"Amie, who exactly is this guy?" Emily pressed.

The French girl shifted nervously, feeling like the ground was going to open up beneath her feet and swallow her whole. "Just a guy," she hedged.

Emily stepped into her personal space, forcing the girl to take an involuntary step back. "You're lying to me. He's not just 'some guy'. There's a lot more to him. I'll ask you again…who is he?"

She swallowed hard and whispered, "Alain Renaud."

Emily blinked. The name sounded awfully familiar. She searched her memory and remembered seeing his name in the newspaper the other morning. She hadn't read the article, just skimming over it because she didn't have the slightest interest in French politics. "Did you say Alain Renaud?" Amie nodded once and dropped her eyes guiltily to the floor.

"Who is he?" Gideon demanded. Noah, standing at his uncle's side, looked equally confused.

Poor kid, Emily thought with sympathy. He has no clue who he has gotten involved with. She brushed a lock of hair back off her face and said, "Depute Alain Renaud is one of the most influencial members of the National Assembly."

"Is that good or bad?"

"It depends." She held out her hand. "La journal s'il vous plait."

With great reluctance, Amie pulled the journal out of her purse and wordlessly handed it over. Emily thanked her and then retreated to the sitting area for a little privacy while she looked it over. The first thing she noticed was that it was a run of the mill journal that could be bought at any bookstore, not the leather bound and monogrammed version she had been expecting. Makes sense, she thought as she opened it to the first page. If it was lost, or in this case stolen, it would be harder to trace back to him because of its plain cover.

With Emily engrossed with her reading, Gideon decided the three of them should do something productive until she finished, figuring she wouldn't be very appreciative if he huddled over her shoulder and asked countless questions. So with Amie sitting at the table, her eyes darting between Noah and Emily, Gideon had his nephew call his mother to let her know he was safe and sound. Rachel would be relieved to hear his voice and then would deliver a severe tongue lashing for scaring the crap out of her. One thing Gideon knew for certain about his sister was that she wasn't shy about expressing her feelings, having many a time been at the end of one of her tirades when they were growing up. He pitied Noah and was extremely thankful not to be in his shoes at this particular moment.

The deeper Emily got into the journal, the more disturbed she grew. When she had read enough, she scrubbed her face with her hands, got up and went to rejoin the group. Three pairs of eyes watched her approach with various levels of worry.

"What's wrong?" Gideon asked, easily reading her body language.

Emily set the journal on the table and with her fingers resting lightly on the cover she addressed the young couple. "Noah, of all the pretty French girls in Paris to fall in love with, you had to pick the mistress of the most corrupt politician in the city?"

"What?" Noah spun to stare wide eyed at his girlfriend who cringed under its intensity.

"She never told you who he was?"

"No," he said with a shocked shake of his head. "She only said she had broken up with her jealous boyfriend. I had no idea he was married and that she was his…his…" Noah couldn't finish his sentence and sank down into the nearest chair.

While Noah was shocked and hurt, Gideon was just plain angry. "I knew it! This is all your damn fault. Because of your secrets my nephew wouldn't be in this mess right now. Was this all some fun game to you?"

"No," she wailed. "I love him!"

"Who? Noah or your lover?"

"Uncle Jase…" Noah protested, coming to Amie's defense even after she had lied to him.

"Shut up, Noah. Who do you love?"

Amie grew a little backbone and met Gideon's angry gaze for the first time. "Noah. I love him with all my heart. I didn't know I could feel that way until I met him."

"I'm not sure I believe you. After all you're nothing but a high price call girl."

Emily stepped in to lay a calming hand on his arm while Amie stared at him in confusion, unfamiliar with the term. "Enough, Gideon," Emily counseled. "What's done is done so there's no purpose in getting angry over something we can't change. Amie is young and naïve, much like we were at that their age."

Gideon shrugged off her hand and stomped off in a huff to the window where he glared moodily at the people below on the street. Emily gazed after him for a minute before turning back to the French girl and finding Noah with an arm draped protectively over her shoulders. Ah, young love. How quickly they forget a betrayal.

"Amie, is it safe to assume that you know nothing of Renaud's extra curricular activities?" she asked, in a calm voice in hope of easing some of the tension pervading the suite. Inside she was just as pissed off as Gideon, but now wasn't the time to let it show. The poor girl looked on the verge of tears and nothing made you feel worse than unintentionally makings someone cry.

"Oui. Alain never spoke of work," she volunteered, now feeling that the American woman was on her side. "I knew he was a member of Parliament and that was that. I didn't ask questions because it wasn't my place. I had money, a nice apartment and nice clothes."

"Call girl," Gideon grunted from by the window.

"I was very happy until…"

"Until what?" Emily prompted.

"Until he became very possessive. Wanting to know where I've been and whom I met when I wasn't with him. Then I met Noah and found out what love truly meant."

"So you decided to leave him, that I can completely understand. But why take the journal if you weren't aware of his illegal dealings?"

Amie gave her a crooked smile. "Because I knew it was important to him since he carried it everywhere with him. I asked him why once and all he said it was safer than a computer that can always be hacked." A hurt look flirted across her face. "Then he angrily told me never to mention it again."

Emily nodded in understanding. "It was your insurance policy."

Amie frowned in confusion. "Insurance policy? I'm unfamiliar with the phrase. Is it some type of American saying?"

"It means that you took his journal as a form of protection. You thought if you had it in your possession and possibly threaten to give it to the press, he would leave you alone."

"Oui," she said in a small voice.

It was logical and would have worked on most cheating husbands, but judging from what she had read so far in the journal, Alaine Renaud was a ruthless man. He took what he wanted and didn't care who got hurt or died in the process. And right now he wanted his journal back at all costs. Amie, Noah and poor Rolf were expendable.

Emily picked up the book and slowly turned it in her hands. "Well, it didn't work did it, Amie? And an innocent young man died. Blackmail doesn't pay."

"Amie wasn't blackmailing this Renaud guy," Noah said in her defense. "She didn't get any money from him."

Emily repressed a sigh. The boy was hopelessly head over heels in love with her and total blind to her foolish and risky behavior. She glanced at her watch and realized how much valuable was slipping by while they hashed this all out.

"Blackmail doesn't have to be for financial gain, Noah," Gideon explained, rejoining the conversation. He was still angry as hell, but he now had it in check. "It can be used to manipulate someone into doing something against their will. Your sweet girlfriend was holding the threat of publication over Alain Renaud's head to get him to leave her alone."

"Powerful men don't sit back and accept the terms, they react…often violently," Emily added. "He figured that she would come running back to him once he killed you. Would you, Amie? Would you have gone back if Noah had died?"

Three pairs of eyes turned to her, waiting to see what her answer would be. She started to shake her head no, but reluctantly changed it to a single nod. Noah groaned in disappointment.

"I rest my case," Gideon grumbled. Now that they knew the events that had brought this trouble down on Noah, he considered the French girl inconsequential. It was time to figure out how to resolve the matter without getting any of them killed and gave Emily his full attention. "Just how corrupt is Renaud?"

Emily contemplated the journal in her hands. "He's got his finger in so many pies that I've lost count. Unfortunately we can't turn to Capitaine Dubois for help. He's firmly entrenched in Renaud's pocket."

"Then we do what you originally suggested. We'll go to the American embassy."

"That's no longer an option. Noah was right in not going there in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Gideon demanded, frowning and crossing his arms in annoyance.

"According to this, Renaud has close ties with the Milieu, especially the Corsican mafia. If he hasn't already, he'll soon bring them into play if Dubois can't produce Noah and Amie. He is bound to sic the mob on us and I don't want to be here when they do."

Gideon didn't like her ominous tone one bit. "Then what do you suggest we do?"

"Get the hell out of Dodge," she said grimly. Emily was already frustrated. She was beyond happy that they found Noah alive and well, but the shit they stepped in was only going to get deeper.

"And go where? You already said the embassy was off limits and that's where we're supposed to be safe."

"I'm thinking," Emily groaned and started to pace.

"Do you think they know we've found Noah?" Gideon questioned.

"Maybe." Emily's answer was vague, but she was thinking about their next move as she chewed on a thumbnail. Staying in the hotel wasn't an option. With Dubois playing on the wrong side of the law while action on the other, there was no telling how things would play out.

"That's all you have to say?"

"I'm thinking." She ignored the talking going on around her. Noah and Gideon were bickering about Amie and her "issues." While Emily didn't fault Gideon for feeling as he did, she knew it wouldn't help matters. So, she ignored it and put her skills to good use. "We need to get out of Paris," she said aloud to herself.

"What?" Amie asked her. Noah and Gideon fell silent.

Emily didn't answer, instead working through the details. "Renaud probably has guys at the train station, definitely at the airports. If I were him and I had his reach, I'd have every public transportation access being watched. He may try to have the major routes across the borders watched, but that is almost impossible to do since you can freely travel from country to country. Even knowing that I just don't want to take the risk."

Gideon, not taking his watchful eye off of Emily, responded, "That doesn't leave us many options."

"No… No it doesn't. But… I can use the burner phone to call one of my old contacts and get us a car. I'll have him drop it off and leave the keys so we can get out of here. I'll check us out and Gideon, you can sneak them out the back into the car."

"You have contacts?" Gideon wondered and continued to watch her work.

Emily pulled out the phone and dialed a number that she memorized long ago. To Gideon, it felt a bit cryptic. When she spoke in a language that was neither French nor English, he became even more interested in what was going on. Noah and Amie were nervously and eagerly awaiting their fates too.

"I got us a car," Emily announced as she hung up and stopped her pacing to talk with them. "It should be in the hotel parking lot within the hour. No GPS system and nothing else that can be tracked."

"Who was that?" Gideon asked Emily, a tone similar to the one he used during an interrogation.

"I told you. It was a friend."

"No, you said a contact," he corrected.

"Aren't friends contacts?" Emily agitatedly retorted, but Gideon was reading between the lines and realizing, once again, that there was so much more to Emily Prentiss than he was ever aware of.

"Does it matter?" Noah interjected. "What happens now? You said we couldn't stay here."

"And we can't."

"So?!"

"So we're leaving. Grab what we need. Pack some food."

"Where are we going?" Noah questioned.

"Leave that to me. Just get everything together."

"Okay," he nodded, taking Amie's hand and walking away. He needed to trust Emily and, for some reason, he felt he could.

Gideon took her by the arm and steered her into one of the bedrooms. "Pack food? That's what you're worried about?" he asked once he was sure Noah and Amie couldn't overhear them.

"We're going to need it eventually. It's not an easy find where we're going."

"Which is where exactly?"

"I have a few places in mind. We'll just have to see if any of Renaud's goons show up and play it on the fly."

"Why are you being so secretive?" he pressed.

"I'm not."

"You are. Contacts, burner phones, secret car drop offs and undisclosed locations."

"What's your point, Gideon?"

"I'm just pointing things out..."

"We're in a potentially dangerous situation, Gideon. A young boy died in place of your nephew. Excuse me if I want to keep things quiet." Frustrated, but not wanting the tension between them to escalate or to feel Gideon's eyes boring into her as he profiled her, Emily explained, "Look, I know what I'm doing. There are a few places in France that I have access to that are both remote and safe; exactly what we need right now. If Renaud or Dubois looked into me, some of the closer places may be off limits. They'll probably be watched, but we can't know until we know."

"So we're taking a car trip."

"And I'm driving."

Within two hours they were on the road heading south. Everything had gone smoothly. While the young couple gathered up the leftover pastries, Gideon and Emily packed their bags. Then she sent the threesome down to the car via the stairs and out the back while she checked them out. Luckily the hotel used the most current software and Emily was able to check out over the television so she didn't have to show her face in the lobby and possibly alert their shadows that they were up to something. Hopefully by the time they realized their quarry had flown the coop, they were far away and out of Renaud's long reach. Emily made two more quick calls on the burner phone before giving the suite one final sweep for any personal items forgotten in their haste. Satisfied that they hadn't left behind any telltale clues, she hurried down to the car.

As much as Emily wanted to hit the back roads, where it was easier to spot another car following them, there was one necessary detour. If they decided to cross one of the borders, they would need passports as a precaution and preferably not their own. Of course, the second Gideon found out he was in the apartment of a black market forger he blew a gasket. His suspicions got worse when he learned that Emily didn't need a new one, she already had a French passport on her person. Plus it didn't help when the forger had treated her like an old friend.

With Amie and Noah were getting their passport pictures taken; Gideon grabbed Emily by the arm and unceremoniously hauled her into a corner. "I demand to know what the hell is going on," he said in a low angry voice.

"We're getting new passports in case we get a chance to slip over one of the borders. We don't want to get caught without the proper identification," she stated the obvious. Emily knew what he was after and wasn't ready to give it to him yet.

"I know that. It's all this sudden secrecy and we agreed there wouldn't be any more secrets. First it was the contacts, burner phones, secret car drops and undisclosed locations. Now we can add fake passports and black market forgers. You didn't learn all of this subterfuge at the academy."

"Now isn't the time for this."

"I think it is," he countered.

Emily took a step closer. "Look, Gideon, I know you're angry and confused, but you'll just have to trust me on this. Like I told you earlier, I know what I'm doing so let me do it. I promise when we reach our final destination I'll answer your questions to the best of my abilities."

Gideon stared long and hard before jabbing an accusing finger at her. "I'm going to hold you to that. There's no way in hell I'm going to let you worm your way out of this."

Alain Renaud was not a patient man, not by any means, and when he wanted something done, he wanted it done well and quickly. So, when Dubois came back with news, he expected to hear mission accomplished; his little bitch and her new beau found and taken care of and his journal back in his possession. Unfortunately, that was not what he got.

"Dubois, I can tell by the look on your face that I will not like what you have to say," Renaud greeted the scared looking man as he was escorted in.

They didn't often do face-to-face meetings. It risked unveiling their covert relationship, but when times called for it, they did.

"I… I'm sorry Monsieur Renaud."

"Spit it out. What do you have for me?"

"They're gone," Dubois answered reluctantly.

"Gone?"

"Vanished. The Americans are no longer at the hotel and any sign of them is gone."

"How do they just disappear? What do I pay you for if you don't do your job?" Renaud was clearly angry, his balled fist slamming down on the arm of his chair.

"I did my job."

"If you did, we would have no problems now. The boy and Amie have not been brought to me and the Americans are nowhere to be found either. I do not call this good work."

"I'm sorry Monsieur."

Standing intimidatingly close to Dubois, Renaud said, "Sorry means nothing. You are nothing. Get out. Get out and I will find someone who can do the job right."

"Monsieur…"

Powerful voice demanding obedience, he spat, "Out!"

Dubois nodded and, with his head hung low and tail between his legs, walked out of the room. Renaud was simmering. He needed a moment to relax before he made his next move. He made a mistake leaving the job to sheer incompetents, but no longer. He wanted them all found and taken care of, and he was bringing in the big guns to make sure it happened. He picked up the phone and dialed the number that few knew.

"I need a job done and I made a mistake not asking you first. I'm calling in a favor. Do it, and consider your debt paid."

"What do you need?"

"I need a few people looked into and possibly… taken care of."

"Names?"

"Start with Emily Prentiss. She's an American with some ties to the country. I want to know everything. We'll take it from there."

"I'll get my men on it. Expect a call soon."

"Oh I do. I need this done now."

"I've always been timely. You'll get what you need."

"I know. It's been so hard to find good help. Don't let me down." Without warning, Renaud hung up. He was sure outsourcing to the mob was the right decision here. They had yet to fail him. They would do what he needed without hesitation. Knowing that, he sighed in relief, leaned back in his chair, and kicked his feet up as he awaited the call.