Cassie, Michelle and Danny turned around to face Pilar and Dietz. Never in a million years would they have imagined this sight. Pilar was holding a briefcase and Dietz had this still look on his face. They slowly walked in.
"Pilar.....??" Michelle whispered still on shock.
At this very moment, Jason appeared in the hall way, his gun pointing right at Dietz. Dietz quickly turned around and got his gun out. The two men were facing each other, their weapons only a few feet away from each other.
Eric and Greta froze in the hall when they saw what was happening.
"You're making a big mistake." Dietz muttered.
"Do you see me shaking?" Jason replied through his teeth.
Michelle watched as Danny wrapped his right arm around her in a very protective way. He then pushed her and Cassie behind him. Jason threatened Dietz and yelled at him to drop his gun but Dietz didn't move. Eric pulled Greta away from the two men.
"Drop the gun!" Jason shouted.
Cassie stared, shaken by the look of anger in Jason's eyes. His voice was cold and violent. Michelle felt a shiver go through her entire body as she watched the scene happening right before her eyes. She could recognize that voice, and that face....she could see Danny. She had seen Danny like this and the longer this room stayed silent the more scared she became.
Finally, Pilar grabbed Dietz's arm.
"Put that down! Drop it!" she yelled.
Dietz obeyed and Jason grabbed the gun from his hands.
"Whoa...Easy..." Dietz said throwing it in his hands himself.
"Come on put this down too!" Pilar said to Jason, but he didn't listen. "Drop the gun Jason..."
Jason and Danny looked at each other strangely and then Jason put the gun down, reluctantly. Cassie and Michelle sighed in relief. Jason stepped back and let Pilar and Dietz into the room. Eric and Greta also entered and Eric closed the door behind him.
"How did you find us?" Michelle asked.
"We traced Danny's credit card..." Pilar answered.
"What?! why?" Jason demanded as Dietz turned around.
"Look Morgan....We have never been on very good terms but you just have to listen to her this time." Dietz said refeering to Pilar.
Pilar looked at everyone in the room and stayed silent for a while. She didn't know where to start at this point. They had been welcomed with a gun at their heads, which wasn't very surprising considering the circumstances, and they didn't have much time.
"What are you doing here?!" Danny asked Pilar in anger.
"I'm here to help you....We are here to help you." she said putting her briefcase on the bed.
Danny looked at her disaprovingly, not knowing what to say....
"No...No!" he answered grabbing her arm. "I want you to take that plane back home!" he ordered.
Dietz grabbed Danny's hand away from Pilar's arms and both men stared at each other for a
while.
"You might wanna let her tell you what she has to tell you first Danny." he said calmly.
Michelle put her arms around Danny to calm him down.
"What is it? Why are you so positive you can help us...." Eric asked her.
"I know why you and Michelle came over here." Pilar started looking at her brother. "I heard you two talk about the Von Ambergs before leaving and then I heard mother talking on the phone to someone about you two going on a trip to Paris and she didn't sound very happy about that..." She continued.
"She isn't...." Dietz added.
"Danny you have no idea what you are getting yourself involved in..." Pilar said.
"That is why I want you to go back home!" he answered.
"Let her finish!" Dietz ordered.
"I found these , locked in safety box in mama's room..." Pilar continued opening her briefcase to reveal several paper articles, dating from many years back. Michelle and Danny looked at the pile of articles and Greta picked one up.
"The Royal wedding of the century" read the heading.
A large picture of Greta's mother accompanied the long article. Michelle looked at the article in Greta's hands and read a few lines.
"After months of postponing, the Prince and Princess finally married in a fairy-tale church wedding yesterday. Among the turmoil faced in the last months by the royal family and the inexplicable delay of this wedding, Princess Gina Von Amgerg looked like the most beautiful bride Paris has ever witnessed....Held at the castle and on invitation only, the guests were all wearing white and no reporter was allowed at the festivities...."
The article was about 2 pages long. Danny went through the briefcase as everyone watched in silent, confusion rising on their faces. He picked another article up and read the heading: "The tragic death of a prince." others were "Santos donate millions to the Prince and Princess' charity benefit" "Princess Gina gives birth" "Nany disapears ." "Adam Santos gets married." . Many more articles were inside the briefcase. There were also pictures of Princess Gina and of Greta as a baby, pictures of the Royal wedding, of Carmen's own wedding, Danny, Pilar, Mick....and other people that none of them knew or recognized at this moment.
"Why would Carmen keep all of these old articles?" Michelle asked.
"I don't know..." Danny replied. "How did you get these?" he asked Pilar.
"I found the key to the safety box in one of Mama's drawer." she answered.
"What were you doing?! Are you out of your mind?!!" Danny threw at her.
"Nothing happened ok!! I overheard mama talking to a man named Stephano Dimera and they were talking about a girl named Greta...." she continued.
"That's me..." Greta whispered listening carefully to Pilar's story.
"I know...I had heard Michelle and Danny talking about you and how they were going to help you. I went into mama's room and started looking for something that would tell me where you were when I found all of these newspapers.....I went and got cisors and cut those related to Greta and us out...." She explained. "I left the box there so mama wouldn't suspect a thing right away...."
"And how have you come to be involved in this?" Jason threw at Dietz.
"How can you trust him?!! He's going to report back to mother!" Danny said through his teeth regarding Dietz.
"No he's not!" Pilar argued.
"And how do you know that?" Michelle exclaimed.
"I have always been loyal to your family Danny, but mostly to your father and up until now there were no doubts in my mind that his death had been an accident...." Dietz started dryly.
"He found me looking through the articles and became as suspicious as I am...." Pilar said.
"How can you believe him!??" Danny shouted at her. "god Pilar...!"
"Danny!" she shouted back.
"Why would I be here Danny? To witness your Secret agents wannabies party?" Dietz said through his teeth looking around at the others.
Danny grabbed him by the shirt and Jason seperated the two men before it came to blows.
"I know and you are not doing this to help us that I am sure of. I bet you can't wait to get back to my mother and tell her all about this...."
"Well you are right on one thing....she is looking for you....and your wife." Dietz said as Michelle's face turned pale. "She is not going to let you dig into her secrets without lifting a finger. But I didn't tell her when you were at the store." he continued.
Jason and Greta exchanged a look as Dietz continued.
"I didn't tell her what Pilar had found or where you were staying....I'm surprised she didn't trace you sooner though. Now I don't care if you trust me or not but without our help you would still have nothing and no lead in your search."
Michelle tried to calm Danny and it worked. Somehow, the simple touch of her hands was enough to calm him down and relax him. She was the only reason he kept his cool in front of Dietz. He's never trusted the man, it would take a lot more than a briefcase full of newspaper clips to make him trust him now.
At this moment, Dietz's phone rang. He picked it up and after a few words turned it off. At the look on his face, they all knew it was Carmen.
"I have to go before she suspects anything." he said and then left.
After going through many of the articles, Michelle realized that one face seemed to appear often in the crowd pictures, a young woman with long dark hair. Later on, Cassie found out that this woman was in fact Greta's nany, Sheila Carter.
then came more articles about this woman and learned that she had been arrested many times and had suddenly disapeared last year, after abducting her own daughter. The police is still looking for her. In earlier articles, she was described as a close friend of Princess Gina and a confidant of the Princess. A latter article claims her disapearance.
Eric explained to Pilar how they had found the key to the Santos house and to everyone's surprise Pilar shokced them with her response. she told them that Carmen believed having no property in Paris, which sent everyone wondering about how Carmen could not be aware of the Santos cabin. It was obvious that Adam Santos, Danny and Pilar's father came here regularly.
Jason made some calls and learned that this so called Sheila Carter was now located downtown, with her young daughter. He was told that this woman was now being called Allison James and was now working as a photographer at Sears.
Eric, Greta, Cassie, Jason and Pilar later headed to their own rooms. Danny and Michelle walked them out only to notice two young teenagers arguing in the hall. There was a blonde young boy with a pretty young dark-haired girl. They only carried backpacks and were obviously american. Michelle bumped into the young girl and a few books fell out of the girl's bag. Michelle bent down and picked them up carefully, only to read the name of Mackenzie on the cover.
"I'm so sorry..." Michelle said giving the books back to the teenager.
"It's alright..." Mackenzie answered.
The young man was carrying something that looked like a lap top and after a few thank yous and smiles, they all gathered their own rooms.
----------------------
Luxurious Paradise Hotel
Dietz came into Carmen's hotel room and stayed silent as Carmen ranted a little.
"where are they??" she asked angry.