CHAPTER TWO Brenda arrived at the suite where Lucy and Kevin were staying, a smile of contentment on her face. "I think that we finished shooting today-and, let me tell you, I'm ready to get back to Jax!!" The lovely brunette spokeswoman for Jax Cosmetics, stretched and wandered over to the canvas that Lucy was still distractedly studying. Brenda paused, a look of recognition passing over her face. "That place looks vaguely familiar." "Does it? It's where Kevin went to school." Brenda started to laugh, then shuddered, instead. "Kind of weird to paint your old alma mater, isn't it?" "It's really weird to do it when you're sound asleep," Lucy told her, looking over her shoulder to see if Kevin was in earshot. "I've got to tell you, Brenda-finding him sleep painting was downright scary." "I can imagine. That's Rose Academy, isn't it?? It's a boy's school. My father sent Julia and later me to Baroque Hall, the sister school to Rose, but I only lasted there for a couple of months. Talk about an uptight bunch of people!! So, what did Kevin say about it when he woke up?" "He's still asleep. He painted furiously until early this morning, then went to bed and has been asleep ever since. You know, I thought that after what we'd been through, that this was all behind us, but now, I'm not so sure." "Have you considered calling Tom Hardy?" "Not until after I've talked with Kevin. I'm not going behind his back. Our relationship, indeed, our entire marriage is based upon honesty. Besides, it's not like he's been doing anything else weird." "That's weird enough." Brenda sighed. "Might make you consider returning to the States early?" "Actually, that thought has crossed my mind, but knowing Kevin, he'll just want to find out what's mucking around in his psyche and we'll stay a little longer." "Well, I'm heading out in the morning." Before they could say more, the phone rang, and Lucy answered it. "Hello. Julia?? Yeah, she's here. Hold on." Lucy handed the telephone to Brenda. "It's your sister. I forgot-this is the third time today that she's called." "Julia?" "Brenda, don't talk, just listen. I can't talk long-I'm being followed. I've sent you a package-damn!!" There was a thumping noise, as if the phone had been quickly dropped, and then a click, as if it had been hung up. "Julia?? Julia… That's weird." Quickly, she called the operator. "Can you trace the call that just came to this number? Yes, this is the Collins suite…..London?? Okay, get me the airport. Thanks." Minutes later, Brenda hung up the phone. "Look-I'm going to London in the morning. That was the earliest flight I could get. There's something going on with Julia-she sounded scared and said that she was being followed." "And you're going there?? Brenda, that's not a good idea. Why don't you just call the local police and have them check on her?" "I'll do that first." She smiled. "You know, Lucy, you're good for me. You and Jax believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. You could see that there was potential, that I was more than a dimwitted twit who believed herself in love with Sonny." Lucy smiled, and nodded, thoughtfully. "I guess that I saw a little of myself in you. I got mixed up with a really bad guy some years ago-oddly enough, his name was Kevin, too, and he was a murderer." She shook her head. "I had a pretty poor self image, and he used that to manipulate me-and I was so grateful for the attention that I never questioned his motives, or even my own reasons for buying into his schemes. It took a lot of time and, believe it or not, soul searching for me to come as far as I have. That, and some friends who saw good in me that I couldn't see. I guess that Dominique Taub Baldwin-she was the first face for Deception-she believed in me when I hated her-she'd just married Scotty and I was so jealous that I could spit!! Anyway, it's a long story that always makes me cry, and she made me see that I could be a better person." Rather impishly, Lucy grinned. "Let me tell you that it came as a real surprise to all of us!! Anyhow, I think that makes me a little more empathetic." "Dominique's maiden name was Taub?" "No, that was her first married name. She was married to a real jerk named Taub-I forget his first name, and that's another story." "My father used to do business with a man named Taub. Dear old dad was something of a crook, I think." Lucy nodded. "So I've heard. But, both of them are dead and gone now, and those days are over." Brenda smiled. "And all their ill-gotten gains are now being used in a productive, non-criminal manner. They must be rolling over in their graves." Jeremy awakened to the sound of voices in the goatherd's cabin. He dimly remembered making his way back to it the previous evening, and collapsing into the bed. Odd, but he must have been more seriously injured than he'd thought he was-now he was seeing and hearing things. He opened one eye again, and looked at the young women who were standing over him. Damn, but they were ugly!! He closed his eye again and decided to try to go back to sleep. Maybe the next dream would be better. It was then that he heard one of them say, "This guy looks a little like P.J., don't you think?" They knew P.J.? Surely he hadn't heard them right, Jeremy decided. He couldn't imagine his cousin knowing these two girls. Aside from the fact that his cousin had never been to Switzerland, he had better taste than that!! Barely opening one eye again, he noted that one girl was dark-haired, rather solidly built, and....she probably shaved!! The other one was a little shorter, more slightly built, and .....wait a minute. These were guys!! But dressed as women?? Keep your eyes shut, Jeremy! He ordered himself. The absolute last thing, well maybe not the absolute last thing, but definitely in the same neighborhood of last things he was interested in encountering were two cross-dressing guys. Like he didn't have enough trouble as it was! Vaguely, he wondered if he could outrun them, but considering the extent of his injuries, he seriously doubted it. Damn! He closed his eye again. "Yeah, he looks like P.J.," Nik nodded, thoughtfully, pulling the babushka from his head. As part of a disguise, it was effective, but he felt like a complete fool in it, and probably looked worse. He tore the frumpy wig off with it, and flung it into a corner. "And we both look like..." "Don't go there," Lucky laughed, peeling the layers of disguise from his head, too. "Anyhow, we've got to take care of this kid and find out if he knows where Dad is." Nik turned back to the young man laying across the bed, and noted, "I think he's hurt. Help me out here so I can see what's wrong with him." "You know much about first aid?" Lucky asked, interested. All Spencer's, even name only Spencers knew something about first aid. It often proved necessary. "A fair amount. I always wanted to be a doctor--and now that I won't be being The Cassadine, maybe I'll get what I want." The Cassadine? Jeremy thought. Wasn't that family involved in a serious scandal or something lately? Something about the Romanov's? Jeremy reopened one eye again, and looked. Yeah, it was him. He had that richer and therefore better than you look that Jeremy had come to recognize on many of his classmates. Make that 'former' classmates. So, who was the other kid? Wishing that he'd paid closer attention to the news of late, Jeremy opened the other eye and stared at both young men. "Hey, he's awake," Lucky observed. "Uh, we're, uh..." Lucky followed the young man's eyes to their clothes, and then to the wigs. "Uh, this isn't like it looks. That is, we're not----see, we're brothers--half-brothers, actually, but...well...let's not go into that right now." "Right," Nikolas injected. "Right now, we need to check on you. Who are you and what happened? And, while I'm at it, where is the man who used to be here?" Jeremy paused, wondering if he should say anything, but, given his circumstances, and the fact that they appeared to be related to the man who had saved his bacon, Jeremy opted to talk. "First off, just call me Jer. Yeah, Jer. As to what's wrong--I'm not sure. I may have dislocated my shoulder or something." Swiftly, Nikolas verified the diagnosis. "That appears to be the case. I've done it myself a time or two--falling from a horse. I can put it back in, but it won't be painless." "Here. Take a slug of this," Lucky offered the vodka that he found over on a shelf. "Dad won't drink the stuff anymore, but it'll dull the pain a little." Nodding, Jeremy accepted the bottle and drank deeply, gasping for breath as the liquid burned its way down his throat. In that instant, Nik braced himself against Jeremy and pulled while Lucky held him. It was a miserable moment, accompanied by a muffled yell and a pop, but it was over. Jeremy dropped back to the bed, moaning. "Here," Lucky suggested. "One more swig and you'll be fine." "One more swig and I'll be dead," Jeremy managed. "But, thanks, anyhow." He struggled to sit up, his face a mask of pain as he adjusted his position. "Whew!!" "Okay, now where's the man who was staying here?" Lucky asked. "How long have you been here?" "I think he's in jail," Jeremy told them. "The police came last evening." "He's in jail?? For what?" Lucky demanded. "Damn!! We haul our butts across Eastern Europe to get away from everybody, and he's in the slammer?" "What happened?" Nikolas asked, more to the point. "He killed a couple of guys," Jeremy told them. "But he saved both of us." "And you let him rot in jail?" Lucky was incensed. Nikolas, of a slightly more diplomatic bent, suggested, "I assume that there's a reason that you didn't straighten things out immediately?" Jeremy nodded, deciding not to tell them about his relationship with P.J.. That would be like giving them his name and he wasn't ready to do that. "I couldn't. Look, I can't go into details--what you don't know can't get you into trouble, but those guys were after me, and that man got between us. They decided to take him out, but he wasn't buying that idea. He wasted them instead, and then, called the police, himself. I came back just as they were taking him away." He shrugged. "Look, maybe I should have done something to stop them--but I didn't. He seemed like a guy who could take care of himself, and when I heard him say that he could clear up everything with a few phone calls, I stayed out of sight." Nik nodded. "He may have called my family..." "Not likely." Lucky gave the kid another look. "Okay, assuming that Dad got himself in deep **** for helping you, then you want to tell us just what kind of trouble you're in that's got people trying to kill you? I'm asking because unless those were the only guys involved in your problems, then Dad's in deeper **** for helping you, and he doesn't even know it." "He'll know it," Nikolas injected. "Your--that is, our father is smart enough to figure that out, and as we both know, he has friends in high places. He'll be all right." "You know," Lucky began. "This might be the right time to see if any of my newly discovered clout is worth anything." "One doesn't squander that," Nikolas told him. "Trust me. You promised me that you'd teach me about your world, and I vowed to return the favor. To throw your weight around before knowing the situation is foolhardy. One only makes use of the name when one is either certain that it will work, or one is desperate enough to try anything. To do otherwise puts one at the risk of looking extremely foolish, and undercuts further use of the name." "Right," Lucky nodded, thoughtfully. "I get it. Defeat weakens, and winning reinforces future use. You don't waste your trump card." "Exactly." Jeremy watched this exchange of strategy, and finally asked, "So, what are you guys going to do?" "Well," Lucky began, "Nik here says that we can't talk him out of the slammer, so, if the cops don't let him out, we'll have to spring him. See, if he's in as much trouble as we think he is, then just staying in jail while all the red tape is cut could be dangerous. Anybody who wants him knows right where he is, and if they want him killed, then it would be like shooting fish in a barrel." "I take it that this is your area of expertise?" Jeremy asked, curiously. Lucky grinned. "I am a man of many talents." "I demand to know where they've gone," Stefan told Laura, who just smiled serenely. "They disappeared yesterday, and I expect that you know where they are." "Where they are?" She shook her head as Bobbie watched in amusement. "I couldn't tell you that," Laura answered. "I don't know. But, were I to hazard a guess, I'd say that they were going to find Luke. Surely you understand their need to escape this fishbowl atmosphere. They haven't had a moment's peace since we arrived, and frankly, I think that Lucky did well to stay as long as he did. I wouldn't, however, worry about them. Luke raised Lucky to take care of himself, so as long as they're together, you won't have to worry about them." "But their passports are still here." Laura laughed out loud. "Passports? Surely you don't think that they are traveling as themselves?" "But Nikolas..." "Will be just fine. Bobbie?? Try to reassure your husband that a Spencer is perfectly capable of handling most any situation." "She's right," Bobbie smiled, taking Stefan by the hand, and gently leading him back to their room. "The boys are far more capable than you can imagine. Besides," she added, ruefully, "It's a little late to stop them. They'll call us if they get into trouble. Meanwhile, I can think of a few things we might catch up on." Catching the gleam of sensual promise in her eyes, Stefan did the only intelligent thing he could think of. He abandoned himself to her arms.