The office in which he found himself at the moment was small and low tech, containing a few beat up old chairs and an outdated computer, but it didn't phase the British agent in the least.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....