A Grand Design – By Sandra B

Time: March 1985

Marlena Evans-Brady hung up the telephone with a slightly apprehensive sigh, glancing at the large calendar on her desk, the date circled in black. “Four months,” she said out loud, wondering how she’d survived thus far without the man she loved so deeply. Could it have been that long already? Was she ready for the opportunity just presented to her? She was pleased to have been given the chance to do something important and meaningful in her chosen profession of Psychiatry. Unfortunately, it meant leaving her young children and flying over the Atlantic Ocean to land on foreign soil, where she would stay for at least two full weeks and probably more, if the Selection Committee had anything to say about it. She got the distinct feeling that they wanted her to serve a term as President of the International Traumatic Stress Consortium which was based in Paris. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she knew if they did ask, as they were hinting they might, she would be compelled to seriously consider it.

Glancing at the framed picture sitting on her desk, she sighed again and spoke to the image of her beloved husband, “Oh, Roman…. What should I do? Would you want me to go to Paris.. so soon? Do you want me to further my career or does it feel like I’m betraying your memory? Oh, how I wish you were here…my love.. I miss you so..” she said quietly, as the tears welled up for what seemed like the one thousandth time.

She was distracted by the sound of someone knocking on her door, and looked up to see one of her dearest friends, Maggie Horton… “Well, hello… What’s this I hear about a trip to Paris?” the red haired beauty asked with enthusiasm, not looking closely enough to see the tears.

Her reply was less than subdued, “Oh, that… ”

Sensing the reason, Maggie was gentle in pointing out the difference in the reports she’d been getting from others, “My… you don’t sound nearly as excited as everybody else around here seems to be. What’s going on? Don’t you want to Chair that Symposium?” she asked her friend, taking a seat in one of the chairs near the desk.

Blowing out a long breath, Marlena shared her ambivalence, “Oh, it’s not that I don’t welcome the opportunity, Maggie… but there are other considerations. For one thing… I don’t want to leave the children and to be honest..” She glanced at the photograph again, her voice quavering with mixed emotions as she finished, “I feel like… well, like… I’m …betraying Roman by going off like this… Maybe it’s too soon, Maggie….”

Her good friend reached out to brush Marlena’s right hand with hers and encouraged the lady to consider another perspective, “Oh, Marlena… you know better than that… My goodness, how would you respond if this were a patient saying these things?

Again, Marlena was being confronted with the illogic of her reactions, but in a gentle caring manner. She sighed, thankful to be known so well and at the same time her facial expression indicated that she was slightly irritated, “Oh… I guess I’d say, go… it’ll be good for you to have a change of scenery… you might meet some new people, get involved in positive aspects of life again… It’ll give you something to focus on besides your grief for awhile….things like that…”

“Mmm hmm… So…” Maggie said with a nod and a knowing grin, not telling her friend what to do, but hoping the good doctor could take her own advice.

With another tired sigh, Marlena nodded, rose from behind her desk, and confirmed the unspoken conclusion to her thought processes, “So…you’re right, I should just go… and try to enjoy it. The kids will be fine with Shawn and Caroline. And if I end up staying longer than the two weeks, I can always come back and get them, or bring someone over with them.”

Maggie, who had risen at the same time, leaned in to give her best friend a much needed hug, saying in an upbeat tone, “Well then…. When do you leave?”

The plane leaves on Wednesday at 7:00.”

“Good…. Do you want some help packing?” Maggie said with a cheerful smile, truly wanting to be a supportive force in Marlena’s life during the worst kind of pain life could bring, the death of a spouse being one of the toughest losses.

That brought out a dormant smile… “No.. I’ll be fine, thank you.. you don’t need to worry, I won’t change my mind. I’m committed to giving the keynote address. I can’t back out now anyway.”

“Oh… so you just wanted to talk about your misgivings with an old friend who knows you too well, is that what you’re saying?”

Another smile… and a light chuckle… “Yes… that’s about the size of it… Thank you, Maggie.. I don’t know how I would have made it through this horrible time without your support. It means more than I can say.. You’re such an incredible friend to me.”

“Well, I seem to remember a time or two when I said those same words to you, young lady.”

She nodded and leaned in for another hug, agreeing, “Yes, I guess that’s true… we’ve been through the best and the worst of times together and I’m so glad to have you in my life, Maggie.”

“The feeling is mutual my friend…Now, let’s go give everyone the good news…”

It truly was a lifelong friendship, one she was coming to value more and more as each day passed. She knew that she wouldn’t have survived the overwhelming grief of losing Roman without friends like Mickey and Maggie, the entire Brady clan, Tom and Alice Horton, Eugene and Calliope, Abe Carver and Kris Kositchek, one of her best male friends. They had all been there for her, even in her worst moments of bitter anger and frustration about being left alone to raise three children.

It was late March…and had been about four months now and some days she felt like she was back at the beginning. Her professional background and knowledge of the grief process told her that wasn’t true, but her heart couldn’t believe it. Some mornings she was dragging herself out of bed, staring at his picture then crying for nearly an hour and wishing she could climb back under the covers to hide from the world. She knew she couldn’t do that, she had patients to see who needed her skills as a therapist. And even more importantly, she had children who needed her to be there for them, to love and nurture and take care of them.

Therefore, in spite of the sometimes crippling feelings of loss and the unbearable heartache of longing for the man she loved, Dr. Marlena Evans-Brady arose each day and faced it with uncommon courage, or so said her family, friends and co-workers. She sometimes wondered what they’d say if they caught a glimpse of her at 3:00am, when she cursed at God and cried out with rage those silent screams in the night. What would they think if they knew she was almost ready to sell her soul to the devil himself if she could have Roman back again, even for a moment or two.

If only she’d had a chance to say goodbye to him, to make sure he knew just how much she loved him, if only she could know for certain that he was okay in the next phase of existence, that he was happy and free from pain. There were so many questions unanswered, so many of those ‘what if’ and ‘if only’ scenarios rolling around inside her fertile mind, that she sometimes felt she would ‘go crazy’ as her patients were want to say. She knew it wasn’t the case, but it didn’t stop her from questioning herself and her sanity from time to time.

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Paris, France

Across the wide expanse of waters that separated the continents, there were escape plans of a different sort being hatched. In a distinctly American style hotel with a California flair, on the Rue de Berri in the heart of the American Quarter of the City of Lights, a devastatingly handsome dark haired man with the most brilliant of blue eyes was speaking animatedly to his beautiful partner in crime. ” I just know this is going to work… He’ll never suspect a thing and we’ll be long gone before he figures out what we did. It’s foolproof, Gina… there’s no way Stefano will know what we’re planning. We’re going to be free of him, baby… in less than a week!” he said excitedly, tugging her into a powerful embrace, wishing there were more time to celebrate before the fact.

“Oh, John… I cannot wait to be with you and Greta…. It’s going to be such a glorious life together… no more hiding, no more dark alleys, no more smoky nightspots.”

Grasping her slender body firmly, he pulled her to him and began to kiss her neck, then nibbled on her ear lobes as he spoke what it meant to him to be free of the bastard who had controlled his life for far too long. “No more sneaking around… I can’t wait to love you out in the open, Gina.. It’s hell pretending that we’re no more than friends… I hate it! What I wouldn’t give to see the look on Dimera’s face when he figures out that we’ve been in love when all the while he thought he had us right where he wanted us….under his fat grimy thumb, doing his dirty work.”

She laughed… “So would I darling… he actually fancies me, John… he thinks that I’m falling in love with *him*… ha ha… You know… I really should be an actress… I’ve been quite convincing with him.”

A hint of jealousy crept out in his tone as he yanked her toward his exposed chest, saying with an air of possessiveness, “Well, your acting days are over, honey… The man you really love is going to take you to our own private island. We’ll be free to love each other and live out the rest of our lives in peace… in a place where he can never find us. Just one more heist, Gina… that’s all and then we’re home free,” he said, his hands cupping her face, staring into her dark eyes, prepared for a fierce kiss. He was feeling high and he wanted to make love with the sexy woman in his arms… Unfortunately, there wasn’t time, they had to plan their escape down to the most insignificant detail. But, that didn’t mean he couldn’t kiss her first, and he did… capturing her mouth with the strength of the lust he always felt for her. Unexpectedly, a question came to mind: Was it love he felt for her, or only lust which played itself off as love? With a slight shake of his head to clear it, John dismissed the troubling thought… He wanted her badly…and that was all that mattered.

When the moment was over, Gina’s vanity kicked in and she was adjusting her makeup, opening her compact, flashing a blinding light in his eyes. Instantly, he was almost on the ground with another one of those killer headaches he kept getting lately. She caught him and eased him onto the couch nearby. “Oh, John… you really do need to see someone about these dreadful headaches… I’m starting to become quite worried about you,” she said, rubbing at his temples instinctively. They didn’t know why, but it seemed to work and the pain began to recede.

He shrugged and then shook his head cautiously, saying, “Mmm… sorry, but I can’t… not until we’re free, baby… in another country with new identities… No paper trails, remember?”

“I do, but John… this could be serious. They’re becoming more frequent… I’m afraid of what they mean,” she said, watching him do what he always did, pretending they weren’t as bad as they appeared to be.

They’d had this conversation half a dozen times before and it was making him angry. He didn’t want to believe it could happen to him.. not again. “You mean you think it’s Dimera… you think he’s been messing with my head again… Look, Gina.. I told you.. I would know… I remember what he did to me… before… I have to believe that I would… feel something… a difference…”

“How, John? You’ve said it yourself… he’s so.. evil.. and he told me over and over again that he wanted to have absolute control over you, to prove that it’s possible to completely transform someone into another person through brainwashing. Remember that conversation I overheard part of… how he was planning to send you off to some small city in the States as some other man… John, what if he’s been preparing you for that all these months? Who knows what he’s been doing to you when you’ve stayed with him at the compound… His scientists… they have techniques and new drugs we don’t even know about… What if they…”

He shuddered, almost imperceptibly. It terrified him to think it was possible, as in the back of his mind he knew all too well that it was. At a time when he felt threatened, when he believed John had betrayed him, Dimera had nearly broken him… crushed his fighting spirit, driving him almost to the point of lunacy, primarily to prove that he was the Master and that John was in essence his slave. She was massaging his shoulders and running her fingers through his hair and he suddenly felt controlled by her too. Pulling away, he raised his voice to emphasize his point, “Stop it, Gina… just stop it! This isn’t doing any good.” He sighed when he saw her tear up, and softened his tone, “Look, baby if it’ll make you feel better… when this is over.. I promise.. if the headaches don’t go away, I’ll see a doctor, okay?”

“Okay… thank you for making that promise… I happen to care very much about you… and these headaches frighten me, John… a lot.”

His frustration was increasing… his ability to tolerate conflict or disharmony fading, “Enough!… I said I would get them checked out… now please… drop it!” he yelled, wincing for the pain his raised voice caused him, his right hand at his temple.

“Alright… ” she said with an exasperated sigh and changed the subject, pointing to the map that was stretched out on the table in their ample suite. “So tell me then… what happens after we’re finished with the job… review the drop and the rendezvous again.”

“Okay.. this is how it’s going to go down. After you get the diamonds, that’s when you go for the painting. Then meet me in the alleyway at two am… the one at the corner of Champs Elysee and Rue de Charron.. here…”


“Yes…. I know it…Then I pass the diamonds to you… and I take the painting to Stefano.. then I meet up with you at that quaint little Inn outside of Venice.”

Right… it’s going to be perfect, Gina… he’ll never know what we’ve got going on the side. We’ll take off from there and be long gone before he figures out what happened. I’ve got reservations booked to Capri as a back up. By the time he traces us, we’ll be so far ahead of him he’ll never find us.”

“Oh, John… you’ve thought of everything… it’s the perfect plan.”

“Yea… in less than a week, we’ll be completely free of that lousy bastard… forever!” John said excitedly, taking the cork out of the champagne bottle. In some moments, he wished he could find a way to take Stefano Dimera out permanently, so there would be no lingering fears of being hunted down. But, he knew in his heart that he couldn’t kill the man, not unless there was no other choice. Stefano had taken him in when he had no one and nothing to call his own… when he was alone and living a vagabond existence. John believed he’d be dead by now, had it not been for the place he’d been given in the Dimera Empire. All in all it had been a good life, better than he had a right to expect. But now…. he yearned for more… there was a strange uneasiness in his soul. It wasn’t something he could readily identify or explain… but it left him feeling restless and unsettled.


Shaking off that sense of discomfiture to focus on the present, John poured the drinks, handing one to Gina as he said, smiling, “Here’s to our freedom..”


“To freedom!” she repeated, as they toasted the future, more than happy at the prospects of sharing a relatively normal life with the man she loved. There had been a plethora of other suitors throughout the years, but none that affected her like the man who went by the name of John Black. There was so much to tell him, so many secrets she’d kept at Stefano’s command, fearing for her safety, indeed her life as well as that of her lover. Once she was assured that they were liberated from that evil madman’s hold over them, she would tell John everything she knew, and pray that it wouldn’t change things between them

It was a magnificent day for strolling along the Champ-Elysees. The sun was shining brightly in a light blue sky, and after several days of meetings and seminars, she had the afternoon free to shop and sample all the delights of Paris, the City of Lights.

A few yards ahead of her, she saw the perfect outdoor cafe, with a beautiful view of the park, a host of early Spring flowers in bloom directly across the street, their brilliant colors, red, yellow, and purple…. impossible to ignore. It was so peaceful and relaxing, just what she needed to let the inner tension caused by grieving to fade from view. As she approached the establishment she smiled and spoke to her husband in her mind. ‘It’s okay, isn’t it, Roman…. for me to find a moment of enjoyment? You wouldn’t want me to be sad all the time, would you? You know I’ll always love you.. wherever I go, whatever I do… you’re with me.. in my… heart.” Tears filled her hazel eyes as she wondered about the guilt that always seemed to accompany moments like these. It was natural, a part of the healing process, but she knew it was strange all the same for the grieving person to experience. Wiping her tears with her outstretched fingertips, she took a deep breath and composed herself, prepared to enjoy the day as best she could, knowing that the guilt feelings might be there as well.

John hated this part of a job…. walking the length of their escape route, pacing it out step by step, looking for places to take cover should the need arise. But, knowing that it was absolutely crucial to every heist, he did it dutifully. Besides, this time it was different. This was the last one, the one that would finally buy his freedom.

As an adolescent, alone and vulnerable, in need of food and shelter, John had no idea what he was getting into, and by the time he began to realize, it was much too late. He was lured by the man’s deceptive charm, enticed by the life of wealth and finery the man offered him. John was ensnared in Dimera’s trap, and soon subject to games of mind control and tests of will as a victim of deprivation and what often amounted to emotional, sometimes physical torture. Of course, Stefano called it training and discipline, admittedly sometimes quite harsh but deemed necessary if his charges were to become worthy of the sign of the Phoenix.

John knew better now, but not then. There were times when he despised the man and times when he knew he’d be dead if it weren’t for his connections with the Dimera Empire. It was a classic love/hate relationship, one he didn’t question until well into his twenties and by then it seemed to be too late to escape. Stefano never let him forget that he owed the man plenty, including his life, several times over. He’d held that debt over John’s head for FAR too long!

During the worst periods he was so beaten down by the brutal ravaging of mind, body and spirit that for fleeting moments he wished to die in order to stop the pain. However, giving in to the pain and fear was simply unacceptable in the dark world in which he was raised. Instead, he’d learned to fight and then to kill, which was exactly what the monster wanted him to do. He became a fighting, killing machine, programmed to remove all obstacles in his path, with total disregard for the loss of life that might ensue. John learned well and he followed orders most of the time. When he didn’t, when his rebellious nature surfaced, Dimera drove it out of him, beat it out of him, tortured it out of him, until he gained the compliance he demanded. It was a cycle that had to come to an end sometime, they both knew it, though it had gone unspoken for many years.

And now… at last, John believed he had a real chance at making a life of his own… away from that savage abuse and mind control, away from the killing. Deep inside he’d begun to feel unsettled during recent months; there was a growing sense of unrest with that life as Stefano’s thief and mercenary, switching back and forth between the personas Dimera created. He had money, built up over a period of months, and the means to travel and start over with Gina. John Black determined that he wouldn’t let anything or anyone stand in the way of their plans. He had learned very well from the criminal mastermind and he would do whatever it took to achieve his objective. If he had to kill the man to escape his hold, then so be it.

Just as he was about to round a corner, the blinding light of the late afternoon sun hit him in the eyes and he went down with it… one of those massive headaches bringing him almost instantly to his knees, grasping at anything solid to hold him steady. He couldn’t see and his head felt like it would explode… “Oh… Gina… ” he cried, gripping his head at his temples, knowing she was the only one who could make the pain go away…

“Are you alright…. sir… ” said a soft compassionate voice. It wasn’t Gina but there was something about it he found comforting, familiar even… He tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. The pain was so intense it blinded him. Soon, John felt a pair of hands upon his shoulders, caring hands, gentle hands. There was a warmth, and a sense of peace that emanated from those hands….

“What’s wrong?”

Still not able to open his eyes, he struggled through the agony to reply, “My head…. it’s on fire…. a light flashed in my eyes… “

She nodded and began to massage his temples instinctively, speaking quietly as she did so, “Try to relax… slow your breathing….let the tension fade…let it go….”

It was working… “Yea… that’s better… ” he said as she continued her ministrations. It *was* better, in a matter of moments the pain was receding. John opened his eyes and saw the most amazing sight in all the world. Her face was like that of an angel, her hair was like spun gold and her hazel eyes were so full of genuine compassion, for him, a total stranger….

“Are you alright?” she asked kindly.

Beginning to come out of it, he rose from the ground, slightly embarrassed, “Yes, I uh… I get these headaches sometimes…. they’re killer… but they go away.”

“Have you been seen by a doctor… that looked pretty serious…. ” she said, giving him the once over, with a physician’s skills of observation.

He shrugged it off, saying casually, “I know… I really should… I tried once.. they couldn’t find a reason… said it was probably stress… or something.”

She nodded, realizing it wasn’t her place to tell him what he should do. “Well, I’m glad you’re alright now, I was afraid you might hurt yourself, falling like that.”

Chagrined, he discounted her concern, finally meeting her caring but strangely penetrating gaze, “Nah… but thank you for helping me, that was very kind of you, Miss…”

“Doctor Evans.. I’m Doctor Marlena Evans….. and you?” she said, extending her right hand for him to shake.

His eyes were fixed on the slender hand that found its way toward his. Even her hand was amazing, so soft and yet strong.. but the feeling of holding it did something to him, something words could not explain and his response was delayed. “Oh, yea… I’m uh… John… Stevens…. nice to meet you and thanks again…”

“You’re welcome…” she said with an awkward smile, tugging her hand back, realizing he’d been holding it too long.

Conscious of his strong visceral reaction, he let her go, not certain it was for her benefit or his, “Well, I’ll uh… just let you get back to your lunch here… take care.”

“You too… goodbye then….” She lingered for a moment, as did he, wishing he could think of something else to say to prolong the encounter. He could see in her slightly hidden eyes that she wanted the same, but there was nothing more for two strangers to discuss, so she smiled politely and turned her attention back to her meal.

He watched her at a discreet distance as she took her seat, placing the napkin over her lap. God, she was beautiful… naturally, incredibly beautiful and so graceful the way she carried herself, not like Gina whose movements were calculated, overtly sexual. This woman was different. She was special… way out of his league. His body reacted powerfully to the mere sight of her, which made him wonder…and left him wishing for a different life… but why?

The more he thought about it, the more he thought he should know her….’Doctor Marlena Evans… why did the name sound so familiar to him? Had Dimera mentioned her before?’ Shaking off the questions and the remnants of the throbbing pain in his head, John continued on his way, mapping out the path to freedom.

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Later that night, two partners in crime among other things, were on the verge of breaking away, meeting in the moonlight, stealing a second or two to savor the moment. In just a few short hours they would be on their own, away from the man who had controlled their lives for so long.

“Oh, Gina… we did it baby…. Just a little while longer and we’ll be free… I’ll see you at the rendezvous point… I love you.”

“And I love you…. Bye, John… I’ll see you very soon…” Their eyes lingered and he leaned in to kiss her, powerfully, hungrily…

That was the last intimate contact they were to make. He was convinced that he would never forget even one moment of that fateful night for the rest of his miserable long life. Gina was the only one he ever let himself care about since… He shook it off…. those were memories he couldn’t allow to surface… he’d just as soon banish them from his mind forever. Now she was gone too, just like the others, taken him from him in an instant. That’s the way it was for him, almost like a curse upon his name….. every time he let himself care about someone, the vengeful gods poured out their wrath upon him and he was left alone again.

The increasingly intrusive images flashed inside his mind, over and over and over again until his head throbbed with pulsating pain. It was dark and foggy, a misty chill in the early Spring air… They were running… almost ready to split up, a few feet apart from each other when the shots rang out… a staccato noise filling the air, shouts of warning just seconds beforehand, “Stop… halt or we’ll be forced to fire upon you!”

“Keep running, Gina.. I’ll cover us…” She hesitated, afraid he’d be hurt or worse. Finally, he gave her a shove and then the next thing he knew he was on the ground and the world went crazy. Bullets were flying everywhere… time stopped as he watched Gina fall just before making it to a place of safety. It took every ounce of strength he had to turn from her and fire at the shooters. When he was satisfied that they were no longer a threat, he raced toward her fallen body… but just as he neared her, others came out of the darkness and were kneeling next to her. He could see the pool of blood in which she lay by the light of the moon and the street lamp, and then he heard the words he couldn’t bear to hear, “She’s dead… Oh, my God! Princess Gina is dead!”

He remembered standing there dumbstruck, for the first time in his life having not a clue what to do. And then as the police sirens started in again, he bolted from the area, as fast as his injured body would allow. He had no choice but to run. Gina was dead and if he were to be apprehended, he’d spend some time in jail and then Stefano would take him back. If that happened, he would never be free. Stefano would soon learn what they had planned… and he would be livid, murderously angry and out for blood. However, he would not let John die swiftly or easily. That wasn’t his style, for anyone who betrayed Stefano Dimera had to be made an example of; that was certain. Instead, he would cause pain beyond John’s ability to endure, then would force him live out his life as Stefano’s mercenary, controlled by brainwashing and threats of even more gruesome torture… A life of slavery was what it would amount to and John would rather die that submit to that man’s mastery.

Suddenly, as he struggled with his aching head… and tried to determine what had gone wrong, it occurred to him… the woman! There was another woman besides Gina that Dimera had long coveted… The woman John had met along the Champ Elysees… could it be her? Of course… that’s it! Yes… that’s why the name was familiar…. Doctor Marlena Evans….wife of Roman Brady, the man Stefano hated, the man he killed several months back on the island. Stefano wanted to possess her but the timing had never been quite right and then she’d shot him. Strange how that seemed to make him want to have her even more. He hadn’t talked about it recently…. ‘He was always silent whenever he was in the planning mode…. maybe he’s going to take her soon. But, he doesn’t know she’s here in Paris…. I’m sure of it!’

John Black grinned with a perverse sense of satisfaction, even as he felt the blood oozing out of his gut wound again, his crude bandage far from adequate. What a stroke of luck! John knew where she was… and she was a doctor… she could help him heal… and then maybe he could take her to Dimera as a peace offering. Maybe then he would be allowed to live… If he did that, there was even a chance he could get back in the man’s good graces

It wasn’t much, but it was the only chance he had. Wounded and on the run from the authorities, he didn’t have many options. Dimera’s bloodhounds were everywhere and they had to be hot on his trail. By now, they must know he was Gina’s accomplice in an escape plan and that he’d been hit that night too. Besides that, from the looks of what he’d been able to glance at in the papers, Dimera had leaked damaging information which might lead to John’s eventual capture and conviction for other, much more serious crimes than art theft. Stefano was setting his plans for revenge in motion less than 24 hours after Gina’s death.

Thinking back on the chance encounter with the lady shrink, John vaguely recalled seeing a folder on the table where she sat, one that mentioned something about Traumatic Stress, some sort of conference or symposium.

Now, to find the hotel where the conference was taking place…. John knew a concierge at the Hotel La Residence du Roy. What was her name? ‘Ah yes, Patrice! He grinned on the memory of the way the tramp looked at him… ‘She always wanted me….all I have to do is smile and look at her like the feeling is mutual and she’ll find out for me… I know she will! Now, if I can only keep from passing out before I talk to her,’ he thought… as a sense of light headedness settled in, casting a thin veil over his consciousness. Laboring to remain upright, John held onto the frame of the phone booth as he searched for the number….

The office in which he found himself at the moment was small and low tech, containing a few beat up old chairs and an outdated computer, but it didn’t phase the British agent in the least. No matter what he had to put up with, this time he would emerge victorious. Shane Donovan, career ISA agent, was known as a man who could remain calm under almost any set of circumstances, but this was a case he’d been building for years and he wanted Dimera like he wanted no other. It was infuriating that the man had eluded the authorities for so long when virtually every branch of law enforcement in the world had been tracking his operation for almost two decades.

The fact that he’d killed Roman Brady and was still roaming the earth as a free man was incomprehensible. Shane Donovan vowed that this time it would go differently. This time Stefano Dimera was going to pay for his numerous crimes against humanity, and whether he wanted to or not, John Black, the man who had betrayed him, would become Shane’s ticket to an arrest and conviction that would stick. It was the collar of the century and it was going be his.

“Alright, let’s go over it again. Princess Gina was working with a partner in the jewelry and art theft ring, presumably this Father Black character, whom we now know had any number of aliases. John Stevens, private investigator, Soldier John Black the mercenary… among others. What I want to know is who is he really? Where does he come from? What’s his real name? What drives him?”

Flipping through the lengthy file, the blond haired, blue eyed Interpol agent shared the gist of it. “Well, our research indicates that Stefano and his minions trained him from the time he was an adolescent, that together they’ve been associated with major criminal activities throughout all of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia for the past several years. Drugs and illegal arms deals, their mainstays. This John Black guy is Stefano’s best man. He’s intelligent and well educated, he speaks several languages. And he’s tough as nails, fearless…. never backs down from a challenge and he’s a crack shot with any weapon you want to name. Intelligence reports tell us he’s taken out at least a dozen of their worst enemies, including some high ranking government officials from several countries trying to get tough on the drug trade.

The third man, a member of the Paris police force, chimed in as well, completing the picture for Shane…..”Rumor has it Dimera considered the man to be almost like a son, whatever that means. The bottom line is… he trusted Black and he was very publicly betrayed. Word is that his people are crawling all over Paris looking for Black as we speak. I think we all know what will happen to him if Dimera’s men find him first. “

Shaking off some of the gruesome images from the coroner’s files on alleged former Dimera employees, Shane concurred, “Yes…. that’s why it’s imperative we get to him as soon as possible. If he was willing to betray Stefano to strike out on his own, maybe we can get him to testify against the bastard. Maybe he was looking for a way out of that life….I don’t know… Besides, Black has to know he’s worse than dead if Stefano catches up to him. He’s hurt and he’s on the run in a city Dimera owns. If we help him out, he’ll have no place to go once he’s recovered, unless he agrees to work with us to take the man down.

The blond spoke up again, looking at some of the more recent information, “So far, there are confirmed reports of this Father John person circulating with Princess Gina dating back to last fall. That must be his latest reincarnation.”

Glancing at a photograph taken at a fancy party, memorizing the dark haired man’s face and piercing blue eyes, Shane responded forcefully, ” Whatever he calls himself….. I want some *hard* evidence of his association with Dimera… Photographs, phone bills, credit card receipts…. anything you can find that will implicate him in some major crimes, especially involving drugs, arms sales, and those killings.”

“If it’s out there we’ll help you get it Shane… I swear we will!”

“Good… we owe it to Roman Brady to take this bastard down, once and for all time!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stefano was on the verge of exploding with anger. Betrayal did not set well with him. When he was brought back to the estate, as he inevitably would be, John Black was going to suffer like never before. Excruciatingly painful torture such as no one had ever seen would be the outcome of his attempt to escape his life in the Dimera Empire. Stefano vowed there would be an audience to spread the word to all his underlings. “No one betrays Stefano Dimera and lives to tell about it!!” he shouted to no one in particular. “Now, I said, FIND him, you imbecile! We know that he’s still in Paris…. how difficult can it be to track down a badly injured man?”

“He knows this city like the back of his hand, Stefano…. and as you know, he is something of a lady killer…. there are a thousand places he could hide…. ” said the man’s employee, exaggerating on purpose.

Speaking of women made Stefano think of Gina…beautiful charming Gina… He sighed, wistfully, and then the anger swelled again…. John was responsible for her death…. and he would pay, a thousand times over… for that alone…

Noticing his underling was staring, waiting for a response, Stefano gave him one… “Yes, and we all know that every one of those women can be easily bought…. and besides that…. he’ll need medical care….. from all reports he was hit in the side and it was very messy…. he’s got to be losing a lot of blood and that means he’s weak. He’ll make mistakes.”

“I agree with you there… none of those bubble headed bimbos he’s usually with would know the first thing about taking care of a gunshot wound, and he’s much too smart to go to someone who won’t be able to help him.”

“Right, so get out there and find him and then bring him straight to me….I want him in less than 24 hours. No matter what it takes, I want him brought back alive, do you hear me?”

The man was in control for the moment, but he was enraged. If they didn’t find John Black, some of his minions were going to be on the receiving end of that rage… His subordinate answered crisply, “Yes sir! We’ll take him alive…”

“You know what happens to men who betray me, don’t you Nicholas?” Stefano asked, his demeanor strangely calm, his words a warning and a reminder.

“Yes sir, Mr. Dimera… they can only wish you would let them die.”

He nodded and added another warning, “The same can be said of men who fail me, do you understand my meaning?”

His underling nodded tightly and rushed out of the office, praying to the gods that he could find John Black in the next 24 hours as Stefano wanted. If not, some heads would roll, literally.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Climbing out of his vehicle was a tremendous strain on his wounded, exhausted body. John had to hold on to the frame of the door to remain upright as a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over him. ‘Come on, Black…. stay with it…. you have to get to her… you have to get some help here….’ he said to himself, putting a hand to his side. The pain was getting worse and he could feel the blood oozing out of the wound again. It was all he could do to pull away from the solid support of his Range Rover… but he did it because he had no choice if he had a chance in hell of remaining alive in the long run.

Marlena Evans was relaxing in a warm tub when she heard an insistent knock on her door….. It was so late… she hadn’t ordered anything from room service. Who could it be? She decided to ignore the sound of the knocking, hoping whoever it was would figure she wasn’t there and give up. That didn’t happen. Instead it grew louder… With a reluctant sigh, she climbed out of the tub and put on her robe, going to the door to gaze through the peep hole. It was the man she’d bumped into on the Champs Elysee the other day, but he looked horrible… in need of medical attention. Should she risk opening the door to a relative stranger?

“I need your.. help,” he said in response to her questioning gaze when she finally opened the door which was still latched. She could see that much from his fevered brow and the way he was leaning to one side. This man was seriously injured. Deciding to trust her instincts and honor her profession, she let him in.

Once inside the nice guy facade seemed to fade as he pulled a gun and leveled it at her. “Lady… I hate to barge in on you like this but I’m in a little trouble here.. and you being a doctor and all… I came to you… “

Feigning indifference to the weapon, she tried to sound sarcastic to put him off guard, “I’m flattered….but I’m a psychiatrist… I don’t practice medicine on a regular basis.”

“Whatever…. can you deal with this?” he asked, opening his leather jacket to reveal a blood soaked shirt. She gasped at the sight of it, realizing that he’d been shot and had already lost a considerable amount of blood. Just the act of opening his coat seemed to have created a change that led to increasing dizziness. John wavered and almost went down, holding onto the desk in order to keep from falling over.

“I’m terribly sorry but this isn’t my area… you need a hospital….I’ll call for an ambulance,” she said, taking a step or two toward the desk, her hand reaching for the telephone.

He closed the distance in an instant, ripping the phone out of her hands, his voice strangely calm, “Sorry…. that’s not an option… you’ll have to do what you can…. right here.”

He frightened her and yet there was something about him, something she couldn’t identify that made her care….Dismissing it as part of her physician’s oath, she answered him, “Alright…. first we need to clean the wound…. and then I’ll have to try and remove the bullet… then stitch it.. But I have to warn you… I only have some mild pain relievers… it’s really going to smart…” she said, hoping he’d reconsider and seek hospital care instead. She sighed somewhat admiringly when she saw in his eyes that he wouldn’t. This was a tough man…. one who was more concerned about what would happen if he did that than he was of the physical pain he was about to endure.

He winced at the idea. It was bad enough already, but there was no choice, “Yea well….do what you have to do… I can take it…”

The decision made, she nodded purposefully… and told him what she wanted from him, “Lie down on the bed while I get what I need.”

“Don’t you go getting any ideas lady…. I might be hit…but I’m still in control here,” he reminded her as she started toward what had to be the bathroom, waving his firearm around to emphasis his power over the situation.

The glint of silver streaking through the air, her eyes fixed on the barrel, made her tremble inside, but she willed herself to appear unaffected. “I know… and it’s alright. You don’t need to threaten me… I’ll help you… “

For some odd reason, he knew he could trust her to do as she said. She would help him, even though she was afraid of what he might do or where an association with him might ultimately lead. She was a caring dedicated doctor and she would do whatever she could to help him recover. “Yea well, you damn well better, lady… or you’ll be sorry..” he said to keep her off balance.

Busying herself with instruments, antiseptic and towels, gauze and bandages, Marlena tried not to think about what came next. She preferred to focus on what was right in front of her, examining the entry point, removing the bullet if possible, and then cleansing and bandaging the wound.

“Hurry up in there Doc….I’m bleeding all over the place in here… “

“I’m coming… I’m trying to find the proper instruments… unless you want me to remove the bullet with a dirty pocket knife.”

Seeing her come back with all manner of items that would help her do the job right, he couldn’t hide his admiration, “You really know what you’re doing, don’t you?”

“It’s your lucky day…. I just took a refresher course in first aide medicine… ” she offered.

He couldn’t quite stifle a laugh at the irony of it all.. “Yea…my lucky day… Lady…. if it weren’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all…”

“It could have been a lot worse… I could have been a Ph.D. in history or something,” she offered sarcastically, while opening a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

She even had a sense of humor when a gun was pointed at her head. Clearly, this was a woman to be reckoned with….. “True…. so, are you going to get to work here…. “

She nodded and made a request that was more like a command, but he obeyed it, sensing her expertise. “Lie down… and open your shirt…”

He complied, hoping she was as skilled as she was making herself out to be…. noticing the slight trembling of her hands, the only outward sign of her fear.

“Alright….I’ve sterilized some tweezers… and now I’m going to pour some rubbing alcohol over the wound. It’s going to burn…. and then I’m going to have to put my finger in the hole to find the bullet so that I can use the tweezers to remove it. That’s going to cause a great deal of pain… What I want you to do is bite down on this cloth and then put your hands over your head and grab the bed posts…. if you move too much… we could have a serious problem… can you handle it?”

“Do what you have to do, Doc… I can take the pain.”

“Don’t call me that… I’m Doctor Evans to you….” she said as she splashed the alcohol over the affected area, causing him to gasp, followed by yelp he couldn’t quite squelch.. “Oh… lady…you weren’t kidding… AH it’s on fire… “

She wiped away a layer of blood and found the bullet hole almost immediately, sticking her finger in and locating the bullet fairly quickly. He squirmed involuntarily, biting hard on the cloth so as not to scream out his agony…. His face was contorted in pain as she probed further, assessing whether or not the tweezers were long enough to extract the bullet. “Okay…. I’ve found it…. I’m going to take it out now, if I can… this is going to be even worse… are you ready?”

He shut his eyes briefly, as if mentally preparing himself for the added suffering. When he opened them, there was a depth of raw courage she hadn’t seen many times before… “Go ahead… take it out…”

She said nothing, going right to the task, parting the skin and placing the tweezers into the wound, grasping hold of the small metallic chunk and tugging hard.

He twitched and then pulled away from the source of the pain. Marlena responded by putting one knee on his thigh, the other on his chest as she leaned over the bullet hole in his side. “I said, don’t move!” she yelled and he nodded again, seemingly resigned to his fate, a light mist forming involuntarily behind his pain filled blue eyes. It had to be excruciating… Marlena apologized without a sound and made one more attempt to remove the bullet, having decided she shouldn’t do more without benefit of an intensive care unit at a hospital. If he bled out, he was a dead man.

With a firm grip on the tweezers she gave one last hard yank and out it came. Unfortunately, along with it, came a steady stream of bright red blood…. as if the bullet were plugging a hole in a dam holding back a flood. “Oh my God…. ” she said, on the verge of hysteria, thankful for the stack of towels next to her. She grabbed three towels and pressed down as hard as she possibly could. “Help me… hold this towel as close to your body as you can…. I’m going to get more…and find something stronger to stitch this wound… ” she said, racing for the bathroom again.

By the time she returned he had passed out, and it appeared as though he were moving into shock, from the combination of the trauma and loss of blood. She started to panic, even as she was pressing down on his side with the towels… “Oh, God… now what I do…. I should call for an ambulance and alert the police… I know I should…. if he were one of the good guys, he’d be in the hospital, Marlena…. Call the police….”

Her unexpected guest was groaning in response, having heard her muttering. “No.. no police… he’ll find me… he’ll take me back…. no police… please!” By all rights her patient should have stayed unconscious. Whatever had happened, this man was more afraid of someone else than the police themselves, to the point that he would risk dying to avoid being captured by that person. John Stevens, if that was his real name, was desperate and vulnerable and some part of her wanted to take care of him.

She continued to work to stop the bleeding… “Listen to me… you need more care than I can give you… you need a hospital..”

“No… he owns this city…. no hospital, no police…” At that point, her patient passed out again, still losing blood. After working on him for over an hour, she was able to cauterize the wound with the aide of some fireplace matches and stitch it up with needle and dental floss. It was crude work at best, but it would have to do for now. He was very weak from the tremendous loss of blood and at risk for infection and any number of serious complications, but he was alive. When it was over, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief and sat down in a chair next to the bed watching him.

When satisfied that he was alright for the time being, she went into the bathroom where she promptly vomited up what was left of her dinner. The stress had taken its toll on her too and this was the result. After taking a quick shower, and brushing her teeth, she slipped into some sweatpants, a sweatshirt and cotton socks for her feet. Feeling more comfortable, she sat down to observe her sleeping patient, realizing that now was her chance to inform the hotel staff of his presence.

She tiptoed across the room toward the door, her hand reaching for the handle when she heard the unmistakable clicking sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. “Where do you think you’re going, Doc?”

Startled, she whirled around to face him saying with deceptive calmness, “Nowhere… do you have to keep waving that thing around?”

“No… not if you don’t try to run away from me, I don’t. Is that what you were doing, lady… planning to run out and leave me here… ” he said, struggling to sit up, but failing miserably.

Nodding, she gave a partially truthful answer, “Yes… I was going for help… it’s like I said before.. you’re badly injured, you’ve lost a lot of blood and you should be in a hospital.”

“Like I said, that’s not an option, Doctor…. *you* are my hospital… now, tell me what’s happening here… what did you do?” he asked, looking down at his bandaged right side.

“I removed the bullet, cauterized the wound and stitched you up with un-waxed dental floss,” she recounted with a proud smile on her face.

“Dental floss?” he asked, bewildered, wondering if that would work.

“Yes, dental floss.. a little crude but effective….it’s going to have to come out soon, but it’ll do for now.”

This was one incredible woman… she hardly seemed afraid and she didn’t respond to his looks like most other women did. It was intriguing, alluring. “Doc.. you amaze me… you know that?”

She smiled almost imperceptibly, “I’m truly flattered… now how about letting me go…. I have a conference to attend in the morning and I’d really like to go… seeing as how I’m one of the presenters….”

“I’ll take that under advisement, lady…. right now.. it’s time we got some sleep, don’t you think?”

She tossed her head back and laughed at the illogic of it all. “Sleep… a man comes into my hotel room in the middle of the night, waves a gun in my face, forces me to operate on him and you expect me to get some sleep. Fat chance….”

His eyes indicated his understanding, and he tried to reassure her that if she did as she was told, there would be no problem, “Look…. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t need your help…. I haven’t hurt you, have I?”

She shook her head, thankful for that much….”No… but you’ve threatened to…. how do I know you won’t shoot me while I sleep?”

John laughed… looking down at his side and said, “Gee, it might have something to do with the fact that I’d be a dead man if it weren’t for you… you think?”

That almost made her feel a little better and she tried to use it to change up on him, “Okay, I see your point… well then, how about you get some sleep while I keep an eye on your condition. When I’m satisfied that you’re going to be alright, I’ll doze off too.”

“Fair enough….” Just to make sure she was clear, he pointed the gun at her again and issued a warning, “…and please…. don’t you go trying to leave here and tell someone about me…. that would be a *very* big mistake. I never forget a face, or a name… and I’ll find you, no matter where you go… I’ll find you lady.”

A slight shudder and a soft sound of distress were the only indications of her fear, but her response was strong, “I understand completely… don’t worry… I won’t do anything foolish.”

“Good, as long as we understand each other… I think we’ll do just fine.” Although he shouldn’t trust her, for some reason, he knew she wouldn’t betray him. John watched her watching him for awhile, but at some point he closed his eyes involuntarily and the pain and fatigue claimed him almost immediately afterward. As he slept, Marlena went to her bag and found the hypodermic needle she suddenly remembered was there. With shaky hands, she injected him with the fast acting sedative. It would buy her some time, time to decide what she should do….

At last, the dark haired armed intruder slept soundly, thanks to the sedative with which she’d injected him, and she had time to consider her options. His threat was very real, more like a promise…. “I never forget face or a name… and I’ll find you. No matter where you go, I’ll find you, lady…”

Marlena believed he meant every word of it… this was a very dangerous volatile man, unlike any other she’d known and yet there was something behind his steely blue eyes, a sense of vulnerability well hidden. Yes, this was a man who had been hurt, deeply. And strange as it seemed amidst the brutally masculine presence he projected, Marlena sensed intuitively that the injured man was afraid of something he couldn’t name. ‘He must have learned to cover it with anger and violence…’

Preparing to stand up, glancing down at the man who called himself John Stevens, she nearly cursed her own compassionate tendencies, ‘Oh, stop it Marlena….not everyone is a wounded soul who needs your support and understanding. He could be just like Stefano…. evil to the core with the ability to be charming when he wants something…. Be smart here…. just get up and leave him… you did what you could. Tell the hotel security….the police will come and then you’ll be safe. Walk away Marlena…. for once in your life….just walk away…’

Pausing for a moment, Marlena pondered the nagging question…. ‘Why would he trust her not to turn him in while he succumbed to the pain and fatigue? Certainly the reason he showed up at her door in the first place was that he’d remembered she was a doctor, and searched her out since she’d helped him before… But was it more than that… had he been able to sense something in her, some quality she didn’t recognize in herself? Or was it simply that he was on the run from the authorities and so badly injured that he had no where else to turn?

Still contemplating her decision, she recalled their brief but memorable encounter on the Champ Elysees the other day, his intense headache… how it knocked him to his knees…how he shrugged it off so casually, even as she saw in his blue eyes that he was concerned about it too. She recalled the sense of connection that was impossible to explain with mere words, as if two souls touched for a moment…. neither of them wanting that moment to end but unable to stop time from marching forward, returning them to their separate lives, their separate worlds……

~~~~~~~

Her hand was on his shoulders and then his aching head….. the gentleness of her touch was like nothing he had ever known… the pain slowly began to fade…..his eyes opened and he peered uncertainly into the face of an angel.. her golden hair falling down around her almost like a halo… her glowing compassionate eyes…. her sweet warm smile….

She was jarred out of her reverie by the soft sounds of his moaning. Startled, she rushed instinctively to his side, to check her patient, she told herself. He was murmuring…. ” No, don’t go…. stay…. please stay.. I need you…. I need you..” he said in a ragged, desperate whisper. Was he talking to her? Was he even aware of her?’ she wondered in the privacy of her thoughts.

Concerned, she placed a cautious hand on his ruggedly handsome, whiskered face… and gasped at the heat it radiated. He was burning up…. Wasting no time, she raced to the bathroom, soaked a washcloth with cold water, and hurried back to drape it across his fiery hot forehead. There had to be an infection setting in… Carefully, she checked her handiwork…. drawing back the sheet, trying not to hurt him unnecessarily. Upon closer examination, she could see no external evidence of an infection in the wound itself, just the angry reddish tissue that simultaneously indicated a sign of healing and the damage done when his body was pierced by a bullet. How she hated guns…. wicked instruments of death…. she silently cursed their manufacturers as she carefully covered him up again.

‘Must be systemic…. or maybe he’s bleeding internally… ‘ Frantically, she searched her bag…. having recalled that she’d recently obtained a prescription of a moderately potent oral antibiotic for herself, because of a slightly resistant yeast infection which kept recurring. Had she brought it along as planned? She sighed quietly when her right hand found the small bottle of pills.

“Okay, John…. you’re going to have to swallow this,” she said to her essentially unconscious patient… “Come on….” she urged, struggling to prop him up with pillows… He moaned at the jarring movement. “Oh…can’t..”

God he was heavy… all muscle. Despite her usual clinical detachment, she couldn’t help but notice the lean tautness of his upper body. Shirtless, he was much like one of those ancient sculptures of the Greek gods, his arms massive, his chest broad, his belly firmly rippled. This man was in peak physical condition… almost like a soldier, but in whose army? Shaking her head to clear it of suddenly vivid images of this overtly sexy man firing an automatic weapon, she yelled at herself….. ‘Focus Marlena…..help him…‘ she admonished.

At last, she was able to get him in a relatively upright position so she could slip the pill onto his tongue, then managed to get a sip or two of water in his mouth. Pressing his lips together and then holding his mouth closed with one hand, she massaged his throat, hoping to engage the swallowing mechanism. Doctor Evans breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the gulping sound, signifying that the pill had gone down. “Whew….” she said as she exhaled wearily.

‘Now what, Marlena… just what are you going to do?’ she asked herself as she sat back in the chair to watch him while he settled down into a deeper level of slumber, hoping the antibiotic would have its proper effect. Everything she knew told her to call the police and report what he had done…. forcing his way into her hotel room, holding her at gunpoint and demanding she take care of his wound.

All she had to do was leave the room, make her way to the elevator and get down to the lobby. Besides that, the man was in trouble, near delirium, in need of more care than she could give. There should be no question about her course of action; she should report him, and then he could get proper treatment.

And probably land in prison…. for whatever crimes he must have committed. She could only imagine what he might have done that ended in gunfire. Had he robbed someone, been involved in some other illegal activity and been caught in the act? Could he have killed someone? What? she wondered…. beginning to shiver at the thought of being on the receiving end of his apparent capacity for violence.

She took a silent step toward the door…. It was so simple. Walk out that door and she was free of him. Again, it was the sound of his voice that stopped her… “No…. can’t die… can’t let this happen…no.. no…. ” She couldn’t make out every word he uttered, but it was fairly clear that whatever had prompted him to call out signified a profound spirit wound. He sounded so…sad, so desolate.

Standing a few feet across the room, transfixed by the sheer physical beauty of the man and the power of his presence, contrasting with an oddly endearing vulnerability in such moments, another memory from her harrowing evening flashed in her mind. Marlena shuddered at the recollection of the wildness she’d seen in his eyes at one point. He was fighting to stay awake and alert and he waved the gun at her, telling her he was still in control. It was not an idle threat he made. She sensed this man never made idle threats. He was deadly serious. John Stevens was intimately familiar with the use of firearms, and would do whatever was necessary to ensure his survival; that much was a given.

But what of the hint of sweet shyness she had seen in him when they stood face to face on the Boulevard? That unspoken desire to live another life? Doctor Marlena Evans Brady determined that there were two distinct sides to this mystery man, two sides that were at war within…..

And in that moment she realized that the same could be said of herself. One part of her knew that she should run from him, as fast and as far away as possible. Nevertheless, as hard as Marlena fought it and strove to make herself go….. there was some undeniable, indescribable force inside of her that compelled her to stay with the wounded man and find out which side would be the victor. And as much as she feared him and what he might do to her, she wanted to learn the source of the pain behind his striking blue eyes… the pain she just heard in his tormented cries…

Even as she stopped and turned around, having made her final decision, Marlena knew that it would be her undoing….

‘God help me, I don’t know what I’m doing here,‘ she whispered under her breath as she sat by his side once more, sensing intuitively that she should take his hand in hers. It was a large strong hand, one accustomed to fighting, she guessed from studying the calluses on his knuckles. She smiled as she observed him, the tension she’d seen seconds earlier beginning to ease, and concluded that his hand hadn’t often been held in tenderness…. that he hadn’t often been in the company of someone who cared for him and wanted nothing in return…..

Maybe it was time for all that to change….

‘And maybe you’ve read too many romance novels, Marlena…‘ said the voice of reason inside her weary head. It was the last coherent thought before her tired eyelids went shut. Lying down on the bed for what was supposed to be only a moment, she soon found herself in that hazy place between the state of wakefulness and the land of dreams….

It was so peaceful in this place… no haunting memories from a distant past….. he was floating on air… relaxed and free from pain and suffering, free from the darkness in his soul. Life was sweet. He was loved and he was happy….. for the first time in his life he was truly happy.

But the dream always ended.

Sunlight danced across the room and the shadows of night faded. In the stark light of day, the situation made its full impact.

Marlena awakened to see the injured man trying to sit up, groaning, apparently about to vomit. Her physician’s instincts kicking in, she hurried to his side and helped him position himself so as not to get it all over himself. He moaned again, “Oh… oh..” and then did as she suspected, but it was mostly dry heaves, his body struggling to adjust to the loss of blood and the trauma of a gunshot wound.

When it was over, he was spent, and leaning to his left side, not making a sound, except for that of his labored breathing. Without a word, she went to the bathroom to retrieve a washcloth and towel to help him clean himself up. She also had a cup of water, a substance he desperately needed at this juncture.

Lost in the pain for a moment, he startled at her touch upon her return, then covered his reaction with a sarcastic remark, “Well, if it isn’t my own personal Nurse Nightengale…” he said, fighting off the shakiness he felt.

“That’s Doctor Evans to you, buster… “

“Alright… no offense intended and it’s John… John Stevens, remember?”

She replied with a smirk, “Oh, yes… how could I possibly forget? Must have been the gun you held in my face when we were introducing ourselves….”

“Look… I haven’t hurt you and I won’t…. “

“I know….. I know… as long as I do what you tell me…. Now, let me get you cleaned up here….”

Hating to be in the dependent role any more than absolutely necessary, he snatched them out of her hands, sitting up again, wiping his own face. Next, he backed her off with his pain filled angry eyes and made the attempt to stand, starting by swinging his legs over the side. Using the bed side table for support, he managed to get his feet on the floor and put his weight down. Marlena watched him, wincing in tandem with his grimaces and stifled groans.

Smiling proudly, he took two steps before his head started to pound, a wave of dizziness washed over him and he faltered. He almost went down, having to brace himself along the wall nearest the bed. Breathing hard, he leaned with his back against it and fought the whole body weakness that threatened to bring him to his knees.

“John… it’s too soon….” she offered with the physician’s concern, standing nearby in case he fell.

He shut his eyes, calling upon every mental discipline the Old Man ever taught him, then opened them to counter her assertion, thinking the man was probably closing in him. “No… it just might be too late… we’re leaving… now!”

“But you can barely stand… how are you….”

He cut her off by raising his left hand, angrier still, for her having pointed out what was painfully clear to him, “I’ll manage…. you just worry about yourself…”

“So, I guess this means you aren’t going to let me go to my seminar?” she said, stating the obvious.

He shook his head… ” Sorry, no can do….”

“Well, then you better let me make some phone calls… because otherwise there are going to be any number of my colleagues coming up here to find out what’s wrong. Seems a lot of them fancy me…and they’re rather attentive… ” she said, using her attractiveness to throw him off balance.

“Okay, okay.. I get your point… now just shut up and let me think!” he yelled, regretting it for the pain it caused in his head. She opened the curtains unannounced and a beam of light came streaming in, seemingly aimed straight at his eyes. Searing hot pain enveloped him.. “AH!” Damn the headaches! He was rubbing his temples and muttering, “Gina…. where are you Gina…. please make it go away….”

“Gina….. who is Gina?” Marlena asked, confused.

He seemed shocked to hear her say it out loud, his eyes narrowed then his face seemed to cloud over with nearly overwhelming sadness as his body sagged… “Gina….Oh…Gina….” he repeated forlornly, wavering again, reality suddenly penetrating his defenses. She was gone, forever she was gone…. “No…. no….”

Not saying anything further, Marlena went to him, and guided him toward the bed, sensing he was on the verge of collapse. Immersed in pain and grief, he didn’t offer any resistance. She helped him lie down on his left side and he stayed there for what seemed like an eternity but was actually only a few minutes. Staring out of moist eyes, his body was almost rigid, yet beginning to tremble slightly. It didn’t take long to figure out that he was grieving for the aforementioned woman. Had she been killed at the same time he was injured… did she leave him? Whatever the case, he must have loved her, she wasn’t with him, and he was hurting. Marlena knew better than to ask for details.

Again, her response was instinctive. She sat quietly by his side, not making a sound, allowing him and his condition to determine their next move. After several moments of intensely strained breathing, he dropped off to a restless sleep again, and she was thankful because she knew her patient needed it. After checking his forehead which seemed a little warmer than normal, she put a cold compress on and left him alone.

Looking at her watch, she noticed that it was almost 8:00am, the time when the continental breakfast was to be served. If she were going to call someone and cancel, she couldn’t wait for her captor’s permission.

Slowly, she slipped across the room to use the phone on the desk, noticing the number to call for help… Tempted, she glanced backward and then dialed the extension of the woman who was responsible for the entire proceeding. First things first.

“Hello?” answered the other woman, sounding as if she were in a hurry to get downstairs to the conference.

“Good morning… this is Dr. Marlena Evans… I’m calling because…. I’m really not feeling well and I can’t possibly speak this morning. I’m so sorry…but I have a terrible headache and some nausea… aches and pains,.. I think it might be the flu or something… but I’m dizzy and can’t stand up for very long.”

“Oh, my…. well, then you certainly should rest…. don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it. I’m sure people will understand.”

“Oh thank you.. I was so worried about it… thank you for being so understanding.”

“Think nothing of it, you just concentrate on getting well. I’ll be sure to check on you later.. take good care.”

“I will… thank you again.” Marlena wanted to say something more, something that might alert the woman to her predicament, but she hesitated and the moment was lost, the connection was broken.

“So…. you do keep your word…. impressive lady… very impressive,” said the man lying on the bed.

“Gee thanks… but before you go admiring me…. let me tell you, fear is a great motivator. So, anyway, I’m off the hook with the conference…. now what?”

“Simple… like I said earlier, we leave.”

She looked at him and wondered how in the world he planned to accomplish it when he couldn’t remain upright for more than a minute or two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making his way through one of the service entrances, he thought they would be able to make a clean break for it… but he was spotted… one of the housekeepers saw his face clearly and ran off…. John turned to his unwilling traveling companion.. “Stay here.. ” he said, holding the gun close to her face…. She nodded and then he tied her wrists to a pipe…. “I’ll be right back! And don’t think of screaming…. “

He turned and did his level best to ignore the weakness as he loped off down the dark lonely corridor…. smiling when he caught up to the man who’d seen him… The guy was so scared, he’d fallen all over himself trying to find someone to tell. He heard his assailant’s foot steps and whimpered, knowing what was to come… Turning… he pleaded for his life without words, his body trembling. John aimed the gun at the man’s head and cocked the hammer. “Please don’t.. I won’t say anything.”

It shouldn’t have mattered.. should have only served to fuel the desire to kill… but it did… this time it did matter. John’s hand started to shake… and something inside him was revolted by what he was about to do. Summoning the anger, he issued a clear warning, “You tell anyone what you saw here and you’re a dead man… I’ll come back for you…. and you’ll wish it could be so easy as a bullet to your head….”

The man nodded tightly, “I swear it.. ” John held the gun to the man’s ear… and clicked the hammer, enjoying the shudder it stimulated in his victim. “I’m glad we understand each other… “

The worker shut his eyes for a second and when he opened them the dark haired man was gone. Shedding his white jacket, the housekeeper got up and ran after him.. pulling his own gun…. ‘The fool… he thought I was what I appeared to be… he’ll pay for that mistake…‘

As John reached the rear door, his eyes meeting those of his captive, a thought struck him… ‘That clerk…. there was something about him… the cut of his hair… the shoes he was wearing…. he was no hotel employee….

John turned to the sound of a silenced bullet whizzing past…. He ducked and rolled, firing when he was facing the other shooter. Two more shots, rang out. Closer. One splintered the frame of the doorway, sending sharp pieces of wood into his arm. That made him angry and he fired off another couple of rounds at the moving target. In the next second, he heard a buzzing sound and then felt a flash of white hot pain on the left side of his head. And then the lights went out.

It was dark, and the world was spinning all around him, making him extremely nauseated. He couldn’t see and he couldn’t move, but he could hear noises. It was like that for what seemed like a long time….

And then he heard a scream. He didn’t know if it were pure instinct or not, but he clambered to his feet before the pain and dizziness could catch up with him. Lurching, staggering toward the source of the sounds of terror, John knew he had to get there before the screaming stopped. He could only imagine the details of what was happening. Another blood curdling cry made the adrenaline surge and the acid churn in his gut. He forced himself to stand more erectly.. to run toward her. For reasons he couldn’t name, John was compelled to save her, as she had already saved him with her medical skills.

She was shivering…. frightened beyond words. The man had such dark menacing eyes…”Ah… he’s been holding you, has he…. now it’s my turn…ha ha!” He ripped her shirt and started fondling her breasts, as he forced her to kiss him. With her wrists tied to the pipe she was powerless as the man pressed his body against hers, trapping her against the wall. She screamed and then he had a hand over her mouth so she couldn’t do it again, though the chances of anyone hearing her above the hum and vibration of the industrial washing machines and dryers, were next to nil. She knew John had chosen an unused entrance. Even while the man was hurting her, Marlena’s mind swirled with a dozen questions, almost like some sort of out of body experience… Where was John? Why wasn’t he coming back? Had he been shot again?

The absurdity of her situation almost made her laugh. Here she was holding out hope for a heroic rescue by a man who moments earlier was holding her hostage at gunpoint, having been the one to put her in the position of being raped in the first place.

Still the sound of footsteps was a welcome one, as her ability to fight off the attacker was waning…. his hands were unfastening her pants now, beginning to explore her most private places, one hand kneading her rear, the other in front. She gasped at the pain and the sense of violation, as his rough fingers probed her vulnerable tender flesh..

“Oh, you like that… do you?” he said, leering at her before forcing his tongue inside her resistant mouth again, then biting her lip hard, when she didn’t respond the way he wanted, causing it to bleed.

It made her cry out again, and then in ostensibly the next instant, the animal assaulting her was lying motionless on the floor, a silenced bullet splattering his brain all over the hallway, miraculously missing Marlena. John tried to hold her, just until the shaking stopped…

In shock from what she’d just witnessed, she stifled another scream as she wriggled out of his grasp. Still trembling, she turned her exposed body away from the gory scene and her attacker’s killer, frightened, embarrassed, and humiliated by the horrifying experience.

John surprised her…. pulling out a handkerchief, gently dabbing at the cut on her lip, then untying her wrists as he helped her gather her clothes around her shivering body. “I’m sorry….” he said with tenderness she’d not yet seen or heard from him.

Forcing back the sobs, she labored to speak to him, to tell him it was only an attempt. “I’m alright…. he didn’t….. he didn’t…”

He nodded, and hugged her once more, lightly this time, releasing her quickly, preserving her dignity. “I know… I’m glad… now let’s get out of here… okay?”

She nodded mechanically and allowed him to guide her toward the door, even though he could barely see to navigate for the blood that made a continuous trickle into his left eye and on down his face and neck. Recovering her wits about her, she noticed.. “John…. you were hit again.. there’s a lot of blood.”

“Yes…. but it only grazed me… I’m okay… it’s just a flesh wound… ” he said, offering a weak smile. “Heh… always…. wanted to say that…. ” No sooner had he uttered those words than she felt his body go limp, beginning to fall. It took every ounce of her strength to keep him from landing on the unyielding tile flooring.

“John…. you have to wake up…. we can’t stay here….you said it’s too dangerous…. right….so come on… wake up.”

It seemed like she was waiting an eternity before his eyelids began to flutter. “John… you passed out…. but you have to find a way to stay awake now…. we have to leave, remember?”

“Yea….too dangerous…. we have to leave…” he parroted back to her. The bullet had hit in the temple area, probably causing at least a mild concussion. He was possibly moving into shock again, and he was fading fast. She had to find out where they were supposed to be going.

“John…. where…. how are we getting out of here?” she asked anxiously.

“Truck…. Black Range Rover…. keys…. keys…..” he said, working his brain for answers, struggling to give her details she needed, even as his consciousness flickered.

Realizing she needed to be more directive, Marlena repeated it back and asked a specific question of him, “Yes… where are the keys, John…. tell me.”

It was all he could do to answer before his eyes rolled back in his head, “Pocket…. jeans….”

She found them and managed to reach her hand down and retrieve them. When she had them in her hands, her eyes landed immediately on the vehicle in question. It seemed so far away. How on earth am I going to get this semi-conscious man all the way over there? At the moment, whether it was the loss of blood, the dizziness or the combination of the two wounds, he was much like a rag doll, his legs wobbly, unable to fully support his weight.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to draw on every ounce of reserve strength she owned to get this strangely endearing man to the relative safety and security of his truck. Then they could both rest for a moment or two… As she neared it, she looked at her patient and he was suddenly deathly pale… “Come on, John…. don’t do this…..you can make it… come on… fight… fight to live, John….”

“Mmm, yea… fight… gotta fight… ” he muttered, not fully in touch with reality.

Hearing those words come out of her mouth shocked her. Was it only as a doctor that she was concerned…. or was it about more than that now? The fact of the matter was that he just saved her from being raped, and she wanted to help him in return. She was baffled by her reaction, but had to acknowledge in her heart, that it was more than that. John Stevens intrigued her, and she was beginning to care about him; she wanted to get to know and understand him…..

He woke up to the noise made by soft whimpering, as if someone were trying to muffle the sound. His eyelids wouldn’t open easily, especially the left one. He reached up and found the blood had crusted over making it basically impossible for him to open that eye for the time being. The other wasn’t as bad and he managed to peer out of it. He looked over to see his ‘captive’ huddled against the door of his Range Rover… shivering and crying softly. Looking around him, striving to gain his bearings, John determined that somehow, she had managed to get the two of them out of that deserted service entrance and over to his vehicle when he was virtually out on his feet, then drive them to a park nearby. All on her own in a strange city, she found a place where they could sit for awhile, unnoticed. Remarkable.

But now, the shock of her own trauma was setting in… He reached out to put a gentle hand on her back, but she flinched and pressed her body even closer to the door, trembling violently. “Hey.. shh… it’s okay, you’re safe now…. I’m not going to hurt you…”

“But you’re willing to hold me hostage… is that supposed to make me feel better?” she fired back, still able to challenge him even though she’d been terrified by what happened.

She sure was a feisty one. Here he was being nice to her and she reacted this way… It pissed him off. “Look lady, I saved you from that… “

“Bastard! Yes, you did… and for that I’m grateful…but I’ve served my purpose now… so why not let me go?”

He was reluctant to say it, since it meant admitting he was in a position of dependence, “Because… I still… need you.. your help I mean….”

She turned toward him, looked him up and down and realized he was in worse shape than she felt, and it made her chuckle…. “Yes, I guess you do at that… God, you’re a mess, John…”

“Yea.. thought so… just call me one eyed Jack… ” he said with a laugh, squinting at her, not knowing why it mattered, yet trying to make light of their situation.

“What am going to do with you?”

“Uh.. make it so I can see out of my left eye?”

“I guess so… but about my… situation?”

“There’s a…. some clothes in back… I uh… I was supposed to… ” his voice broke as he remembered the night they planned the trip in detail and then packed their bags. Choking back the pain of loss, he switched directions and asked her a pertinent question, “What size do you wear?”

She hesitated for a moment at the personal query, but realized she needed to answer if she were going to get some new garments, “Six….”

“Good… there are some things in a suitcase back there.. it’s the one with the paisley design… you should be able to find something to suit your style.” At least someone could get some use out of them.

Without a word, Marlena nodded and then climbed out of the vehicle and cautiously went around to the back, careful to hold her blouse together in front. She found the suitcase he mentioned easily and began searching its contents, not finding too many things to her liking. Finally, she found a floral sweater and black pants that she could feel comfortable wearing. As she went to close the door, she noticed the tag on the luggage, Gina Von Amburg. These were her clothes… So, even if they weren’t in love… at the very least, they were planning a trip of some sort, and something went terribly wrong.

“Uh… John… did you want me to find you a clean shirt and pants?”

He wanted to say no, that he was going to get up and come around back to retrieve them for himself, but he couldn’t. The fact was that John was much too weak and dizzy at the moment to do anything of the sort. “Uh… alright… sure, go ahead… since you’re back there already.”

The other bag was black. Opening it up, she quickly rifled through it to find him a white t-shirt and jeans, but as she reached down inside, her hand brushed against something, a bag of some sort. It was dark, made of velvet or something like it. Shaking it slightly, she knew what was inside it. There were jewels in that black bag. So that was it… he must have been involved in a theft…presumably so had this Gina person. Wasting no more time, she put the bag back exactly where she’d found it and zipped up the duffel, saying, “I’ve got some black jeans and a white shirt… is that okay?”

There was no response… “John…. did you hear me?” Still nothing.

She stepped around to the front of the vehicle, seeing that he was asleep again. ‘More like unconscious, Marlena… in addition to the other wound, he probably has a concussion now… he needs a hospital…’ she told herself.

Standing there looking at him through the open window, she knew what else she should do, but her heart wouldn’t go along with her mind which spoke to her. ‘And you are crazy for even caring about him at all….Run, Marlena…. just go into the ladies room and change clothes… and then run away from this man, as fast and as far away as you can go.’

As the internal debate raged on, she decided she could make up her mind later, and might as well find a place to change clothes. She quickly spotted a huge tree, with a truck parked nearby… forming the perfect shelter. In a matter of a minute or two, she felt almost like a new woman, the sweater and pants flattering her shapely curves rather nicely.

Stepping out from behind the tree, her eyes went immediately toward the vehicle in which John rested. A Paris policeman was fast approaching the driver’s side. If he took one good look at the man slumped over against the passenger side door, Marlena knew that he would call for an ambulance, and John would be carted off to a hospital, his belongings taken and searched. Then he would likely be arrested and sent off to jail when he was physically healthy enough to endure prison life. This was her best chance to get away from him, to be free. All she had to do was stand there and let nature take its course. After all, her conscience was clear. She had helped him in his time of great need and then he repaid the favor when he came to her aid. They were even…. and she should be able to leave him to his fate.

So why did the thought of him being taken off to jail upset her so? What was it about this man that touched her heart? Why couldn’t she just turn and walk away, go back to her hotel room, pack up her things and move on? What was stopping her?

Without further contemplation, she rushed over toward the Land Rover, preparing to distract the policeman. Speaking anxiously, she acted like a lost tourist who needed directions to every major tourist attraction, stammering, asking question after question… whatever came to mind.

Before long, the poor besieged man gave up and hurried off to his vehicle, stating his need to get back on the job of catching criminals. He was more than glad to escape the endless questioning by the irritating woman, and probably never gave a second’s thought to the black Land Rover. She watched him drive off, managing to hold back the laughter until well after he was gone.

“What’s so funny….. ” said a weak voice she didn’t expect to hear for awhile yet.

“Oh, welcome back… I uh…. I just bored a policeman to death… he couldn’t get away fast enough.”

“What a fool…. “

Thinking he meant her, her hurt feelings were evident in her tone, “Me?”

“No, the policeman…” he said, while struggling to sit up again, but failing miserably.

His compliment was so unexpected it made her blush. “Oh… “

There was an awkward silence as John put it together, while she went back around to the driver side door and climbed in. Finally, he worked up the courage to ask, “Are you saying that there was a French policeman snooping around here… and you… got rid of him?”

“Yes… I did,” she said, rather proudly, not quite understanding why she felt that way.

Shocked that anyone would do something so completely selfless like that for him, his eyes searched hers, “Pardon me, but why would you do that? It was the perfect chance for you to get away from me, with no risk to you. And you didn’t take it? Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders and made a face, puzzled by her own actions, “I’m not sure, really…. I guess I don’t want to see my patient carted off to jail when he still needs good care.”

Finding himself strangely disappointed, his face fell. “Oh… your patient… so that’s what it is…your physician’s oath… ” he said, not quite believing her, yet not knowing what he expected from her either. ‘How could it be anything else, John… you were holding her hostage!’

“Something like that, yes….” she said, cognizant that it was essentially a lie. There was much more to it than that. It was something elemental, some quality he possessed which drew her to him. She couldn’t define her reaction with words, it was more like an intuitive sense she had about him. Whatever it was, she couldn’t bring herself to leave him to the mercy of the fates.

Their eyes met, wondering if there were some unseen forces at work, but they said nothing more about it. It would go unspoken for now, as they went about the business at hand.

“Now…. let’s say we get you cleaned up…” she said with a warmth that hadn’t been present before. “I’ll be right back… I’ll just go get this wet and then I’ll take a look at that latest wound.” She was referring to her torn blouse. It was useless as a shirt, might as well use it for something else.

Nodding his aching head, John turned to look at her again, admiring her beauty, her grace, and her strength, at the same time laboring to discern her true perspective where he was concerned. “Okay…I’m not going anywhere….” he finally said, closing his right eye and leaning back against the seat.

A thought occurred while she was gone, as his right hand found his weapon next to him on the seat. The woman wasn’t his hostage any more. She was with him because she chose to be, because she wanted to be. What did that mean? And how in the hell did it happen? He struggled to stay with those questions, to find some answers, to make sense of what was transpiring. But soon found himself growing increasingly weary, his body so in need of rest in order to recover. Despite his concerted effort to stay conscious, the darkness claimed him once again…..

When she returned from moistening the shirt to clean his face off, she found her former captor fast asleep. He looked pitiful, his shirt torn and covered with dried blood, his face also covered with the crusted substance, the coppery smell thick in the air. Upon closer examination, she noticed that at least a portion of the blood from both wounds was wet. He was still bleeding and something had ruptured in the area of his abdominal wound. John was in serious trouble… he simply couldn’t afford to lose any more blood.

Reaching out to touch his face, she gasped at the heat it radiated. He was running a fever again, this one higher than the last. “Oh, no… now what are we going to do?” she was asking herself as she carefully washed his face, dabbing gently around the entry point of the second gun shot. ‘We… what’s with this we stuff?’ asked the voice in the back of her head, the voice of reason. ‘You should have taken the chance to walk away!’

She summarily ignored it in favor of tending his wounds. “I’ve got to get you some emergency medical care, John… more than I can provide. You need fluids and antibiotics, proper sutures, and you need blood, John…. I have to take you to the hospital…”

How he could respond in his condition, she had no idea, but besides his protestations, between ragged breaths, John was able to tell her something important, his eyelids flickering, willing his blurry vision to clear to further impart his message. His left hand reaching out for hers, he said, “No…no hospital….my friend…a Priest… his name is…Father Romanowski…. he’ll help us….he knows people..”

John was becoming agitated… and the sharp movements could only make things worse. She put her hands on his shoulders and spoke softly to calm him, “Okay…. okay.. no hospital… now please lie still and tell me.. how do I reach him?”

Barely coherent enough to think, he whispered the answer, “Wallet…. back pocket…” In another second his head lolled to the side and he was out, fading swiftly into the darkness, hoping the man was still in his corner. There was no telling with Dimera… he could have been turned against his friend by the promise of favors or threats from the Old Man himself. But John knew he had no choice, he had to seek help from someone and Alexie was his best chance.

Turning him onto his side as gently as possible, she found the wallet, removing it without further disturbing him. While rifling through it, Marlena was shocked to find out his real name…or rather several others. He had a number of driver’s licenses, each with a different name, one of them John Stevens.

Two hours later, despite her growing misgivings about staying with him, she was inside a hidden apartment in the bowels of the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, helping the good Father bathe her patient and reapply bandages while awaiting the arrival of a doctor the Priest had called.

As they rolled John onto his left side in order to tape a new bandage over the wound in his side, she gasped and flinched noticeably as her eyes landed upon his bare right shoulder blade. It bore the unmistakable mark of the Phoenix, a tattoo of the mythical bird which rose from the ashes. It was the symbol of Stefano Dimera and his ostensibly everlasting reign of evil. Its presence could only mean one thing. John Stevens, or whomever, was an important part of that monster’s empire. Her heart sank. She should have let the policeman discover him and she would be free, but now she feared her own fate was sealed. Marlena was once again a prisoner.

Backing away from the injured man, the ugly truth overwhelmed her. She had truly believed the Bastard who took her husband and the father of her children was dead. Learning that he apparently wasn’t was beyond shocking. It was utterly terrifying and she couldn’t hide her instinctive reaction to the news, though she realized from looking at Father Romanowski that he too was a part of it.

The older gentleman reached for her wrist, his strength much greater than it appeared upon first glance, saying quietly as he glanced at the unconscious man lying on the couch, “It’s alright, you need not be afraid. We will not hurt you, but I cannot let you leave right now. You must understand the delicate position I am in here.”

“Oh, of course I do…. It’s perfectly clear to me. You are not a real Priest and the two of you are a part of Stefano Dimera’s criminal empire. And you just can’t have me revealing the fact that he’s still alive and continuing to terrorize the free world.”

Finishing up with the dressing change, the light skinned, brown haired man nodded and said, “Essentially correct. And since we have nothing but time on our hands, why don’t you sit down and tell me the story of how you came to be associated with my…friend here.” He gestured for her to take a seat on the chair nearest the couch on which John lay, while he sat on the arm of it.

“Your friend… I noticed you hesitated when you said the word. Is he or isn’t he?” she asked, her gaze scrutinizing as she complied.

“I have known him as a friend, yes but there are… how shall I say.. circumstances which might lead me to believe otherwise.”

“Oh… how interesting.. he wasn’t quite what I thought either. I had no idea he was working for Stefano Dimera… the man who killed my husband!”

Again he reached out for her hand, as he looked her up and down for the first time since she’d arrived with the injured fugitive, “So you are Marlena… ah, yes… I’ve heard him speak of you often… his descriptions did not do justice to your exquisite beauty.” There was a look in his eyes she didn’t like…

She snatched her hand away, shuddering at the thought of Stefano talking about her to another man. Suddenly, she was wishing for John’s comforting touch, the one he used after eliminating the intended rapist. She glanced at him sleeping…wondering if it had been genuine. He seemed to care… and later…. when he looked at her.. there was something there… a hidden warmth. Was it all an act? Watching as he settled down into a relatively restful slumber, she decided to play along for now and talk to the Priest.

Reluctantly, she told the story of how John had come to her hotel room and demanded she provide care. Thinking it was better left unsaid, she did not include the near rape incident at the hotel nor the one with the policeman in the park. She needed to know more about this man before she would trust him in the slightest.

Having listened closely to the content and the underlying sentiment, the man said in conclusion, “Well, he certainly made the right choice in you… it sounds as though you could have abandoned him any number of times. You are a credit to your profession, Doctor Evans. I admire your dedication and commitment to the cause of helping the injured and infirm. It is most admirable, to say the least.”

Seeing right through his attempt at charm, she did not respond endearingly, “Thank you… but that kind of praise is not necessary. Anyone else in my position would have done the same. It’s part of the oath we take as physicians.”

He smiled benignly. This was a woman to be reckoned with, of that he was certain…. Stefano had only shared a fraction of her magnificence. “Well, you acted compassionately under conditions of great duress and I commend you nonetheless. “

With a slight nod, she expressed appreciation, saying the words again, then quickly changed the subject, “Thank you… so when did you say that doctor will be here? John doesn’t look too good at this point. He’s shocky… and that concerns me.”

“You…care for him, don’t you?” Alexie asked, wishing he could allow the younger man to go free. Memories came rushing past him….good times they’d shared, John learning about he Priesthood, demonstrating a penchant for the work of the church, despite his protestations and the reason for his indoctrination. Especially when it came to the children; his affection and his gentle way with them were no act.

Shaking her head, Marlena missed the look of regret and discounted his guess, “No, I am merely concerned about him as my patient, nothing more.”

The man nodded, giving it up for the moment, as he stood up. “Ah, I see… well, it shouldn’t be too much longer. He said he had to gather some supplies and medications and then he would come straight over here… about another half hour or so I would guess.”

Sensing the man’s impatience, Marlena made an offer she hoped he would take, “Good… I’ll be glad to sit with him, that is, if you have other things to do Father.”

With an odd smile, he replied positively, “Of course… I have some… calls to make… if you’ll excuse me…”

“Certainly… I’ll just try to… relax then…”

“Yes… there are some magazines in the rack near the smaller couch there… if you like,” he said, pointing to them.

She put on a polite smile and said as she stood to cross the room, “Yes, thank you… I would like to take a look at the Paris fashions.. they always… surprise me…”

“We definitely do things differently over here… no doubt about that.”

“Yes… I find it.. fascinating… ” she said as she picked up one of the magazines that looked interesting and then sat down on the leather chair, situated at a right angle to the large matching couch on which John lay.

It seemed an eternity before the physician arrived to examine and treat John. Marlena observed his actions very closely and he did appear to know emergency medicine. He came prepared with IV fluids, medications, sutures and bandages. In short order, John was looking a little better, the fluids, blood and antibiotics combating the infection and replenishing his system. She breathed a sigh of relief as the man left, having just given them instructions on how to continue John’s care.

How strange… she’d just learned that John was part of Stefano’s dark world, and still she was concerned about him. Why should she even care? For all she knew, he was a cold blooded killer, or worse. She already knew he was a thief and had used any number of aliases in his life of crime, but what else did he do while under Stefano’s employ? Why hadn’t he contacted the man directly for help? And what did he have planned for her when her usefulness was finished? Would he let her go as he maintained, or would he deliver her to Stefano as some sort of peace offering? Did he even know who she was to Stefano, as this Priest did? There were so many questions to be answered and she wished she could talk to him… Then she would know what she had to do.

Although he was acting strangely and she feared what was to come, Marlena was so exhausted from the physically and emotionally draining ordeal that she settled down on the cot the Priest had placed near John’s makeshift bed on the couch. As much as she feared falling asleep while in a stranger’s place, and hard as she tried to stay awake, Marlena found her eyelids growing weary and her eyes finally went closed. A short time later, she was asleep, confident that at least her patient was getting the proper treatment and would soon come around. Hopefully, everything would seem a little brighter with the light of a new day dawning.

She awakened in the darkest part of the night to find a hand clamped tightly over her mouth. A voice whispered at the same time, “We have to leave here now…”

After recovering slightly from the startle response, she sat up and replied with a question, “John.. you scared me.. why, what’s going on?”

There was no time for long explanations. He didn’t know why, but he wanted this woman with him, and not just because she was a doctor. There was more to it, for both of them, but God only knew there was no time for figuring that out. “Alexie called Stefano… if he comes here.. I’m a dead man… and it won’t be as quick or as simple as a bullet to the brain…”

There was fear in his voice for the first time. Whatever he had done in the past, she concluded that he’d been trying to break away and something had gone terribly wrong. “I thought you said Alexie was your friend.”

“Was being the operative word there… looks like he sold me out, either for money or because of fear. The short version of the story is that Dimera doesn’t tolerate betrayal.. Now, if you value your freedom and your life, you’ll come with me.”

She barely stifled a sardonic laugh at the irony of that one…. “Seems to me I’m exchanging one form of captivity for another….”

Understanding her hesitation, but wanting no delays, he wasted no time on defending himself or trying to convince her his was the better option. “Make your choice, lady… but be quick about it, because I’m leaving, with or without you. Stefano won’t wait long, his men will be all over this place in a few more minutes.”

She briefly considered what might happen if she stayed and then said, rather anxiously, “Okay… okay.. I’ll go with you..”

“Good choice, lady… ” He was standing up at her bedside, taking her hand when without warning, he wavered for a second or two… and went down fast, almost hitting the floor. Fortunately, her reaction time was fast enough to avert total disaster. Marlena grasped him around the chest, just beneath the shoulders and barely kept him from a hard landing that would both cause him pain and alert the man who had informed Dimera of John’s whereabouts.

Next, she managed to lean his body weight toward the bed, gently shaking him about the shoulders.. “John…oh, please John… stay with me here… we have to leave..”

He was almost out on his feet again, for the change in blood pressure and the fact that he had just ripped out all his IV’s at once. It was catching up with him. “Yea…gotta leave now…. Stefano is coming…”

With strength she didn’t know she had, she tugged hard on both arms and got him to his feet and held him upright. “John… please… you have to walk… you can do it… just think of what might happen if he catches us here.”

A haunting image of one of Stefano’s men who had fallen in love and subsequently tried to leave the organization flashed in his mind. The man’s bloody tortured body, his cries of agony near the end, and his tear streaked face would be forever etched in John’s memory…

He forced down the bile the images stimulated and snapped to attention… “Yea… yea… I can make it… Come on… we have to go down the back stairwell… is the Range Rover still right outside?” he asked, trying to steady himself and praying that was the case, because he knew he couldn’t manage a long distance. He was dizzy and nauseated and on the verge of passing out again.

“Yes…. but he moved it….it’s in a garage out back. I don’t think he locked it.”

“Good….. thank God for small favors, eh?” John said, trying to paste on a smile. He didn’t know if it were for her benefit or his own. They would need more than luck to escape the extensive tendrils of the Network.

“Yes… let’s go… I’ll….help you.”

“No… no, I can make it… ” She smiled, impressed with his determination. Suddenly it occurred to him, he was wearing fresh clothes. He patted himself up and down, not finding the object he sought. “Where’s my gun?” he asked, grasping her shoulders firmly and looking around the room in a near state of panic. Without it he might as well be naked.

Taken aback by his sudden intensity, she stammered in response, “I… I left it in the truck.”

Relief surged through his veins… and he sighed audibly, “Oh… good… I thought you were going to tell me that Alexie took it… Now, all we have to do is make it there, ” John added, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead.

Marlena noticed that the shaking had started. Shock was waiting in the wings. He needed more time to begin the healing process in earnest. “John… we have to hurry…. the trauma… it’s catching up with you… you need more rest…”

His grim expression and pale face told her he was already well aware of that fact… his head throbbing unmercifully as a result of the second bullet, “Yea…. when we get somewhere safe, that’s when I’ll rest.. but until then… you gotta do whatever you can to keep me going, Doc… including drugs… “

She had managed to hold on to some of the sample packets, after taking instructions from the physician who had paid a visit earlier, “Yes… I’ll do whatever it takes… “

“Alright then… let’s go…” he said, urging her to step out of the room in front of him… cursing himself for taking as long as he had to explain their situation. They had less than minutes at this point, and if Alexie awakened….

Standing next to John in the frame of the rear entrance, she hesitated again, even knowing she had only a second or two to make her final decision. Now that she’d seen the tattoo on his shoulder, the mark of the Phoenix, she had an even more difficult choice to make. Its presence meant that he worked for Stefano Dimera, a thoroughly evil man everyone back home in Salem believed was dead, at her hand. The only kind of men who worked for him were amoral killers, ruthlessly destroying lives for their own selfish gain. Images flashed inside her mind, Roman’s funeral, Bo’s anguished story of how his brother died, memories of herself shooting the bastard down….

The mere thought of him sent her into a state of sheer panic, ‘Oh my God! What am I doing? I can’t go with him, but if I stay… and Stefano IS alive…’

She was jarred out of her unpleasant reverie by the dull thud of a body hitting the ground, followed closely by John’s insistent voice, as he passed by her, “Stay here… this isn’t over.. I have to go back.”

One of the men he truly respected and revered had just betrayed him, revealing his whereabouts to Stefano Dimera, once again putting John in the position of losing someone he cared about in order to survive. Although it pained him to anticipate the confrontation, the gun he’d taken off one of Alexie’s men was aimed and ready to fire. There was nothing he could do about it; his friend had reawakened when he knocked the man out. It was up to the gods now.

Alexie tried to make him understand, “John…. I’m sorry… I didn’t want to do it… but you know him… he threatened my family, even my grandchildren if I didn’t inform him when I heard from you. You know how he is… I had no choice, John…..”

“And neither did I, Alexie… I trusted you… and you swore to me, if I ever needed anything or if I wanted out, you’d help me. Damn you… “

The gun leveled toward his face, Alexie pleaded for mercy, “John… no, don’t…. come on…. we’re old friends… just knock me out and I’ll cover for you. I’ll make sure you have time to get away. I swear it!”

His hands were shaking slightly; this would not come easily, but he had long ago learned to do what was necessary, regardless of how it felt. “I should kill you, I really should you know… I trusted you… you two faced lying prick…”

“John… please…you know my wife is sick….don’t do this….” Alexie pleaded anxiously, both hands in the air to emphasize his sincerity and his vulnerability.

As he was about to soften, two thugs appeared out of nowhere, from behind his friend, guns drawn. Shots rang out, the staccato sounds ricocheting off the walls. Marlena, who was not one to take orders without question, screamed in terror. John instinctively pushed her back outside and out of harm’s way, before rolling to his left and ducking behind an arm chair. With four more shots to empty the clip, all three of his opponents were lying on the ground moaning. John was the only one standing and that was debatable. Stabilizing his balance by holding on to the frame of the door, he wiped the gun clean of his prints and dropped it, watching with strange detachment as it hit the floor near his dying friend.

“Lady… it’s now or never… ” John said as he stepped outside, his tone threatening, his sudden hold on her wrist more than casual, as if he didn’t really plan on giving her a choice after all. He did need a hostage, maybe now more than ever, she reminded herself.

Having just seen, or rather mostly heard him gun down three men, one of who was supposed to be a close friend, with scarcely a moment’s hesitation, Marlena was terrified. But there was something about his eyes, those piercing blue eyes that told her he wasn’t going to hurt her, not really. It was an elemental sense, almost instinctual, against all the dictates of logic. He was rough with her when they first left her hotel room, but now… there was some difference. Maybe it started with what he’d witnessed happening to her the other night. It didn’t matter. What counted was that he was different somehow, and she sensed he wouldn’t harm her. On the contrary, she believed that if it became necessary, he would die to protect her.

She nodded almost imperceptibly, and they were off in the darkness.

Just as he was essentially dragging her into the cool night air, she smiled with uncommon warmth, a warmth to which he was not accustomed. His world was dark and cold, his heart ruled with the need for dominance and control, his life choices motivated by the emotions of fear, anger, and vengeance, his hands meant mostly for killing.

Snapping out of whatever place his mind had taken him, he asked her casually, “What are you smiling about.. this is hardly the occasion.”

She did it again, saying simply one word, “You…”

“Why… what’d I do that could possibly make you smile… is my fly open or something?” he said in jest, shooting a quick glance at his groin at the same time as he was strengthening his hold on her forearm. Laughter, a sound he didn’t hear too often, and especially not since that horrible night one month ago. There was little cause, or so it seemed. Her presence was having its affect.

She chuckled at his joke and forged ahead, “Oh.. it’s something I saw just now.. something in your eyes. No matter what the magazines and newspapers might have to say, you’re no cold blooded killer, I know that now.”

“How do you *know* that!” he said, his voice a harsh threatening whisper. “You just watched me kill.”

“Simple… that was self defense…. I’m more interested in the fact that you came back for me… and tonight…you could have left me with him… but you didn’t. Why?” she challenged, amusedly observing him while he searched his brain for an answer that would put her off. Not finding one right away, he averted his gaze so as not to see her eyes gloat.

Referring to the two other men he’d just shot down, John replied, “Because of them… they were trying kill me… and they would have gone for reinforcements. I couldn’t let them get away.” Seeing that she wasn’t convinced, he shared an afterthought, “And… because you know too much….I couldn’t take the risk.”

She shook her head and confronted him, without even looking at him, “Liar!”

“Don’t you call me that!” he shouted at her, at the same time as he whipped her body around to face him. It seemed wrong, terribly wrong and he reacted very strongly, shocking both of them, but that reaction went unspoken. “Besides… I’m not lying.. Some things… just aren’t.. right….” It was hard to admit that… he’d never cared before. Why did he now? What was it about this woman?

Forcing back a smile, she spoke more quietly, “You came back to save me and just now, you pushed me out of the way when the shooting started. Why don’t you just admit it… it’s not so horrible, feeling some compassion.”

Now came the excuses, he tried hard to sell them, but she wasn’t buying, “No, it was.. practical… I still need you… I mean, because… you’re a doctor…”

“Oh, I see… so you risked being even more injured seriously, or perhaps killed… because you needed my medical expertise… Mmm hmm… sounds reasonable to me… “

His hand almost went to the wounded place, but didn’t. Can’t show any weakness… not even to a woman…a doctor at that. His sharp intake of breath was enough, “Yes… I was… knocked down back there…. when my… when Alexie and his men tried to take me out.”

Her surprise was hard to hide, but inside she almost smiled because it confirmed her tentative conclusions. “He and those men… they shot at you first, didn’t they?” she asked, knowing the answer.

“That’s a fact…it was them or me… I chose to live.” Why did he feel the need to temper what he said…he usually reveled in it… killing someone before they did the same to him. Once it was clear the person was an enemy or an obstacle to be overcome, there was even an exhilarating rush that came with it sometimes. No apologies. But there was some difference this time, being with this incredible looking woman with the hazel eyes that glistened under the street lamps.

“Good choice to make, if you can… “

This time he read something in *her* eyes… she was assessing him again and it made him so nervous… “What… “

“I didn’t say anything else… ” she said, working hard to take advantage of the timing.

“Yea… well, sometimes it’s what you don’t say lady… now what’s on your mind, Doc?”

She chuckled. Why did every man she met insist on calling her that short moniker which in some ways negated her credentials and experience. “You surprise me sometimes, that’s all.”

“Oh, so I’m unpredictable… you like that in a man?” he said with a leering grin as they neared the Ranger Rover. Reaching a hand toward her face, he garnered the expected reaction. She flinched and he caught it, though to most it would have been unnoticeable.

“No… not really…it’s just that… well, back there at the hotel… I thought that…”

He was nodding his head, as the reason for the change in her expression was making itself known. “Oh, I get it… you think it means something that I shot them in self defense, instead of just offing them…”

“In a nutshell, yes…”After focusing his eyesight in the darkness, making sure the way to his vehicle was clear, he cautioned her, “Don’t put stock in that… I just did what I had to do…both times. If they hadn’t fired on me at that exact moment… I would have taken them out eventually.”

He was making excuses again, “I suppose….but I think maybe you’re changing and you don’t like it… or maybe…. you’re finding out who you really are…” she said, giving him some idea of what she was thinking, for the first time.

She was messing with his mind… offering possibilities he’d never considered, could never allow himself to see in the dark world in which he circulated. Again, he reacted with intensity to her assertions, “No, NO, I’m not! I could *still* kill you,” he threatened, pressing the gun he’d just retrieved from his vehicle against her side, making her gasp with fear. The inner tension faded, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was the one in control of the situation now, the one who had the power… that’s the way it should be.

Even so, she didn’t back down, continuing to challenge him as he ushered her rather roughly into his Range Rover, “Yes, but you won’t. You just said it yourself… you need me… and from the looks of that blood on your shirt… pretty soon you won’t be conscious. You’ll have to trust me again.”

He glanced at it… she was right about that too. The bandages the unnamed physician put on it weren’t holding up too well, not after he’d been running, rolling and firing a weapon at several armed gunmen. “I do…” He stated it as a matter of fact with penetrating honesty, honesty that frightened him and made him look away again. Everything inside him screamed that he shouldn’t, or couldn’t trust anyone. And every part of his tortured weary soul longed to surrender to the incredibly beautiful creature sitting next to him as he started the engine and prepared to pull out into the hustle of midnight traffic in Paris.

Again she laughed… “You amaze me… you just tell me you could kill me any time you want, and yet you would trust me to take care of you when you’re unconscious. What makes you think I won’t run.. and go to the authorities, now that I know who you work for?”

So, that was it; she had seen the tattoo. He looked her over for a beat and then laughed too, replying with confidence, “Lady… you’re not the only one who’s been paying attention here. You had your perfect chance and didn’t take it. I know you well enough to realize that you won’t do it now either. I sure as hell don’t know why… but it’s pretty clear that even when you’re scared to death, you…care. “

It was unnerving to have him be so accurate in his assessment of her. How was it that this crude angry man could see inside her heart? It was futile, but she denied it anyway, and quite powerfully, “No, I don’t! I don’t care about you, I *hate* you! You threatened me, you dragged me out into the streets of a strange city…at gunpoint! You were working for Stefano Dimera and I could *never* care about you! I care about staying alive, for my…” She slapped her hand across her mouth, realizing what she’d almost revealed of herself.

“For your… what? Ah, so you do have a family, a man maybe, and children too?” He smiled with wicked satisfaction. “Oh, now that changes things, doesn’t it?” He had some leverage… she cared about the folks back home and she wanted to go to them. He could get her to do anything if he made her believe she could leave him when it was over. Maybe it was true and maybe it wasn’t. She decided not to reply and they rode in silence for awhile as John contemplated his next move, finding a safe place to lay up and heal.

John knew he had nothing left in Paris. Gina was dead… the place was crawling with international law enforcement and Stefano was out to get him, ever since he discovered the couple’s plan to escape their life of crime under his cruel tutelage. No doubt the man wanted John to pay for the betrayal, not to mention Gina’s death. It seemed the Old Man fancied that Gina was in love with him and might one day make a life with him. Now she was dead, and his art theft ring destroyed, before he had obtained all of the pieces he’d wanted.

Besides that, John was his number one operative when it came to the buying and selling of arms around the world, and the manufacture and distribution of various and sundry illegal substances. His fearless exterior and his unmatchable skills as a marksman, among other things ensured those aspects of the business ran very smoothly. Stefano had to be beside himself with pure black rage at having been betrayed by his most trusted comrade, a man he had uncustomarily treated like family.

But, that life was over. John sighed wearily, wondering what his future held in store other than fighting for his survival on a daily basis. He thought that those days were long past him. If he dwelled on it for any length of time, there was a tiny part of his heart that knew the truth, which was that he’d been running from something all of his life. Maybe, just maybe… this amazing American woman could help him find a way to stop, and maybe she could give him what he needed most.

Snapping out of the foolish wishful thinking, he yelled at himself for even allowing the thoughts to occur, ‘No, no… I’m never going to need anyone like that again! There can never be another, John! NEVER!!’ he screamed inside his mind as he saw once again what he couldn’t bear to see. Gina falling to the ground, and the pool of blood forming around her fallen body…. Lights flashing, sirens blaring out their warning cry in the dark of night…. A man saying what his ears couldn’t bear to hear, “She’s dead… Oh, My God…. Princess Gina is dead!”

“Watch out!”

He snapped to attention at the terror in her voice and turned the wheel just in time to swerve out of the way of an oncoming truck. “Whew… sorry about that…” he said, wiping a bead or two of nervous sweat from his brow, and covering his sadness as best he could.

“Yea…. So am I… what were you thinking about that you lost control like that?” Marlena said, catching her breath, studying him closely. Maybe the wound was even worse than she thought and he was growing too weak to drive, or maybe it was something else entirely, something he’d been carrying inside for a long time…

“Nothing… nothing that concerns you anyway..” he said in frustration with himself more than her inquiry, waving off her concern for his physical condition as she made a move to check out his bloody shirt. “I’m fine.. I’ll make it to where we’re going… if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Yes it does concern me. Whatever it was… I can see from the look on your face that it was… very upsetting and it almost caused us to have an accident. Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, almost touching him… almost. There was such a depth of pain behind his eyes, pain she suspected had so much more to do with his history than the bullet wound in his belly.

He couldn’t help but meet her warm gaze, for a moment and it was pure gold, her hazel eyes filled with compassion. She spoke to him with such tenderness. She did care and she wanted to help him. Instinct told him that if there were ever a person who could, she was the one.

But it was too much for him… he couldn’t let himself be vulnerable, so he shut down, his breathing quickening from the effort it took, “No…I.. don’t. Look lady… I know you’re a head doctor and all… and you think you’ve got me figured out… but let me tell you something… you have NO idea what you’re dealin’ with here… so let’s just forget about it. I’ll keep my eyes on the road from now on and you, keep your mouth shut, okay?”

“Where are we going anyway?” she asked, unable to curtail her inquisitive nature.

He glared at her and didn’t respond. She was about to speak again, when she let out a tired sigh instead, realizing it was futile. Whatever was going on inside the mind of this complicated intriguing man, the discussion was closed for the time being, so she decided to let it go.

There were moments when it seemed as though there was a window or a door opening up, a window to his wounded soul and other times when there was a door that slammed shut as soon as he realized what was happening. He most definitely peaked her curiosity and there was something about him that was endearing in spite of his angry exterior. She sensed that he’d been deeply hurt many times and learned to cover the pain with anger and violence, to pursue life with reckless abandon and never look back, staring death in the face almost daring it to take him. He was running from the pain, as if the distance would make it go away. She had suffered her own losses and realized long ago that no matter where she went, no matter how far from home she was, either literally or figuratively, the pain always followed. Maybe she was the one who could reach inside to where he hurt.

Maybe she could help him stop running and face whatever demons lurked within his tortured psyche…

Stefano circled his messenger, a man who was going to take the brunt of his ire over the entire fiasco, “Dammit, you imbecile…. how could you have let him slip through your fingers? He’s injured…. and the doctor drugged him… he should have been an easy mark!”

“Sir… I don’t know for sure…. but he must have overheard a conversation, because he was ready for us when we showed up. He’s tough as nails and the best shooter you’ve got, I was lucky to get away to tell you… he killed Alexie, Bret, and Rod.”

He nodded, that much Dimera knew, and he thought about the reason that man’s betrayal stung like no other. Uncharacteristically, he had actually allowed himself to care for John, in ways he had never cared before, almost as if he were a son, a kindred spirit who needed the older man’s guidance and direction. Besides that, the man was his best operative, the best shot on any weapon he could name. John Black was the strongest, toughest, most highly skilled mercenary soldier he’d ever seen. Ignoring the pain it caused when he dwelled on it, Stefano asked the other pertinent question, “What about the woman…. who was she?”

Shaking his head, the hireling took a step backward, as if that could save him from the wrath of the master, “I don’t know… I tried to get it out of Alexie, but he was too far gone… “

“Why didn’t he tell me about her when he called?”

The messenger smiled in remembrance, “I don’t know… maybe he had some kind of plans of his own… she was beautiful, sir…”

Instinct led Stefano to ask for details, “Describe her to me…”

His underling thought about it for a moment or two and then said, “Blond, and drop dead gorgeous Sir, a real babe….but classy… you know what I mean?”

A knowing smile crept across the dark features of his face as he nodded his understanding, and a strange light appeared in his eyes. Inexplicably, Stefano Dimera knew who the woman was, “Marlena…. he has Marlena Evans…” he said softly, barely audible to the man standing a few feet away.

Not sure whether he was going to be allowed to live, the silence making him nervous, his henchman stammered out a question, “Uh, Sir… is there… anything else you need, Sir… because if…”

“No, that will be all… just get out there and find him. If Alexie was willing to turn him over to me… he knows his time is running out, he might make some mistakes.” As the man practically sprinted out of his office, Stefano smiled almost benignly, thinking, ‘ I shall have to remember to have him killed…. but at the moment, I have more important things to do.’

Walking across the darkened room, he turned on the stereo to play one of his favorite arias…. savoring the soulful sounds as he fantasized about that golden haired hazel eyed beauty, imagining what it would be like to touch her creamy white skin. Pouring himself a glass of Strega, he spoke to a photographic image he had memorized, “Ah Marlena….all these years I have watched you from afar….now at last you shall be mine. Soon, I will have the pleasure of your company as long as we both shall live…. ha ha ha!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shane Donovan stepped gingerly through the frame of the badly damaged door, surveying the carnage. Three men were dead, their blood splattered on the walls of what should have been a sanctuary from such brutal violence. In addition to the human cost, there was considerable destruction of property in the aftermath of a shootout, apparently involving his quarry, John Black.

He looked up from studying the crime scene, at the sound of a familiar voice, “We just missed them, Shane… the tip came in, we were on it immediately; this must have happened just before we arrived. There’s no sign of Black or Dimera’s people. But he was definitely here…. and it looks like the rumors on the street are true. He’s been hit. We found some blood soaked bandages in the trash.”

Slamming his hand down on a desk in front of him Shane expressed his frustration, “Damn… if we could just catch up with him, we might be able to help him as much as he can help us.”

“Well, look on the bright side, Shane… at least now Black knows he has no allies in the Dimera organization.” Pointing to the man closest to the door Jacques Anderson said, “This guy here… Father Alexie Romanowski.. word is… he was supposedly John’s mentor in the ways of the Catholic Church, and the man he trusted most to help him when he was in trouble. If *he* gave Black up, then the man knows he’s all alone against an empire, and he doesn’t stand a chance in hell of making it out of France alive.”

Shane nodded and added with a sigh that said things were looking up, “Good, then he’s desperate…. that’ll work to our advantage, if we can find him before Dimera’s men do.” Turning his attention back to the details of the scene, Shane noticed something shiny just under the edge of one of the couches. Reaching down to pick it up, he saw what it was. “A woman’s earring…. now what’s that doing here?” Shane was asking himself out loud when his local partner, came up behind him.

“What have you got there?”

“An earring…. what do you make of that?” The other man shook his head. “I don’t know…. obviously, there was a woman here… but was it recently or a long time ago?”

One of the other men flipped on the television, having heard about a potentially relevant news item… The noise caught Shane’s attention and the report intrigued him. “We’ve just learned that an American doctor has been reported missing by the International Society of Traumatic Stress which has been having its annual conference here in Paris. Doctor Marlena Evans was scheduled to give the keynote address at the conference yesterday morning, but she called in sick. Attempts to reach her later in the day to check on her were met with failure. Since that time, she has not been seen or heard from at the hotel in which she was staying, nor has she contacted her family in the United States. There was some type of a disturbance around one of the hotel’s sparingly used service entrances, and one of the housekeepers was found dead. So far, hotel security, which has been downplaying the incident has not yet been able to establish any connection between the two events.”

“Hmm…. what do you think? Coincidence…. Black is hurt and on the run.. he needs help. Somehow he finds out about this conference, sees her picture maybe, and forces the lady doctor to tend his wounds?”

Shane didn’t answer; he just stood there fiddling with the earring while staring at the television screen and muttering, “Marlena… Oh, my God… it’s Marlena…”

Finding himself slightly spellbound, Jacques managed to tear his eyes away from the image of a very beautiful female face to ask, “Shane, what is it? You know this woman?”

He nodded, but his voice sounded distant, as if his mind were somewhere else at the moment, “Yes… she’s uh… she’s the wife of someone who was very important to me… Roman Brady. Remember I told you, he was killed by Dimera…it happened a few months ago and now she turns up missing? The Brady’s must be going out of their minds over this.”

“Wait a minute, Shane! Do you think there’s a connection here? Do you think Black took her… that he sought her out on purpose… knowing who she was?”

Shaking his head, the Englishman tried to work out some scenario whereby it was a total coincidence, but could not find one that was convincing. “I’m not sure what to think… but if he does….he might try to use her… to make peace with Dimera… thinking that if he hands her over, Stefano might let him live. It could be his only chance to avoid a slow painful death. Either that or living the rest of his life on the run and looking over his shoulder.”

“Well, if he doesn’t know…. we have to catch up to him before he has a chance to figure it out, or we’ll lose all the leverage we’ve got, and she’ll be in even more serious trouble than she is right now.”

“Right… listen, Jacques… I have to call the Brady’s… after I talk to them, I’ll go through the crime scene with you and then head on over to her hotel. Alright?”

“Yes of course… I’ll go talk to the lab boys… see if they’ve turned up anything yet.”

“Sounds good….”

As Shane turned to look for a secure phone, Jacques tried to give him something to hold on to, saying firmly, “We’re going to get him this time, Shane… Roman Brady’s murderer won’t go unpunished. “

“I certainly hope you’re right, and I pray this Black character isn’t the cold blooded killer his resume makes him out to be… in any case we have to get to him soon… and save Marlena. I owe it to her and to Roman.”

As his Paris partner stepped away, something else occurred to him and he voiced it, “Oh… and Shane…I don’t know if it’ll do any good, but I’ll do what I can to keep this part of it out of the media spotlight.”

“I won’t hold my breath…. they’re like sharks in a feeding frenzy with this kind of a story.”

His new friend breathed a knowing sigh and nodded his head, but said nothing further.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The television was on in the Brady household, the Fish Market having closed up for the night, displaying images that nearly caused Shawn and Carolyn Brady to fall over in shock, even though they’d known part of the story for several hours now. It was so unlikely, so unreal, so bizarre and unfair all at the same time. “Oh Dear God… Shawn… how are they ever going to save her?” she said staring at images of Marlena plastered on the screen. She was reportedly being held hostage by a crazed gunman.

“I don’t know darlin… I canna believe it’s happening… first our Roman… and now this!”

Caroline was distraught, her faith strained to the maximum, “Oh Shawn… why.. why do these things happen? Poor Marlena… she must be so frightened… I pray he doesn’t hurt her… or…worse…”

Grasping her shoulders firmly, her husband urged her to keep the faith, “No…we’re not goin’ ta think that way, Caroline…. She’s going to survive this and come home to her babies…. God won’t let the children grow up without both their parents… I just won’t be believin’ that!”

She nodded, fighting back the tears and trying to think positive despite the dire circumstances, “You’re right… you’re right.. it won’t do any good to keep imagining the worst. We just have to keep praying that she’ll be able to escape or that they’ll capture him and she’ll be free of that bastard!”

“He sounds like a horrible man… a thief and a killer for hire… I pray he won’t hurt her!” Shawn replied as he took her into a protective embrace, wishing there were something he could really do for the mother of his grandchildren, the woman his son had loved with every part of himself.

Mentally preparing herself to go over to Saint Luke’s Catholic Church at her first opportunity, Caroline, agreed, Yes… we just have to pray every day… that God will keep her safe.”

They both whirled at the sounds of hurried activity behind them to see their son Bo hoisting a rather large black duffel bag over his shoulders. “Bo.. what in God’s name do you think you’re doing?”

Only slightly hesitant to meet their gaze, he wasted no time in telling them, “I’m going to Paris, Pop… That bastard Dimera killed my brother and I won’t let one of his hired guns take Marlena from all of us. I’m going to go over there and find her. And if he so much as lays a hand on her… I swear… John Black is a dead man!”

His concerned parents spoke almost in unison, “No, Bo… let the ISA and the other authorities handle this. “

“Oh, right… like they’ve handled Dimera… no thanks!” Bo exclaimed angrily, while making sure he had all the items he needed in order to make the trip. ” Ma.. Pop, there’s no stopping me. I’m going to Paris… tonight!” he finished, zipping up his bag

When it was clear that there was nothing they could say or do to prevent him from leaving, Shawn heaved a heavy sigh and came up with the next best option, “Alright, son… but if you have to go… please, take someone with you. What about Abe… couldn’t he go along?”

His determined son shook his head, explaining, “I called him, Pop… he can’t… he tried to get a leave but he just couldn’t get away. He’s been named Captain in Chicago and he just can’t go with me now. He was so sorry to hear about Marlena and he’s contacting local law enforcement people he knows in Paris for me to hook up with when I get over there. He’s also been in touch with the ISA… Shane blew this latest jewel and art theft operation wide open… he’s on it… and I’m going to meet with him as soon as I can after I fly into Paris.”

Hating to let him go but recognizing they had no choice, Caroline reminded their son of the pain they all had to face. Taking his right hand in hers, she urged him to take care, “Bo… we lost one son to these kind of people and we don’t want to lose another.. please be careful and call us often. We’re going to be worried sick about you… and Marlena.”

“Don’t worry… I’m coming back… with Marlena… And this Black guy, if that’s even his real name…. believe me… he’s gonna pay for what he’s putting us through!”

They nodded and leaned in for a family hug before watching him walk out the door of the house that sat above the Brady Fish Market. Caroline began to cry and her husband drew her in closer, knowing that she was reviewing Roman’s death and his funeral, just as he was, and praying they wouldn’t have to plan another in the near future. “Oh, Dear God… watch over Bo as he travels to Europe. Keep Marlena safe until they can find her and bring her home. And, God.. please… cast judgement where it is due. Don’t let that awful man get away with hurting people the way it seems he’s doing. Let him be captured and make him pay for his crimes… for once, let justice prevail.”

Bo Brady hated waiting more than just about anything in the entire world. He waited for the flight in Salem, he disembarked and changed planes in New York and he waited some more. The overseas flight seemed to last forever and then finally, he was there in Paris and ready to find his sister-in-law, the beloved Marlena Evans. And damn if he wasn’t still being made to wait! Sitting around this dull, boring office in the City of Lights, doing what amounted to nothing, instead of searching for her. He’d read the files, studied the maps and he was ready and raring to go.

Exasperated with the lack of movement, he blew it off at his friend, “Shane… we can’t just sit around here and do nothing!” Bo was standing next to the room’s only adornment, an over sized map of France, and wishing they had some idea of which direction their quarry was headed. “Marlena is out there somewhere with one of Stefano’s trained killers.. .and from the looks of it, he’s a real charmer. He’ll use her, Shane… he’ll draw her in and make her care for him… he’ll get her believing he cares about her too, and then when the time comes, he’ll turn on her.”

“Bo… I know you’re worried about Marlena and believe me so am I, but we can’t go off half cocked on this thing. This guy is a smart one, he won’t hurt her because he knows she’s his insurance policy, not to mention his only chance for survival.”

“Right… but with us, or with Dimera, Shane? What if he decides to give her to Stefano as some kind of peace offering or something. Marlena in exchange for his life and his freedom?”

Looking over at his Paris partner, ISA agent Shane Donovan nodded, realizing it was definitely a logical conclusion now that Bo Brady had brought up the same idea without any previous discussion. “We’ve thought about that too…. Bo, there’s no question she’s in danger, but I really don’t think he’ll hurt her or turn her over to Stefano. He won’t want to take the risk that Stefano will deny him. John knows if that happens, he’s going to suffer…. and suffer like no one else ever has, Bo. Honestly, it looks like Black is seriously wounded and I don’t think he’ll be going near Dimera or any of his compounds.”

He blew out a breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding and conceded the point, “Alright… so, how do we get to them before Stefano does? “

“We’re still working on it, Bo… his network in Western Europe is extensive…. it’s possible he could find them before we do,” Shane admitted reluctantly while staring at the identified Dimera strongholds on the map in front of him.

That was alarming at best, but he spoke softly, picturing Marlena in Stefano’s grimy hands. “Shane if that happens, we might never see her again.”

Standing at the far end of the map from his friend, Shane replied in agreement, “I know that… and we’re going to do everything we can to locate them as soon as possible. We’ll do whatever it takes, including making a public appeal to this guy if it becomes necessary.” He winced when he saw the beginnings of Bo’s reaction.

Bo nearly erupted at that one, ” A public appeal? No way, Shane…. that’ll only make things worse… getting the media hot and bothered. It’ll turn this whole search and rescue operation into a circus and that’s the last thing we all need, especially Marlena. If Black gets nervous, there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“Maybe so… but if he knows he has an out, a safe place, he might just take us up on our offer. It’s a gamble we might have to make Bo, in order to save her life. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Are you? Or are you more interested in getting back at Stefano and this operative than in saving Marlena?”

Crossing the distance between them, Bo got in the man’s face and bellowed at him, his breathing ragged from holding his temper as best he could, “How *dare* you ask me that! That BASTARD murdered my brother, Shane! Her husband! Of course, I want to take him down! Look, for all we know this guy Black or Stevens or whatever the hell his name is… he might have been a part of that. We don’t know anything for sure about who he is, what he’s done. I’ve read the files…there are no hard facts… it’s all supposition. Yea, I’d love to nail him and Dimera, but the most important thing is saving Marlena. I won’t ever forget that, I hope you won’t either.”

Cognizant that allowing his own anger and frustration to flare would not help matters, Shane was decidedly calm in the face of Bo’s anger, “I won’t Bo… we may disagree on methods but our priorities are the same. I swear to you now, I want Dimera too… almost as badly as you do, and I’ve been building a case on his slimy organization for a long time. But I won’t let that get in the way of finding and rescuing Marlena from this John Black character. If we have a chance to capture Dimera in the process and bring him to justice, I’ll consider that a bonus.”

“Alright…. I believe you. So, what do we do next? I don’t think I can handle sitting around here much longer, Shane?” Bo finally said, forcing himself to settle down.

As his friend was about to answer, the sound of a telephone ringing interrupted them. Shane’s partner snagged it and answered with a simple “Hello?”

“Jacques…. I think we’ve got a lead on him….”

“Alright… fire it at me.”

“A Black Range Rover was spotted on A43 outside of Lyon, leading toward the mountains. He was in a hurry… must have some kind of a hideaway tucked up in there somewhere.”

“Good work, Sergeant…. we’ll get right on it. Alert the local authorities and get a helicopter fueled and ready to hit the air ASAP! We’ll meet you at the strip!”

“Done sir!”

He said nothing further, preferring to speak with Shane immediately. “Shane… there was a black Rover spotted moving at a fairly high rate of speed on A43 in Rhone Valley. Looks like they’re headed for the Alps.”

“The Alps… I would have guessed the Riviera… it’s more Black’s style, but that works for me. It has to be him.”

Two seconds later, the three of them were rushing off toward the silver BMW Shane was driving while on the Continent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She awakened with a jolt… the Range Rover was careening wildly. Her tired eyes struggled to focus. Seeing her captor/companion slumped against the door, Marlena grabbed the wheel, but his foot was pressing down on the accelerator.

They were going to crash…

“Oh, God… help me please!” she screamed as the labored to control the speeding vehicle. It fishtailed wildly as she worked at dislodging the foot. At last, she was able to move his right foot and get hers on the brake pedal. After a few more harrowing moments they came to a screeching halt on a grassy knoll.

Looking around her as she caught her breath, all she could determine was that it was late into the night, nearing morning, and they were presumably somewhere in the French countryside, where he finally mentioned they’d been headed.

Immediately after regaining her bearings slightly, her doctor’s instincts kicked in and she checked his pulse. It was very weak and his shirt was once again covered in blood. “Oh, you’re just impossible! I warned you, John… and now you almost got *both* of us killed…” she muttered as she searched for something to press on the wound so she could stop the bleeding.

Obviously, the doctor who was supposed to have taken care of him provided purposely shoddy treatment and the stitches had worked themselves loose. If for some reason John weren’t apprehended immediately, his escape would continue to be hampered by the wound. It seemed there was no way she could give him the care he needed without some kind of facility. But, what options did she really have? If she took him to a hospital they’d be discovered, and John arrested and imprisoned, something she now knew would destroy him. Or worse, Stefano Dimera would find him and take him away to be tortured. She shuddered at the thought of what that monster would do to a man who betrayed his trust and tried to break away from his control.

Whatever he believed, whatever the papers she’s glanced at said about him, she knew he wasn’t the heartless cold blooded thief and killer he was being made out to be. Despite all outward appearances to the contrary, it seemed to her that John Stevens was a man who felt things deeply, who was willing to risk his own life to save a stranger. In her heart of hearts, Marlena now believed him to be a good and caring man, regardless of what he had supposedly done over the length of the past several years. Now, if she could only find a way to make *him* believe that!

She lightly slapped at his cheeks, nearly crying as she tried to get him to come around, “John… John…please you have to wake up… I can’t take good care of you here… I can’t even move you so I can drive… “

Still nothing, his eyes remained closed and his body slumped against the door which was below her because of the position in which the Ranger Rover stopped. She shook him as gently as possible, “Oh, please, John… you’re bleeding badly… and you could die if I don’t get you somewhere I can take care of you…” She was weeping out of fear for him. ‘How was that even possible?’ her mind kept asking.

Before she could answer the question for herself, she sighed with relief. At last, he was responding to her desperation, “Mmm… just let me die… go….leave me…. You can make your way to the authorities… you’ll be safe…. They’ll believe that I was holding you hostage all this time.”

“No, I’m not leaving you… “

“You have to… I can’t…. help you… I’m a… goner and you know it…. Go… just GO!” he urged, using whatever remaining strength he had to grasp at the handle and push open the door, landing his body on the cold snowy ground, the blood making bright red streaks on the light dusting of pure white powder.

“Oh, God… John… no… “

It astounded her. She was crying–hard, fearing for the life of a man who had kidnapped her, dragged her in and out of places all over Paris. She was finally free to leave him, go back to the city, and make her way home to all the people she loved. Instead, she was begging him not to die. It made no sense whatsoever to her mind, but it was her heart which was responding to the bleeding man who seemed willing to sacrifice his life to save hers. But in her eyes, that meant he was giving up, quitting, and she hated that with a passion.

She extricated herself from the vehicle, and raced around to the other side where he was lying half in and half out of the front seat. Kneeling down beside him, she argued with him, examining him at the same time, “No.. John.. you are NOT going to die out here!! Do you hear me… I won’t let you do this! I’m going to save your life whether you like it or not and then…”

“What… and then we’re going to… deal with what’s been happening between us?” he managed to squeak out by some miracle, despite his growing lethargy and his ingrained belief in his own inherent evil.

She scoffed but it was exaggerated and she knew it. “Us… oh, please don’t flatter yourself… I’m a doctor and it’s my sworn duty to save lives…. That’s all it is… I took an oath and I can’t leave you here to bleed to death.”

So did he, and his reply was equally sarcastic, “Yea…. I hear ya, Doc…”

“Stop calling me that… You haven’t earned the right to call me that!”

He laughed at her display of pride and then groaned, clutching his bloody abdomen in agony. “Oh… it’s getting really…bad, isn’t it?” he asked, coughing and moaning again for the effort to talk to her.

There was blood in his mouth, leaking out to cover his lips when he coughed and she gasped at the sight of it. “Oh… I won’t lie to you…. yes…. it’s very bad, John,” she said, mopping his fevered brow and working to stop the flow of blood from the wound. “I have to get you somewhere I can clean and bandage the wound again… can you tell me where we’re headed?”

Seeing that she was one determined lady who wouldn’t take no for an answer, he nodded, cognizant that it meant he was giving in to her assertive nature. “Yea…. Help me…get back… in the…car?” he asked through labored breaths, hating to be so dependent on another person, but conceding that it was his reality. He was dying from a gunshot wound to the gut and if it weren’t for her, he would quite probably already have been in a grave.

She opened the rear driver’s side door. With that accomplished, her moist hazel eyes meeting his blue ones rather hesitantly, acknowledging the meaning of his concession, she smiled warmly and said, “Of course…” as she reached underneath his shoulders to start the effort. Using every ounce of strength she had inside, and relying on him to assist by using his feet and legs, Marlena managed to get him into the back seat of the car. After helping him to re-position himself so that he could lie down more comfortably, she covered him with a blanket she found folded on the seat. By the time that task was completed, she was exhausted and he was out cold, shivering with fever.

Suddenly struck with fear that he was going to leave her, she tilted her head toward the dark night sky, littered with a million bright and shining stars and began to pray. “Dear God… please don’t let him die… I can’t begin to understand why, but somehow I know that deep inside…John is a good man… and he’s been hurt Lord… many, many times… I can see the pain hidden behind his eyes… please God, help me to save his life, help me find a way to show him that goodness. Amen.”

John was stirring in the back seat, moaning about something… “Gina, no… Gina.. you’re all I.. have… no.. no please don’t go! I’ll be alone again… Please don’t leave me! Don’t… leave me.”

He was so upset, so restless and agitated, and Marlena determined to do whatever it took to help him settle down into sleep, including pretending to be that other woman. She spoke softly, reaching out to take his hand, “It’s okay, John… you’re alright… it’s okay… “

“Gina… is that you, Gina?” he cried out in his feverish delusion, thinking he heard her voice.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she answered as if she were, “Yes… it’s me… sleep my love… rest and soon we’ll be safe… together.”

It seemed to work, his breathing almost immediately slowing down, his eyes closing, his body beginning to surrender to the overwhelming fatigue. She let go of his hand and placed both of them on his chest and tugged the blanket up around his neck. “Rest… yea… gotta get some rest… so we can get away…. we have to get away from him… start a new life… “

Tears sprang to her tired eyes as she realized what he’d been trying to do. He wanted to leave that life of crime and settle down with the woman he loved. And now she’s dead. “Yes…yes, baby… we’ll start a new life… “

Marlena sighed as she looked in the rear view mirror. He was sleeping again.. ‘So, he *was* in love with her. That part of the story is true… but she’s gone… was she really the only person who ever loved him? “Oh, John… I hated lying to you like that.. but you’re hurt so badly…. I had to do what would calm you… I hope you don’t remember this later on…”

As she turned her attention to where they were supposed to be going, it suddenly occurred to her that he hadn’t had a chance to tell her anything specific. Looking out the windshield at the light snowfall which covered the hilly ground in front of her, she blew out a long sigh embodying a mix of frustration, fear, and a hint of sardonic self reproach. “That’s just terrific Marlena… it’s late into the night, you’re somewhere in the middle of France with an unconscious fugitive from justice, and you have absolutely no idea of where he was trying to take us.”

Not knowing what else to do, Marlena started the engine and continued in the same direction along the road upon which they’d been travelling. She knew they had to keep moving. Stefano’s men were probably hot on their trail. Not to mention the law enforcement personnel who were undoubtedly involved with the presumed kidnapping of an American doctor by a rogue Frenchman involved in that man’s disreputable business dealings. Marlena fervently hoped John would reawaken within a reasonable period and let her know exactly where they were supposed to be going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bo and Shane were becoming increasingly frustrated with the search. The sudden snowstorm, a wild one for this late in the season, was causing significant difficulty with visibility. The choppers were already heading back and the men in cars were talking about calling it a night or a day depending on how one looked at the situation. It was nearing dawn when they called off the search for the night, opting to take refuge in a small country inn along the stretch of highway where the Range Rover had reportedly been seen.

Taking a glance at the inn as they approached the entrance, Bo said without enthusiasm, “This place looks as good as any, Governor.”

Nodding, Shane smiled wistfully and repeated the title, “Governor, haven’t heard that one in a long time.”

“Yea… it’s been awhile. Shane, listen… about before… I’m….”

He held out his hand to stop the man mid-sentence, and said, “Hey, no apologies necessary, we’re talking about Marlena here… and the man who is ultimately responsible for what’s happening is the one who killed your brother. I completely understand your anger and frustration, Bo. “

“Thanks, Shane…”

Putting a hand on his friend’s back for only a moment, Shane Donovan tried to sound assured that they would rescue the damsel in distress and apprehend the villains. “We’ll get her back, Bo… and we’ll get Dimera too… if it’s the last thing I ever do, we’re going to take that monster into custody.”

“And Black.. or Stevens.. what happens to him?”

“Simple. If we can use him to get to Stefano… we might let him off easy… if he doesn’t cooperate, he gets the full ride. Grand larceny, kidnapping, and whatever else we can charge him with based on the dossier Interpol is putting together.”

The thought of it warmed his heart. They deserved whatever the law could throw at them, and then some, after the terror and grief they’d caused. “Sounds good, but first we have to find them.”

Stifling a yawn, Shane nodded but said nothing further. That was the end of the conversation. It was time to check into the Inn and get some much needed shut eye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was sheer happenstance that she was looking out the window at the precise moment two vehicles pulled up near the room where she and John were staying Having been a cop’s wife, Marlena knew enough to hide the Range Rover. She’d managed to get John into the room under the last remaining cover of darkness and then left him asleep on the bed while she parked the monstrosity behind one of the out buildings on the property.

Her eyes flew open wide when she caught a glimpse of two of the three men. “Oh my God, it’s Bo and Shane.. No, it just can’t be!” she silently exclaimed. But then they turned and looked in her direction, and she saw them clearly in the light of some street lamps illuminating the parking area. It was them. “I can’t believe it… Oh, maybe this is a good thing… Maybe, if I… tell them what happened, they might….” She stopped short, mentally reconsidering, ‘Oh, come on Marlena… they think he kidnapped you… they won’t listen to a word you say. They’re going to haul him off to jail and grill him for information on Stefano. He’s a valuable commodity, and once he’s been arrested, he won’t have a chance.’

Still uncertain how to handle the situation, she was muttering her thoughts out loud. “Marlena, what if you’re wrong, what if this guy isn’t what you think he is? What if he’s nothing more than Stefano’s right hand man?”

“So, you uh…you like talking to yourself, Doc?”

She jumped at the sound of his voice. “Uh, no I uh… well, I guess. What did I say?”

“Well, I didn’t catch it all but you seem pretty worked up to me… what’s going on?”

“I saw some men outside and I uh… wondered if maybe they were looking for us.”

Despite his injury, he practically leaped off the bed and was at the window before she could even attempt to provide some assistance. When he got there, he held onto the wooden frame for stability, hissing out a moan in the form of a curse word that served two purposes, “Damn… I should known they would find a way to track us.”

“John, they don’t know we’re here, I’m certain of it.”

“How, how can you be so sure? The Rover’s right….” He stopped when he peered cautiously around the curtain and failed to locate it through slightly blurry vision.

“Because I hid the truck.”

That was a shocker. He turned immediately. “You hid it?”

She nodded and smiled somewhat proudly, “Yes, call it instinct. Call it whatever you like, but I knew we shouldn’t leave it in plain sight, so it’s a ways away from here and we’re registered as Joanne and Joshua Grant. I paid cash for the room, told the clerk you were sleeping in the car.”

He was speechless. This woman was incredible, taking him by surprise at every turn. Every time he thought he knew who she was and what she was about, she did something that confused the heck out of him. After watching the four men head into their own rooms, apparently unaware and unsuspecting, John smiled and headed back toward the bed, not even flinching when he felt her arms go around his waist to lend support to his efforts. There was something about being with this stunning beauty that seemed so familiar, so good, so right. He sighed as she tucked him under the covers, so exhausted he barely noticed the slight sting he felt in his left arm.

Cloudy blue eyes met dazzling hazel and no words were spoken. There were some meanings which needed none. John closed his eyes and let the soothing darkness of a drug induced slumber claim him.

It was quiet for awhile. John slept peacefully while she read from the paperback novel she’d found in her coat pocket. She figured she must have slipped it in there while they were at that basement apartment in the Vatican with the man he thought was a friend. Ironically, it was about a priest who fell in love and broke his vows to the church.

When John woke up, she was sitting at the vanity table and brushing her long silky hair. It was like spun gold. She heard him stirring and turned in his direction to see him leaning back against the headboard staring at her admiringly, and blushed a soft shade of pink.

“Your hair… it’s so beautiful…. and so are you.”

Her face flushed again, but she didn’t say anything, afraid to ruin the moment. She looked down and didn’t see him approach until his hands were on her shoulders. A shuddering breath escaped when he touched her and she slowly lifted her head and peered into smoldering eyes. Her own eyes were filled with a kind of longing she’d never known. There was something about this man, some quality he possessed which she couldn’t name, that left her breathless just to look at him.

When she didn’t pull away, he put his hands under her arms and gently brought her to her feet. Then his hands were back at shoulder level and drawing her closer. She stared into cool blue pools and thought she might faint for the power of his hold over her. He could do anything, ask anything of her now, and she would not refuse him.

His right hand reached for her cheek, his outstretched fingers resting there for a moment, while his left brought them closer still, their lips inches apart. He stood there waiting, wanting to make sure it was alright.

She sighed and he knew. His lips pressed lightly on the softness of hers, and he slid his tongue inside when she parted them. When they kissed, it was as if a spark had suddenly become a roaring inferno. She was moaning as desire burned inside her and he was panting with the need of her, his bullet wound all but forgotten.

Instinctively, they moved toward the bed, all the while tugging at their clothing. This was passion without forethought and they bowed to it, undressing in a matter of seconds. Breathless and controlled by desire, they continued kissing, hands roving on newly exposed skin, eyes pausing only briefly to take it all in.

“Oh, John… oh..”

Not thinking about his injury, she reached out for him, her hands pressing on his chest and right side, eliciting a soft moan of pain. Marlena reared back suddenly, as if she’d burned him.

The spell was broken. He was holding his side and there was fresh blood on the bandage.

Reality smacked her in the face, and she looked down at him with a physician’s pair of eyes. “Oh my God… what were we thinking? John, we can’t do this… you’re hurt… we could have caused you further injury.”

Still breathing hard with desire, his eyes a light with fire, he made a move toward her, “It’d be worth it to me, Doc.”

Not sure whether she was more upset at him or herself, she snapped at him, “I *told* you to stop calling me that!”

“Okay, okay… don’t be so touchy… ” he said, his hands in the air as if to surrender. A moment later, he was almost doubled over with the pain.

“Lie down!” She was mad at both of them, him for having such a powerful affect on her, and her for becoming lost in his piercing blue eyes.

He choked out a reply as he sat down on the edge of the bed, his wishful thinking evident, “Now, that’s what I like, a woman who knows exactly what she wants and goes right after it. No apologies.”

“I meant so that I can take a good look at that wound again,” she said, quickly buttoning up her blouse, making it clear that the fire was out as far as she was concerned.

Disappointed, he sighed, then fell silent and did as she ordered. She was right, the thing was hurting like a son of a gun. Despite his best efforts to maintain his tough exterior, John flinched and cried out when she touched a tender spot near the point of entry. “Ow…”

“Sorry… “

There was no response. Just that fast, he was out cold. “Smart move, Marlena… you brought him in here to get some rest, not reopen his wound.” But she couldn’t stop from thinking about what almost happened, ‘Oh, but those eyes, those hands, that mouth… ‘

She shivered, merely thinking about how it felt when she was in his arms and being kissed. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced, the kind of hot passion that made all rational thought disappear from her mind. What did it mean?

An hour later, she was reading again when his eyelids began to flutter. Upon awakening, he laid there quietly for awhile, not uttering a word. After a brief glance in his direction, she went back to reading the paperback romance novel, scarcely making eye contact.

Finally, when she thought she couldn’t take the silence for one second longer, he sat up gingerly and asked her a question. “Tell me something, lady….. why are you doing this? Why are you really here… with me ?”

“I told you that before, I’m a doctor, I took an oath.”

“Yea, yea… first do no harm… I remember. Now, tell me another story. I think I deserve to know the truth.”

Suddenly feeling defensive, she fired back at him, “Oh, you do.. you deserve the truth…. Alright, the truth is.. you came to my hotel room in the middle of the night and forced me to help you, and then you kidnapped me, John Stevens, or whoever the hell you are! You’re a liar and a thief who worked for Stefano Dimera, a man I hate… No, make that the monster who *murdered* my husband and got away with it! For all I know you could be planning to take me to him in exchange for your lousy excuse for a life.”

After what almost happened between them, it hurt to hear her say that, even if most of it was true. John tried to get off the bed to face off with her but the pain stopped him. His reply, however, was sharp and equally confrontational, “Oh, so what was that before… What.. you thought you’d get a cheap thrill by sleeping with the enemy… is that it?” he added, finally managing to reach a standing position.

“No… no, that was… it was…” She was flustered, unnerved by her visceral response to this strikingly handsome and sexy man, whom she knew she should loathe as much as Stefano.

He could barely stand but he put a hand on her arm, wanting her to look him in the eye when she denied it meant anything to her. “What, what was it? You could have said no, you could have pushed me away. I wasn’t forcing you to kiss me! Just like I didn’t force you to stay with me. You chose that!”

Still, she wouldn’t look at him. Dammit… she owed him that much. Didn’t she?

His anger took control and he wanted to hurt her like she’d just hurt him, so he said what he knew would get a strong reaction. “Or were you planning to tell them I tried to rape you too?”

She closed the distance between them and slapped him across the face. Hard. There was no conscious thought involved–it was purely an emotional reaction. No one had ever gotten to her this way and it frightened her to the depths of her soul. She took it out on him.

John turned away, fighting the urge to rub at the stinging red flesh of his left cheek. He was surprised to feel another burning sensation, as trace amounts of salty moisture began to well up behind his eyes. It was unfamiliar and definitely unexpected, and he wondered if she noticed, but said nothing to her. The slap marked the end of it as far as he was concerned.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…”

He just shook his head, then laid back down on the bed, pulled the covers up, and closed his eyes. Whatever he thought might happen with her was all over now. In anger, she showed him how she really felt about him, which was basically that he was little better than the pond scum Dimera was to her. She was right and he’d been a fool to even begin to think there could ever be anything between them. Marlena Evans was way out of his league.

He should have known that he was never going to be allowed any true happiness. Everyone he’d ever felt remotely close to had been taken from him, for whatever reason he never understood. Maybe it was some kind of punishment, some elemental recompense for the darkness in his soul. First his parents died, then his brother went away too. In the beginning, when he first came to live with the man who sought to raise him, he thought Stefano Dimera actually cared about him. But John soon learned that he was nothing more than a tool to be used by that two faced bastard.

Besides the constant physical abuse, which he called discipline, the man had lied to him, manipulated him, and messed with his head. For a long time John made himself cold and hard–unfeeling. He did what he had to do to stay in the Old Man’s good graces, believing he had no choice. Having seen others try to escape, only to be brought back and tortured to death, John knew there was no way out and he had to make the best of it.

And then at last, there was Gina. Beautiful dark haired Gina. Stefano brought her in to be John’s partner in crime, a confidante, and nothing more. But, the unexpected happened–they fell in love. Behind his back, they made plans to have a life together, a life far removed from Stefano Dimera and his world of darkness.

As he fought the sleep that would bring further healing, John spoke to her, believing more than ever that she was his one chance at love, and he’d lost her too. It had been a few days now, and the pain was beginning to penetrate his finely crafted emotional shield, one created from an innate sense of self preservation. “Oh, Gina… you left me too…. why, Gina… why’d you have to leave me?” Tears overflowed their confines against his will, making a light trail of moisture on his cheeks, and dropping soundlessly onto the white pillowcase.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marlena felt horrible about hitting him, and about what she’d said. But there was apparently no going back. John was shutting down. The next move was completely hers.

Standing inside the bathroom, she didn’t hear him at first, but the second time she was sure of what the soft sounds meant. Having been there herself only a few short months ago, Marlena had known it would come sooner or later. The slightly protective fog of shock was dissipating–John was beginning to mourn.

This tough guy, who rarely complained of pain, suddenly looked and sounded so forlorn, and it was obvious that he was hardly aware that she was in the room with him. It was as if his mind had taken him back to the traumatic experience of his lover’s death. Marlena’s heart went out to him and she wished he would talk to her about it. She presumed that Gina’s demise marked yet another in a long line of significant losses he’d suffered. Her professional instincts told her that he’d been hurt so many times he learned to stop feeling anything for people. But somehow Gina must have found a way to break through his defenses, and then tragically he’d lost her too.

‘He must be completely devastated by her death, but he’s been keeping it all locked up. Oh, I wish I could help him.’

She shook her head to clear it. Her reaction to him made no sense. One minute she was kissing him, in the next slapping his face and intimating that he was as evil as Stefano. And five minutes after that she was worried about how he was feeling. ‘What is WRONG with me?’

The answer came via her conscience, or maybe her heart, which she too had been closing off because of her own grief over losing Roman. ‘You care, you try to tell yourself that you don’t, but you DO care about him. You’re attracted to him, you know he’s hurting and you want to help him, and not just because you’re a doctor. Now, why don’t you make it easier on everybody and just admit it?’

A noise emanating from outside the motel interrupted her disconcerting self-examination, and the cold chill of panic seized her heart, leaving her frozen to the chair. What if Bo and Shane had found the Range Rover? And much worse, what if it was Stefano’s men who had discovered their whereabouts?

‘Oh, God!’ A wave of fear coursed through her as she considered what might happen to both of them if Stefano’s men found them. John was at her side before Marlena could even call his name out loud.

Looking out the window, he saw them too. Six of them–all Dimera’s people. He could tell from the bulk in their upper bodies. Stefano was bringing out the heavy hitters, using his best and unquestionably strongest men to track down the traitor. John swallowed hard, suddenly realizing just what he’d done to himself, that Stefano hated him like no other now. The man would not rest until his goons had dragged John back to the compound where he would face unimaginable varieties of torture. He shuddered inside at the thought, then quickly snapped out of it to deal with more immediate concerns.

John looked out again. They were on the other side of the U-shaped building, going from room to room, doing a systematic search. It wouldn’t take long.

“What are we going to do now, John?” his companion said in a panic.

“Damn, they’re fast!” Grabbing her hand, he tugged her away from the window. “Come on, we have to get out of here, now. Right now!”

She nodded, and then gathered her few belongings together, shivering slightly when she heard the now familiar clicking sound of a bullet filled clip being inserted into a handgun. Once again, John was prepared to shoot his way out of a bad situation. This time, she was glad for the measure of protection it offered, but more than a little frightened all at the same time.

In a few seconds, they were climbing out the bathroom window, thankful it was a first floor room they’d rented, and racing toward the Range Rover. John was looking over his shoulder, hoping no one had made them. It was quiet with no movement behind them. So far so good.

In only three minutes, they were behind the outbuilding and hiding in the stashed vehicle, breathing hard from the exertion and the adrenaline rush. John waited a few moments, wondering whether he should take the chance that Dimera’s people would find no evidence of his presence at the Inn.

The answer came in a burst of gunfire. Based on the noise and the number of flashes, the room they’d stayed in was being riddled with bullets. Then there was a tremendous explosion, in which the entire east section of the Inn was obliterated. Stefano wasn’t messing around this time.

Cupping her face in her hands, Marlena watched in horror. “Oh, my God!”

John looked at her for only a second, his head cocked slightly to one side, as if to make a silent apology for ever appearing in her life. There was no time for more. She swallowed the fear and nodded her understanding.

He started the Range Rover’s powerful engine as quietly as possible, prepared to leave the scene as soon as it seemed clear to move. They drove off while alarms blared, smoke and flames billowed, and confusion reigned, hoping that no one in a position to stop them had seen them go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three law enforcement agents leaped off their beds at the staccato sound of gunfire. It seemed like it was emanating from the other end of the Inn. The noise was made by rapid firing automatic weapons–probably Uzi’s or AK-47’s.

By the time they all had pants on, they had just made it to the window to see the explosion at it’s beginning. It effectively blinded them for a minute, their eyes having been accustomed to the darkness.

Racing out the door of his room and toward the site of the fire, Bo thought he caught a glimpse of something moving in the distance. He pointed, “Shane… look! Over there… is that what I think it is?”

By the time the other man did as requested, there was nothing to see. “What, Bo? What am I supposed to be looking at?”

“It’s gone, never mind.” Maybe it was just dancing shadows, a trick of the smoke and flames in the darkness. “For a second, I thought I saw… I don’t know… a truck or something. I was hoping it was…”

Shane guessed. “The Ranger Rover… with Marlena and Black?”

He let out another sigh. “Yea… just wishful thinking I guess.”

Patting his friend on the back, Shane sympathized, “It’s understandable Bo… now, let’s go find out what in blazes just happened.”

“Stefano happened, Shane. He’s out for blood and he wants Black to know it.”

“I think the detective from the States is right,” Jacques said, coming up behind them–wondering if there was any way to stop Dimera from exacting revenge. “That was a warning of things to come. Stefano will hold nothing back.” At some point, whether in police custody or not, he would have the man killed in a way that would send a clear message to anyone who ever thought about crossing him. One way or another, Black was bound to suffer for his betrayal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although Stefano Dimera clearly enjoyed being in the presence of fine things, the opulence of his surroundings meant nothing at this particular moment. He paid no attention to the rich burgundy leather of the chair in which he sat, to the other expensive furnishings, draperies and art work painstakingly collected through the years, nor to the sounds of his favorite aria coming from the top of the line stereo system.

He was focused on only one objective. Vengeance.

“What do you mean he wasn’t there?” he bellowed at his subordinate.

“They were gone by the time we made it to their room. They must have seen us coming. We destroyed it. “

“How did they get past you? There were half a dozen men.”

“I don’t know, Sir… “

“Don’t come back to me until you have him with you. And I want them alive, both of them! And mark my words, if you fail me, I will come after you, all of you and kill you myself!” Betrayal was an act of treachery that could not go unpunished, on principle alone, but this was personal. Black would suffer like no other for his breach of his mentor’s trust. Not only did he know too much, he had cost Stefano a woman he coveted and was now in the presence of another woman he secretly wanted to possess.

His underling was sufficiently fearful, “Yes, Sir, Mr. Dimera, Sir, we’ll find them and bring them both to you.”

Dimera slammed the telephone into its base, shouting out to the silence of the night.

“IMBECILES!!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They’d been racing up and down snowy mountain roads for at least fifteen minutes when she finally worked up the nerve to ask him a question. “John…” and then he looked at her and she stopped short, suddenly not wanting to hear what she knew he would say.

“What is it, Marlena?”

She made the query anyway, “Who was that back there?”

“I think you know the answer to that question,” he said, returning his attention to the next curve in the road. An accident now would not be a good thing.

“Stefano.”

“Give the lady a prize… yep, that was Dimera’s handiwork, or his design anyway. He’s sending out a message.”

“What kind of a message?”

“He wants me bad. He doesn’t care who gets in the way or what he has to do, he’s going to get me and he’s going to take me to one of his compounds.”

What he didn’t say in combination with the haunted expression on his face told her a lot about what he believed would happen after that. “Oh, John..”

“I know…. I’m sorry. I wish that…” He was going to tell her he wished he never dragged her into his mess, but he couldn’t say that, because she meant something to him now.

“What, John… what do you wish?”

“I wish there was a good way to get you out of this, get you to a safe place.”

“Is that an apology?”

“Yea, I guess it is. I’m so sorry, Marlena. I’m sorry I ever got you all caught up in this. I was desperate and I didn’t know where else to turn. This is going to sound crazy, but that day… on the Champ-Elysees, you seemed so….nice, and when I got hit, I just sort of knew you would help me.”

His smile indicated embarrassment. “Thank you, John. I’m glad I could help you and I’m glad I’m here with you now, but I can’t say that I’m not scared.”

“You saved my life, lady and as long as I live I’ll never forget that. I won’t let anybody hurt you, I swear it!”

She shuddered at the intensity of his statement, and the steely blue of his eyes. He meant it, he would die to protect her if necessary. “I believe you.”

“Good. Now, in case something happens, I want you to know where we’re going. We’re heading into the Alps. I have a little place up there, real secluded. Dimera doesn’t know about it. It’s a cabin and it’s tucked back in so you can’t see it at all from the road, and the garage is built into the ground, so the truck won’t be visible from the air. We’ll have some time to rest up there, to make a better plan for getting away.”

He looked at her and she was shivering all of a sudden. “I’m sorry.. I was… I didn’t mean…”

“No, it’s okay.. I was just thinking about my children. I miss them so….”

“Oh, man…. I forgot all about that. Listen, Marlena…. you can go, any time, I mean it. I’ll find a way to get you to the airport and put you on a plane home to the States. You’re not my…. hostage anymore.”

“No, I’m not.”

The sexual tension between them was palpable, but neither had the courage to make a move. It wasn’t the time. That would have to come later, when they were safe, from the ravages of the storm and the relentless pursuit of a vengeful Stefano Dimera. Not to mention the International law enforcement community that was trying to apprehend him in order to obtain valuable information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of his former employer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The innkeeper’s wife was trembling with the shock of what had happened only an hour ago. Her husband held her in an attempt to settle her nerves, Shane Donovan was striving to remain calm and Bo, who had already lost the battle, was pacing as the couple answered their questions in broken English, mixed with the occasional French expletive.

“Are you sure this is the woman?” Shane asked again, holding the photograph in front of her.

The response was a nod of the head from both of them. Jacques presented another photo, saying, “And this man…. are you positive she was with him?”

“Well, I cannot be sure,” said the innkeeper, hesitating to look at the photograph again. “He had no beard, but the shape of his face is the same… and his hair was dark and long like this… yes, yes I’m sure it was him,” he said with increasing confidence.

Shane turned to look at Bo and then back at the couple. “Thank you, thank you so much. You’ve helped a lot.”

“For what it is worth, Mister Donovan, this woman…. she did not seem… how you say… frightened. She was more determined. She said her husband was feeling ill and was waiting in the vehicle while she registered for them.”

“Do you mean to say that it didn’t appear that she was his hostage?”

The man nodded, his eyes indicating that he was thinking and considering exactly how to describe her behavior. “Yes, she was acting more like a wife who was worried about her husband and wanted to get back to him, than someone who was afraid for her safety.”

That assessment simultaneously raised three pairs of eyebrows and left a puzzled expression on all their faces. It was an unexpected twist in the tale.

The young man in a French police uniform looked at Shane Donovan but he was talking to all three of the men who were slumped in wooden chairs staring at a detailed map, trying to figure out where the hell their quarry could be holed up. “Sir, I’m sorry, but there’s no sign of Black or the woman anywhere. There are no new leads. He seems to have… disappeared without a trace.”

In response, three lawmen from three different countries, pounded their fists on the table in front of them and uttered the same expletive in English, which somehow seemed the most appropriate language for the word. “Dammit!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miles from Paris, out in the area affectionately known as the French Countryside, Stefano Dimera sat in the den of his estate, listening to a similar report. “We cannot locate him as yet, Sir, but all your best men are on it.”

“Well, he’s got to be somewhere in those mountains, and you damn well better find him! Or you will all pay for your ineptitude!”

“Yes, Sir!” The man turned and exited the room hastily, praying that those men did find Black or heads would roll, literally. Dimera’s version of discipline wasn’t pretty and usually meant a long and painful death. The underling shuddered momentarily when he thought about what would happen to Black if they did catch up with him and bring him back to the compound to face the wrath of Stefano Dimera. Betrayal was the worst offense. Failure was a close second.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At last the worn out, injured man was sleeping, his body in desperate need of rest in order for the bullet wound to fully heal. The bleeding had resumed while they were on the run. Marlena used the professionally stocked first aide kit he’d left on hand in the secluded cabin, cleansing and then properly stitching it for the first time since the night of the shooting, which she figured was now seven nights ago.

Surveying the contents of the kit, she realized that this was a man who was obviously accustomed to field dressing his wounds, or those of his compatriots. Deciding that thinking on that particular concept for any length of time wasn’t such a great idea, she focused on the task at hand, which was tending to the injured man she’d come to care about. So much had happened in a compressed period of time that it was hard to keep track, and it seemed like much longer that seven days since she’d bumped into a charming stranger on the Champs Elysee in Paris.

After a few harrowing days in which she feared for his life, his fever was down. John wasn’t running a temperature above 100, and she simply soothed his warm forehead with cool washcloths. The wound was finally beginning to show genuine signs of healing, and she’d been happy to find a bottle of over the counter analgesic medication to ease the dull throbbing pain she knew accompanied the injury. John awakened only for brief periods to drink, eat a bite or two of whatever she’d managed to cook, and take a pain pill. That was it.

In the mean time, she had familiarized herself with what was obviously a man’s cabin. It was sparsely furnished, with very little in the way of decoration, but comfortable in a rustic manner of speaking. It had one bedroom, a great room with a couch and oversized chair, and a large wall of windows with a spectacular view of the Italian Alps, a well stocked kitchen, and a full bath all on one level. There was a loft up above, which housed a double sleeper sofa, an end table, and a lamp.

Watching him sleep, she remembered one particular time in which he’d given her a glimpse of the man he was at heart, behind the tough exterior. He was feverish and possibly hallucinating, but what he was experiencing was very real.

She awakened with a start and took a moment to figure out what was happening. She heard a voice crying out, “Gina, oh no, Gina… no, don’t leave me…. please don’t die!” When the fog of sleep began to clear, she realized that it was John who was calling out. Marlena rushed to his side, intent on helping him through it, and on urging him to allow himself to grieve over the loss of the woman he’d loved, something he had not yet begun to do. Marlena knew from her own experience that it was vital to a mourner’s survival and sanity.

“John….you’re dreaming… “

“Gina…. oh, God, Gina, no! No!” he cried out in his misery, reliving the scene of her death over and over again in his tortured mind. Hating to do it, but knowing it was necessary, Marlena shook him lightly until his eyelids fluttered several times and he finally opened his bleary eyes, which were brimming with unshed tears. Maybe this would be the time he could let them flow out, as she believed he needed to do. He had to face the reality of the loss in the waking hours, and that was only the beginning.

After several long moments, he seemed to focus on her, and then he was processing the internal visions again, his eyes glossed over and far away.

“You loved her, didn’t you?”

He nodded but said nothing, obviously fighting back the swell of emotion, his head tilted downward as if he were ashamed of his reaction.

“How did she die, John?”

This time, he only shook his head and looked away, lost in the pain. Marlena waited for him to speak again. The silence lasted so long, the sound of his voice made her jump when he finally answered.

“It was my fault. She’s dead because of me.”

“I’m so sorry, John…”

“Yea… me too.” Suddenly, he straightened up, as if finally cognizant of his state of vulnerability. “You know what, you don’t need to hear this.”

“Yes, I do… “

He fired back, the sadness turning to anger. “Why, why in the hell do you care?” he asked, hoping to push her away, realizing that he would only lead her into danger, had in fact already done so. There was no sense in her being subjected to more of the same. Not someone like Marlena. She deserved so much better than he could begin to give her. He had to make her leave him.

Her tone was equally as fierce, and determined. “I don’t…. know, exactly… but I do!”

“Well, just stop then… I’m going to heal up just fine now, Doc, so you can leave me here. Take the Rover, get yourself to the airport and forget you ever met me!”

“No, I won’t leave you here. You have a long way to go before you’re out of the woods, John Black. And I couldn’t forget you, even if I wanted to, even if I tried.”

“I don’t get you, lady I really don’t. I kidnapped you, remember? I held a gun to your head and forced you to leave your hotel with me!”

“Well, that makes two of us I guess, because I don’t understand it either. I should have been long gone, back home in my own bed, days ago. Instead, I’m standing here arguing with a half dressed man with a hole in his side which is a perfect match for the one in his head!”

It made him laugh to see her reaction and that made his side hurt and he groaned at the wave of pain that shot through him, and began to crumple. Before he knew it, she was helping him into bed and he was fading out again.

‘Oh, Marlena… what are you getting yourself into here?’ she had said to herself, as she watched him drift off to a restless slumber. When his breathing settled into a normal rhythm, she decided that it was allright to take a bath. God only knew how much she needed to relax.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When he reawakened and was fully alert, he found that he was alone. He sat up and almost immediately regretted the swift movement. A wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him and he laid back down. But it was too late to stop the bile from rising up. John leaned over the edge of the bed and promptly lost the meager contents of his stomach. Retching like that was painful and he moaned, a sound that brought Marlena back from wherever she’d been.

When she arrived at his side, he was still leaning heavily on his elbows, with his head drooping, half on and half off the bed.

“John, are you alright?”

“I guess so, yea,” he said, struggling to make his body cooperate and move himself into a supine position on the bed. It was difficult at best, but he managed it without assistance, while she started cleaning up the mess.

Seeing her turn up her nose at the smell, he apologized, “Sorry about that, thanks for… helping.”

“It’s no problem. It’s not the first time, John.”

“Oh, so I uh… I’ve been out of it for awhile, then….”

“Yes, you’ve been pretty sick, John. For awhile there, I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”

“Oh, well, I uh… I guess I should say thank you for… taking care of me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You saved my life, you know what that means, don’t you ?” he asked, inching up on his elbows again, a welcome twinkle in his eye, telling her he was truly on the mend at last.

“No, what does it mean?” she asked, not quite meeting his gaze.

“You’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”

She laughed. It was a glorious sound. “Oh, really? According to whom?”

“Ancient Chinese Proverb… beautiful woman who save man from flying bullets take care of him forever,” he answered, in a horrible imitation of a stereotypical Chinese accent.

All she could do was smile and shake her head in wonder. Obviously, the man was feeling much better than he had since the moment he’d appeared outside her door in Paris. And maybe he was more like himself; this dashing rogue who seemed so cold, hard, and rough around the edges was actually quite charming when not under the stress of fighting for his basic survival.

“So, John, are you hungry?”

He didn’t respond at first, having decided he would try out his legs. Swinging them toward the opposite side from his injury, he managed to get them on the floor, with only a muffled groan to indicate his discomfort. However, when he tried to bear weight, he nearly toppled. If she hadn’t had her eyes trained on him at that exact moment, he would have gone down. As it was, she managed to reach him and ease him back down, rather unceremoniously, onto the bed, leaving them both out of breath.

John grinned sheepishly and said, “I uh, guess I’m not quite ready for the marathon.”

Smiling warmly in response, his doctor agreed, “No, not just yet. So, how about some soup to help you get your strength back?”

“Soup. Yea, I guess I could eat some soup, sure. But first I uh… well, I…”

Her face flushed unexpectedly when she caught his meaning, his eyes having landed on a door across the room. “Oh, of course, I’ll uh… help you.”

Averting his gaze, he replied with a quiet, “Thanks.” And with that, she placed her arm around his waist and assisted him in easing his way to a standing position again. In silence, they shuffled haltingly across the wood floor to the bathroom.

Once there, she slowly disengaged and stood next to him, waiting for him to ask for further assistance if he needed it, rather than offering it. “I think I can manage this by myself, thanks for.. getting me here. I’m okay on my own now.”

She smiled again, wishing she could spare him the embarrassment he clearly felt about being so weak yet. “Good, then I’ll go and get us something to eat. I’ll be right out here if you need me.”

“Okay, I’ll just be a minute.” He gave her a half-baked smile, turned and stepped inside the restroom, flipping on the light without looking toward the switch.

Nodding, she said nothing further and turned toward the kitchen area of the cabin.

Five minutes later, they were sitting down to two steaming bowls of soup, some crackers, and two mugs filled with black coffee. They ate in silence for a little while, their hunger taking precedence over other needs. Finally, it was John who broke the silence, “So, Marlena… tell me something. Why are you here… really?”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about that John, these past couple of days, and you know it’s the strangest thing, but I still haven’t come up with a good answer to that question.”

“Oh… well, I want you to know, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and anytime you want to leave here, you go right ahead. In a day or two, when I’m strong enough, if you want me to, I can drive you down to the nearest city, where you can catch a train back to Paris, so you can go home to the States.”

“Thank you. And John… I was just doing what….”

“Lady, don’t say that again. You weren’t just doing what anyone would have done. After what I put you through, most people would have left me to die here, or in any one of a half dozen other places along the way. “

“Alright… okay, you’re probably right. A lot of people wouldn’t have stayed. I guess I’m not like most people. I take my oath very seriously.”

“Yea, that’s right, the Hippocratic oath…. that’s the reason.” He said it believing that maybe it was true, maybe she had only stayed with him because she was dedicated to her profession of medicine and couldn’t leave him to die. Now that the crisis had passed, maybe she was going to leave him. ‘Of course she’s going to leave, you idiot! She has a family to go back home to, so why in the hell would she want to stay here, on the run with a jerk like you?’

He sounded so discouraged. “I didn’t say that, John.”

“You didn’t have to, I understand.” He began to rise from his chair.

“John…. please,” she said with a gentle restraining hand on his left forearm.

He glanced down at her hand, admiring it momentarily, and wondered what it meant, if anything, other than sympathy. “What?”

“Let’s talk for awhile. I’d like to…. I don’t know, get to know you. Would that be alright?”

At first, he said nothing, his only response a gentle shake of head as he extricated his arm from her light grasp. When standing about three feet away, he answered her by negating the idea. “You don’t want to know about me, about my life. It’s nothing you want to hear, I’m sure.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

“Alright, for starters, I’m sure you realize I worked for Stefano Dimera. I went around Europe, pretending to be a Priest and I stole from people. I lied and I got close to them, and then I robbed them of their most treasured, most valuable possessions. And that’s only the tip of it.”

The silence that enveloped them was quite powerful and long lasting. Marlena had suspected as much, but hearing him say it so plainly was startling at best.

“I thought so,” John said as he took a handful of steps toward the wall of windows.

Deciding it was best to change the subject, she asked him a question, “Who was Gina?”

Startled by the question, he contemplated whether or not he should answer it. Opting for honesty, he said, “My.. partner. My…. friend.” ‘Or partial honesty anyway.’

Marlena hesitated only briefly before making a more probing query, “You were in love with her and you were going to run away together, weren’t you?”

“How do you know that?” he said, while at the same time turning to search her eyes, having suddenly become suspicious.

“You’ve been… well, you’ve been… muttering in your sleep. When the fever was high, you were… upset. You were calling out for her. And then there was the suitcase. I guessed what was happening, that the two of you were trying to escape your life with Stefano Dimera.”

He looked away again. A quiet, “Oh,” was all he could manage to say in response, his head tilted downward, the reality of his situation finally beginning to sink in. Those plans were all for naught and Gina was dead. She was gone from his life forever and Dimera was coming after him, blaming him for her death. John completed his journey to the front windows, looking out over the snow-covered mountaintops, a heavy sigh escaping his mouth.

His silence told her that he was losing the battle for control over his emotions. Believing he needed to say it out loud, she asked him, “Tell me about her, John… about your plans.”

Shaking his head, he tried to deny her, “Doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over. That’s all over now. There’s no sense in discussing it.”

“You need to talk about it, John…. you know you do. And I know you do,” she finished, softly.

Whirling around to face her, ignoring the stab of pain it caused, he shouted at her, “How, Marlena… how do you *know* what I NEED!”

“Because I’ve been there, right where you are now, John. Four months ago, my husband was murdered by your former boss Stefano Dimera! I know the terror you’re afraid to admit, that panic and that pain. I know what it’s like, John… and I know that if you don’t face it and find a way to express it, the grief you’re feeling will destroy you.”

Stunned, he just stood there and stared at her for the longest time, not knowing what to say. Mercifully, as he stepped closer to the woman who had begun to weep, he found a few comforting words and spoke them with tenderness, “I’m sorry, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

Realizing it was important, she allowed the emotions to wash over her and the tears flowed out like water. John instinctively moved to hold her while she cried. After a few moments of anguish, Marlena pulled out of the embrace, swiped at the moisture on her face, and said, “John… you have to let yourself feel it.”

He shook his head but said nothing, as he moved away from her again, evading her unsettling scrutiny of his emotional state. It was unnerving to find out that she knew much of what he was feeling. She knew that pain, she let herself experience the full intensity of it, and she was still standing. But somehow it was different for him, the need to control it, to keep it locked up tight. It was something he’d learned at a very tender age, something the Old Man had taught him. Never show your emotions, keep them to yourself, and don’t *ever* let them interfere with the job. To wear ones feelings on the outside was to demonstrate weakness, something John could never afford to do if he wanted to stay alive and on top of his game.

Marlena continued to look on in silence, allowing the power of the moment to work on him. When she heard a slight change in his breathing and noticed his shoulders tighten up, she knew he was fighting a wave of sadness. “Let it go, John…. let yourself feel it, it’s okay to give in to the pain.”

His head dropped, then came up briefly as he sucked in a deep breath, still struggling for control.

Slipping up behind him and slightly to his right, she spoke very softly, “You’re safe with me, John….this is a safe place to let it out. “

After several agonizing seconds, he pushed out an apprehensive sigh, as if maybe it was a relief to him, as if having been given permission was exactly what he needed and yet feared at the same time. ” I loved her… I loved her and now she’s dead, and it’s all my fault.”

“I’m so sorry, John.”

He looked up, peering at her out of slightly hidden eyes as he finished in self-recrimination, “I was supposed to protect her but I failed, and now she’s gone. Gina’s gone forever.” The swell of emotion and the salty liquid that pooled behind the blue began to leak out, and when she reached out with tender hands to touch his unshaven cheeks, the dam broke. John melted into her welcoming embrace, where for several long minutes, he wept, laying his weary head upon her shoulders.

She held him in silence, unconsciously rubbing his back and stroking his thick mane of dark hair, somewhat absently noting that it needed to be washed and cut.

He opened his eyes to see Marlena slumped in the armchair sleeping, and smiled. She’d been watching over him again, but had fallen asleep before making it to the other room. This was one amazing woman. She cared, she hardly knew him and yet she truly cared about how he was feeling, about his life and his pain. John never believed there were people like that in the world, people who could be so selfless as to risk their own personal safety for the sake of another, without expectation. His world was in direct contrast to that way of thinking. It was dark and cold, and everyone he knew was always looking out for number one.

John wasn’t quite sure how to respond to her, whether he should trust in her goodness and caring. Someone that good, that pure, she wouldn’t stay with someone like him, not in the long run. If he let himself care for her, she would leave him, just as everyone else he had ever felt close to had done. One way or the other, by death or by choice, they left him and he was alone again. ‘Don’t think about all that now, just get yourself healed up and take it as it comes.’ Generally, that was his way, to deal with whatever happened as it unfolded, rather than waste time looking ahead to what might never take place.

Deciding it was best to let her sleep, John found a pillow and put it behind her head so she wouldn’t wake up with a stiff neck. Then he proceeded to check his bandage, debating whether or not to climb into the tub for a shower, something he knew he desperately needed. It took him a minute or two to figure a way to keep the bandage, which looked like it had been changed fairly recently, from getting wet. John ended up taking a plastic garbage bag and tying it around his midsection. Not too pretty, but effective. Smiling at his ingenuity, he turned on the water, waited for it to warm up and then stepped into the stream. “Ah… that feels good,” he muttered to himself, basking in the warmth of it. John couldn’t remember a time when a shower was more welcome or appreciated.

A few minutes later, he was standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around his waist, looking at his face for the first time since his ordeal began. It was more than a little battered, especially the spot where the bullet had grazed him. That looked downright nasty and it hurt like hell, but due to Marlena’s expertise, like the bullet wound to the gut, it was starting to heal. Besides that, he was badly in need of a shave. Shaving was definitely a good idea because the latest pictures the Old Man had were of John in his priestly garb, with a beard and mustache. Without the facial hair, he wouldn’t be as easy for that man’s goons or law enforcement types to spot, or at least he hoped that would be the case.

Just as he put the razor to his face, he heard a soft sigh and then, “Oh my…..” John turned around to see Marlena standing there admiring his nearly naked state. He had forgotten that he’d opened the door to let the steam out after completing his shower.

“Uh, hi…” was all he could manage to say in reply, flashing her an embarrassed grin she found adorable.

She took a step back and averted her gaze slightly. “Hi, John… I’m sorry I didn’t realize….”

“My fault, I left the door open… I’m sorry,” he said, blushing slightly.

“No need to apologize, I’ll just…. close it and leave you your privacy, then…” she said, backing up another step but still facing him, if not quite meeting his eyes.

“Uh, yea… okay, that’d be…great.” She couldn’t stop staring and he couldn’t refrain from smiling at her, liking the fact that she was clearly attracted to him and wasn’t even trying to hide it.

On impulse, he closed the distance between them.

She felt her breath leave her as she inhaled his strong masculine scent. “Oh…”

His hands were on her cheeks, caressing her skin with gentleness she hadn’t yet seen, and then he carefully drew her closer. “You’re so beautiful, Marlena… in every way, you’re *so* beautiful to me.” She was like fine china and he was almost afraid he’d break her.

“Oh, John….” she didn’t think she could bear the anticipation any longer; she desperately wanted him to kiss her. No, she needed him to kiss her, needed it like she’d never needed anyone or anything before.

She was trembling and he wondered if he was scaring her. He dropped his hands and said, “What’s wrong, did I….do something wrong?”

Shaking her head slightly, she whispered a reply, “No, no, John… you did something right, only you didn’t finish it.”

He was bewildered. “What… what are you….saying?”

She didn’t answer him with words, but grabbed his mouth and did what she’d been aching to do for what seemed like weeks.

John was lost in sensation as their tongues collided in an explosion of pent up passion. He felt the temperature rising by degree and heard himself panting as she moaned with mounting pleasure.

On instinct, their bodies moved in perfect time, gliding out of the bathroom and toward the bed in the front room that had been changed the night before. When they arrived, John started to lift her. Thinking of his injury, she helped him and soon, she was lying down on her back, with this incredibly sexy man leaning over her, planting soft moist kisses all over her face, neck, and chest.

Their eyes met and spoke of longings untold. Marlena reached up to run her hands over the rippled muscles of his finely toned chest and sighed. Sensing he’d been holding his weight too long because of the still healing wound, she nudged him to roll and lie flat on his back. He smiled, enjoying her protective nature, and complied.

She laid down next to him and they stared into each other’s eyes for awhile, mesmerized while gently touching and caressing the skin that was being revealed as she removed his towel and he disrobed her. Within a few minutes, they were naked and holding each other close, massaging and stroking with tenderness.

As passions rose, their movements became more and more frenzied, the flames of desire burning bright and hot. Marlena couldn’t believe she could feel something so powerful for someone she’d only met a week or so earlier. How could she need him so?

John immersed himself in the experience, loving every second of their physical intimacy, not thinking about anything but pleasing her, and in the process finding himself wanting her as he’d never wanted another woman in all his life. “Oh, Marlena… this is incredible, you’re so.. perfect, you’re perfect.”

“So are you, John… oh, John, make love to me. Make love to me now, I want you and I need you.”

“I need you too, Doc, I need you so much,” he said with intensity. He’d said the same word before, but somehow this was different. He was calling her by that name, as if he truly knew her, not just to shorten the professional title.

She drew back, shocked at his expression of endearment. “What did you just call me?”

“Doc, I…called you, Doc. I don’t know why I just did that.”

Marlena sat up in bed, staring at him, searching for some sign of recognition, searching for some trace of the man she’d loved so deeply, the only man who had ever called her Doc.

“Who are you?”

He only looked confused. “Marlena, what’s this all about, you know who I am, I’m John Black.”

“No one ever called me that but my husband Roman Brady. How did you know to call me that?”

Shutting his eye, he probed his memory and came up blank. “I don’t know why I called you that, I’m sorry, if it upsets you, I won’t do it. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Marlena. I never want to hurt you, I only want to….” He stopped, suddenly uncertain and unwilling to risk being vulnerable.

“You only want to what, John….. “

“I want to… please you, make you feel good. I’m sorry if I messed that up.”

Shaking her head, she sighed and said, “No, you didn’t, John, you didn’t do anything wrong. It was me, that name evoked some powerful memories, that’s all. It’s alright.”

Noticing she was shivering again, he wrapped his arms around her slender body and simply held her. After a minute or so, she relaxed into the embrace and they snuggled for awhile.

It was nice and safe, a good place to start, she thought. Passion was wonderful, but loving affection without expectation was a foundation on which to build a relationship.

They laid together in silence for a long time before she broke it, asking a question that had remained on her mind. “John, are you mad that we didn’t… make love?”

“No, I’m not mad. Can’t say I’m not a little disappointed though,” he said, pushing himself up on his left elbow to look at her.

“We still can, you know.”

Kissing her on the nose, he said, “I know, but you know what, I think we should wait.”

“You do?” She was surprised. It wasn’t often that the male of the species opted for caution when it came to the physical aspects of love and romance.

“Yep, it’ll give us a better chance to get to know each other, without the sex to complicate things.”

That sounded wise. “I think you’re right, John, it will.”

Lying on his back, his head turned slightly towards her, he asked a question, “So, what’s your favorite color?”

“My favorite color… John, what are you doing?”

He was grinning. “I’m getting to know you better. What’s your favorite color, mine’s blue.”

“Funny, so is mine, ” she said with a broad smile, thinking this could be fun.” Okay, how about this one… favorite food. Mine is linguini with clam sauce.”

He made a face. “Want to guess mine?”

“Pizza…”

The sound he made was the perfect imitation of a buzzer and she laughed. “Okay, wise guy, what is it?”

” A good filet mignon with French cut green beans almondine, new potatoes seasoned with dill and garlic, and fresh baked crescents. French of course.”

Marlena laughed out loud. I’m not buying that.”

“What, you think I’m not accustomed to fine dining, a rogue like me, is that it?” he asked, only partly joking with her.

“No, I’m not saying that, it’s just that…. well, you don’t strike me as…”

“As what, the kind of guy who likes eating in nice restaurants, the kind of guy who knows what a fine meal tastes like? Well, you don’t know the half of it, Doctor Evans!”

“John, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She realized she had unwittingly pushed a button.

“It’s okay, I should have known it would happen. We’re from two different worlds, Marlena. This will never work.” He climbed out of bed, went to his dresser and pulled out some underwear, jeans, and a t-shirt. And she sighed, watching him pull away from her and wondering exactly what had just happened.

Marlena sat on the bed for a few moments, collecting her thoughts, and trying to figure out how a pleasant moment could turn out so badly. What had made his anger flare so suddenly? She slipped off the edge and padded across the floor, looking out into the main room to see John leaning against the front wall of windows, staring almost blankly out over the mountainside. She saw him put his head down as she stepped a little closer and heard his quiet sigh.

When she thought they could endure the silence no longer, Marlena spoke softly, offering an apology, “I’m sorry, John, for whatever I said that upset you.”

He shook his head, and not quite looking at her, apologized himself, “No, I’m sorry, I don’t know why I flew off the handle like that. I’m really sorry, Marlena. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

She knew that part of it was the grief he had such a hard time letting himself admit to, let alone feel, but she said nothing about it, choosing instead to focus on the present. “It’s alright. I guess we should expect to have a few rough moments along the way. You’re right, we do come from different worlds, John, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Does it?” she asked, while tenderly massaging his neck and shoulders.

He thought for a minute and then turned to look her square in the eye. “No, I guess it doesn’t. So, where do we start?”

She smiled and then extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Doctor Marlena Evans. I’m a psychiatrist and I’m visiting France to speak at a conference on Post Traumatic Stress.”

He froze. Hearing her utter the phrase caused a swiftly rising sense of panic to set in. His heart rate seemed to climb rapidly and his breathing increased in pace as well, a light sheen of sweat dotting his forehead.

She couldn’t help but notice his sudden discomfort. “John, what is it?”

The man shook his head in a sharp, jerky motion, puzzled by his own response. “I… I don’t… know.” A sudden piercing headache almost knocked him down it was so intense.

His mind went blank as the words echoed inside his skull. ‘Post traumatic stress. Flashbacks frequent and intense. Intrusive memories are pervasive, occurring in nightmares as well as during waking hours. Multiple triggers of unknown origin. Prognosis poor, patient has very little chance for a full recovery.’ Over and over he heard those same kinds of words and phrases….

He suddenly faltered, one hand reaching toward the windowsill as he felt his body going out of balance. Instinctively, Marlena moved to guide him toward the couch to ride it out, whatever *it* was.

She immediately kicked into doctor mode, watching him closely while trying to capture his attention and determine what was wrong. But, he didn’t respond to further questioning, seeming to become lost in rumination or fixated on a memory; she couldn’t tell which. His eyelids fluttered several times as he sat perfectly still, his breathing still rapid and shallow. The man was obviously in some kind of emotional shock and she had no idea why. It was frightening and very worrisome. “John…are you alright?”

Nothing but a horrified expression. “John, please, answer me….tell  me what’s wrong.”

The next thing she knew, his head lolled to one side and his eyes rolled back. A second or two later, he was out cold. “Oh, John,” she said, groaning. “A little warning would have been nice,” she added, bearing what felt like his full weight with her arms and upper body. She eased him down onto the couch and stretched his legs out, situating him so that he appeared to be resting comfortably. Next, she did the only thing she could do. She sat across the room and waited for him to come around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking out over the Alps, Bo Brady sighed, wishing he could put his arms around Hope and take comfort from her love. One of the most beautiful places in the world and he couldn’t appreciate it. Not with Marlena out there, somewhere, with a man they knew very little about. What they did know definitely wasn’t pretty. The evidence demonstrated that the man was a thief and a killer for hire, not to mention a powder keg of explosive emotion that could blow at any time.

Three days. It had been three long days since the fire at the Inn and they still had next to nothing to go on. “Shane, I can’t believe that with all these agents, nobody’s got any idea where this guy could be holed up with her!”

“Neither can I, Bo, but he must have had this place for awhile and kept it a secret from everybody he knew. Word is that Stefano can’t find him either, so we at least have that to be thankful for at this point.”

“Yea, oh, man, Shane, my parents are going out of their minds, they’re so worried about her and the twins. Bo smiled briefly, as he thought of his brother and how he’d dubbed the little cherubs, ‘the twinners.’ And then the anger flared. Dimera had killed his brother and now, one of his people had taken Marlena hostage. He wasn’t going to let the monster get away with it, not ever again.

“Bo, what are you thinking?”

“That I want to find Marlena and then I want to nail this bastard once and for all. He’s hurt us enough. And I swear, if this John Black, or whoever the hell he really is, has so much as touched her, he’s a dead man, Shane.”

Bo was calm but his eyes were ablaze. He was serious. Placing his hands lightly on the younger man’s shoulders, Shane urged his friend to hold it together a little while longer, “Bo, listen to me, I understand your anger, but you can’t let it get in the way. It won’t do anybody any good if you go off, it’ll only get you in major trouble and cause more pain and suffering to everyone that you love.”

Slamming his fist on the table next to him, Bo yelled at his friend, “Dammit, I’m just so FRUSTRATED! That bastard murdered my brother, Shane! And now, Marlena’s out there somewhere, being manipulated into a world she knows nothing about.”

“I know that. It’s getting to me too, Bo… but we have to keep our focus on helping her, arresting Stefano and his people, and making sure that none of them get away.”

He blew out a weary sigh and said, “Yea, I know you’re right, I just wish we would hear something.”

“Me too, Bo, me too,” Shane said, also sighing, thinking that a good night’s sleep would help. “Why don’t we pack it in for the night, Bo.”

He shrugged and said, “Sure, why not? Nothing else to do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alright, I’ve told you about my life in Salem, my work, the kids. Now it’s your turn.”

He stood up from where he’d been sitting to look out the windows, lightly shaking his head. Telling her the truth would surely set the fledging relationship on a short course toward disaster. Not that lying would have a better result. He shrugged and said, too casually, “There’s nothing much to tell, really. I’ve moved around a lot–done lots of different things to make a living–not very exciting.”

“John, you can’t run from it,” she said, rising to follow him.

“Who says I’m running? Uh, aside from the fact that I’m *on* the run, that is?” he said, chuckling in spite of himself.

“So, talk to me, John, tell me about your life.”

“Marlena, I think we both know where this is headed. I was right; we come from two completely different worlds. There never really was a chance for us, so why don’t we just quit pretending. What we have between us here is attraction, that’s it.”

She couldn’t figure this man out. Things were going fairly well, they were having a pleasant conversation and then just that quickly, the distance between them seemed to be widening again. “Speak for yourself, John.”

“Oh, right… next you’re going to tell me that you can see past the rough exterior, that I have a good heart and if you can just help me tap into that, I’ll begin to change and turn my life around. Come on, Doctor Evans, is that it?” he asked, taking another step or two away from her. As if the space could quell the yearning he felt growing deep inside him, a yearning to know and be known, to love and be loved by her alone.

“Something like that, yes.”

He laughed and shook his head to argue. “You really have led a sheltered life, woman. Look, I think it’s time I got you to a train station so you can catch a plane back to the States. I’m sure your family is worried sick about you by now.”

“Yes, I’m sure they are and I do want to go home, but John, I care about you.”

Shaking his head again, he contradicted her, “No you don’t. You care about the man you *want* me to be, not the man that I am.”

“No, no that’s not true, John. I care about *you, * the man you are right here and now.”

“And what about my past, all the terrible things the papers say I’ve done? I know you read some of it. Are you telling me you’re gonna just forget about that?”

She had no answer for him because she didn’t know how she felt about it, and partly because she didn’t even know the half of it, like he’d said earlier.

Her hesitance was all the answer he needed. Pushing out a breath, he nodded and spoke forcefully, “I thought so. Pack your things, we’re leaving in less than an hour.”

“But, John, it’s still dark out,” she said, taken completely by surprise.

“Brilliant deduction, Sherlock… of course it’s dark out. We have a much better chance of making it out of here if we leave under the cover of darkness.” With that, he turned and made his way toward the duffel bag he’d been living out of for a week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eighty kilometers outside Paris.

Well before dawn at the estate of a wealthy entrepreneur, one man paced while the other sat patiently waiting.

Having anticipated the call, the receiver lifted the telephone from its cradle almost before it rang, pleased with the words he heard. “I found them, Sir…. I stopped at a petrol station and asked the owner to tell me whether John and the woman had been through the area. With some…. not so friendly persuasion, he told me they had and where they were headed. Seems he knows Black and he told me the man owns a small cabin in the area. I made him show us where it was.”

“Excellent.”

“What do you want us to do, boss?”

“Watch them closely and wait until I get there. This is personal and I want to be there when you take him.”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Where should I meet you?”

“We’re staying at a small Inn just outside the town of Montgenevre, it’s one of the few in the area. It’s privately owned and operated.”

After taking down the name and number, he said, “Excellent work. You shall be rewarded handsomely for your efforts.”

“Thank you, Sir, thank you very much.”

“Whatever you do, don’t let them out of your site.”

“No Sir, not a chance!” the man said, practically saluting the man with his voice.

Stefano smiled, thinking how good it felt to have so many people at his beck and call. The taste of revenge was sweet and he salivated with the mere anticipation of exacting it from John Black. The traitor was going to die, slowly and very painfully after being thoroughly degraded and humiliated. He would beg to die, but his suffering would go on and on until Stefano wanted to end it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing more had been said about the incident earlier, an incident John had dismissed as insignificant. Marlena had let it go at the time, but she wasn’t buying his lame attempt at explaining it as a bad headache and lingering effects from the gunshot wound and being on the run. They were packed and ready to go when she stopped John from walking out the door of the cabin to start the vehicle, grasping hold of his left forearm.

“John, we can’t go yet, I think you know there’s something else we have to talk about.”

“No, on the contrary, I think we’ve said everything there is to say. Now, come on, it’s time to get you to safety so you can go back to your life, your real life,” he said, tugging the arm away from her.

“John, what happened before, it could be something serious. I can’t leave you knowing there might be… complications.”

“Marlena, it’s like I said, it was just a headache, no big deal. I get them all the time, so there’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“Have you been to see anyone about them?”

“Yea, and I have some pills I take when they get bad, okay?” he said, hoping she’d leave it at that.

She didn’t. “No, it’s not okay, John. You don’t have any pills with you now. And besides that, it was more than a headache and we both know it. Tell me what happened, John. What was going on inside your mind when it hit?”

Frustrated, he spouted off at her, “Look, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing you can do about it anyway. There’s nothing anyone can do.” He’d said more than he should have and immediately regretted it, scrambling for a way to cover, finding none.

“What are you saying?” she said, catching something in his slightly hidden eyes.

“I’m saying, I got scrambled eggs for brains. Dimera’s messed with my head so many times I don’t know who or what I am anymore.”

“Messed with your head, how John?” she asked worriedly, her eyes scrutinizing his face for an answer that went beyond words.

“Look, Doc.. I appreciate your concern, I really do, but it’s too late.”

“John, are there things you don’t remember?” she asked, making a guess.

All he did was laugh at first. “Now what you got there is an understatement, Doctor. Ever heard the term brainwashing?”

“Yes, John.. I have, but why?”

“Well, rumor has it, Stefano’s done it to me. I don’t like to think about it much, but the truth is, I don’t remember anything before I came to live with him, and I don’t remember when that was. Aside from what he’s told me, the only thing I *do* remember is the life I lived with him, where he was in control of almost every move I made.”

She shuddered at the thought of what the bastard might have done to this man she’d come to care about. “I’m sorry, John, that must have been horrible.”

“No, it wasn’t all horrible; most of the time it really wasn’t half bad. We always ate well, wore nice clothes, and he taught me a lot too,” John said, his voice trailing off slightly as he recalled some of the finer moments. Playing chess, sitting around a bountiful dinner table, drinking good brandy in the den afterward and talking, hours spent planning an intricate heist..

“John, are you remembering something important?”

Hearing her voice snapped him out of his reverie and reminded him of his current predicament, being hunted down by a vengeful master. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” he said coming to full awareness. “One of the most important lessons I ever learned is that no one ever leaves him and lives to tell about it. So, lady if you value your life, you better stop wasting it trying to help me salvage mine. It’s a lost cause. Now, we’re getting you out of here and back to your kids in the States. Have you got that!” he finished with a fierceness she hadn’t seen since that first day.

Angered and feeling rejected, she yelled back at him, “Alright, if that’s the way you want to play it. Then, yes I’ve got it! Let’s get the hell out of this winter wasteland.” She pushed past him to exit the cabin, racing toward the Range Rover, climbing in and slamming the door without a backward glance.

John watched her go, letting out a sigh filled with emotions he couldn’t name, wondering for a moment what might have been. But in his world there was no time for fantasy. A handful of seconds later, he was putting the Rover in gear and heading down the mountain toward an uncertain future.

Watching her huddled toward the car door, shivering with the cold and a hint of the fear he’d engendered, John made a silent promise. No matter what else happened, he wasn’t going to let any harm come to the lovely lady doctor who had saved his life. He was going to make sure she made it home to Salem safe and sound to raise her children. John knew he couldn’t bring back their father, the man Dimera had taken from her, but at least he could do that much.

He sat back against the smooth leather seat and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to contain the rage he was feeling. It was impossible. His best men had been watching the place. How could Black have slipped past them, again? The man was very good, but there was no excuse Stefano would accept for this latest foible. His experiment was a complete success and he didn’t want the international agencies to glean any of his secrets if and when they caught up with the man. John Black was living proof that Stefano and his team of physicians and scientists had perfected techniques those agencies had only dreamed of trying on human subjects.

Yes, there would be hell to pay when he arrived in the small village on the fringe of the Italian Alps. Stefano Dimera could not be known to tolerate such blatant incompetence. Someone was going to die in the early hours of the morning.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Range Rover had been sitting idle for at least 30 seconds, but neither the driver, nor the passenger had made a move to open a door and get out of the vehicle. Finally, John spoke, albeit hesitantly, “Well, we’re here, Marlena, at the train station. It’s time for you to go home now. I know you want to see your children, your family again.”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak without weeping, and then slowly she reached her right hand toward the door handle. He watched her intently, knowing that she had mixed feelings about leaving, as he did about letting her go.

His eyes fixed on her hand, remembering how tender and gentle her touch was when she was taking care of his wounds. And he wished they hadn’t passed up that one moment when making love was on both their minds. Lost in memory, he almost missed the chance to tell her what it all meant to him. She was out of the vehicle and around the front of it, heading toward the ticket counter when he snapped out of his reverie and hurried to catch up with her. Touching her on the sleeve of her coat, he tried to say what was on his mind, but found himself stammering, “Marlena…. I uh… I just want to say that… well, what you did for me… I won’t forget it… or you.”

She turned back and a smile spread slowly across her face, as if some kind of faith had just been restored for her. Bridging the distance between them, she took his hand and said, “I won’t forget you, either, John. I’m glad I was there when you needed me.”

“I did. I did need you,” he said with a quick nod, realizing for the first time since fate had brought them together, that he truly had been in a great state of need. He’d have died without her medical expertise and compassion. “You saved my life.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, John, you seem to have quite an instinct for survival. One way or another, you would have made out all right. “

“Maybe so…but I’m still grateful.”

“You’re welcome, John…and I want to thank you too, for protecting me, saving me from that…monster who tried to…” She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of it.

Fighting off the urge to take her in his arms, he ran his right hand up and down her left arm as a comfort gesture. “You’re welcome. I know I was kinda rough on you at first, but I’d never let anything happen to you, not like that.”

He touched her chin with the back of his fisted right hand in a way that felt familiar to her. “Don’t ask me why, but somehow I knew that. I sensed it.”

John replied with a kind of an embarrassed yet proud smile, the origin of which he couldn’t fathom. Something was happening inside him that he couldn’t begin to explain, so he gave up trying to figure it out in favor of enjoying his last moments with the woman responsible for the changes.

After she’d purchased her ticket and was ready to go, there was another awkward moment. Should they hug, exchange a polite kiss?

Cognizant that there were no words adequate to express the emotions swirling inside them, John leaned in and brushed his lips across Marlena’s in a way that was affectionate and friendly, yet asking permission for more. She let out a sigh that answered his unspoken question and parted her lips in anticipation. His tongue slipped past them and he kissed her deeply, with the release of pent up passion that suddenly overwhelmed him.

Marlena responded in kind, finding herself lost in his kiss like never before in her life. “Oh, John…” she said, nearly breathless.

John felt himself moved to say three words he never remembered uttering, while at the same time feeling strangely like he *had* said them and to this woman. In another place, another time, another life. “I love you, Doc..” he said softly, while deftly threading her silky tresses with the fingers of his right hand. For a few seconds when time stopped, the world went away and everything was perfect.

Marlena too felt herself transported to another place and time and responded in kind, “Oh, Roman… I love you so…”

Before what was happening between them could register in their minds, the sound of a train whistled pierced the air, making them both jump. As they separated, their eyes met and in silence they exchanged an unspoken message. What had just transpired was something that words could not describe; it occurred at the level of the heart and soul, transcending all normal circumstances. Instinctively, they held tight to each other, not trusting in their intellect, but relying on emotion instead. They didn’t let go until another sound forced them to disengage. It was a commanding voice amplified through the use of a megaphone.

“John Black…hold it right there! You are completely surrounded. Put your hands up and drop your weapon and you will not be harmed. If you resist, you *will* be fired upon!”

Without hesitation, John pushed Marlena toward the police presence and made a run for it. A burst of gunfire followed and he could hear the bullets whizzing past his head as he sprinted toward the nearest set of tracks. He almost made it to a place of temporary safety behind one of the concrete pillars, when he felt a burning searing sensation he remembered all too well. Fortunately, the shot only grazed him, slicing through the fleshy part of his right arm, and he was able to stay on his feet. Clamping a hand over the wound to stem the flow of blood, he kept running for daylight. “Damn, that’s gonna leave a nasty scar,” he said to himself to lighten his own mood.

When she felt she had her wits about her, Marlena stood up and turned around to see where he’d gone, screaming for the men not to shoot him down. “No… no, stop, please! It’s not what you think… he’s not… ” She stopped in mid-sentence when she saw the trail of blood on the terrazzo flooring. He’d been hit. “Oh, no.. John.. no.. please God… help him… help him get away,” she said, crying in fear of what might happen. Her hands went to cover her mouth, as if by that characteristic gesture, she could contain the nearly overwhelming fear for his life.

Moments later, she was hearing familiar voices in the background and then she heard someone calling her name as he rushed towards her. “Marlena… thank God you’re okay!”

“Bo? Oh, my God, Bo….how did you?” she said, finding herself in total shock upon seeing him and the man standing next to him, Shane Donovan.

“We’ve been tracking you….I’m just sorry it took so long to catch up with you. Are you alright, Marlena… did he hurt you?” Bo said, taking her in his arms and looking her over thoroughly.

She shook her head, remembering, and said somewhat absently, “No, no, he didn’t hurt me. “

There was a faraway look in her eyes that told both Bo and Shane that something significant had happened between John Black and Marlena Evans during the ten days they’d spent together on the run from both the police and Stefano Dimera’shenchmen. It was something that she didn’t look to get over for quite some time.

“Marlena… did he kidnap you? At first I mean… “

It seemed like eons ago, but she nodded and told him the truth. “Yes… no, well… sort of… Bo, he needed medical attention and he knew I was a doctor. You see. we had bumped into each other along the Champs Elysees a day earlier, so he came to my hotel and… recruited me.”

“Recruited. I like that, ” Bo said, noticing how carefully she was choosing her words. The man had taken her at gunpoint. “Marlena.. he….. oh, never mind. I’m just glad you’re alright.” He wanted to push her for details, but stopped short. This wasn’t the time or the place. The frank discussion that had to happen would come later, after they had the man in custody.

“Bo, he also saved my life. And there’s something else about him, something familiar… I can’t pin it down, but I feel like I know him, like I’ve known him for a very long time. I know that doesn’t make any sense at all, but it’s how I feel.”

Her voice was dreamy, like she was under the control of some romantic spell. “Marlena…come on… it’s just that… hostage thing. That’s all this is… you of all people should know that. It’ll pass. He’s *not* one of the good guys, Marlena… John Black was a thief and a hired gun working for Stefano Dimera. You’re lucky you got out alive. Now, let’s get you on that train to Paris.” By the time he finished talking, he was guiding her rather firmly toward the platform.

Shrugging of his grasp, she spoke with equal strength, “No, I’m not leaving Bo… and you have to promise me you won’t let them kill him. I saw a different side of him… he’s a good and caring person, Bo. If he did all those.. terrible things you say, it was because Stefano forced him to and I’m going to stay and help him prove it.”

Shane tried another approach, but appealed to reason nonetheless, also placing a hand on her arm, guiding her in the general direction of the train platform. “Marlena… please, we understand that you might have… developed some…feelings for this man, because of what you went through together, but you need to be realistic here. This is a man who willingly worked for Stefano Dimera, using a dozen different aliases. We know for a fact that he’s been Dimera’s right hand man for most of the past year and probably…”

Suddenly it was all starting to add up in her mind and Marlena cut her friend off before he could finish his sentence. “What was he doing before that, Shane?” she asked, hoping he had no answer.

“Well, we haven’t figured that out yet, the history gets a little sketchy at some points.”

“I see,” she said, her head spinning with possibilities. What was it John had said about Stefano messing with his head? Maybe things were not what they appeared to be.

“Marlena… what are you thinking? There’s obviously something on your mind.”

“Bo… Shane, I know this is going to sound completely crazy, but what if… ” She suddenly thought better of it and added, “Oh, never mind…” Best she keep her thoughts to herself at this point, thoughts they would interpret as the irrational ravings of a woman who was smitten with her captor.

“No… I don’t want to never mind, I want to know,” Bo said, placing both hands on her slender shoulders, recognizing that she had something important to say.

“How long has it been since Roman… since you saw him on that beach?”

“About six months ago. Marlena, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Bo asked, wondering if his sister-in-law had lost her mind.

“Bo, you always said it yourself… you never found the body. All those weeks of searching the island and the waters just off the coast and there were no traces, nothing! Bo, what if Roman was taken off that island alive? What if he was taken somewhere else, to one of Stefano’s other compounds?”

Realizing that someone had to be the voice of reason, Shane Donovan spoke firmly, “Marlena, please… this is beyond crazy. It’s ridiculous. Now, we all miss him and wish he could come back to us, but the truth is, Roman is dead. “

Bo’s mind was starting to grasp hold of the concept and chipped in too, shaking his head as he countered, “No, Shane, it isn’t… it makes perfect sense. It explains why we can’t find one solid piece of information on this John Black person until six months ago. The reason is that he didn’t exist before that. Stefano just wanted us to think so!”

Shane was flabbergasted, his mind reviewing the information they’d obtained about their elusive quarry, at the same time as a part of him wanted to entertain the possibility. There were holes in the theory about all of it pointing to one person. “Are you two trying to tell me that you actually believe that John Black is Roman Brady returned from the dead?”

Shane’s friends looked at each other and nodded, exchanging an unspoken and newly acquired conclusion. Incredulous as it seemed, that is what they both believed. “Yes,” said Bo and Marlena in unison. Then, for the first time in longer than either of them could remember, a slow grin appeared on both their faces and a feeling they hardly recognized began to grow inside their hearts. It was hope they felt, hope for a better future.

Shane nodded in return and turned to approach the French Commander. Speaking in French, he respectfully requested that the man order his men to attempt to apprehend the fugitive without further bloodshed. The man was hesitant, but finally agreed, albeit against his better judgment. He used his walkie-talkie to communicate the information to his men and it appeared that they reluctantly planned to comply if possible.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

John wasn’t sure whether it was the kiss or the gunshot wound on his arm, but he felt dizzy and his head was pounding, the pressure becoming intense. Near panic that he’d be caught unaware and unable to defend himself, John ducked inside the restroom at a small café outside the train station, to rest and make sure his gun was ready to fire if the situation required the use of it.

He leaned against the cool hard surface and tried to catch his breath, striving to summon the discipline that had suppressed the pain sensations in the past. Suddenly, a stream of memories started flashing inside his mind, memories of love and family times, of happiness, laughing children, a golden haired, hazel-eyed beauty. Then before he could make any sense of what he was seeing and connect it to the present, the scenes changed, became angry, violent.

The pain inside his head was worse than he ever remembered feeling before. It felt like his head was going to explode. “Oh, God… Doc… help me, Doc, help me.”

Training, running, fighting… fighting off the encroaching darkness, but was it inside of him, or was it another man he was fighting? Next there was pain beyond belief and he was falling, falling into a different kind of darkness.

Then there was nothing….