Alice's was still crowded with the morning rush when Shane entered the restaurant. He began to look around, but was interrupted by Alice Horton herself.

"Shane, it's so good to see you," she said, then stopped. "Let me look at you."

Shane stood sheepish as she studied him.

"I think you could use a good breakfast. How about some eggs, ham, and some pancakes? And I'll throw in a couple of doughnuts for good measure."

Shane chuckled. "I think they'd have to roll me out of here if I ate all that, but I'm really not here to eat." He looked around the restaurant. "I was told Roman's here."

Alice frowned slightly. "Are you sure about that? I've heard things haven't been very friendly and I wouldn't want to have any trouble in my restaurant."

"I just need to talk to him," Shane assured her. "And I promise that I'll be on my best behavior. The English pride ourselves on being very proper."

Alice shook her head, but was chuckling good-naturedly. "You'd better. I'm not too old to drag two hooligans out of this place by the scruff of their necks." She motioned over her shoulder towards some tables that were behind the counter. "Roman's back there."

Thanking her and excusing himself, Shane made his way around the counter. From there, he spotted Roman, seated alone in a corner booth. Knowing this would be awkward, Shane walked toward the booth.

Roman spotted him when he was still a few feet away. "You'd better be on your way to the can," he growled.

"We need to talk," Shane said simply.

"No, we don't," snapped Roman. "We've got nothing to talk about."

Shane was not about to take no for an answer, so he sat down in the seat opposite Roman. "If you take one step toward the door, I'll be forced to make a bloody scene and I've already promised Alice Horton that I wouldn't cause any trouble." As Roman's eyes narrowed, Shane added, "This has nothing to do with the family or with Kim. It's just very important - for everyone in Salem."

"So go tell Abe," Roman said.

"I tried, but he's on assignment for the next few days." Shane had made several calls already. "I also considered calling Brian Scofield, but when you hear what I have to say, you'll understand that I couldn't trust him to handle this properly. So will you listen to me?"

With a grimace, Roman crossed his arms, but he gave no sign of leaving the table. After a long silence, he finally snarled. "I'm not going anywhere, so say whatever you need to say and then get the hell away from me."

That was probably about as polite Shane could have expected Roman to be. "Okay," Shane began. "Now I don't know what Tarrington or whoever took my place as head of the Alamain task force has told you-"

"Whoa." Roman started to raise his voice, but lowered it before anyone turned in their direction. Leaning forward, Roman growled angrily, "You're not going to badmouth the ISA to me, pal."

"I"m not," Shane insisted. "I'm just trying to tell you something they might not have. There's something you need to know."

That caused Roman to scowl even more. "Oh, so you're going to spill ISA secrets. Not exactly the best way to convince me you're not a traitor."

"Fine," Shane snapped back. "Look, I'm only telling you what I told Roman Brady a few months ago. I don't see repeating something to someone who already knows it as spilling a secret."

"Except I wasn't the guy you told."

Shane shrugged. "Technicalities. Look, when I told John, I was ISA Head of Special Investigations-"

"That's the second-highest job in the ISA." Roman sounded surprised.

"It is," Shane said. "And I was heading the Alamain taskforce. I told John to keep the information under wraps, but I was within my prerogative to alert local law enforcement about a credible threat in its jurisdiction." Seeing Roman's doubtful look persist, Shane grew exasperated and decided he needed to cut to the chase. "Okay, fine. . . . Consider me a traitor for telling you this." In a low voice that nobody else in the restaurant could possibly overhear, he said, "Lawrence Alamain has developed a toxic chemical weapon that he plans to use in Salem sometime in the next few weeks. It could be anytime."

Roman's jaw had dropped and his eyes seemed fixed in a stunned, widened stare. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head as if refusing to believe what Shane had said. He snorted. "And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Yes," Shane said sharply. "Normally, I'd tell you that I don't care if you believe me, but this is too bloody important for emotions to get in the way. Carly Manning is stockpiling a possible antidote to Lawrence's weapon, but nobody is 100% sure that it will be an effective antidote to the toxin."

"Wait. . . ." Roman raised a hand. "Wait. . . . You're telling me that this Alamain guy - a guy who was convicted for a misdemeanor-"

"It was rape," Shane said. "And though we couldn't prove it, Lawrence was responsible for the explosion that nearly killed Steve and for kidnapping him."

Roman continued to shake his head. "So I'm supposed to believe that Lawrence is going to randomly kill a bunch of people in Salem?"

"You don't know him." Shane knew he did not have the time to explain Lawrence Alamain in detail, so he tried a simplified explanation. "Lawrence is a true sociopath. He's the 'if you poke me, I'll punch you back.' The people of Salem wronged him, so he wants what he sees a 'justice.'"

"The people wronged him?" Roman looked dubious.

Shane ran a hand across his brow. "In Lawrence's mind, yes. The people of Salem sent him to prison for something he doesn't consider a crime."

"You're serious," Roman said, sounding surprised.

"I am." Shane looked Roman in the eyes. "Look, just believe me. Lawrence needs to make a grand demonstration of his weapon and the most likely target is Salem - a place where there are going to be a lot of people at once. Like a sporting event or a concert or a school or hospital. He can strike at any time, and you need to be prepared when it happens."

Roman's eyes narrowed. "I don't know your game, Donovan. If there really was some massive threat to Salem, the ISA would be all over it. We'd have the police on alert-"

"Tarrington doesn't want to cause a panic," Shane said. "If Lawrence's plot goes public, he'll just test his weapon someplace else."

That seemed to make Roman think, but he still sounded doubtful. "The ISA could have still told me. It's pretty hard to believe that they're keeping this from the Salem P.D. And I know you're working with John on something. Why am I supposed to believe you when you're working with the guy who stole my life?"

Shane tried to stifle his frustration. "I can understand why you hate John. . . . I really can. Losing that long and finding yourself replaced, for lack of a better word. . . ." Shane could not stop himself from remembering Cal at that moment. "But I'm telling you, however it happened, John is a good man. He's spent the last five years keeping your name one of the most respected and trusted in Salem. If he were some plant or part of some evil plot, why would he have done that? He would've been better off splitting with Marlena and distancing himself from the family so he could do whatever he needed to do. Instead, he's shown himself to be a fast friend and loyal to a fault."

Roman snorted, and Shane knew it was pointless to continue the conversation. Besides, he wanted to track down John to see what he was up to and, if possible, to try to get to the bottom of what was troubling his friend.

"You done now?" Roman asked.

I'm done. Shane fought his exasperation once more and forced himself to take a deep breath as he started to stand up. "Believe what you want, Roman," Shane said. "I just came here to give you information that could save a lot of lives." Now standing, Shane leaned back over the table. "You can keep hating me, that's fine."

Roman looked down at the table and Shane stepped back. He could not tell if his message had gotten through, but he had delivered it.

"You don't need to like me to know I'm speaking the truth," Shane said, before he stepped away. "Just remember what's at stake. Don't let this personal animosity stop you from doing what's right. There are too many lives at stake, Roman. Far too many lives at stake."