John Black (Forrest Alamain) (Part 2)

While Roman mourned Hope's death, he grew even more closer to Isabella. Meanwhile, Roman had to deal with Carrie's problems. She was working in a movie called "Wild Night of the Teenage Vampires, Part 2." While working on the set, Carrie was arrested for drug possession. After she was cleared, Roman closed down the movie and sent Carrie to Europe to live with Anna. Also at this time, Roman was after the Riverfront Raider, a criminal who caused major accidents at an oil refinery in town. Roman was shocked to find the Raider was his own brother, Bo; he was taking revenge on the refinery's parent company, Jencon Oil, for causing Shawn-Douglas' deafness.

Meanwhile, Roman soon had quite a bit of police work on his hands. In October, Steve was killed when Bo's boat exploded and he was caught in it. The explosion had been meant for Bo. Roman suspected Jencon to have been the culprit, and brought charges against Nick Corelli, who worked for Jencon. But on Halloween, Nick was murdered on the refinery site. The list of suspects was a mile long and included most of Roman's family and friends. But Roman believed that Johnny Corelli, Nick's brother, was the culprit. Soon after, Roman then traveled to Lawrence Alamain's home country to rescue Jennifer from her new husband. While there, an earthquake caused a cave-in which trapped many Salemites. Roman worked with Leopold Alamain to save the group. He didn't know it at the time, but Roman was working with his real father, who died in the process.

Upon returning to Salem, Roman and Isabella broke up. They had gotten into various ridiculous arguments involving Victor, which culminated when Victor had a stroke. Isabella had come to care for Victor after learning he was her father, but Roman still did not like the man and suspected him in Nick's murder; Roman had been questioning Victor when the stroke happened, so Isabella put the blame for Victor's ill health on Roman. After breaking up, Roman began to see Dr. Whitney Baker, the psychiatrist hired by the Salem PD to work on the Riverfront Raider case. Roman became more involved with Whitney as she was continuously threatened and harassed by Johnny and needed police protection. But Whitney was a bit icy and didn't respond to Roman, although she did pine for him when he wasn't looking. After a while, Roman asked Whitney to stay in his home. Though the two became closer, Isabella's constant presence and jealousy always kept the two apart.

On New Year's Eve, Roman's job got more complicated. Lawrence, who had moved to Salem, hosted a murder mystery party that night so that he could discover who was Nick's killer. Instead of uncovering anything, it worsened matters; one of the suspects, Emilio Ramírez, was found dead moments after midnight. Now Roman had two murders on his hands, and a longer list of suspects. Soon into the New Year, Nick's murder seemed to begin to clear up when Justin came forth and gave a very incriminating testimony. He had been at the refinery on Halloween and had argued with Nick regarding Steve's death; the argument had turned vicious and Justin had even pointed a gun at Nick. Although Justin claimed he hadn't shot Nick, this made him Roman's number one suspect. However, this proved to be a false lead when Johnny himself testified that he'd seen Justin leave the refinery while Nick was still alive.

Soon after, Roman seemed to finally hit the nail on the head. Tanner Scofield came forth and claimed to have been near the refinery that night, and he'd seen Eve Donovan arguing with Nick. Since Eve had inherited Nick's fortune, she had a motive and was soon arrested for the murder. Yet, Roman was not convinced that Eve was guilty. While investigating Whitney's harassment, which he believed was done by Johnny, he discovered that Tanner was also being harassed. Soon, he found link between Johnny and Tanner. He was one of Whitney's patients. Roman deduced that Johnny had been harassing Whitney because he was afraid that Tanner would tell her something about the murder; furthermore, Roman found out that Johnny had pretty much forced Tanner to lie and testify against Eve. But these were deductions he couldn't prove. A while after this, various people (Jack, Jennifer, Melissa, Eve, Frankie) got wind that the murder weapon, which had never been found, was on a cross-country train and they all boarded it in order to find the weapon. Roman sent his detective, Brian Scofield, to check it out. All throughout the trip, a man named Harry Hill who had been hired by Johnny, sabotaged the group's moves and ultimately detached their car from the rest of the train. As a result, it crashed. After they all returned, Roman worked to find evidence linking Harry Hill to Johnny. Isabella was the one who finally came up with damning evidence; Johnny had made phone calls to Harry Hill from her private line and she had the phone bill to prove it. With this ammunition, Roman got a confession of sorts out of Johnny. He had hired Harry to bungle the investigation, he had harassed Whitney, he had forced Tanner to testify against Eve; but he did not kill Nick. After sending Johnny to jail, Roman theorized that Johnny was protecting someone; that someone could only be April Ramírez, his only friend in Salem and Nick's ex-wife. In the end, the killer wasn't April either. April confessed that she'd seen Nick at the refinery as well, and that she'd also pointed a gun at him, but that she didn't kill him. Finally, she told Roman that the killer had been Jo Johnson. She had shot Nick to avenge Steve's death.

Shortly after this, Roman realized he still held deep feelings for Isabella, as she did for him. They began to see each other again, though they still argued about his involvement with Whitney. During one of their quarrels, Isabella told Roman that the only reason he was attracted to Whitney was because she reminded him so much of Marlena. After Whitney asked Roman to become more serious about their relationship, he realized that what Isabella had said was true and broke it off with Whitney. He then got back together with Isabella and they became engaged. Meanwhile, Emilio's murder was finally resolved when it was discovered that Melissa had killed him in self-defense! They had had a violent argument on New Year's Eve during which he grabbed Melissa. That caused her to push him away; since Emilio had been drunk, he had stumbled backwards through a window and fallen to his death. No charges were brought against Melissa.

Everything seemed to be perfect for Roman and Isabella and soon they became engaged. But one foggy night, Roman received a mysterious invitation to the Continental Bar. When he arrived, he found nobody...only an empty glass with a strawberry beside it. For some reason, he went to the pier, feeling drawn to it. There, he saw a figure in a pink jogging suit, and was astonished to discover it was his long-lost Marlena! After a touching reunion with his wife, Roman broke the news to Isabella. Saddened, Isabella moved out of the house and left Roman her engagement ring.

Everyone was overjoyed to see Marlena alive and well. Naturally, they were curious as to where she'd been for the past five years. She'd been in a coma on a Caribbean island. She also mentioned that Roman had been there with her, although that would've been impossible since Roman had never been there. Wanting to know more about Marlena's past, Roman investigated a coin she had with her when she appeared on the pier. The search led them to the island of San Cristobal. There, Roman began to have flashbacks of some sort of military training. He saw himself running along a beach dressed in army fatigues. As they continued searching with their guide Domingo Salazar, they came to a stunning discovery: another Roman Brady! This one, however, looked like Roman BEFORE surgery, the way he had been before falling off the cliff in 1984! Both Romans claimed to be the true Roman Brady. Thus, all three of them returned to Salem determined to learn the truth.

Through DNA tests, it was discovered that the Roman found on San Cristobal was the one and only Roman. As a result, Roman the impostor began calling himself John Black once again. However, he was kicked off the police force he had served for five years. Meanwhile, Isabella informed John that she was pregnant with his child. Free to love her once again, John looked forward to raising their child together and made wedding plans. However, he did not want to marry Isabella until he knew his past. He wanted to give their child a legitimate name.

As John, Isabella, Roman, and Marlena searched for answers, the clues began pointing to Cancun, Mexico. Bo and Carly Manning also joined the search, as well as Victor and Lawrence. Meanwhile, Victor was killed and Carly was arrested for his murder. While everyone was shocked, John helped Carly and Bo escape the police because he believed in her innocence. In the end, they all wound up in Cancun. There, both John and Roman felt the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itzá held the secret to their pasts. Indeed, they learned that certain Mayan codices would reveal clues to their pasts. Inside the Mayan castillo, Roman and John were held at gunpoint by Gretchen Lindquist, an ISA agent, and Lawrence Alamain, who claimed to be searching for the codices for altruistic purposes. Just then, Roman and John both remembered some inane way of discovering the codices that had to do with how the light of the sun hit a certain spot in the ruins every 50 years or so (if I ever decide to stomach this storyline again I'll try to add more details.) At that moment, they came face to face with their archenemy, Stefano. Stefano was the one behind this entire charade and swore that those codices would give him power. From the shadows of the castillo, Stefano taunted John. "Thank you for doing my work. This is what you were trained for." He waved a valise at John, claiming that it contained information regarding his true identity. Stefano wanted to trade the valise for the codices. John regretfully agreed, but a struggle ensued during the exchange. During the struggle, Stefano threw the valise into a fire he had started with some sort of magic dust. His gun then went off and Stefano also fell into the fire, seemingly killed. John managed to save the partially-burned valise and escaped the temple along with the others and with the Mayan codices.

From the valise, John was only able to salvage three items: a piece of partially melted gold, a burnt picture of the back of a woman's neck displaying a birthmark, and half of a locket. The piece of gold was eventually reconstructed by jewelry experts into its original form -- a ring with a wolf's head on it. From the adventure in Mexico, Marlena concluded that she could only love Roman, and broke off any romantic relationship with John. Meanwhile, Roman and John received a prestigious award from the U.S. government and the ISA for retrieving the precious codices. Articles about their heroic efforts were published all over the world, and the codices were displayed at Salem County Museum. This attention attracted a person from John's past. In early 1992, Danielle Stevens moved into a loft in John's building. Soon after, the Mayan codices were stolen from the museum.

The theft of the Mayan codices proved to be a great pain for John. He somehow felt responsible for the artifacts and vowed to figure out who stole them. The police found a calling card at the museum -- a card with a wolf's head on it. This was the mark of Romulus, an international art thief. Meanwhile, John began using the clues from Mexico to put his past together. His first instinct was to identify the woman whose neck was in the picture. With only a birthmark to go by, this was quite a task. The only real lead he had was the ring. The wolf's head on it was exactly like the wolf on the calling card found at the museum. Searching through ISA and Interpol files, John discovered that Romulus was an infamous thief who stole priceless artifacts from museums and wealthy families in Europe. No one knew the identity of Romulus; the only thing known was his calling card. This, and some disturbing flashbacks of a pair of gloved hands stealing a painting, led John to believe he was the dreaded Romulus. He underwent numerous hypnosis sessions with Marlena, but the only thing he recalled were overpowering visions of water. All would soon fit together.

In late January, John began having more bizarre flashbacks involving a woman whose face he couldn't see. Because of the romantic nature of these visions, he kept them a secret from Isabella, who was once again living with him at the loft. One particular vision involved this mystery woman in a bubble bath. Right after having this vision, John heard a woman's scream come from across the hall. John ran into the apartment across the hall to find a woman...taking a bubble bath! The woman introduced herself as Danielle Stevens, and apologized for her scream. Although John didn't know it, Danielle REALLY was the woman from his flashback. As time went by, John continued to have more flashbacks. In particular, he remembered dancing to a classical piece of music with that same ravishing woman, who was wearing the broken locket, and giving her a rose. John began to believe that Danielle must be that woman. He told Isabella about his visions, and then decided to confront Danielle. When he asked her if they'd known each other in the past, Danielle said they did not. However, we, the audience, knew that she was lying. Yet, more flashbacks came to John. While he and Isabella were away at a resort called Mandalay Bay, he recalled having a baseball signed by Mickey Mantle. The mystery deepened.

Finally, John asked Isabella to help him recreate one of his visions. He had her wear the locket, and they danced to that chintzy piece of music he kept remembering. During this re-creation, John had another flashback in which he and the woman danced at a masquerade ball, and he saw the woman's face. It was Carly. John decided to check on Carly, who was in the hospital suffering from a very high fever. He checked the back of her neck. Indeed, Carly was the woman from the picture -- she had the birthmark on her neck. Carly admitted that the woman in the picture was her, but she didn't know him in the past. Believing Carly, John went back to his original theory that Danielle was the woman. Meanwhile, a new resident of Salem, Vivian Alamain, organized a charity masquerade ball at Wings. The ball was almost exactly like one she'd had in Europe 8 years prior, which had been crashed by Romulus. Romulus had stolen many Alamain artifacts; among them, a locket having belonged to Lawrence's mother. Isabella believed that this was the ball from John's vision.

John and Isabella were hopeful that they'd discover new leads at the ball. Danielle went to the ball and danced with John. He once again asked her if they'd known each other, but she said no. When the music from his visions played, however, Danielle remarked that it was her favorite. John had yet another vision. In this one, the woman said, "It's our song, John." Later that night, John asked Vivian if she'd ever met him or Danielle. She said she'd never met either one of them. In the days following the ball, John continued to grow more suspicious of Danielle, so much that he broke into her apartment. Inside, he found old pictures of a birthday party; he thought he recognized two little girls in the picture as Carly and Danielle. When John showed Carly the pictures, Carly said that they were of her birthday party as a child. She recognized the other little girl as being Danni Tremaine, the daughter of one of the Von Leuschner servants. John finally realized that Danielle had been lying about everything. Following this, John also showed Carly the broken locket, which she recognized. Lawrence had given it to her in 1983, but she had returned it to him when they broke up. Furious, John confronted Danielle. Once again, she denied having known him. When he showed her the pictures, she was speechless. Finally, she blurted out the truth. John was her husband, John Stevens.

Not so fast. This little revelation didn't sit too well with Isabella, who just happened to overhear Danielle and John's conversation. Danielle, after being denounced as a liar by Isabella, claimed that she had a marriage license in a bank safe deposit box. Danielle told John that he'd been a private investigator in Europe whose main target had been Romulus. One day, John had left on his search for Romulus and he never came back. After seeing his picture in a newspaper in Europe, Danielle had decided to come to Salem to look for him. When she saw that he didn't remember his past and was living with a woman, a woman whose pregnancy was very delicate, Danielle decided to keep quiet. John and Isabella bought her story, but remained suspicious of her. Later, Danielle informed John that clues to his past might be located in Lugano, Switzerland, inside a safe deposit box they signed in both of their names years ago.

John and Danielle headed off for Lugano. Isabella wanted to go, but Marlena advised against it because of IzzyB's risky pregnancy. Once in Lugano, John and Danielle went to the bank to open the deposit box. Unfortunately, the manager told them they couldn't because John's I.D. said "John Black", not "John Stevens." Though John signed his name John Stevens, the signatures did not exactly match, and the manager sent the signatures to a handwriting analyst. Tired of waiting, and of having Danielle all over him, John asked Danielle to take him to his old P.I. office. The office was now occupied by another investigator, S.S. Mangino, who had been John Stevens' rival. Upon being asked about John Stevens, Mangino said that John Stevens was Romulus; they had both disappeared at the same time.

Intrigued by Mangino's words, John and Danielle decided to break into Mangino's office later that night. John had wanted to break into the bank, but Danielle told him they couldn't and explained the intricacies of the bank's security system. When they broke into Mangino's, the alarm went off. They avoided the police thanks to Danielle's agility; she seemed quite adept to escaping the police, climbing walls, and such skills. The following morning, John and Danielle went back to the bank, where he was arrested by the police for being Romulus. However, they let him go after they compare his fingerprints to those lifted from one of the scenes of the crime. Of course, they did not match because Stefano changed his fingerprints along with his face. That night, John remembered more things without even knowing it. For one thing, he called Danielle "Danni", John Steven's pet name for Danielle. They almost made love, but a call from Isabella saved the moment. Isabella told John that Danielle was Danielle Tremaine, the daughter of a Von Leuschner servant. Furthermore, Danielle's mother had been fired for stealing. Following this, John decided to gain access to Mangino's files through a Swiss police officer, Rizzo.

Eventually, John remembered his love for Danielle. He tried to create a romantic evening with her in order to remember more of his past. The date was interrupted Rizzo, who told them that they could now access the safe deposit box at the bank. At the bank, John opened the safe deposit box to find the other half of the locket! Danielle claimed to know nothing about it, but asked John to place it on her neck to see if it inspired any memories. When John did, he coldly twisted the macabre knife of irony. "It's a pity you won't be able to wear it in prison, Romulus." He had been on to her the entire time. In fact, she gave herself away, he said, when she demonstrated her impressive knowledge of bank security systems and her ability for escaping the police. He told her that the police were already on their way. Cornered, Danielle pulled out a gun and pointed it at John. He wanted the locket back, but she wouldn't give it to him. Furthermore, she said he had no proof that she was Romulus. No proof? The previous night, during their passionate moment, John had stolen a valuable ruby necklace from her jewelry box; he had given Rizzo this necklace, which turned out to be one of the many things Romulus had stolen over the years. Feeling betrayed, Danielle was ready to kill John. The locket was worth more to her than John. In the end, Danielle couldn't go through with it. She still loved John. John decided to let her go, but not before taking the locket back. Before he could ask her any other questions, the police could be heard outside. Danielle escaped through a window, while John faked having been knocked unconscious. Later, John met Danielle once again in their hotel room. He asked her if they'd truly been married. Although she first told him they had been married, Danielle finally told him that she'd lied. They had been lovers, but they'd never made it to the altar. After that, Danielle said good-bye.

With the two halves of the locket in possession, John headed back to Salem. The two lockets formed one large locket, but John didn't know its significance. He went to see Lawrence to find out more information, but Lawrence wouldn't say anything. However, John knew that Lawrence and Vivian knew something about that locket. He later showed the locket to Carly; she was sure that it had belonged to Lawrence. Finally, John showed it to Julie Williams. Julie, a former jeweler, knew a jewelry expert who could help them out. The man told John that the locket was part of a collection that is usually passed down in families from one generation to the next. While the mystery of the locket deepened, Isabella informed John that their baby was due very soon. He was still very upset that he couldn't give their child a last name, although IzzyB told him millions of times that Black was a perfectly fine name.

John decided to spy on the Alamains. They kept acting rather jumpy whenever he questioned them about the locket. One day, while he and Isabella watched the Alamain residence, they watched a delivery in progress. Upon sneaking into the house, John & IzzyB discovered that the object delivered was a large crate. However, he couldn't see the object inside. What he did see was Carrie arrive to be with Lawrence. Carrie and Lawrence had been seeing each other for quite some time, to the chagrin of almost the entire town. Later on, John warned Carrie to stay away from Lawrence and the Alamains. Trying for another lead, John questioned Lawrence's longtime henchman, Gregory, who was in jail, about the locket. Although he didn't say much about the locket, Gregory did tell John that what was delivered in the crate was a coffin. John deduced that it was a child's coffin, but didn't know the significance of that, either...

With all of the possible clues wasted on John, the inevitable finally surfaced. One fateful night, John got a phone call from Tanner Scofield telling him that Carrie was planning a romantic evening with Lawrence Alamain. John rushed to the Alamain house with his gun intending to stop Carrie from making a stupid mistake. After barging into the house and getting past Vivian and Ivan, John burst his way into Lawrence's bedroom to find a half-naked Carrie & Lawrence in an embrace, with Carrie holding a condom! John ordered Carrie out of the room, telling her that Lawrence was not the perfect man she thought him to be (he happened to mention his rape of Jennifer.) After Carrie left, John pulled out a gun on Lawrence. With one phrase, Lawrence changed John's life forever: "You wouldn't kill your own brother." Lawrence explained to him that the locket he had found had belonged to his mother. Half of it was give to Lawrence as a boy, and half of it had been buried with Lawrence's dead brother, Forrest. Forrest had supposedly drowned at the age of three after falling into the Alamain pool. Lawrence claimed that the only explanation for John's link to the locket was that he was Forrest Alamain; no one had seen Forrest's body after he died. Also, Lawrence told him that he'd had Forrest's coffin opened only to find it filled with sand. Thus, the boy had never died, and there was good reason to believe John was that boy. Furthermore, Lawrence said that he'd secretly began DNA tests to prove his theory. Some days later, the DNA test results came back: John and Lawrence were brothers. John was distraught at the thought that he was part of such an odious family and wanted nothing to do with them. Having found out enough about his past to know that he wouldn't like what he'd find, John decided to erase everything he'd learned. He made it clear he wanted nothing with the Alamains, and proceeded to cut the only tie to Danielle that he had -- the Wolf's head ring. Since by this time John and IzzyB were preparing for their wedding, he had the ring melted down and molded into a wedding band for Isabella.

Just as John was ready to put his still incomplete past behind him, a new ghost surfaced. He and Isabella received a visit from a little old man named Buddy Rose, who was looking for Forrest Alamain. Buddy had been a janitor in a New York City boarding school. There, he had met Forrest Alamain under the name John Stevens. Buddy told John about their trips to baseball games and gave him a baseball signed by Mickey Mantle -- the baseball that John had been having flashbacks of. John thanked Buddy for his help, but sent him off on his merry way. All John could think of now was marrying Isabella.

Everything seemed well. The wedding day arrived and nothing could've been more perfect. With the exception of Isabella's tardiness, everything was fine. But after the wedding began, and the bride walked down the aisle, the wedding stopped dead on its tracks. Halfway down the aisle, Isabella began experiencing contractions. She was going into labor at her own wedding! Right after they said their vows, Isabella's contractions were so intense that John had to take her to another room in the Church. Marcus, who was attending the wedding, announced that the child would have to be delivered there. Despite this, Isabella wanted to proceed with the ceremony. Finally, she was wheeled down the aisle on a gurney, after which she and John were pronounced man and wife. Although Isabella had fallen asleep at this point, John was now the proud father of a baby boy, whom he named Brady Black, in honor of his honorary family.

Even though John didn't want anything to do with the Alamains, he felt that his child needed to know his heritage. Soon after Brady's birth, John discussed the Alamain history with Lawrence and Vivian, who seemed particularly (and inexplicably) anxious to get to know John. During one of these chats, Vivian offered John ownership of EcoSystems, an Alamain company. John considered taking Vivian up on her offer, but Isabella and Victor persuaded him to remain distrustful of the Alamains. Victor believed that the Alamains had something up their sleeve and advised John to stall the signing of the papers that would give him control of EcoSystems. John's stalling paid off when Victor had a copy of Leopold Alamain's will sent to John's loft. It turned out that Vivian had taken Forrest Alamain's rightful inheritance from Leopold Alamain for herself and lived off of it; her offer to give John EcoSystems was simply a distraction to keep him from finding out exactly how much more money he was entitled to. John wanted this money and was ready to fight for it, despite Isabella's pleas to leave the Alamains alone. With Victor's help, John managed to take back every single piece of his inheritance -- a vast fortune -- plus the profitable Alamain companies that Vivian founded with that money, such as EcoSystems, and becoming C.E.O. of Alamain Industries.

With this newfound fortune, John wished to make everyone's dreams come true. Not only did he donate a lot to charity, but he also financed the building of Brady's Pub. After the Brady Fish Market was robbed, Shawn wanted a change of pace, and John made his lifelong dream of owning a pub come true. John also put his money to use by giving Isabella a dream honeymoon in Venice, Italy.

After they returned from Venice, John engaged in various, uninteresting corporate matters. Sadly, Isabella was soon diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. With Isabella's health deteriorating each day, John became devoted to his ailing wife. To keep her name alive forever, John bought a star in her name. During her final days, Isabella asked John to make one last wish for her. She'd dreamt of her her mother and wished to go back to Italy to be with her. John obliged and took Isabella back to her homeland with Brady. There, they spent one last October night together in a moonlit balcony. Before she died, Isabella wished to see her star one last time and had John carry her to the balcony. While John held Isabella fantasizing about dancing with her, Isabella passed away in his arms.

John buried himself into his job at Alamain Industries following IzzyB's death. The only person who could get through to him was Marlena, who was equally saddened over Isabella's death. Meanwhile, Marlena was dangerously getting involved with the dysfunctional Lombard family, whose patriarch Roger she counseled. In the winter of 1992, Marlena disappeared. John and Roman were concerned for Marlena and began searching for her. Eventually, John discovered that Stella Lombard, the wife of Roger Lombard, had played a big part in Marlena's disappearance. After following Stella, John found Marlena trapped inside a pit in a condemned warehouse. As he was trying to rescue Marlena, John was pushed into the pit by Stella. John and Marlena thought they were going to die together, since the warehouse they were in was going to be demolished soon. Thinking they were in their final hour, John and Marlena reminisced of their love and marriage. Right before they gave in to their repressed feelings, Roman arrived and rescued the couple.

Following the ordeal of Stella's Pit, John and Marlena remained very tense around one another. Their experience in the pit demonstrated their lingering love for each other, something they knew would have to be controlled. John tried to forget about Marlena by dating Salem's new District Attorney, Rebecca Morrison. John and Rebecca had known each other many years ago, and now Rebecca was pursuing a romance with him. Despite his efforts to love Rebecca, John could not forget his experience with Marlena in the pit. This task was made much more difficult with their appearance on the Jennifer Deveraux show, where Jennifer posed probing questions about their feelings for each other inside the pit. Over several weeks, the tension between John and Marlena grew to an overwhelming peak until finally, the two couldn't handle it any longer...

Go to Part 3 of John's history

The character of John Black has been played by Drake Hogestyn since 1986

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