Eric and Cassie seperately walked inside the huge store. Eric was carrying his photography equipment and Cassie slowly made her way near the counter, while pretending to be doing some casual shopping.
Eric was told that Allison/Sheila was busy at the moment but after insisting she finally came to meet with him. The plan was to have Eric distract her with his trying to get a job there while Jason and Danny went inside her office and searched for clues. They had no idea what the were looking for but they were certain to find something about either the Santos or the Von Ambergs.
Sheila came out and started talking with Eric. Cassie watched, as Danny and Jason snuck into her office just as planned.
Inside the office, Danny noticed many pictures of a blonde little girl. He and Jason exchanged a quick look, both figuring this must be the child she abducted. Jason went to look in the drawers while Danny went through her files. He found a file with Greta's name on it and quickly picked it up.
Outside, Eric begged Sheila to give him a try.
"I have my resume....And samples of my work and I am telling you i would make a good photographer here at Sears. I have experience and I am a hard worker..." Eric started but was cut off by Sheila.
"You're american aren't you?" she asked.
Eric got confused by her question. Why was she asking about that? He answered yes which made a little doubt and fear in Sheila's eyes rise, but Eric also said that he had been living in Paris for months now. She agreed finally to take a look at his photos.
"Here let's go to my office." she said showing him the way.
Eric glanced over at Cassie and the two shared a panicked look.
Sheila showed the way to her office to Eric, who was desperately trying to think of a way to stop her. At this instant Cassie threw a rack of cameras on the floor. Sheila and Eric quickly turned around to face Cassie.
She had a guilty look on her face but Eric's eyes only thanked her. Sheila rushed to her, first shouting that these were very expensive and then asking if Cassie was alright.
"Do you have any idea how much all of these costs!?" she yelled.
"I....I'm really sorry...." Cassie managed to speak while helping Sheila pick up all the cameras.
"Here let me help you.." Eric said bending down towards Cassie.
Sheila got up and started to put the cameras back on the shelves.
"Do you have any idea how that will cost if they are broken?" Eric whispered his eyes widening.
At this very moment, they both saw Danny and Jason getting out of Sheila's office. Cassie looked at Eric straight in the eyes and smiled.
"Yeah well that's much better than having you two bump into them in her office!" she whispered back.
"What did you say?" Sheila asked staring at them.
"Uh....nothing....just that I am truly sorry about this." cassie apologized again while standing up. "I can pay for this..." Cassie said.
"I will have to see which ones are broken. Cameras are very fragile things. stay here i will be right back." Sheila said on a different tone.
Sheila left and headed straight to her office. She stopped at the second she noticed that the door was open. She quickly came back running only to find Cassie and Eric gone. The only thing left was Eric's portfolio on the counter.
Outside, Cassie and Eric met up with Jason and Danny. Jason told them that they had found a file to the name of Greta Von Amberg in her office. They all ran to the car under the rain and quickly headed back to the hotel.
-------------------------------------
Michelle knocked on the door. Billy came to open and at the look on Michelle and Greta's face he invited them in. Michelle asked Mac if she could use her computer and she agreed.
Both girls searched the web for the articles they had found on the back of the picture. They were looking for the edition of July 1986. When Michelle found it she was shocked to read the entire thing. her heart almost stopped at the first words.
"Adam Santos murdered in his own Paris home"
Greta took a look at the article with a confused look on her face.
"I thought carmen said she had no properties in Paris..." she whispered.
"So did I...." Michelle said with worries in her voice. "And I thought Mr Santos had died in Springfield....So does Danny." she added.
They both kept reading the article and then a long silence invaded the room. Michelle turn her head around and she and Greta stared at each other. How was that possible? What they had just read put even more confusion to what already was a very complicated mystery. Mac and Billy also read it and although they had no idea what that meant, they couldn't believe what they were reading.
"Oh my God..." Billy whispered.
"Do you have a printer?" Michelle asked.
"No. But I know of some internet cafe in town....there must be some there." Billy answered.
----------------------------------------
"Are you there?" Carmen asked bitterly on the phone.
"Yes...." a man dressed in black leather answered.
"You know what you have to do. I'm counting on you not to deceive me." she dryly replied before hanging up.
Three men walked inside the hotel lobby and locked eyes with the man at the front desk. He nodded and then left the room, while the three other men searched the place with their eyes.
-------------------------------------------
"I can get into the journal's computer and learn more about the article...." Mac said taking a seat in front of the computer.
"And since when do you know anything about computers?" Billy asked surprised.
"Since when do you know anything about me." she dryly replied. "you buddy Raul let me in on many computer secrets...." she added.
"Alright do you think you can do it?" Greta asked sitting beside Michelle and Mac.
"Newspapers usually stock all their information on computers. I just have to get in and we'll have access to everything they have saved on their hard drive." Mac answered.
After a few minutes she was able to finally get in. when she tried to get into the 1986 files, their access was denied saying that the document was empty. Michelle saw something on the top of the page and Mac clicked on it. They were immediately kicked out of the newspaper's computers and were asked for a name and password.
"What the hell is this?" Billy asked.
"I have no idea...." Mac whispered. "It looks like we've completely shifted from the paper's computers to someone else's." she said.
"whose computer are we in now?" Michelle asked.
"I don't know....Do you guys know anything about SanCorp?" Mac asked as the logo of the company downloaded on the top of the page.
Michelle and Greta stayed silent, looking at each other. Mac tried many passwords but it didn't work. She couldn't log in. At the sight of the SanCorp logo, Michelle realized that this were probably very old files because this was the old logo of the company.
"What do you think Carmen could have used as a password?" Greta asked.
"I don't know...." she answered.
Michelle tried all of Carmen's children, Danny, Pilar, Mick. she even tried Ray and Adam but nothing worked.
"What do you think there is inside that file?" Mac asked them with a small glimpse of fear in her voice.
"I don't know but it doesn't look like she wants us to find out." Michelle muttered almost to herself.
Suddenly, they heard loud noises from next door. They all got up quickly and Billy carefully opened the door and took a look in the corridor. He saw two men standing near Greta's bedroom door. The two men were carrying guns and waiting while some other man was knocking the door down. One of the men turned around and saw Billy standing in the door way. He immediately tapped the others on the shoulder and Billy hurried inside the room. He locked the door behind him as Michelle and Greta looked at each other trying to find a way to get out of the hotel.
One of the men hit the door and Michelle spotted a window. Billy broke the window with his elbow and helped Greta get out. Michelle tried to take the computer with her but she had no time. Billy got out next followed by Michelle. The three men stormed into the room at the moment Mac was getting out. One of them took their gun out and shot.
At the sound of the gun, Michelle's heart stopped. What was happening? Who were these people? Had they shot Mac?
she didn't even get the time to answer these questions, before she saw Mac jumping down the window. By that time, the rain had started to fall again. The four of them ran to Billy's car, followed closely by Carmen's hit men. They finally reached the car, but unfortunately were not able to get in in time. One of the men grabbed Greta from behind and pulled her away from the car. Michelle turned around and tried to help her but the other man grabbed her violently.
He grabbed her head and banged it on the open car door with such violence that Michelle felt like she was sinking into the door. Billy tried to stop him but he was too strong for him. Billy was thrown to the wet grass beside the car. The man held Michelle by the arms, after hitting her face on the car three times and she finally fell to the ground. Greta tried to scream but no words came out of her mouth. The man holding her covered her mouth with his hands, and held a gun to her head. Mac was being held at gun point as well by their third partner.
Everything started floating around Michelle and she soon fell unconscious. The three men grabbed Greta and dragged her to another car. They shoved her inside and took off, leaving Billy, Mac and Michelle soaking wet under the rain.
Mac got up on her knees and called Billy's name who came rushing towards her and Michelle.
"Michelle? Michelle?!" Mac shouted.
She and billy turned her around only to see her face covered with blood. She was cut very badly on the forehead and was bleeding from her nose and mouth. Bilyl tried to shake her up but Michelle wouldn't move.
"Oh my God..." Mac whispered in tears. "Michelle?!" she repeated.
She and Billy lifted her a little as they saw the car containing greta disapearing into thin air. The rain was pouring down on them as they both stared at a motionless and blood covered Michelle, helpless and scared.