Sara: Favourite excerpts:

Sara is one of my favourite characters. Although she doesn't appear until part three, she does become a primary character for the storyline. These are some of my favourite parts with her, or about her.

Seized Part Three:

“Really? Jay and the Doc? Wow, I didn’t see that one,” Liam said.

“If you want to see it, I have a video,” Sara laughed.

“You filmed them?” Liam asked, appalled.

“No,” Sara said quickly, defending herself. “The first time the dumbasses hooked up, they started going at it in front of the security cameras at the Compound. I had to hack the system and shut off the feed before the perverts in the security office got a show.”

“But you kept the recording?” Liam asked suspiciously.

“Well, it was kind of hot,” Sara shrugged. Liam laughed. He wondered if Jay knew about the amateur porn video he was starring in.

“Don’t worry, the really good stuff happened behind closed doors,” Sara assured him. “Come here,” Sara said, heading to her computer set up on the small table at the far end of the room. “I want to show you something.”

“Is it safe to watch?” Liam asked reluctantly.

“Yes, you will like this, I promise it’s PG,” Sara said sitting at the table and motioning for him to sit next to her....

Liam was doubled over, holding the side of the small house for support. Jay waited for him to finish heaving, then handed him water and a Power Bar.

“Thanks,” Liam said, out of breath and sipping the water.

“Eat and drink slowly,” Jay advised. “Otherwise, you'll be holding up this wall all day.”

“This sucks, I’m never drinking again,” Liam complained.

“Famous last words,” Jay laughed. “It’s just worse because you hadn’t eaten.”

“Sara is evil,” Liam continued his complaining. “She planned that.”

Yeah, probably,” Jay confirmed. “I wouldn’t put it past her that she had other motives too; you’re lucky Ashley and I came back when we did.”

“Now you are scaring me,” Liam said.

“I’m fairly sure she has video of me and Ashley together,” Jay said casually.

“Yes, she does,” Liam confirmed as he sipped water, rinsed his mouth, and spat it out.

“You watched it?” Jay asked, mortified.

“No, she did offer to show me, I declined,” Liam said, leaning against the house for support as he took a bite of the Power Bar. “No offense, but I don’t need to see that! Besides, she said the good stuff happened behind closed doors.”

“Wow, she really has high expectations if she didn’t consider that other stuff as ‘the good stuff’.” Jay shook his head and Liam laughed. Jay smiled, it was the first time he had heard Liam laugh, without the influence of alcohol, in a long time.

+++++++++++++++++

Truth's Consequences, Part Five:

“You’re embarrassed to be seen with me?” she teased. He quickly tried to deny it, but she laughed. “I understand. I’m in the penthouse suite, sixteen twenty-four,” she said, then pulled a room key from her purse and handed it to him. He looked at it questioningly.

            “I was hoping to find some stud soldier to bang while I was here, but a movie night with you will have to do, I guess,” she explained.

            Liam stared at her wide-eyed when he realized she was carrying both of her room keys in her purse and that she wasn’t joking; those had been her exact intentions.

            “Hey, I’m human!” she defended herself when she saw his expression. They started walking from the pool to the elevators. Before they reached the main lobby, she turned to him again.

            “Give me five minutes to change and then come up,” she said, turning to find the elevators to take her to the sixteenth floor.

He noticed several soldiers in the lobby staring at her as she walked past them. She had a towel wrapped around her waist, and her dark, wet hair fell over her shoulders. She was very petite and beautiful in a subtle way. She was also one of the few women in the building who wasn’t in the army or over fifty. Every man in the lobby was sneaking a look at the modest display Sara was putting on, and she seemed utterly unaware of it. She turned to give Liam one last smile before she entered the elevator.

            “Some of us are planning a poker game,” Drew said, suddenly at his side. “It won’t go late. Want to join?”

            “No, thank you,” Liam said, a bit startled. He hadn’t noticed Drew's approach. “I’m going to my room to get some rest.”

            “Sure, you are,” Drew said sarcastically. “Who was that?” he asked, indicating the elevator. When Liam didn’t answer, Drew continued, “Come on, we are special forces. You trained me well enough. I am aware of my surroundings, even if you aren’t sometimes.”

            “She’s just a friend, that’s all,” Liam quickly clarified, hoping to end the conversation. “Jay Harris’ delegate for the Economic Conference.”

            “Then why are you holding her room key?” Drew challenged, and Liam realized he still had her key card in his hand.

            “This one’s mine,” he lied.

            “No, yours is slipping out of your back pocket,” Drew laughed. “You may be good at fighting terrorists, but you certainly can’t hide a booty call very well.”

Liam blushed, feeling somewhat embarrassed. He recognized it was useless to keep denying it and risk offending Drew, who was both clever and a genuine friend.

        "Look,” Drew continued. “I’ll stay quiet about the booty call, as long as you turn a blind eye to the poker game.”

“Deal!” Liam said quickly. “But it’s not a booty call, she’s just a friend.”

        “OK, buddy,” Drew laughed. “Try to tell me that again in the morning, and we’ll see who’s right.”

            Liam walked away, shaking his head.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Part Six (untitled) Coming Soon:

“You want to dismantle my company,” Sara repeated a little louder. “Are you kidding me! You just…we just…and now you want to take my company away from me!”

Her voice was slowly increasing in volume and Jay knew she would be at a full yell in a moment.  He glanced at Liam, and he realized that Liam had not predicted that this would upset Sara so much.  Jay had always resented the company, as much as he had devoted so many hours to it, he always felt he could walk away when it was time. He had Ashley and that had always been his intention.  But Sara had nothing else, she had spent every moment of the last ten years devoting as much of her life to the company as he had, and she lived for the company.  She was loyal to the company and dedicated to it, it was something she had proudly built with Jay.

“I, we, what?” Liam seemed confused.

“Was that the plan?” Sara was only one notch under a full yell. “To sleep with me? Soften me up, make me fall for you again? So I’ll agree to your plan to dismantle the company?”

Jay watched as Liam realized what Sara had just accused him of. He’s face went from confusion to being completely horrified and ashamed.

“You were the one who..” Liam started.

“I would not finish that sentence, my friend,” Jay quickly interrupted, fearful for Liam’s safety.

“Don’t ever come near me again,” Sara said yelled. “And if you hack my system again, I will call the NSE on you.” She stormed out of the room leaving them in silence.

“Oh fuck,” Liam said after a moment as he put his head in his hands.

“You did not handle that well,” Jay said without sympathy, since he wasn’t sure how he felt about Liam’s plan and he was concerned for Sara.

“Jay, believe me I never intended to use her,” Liam started. “I didn’t realize she was so protective of the company.”

“Of course she is,” Jay replied frustrated that Liam hadn’t predicted it. “It’s all she has known for the last ten years.  She devoted her life to the company, even more than me at times.”

“Do I go talk to her?” Liam looked desperate and Jay saw in Liam’s eyes that he sincerely wanted to make things right with Sara.

“Maybe not right now, but if your candidate really does want to divide up the company, and win the election, the best way to guarantee a win, is to have Harris Corp.’s cooperation.  And you figuratively and literally just fucked that up.”

            Desray was in tears laughing as she sat at the small kitchen table in their trailer.  Her takeout dinner was in a box in front of her getting cold.

            “It’s not that funny,” Liam said for the third time.

            “Shit, Liam, yes, it is,” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes.  “This is even more funny than when you couldn’t tell the twins apart. I mean, not only did you do the exact opposite from what you were supposed to do, after you sleep with this poor girl, you tell her you are going to destroy her company.” Desray shook her head and continued to laugh. “How is it someone as smart and good looking as you, can be so bad with women?”

            Liam had left the house shortly after Sara’s outburst, he figured he needed to give Sara an opportunity to calm down before he spoke to her again.  Jay was right, the election would likely go in their favour if Harris Corp. collaborated on the idea. Jay did agree, it wasn’t the wrong idea. But if they were going to do it, it needed to be done properly and strategically, to ensure each new independent company didn’t go bankrupt once they were on their own. Jay promised to look into it. But he did not promise to talk to Sara on Liam’s behalf. Liam wasn’t sure if Jay was afraid of Sara at this point as well, or if he just wanted to punish Liam further for his mistake.

            “OK Romeo,” Desray was speaking to him. “Nothing is going to get worked out with her tonight so let’s focus on what we can do. We need to connect with Drew.  If Fadden is calling an election, we need to be ready for Drew to announce quickly as well.”

            “Yeah OK, send him a message.  But let him know that we need to talk more about Harris Corp.”

            “Are you going to try to change his mind on it?”

            “No, but Jay made a good point, if Harris Corp. cooperates with the idea, and we can assure the employees of the company their jobs are secure, then Drew has a much better chance to win the election. He will have all the employees voting for him.”

            “If only you hadn’t just…”

            “Hey you were the one who killed Jay Harris,” Liam reminded her.  

            “Jay can come back from the dead, I’m not sure your relationship with Sara will,” Desray smirked.  “Maybe you ruined men for her forever, and I should go see if I can persuade her to switch teams.”

“Really?” Liam gave Desray a doubtful look.

“She wouldn’t be the first lady I turned,” she grinned.

“Sara’s not in prison like the other ones were,” Liam jabbed back.

Desray didn’t respond, but showed him the text message she had just received. It was an emoji of a person slapping his forehead.

“From Graves, he agrees with me,” Desray laughed again and Liam sighed.