"RUN, BRENDA!! DON’T LISTEN TO HIM!" Jax shouted again, but the attacker pulled him tighter against him.

As Brenda moved towards the door of the Grille, she saw the attacker’s arm come up with the broken bottle. "If you take one more step, Mrs. Jacks, I swear I’ll slash his throat!" Brenda put her hands to her mouth to stifle the scream as the man held the broken glass to Jax’s jugular vein.

"Brenda, do what I tell you and get out of here, NOW!!" Jax said in a grim voice. He could feel the jagged edge of what was once the champagne bottle pressing up against his neck and he knew the attacker meant business. But all he could think of was protecting the woman he loved more than life itself.

He saw the tears begin to run down her cheeks and realized that she wasn’t going to do as he asked. "Jax, I’m sorry, but I can’t," she sobbed, wringing her hands together. "I can’t leave you!"

The man whose son she had rescued only moments before moved to her side. "Ma’am, please listen to your husband. I can take you out the back way," he whispered to her, but the attacker’s hand only began to shake at Jax’s throat.

"THE B*TCH SAYS SHE DON’T WANT TO LEAVE HER HUBBY! NOW LEAVE HER ALONE!" he shouted, and Brenda pushed the man back down to be with his family. She turned her back to the attacker for a moment as she did, and took a deep breath. She knew she had to do something to get this out of this situation safely. As she gripped the table for a moment, her glance fell to the nearly empty dishes and her eyes narrowed with resolve.

Brenda turned back to face the horrible scene and saw that Jax was still safe. The attacker was still holding the broken bottle to Jax’s throat, but he wasn’t shaking as badly anymore. She faced them and quietly smoothed her overskirt purposefully, placing her hands on the table behind her momentarily for support. "I’m not going anywhere," she said in an even voice. "My husband and I are equal partners – in good times and bad."

The attacker got a pained look on his face. "Aww, Mrs. Jacks, don’t tell me you’re gonna give me some kind of sappy speech about wedding vows and love. I don’t think I can stomach it."

Brenda walked calmly towards the table, and Jax was breathing harder with each step she took. "Not at all. But I DO think that we need to talk. Maybe if we just sit down and calmly discuss what has you so upset, we can come to some kind of agreement." She moved closer and closer to the table as she spoke, her hands down in the folds of her skirt. "I just can’t figure out who you’re mad at and why you’re doing this. Tell me – did I do something to make you want this revenge or was it my husband?"

"That really doesn’t matter, Mrs. Jacks," he replied, a little shaken by Brenda’s calm demeanor. "All that matters is that I’ve got a razor-sharp piece of glass aimed right at your husband’s throat. I’m the one in charge here."

"I can see that," Brenda smiled, moving ever closer to the table. She could see the sweat popping out on Jax’s forehead and she knew it wasn’t his own safety that was causing his distress. But she couldn’t dare tipping her hand by giving Jax a clue to her plan.

"Brenda, STAY AWAY!" Jax said again, but she didn’t heed his warning.

"Don’t worry, honey," she said calmly. "See – I don’t really think that this guy is going to hurt either one of us. In fact, I think he’s beginning to realize that he doesn’t have control of this situation at all. He’s beginning to look a little rattled to me."

Jax’s eyes widened, and he prayed that his impulsive wife had some kind of plan. As Brenda kept coming closer and closer to the table where Jax sat, he could feel their attacker’s hand beginning to tremble. "You stay right where you are, Mrs. Jacks. I’m beginnin’ to think that YOU’RE the one who’s some kind of nut."

Brenda began to breathe a little easier when she saw the man start waving the broken bottle around as he gestured. As long as he didn’t have the glass held against Jax’s throat, her plan had a chance of working. "Yes….I’d definitely say that he’s looking a little haggard around the edges to me, Jax."

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME OR YOUR OLD MAN GETS IT!!" the attacker screamed frantically, waving the broken bottle towards her. Jax’s eyes followed the bottle closely and Brenda knew it was now or never.

"Yep. I think this guy should try to calm down, don’t you, honey? In fact, I think he should CHILL OUT!!" With that, she pulled her right hand from within the folds of her skirt and doused the attacker with the contents of the water carafe that had been on the table only minutes before. As he was hit in the eyes with the ice-cold shower, the attacker screamed and put his right arm up to his eyes, letting go of Jax.

Nobody had to tell Jax twice to take advantage of an opportunity. He jumped up, spun around and grabbed for the attacker, but the man in black had already stumbled backward enough to evade his tackle. When Jax saw that he was too far away for him to grab, he changed course and headed for Brenda, determined to get her out of the line of fire. He prayed that Bubba would be returning from his phone call in the lobby in time to intercept the attacker. When he got to Brenda, she collapsed into Jax’s arms, crying in relief and dropping the now-empty carafe to the floor.

As the attacker saw his plan disintegrating before him, he turned to run out of the Grille but was blocked at the door by Bubba. Jax cradled Brenda to his chest but cursed softly as he watched the large PCPD officer weave once, and then reach out to grab the man in black, completely missing him. Now that there was nobody between him and the door of the Grille, the man made a mad dash out the door as women still were screaming inside.

Jax caressed Brenda’s hair gently. "It’s over, love. He’s gone and we’re both safe. It’s over," he kept repeating in her ear.

Brenda pulled back to stroke Jax’s face lovingly. "You’re safe. I can’t believe it – you’re safe." Tears began to stream down her face again. "But it’s not over, Jax. That horrible man got away. He can still keep terrorizing us."

At that moment the Grille fell into silence as a commotion was heard in the lobby of the Port Charles Hotel. There were shouts and loud thumps, and everyone waited fearfully to see if the attacker had gathered reinforcements. A few seconds later, James appeared in the entrance to the Grille and rushed over to where Jax and Brenda stood. "Are you two OK?" He was wearing blue jeans, a chambray shirt, and had his trademark baseball cap on backwards again.

To Brenda’s surprise, Jax was livid. "JAMES! What the bloody h*ll are you doing here? Why aren’t you at home with the children?"

James put up his hands, palms out. "Calm down, calm down. Paul – he’s the new agent – arrived at the house early." He looked at the both of them with a grim face. "I don’t exactly know why, but I had a bad feeling about this whole thing tonight. I figured since he was there with the kids, I would come here to make sure everything was OK. I guess it’s a good thing I did."

Jax’s face was still grim. "It’s a d*mn shame you didn’t arrive earlier. The stalker got away from Mr. NYPD Blue over there," he said sarcastically.

James cracked a smile. "Not exactly. I came into the lobby just as he was heading for the back door and I – changed his plans a little."

"You got him?" Brenda asked excitedly, looking up from Jax’s embrace for the first time and into James’ eyes. She was again shocked when she saw James’ face fall and turn pale.

He ignored her question and came closer to her, reaching his index finger out to lightly touch her cheek. "He hurt you. The son of a b*tch hurt you." He pulled his finger back and saw blood there on the tip. "I’ll kill him myself," James said in a low voice that scared Brenda almost more than the attacker had. As he turned to go back towards the lobby, Brenda grabbed his arm.

"James! No! It’s nothing – just a scratch – really." She kept hold of his arm until she felt his body relax a little. He glanced back towards the lobby one more time, but then turned back to face Jax and Brenda. Pulling a white handkerchief out of his back pocket, he wet it in the ice water in a glass on the table and put it to Brenda’s cheek. "Tell us more – you got him?" Brenda repeated.

James nodded. "He had apparently pulled his mask off – some kind of ski mask, I take it? – but looked too suspicious for my taste. When I ordered him to stop, he made a dash for the back door." Brenda was surprised as James looked down at the floor in embarrassment. "Let’s just say that he didn’t get very far and he is now sleeping in the arms of a very large contingent of the PCPD."

Brenda looked up into Jax’s eyes and saw the same tears that were in hers. "It’s over, Jax. It’s really over."

Jax just hugged her to him tightly, and then turned to James. "Thanks just don’t seem……what’s the matter?"

Brenda looked up at James again and saw the same look of discomfort on his face that Jax had seen. "I’m sorry, you two, but I have another one of my feelings about this. I don’t think that this guy was really your stalker."

Jax was incredulous. "You mean that we have a whole fan club of nuts out there who want to hurt us?"

James shook his head. "No, not exactly. It’s just that most stalkers don’t reveal themselves to their victims this early in the game." He looked down at the floor, shuffled his foot a little, and then back at the two of them. "That guy was probably just a hired hand. We’ll know more after we get him down to Mac’s office and question him."

Tears were rolling down Brenda’s cheeks again, and Jax hugged her to him protectively. James patted Jax on the back. "Look, why don’t you take Brenda over to General Hospital and have somebody take a look at that cut? I’ll come to the house tomorrow morning after everyone’s gotten some sleep and I’ve had a chance to talk to this guy."

Brenda was shaking her head the whole time he was talking. "No, I’m not going to GH. This cut is nothing. I’ll just put some antibiotic stuff on it when I get home and a bandaid and I’ll be fine." She looked back at Jax, who was already shaking his head in exasperation. "Please don’t make me go to the hospital, honey. This really isn’t that serious."

Jax smiled at her benevolently and looked to James. "You know, if the entire medical profession depended on my wife for its income, they would all be paupers as of tomorrow." He took a deep breath. "You said this new agent – Paul – is with the kids?"

James nodded and smiled wryly. "Last time I saw him, Jo was trying to talk him into reading "Cat in the Hat" to her one more time."

Brenda returned James’ smile, feeling like she was finally bridging the wall that he had put up between them. "Are you going to question this guy tonight?" Jax asked quietly. When James nodded silently, Jax continued. "Then if you don’t mind, would you come out to the house tonight and tell us what you find out? Somehow I don’t think anybody’s going to get much rest tonight until we know for sure."

James nodded. "No problem. I’ll see you in a little while." He looked solemnly at Brenda again. "But I really think you should try to get some rest." He turned quickly and was gone in a flash, leaving Jax and Brenda to stand in the midst of the commotion that had once been their "quiet celebration dinner."

Jax was sitting at the desk in his study, nursing his way through a snifter of brandy, staring out the window at the darkened grounds. Brenda knocked softly and as Jax turned back to see her, she entered the room with a smile and shut the door again quietly. She was wearing a long white terry cloth robe with the initial "J" embroidered on the pocket and her hair was still wet from a recent shower. It hung in a mass of curls down her back.

"You want some of this?" Jax asked, standing next to his desk and raising his snifter of brandy to her. "It might help you sleep."

Brenda shook her head and came over to hug him tightly. "No thanks. I hate that stuff. It gives me a headache." She sighed deeply and rested her head on her husband’s chest. "The only thing that I need to help me sleep is seeing my children in their beds and knowing that they’re safe."

Jax held her against him. "I didn’t get a chance to talk to Jo when we got home. I wanted to call my folks and Jerry and let them know we were OK. How’s she doin’?"

Brenda chuckled a little. "She’s fine." She pulled back from his embrace and turned to show him her cheek. "She even gave me one of her prized Rugrats bandaids for my boo-boo."

Jax whistled softly. "Well, I guess we know now who rates the first-class treatment in this family." As he hugged her and ran his fingers through her hair, a brief knock sounded at the door and James put his head inside the opening.

"Excuse me, Mr. Jacks. I didn’t mean to interrupt." Jax waved him inside the door and he entered, followed by another tall, thin man. Brenda went to pull out of Jax’s embrace but he immediately put a halt to that plan by sitting down in his chair and pulling her onto his lap.

"Mr. & Mrs. Jacks, this is the new agent I told you about, Paul Hobson," James said by way of introduction. The new agent nodded at them and Brenda was surprised to see how young he was. He was taller than James – almost as tall as Jax – and completely opposite to James in coloring. He was thin to the point of being lanky, and had sandy-colored hair that fell onto his forehead almost constantly. Brenda noticed the laugh lines around his eyes and instantly knew that this man would do well with her children.

Jax had extended his hand to Paul. "Pleased to meet you, Paul, and the name is Jax. This is my wife, Brenda."

Paul shook both of their hands. "The pleasure is mine, sir. I heard that you both have been though something of an ordeal this evening."

Jax snorted. "That’s putting it mildly." He turned to James. "I take it you have some news for us?" He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk.

James sighed as he took a seat. "Yes, I do, but I’m afraid it’s not the news you were hoping for. Your attacker tonight was not the stalker himself. This guy was hired to do the job tonight a few days ago."

"But then he would have met the stalker and could tell us something about him, right?" Brenda asked hopefully.

To her dismay, James once again turned a cold stare on Brenda. "Not really. This guy is something of a mercenary who will work for any piece of slime if the price is right. He was apparently contacted by your stalker over the telephone and the money was waiting for him in a post office box." He looked at Jax. "We’ve already had the cash tested, and there are no markings or identifiable prints on it." James folded his hands in his lap. "With his known past as a "gun for hire," I don’t have any reason not to believe that he’s telling us the truth."

Jax nodded. "So we’re no closer to the stalker than we were before tonight’s events."

James shrugged. "Maybe not. Your guy must have had help tonight. Those lights in the Grille didn’t go out by themselves and it was no coincidence. I figure the stalker had arranged to provide the cover for your guy to make his move on Brenda by promising he would kill the lights. So at some time, he was physically present in the Port Charles Hotel. Now we just need to see if we can find a witness who recalls seeing anyone unusual in the hotel tonight."

Jax shook his head. "Well, thanks for trying, anyway. At least thanks to you taking the attacker out we have a place to start." Brenda nodded, but James remained unphased by their praise.

"Tomorrow morning after everyone’s had some rest we’ll go over the things that were said tonight. Maybe we can come up with some leads from that," James said. "Paul’s going to stay here with you tonight while I go back to the PCPD and see if our man in black has had anything more to say about his latest employer."

Jax looked keenly at James. "I think I might want to go pay a visit to someone tomorrow morning, based on what I recall of this evening."

Brenda gasped. "Jax, no! Let the police handle it! I don’t want you going anywhere by yourself."

"He won’t be going by himself, Mrs. Jacks," James replied, leaning forward to look at Jax critically. "I’ll be going with you, and Paul will stay here with Mrs. Jacks and the children." Jax nodded reluctantly. "So exactly who are we going to see?"

Jax sighed. "Someone I should have spoken with when this whole mess began."

The housekeeper showed Jax and James to a couch in a sunken living room decorated in shades of brown and black. "If you gentlemen will have a seat, Mrs. Morgan will be with you in just a moment."

"Thank you," Jax returned politely, and the woman nodded her head slightly and left the room. He looked at James. "Kind of makes you wonder whether it’s really worth working for the good guys, doesn’t it?"

James nodded wryly. "Yep. I never realized that the Mob paid that well. Although it’s a little dark for my taste."

They both stopped talking as they heard a noise on the stairs from the upper level. "Good morning, gentlemen. What a surprise," Carly said in an unenthusiastic voice. She swept into the room wearing a caftan in shades of orange and brown, almost blending in with the furniture.

As Jax and James both stood, she came to stand before Jax. "What’s the matter, Jax? Did you have second thoughts about the debate tonight and want to cancel?" She sat down and waved at the two of them to do likewise. "Or did you rescue some new widows and orphans and you just couldn’t wait until tonight to break the news?"

Jax didn’t crack a hint of a smile. "That’s not very funny, Mrs. Morgan, considering the fact that last night both my wife and myself needed our own band of rescuers." He looked down at the coffee table. "Or haven’t you read this morning’s paper?" He picked it up and tossed it in her direction on the table so that she could read the headlines.

She looked at them with a drawn face. "My, my.....you and poor Brenda just can’t seem to pull yourself away from being in the headlines, can you?" She looked at them with venom. "I guess you’ll do just about anything to make the front page these days, won’t you? The other night’s escapade wasn’t enough to suit you."

As Jax drew a breath to answer her accusation, James put his hand on Jax’s arm, trying to halt the escalating tension in the room. "Mrs. Morgan," Jax said in a tense voice, "this was no publicity stunt last night. Brenda and I were attacked by a very REAL felon and she has a wound to prove it."

Carly clucked her tongue. "Oh, the poor dear," she said caustically. "Let’s hope it’s not on her good side or all of those campaign posters will have to be re-shot, won’t they?"

As Jax started to rise physically off the couch, James pulled him back down by the arm. "Mrs. Morgan," he began in a quiet but deadly voice, "I don’t think we’ve been introduced. My name is James Delvecchio. I’m an agent for the World Security Bureau, and I’ve been protecting the Jacks family for several weeks now from some very REAL threats."

Carly nodded her head at James. "Well, now that we know who everybody is, I still fail to see what this has to do with me or the campaign."

"Come now, Mrs. Morgan," James continued, "I’m sure that you’re aware that your husband has some questionable business associates. They haven’t stopped at violence in the past to put a damper on the activities of their competitors. I’m sure that if you asked, your husband could refer you to any number of his "friends" who could provide a service for you."

"Are you insinuating that I would do something violent to Mr. Jacks or his family just to get ahead in the campaign, Mr. Delvecchio?"

James smiled acidly at Carly. "I’m saying, Mrs. Morgan, that you pretty much ended up looking like a horse’s @ss the other night in the cancelled debate after Jax arrived."

"And the man who terrorized Brenda and I last night specifically mentioned several times that he wondered if I would be acting like a hero again," Jax chimed in. "He seemed to emphasize that fact a great deal. And then you seemed anxious to rub it in as soon as you walked in to greet us this morning – not five minutes ago." Jax looked aside at James, who nodded. "Can you blame us for wondering about the coincidence, Mrs. Morgan?"

"According to what I’ve read," a male voice interrupted from the stairway, "you have your attacker in custody." Jason made his way down into the living room, glaring at the two men on the couch. "I fail to see what that might have to do with my wife’s comments about Mr. Jacks being a hero."

James looked up at Jason. "Mr. Morgan," he said in an unemotional greeting. "Well, the way I see it, it matters a lot because the man who terrorized Jax and Brenda last night was a hired hand – a mercenary who often does the dirty work for other high-class slime like yourself." Jason started to breathe hard but Carly reached up to grab his arm to restrain him.

Carly pasted a saccharine smile on her face and tried to keep her husband calm. "I still don’t see why you think that I would resort to violence in order to get ahead of you in the election, Mr. Jacks. You see, I already have enough of a support base to crush you anyway, so why should I feel insecure enough to take a gamble like that?"

"Maybe YOU wouldn’t, Mrs. Morgan, but maybe someone close to you would. Someone who loves you a great deal and who hates to see you disappointed. Someone who’s accustomed to using violence as a normal business method." Jax’s eyes narrowed as he spat the words and looked at Jason.

Carly’s face paled momentarily but then she smiled again. "My husband and I confide in each other, Mr. Jacks, the same way that I’m sure you and Brenda do. If he had even considered doing something like that, I would know about it."

"So since you and your husband are SO close, then you would be able to tell us where you both were last night between the hours of 7 and 9 PM." James gave them a withering look.

"I still fail to see what that has to do with anything," Carly argued, sounding slightly nervous. "If this attacker of yours was a hired hand like you said, why would you think the person who hired him was there last night?"

"Because our investigation has turned up the fact that the attacker must have had an accomplice in order to carry out his plan. He needed someone to kill the lights in the PC Grille." James looked from Carly to Jason and back again.

Jason stood. "We weren’t anywhere near the PC Hotel last night. We were home with our son."

James stood also. Although he was not as tall as Jason, his physical presence matched Jason inch for inch. "And there’s someone who can confirm that? Other than the two of you?"

Carly crossed her legs. "Our housekeeper, Graziella, and the baby’s nurse, Letitia, were both home with us."

"How about anyone who doesn’t work for you? Like a delivery person? Or someone you may have spoken with on the phone? Perhaps the doorman in this building?" James pursued the point like a dog with a bone.

"I think we’ve made it perfectly clear that we had nothing to do with your unfortunate incident," Carly said tensely. "Now if you both will excuse us, I need to meet with my advisors once more before our debate tonight." She rose from the couch. "I would say it’s been a pleasure, gentlemen, but it hasn’t."

Jax looked at James and then they both rose from the couch. As they were leaving, James looked back at Carly. "This isn’t over, Mrs. Morgan. I’m sure Commissioner Scorpio will want to ask you many of the same questions."

Carly closed the door behind them with a smile, but as soon as they left, she turned to lean against the closed door and gave a long sigh. Her expression turned to one of contained rage. Jason was going back up the stairs when her voice rang out.

"Have you gone and done something stupid that’s going to cost me the election?"

Jason turned back to face her. "Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Carly. I haven’t done anything that concerns you."

Carly walked towards where he stood, hips swaying beneath the caftan. "Then you won’t mind if I make a statement tonight at the debate that says that we are totally sympathetic to Jax and Brenda in these trying times." She stopped for a moment, placing her fingers against her mouth and thinking. Her face lit up. "I know! Maybe I could even offer YOUR services at the debate tonight to help investigate who’s behind these threats they’ve been getting! That would certainly put you and all of your nasty little compatriots in a good light and would be a star in my political crown."

Jason came back down the stairs to look into his wife’s eyes coldly. "Don’t make commitments for me or my business associates, Carly. Remember what I always tell you – you shouldn’t oughtta talk about what you don’t know about." He turned to go back up the stairs solemnly and left Carly standing at the foot of the stairs, her face pale and her hands slightly trembling.

"I won’t let you ruin this for me, Jason," she muttered. "Not this time."

To be continued……