"Corinthos here."

"Mr. Corinthos, Stuart Matthews. What happened to my shipment?"

"It was delivered on time as promised," Sonny told him. "No problems."

"No problems? I sent that shipment to you in perfect condition-it arrived worthless."

"Then you'd better check with your suppliers," Sonny told him. "All we did was move the goods."

"You threatened me with sudden financial losses," Stuart reminded him.

"Are you accusing me of tampering with your goods?" Sonny was annoyed. "Mr. Matthews. First you tell me how to run my business, and now you're accusing me of ruining your shipment. I don't think I like doing business with you."

"Where are my goods?"

"So now you think that I stole your goods? You think I'm a thief? I'm offended."

"I'm saying that I sent the goods in perfect condition."

"Mr. Matthews, I assure you that your goods came to no harm in my hands."

"I've heard that your right hand man is seeing Robin Scorpio."

"So?"

"So-I've been checking up-she's the daughter of former WSB agents."

"Who are dead and gone. So what? Her uncle is the head of PCPD but he can't find his a** in the dark with both hands."

"Are you sure she hasn't been compromised?"

"Robin? Compromised? Man, you don't know what you're talking about. She's not a problem and neither is my right hand man. You're barking up the wrong tree." Sonny hung up the phone as Jason walked into the penthouse. "We've got a problem, Jason."

"Yeah?" Jason looked up, alert.

"That shipment you stored in Beecher's Corners..."

"What about it?"

"We're being accused of tampering with it."

"That's dumb. I handled that myself."

"This guy knows about you and Robin."

Jason turned surly. "Nobody messes with Robin. Nobody."

"Hey, it's cool. But, it bothers me that this guy knows about her."

"If he hurts her in any way-even if he just upsets her..."

"No problem. I told Matthews that she's loyal."

"So what happened? Somebody in his operation screwing him over?"

"Gotta be. My people are completely loyal."

There was a pause, and Jason asked, "You ever get tired of this business?" He looked at Sonny. "I mean, I understand the challenge, the money, the power, but do you ever get tired of the other side?"

Sonny stared at Jason who stared back.

It was a war room, Marty, Jared, Robert, Anna, Luke and Sean sat grimly. Marty had assembled the group while Kevin continued to counsel with Tom.

"You know," Jared began, looking directly at Sean. "He looked a lot like you."

"Who?"

"The guy who dumped Tom. He said he used to work for Frisco, that Frisco's plane went down."

All eyes turned to Sean whose face lit up with a wide grin. "Connor? Dark haired, rather good looking young man?"

"Yeah-dimpled chin and all."

"I'll be damned! If it was Connor, trust him. I'd heard that he was working with Frisco, but I haven't heard from him in quite a while."

"Connor is Sean's son," Marty explained. "Go on, Jared. What did he say?"

"He corroborated what Tom said-about drops that kill and drops that are the antidote. He says that there's someone named Angela, blond, beautiful-even angelic in appearance, but purely evil in nature."

"Go on," Luke said. "Give me something to link the Cassadines to this affair."

"He didn't have anything to directly link them-never mentioned them by name. He did say that he'd managed to tie in Stuart Matthews via Matthew's Medical Research, that he'd met with a brunette woman named Victoria, and that he'd heard the word Timoria."

Luke sat up suddenly. "Timoria! My god! I knew it. Those #$%^&* Cassadines are in this up to their a**es."

"Then that's the word that Tom was trying to tell us. Timoria, not Tomoria. What does it mean?" Marty asked.

"I've heard that word before," Anna injected, her brow wrinkled. "Robert-do you remember the day the ship exploded?"

Robert looked vaguely pained, as if the memory was uncomfortable, but he shook his head. "It's all very murky, darling."

"It means "Atonement, or even Revenge," Luke supplied. "Stefan was playing a game called Timoria with Lucky-almost got him killed. This same game led us to Lesley Webber. Now Laura, Lesley and Lulu are missing."

"Then we can have a variety of links-Tom, Timoria, Cassadines, Matthew's, maybe Faison, if Anna's memory is correct and Sonny Corinthos."

"I'll kill that miserable SOB if he's involved with Cassidine," Luke said of Sonny. "But what is this all about? Who are Victoria and Angela, and what do they have to do with any of this?"

Jared spoke up. "This whole thing started a few months ago for me. I began tracking Faison when rumors of his reappearance began cropping up. I tracked him to Grand Bahamas Island and to a resort. I had just managed to sight him-I had a positive ID on the little bastard when someone took a shot at me. I returned fire and..." He exhaled, his expression grim. "A blond named-would you believe-Angela walked into the line of fire. Faison disappeared in the excitement, and I sort of lost it."

"I'm sorry," Anna said, touching his hand. "That sort of thing is always hard to deal with. Innocent bystanders are sometimes victims in spite of our best efforts."

Robert nodded. "It's rough, but it happens. Be glad that you still have feelings enough to be bothered by it. I knew agents who just stepped over the bodies and went on about their business."

"I appreciate that," Jared said, "but this still doesn't get us any closer to what's really going on."

Just then, a button on the phone next to Marty blinked, and she picked it up. "Yes?" A smile broke her face, and she said, "Excellent. You make contact with our friend yet?....Okay, keep me informed." She hung up and reported, "We have a link. Sonny is doing business with someone named Matthews. Someone from San Francisco."

"You got someone on the inside?" Luke asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Let's just say that I have my sources," she admitted. "But things are in danger of becoming dicey in a hurry back East."

"How's that?" Kevin asked, as he joined the group. His expression was concerned, and more than a little fatigued. "Lucy's back there. Does this involve her?"

Lucy let herself into the light house, where she tossed her bags over to the couch where someone caught them. Choking back a screech, she stopped. "Connor?" she whispered. "Connor!"

Throwing herself into his arms, she asked, "Is it really you? Of course it is! I'd know that dimpled chin anywhere! What are you doing here?? Get tired of the musical industry already? You know, I could really use you to help me with a commercial for Jax Cosmetics. You know that Jax never did really have a musical tie in-a tune associated with Jax Cosmetics. I think that....what's the matter? Oh, I'm sorry. I just sort of forget myself when I get excited. Now, what did you want? And, come to think of it, what are you doing here? In the lighthouse, that is? And, inside?"

Stifling a laugh, Connor got suddenly serious. "I'm here to tell you that I think there is someone planning to do you harm-probably kill you."

"Well. Gee thanks! I mean, that's just what I always wanted to hear. First I get kidnapped, now someone wants to kill me. What did I do to deserve all this?"

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