Getting to The Truth
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**GETTING TO THE TRUTH**
Chapter 63
"Where the hell is he going?" Mel asked, trying to keep her eyes on the tail lights of Sonny's limo a couple of blocks ahead of them. Jeff had picked her up at the docks, having followed the limo there to pick up Sonny.
"Well he certainly isn't going to his penthouse," Jeff said in disgust. He hit the steering wheel in frustration, "Damn...where is he taking her?"
Mel looked at him in sympathy. If one was ever in doubt about Jeff's true feelings for her sister, they wouldn't be doubting if they could see now. Fear was written in neon letters on his face.
"We'll find her...we'll save both Bethany and Libby. I promise Jeff."
"I'm going to kill that sadistic little hood when I find him," Jeff muttered.
"Be sure my back is turned when you do," Mel said.
Jeff smiled faintly. "I will. Although I'm not too happy with you right now...so don't press your luck."
"I know...oh...he turned right. Hey...isn't this the old freight train station?"
"Yeah....so?"
"What is he doing going to this place?"
"Do hey still run trains out of there."
"Not that I know of, even when it was used it was for freight only....oh damn...."
"What?"
"Ummmmm....nothing."
"Don't give me that. Tell me what's going on?"
"I'll tell you later....pull over here...we can sneak up on the station by foot."
Jeff pulled his car over to side, and they quickly got out of the car and made their way up the old deserted street.
"Damn...we are too late...the train is already moving." Jeff said.
Mel looked around quickly and pointed to the roof of the depot, "We can jump on the train, if we can get there in time."
Jeff ran to the building and scaled it like a madman, "Come on! We've still got time!"
Mel climbed on some barrels beside the building and Jeff hauled her up by her arms. They ran to the other side of the roof and watched as the train slowly built up speed, the freight cars passing by them.
"I can't make it!" Mel yelled over the noise of the train.
"Yes you can...just pick a point and jump to it."
Mel crossed herself quickly, looked heavenward for a moment, then held her breath and jumped. Jeff jumped a moment later and landed on the last freight car. He quickly righted himself and looked for Mel. She was no where to be seen.
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"Looks like we found your missing ship," Jerry said.
"Missing ship?" Mac asked.
"Yeah, one of my ships from my shipping line mysteriously disappeared." Jax turned to Jerry, "Does this give me proof that Corinthos is behind all our troubles?"
"Corinthos is behind everyone's troubles...but yes...this is definitely proof that he's targeted you."
"Do you two mind telling me what is going on?" Mac asked in a perturbed voice.
The three men had made it to the docks where the PC police force was searching the ship.
"Seems Sonny has decided to go all out to hurt me in anyway possible," Jax supplied. "He's causing all sorts of trouble, business wise."
"Not just business wise...the man has my wife!" Jerry stated furiously. "Where the hell is Mel? Wasn't she supposed to be here?"
"Mel is following Sonny, I haven't heard anything from her. But I'm sure as soon as she knows anything, she'll call me," Mac stated.
"Commissioner?" Taggert approached the men.
"What is it?"
"We are coming up empty handed."
"What the hell are you talking about? What were in the crates that Mel saw being loaded?"
"Empty"
"Damn!!! This was a set up!" Mac stated.
"Yeah...which means that Corinthos is probably with the real cargo now," Tagger said.
Mac whipped out his phone and punched in Mel's cellular phone number. He waited impatiently for her to answer, but all he got was the infuriating message that the user wasn't available. "Where are you Mel?" He asked quietly, worry wrinkling his brow.
"What kind of rinkydink operation is this?" Jax shouted. "Where is Mel? How could you not know where she is?"
"Circumstances got out of hand Jax," Mac tried to calm the infuriated and scared Jax.
Jerry rubbed his brow, thinking, "Okay...we don't know where Mel is....we need to figure out where Corinthos could be...Mel will be there...as well as my wife and Bethany."
"Taggert get over to Corinthos penthouse, knock the door down if you have to, but see if Sonny is there."
"You don't think he actually took Libby and Beth back to his place do you?" Jax asked impatiently.
"No...but we have to check all avenues."
Jerry dropped his hand from his brow and stared at Mac, "What about Spencer?"
"Luke? What about him?" Mac asked confused.
"Well he's thick as thieves with the slime bucket...he might know where Sonny is," Jerry suggested.
"Good idea!" Jax agreed.
"Luke may be friends with Corinthos, that doesn't mean he knows his every move," Mac said.
Jerry checked his watch, "The club would be closed by now...where does Spencer live?"
"I'm not going to tell you where Luke lives. I'm not going to have two out of control people disturbing the citizens of this city. I'm telling you, Luke wouldn't be in on something like this."
Jerry grabbed Mac by the collar, "Either quit being part of the problem or get the hell out of my way! That's my WIFE's life you are playing with trying to protect your little buddies."
Mac swallowed hard and nodded. "I'll take you there."
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Jeff looked frantically over the side of the train and saw Mel hanging by her fingernails to the edge of the next freight car. He quickly, but cautiously made his way to that car, and reached down to help Mel up. He grunted as he pulled her up and over his body. The two laid there catching their breath for a moment.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Mel muttered, trying to sit up.
"Now what?" Jeff asked, looking up the train.
"Well, first of all, we have to get off the top of this train."
"Agreed," Jeff said, standing up and helping her to her feet. The train was building up speed and standing up, let alone walking was difficult. The two stumbled to the end of the car, "this looks a lot easier in the movies," Jeff said over the noise of the train.
"Everything is easier in the movies," Mel said, climbing down the ladder by the door of the car. Jeff joined her and tried to open the door.
"It's locked," he said.
Mel looked at the door and reached for her gun and pointed it at the lock.
"What are you doing?" Jeff asked.
"Works in the movies," Mel muttered as she took aim and fired. The noise of the train covering the sound of the gun firing.
"I'll be damned...it worked," Jeff said in disbelief as Mel kicked the door open.
Mel kept the gun in her hand as they entered the car. The car was empty except for a few old boxes piled up in the corner. The two made their way to the next car. They continued their search for 6 more cars, before finally finding one that actually was carrying cargo. Mel quickly searched the car before taking the time to check the crates. She searched for and found a metal rod to help her open one of the crates. Jeff took the rod from her hand and opened the box for her.
"Jackpot!" Mel said.
"Holy mother of...where did all these guns come from?" Jeff asked.
Mel picked up one of the guns, "Well, some of them came from the police station. Someone stole the guns that were set to be destroyed."
"The police lost their guns?" Jeff asked.
"They aren't police guns...they are guns taken from criminals, no longer needed for evidence." Mel went to another crate and patted it. Jeff pried it open. That crate was also loaded with guns. "If all these crates are loaded with guns, then Sonny has been getting guns from some place other than the local police station. Only 125 guns were stolen. There must be over a thousand in this car alone."
"That's what you thought was being loaded on the ship wasn't it?"
"Yeah...but obviously Sonny knew he was being watched and set the whole thing up. Or else he had something else going out on that ship."
"Chances are he never bought your suspension story and played you like a fool."
"Yeah...that's what I'm thinking too."
"Which means he knows that you know that Bethany and Libby were taken," Jeff said ominously.
"Tell me something I haven't already figured out."
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Jerry pounded loudly on the front door of the Spencer residence. The door was jerked open and an angry Luke stood in the doorway.
"What the hell do you want?" he spit out.
"Where's Corinthos?" Jerry asked between clenched teeth.
"How would I know? I'm not Sonny's keeper," Luke said snidely. He looked behind Jerry and saw an equally angry Jax and Mac was leaning against the porch railing. "Is this official police business? Because if it is, you should already know Scorpio that I don't ever cooperate with the fuzz."
Jerry grabbed his throat and backed him into the house, slamming him up against the wall, "This is Jacks business and if you know what's good for you, you had better tell me where your little mobster friend is, or I'm going to reach down that big mouth of yours and start pulling out vital organs."
"Dad!" Lucky screamed, coming down the stairs and jumped for Jerry. Jax caught him mid-air, his arms going tightly around the mad and scared boy.
Luke looked at Mac, who was now standing in the door, "Are you going to let them get away with busting into my home like this?"
"If you know what's good for you, you'll spill your guts about Corinthos before Jerry does what he says he's going to do." Mac stated simply.
"I don't know where Sonny is and I wouldn't tell you where if I did know," Luke gasped out as Jerry's hand closed tighter around his throat.
"What's going on down here?" Laura said, coming down the stairs. "Let go of my son!" she shouted at Jax.
Jax shook his head, "Not until we get the information we want. I'm not hurting the boy, just keeping him off Jerry until your husband tells him what he wants to know."
"What are you wanting to know?" Laura asked, stunned by the scene in front of her, but knowing that something wasn't right and it wasn't that someone had a hold of her son and her husband.
"Corinthos abducted my wife," Jerry spat out, "And he took Bethany Mason also."
"One of my officer's is also in trouble, she's missing and the last we heard was that she was trailing Sonny," Mac said, trying to remain calm. Laura was their only hope of getting any information out Luke.
Laura watched as Jax's jaw tightened at Mac's words, evidently the cop meant something to him. She looked at the distraught but very dangerous Jerry, his hand so tight around Luke's throat that his face was turning purple. She made her decision.
"Do you know where Sonny is, Luke?" she asked quietly.
"I'm not telling this idiots anything," Luke croaked.
Jerry growled and let go of Luke's throat only to throw a hard punch to his guts. Luke doubled over in pain. Lucky yelled at the top of his lungs, struggling to get out of Jax's arms, but couldn't. "Start talking Spencer, or heaven help you," Jerry threatened, rolling his hand in another fist.
Laura stepped closer, "Don't do that. He'll tell you what you want to know, or heaven won't be able to help him," she said threateningly at her husband. Luke looked at her from his doubled-over position.
"I'm not telling them anything," Luke said stubbornly. Jerry stepped towards him threateningly, but Laura held up her hand.
"I've put up with your friendship with Sonny because no one was getting hurt. But I'm telling you now...and I mean it with every breath in me...if someone gets hurt or killed because of Sonny and you could have stopped it...I'm going to pack my bags and the kids too, and we're out of here. For good. No more second chances, no more submitting to your will and wants. I won't live with or have my kids subjected to a man that puts a mobster over his own family and the safety of other people. Do you understand me? This is it....so start talking...or I'll start packing."
Luke looked at his wife and knew she was serious. She had finally had enough. A shiver of fear ran through him at the thought of losing her and their kids. He finally nodded slowly and looked at the Jacks brothers, "I don't know where Sonny is. But I did hear him say something about riding the rails tonight."
"Riding the rails?" Mac asked.
Jerry and Jax looked at each other, "He's taking the train?"
"He wouldn't want witnesses to what he's doing," Jax said, thinking out loud.
"No he wouldn't," Laura volunteered. "Could he have a private train?"
"Not likely," Mac said. "Look...we know he still has the guns, and we know he's trying to get them out of town. He couldn't take that on a passenger train."
"A freight train?" Jerry asked, "No legitimate train service would cart stolen guns."
"Sonny has a way of getting what he wants," Laura supplied, "they could simply not know what is on the train."
"No," Mac said, shaking his head, "All cargo has to be listed on the train mandate."
"Not if it's not loaded at the main freight station," Jax said. "I've had to bend a few rules myself."
"There's the old freight station just out of town," Laura said.
Mac, Jerry and Jax all looked at her. "Of course!" Mac said, "all he would have to do is bribe the conductor to stop there and pick up his load. Let's go!" He pulled out his cell phone and started shouting orders into the phone to check out the old depot, as he left the house.
Jax finally let go of Lucky, who ran to his dad. Jax smiled at Laura and bent to kiss her on the cheek, "Thank you for all your help. And I'm sorry we had to do it this way."
"I understand. I hope everything turns out alright...especially for the cop," Laura said quietly.
Jax looked at her and was surprised to see the knowledge of his love for the cop. He grinned at her and started for the door, "I'll be sure to send you an invitation to the wedding."
Jerry headed for the door after him, but said over his shoulder, "Thank you Mrs. Spencer, your help will not go unrewarded."
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Mel and Jeff had made their way through several more freight cars, some had cargo on it, some were empty. Not all of the crates had guns in it, which made Mel think that this wasn't a private train for Sonny's crimes.
"There are only a few cars left," Jeff said.
Mel nodded and handed him a gun she had lifted out of one of the crates, "You know how to use that?"
Jeff popped the cartridge in the gun, "I'll figure it out."
Mel pointed to a button, "That's the safety, it's on now, because I don't want to accidently get shot. But take it off safety when we find Sonny. Got it?"
"Got it," Jeff said, then swung to the door of the car which was opening. They both ducked behind some crates and as the unexpected visitor stepped past them, Mel raised her gun and pointed it at him.
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End of Chapter 63
HollyJo