Part 18 is dedicated to Erika, Roark's Gush and Babble Baby, faithful provider of feedback!
Sami ran out of the guest house before Austin could stop her. She was positively livid. She wanted blood, and she wanted it now!
I'll teach that lowlife scumbag to do this to me!
She stalked around the pool, heading for the house. She placed her hand on the doorknob, intending to fling it open, march right up to Franco's room and rip his heart out of his lying, cheating, unfaithful body.
Before she could even twist the knob, someone had grabbed her from behind and placed a cloth smelling strongly of something sweet and sickly over her mouth.
One breath was all it took. Sami slid to the ground, unconscious.
"Eric, are you all right?" Kim cried as her nephew almost slumped to the ground.
Roman tried to catch him before he could fall. "Son, what's wrong?"
Roman, strong as he was, was no match for the dead weight that was his son. He did his best to cushion Eric's head as they toppled to the ground.
"Somebody get a doctor!" Kim yelled as she knelt beside her brother and her nephew.
"Sami!" was all Eric was able to whisper before he blacked out.
Marlena, understanding immediately, went off in search of her daughter.
"Christ!" Gus swore as she turned her head and saw the guests gathering around the fallen and unconscious Eric Brady. "Just my luck!"
"Gus!" Mike and Carrie called out as they found their way out of the boxwood hedge maze. Both of them looked a little disheveled, but Gus didn't have the time nor the inclination to comment at that moment.
"Carrie, your brother's fainted, and there's something not quite right going on here," Gus said as she hiked up the side of her skirt, unstrapped her Glock, and checked it to make sure it was loaded. Carrie's eyes went wide as they watched her quick, efficient movements.
Mike, strangely enough, was unperturbed and calm. "I'll take care of Eric."
He headed off in the direction of the crowd and Carrie watched him go, flabbergasted by his cool.
Gus practically threw her wrap at Carrie. "Sweet pea, will you make sure that doesn't get away from you? I have a damn hard time accessorizing these days!"
"Looks like you don't have to worry on that score," Carrie said as she gestured to the gun.
"What, this? Oh, I never leave home without my baby." She took the safety off and looked left, then right.
"We just saw an ISA agent in the gardens," Carrie said in a rush, "And she's not alone."
"Jesus Christ, I'm gonna kill him!" Gus swore as she set her jaw.
"Who?"
"Your uncle Shane. He told me I was solo on this mission!" Gus checked her spare clips. One attached to her holster, the other down her dress, the third in her purse. She removed the clip from her purse and gave that to Carrie as well before she slipped it into her cleavage. "My keys are in my purse. Mine's the black Lexus, if you need to get out of here in a hurry. Oh, call the police. We're going to need them."
"What's going on here?!" Carrie cried, running a hand through her hair and messing it up more than it already was.
"Don't ask questions, Carrie!" Gus said in an undertone. "I need you to do three things for me."
"What?"
"One, find my daughter and get her out of here-"
"Claire's here?!"
"--Yes, I'll fill you in later. Two, make sure that you get Sami out of here, too. They're going to pin it on her, and if she's accused this will mean trouble for everyone."
"What are you talking about!"
"Shhh!" Gus said as she grabbed Carrie's arm. "And three, find Lucas Roberts. He may be involved in this."
"Aunt Gus, you aren't making any sense!"
"Don't worry, Carrie, everything will be okay." Gus winked at her. "Oh, you should try to wipe the lipstick off of Mike's mouth before anyone notices."
With those parting words Gus sprinted away, surefooted and spry, towards the house.
As Carrie watched her go, the impact of Gus' final words finally hit her. She blushed bright red and unconsciously wiped her own lips with the back of her hand.
Gus quietly crept up behind the slender, black-clad figure who was peering through the window with a pair of standard-issue Canon binoculars. She observed her objective minutely, noticing that the agent was rather young to be a member of the ISA.
The young woman was intently staring through the window and Gus realized what she was seeing.
Kate Roberts was in the process confronting Kelly about his real reason for wanting to marry Sami Brady. And from the look on his face, Kelly was not at all happy to be found out.
Raskin, you idiot! Gus thought to herself, cursing their mole in the INS. She crept around for a better look, and almost tripped over the prone form of Sami, clad in her wedding gown. Gus bit her lip and acted quickly. She put the safety on and shoved the Glock down the front of her dress so that the handle rested on the swell of her breast. She checked Sami's pulse and respiration. Satisfied that the girl was still breathing, she withdrew to a different location.
Gus positioned herself within the bushes near a door and waited to see what would happen next.
Inside, Franco Kelly was raising a poker above his head, his predatorial look concentrated on the lady of the house, Kate Roberts, as she picked up the phone and dialed a number.
"Cherub to Archangel, do you copy?. . . Cherub in position, target in sight. . . Wait a minute! Jesus Christ! Cherub to Archangel, requesting backup immediately!"
"Don't move."
The voice and the gun pointed at her head belonged to a man, that was all that Gus knew. Gus closed her eyes and mentally kicked herself. If she got out of this alive she would deny herself chocolate for a month. She'd never been this sloppy, ever. But to her credit, there was only one person she knew who had ever gotten the drop on her before. . .
"Ramón Garcia," Gus whispered wearily as she stood up, turned around and came face to face with her nemesis.
He hadn't changed much, really. Considering the fact that she'd last seen him a bare six weeks ago, that was a rather inane thought to be having at the moment.
"Gun," he ordered in a hushed voice, holding his hand out for it.
Knowing there was no way out of this at the moment, Gus reluctantly gave up her Glock.
"Turn around."
She did so and Ramon forced her to her knees. He crouched down, grabbed her wrists, held them behind her back, and placed the barrel of his gun against her skull.
"You move, you die."
Gus swallowed and took a deep breath.
Please, Carrie, please get Claire out of here!
Carrie was looking around, frantically searching for Claire and almost ran over a very pretty young woman about her age who was heading for the house.
"Excuse me," Carrie said, "I'm so sorry!"
"Don't worry," the young woman said, and smiled brilliantly. She had black hair and such dazzling green eyes that Carrie was sure they weren't to be found in nature. "Can I help you?"
"Actually, yes," Carrie replied, flipping her hair out of her way. "Have you seen a little girl, about ten years old, who answers to the name of Claire Maxwell?"
The young woman's face registered her surprise. "I should hope so. She's my cousin."
"Take your time, Cherub," Ramon instructed the young woman who had put away the binoculars and was carefully cutting a hole in the glass. "We've got Seraph running backup for us."
"Copy that, Archangel," she replied, concentrating on making sure that the pocket laser was tracing a perfectly concentric circle.
Gus let her eyes wander over to the young woman. She couldn't be more than eighteen years old. She looked like she was barely out of high school, but she was operating a weapon of considerable destruction as if it was a toy.
There was something odd about the girl. She looked vaguely familiar, but Gus couldn't quite place where she might have seen her before. Something about the set of her eyes, the arch of her eyebrows, and the shape of her mouth was nagging at gus' subconscious.
Suddenly, the young woman pursed her lips in a way that made Gus pull some long-forgotten memory from the depths of her brain.
"Oh, my," she whispered, "Angelina. . ."
"Carrie!"
Carrie and the young woman turned at that moment to see Claire come bounding up to them and hop into Carrie's arms.
"I've missed you!" Claire declared before she settled a huge kiss on Carrie's cheek.
"Where were you, you little scamp?" the young woman inquired, "You had us all worried."
"Oh, Em'ly, I was all right. Gid-jin gave me some cake!"
"Not the wedding cake, I hope!"
"Don't worry, Em," answered a tall, good-looking man who appeared at Carrie's left. "We stuffed ourselves on the banana nut cake that was over by the salmon."
The young woman nodded, then realized she hadn't made any introductions. "I'm so sorry, I seem to have forgotten my manners while I was looking for Claire. I'm Emily Maxwell, and this is my brother, Gideon. Claire's father, Trevor Maxwell, is our uncle."
Carrie held out the hand that wasn't supporting her cousin. "Carrie Brady, er, Reed. Claire's mother, Augusta Fredericks, is my aunt."
"So, we're cousins, of a sort," Gideon suggested as he reached over and wiped Claire's mouth, as it was full of crumbs. Carrie felt that darned blush creeping up again over that specific gesture as they shook hands. Claire politely asked to be put down and Carrie obliged her.
"Do you think Uncle Trevor would mind if I took Claire home?"
"Uncle Trevor would not mind in the least, Carrie," Trevor Maxwell said as he came over and gave her a hug. "Good to see you again, sweet pea."
"Good to see you, too!" she said and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Have you met my fiancee, Juliana Roberts?" he inquired, drawing forth the lady in question.
"No, I don't believe I've had the pleasure," Carrie replied, extending her hand. "Are you, by any chance, related to Kate Roberts?"
"She's my sister," Juliana said as she firmly grasped Carrie's palm. "I understand that you're my nephew's wife. I'm so glad to meet you."
Carrie cringed inwardly. "Yes, Austin Reed is my husband."
"Are you all right, Carrie?" Trevor asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Gus asked if it would be all right for her to take Claire for the night," she said quickly.
"Sure. Do you have any idea what's going on here?"
"All I know is that the best man, who happens to be my brother, just collapsed a moment ago-"
"Oh no!" was the general outcry.
"No, it's okay," Carrie assured them, "The best doctor at Salem University Hospital, who also happens to be the COS is attending him. Eric will be okay if Mike's there. I'd trust him with my life."
Carrie looked over in the direction of the crowd and saw Mike's gold head as he bent over Eric, checking his vitals and issuing orders. She breathed deeply, hoping that Eric would be all right.
"Carrie?"
She whipped her head around to find Austin standing at her elbow. He looked worried, very worried.
"What is it, Austin, what's wrong?" she asked.
He ignored the Maxwells as he spoke to her in a low voice. "I told Sami about Franco. She just ran out of the pool house a moment ago like a bat out of hell."
"You told her?! Austin!" Carrie really, really, really wanted to hit him. "How could you do? Do you have any proof?!"
"Yeah, I've got proof, what do you take me for, a heartless bastard?! I'm not the kind of person to let her get up to the altar before embarrassing her in front of the entirety of Salem!"
"You were in that strip club again, weren't you!"
"That's not fair!"
Claire clapped her hands over her ears. "No yelling!" she shouted.
Some people had been watching the Reed skirmish in earnest, but Claire's diminutive little bellow managed to quiet the entire garden.
Everyone was silent as Carrie and Austin faced off, watching to see what would happen next.
But the next sound that anyone heard was a bloodcurdling scream coming from inside the house.
And then. . .
"Oh my God, he's DEAD!"
The wedding guests found Marlena kneeling on the ground beside her daughter. Sami was still unconscious. From where Marlena was facing, everyone could see the prone form of Franco Kelly, lying in a pool of blood that was rapidly widening and staining the Aubusson carpet in the library.
Carrie used the opportunity of the uproar to get Claire away from the party. "C'mon, sweetie, your mommy asked me to get you to a safe place."
Claire, obedient and agreeable, placed her hand in Carrie's and they quickly left through the side gate. Carrie had no trouble finding the car. She deactivated the alarm system, and got in, throwing Gus' purse and wrap on the floor in the back seat. After making sure Claire was buckled in, Carrie decided to drive to the one place where she would feel safe.
She headed for the hospital.
Finally, the gun that had been pointed at her skull was removed and Ramón hauled Gus to her feet. They left the cover of the bushes. There had been no problem evading the Salem Police Department, ineffective as it was.
The house was quiet. Everyone had gone to the hospital or to their homes. There had been a slew of detectives, police officers, and medical personnel to take care of the body of Franco Kelly as well as the unconscious forms of Samantha and Eric Brady. There was no one left.
Gus was silent as Ramón and "Cherub" led her towards the back of the house. She assumed they were going in the directions of the servants' entrance, possibly the kitchen. They rounded a corner of the mansion and Gus saw that they had a van as their means of conveyance. "Cherub" got in with nary so much as a backwards glance at Gus.
But Gus was in shock at who jumped out of the back. It couldn't be, I should not have been. . .
"Rafael," she muttered, placing her hand over her throat. After all these years, he'd come out of his self-imposed retirement.
Ramón tossed Gus' gun to Rafael, who caught it effortlessly, before he joined Angelina in the van.
Gus felt her knees knock together and her blood heat up as she quickly looked Rafael over. He was still as quick, deft, and as hard as he ever was. There was that annoying reaction she got whenever she saw him, beginning at her collarbone and working its way up her neck to her scalp. Fredericks women were known for their blushes, oh yes, indeed.
"Here you go," Rafael said as he extended the Glock towards her, handle first. She took it and gave him an inquiring look. She was just a bit peeved that Ramón had made her kneel ont he ground for two hours, threatening to kill her.
"What, no throwing me in the van and 'good-bye to all this and hello to oblivion'?" she asked sarcastically as she checked the clip. Fully loaded.
"Just needed to keep you out of trouble, querida, not take you out altogether," he replied before he put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head.
Gus closed her eyes and felt her body melt into his. Unfair, so unfair. Damn you. . . She shivered and hugged him back.
"Take care of yourself," she whispered as he let go of her.
"I always do, baby," he said, and touched the tip of her nose.
"Tell her I love her and. . . I think about her all the time." Gus nodded towards Angelina. Rafael gave her a bittersweet smile.
"I will."
He got in the van and shut the door. Gus felt a tear slip down her cheek as she watched them drive away.
She turned to go and gasped sharply as a bullet ripped through the flesh on her upper thigh.
Carrie had gotten some crayons and coloring books from the Pediatric wing of the hospital and set Claire to work on them at her desk while she paced back and forth in her office. She glanced at Claire and marvelled at her cousin's ability to remain calm in situations such as these.
The infamous desk. Carrie blushed furiously as she tacitly admitted the one thing that would make her relax at a time like this. . .
Mike, she thought to herself as she sat down on her couch and pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to ignore images that came back to her, Mike. . . I need you.
Gus clapped a hand over the bullet wound and gave a guttural growl through clenched teeth. Expletives that would have made a biker proud spewed forth from her lips as she ducked for cover.
She took the safety off her gun and said a quick prayer. God, if you're listening, I would really, really like to get out of this alive. I promise, no more coffee or chocolate or anything bad for me until my next birthday!
She waited for the better part of ten minutes, then slowly craned her head around the corner she'd hidden herself behind. . .
And came face to face with Craig Wesley.
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