Post by Hellokitty on Aug 19, 2006 9:05:59 GMT -5
Falling Book 2: Finding Marlena – Chapter 13
“Not just a ring, it was a ring with the Dimera family crest on it,” Marlena admitted, wondering how and why she ever forgot that crucial detail. After everything she’d been through with Stefano and Tony she knew that crest better than she knew herself. Countless hours she’d laid in her four post canopied bed at Maison Blanche staring at the crest on the bedroom wall. That crest and the Dimeras were part of her. Their blood was her blood. Standing up, Marlena turned away from John.
“What’s wrong Marlena,” John asked as he stood up behind her, deeply puzzled by her comment about Alex wearing a ring with the Dimera family crest on it. “Did you remember something?” John held out one hand over her shoulder, wanting desperately to touch her but afraid to.
“No,” Marlena said, her eyes closed. She needed John to touch her, to ground her once again. She patiently waited for needed reassurance that never came. He had to have sensed that something was wrong. Why wasn’t he touching her?
“Why’d you stand up then?” John asked as he stood quietly behind her, not quite believing her answer. Once again she was shutting him out, choosing to deal with her memories and feelings alone. How long would it be, how much would they have to go through before she realized that one was the loneliest number?
Marlena stood mutely, not knowing how to answer his question when she didn’t know or understand the answer herself. “John….” she said then stopped. She could feel John’s hot breath against the back of her neck.
“Mar,” John said in a reassuring but questioning voice using a seldom-used nickname for her. The longer her silence went on the more concerned he grew. “I’m not sure if I want to know the answer to this,” Marlena started as she looked down at the ground and played with the hem on her shirt. “But for some reason I need to know.”
“Whatever it is, please ask,” John said worried about what was running through her head. Was this about Alex? Did she have some other dark secret that she needed to get off her chest? How much more would she have to endure in this lifetime?
Looking up at the sky to keep her tears from falling Marlena finally asked him what had been troubling her from the moment she recalled the Dimera family ring on Alexander North's right hand. “When you look at me, when you touch me….when you make love to me, do you think about the fact that I am a Dimera?”
“Never,” John said as he finally reached out and touched her gently, cupping the side of her cheek with his hand, catching her tears as they fell. “Never…. when I look at you…when I touch you….when I make love to you….I’m making love and touching and looking at Marlena, my wife, my lover, my soul mate.” Without his hand ever leaving her face he slowly turned her so that she was facing him.
“Good,” she sobbed. “Because when I look at you I can’t help but still see all the pain behind your beautiful eyes, the pain that you try so valiantly to hide from me, from Belle, from our family and friends….I see and feel your pain and I feel so responsible for it.”
“Why would you feel responsible?” John asked, his head tilted towards hers in concern. This was about her feeling guilty for being a Dimera, not about him.
“Because my family has been behind and continues to be behind all the misery you’ve been through….Their blood runs through me John.” Turning her face away from him in shame she looked down at sand beneath her. “God I so wish that it didn’t, but it does.” In her mind she saw John chained against the wall in Maison Blanche, the bleeding and infected welts on his back from where Stefano had his men beat him standing out in contrast against his pale and emaciated frame.
“That’s not your fault Marlena,” John said trying to convince her that, but knowing that he couldn’t. After all these years together and apart she was still so much a part of him, his feelings were hers and hers his. He felt guilt for years over Orpheus taking her thinking that it was because of his actions as Roman Brady that caused the man to snap and seek revenge. For years after she’d been gone he’d laid in bed at night and run “what if” scenarios in his head. Now the tables were turned, but the pain still remained.
“But what if it is? I can’t help but think that I’m responsible for everything.”
“How could you be?” John said, his voice rising in anger and frustration. “You can’t control what Stefano and Tony are going to do any more than I can.” Why was she doing this to herself?
“What if I’m the catalyst for everything.”
“I’m a little confused here Doc,” John said as he raised her chin with his index finger and forced her to look at him. She refused to make eye contact, looking everywhere but at him.
“I started the war between the Torres, Owens and Dimera families,” she admitted after a couple minutes of uncomfortable silence.
“No your low life son of a bitch biological father did that,” John said in anger, sick and tired of the fact that she was owning issues that other people created and she was just a victim of.
Tensing up from John’s outburst, Marlena pulled away from him. “No I did.”
“No you didn’t Doc.”
“I did John….I killed them…I killed Channing Owens and Rafeal Torres…No one else did it…” Slowly she backed away from him, his proximity and anger frightening to her.
“You had no choice honey.”
“There’s always another choice John.”
“Why are you doubting yourself and your decisions now Doc….why now?” He refused to let her take responsibility for Stefano and what he had subjected them to over the years.
“I don’t know…I just feel so responsible….what if Stefano is the way he is now because of me?”
“Oh Doc….you can’t be serious…he was probably born a ruthless bastard.”
“Hear me out John…what if his brothers death…” Marlena started and then stopped, not wanting to start crying again. “What if when I killed my father it changed him…what if he was good before? I did that.” Not being able to stop the tears from falling Marlena gave into her pain and sobbed.
Pulling her into his arms, John tried to comfort and reassure her. “Marlena…you are good and wonderful…you can’t blame yourself for a course of events that may or may not have happened….Hell, the man was probably born evil.”
“What if he wasn’t….what if he was good and pure and I turned him into a monster and because of me he did what he did to you,” she admitted, her voice muffled by his chest.
“You can’t be serious Doc….even if what you are proposing was true, which I’m sure isn’t, you can’t blame yourself….You were a child….you’re lucky to have survived what you did.”
“I never wanted to cause you pain John but I have this feeling that everything you have felt up until this point has been my fault….”
“Stop Doc…Just stop,” John cried out as he grabbed both of her wrists. “Stop….please stop….You are not responsible for the actions of other people….I believe in a good and just God who wouldn’t allow any of his children to have that kind of responsibility…You’ve caused me pain and hurt me deeply in the past as I have you…that’s life, that’s real, we’ve accepted it, forgiven each other and moved on with living….to take the leap from that to accepting responsibility for what Stefano Dimera did to me is absurd Marlena.”
“I know it doesn’t make any sense John…as a psychiatrist I know that…but its what I feel deep inside and its what I see when I close my eyes,” she said as she closed her eyes, letting her tears flow freely down her pained and tormented face. “….I see his eyes and I see yours and I see all the love and all the pain and I feel this inexplicable need to run, to hide, to become someone else…I don’t want to feel like this anymore John….I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”
“You’re not Doc…you’re not… Do you think I would still be standing beside you, running from the law with you if I didn’t think you were worth it?”
“No.”
“Good, because you Marlena Evans Black are more than worth it….I’d follow you to the ends of the earth, you have to know that.” The love and devotion mirrored on John’s face was incredibly calming to Marlena. Maybe what he was saying was the truth. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t to blame for what Stefano had done to them.
“I do, John I do,” Marlena whispered as she stood on her tip toes and kissed him gently. “It’s just the memory of the ring that Alex wore brought up a lot of stuff including my crazy insecurities.”
“Promise me that when you feel or think something like that that you talk to me about it.”
“It’s a promise Sailor.”
“Speaking of sailing…we should probably head back to the boat before its gets tooo dark.”
“It is too dark John.”
“I know…I just wanted to make you feel better….didn’t want to scare my lady…didn’t want you to look around and realize that its pitch black outside and the only visable things are the glow of the animals eyes against the moonlight.”
“John, stop it.”
“Getting scared Marlena?” John teased as he took her hand.
“Never.”
“Liar,” he teased as he swatted her on her behind.
*************
The unmistakable sound of the whirling helicopter blades awoke Marlena and John from their carefree slumber.
“Wait down here,” John pleaded with Marlena as he climbed over her on the small bunk in the hull of the boat. Pulling up the sheet to cover her bare body, he slowly touched the side of her face. “God, how I love you.”
“I want to go with you,” Marlena pleaded as she slowly sat up, not bothering to cover her bare breasts.
“I need to make sure its safe,” John said as he put one leg into his well-worn black pants. She was safer down below.
“We’re in this together,” Marlena said as she reached out and grabbed his hand. “Remember.”
Knowing that after everything they’d been through he couldn’t deny this request of her, he smiled down at her. If they were going to be caught, they would go together choosing never to be separated again. “Together,” John said as he squeezed her hand. “However, I think you need to get dressed first. When it was just the two of us I didn’t mind your exhibitionism, however it appears we have a guest and I do strongly mind someone else seeing what’s mine.”
“John,” Marlena chided him as she quickly donned her well-worn uniform of the past six weeks.
“Well it’s true,” he said watching her as she lowered her shirt down over her well-tanned torso.
The air was quiet as Marlena followed John up to the top deck of the boat. Two hundred feet from them sat a beautiful black helicopter, its engines slowly coming to a stop.
“John.” Marlena took John’s hand once again and held it, unsure of what was about to happen. Both watched in anticipation as the door finally opened and a lone figure exited the small craft.
“John…Marlena,” a familiar voice called out.
“Shane,” John said as he approached the railing, pulling Marlena along with him. Feeling her resistance, he turned around and looked at her. Her eyes were a smoky brown color that he was unable to read. .
“Doc?” he asked her, wanting her to come with him. The change in her demeanor had been not only sudden but also unexpected. Shaking her head no, eyes downcast, she turned around and stared out at the tranquil sea behind her. Knowing that she was still fighting her own demons and insecurities he decided not to press the issue. Squeezing her shoulders briefly, he kissed the side of her neck before leaving the boat. “I love you.”
Shane watched the scene before him wondering what was being said and why Marlena wasn’t following John. “Good to see you John,” Shane said as he held out his well-manicured hand towards John.
“It’s great to see you old friend,” John replied, grateful to see the face of a friend after six long weeks on the island with only Marlena to keep him company.
“God you smell,” Shane remarked as he turned his head. The John Black standing before him was barely recognizable. Not only was his beard full and hair long; his normally muscular frame was thin and well tanned.
“I could definitely use a nice long hot shower about right….Took you long enough to find us.”
“Well there were complications…..”
“Six weeks worth of complications?” John asked curious as to why and how their rescue had taken so long. John looked over at the helicopter and was pleased to see that Shane had come alone.
“A lot’s been happening,” Shane told him unsure of where to start and how much John should be told. “It hasn’t been safe to come and get you….We picked up the homing beacon from Marlena’s engagement ring weeks ago but couldn’t act on it. Only a handful of people within the agency even know about the ring.” John nodded, trying to read between the lines and figure out what Shane wasn’t telling him. “Everything that went wrong with the safe-house in Italy leads to it being an inside job. I wasn’t willing to risk your safety…How is Marlena?” Shane asked as he looked in her direction and nodded. She was barely recognizable to him.
“Doing her best considering…So what the hell happened Shane. No one was supposed to know where we were… No One.”
“I don’t know John….I honestly don’t know….the setup for the safe-house was confirmed as good.” He himself had gone over every detail making sure that in the event of trouble they would be safe. Somewhere between planning and the implementation someone had tipped off Interpol and the NSA.
“Forget about the safe-house….what about the beach house…we were enjoying as nice dinner in town and then bam we have half the carbinari on our ass along with Interpol. What the hell happened?” John’s temper was rising along with his voice. Although he was grateful that Shane had come to their rescue, he was annoyed with the complacency of Shane and ISA in regards to their lives.
“Don’t know…Bloody fools at Interpol,” Shane replied as he shrugged his shoulders. It would take all of his skills as an agent to evade John’s line of questioning. There was too much going on behind the scenes in relation to ISA, NSA, Secret Service, FBI, CIA, Interpol and not to mention the countless paramilitary and police agencies around the world that had been recruited in the mission to find one Marlena Evans Black.
“It wasn’t Interpol Shane…This was an inside job and you know it.” With nothing to lose and weeks to process what had happened in his mind John was ready to call Shane on his shit.
“Bloody hell,” Shane said in defeat as he turned his back and walked away.
“No.” John stared in disbelief at Shane’s form. “No.”
“I’m sorry John.”
“ISA put our fucking lives in danger?” John yelled at him. “For what Shane? For what?”
“John it wasn’t like that…you have to believe me,” Shane said in embarrassment as he turned around. What had he done?
“Then you tell me how it was…”
“We had to allow…”
“Who is we?”
“ISA John, ISA….”
“Go on,” he was not amused. His jaw firmly set, the tension on his face was evident.
“No matter what I tell you, it’s not going to make it better.”
“Marlena was fucking right when she told me that I couldn’t trust you,” John said in disgust as he threw his hands up in the air and walked away from Shane.
“She said that?” Shane was surprised and hurt. His friendship with Marlena went back well before John Black ever arrived in Salem.
“Call it a hunch,” John replied in a much gentler tone, his back still to Shane. “Chalk it up to her distrust of everyone right now…but damn she was right. …she was right…you were the only one that knew where we were staying, the only one that knew about the tracking device on her belt and in the ring….no one else was supposed to know.”
Knowing that he wasn’t supposed to divulge the information, but not seeing anyway around it, Shane decided to come clean with John. “There was an incident where three ISA agents were captured by the resistance forces in Pakistan… these were some of our best agents.” Shane watched as John finally heard what he was trying to say and turned around. “We traded the location of the beach house for the agents.”
John was incredulous; “You fucking played with our lives.”
“They weren’t going to give the men up John.” Shane was in a lose-lose situation here and John was too upset to try to understand what he was telling him.
“I don’t give a rats ass about those men…you intentionally put the life of my wife in danger.”
“John it wasn’t like that…” Shane said in frustration. Turning his back from John her walked towards the boat. Turning around he said, “Look we had no choice.”
“There’s always another choice Shane, you know that. You don’t put your friends lives in danger…you don’t.”
“John, we’ve traded info to save your bloke more times than I can count…its standard ISA procedure, you know that.”
“Bullshit, that’s different and you know it,”
“How? Because its Marlena?
“Yes because its her….you know how much shit she’s been through that she has serious trust issues. She’s been frightened for months, never knowing when we would be caught. We guessed that eventually Owens would find us, never imagining that our ‘good’ friend would be the one to hand us over to him on a silver platter. How could you?”
“What do you want me to do John? What happened, happened. ISA felt that it was in its best interests to trade info on the beach house for the three agents. If given the choice I’d do it again and so would you. Once you have time to calm down and think about you’ll agree with me. No instead of standing here all day and arguing with you about the situation we need to get off this island.”
“How do I know if I can trust you?”
“You really don’t have a choice from where I see it, do you?”
“Oh I do…how about I leave you on this island and see how you feel.”
“Stop it John,” Marlena yelled towards John as she saw him grab Shane’s shirt collar and pull him towards him. “Stop it.”
John abruptly let go of Shane and watched as he fell onto the soft sand below. Looking up at Marlena standing on the boat John was reminded of all that was good and right in their world. They still had each other and were free.
“Sorry,” John said as he extended a hand and helped Shane up. “So what’s next?”
“ISA headquarters…They need to question you and Marlena.”
“Not just a ring, it was a ring with the Dimera family crest on it,” Marlena admitted, wondering how and why she ever forgot that crucial detail. After everything she’d been through with Stefano and Tony she knew that crest better than she knew herself. Countless hours she’d laid in her four post canopied bed at Maison Blanche staring at the crest on the bedroom wall. That crest and the Dimeras were part of her. Their blood was her blood. Standing up, Marlena turned away from John.
“What’s wrong Marlena,” John asked as he stood up behind her, deeply puzzled by her comment about Alex wearing a ring with the Dimera family crest on it. “Did you remember something?” John held out one hand over her shoulder, wanting desperately to touch her but afraid to.
“No,” Marlena said, her eyes closed. She needed John to touch her, to ground her once again. She patiently waited for needed reassurance that never came. He had to have sensed that something was wrong. Why wasn’t he touching her?
“Why’d you stand up then?” John asked as he stood quietly behind her, not quite believing her answer. Once again she was shutting him out, choosing to deal with her memories and feelings alone. How long would it be, how much would they have to go through before she realized that one was the loneliest number?
Marlena stood mutely, not knowing how to answer his question when she didn’t know or understand the answer herself. “John….” she said then stopped. She could feel John’s hot breath against the back of her neck.
“Mar,” John said in a reassuring but questioning voice using a seldom-used nickname for her. The longer her silence went on the more concerned he grew. “I’m not sure if I want to know the answer to this,” Marlena started as she looked down at the ground and played with the hem on her shirt. “But for some reason I need to know.”
“Whatever it is, please ask,” John said worried about what was running through her head. Was this about Alex? Did she have some other dark secret that she needed to get off her chest? How much more would she have to endure in this lifetime?
Looking up at the sky to keep her tears from falling Marlena finally asked him what had been troubling her from the moment she recalled the Dimera family ring on Alexander North's right hand. “When you look at me, when you touch me….when you make love to me, do you think about the fact that I am a Dimera?”
“Never,” John said as he finally reached out and touched her gently, cupping the side of her cheek with his hand, catching her tears as they fell. “Never…. when I look at you…when I touch you….when I make love to you….I’m making love and touching and looking at Marlena, my wife, my lover, my soul mate.” Without his hand ever leaving her face he slowly turned her so that she was facing him.
“Good,” she sobbed. “Because when I look at you I can’t help but still see all the pain behind your beautiful eyes, the pain that you try so valiantly to hide from me, from Belle, from our family and friends….I see and feel your pain and I feel so responsible for it.”
“Why would you feel responsible?” John asked, his head tilted towards hers in concern. This was about her feeling guilty for being a Dimera, not about him.
“Because my family has been behind and continues to be behind all the misery you’ve been through….Their blood runs through me John.” Turning her face away from him in shame she looked down at sand beneath her. “God I so wish that it didn’t, but it does.” In her mind she saw John chained against the wall in Maison Blanche, the bleeding and infected welts on his back from where Stefano had his men beat him standing out in contrast against his pale and emaciated frame.
“That’s not your fault Marlena,” John said trying to convince her that, but knowing that he couldn’t. After all these years together and apart she was still so much a part of him, his feelings were hers and hers his. He felt guilt for years over Orpheus taking her thinking that it was because of his actions as Roman Brady that caused the man to snap and seek revenge. For years after she’d been gone he’d laid in bed at night and run “what if” scenarios in his head. Now the tables were turned, but the pain still remained.
“But what if it is? I can’t help but think that I’m responsible for everything.”
“How could you be?” John said, his voice rising in anger and frustration. “You can’t control what Stefano and Tony are going to do any more than I can.” Why was she doing this to herself?
“What if I’m the catalyst for everything.”
“I’m a little confused here Doc,” John said as he raised her chin with his index finger and forced her to look at him. She refused to make eye contact, looking everywhere but at him.
“I started the war between the Torres, Owens and Dimera families,” she admitted after a couple minutes of uncomfortable silence.
“No your low life son of a bitch biological father did that,” John said in anger, sick and tired of the fact that she was owning issues that other people created and she was just a victim of.
Tensing up from John’s outburst, Marlena pulled away from him. “No I did.”
“No you didn’t Doc.”
“I did John….I killed them…I killed Channing Owens and Rafeal Torres…No one else did it…” Slowly she backed away from him, his proximity and anger frightening to her.
“You had no choice honey.”
“There’s always another choice John.”
“Why are you doubting yourself and your decisions now Doc….why now?” He refused to let her take responsibility for Stefano and what he had subjected them to over the years.
“I don’t know…I just feel so responsible….what if Stefano is the way he is now because of me?”
“Oh Doc….you can’t be serious…he was probably born a ruthless bastard.”
“Hear me out John…what if his brothers death…” Marlena started and then stopped, not wanting to start crying again. “What if when I killed my father it changed him…what if he was good before? I did that.” Not being able to stop the tears from falling Marlena gave into her pain and sobbed.
Pulling her into his arms, John tried to comfort and reassure her. “Marlena…you are good and wonderful…you can’t blame yourself for a course of events that may or may not have happened….Hell, the man was probably born evil.”
“What if he wasn’t….what if he was good and pure and I turned him into a monster and because of me he did what he did to you,” she admitted, her voice muffled by his chest.
“You can’t be serious Doc….even if what you are proposing was true, which I’m sure isn’t, you can’t blame yourself….You were a child….you’re lucky to have survived what you did.”
“I never wanted to cause you pain John but I have this feeling that everything you have felt up until this point has been my fault….”
“Stop Doc…Just stop,” John cried out as he grabbed both of her wrists. “Stop….please stop….You are not responsible for the actions of other people….I believe in a good and just God who wouldn’t allow any of his children to have that kind of responsibility…You’ve caused me pain and hurt me deeply in the past as I have you…that’s life, that’s real, we’ve accepted it, forgiven each other and moved on with living….to take the leap from that to accepting responsibility for what Stefano Dimera did to me is absurd Marlena.”
“I know it doesn’t make any sense John…as a psychiatrist I know that…but its what I feel deep inside and its what I see when I close my eyes,” she said as she closed her eyes, letting her tears flow freely down her pained and tormented face. “….I see his eyes and I see yours and I see all the love and all the pain and I feel this inexplicable need to run, to hide, to become someone else…I don’t want to feel like this anymore John….I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”
“You’re not Doc…you’re not… Do you think I would still be standing beside you, running from the law with you if I didn’t think you were worth it?”
“No.”
“Good, because you Marlena Evans Black are more than worth it….I’d follow you to the ends of the earth, you have to know that.” The love and devotion mirrored on John’s face was incredibly calming to Marlena. Maybe what he was saying was the truth. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t to blame for what Stefano had done to them.
“I do, John I do,” Marlena whispered as she stood on her tip toes and kissed him gently. “It’s just the memory of the ring that Alex wore brought up a lot of stuff including my crazy insecurities.”
“Promise me that when you feel or think something like that that you talk to me about it.”
“It’s a promise Sailor.”
“Speaking of sailing…we should probably head back to the boat before its gets tooo dark.”
“It is too dark John.”
“I know…I just wanted to make you feel better….didn’t want to scare my lady…didn’t want you to look around and realize that its pitch black outside and the only visable things are the glow of the animals eyes against the moonlight.”
“John, stop it.”
“Getting scared Marlena?” John teased as he took her hand.
“Never.”
“Liar,” he teased as he swatted her on her behind.
*************
The unmistakable sound of the whirling helicopter blades awoke Marlena and John from their carefree slumber.
“Wait down here,” John pleaded with Marlena as he climbed over her on the small bunk in the hull of the boat. Pulling up the sheet to cover her bare body, he slowly touched the side of her face. “God, how I love you.”
“I want to go with you,” Marlena pleaded as she slowly sat up, not bothering to cover her bare breasts.
“I need to make sure its safe,” John said as he put one leg into his well-worn black pants. She was safer down below.
“We’re in this together,” Marlena said as she reached out and grabbed his hand. “Remember.”
Knowing that after everything they’d been through he couldn’t deny this request of her, he smiled down at her. If they were going to be caught, they would go together choosing never to be separated again. “Together,” John said as he squeezed her hand. “However, I think you need to get dressed first. When it was just the two of us I didn’t mind your exhibitionism, however it appears we have a guest and I do strongly mind someone else seeing what’s mine.”
“John,” Marlena chided him as she quickly donned her well-worn uniform of the past six weeks.
“Well it’s true,” he said watching her as she lowered her shirt down over her well-tanned torso.
The air was quiet as Marlena followed John up to the top deck of the boat. Two hundred feet from them sat a beautiful black helicopter, its engines slowly coming to a stop.
“John.” Marlena took John’s hand once again and held it, unsure of what was about to happen. Both watched in anticipation as the door finally opened and a lone figure exited the small craft.
“John…Marlena,” a familiar voice called out.
“Shane,” John said as he approached the railing, pulling Marlena along with him. Feeling her resistance, he turned around and looked at her. Her eyes were a smoky brown color that he was unable to read. .
“Doc?” he asked her, wanting her to come with him. The change in her demeanor had been not only sudden but also unexpected. Shaking her head no, eyes downcast, she turned around and stared out at the tranquil sea behind her. Knowing that she was still fighting her own demons and insecurities he decided not to press the issue. Squeezing her shoulders briefly, he kissed the side of her neck before leaving the boat. “I love you.”
Shane watched the scene before him wondering what was being said and why Marlena wasn’t following John. “Good to see you John,” Shane said as he held out his well-manicured hand towards John.
“It’s great to see you old friend,” John replied, grateful to see the face of a friend after six long weeks on the island with only Marlena to keep him company.
“God you smell,” Shane remarked as he turned his head. The John Black standing before him was barely recognizable. Not only was his beard full and hair long; his normally muscular frame was thin and well tanned.
“I could definitely use a nice long hot shower about right….Took you long enough to find us.”
“Well there were complications…..”
“Six weeks worth of complications?” John asked curious as to why and how their rescue had taken so long. John looked over at the helicopter and was pleased to see that Shane had come alone.
“A lot’s been happening,” Shane told him unsure of where to start and how much John should be told. “It hasn’t been safe to come and get you….We picked up the homing beacon from Marlena’s engagement ring weeks ago but couldn’t act on it. Only a handful of people within the agency even know about the ring.” John nodded, trying to read between the lines and figure out what Shane wasn’t telling him. “Everything that went wrong with the safe-house in Italy leads to it being an inside job. I wasn’t willing to risk your safety…How is Marlena?” Shane asked as he looked in her direction and nodded. She was barely recognizable to him.
“Doing her best considering…So what the hell happened Shane. No one was supposed to know where we were… No One.”
“I don’t know John….I honestly don’t know….the setup for the safe-house was confirmed as good.” He himself had gone over every detail making sure that in the event of trouble they would be safe. Somewhere between planning and the implementation someone had tipped off Interpol and the NSA.
“Forget about the safe-house….what about the beach house…we were enjoying as nice dinner in town and then bam we have half the carbinari on our ass along with Interpol. What the hell happened?” John’s temper was rising along with his voice. Although he was grateful that Shane had come to their rescue, he was annoyed with the complacency of Shane and ISA in regards to their lives.
“Don’t know…Bloody fools at Interpol,” Shane replied as he shrugged his shoulders. It would take all of his skills as an agent to evade John’s line of questioning. There was too much going on behind the scenes in relation to ISA, NSA, Secret Service, FBI, CIA, Interpol and not to mention the countless paramilitary and police agencies around the world that had been recruited in the mission to find one Marlena Evans Black.
“It wasn’t Interpol Shane…This was an inside job and you know it.” With nothing to lose and weeks to process what had happened in his mind John was ready to call Shane on his shit.
“Bloody hell,” Shane said in defeat as he turned his back and walked away.
“No.” John stared in disbelief at Shane’s form. “No.”
“I’m sorry John.”
“ISA put our fucking lives in danger?” John yelled at him. “For what Shane? For what?”
“John it wasn’t like that…you have to believe me,” Shane said in embarrassment as he turned around. What had he done?
“Then you tell me how it was…”
“We had to allow…”
“Who is we?”
“ISA John, ISA….”
“Go on,” he was not amused. His jaw firmly set, the tension on his face was evident.
“No matter what I tell you, it’s not going to make it better.”
“Marlena was fucking right when she told me that I couldn’t trust you,” John said in disgust as he threw his hands up in the air and walked away from Shane.
“She said that?” Shane was surprised and hurt. His friendship with Marlena went back well before John Black ever arrived in Salem.
“Call it a hunch,” John replied in a much gentler tone, his back still to Shane. “Chalk it up to her distrust of everyone right now…but damn she was right. …she was right…you were the only one that knew where we were staying, the only one that knew about the tracking device on her belt and in the ring….no one else was supposed to know.”
Knowing that he wasn’t supposed to divulge the information, but not seeing anyway around it, Shane decided to come clean with John. “There was an incident where three ISA agents were captured by the resistance forces in Pakistan… these were some of our best agents.” Shane watched as John finally heard what he was trying to say and turned around. “We traded the location of the beach house for the agents.”
John was incredulous; “You fucking played with our lives.”
“They weren’t going to give the men up John.” Shane was in a lose-lose situation here and John was too upset to try to understand what he was telling him.
“I don’t give a rats ass about those men…you intentionally put the life of my wife in danger.”
“John it wasn’t like that…” Shane said in frustration. Turning his back from John her walked towards the boat. Turning around he said, “Look we had no choice.”
“There’s always another choice Shane, you know that. You don’t put your friends lives in danger…you don’t.”
“John, we’ve traded info to save your bloke more times than I can count…its standard ISA procedure, you know that.”
“Bullshit, that’s different and you know it,”
“How? Because its Marlena?
“Yes because its her….you know how much shit she’s been through that she has serious trust issues. She’s been frightened for months, never knowing when we would be caught. We guessed that eventually Owens would find us, never imagining that our ‘good’ friend would be the one to hand us over to him on a silver platter. How could you?”
“What do you want me to do John? What happened, happened. ISA felt that it was in its best interests to trade info on the beach house for the three agents. If given the choice I’d do it again and so would you. Once you have time to calm down and think about you’ll agree with me. No instead of standing here all day and arguing with you about the situation we need to get off this island.”
“How do I know if I can trust you?”
“You really don’t have a choice from where I see it, do you?”
“Oh I do…how about I leave you on this island and see how you feel.”
“Stop it John,” Marlena yelled towards John as she saw him grab Shane’s shirt collar and pull him towards him. “Stop it.”
John abruptly let go of Shane and watched as he fell onto the soft sand below. Looking up at Marlena standing on the boat John was reminded of all that was good and right in their world. They still had each other and were free.
“Sorry,” John said as he extended a hand and helped Shane up. “So what’s next?”
“ISA headquarters…They need to question you and Marlena.”