nods, "So we're talking about a first time criminal here?" Lucky shrugs, "Yeah, I guess." Lucky looks at the scanned note again. "There has to be a clue in here somewhere. It's probably in that odd ransom amount." "Two hundred point seven million?" "Yeah. Two hundred point seven." Lucky starts thinking aloud, "Two zero zero seven. Two thousand seven," he mumbles. Getting an idea, he exclaims, "Hey bro, who'd you piss off in 2007?" "What?" "Think Nik. 2007. Three years ago. Did you do something strange or different?" Nikolas thinks for a second, "Not right off the top of my head. I'd have to go back and check." Lucky starts typing on his keyboard. "What are you doing?" Nik asks. Without looking up, Lucky says, "Going back and checking your personnel records. This screams of a disgruntled employee." Nikolas shakes his head, "They would have to be crazy." "Nah. Whoever it is, if they just wanted to hurt you, they would have never sent a ransom note and the police would have already found Staci's body. They probably just want you to worry a lot and get a lot of money out of you." Lucky gives Nikolas a minute to think that through before continuing, "But you know, if you just pay the ransom and get Staci back that way, without bringing down whoever it is, you're probably going to have to deal with more and more attempts. They'll view you as being vulnerable because of her and she'll become a walking money tree." "I will not have that." Lucky smiles, "Of course not. That's why I'm gonna find this scum."