"No one's talking Commissioner," Garcia reported.
"They don't care about the witness protection program,
getting out of the mob, putting Moreno away, or
anything as far as assurances from the FBI and PCPD.
As one of the potential witnesses succinctly put it,
'I only care about keeping me and my family alive.'"
Garcia's investigation yielded two witnesses to some
of Moreno's illegal activities whose stories supported
Bannion's statements, but the witnesses were terrified
of testifying. Word of Dara's assassination attempt
was known in Moreno's organization within an hour of
its occurrence. The witnesses reasoned if Moreno had
tried that with an assistant district attorney, then
they'd end up as various body parts spread across Port
Charles after testifying. Garcia stated that they
might have a chance of getting one or two people to
testify after Bannion testified, because then they'd
have more belief in the PCPD and FBI protecting them
and they'd believe that Moreno would probably be
convicted. But until Bannion testified, it was
unlikely that the police would get any cooperation
from any other witnesses.
Mac said, "We could get the DA's office to issue
subpoenas for these witnesses and force them to
testify, but if they're really afraid they'd probably
commit perjury."
"You'd better believe it," agreed Garcia. "Our only
chance is to get Bannion to testify first."
Turning to Taggert, Mac asked for a report of the
activities regarding Bannion's security. "No problems
so far, Mac. Four officers are always on duty
protecting Bannion. Two are always inside the room
with him. One is outside the hotel patrolling the
area. And one officer and an FBI agent are in the
hotel room near the elevators and stairway on the
floor of Bannion's room. No one can get to Bannion's
room without passing that room, which is one of the
reasons this hotel was chosen. A close circuit camera
was attached to the peephole and it records everyone
who passes by the door. The officers and the FBI agent
can see everything on a monitor in the room."
"Sounds good," observed Mac. "One thing though. Make
sure that Moreno's food is carried out from different
restaurants which commonly make carry out orders.
Absolutely no hotel room service should be used. And I
want to get a call every 4 hours giving me a report on
anything that occurs with Bannion." Pausing his speech
for a few seconds, Mac looked at Officer Richards to
discuss Dara's security. Donna Richards was known for
being an excellent officer you could depend on in
tough situations. But everyone in the office could see
the apprehension on Donna's face as she waited for Mac
to speak. She was fully expecting to be reprimanded
for the shooting attempt and indeed, she was surprised
that she was still in charge of Dara's security. In
her mind she thought maybe that was about to change.
"Donna, relax," Mac said sensing that she was
expecting the worst. "Your job was to keep Dara safe
and you did that by giving her the vest. Let's go on
and talk about something constructive. What
information do we have about the man who tried to kill
Dara?"
According to Officer Richards, there were probably up
to a dozen professional assassins who were known to
have associations with Moreno and more than eight of
them could fit the limited descriptions given by Dara
and the parking lot attendant. Both the PCPD and the
FBI were tracing the whereabouts of the suspects. No
one fitting these descriptions had been observed
leaving Port Charles and it was most likely that the
suspect was still in Port Charles, either to make
another attempt on A.D.A. Jensen or to try and
eliminate Bannion. It was the general belief of the
law enforcement professionals in the room that the
assassin would attempt to kill Bannion and that's
where their efforts should be focused if they wanted
to catch the shooter. Mac agreed, and instructed
Officer Richards to continue working to identify the
shooter. Also, even though everyone believed that the
next attempt would be made on Bannion, Mac wanted the
security to remain on Dara until after the trial
ended. The security discussions continued for a few
more minutes until Mac ended the meeting. Taggert
asked for a minute with Mac as Garcia and Richards
left Mac's office. When he noted that Garcia had left
the door open when exiting the office, Taggert walked
to it and closed the door.
Taggert knew that he was going to tread on thin ice.
He had debated waiting to speak to Mac after his lunch
with Dara today, but he could barely keep his mind on
topics at the meeting. He found himself continuously
looking at Mac and wondering what, if anything,
happened last night in Dara's apartment. Over the last
few weeks since Dara had started dating Mac, Taggert
thought about his feelings for Dara. He had been the
one who wanted to be "just friends" and not to have an
exclusive dating relationship with anyone. And during
the past 18 months while he and Dara had become just
friends, he had been involved with several women. So
he was very startled about his feelings of jealousy
when Dara and Mac started dating. Rationally, he knew
he had no reasons for being jealous; but jealousy
itself isn't a rational emotion.
"I called Dara last night after hearing about the
shooting, Mac. As her friend I was worried about her
and offered to come over and stay with her. It took me
off guard when she said that you were on your way to
stay with her for the night."
Whatever Mac was expecting Taggert to discuss, it
certainly wasn't his night with Dara. Mac's face went
completely expressionless as he asked, "Is there
suppose to be a question on the table? If so, I must
have missed it. Exactly what are you asking?"
"Dara was really vulnerable last night after that
shooting," Taggert plodded on. He knew that he had no
business asking Mac about his relationship with Dara
but he couldn't stop himself. "I would really hate to
see someone try and take advantage of her, in a moment
of weakness." Mac interrupted tersely by saying that
Taggert should stop talking but Taggert continued.
"She's one of my best friends and I don't want to see
her get hurt. Do you really think that it's a good
idea to get involved with Dara while you're still
hooked up with Felicia?"
Taggert saw Mac's nostrils flare in anger as he
responded. "Listen, my relationship with Dara is a
topic I'm not going to discuss with you. Friendship
covers a lot of things but it doesn't cover this. I
thought that you and I were friends too." Mac gritted
his teeth and asked, "Do you really think that I would
try and take advantage of anyone like you're accusing
me of doing to Dara?"
"To be candid, I think that you're trying to soothe
your ego after what Felicia did by being with Dara and
I think that it's only a matter of time before you go
back again to Felicia and the girls. What....
Mac bellowed, "Stop! Don't say another word before you
make me do or say something that we both may regret.
Unfortunately I can't say that I don't give a damn
what you think. If I didn't then I wouldn't be so
furious with you as I am at this moment. Get out of my
office, NOW."
Mac tried to control his breathing and willed himself
to calm down when Taggert left his office. What the
hell was that all about and where did it come from? As
a rule he really didn't care what people thought but
it disturbed him to think that some friends and
associates believed that he was using Dara until he
could get back together with Felicia. He had no
intention of reconciling with Felicia; their marriage
had been over for some time and Mac just hadn't known
it until recently. But he knew it now and he planned
to make it official as soon as possible. This train of
thought reminded him of Felicia's calls yesterday and
he decided to telephone her now. Felicia answered the
phone on the second ring.
"Mac, where have you been? Why didn't you call me
yesterday?"
"Felicia, I was tied up yesterday but I can talk now.
What is the emergency?"
"I need to speak to you in person, not on the phone.
Can you come over now?"
Mac responded that he'd be at the house in a half of
an hour and he ended the call. He was preparing to
leave the office when his cellphone rang.
"Scorpio," Mac answered tersely.
"We need to meet soon. There is something you need to
know." Mac was surprised; it was Sonny Corinthos.
They agreed to meet in 90 minutes near the west
entrance of Port Charles Park by the lake. Sonny would
not call unless he had important information; Mac was
guardedly optimistic about his upcoming meeting with
Sonny.
~~~*~~~~
At 12:30 Taggert saw Dara exit the courtroom just
Moreno's trial recessed for lunch. "You look O.K.," he
commented warmly embracing her. "Are you?"
"I am," replied Dara smiling at him. She could see the
intense concern in Taggert's eyes and hear it in his
voice, and she was quite touched by it. "For a few
hours yesterday I was probably in shock but I'm fine
now. Let's go to lunch."
Fifteen minutes later they were seated in a relatively
quiet booth at the Recovery Room. After placing their
orders, Taggert gently took Dara's right hand into
both of his and asked, "You're holding up O.K. in the
courtroom today? I know that you have a job to do but
it wouldn't have been unreasonable to ask to delay the
trial today by at least one day."
Dara shook her head vigorously and replied,"
Absolutely not. That would have given Moreno exactly
what he wanted, a delay in the trial. No, the sooner
we get Bannion on the witness stand, the better." Dara
brought her left hand to the table and clasped both of
Taggert's hands tightly as she noted," You're guarding
Bannion and even you have to admit that he'll be
Moreno's next target. As soon as Bannion testifies
then we'll all be out of danger." The thought that her
friend may be in the line of fire if an attempt was
made on Bannion placed a cold chill around Dara's
heart. Realistically she knew that this type of danger
was a part of their jobs, but knowing that fact didn't
make her feel much better right now. She removed her
hands from Taggert's clasp and leaned back in the
booth to take a drink on water in an attempt to calm
her nerves.
Taggert was staring at Dara wondering how to broach
the subject that was on his mind and he decided to try
humor as a tactic. "Well, at least I didn't have to
worry about you last night. In addition to having the
best cops on the force - present company excluded of
course - outside of your door, you had the police
commissioner sleeping on your couch last night. No one
would have gotten to you last night. It even kept me
out of your apartment."
Dara was quick to guard her feelings but she couldn't
hide the somewhat guilty expression that flashed
across her face when she was reminded that she told
Marcus that Mac would be sleeping on the couch. While
she was thinking of how to respond to his last
statement, Dara saw Taggert reading her expression and
immediately realized by the surprise and anger in his
eyes that somehow he was able to discern the truth
from looking at her.
"So I guess Mac didn't spend all night on the couch,
did he?" Taggert asked quizzically knowing the answer.
"Dara, do you really think that this is a good time to
get involved with Mac?"
Dara was puzzled and blinked her eyes when she heard
Taggert's last question. "What do you mean? You knew
for the past weeks that Mac and I have been dating.
Why are you questioning now whether I know what I'm
doing?"
"I don't know. I was hoping that it would blow over
quickly and I wouldn't have to say anything. Maybe I
thought that you guys would have a couple of dates and
go back to being friends."
"You mean like we did?" Dara asked with an edge in her
voice, remembering being hurt when Taggert didn't want
to date only her.
"And that still will probably happen Dara," Taggert
continued, ignoring Dara's remark. "Do you really
think that Mac and Felicia are finished? He's angry
with her and at the moment he wants to 'move on' with
his life. But I've seen guys like that who will take
an amazing amount of crap from someone he loves and
eventually they ALWAYS go back. Mac falls into that
category. Alan Quartermaine is another. The reason we
didn't get together when we dated was that you wanted
a serious relationship; that's the type of woman you
are, and I wasn't at that point in my life then.
Knowing you and the type of woman you are, why would
you want to get involved with Mac?"
"Marcus, we are friends. You're certainly entitled to
your opinions. And I'll even give you credit that
maybe you're right about me," Dara conceded. "But you
have an opinion of what Mac is like and I have
another. I see someone who is patient and can love
deeply but in the end he wants his love returned. I
see someone who will give a person every opportunity
to return that love but when he decides he's waited
more than long enough and given them more than enough
chances, he moves on - permanently. That's the type of
man I think he is." Indicating that she wanted to
change the topic under discussion by signaling for the
waiter, she said, "Only time will tell which one of us
is right."
*****
Mac entered the house where he used to live with
Felicia and the girls and sat down on a chair in the
living room waiting for her to speak. She was
obviously upset about something and he waited for her
to tell him what it was.
"Mac, Scott Baldwin met with my lawyer two days ago
and presented what he considered the 'final' version
of the divorce papers to be drawn up. I want to let
you know that I'm not going to be bullied or rushed
into breaking up our marriage. Neither the girls nor I
want this divorce. I want for us to go to a marriage
counselor."
Mac sucked in his breath and waited a few seconds
before speaking. This day had started off so great
with Dara and it had gone downhill every since he'd
left her in the courtroom. He was grateful at least
that he made the right decision and decided not to
contact Felicia until he got to work. There was no way
he wanted to have heard this before now.
"Felicia, it's too late to talk about going to a
marriage counselor," Mac responded bitterly. "Last
year there was a marriage to save; this year we just
need to sign the divorce papers. You and the girls can
have the house and I'm willing to help you out
financially while you get your PI business going,
but...?
"Stop talking about financial settlements," cried
Felicia as tears filled her eyes. "Why are you
determined to end our marriage quickly? Is Dara Jensen
putting you up to this?"
Taken completely aback, Mac thought that he couldn't
be hearing correctly. How did Dara's name come up in
this conversation? "What are you talking about? Dara
has nothing to do with me getting this divorce. You
and I were separated before Dara and I even started
dating."
"I saw her yesterday, looking smug in your office,"
Felicia said bitterly. "I bet she uses every
opportunity she can to tell you how badly I've treated
you and how you deserve better. She's just trying to
break us up and you're can't see it because you're
still angry with me. You were with her last night,
weren't you," accused Felicia. "She?s the reason you
didn't contact me yesterday."
Exasperated with the direction of this conversation,
Mac said, "Felicia, in all honesty I think that Dara
avoids talking about you because she doesn't want to
influence me one way or another. I can assure you that
you are not the topic of conversation when Dara and I
are together."
"Well, maybe I should be considering that I'm your
wife," she retorted.
'Not for long,' Mac thought. There was no way he was
going to let Felicia hang the breakup up their
marriage on Dara and he was going to state in clear,
succinct terms so that even she could understand why
their marriage was over. He responded, "Which brings
us back to the original topic of the conversation.
Felicia, I'm not coming back. I won't be your second
or third choice any longer behind Frisco and Luke. No
real marriage can survive under those conditions."
"Mac, I love you."
With disbelief clearly expressed on his face, Mac
looked Felicia directly in the eyes and asked,
"Felicia, if Luke Spencer showed up today and asked
you to live with him, would you immediately tell him
absolutely no, that you loved me?"
"Yes, Mac. Yes I would," Felicia anxiously replied.
Mac didn't believe her for a second. "You've gotten so
good at lying I can't tell whether you're lying to me
or you're lying to yourself by giving that answer.
Either way it doesn't matter to me, not anymore." Mac
rose to make his appointed meeting with Sonny. "We're
scheduled to meet with the lawyers on Monday morning
next week. I'll see you then but now I have to go.
Tell Maxie and Georgie that I'll call them tonight."
Mac didn't look back as he departed from the house.