Victim of the Game-- Chapter 3
“You what?!” Fran screamed.
“I’m a WSB agent. The guy that mugged you that night five months ago was also an agent. It was a set up to get in your father’s good graces.” Lucky’s face was cold from years of practice. Fran’s face was stained with tears as she shook her head in denial.
“No! You love me. My father trusts you.”
“Things aren’t always as they seem.” Lucky said shrugging his shoulders.
“No. You love me.” She repeated. “All those nights, all those promises. They must have meant something to you!” She screamed.
Lucky’s eyes grew cold. “Frannie, you better learn something right now: ‘promises’ don’t mean a thing.”
Robert stepped in between them before Lucky could yell anymore.
“Now dear, your father has committed some very serious crimes and he has hurt a lot of people. We’re only here to stop him.”
Francesca looked up with teary eyes and said bitterly. “I don’t know anything!”
“I know that darling.” Robert said soothingly. “But I’m sure you will be questioned anyway. You shouldn’t be here, I’ll have an agent take you to a hotel.”
“A hotel? Why can’t I go home?” Frannie asked heatedly.
“It’s being searched.” Robert said sounding regretful.
Frannie laughed bitterly. “Oh this just keeps getting better.”
She walked towards the door, but stopped when she got to Lucky.
“You don’t know what love is, and you never will. You don’t deserve it.” She spit in his face and stalked out the door.
Frisco had come in the room just in time to see this. As soon as the door was shut he walked up to Lucky and Robert.
“Why was Francesca Vechio here?” He asked as Lucky wiped his face off. Frisco was slightly concerned at the stony expression Lucky’s face.
“Yeah I’d like to know why I just blew my cover to an angry woman with possible mob connections.” Lucky said breaking out of his trance.
“Oh relax Lucky, she doesn’t know your real name.” Robert said calmly.
“Wait, she knows?” Frisco exclaimed.
“She deserved to know the truth.” Robert said softly.
Frisco shook his head. “You know this thing you have with higher justice and the truth is really getting annoying.”
Robert smiled secretly. “She needed to know.”
Frisco and Lucky glared at their friend. They both knew he wasn’t just talking about the welfare of Francesca Vechio.
“Rob I’m getting kinda tired of your mysterious act. There’s some other agenda that you have, or have been given, and I want to know what it is. Who do you answer to!”
Robert smiled, as the door burst open, knowing that he wouldn’t have to answer their questions. Robert disappeared into the shadows of the penthouse, as was his talent.
“Jones! What are you doing here? This is out of you jurisdiction. Shouldn’t you be out chasing a pimp in Moscow?” The grizzled FBI agent sneered.
“Agent Gorski, so nice of you to finally show up.” Frisco said brightly.
“Why is this punk here?” Gorski asked motioning to Lucky.
“Bring your little brother to work day?” Frisco said putting on his best innocent smile.
“Funny Jones, but I’ve got sources saying that this little guy is Vechio’s right hand man.”
Frisco walked up to the old agent and shook his head sadly. “Still a step behind the rest of us, eh Gorski. It’s sad to see a veteran like yourself falling behind.” Frisco said condescendingly. Lucky stifled a chuckle.
“This young man here is a WSB agent and this is a little thing we like to call an ‘undercover operation’.” Frisco explained slowly, making quotes in the air with is fingers and doing a startlingly good Dr. Evil impression.
“Cut the jokes Jones! Organized crime is the FBI’s jurisdiction and you know that!” Gorski growled.
“Good thing we got here.” Lucky muttered.
“What was that!?” Gorski yelled glaring at Lucky.
Frisco shot Lucky a look and turned to Gorski. “Look, Vechio was under suspicion of trafficking stolen diamonds for a terrorist in Europe. No diamonds, but we did get enough evidence for you to put him away for a long time. So don’t worry, we did all the work and you get to take all the credit.” Frisco said motioning Lucky to the door.
“Wait! What’s the kid’s name? I want to report him to you superiors!”
“Agent Young.” Frisco said pushing Lucky out the door. He turned back and spoke menacingly to Gorski. “We were never here.”
Lucky looked at Frisco questioningly when he closed the door behind him.
“If nobody’s supposed to know we were here why did Robert have me tell Frannie that I was with the WSB?” Lucky asked as he walked into the elevator with Frisco.
Frisco shrugged his shoulders. “Only Robert knows that.”
“But why wouldn’t Sean tell us all and not just Robert?”
“I think this goes higher that Sean.”
“There is a higher than Sean?” Lucky asked surprised.
“Who knows.”
“Where is our mysterious partner anyway?”
“He’ll probably meet us at Sean’s office. You know Robert.” Frisco smiled.
“Yeah you know it’s really starting to get annoying the way he just pops in and out of nowhere. Is he some kind of wizard or something?” Lucky joked.
“Well my grandmother always used to say ‘Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger’.”
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Jason knocked lightly on the door.
“Who is it?” he heard quietly through the door.
“It’s me.”
“Come on in Jase.”
He opened the door to find her in jeans and an old dress shirt of his that she had found in the back of his closet. It was one of the ones that Carly had helped him buy after Sonny had left. When she said he needed to look more like a mobster. Jason smiled absently at the memory.
Elizabeth didn’t even look up at him, she just continued to paint furiously. Paint was splattered on the shirt from years of use as her work shirt. Her face was drawn in concentration as the brush flew across the canvass.
Jason went to stand behind her and looked at the painting. He was the only one she’d ever let look at her paintings before they were finished.
As all of her paintings recently, this one had an angry feel to it. Strokes of red flames on a black night filled the canvass. Jason could barely make out the dark form of a building standing behind the flames. In the sky was one lone, bright, blue star. That blue star had become her trademark; it was in all of her works. Jason squinted at the painting. Even after all these years he would still get a headache if he looked at paintings too long. Jason sighed and rubbed his temples. Elizabeth turned and smirked up at him.
“If you don’t want to have a headache, you shouldn’t look at my paintings!” She said as she stood up to wash her brushes out.
“Is it finished?”
“Yeah, not that it matters. I haven’t sold many paintings lately.” She sighed. “I have to find a way to pay Bobbie this week too.”
“Don’t worry about it Liz, I talked to Bobbie.” Jason said carefully.
“What do you mean you talked to her?” Elizabeth asked, her eyes flashing.
“I just told her not to bother you about the rent.” He said preparing for a blowout.
“And you paid for my rent didn’t you?”
“Liz I…”
“G-d Jason! You can’t take care of me like this. What part of ‘on my own’ don’t you understand?” She exclaimed. She took off Jason’s old dress shirt and put on her leather jacket over her t-shirt.
“The part where I can’t help a friend.” Jason said quietly.
“Jason I know you’re trying to help, but I don’t need you or anyone else to help me.” She grabbed her keys and her purse and headed out the door and down the stairs. Jason didn’t catch up with her until she was already in the diner.
“Elizabeth where are you going?” Jason said as he grabbed her arm to turn her around.
“I’m going to get the money to pay you back. And Bobbie,” Elizabeth turned to glare at Bobbie. “Jason doesn’t pay my rent, I do. I know it was late and I know if I was anyone else I would have been thrown out already, and I thank you for that. But please don’t take Jason’s money, I would rather you throw me out.” And with that she stormed out of the diner and out to her motorcycle.
Jason sighed and sat down on the stool next to Sly.
“So you can deal with her, huh?” Luke smirked.
“Shut up Luke.” Jason grumbled.
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The New York office of Sean Donnelley, Director of the WSB
“Nice of you lads to finally show up.” Robert quipped from the chair he was lounging in, looking very much the part of a wizard with a secret.
“Hey! It’s not our fault we were ambushed by the boys in blue.” Frisco said smiling impishly.
“Gorski?” Sean asked in a groan and Frisco nodded. “Well at least he’s up for retirement.”
All four men laughed but then Sean turned abruptly serious.
“So I take it Faison wasn’t dealing with Vechio, or else we’d be breaking out the good brandy?” Sean said grimly.
“I figured our partner here would have filled you in.” Frisco said looking pointedly at Robert.
“He wouldn’t tell me anything until you two arrived. And besides he just got here.” Sean said smiling evilly.
Lucky and Frisco both rolled their eyes.
“We gave the feds all the evidence we got on Vechio.” Lucky said officially.
“Yeah and Gorski wasn’t too appreciative.” Frisco quipped.
“Well that’s just cause he was kicked out of the WSB academy.” Sean said holding back a chuckle.
“Really?” Frisco said with amused interest.
“Yeah, it’s amazing what you can find out when you’re the boss.” Sean said grinning.
“Yeah well if I wasn’t dead I’d have that job.” Robert joked.
All of them laughed and then Sean took a folder out of his desk.
“This is your official mission in Port Charles. I know you guys won’t stay within the lines so I don’t really know why I even give you these things, but here you go.” And he tossed the folder to Frisco.
“So what is the basic plan?” Lucky asked nervously.
“Well you should make contact with mob. Lucky, since you have a connection to Corinthos you can go to him and Frisco will make contact with Sorrel.”
“Well there might be a slight problem with that. He thinks I’m dead!” Lucky exclaimed.
“So explain it to him Spencer!” Sean ordered. “I’m suspecting that Faison will more likely try to use Sonny to transport the diamonds just because he’s more reliable.”
“What if he tries to go with an independent like last time?” Lucky asked knowing exactly what happened with his father last time.
“Well Luke is the only one in Port Charles with skills like that and he knows Faison and won’t deal with him, so I don’t find that likely.” Sean got up and walked around his desk.
“If Corinthos hasn’t heard from Faison then I think we should do something a little different.” Sean said hesitating.
“What is it, go stand on the street and wait for Faison to come out?” Frisco joked.
Sean frowned. “Well kinda.”
Frisco burst out laughing. “The whole WSB strategy team behind us and this is all you can come up with?”
Sean glared at Frisco. “Well the best way to draw Faison out is for Lucky to go back to his family.”
“I’m so glad you decided this after I spent five years staying away from my family to keep them safe.” Lucky said sarcastically.
“Lucky you know that we had to wait until Faison came to the states to do this.”
“I know.”
“I’m sure that with both Frisco and Lucky going back to their families it won’t take long for Faison to come out of whatever hole he crawled into.”
“So do we get to take the jet?” Robert said grinning.
“Yes it’s waiting at the airport for you so get out of here!” Sean said glaring at Robert. “And take Frick and Frack with you!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So Aunt Bobbie, you got some room up there?” Sly asked jerking his head towards the stairs.
Bobbie smiled. “Of course I do.”
“Great, I’ll go get my bag.” Sly said and made his way out of the diner.
Bobbie smiled and turned to go in the kitchen.
“So what’s got our dear Elizabeth’s knickers in a twist?” Luke asked, turning to Jason.
“Liz doesn’t wear knickers.” Jason said with a puzzled look on his face.
Luke gave an exasperated sigh. “What’s got her so upset?”
“She’s just upset that I paid her rent. She’s going to pay me back.”
“With what? She’s broke.”
“She’s taking it out of what Audrey left her.”
“She hate’s using that money.” Luke said slightly worried. He knew that if she was willing to use that money then she must be in trouble. “I don’t know why she doesn’t like to use that money. Audrey left it to her when she died.”
“She just sees it as guilt money. For all the lies Audrey and the rest of her family told her.” Jason paused and looked at Luke. “She still blames herself for Audrey’s death.”
“I know, I know. But just because they fought doesn’t mean she caused that heart attack.”
“She still thinks that if she hadn’t stormed out that day, she would’ve been able to help Audrey when she had the attack.” Jason said solemnly.
“I know. But I just wish she wouldn’t refuse to use the money Audrey left her. Audrey just didn’t want her to worry about money while she was making it big.” Luke said smiling. Jason gave him a skeptical look.
“OK so maybe a little of it was guilt. But the old girl still meant well.”
Jason smiled.
“If she needed money she knows she could come to me or Alexis.” Luke said frowning.
“She also knows she could come to me, but she just doesn’t want any help from anyone.” Jason said shaking his head.
Sly walked into the outer courtyard of Kelly’s with his bag when his cell phone rang. He looked around to make sure he was alone and then answered the phone.
“Hello… Yes I’m here… I saw Luke… no he doesn’t suspect… Yes I’ll start getting things arranged for the shipment… Also, I saw her. She’s just like you said she would be… I did, and she nearly bit my head off… Yeah I’ll check in tomorrow. Later Boss.”
Sly hung up and stuffed the phone back in his pocket.
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Elizabeth walked out of the bank and across the street into the park. The park didn’t really bother her anymore, or at least that’s what she told herself. She sat down on the bench and rubbed her forehead. Going into that bank always gave her a headache. She looked down at her purse. This was the most expensive rent money she would ever pay. She had a gallery showing next week and hopefully that would turn in enough money so she could replace this money in the bank and still have enough to pay Bobbie next month. She remembered a time when she just painted for herself and not for money. Well things change.
She got up and headed out of the park. She looked down for a moment to get her keys out of her purse and she ran smack into someone. She looked up and was about to yell at this person and tell them to watch where they were going. But when she saw who it was she just rolled her eyes.
“Hello Mother.”
Note: “Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger” was said by J.R.R. Tolkien
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