Chapter 67

Liz closed her eyes and opened them again slowly, as she turned around to
face her assailant. "Sam?" She wispered, more of a statement than a question.

"That's right Lizzie," Sam said, backing up a bit, while still aiming the gun
at Liz's heart. "You surprised?"

"Not really," Liz said sarcastically, as she glanced feverishly around the
room, searching for anything that could be used as protection against Sam.
Maybe she could even get to the silent alarm button under the front desk.
'Ugh! Yeah right,' Elizabeth thought. 'Like Sam's gonna let me walk behind
this desk.'

Sam shook her head at Liz's sarcasm. "Watch your tone Liz. Watch your
tone...I wouldn't want this gun to go off accidentally or anything."

Liz stared down the barrell of Sam's gun, pointed straight at her and blinked
back angry tears. She would not allow herself to cry in front of her. "Why
are you doing this?" she asked flattly.

Sam chuckled. "Oh, spare me Lizzie...like you don't know."

Liz shook her head and shrugged her shoulders in frustration. "No Sam...no. I
honestly don't know...Is this all because of Lucky? All of this? You want my
husband so bad, you're willing to kill me for him?"

"Oh you wish this was just about Lucky! I could have had Lucky! He doesn't
deserve you! Nobody deserves a whore like you!...No, Liz...this is about
family and what you did to mine."

Liz threw up her hands in exasperation. "What?...Sam, I don't know what
you're talking about! I only met you a couple of months ago...What could I
have possibly done - "

"You sent my brother to prison!" Sam shouted, her gun rattling around, as she
used two hands to steady it now.

Liz's mouth dropped open.

"Yes...you do remember Tom don't you Liz? I'm quite sure that you do...he's
the guy that you had a one night stand with, and then you cried, 'rape!'
Puhleeeeeeeease Elizabeth...I went to PC High, you don't remember me, but I
remember you...and I remember what a slut you were. Everyone knew you were!
You probably screwed the entire male student body, but for some reason you
only saw fit to call it rape with my brother! He didn't want you anymore, so
you told everybody he forced you....I hate you."

Liz stood in silence as the shock of learning that Sam was Tom Baker's sister
began to subside. She struggled to find her voice, and when she did it was
barely above a wisper. "Is....is that what he told you? That it was a one
night stand?...Sam, that's not what happened...your brother ra - "

"Don't!" Sam yelled, cutting her off. "If you say that one more time, so help
me I'll pull this trigger so fast..."

Liz sighed and folded her arms, running her palms over her upperarms in an
effort to quiet her jangled nerves. She took a deep breath. "Ok...ok Sam. You
win. I'm a tramp....but you're brother wasn't even convicted of rape...it was
extortion...and if memory serves, he's going to be out really soon."

"So what!" Sam shouted. "Do you think that matters Liz? No! He didn't get
convicted on rape charges...but he DID get convicted. AND everyone heard you
in that courtroom that day. Everyone heard you call my brother a rapist! What
do you think that did to my family?...You deserve to die Elizabeth."

Liz backed up against the desk behind her, she could no longer stand on her
own. She knew that she was playing with fire by asking her next question, but
she also knew that if there was any hope of someone coming to her rescue, she
had to keep Sam talking. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She asked quietly.

"Oh, don't you worry," Sam said eerily. "You'll be dead soon enough...but you
need to suffer a bit first."

Liz looked down and rolled her eyes. 'You already slept with my husband,' she
thought. 'That's not enough torture?' Her head snapped up when she heard Sam
bark out her next words.

"I assume that Lucky is on his way...so we need to get moving. I left him a
nice little note in my apartment, but I don't want him to find us just
yet...You and I are gonna take a little drive to a place that I'm sure holds
a lot of great memories for you and my brother."

"The park?" Liz questioned, trying to think as a physchotic would.

"No, you Nitwit! Not the park!...Don't you worry your pretty little head
about where we're going...you'll see when we get there." Sam finished,
grabbing Liz's arm and heading for the front door.

"Wait!" Liz said, planting her feet firmly on the ground. "Before we go...I
really need to use the bathroom."

"Yeah right Lizzie...like I'm going to let you out of my site."

"Seriously Sam...please. Come on, I'm a woman, you're a woman...I don't
really have to explain this to you do I?"

"Go!" Sam ordered. "I'm giving you exactly two minutes Liz."

Liz hurried past her desk, grabbing her purse on the way. She quickly pushed
the door open and scrambled into a stall, yanking her address book from her
purse. She flipped it open to where she had Lucky's cell phone number listed.
She then pulled out her lipstick and circled the number 3 times over with the
red cosmetic. Finally, she lay the book open faced atop the toilet paper
dispenser. She could only hope that Kyle would see it and call Lucky. She'd
have to find away to leave the door unlocked when they left..Kyle would know
that something was wrong.

She unlocked the stall door and turned the faucet on, as not to arouse
suspicion from Sam. She turned the tube of lipstick up all the way and
proceeded to scrawl the word "STUDIO" in big letters across the mirror.
'Please God,' She thought. ' Please let Lucky get here and read this...he'll
know what it means.'

"Hurry up Elizabeth!" Sam yelled through the door.

Liz dropped her lipstick into the sink, hoping it would be yet another clue
to Lucky. She bolted from the door then, praying that it would all be enough.

Chapter 68

Kyle knocked on the glass door and peered inside, looking for Elizabeth. She
was nowhere to be seen. He knocked again. She usually waited for him right
near the door. "Come on Liz...it's raining out -" Kyle's words stopped as the
door pushed open under his fist.

He walked in slowly. The lights were off, everything looked the way it should
at the end of the day. "Liz," he called out again. "I know you probably just
forgot, but it's really not cool to leave the door unlocked like that when
we're closing up....Liz?"

He stood in the middle of the room. The only sound to be heard, the pelting
rain upon the roof. Liz was not there. 'Did someone break in?' He thought.
'It's really not like her to just leave the door...she knew I was picking her
up right?...Ok, before you panic...maybe she's just in the bathroom or
something.'

Kyle walked over to the bathroom door and knocked. "Liz...are you in there?"

No answer came. 'What the Hell do I do now?' He thought. 'Nothing has been
stolen...ok, I'll calm down and just call Reese...yeah, maybe Reese picked
her up tonight...maybe we just got our wires crossed.'

Kyle stopped in his tracks as Lucky came rushing through the door. "Where is
she?" Lucky asked, obviously panicked. He sounded as if he'd run all the way
from Port Charles. He began to wander around before Kyle even got a word out
of his mouth. "Elizabeth?" he shouted. "Elizabeth?!"

"Hey!...Hey!" Kyle yelled, trying to get Lucky's attention. "She's not here.
I've already searched the place."

Lucky stopped then. His eyes glazing over in fear. He licked his lips.

"Dude...what the Hell is going on?" Kyle asked, the look in Lucky's eyes
telling him that something was very wrong.

Lucky ran a hand through his wet hair. He spoke slowly, trying to control his
quickly growing panic. "Kyle...I need you to tell me exactly how things
looked when you got here...was there anything out of the ordinary?"

"Yeah, Liz wasn't here," Kyle said flippantly, trying to bring some levity to
the tension in the room.

His attempt was clearly lost on Lucky, as he glared menacingly at Kyle.

"Sorry," Kyle quickly stated. "Yeah...the door was unlocked. Liz has never
left the door unlocked before...listen man, what's going on here? Is Liz in
some kinda trouble or something?"

Lucky avoided his question. There was no need to get Kyle, out of all people,
involved in this. "You were supposed to pick her up right?" Lucky asked,
trying to keep the jealousy out of his tone. There was no time for that. "Did
she leave you a note?"

"No."

"Ok," Lucky said, his breathing quickening again. He began to look around,
stalking through every room.

"What are you doing?" Kyle asked, following closely behind.

"She left something," Lucky said flattly. As his eyes traveled from the
ceilings to the floors.

"What do you mean she left something?"

"A clue Kyle. A clue," Lucky said, beginning to become irriated with his
questions. "My wife left a clue somewhere. I just have to find it."

"How do you know?"

"I just know ok! Now are you going to help me or are you gonna ask questions
all night?!"

"Help you," Kyle said flattly as he got to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz looked around as Sam tied her hands behind her, attaching the tight rope
to the chair in which she sat. It was still the same. The studio hadn't
changed a bit. Sure, the decor has been altered somewhat, but most everything
else was the same. Same brick, same mirror hanging against the wall with the
lightbulbs surrounding it. She glanced behind her and noticed the same door
to the same darkroom. She shuttered involuntarily.

"Oh...are you scared Lizzie?" Sam asked, walking in front of Liz and glancing
at her legs and arms, securely tied up. She smiled, quite pleased with
herself. "Don't worry dear," she continued sarcastically. "I'm sure your
darling husband will be here soon."

Liz shook her head. "Why do you need him here? I mean...if you're just going
to kill me?...You say you love him...don't make him watch that Sam....why
don't you just-"

"You know what Lizzie!" Sam shouted, pressing the barrell of her gun to Liz's
temple, causing her to flinch. "I'm so tired of your lip, that I may just do
that! Shut up! You are NOT in control here! I am!"

Liz bit her lip to keep from crying. "Ok," she said softly. "Then why don't
you tell me how you're gonna do it?"

Sam pulled back, looking her in the eye. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...you obviously have some major plans for when Lucky gets here
right?...Why don't you share?"

"Yeah right Lizzie...I'm not telling you anything...gosh, no wonder your
husband left you...you never stop rambling!"

Liz's eyes narrowed. This girl was seriously insane. "My husband didn't leave
me," she said flattly, her voice dripping with venom. "You took him."

Sam snickered. "Lizzie dear...you can't take something that doesn't want to
be taken...and believe me...he wanted to be."

Liz sighed inwardly. "And that makes you happy right?" Liz asked. "I
mean...really Sam, you slept with Lucky. You have basically destroyed my
entire life...you're right Sam. He may as well have just left me, because
it's over...we're never gonna get back what we had...so why - why do you have
to kill me too?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Because Liz....if I don't, you'll always be on his
mind. In order for him and I to be together...you can no longer be an
issue...you've left me no other choice....especially after Lucky kicked me
out of my apartment today."

"Wait!" Liz said, looking up. "Why would he kick you out Sam?...I mean, if
what you two had was so....so special."

Sam, re-aimed her gun at Liz's head. "Don't worry about that Liz....we just
had a little fight. He'll forgive me."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Kyle ran towards the bathroom upon hearing Lucky's gasp, and stopped when he
realized what had caused such a reaction.

Lucky stood paralyzed with fear as he read the word over and over again.
"STUDIO," in big, bright letters. The word finally sinking in. He ran his
fingers over the silver lipstick case that lay in the sink. "Elizabeth," he
wispered. He placed the tube in his jacket pocket. Lucky vaguely heard Kyle
calling to him. "Look at this man..look at his."

His feet protested as he tried to back away from the mirror. He finally
glanced at the address book that Kyle held in his hands.

"I guess this was in case I got here first...I would have never looked in
here though..." Kyle said, his voice trailing off as Lucky took the book from
him and ran a finger over over the lipstick smeared cell phone number. 'God
she must have been scared,' he thought. No sooner had that thought past
through his mind, than his feet were carrying him out of the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Kyle asked, following.

"To find Elizabeth," Lucky said, quickly walking towards the front door of
the gallery.

Kyle grabbed his coat. "I'm coming with you."

"No you're not," Lucky said, turning around. "I don't have time for this Kyle
- "

"Lucky you need help.....and it's the least I can do."

Lucky simply nodded his head.