Past Life

By Tiriel

NC-17, m/m, angst

crossover with XF, but primarily a FW story

Disclaimer: They aren't mine. None of them, except for Dr. Hart and the guard. But damn it, in light of what I'm hearing about FW season three, maybe I should stake a claim. Okay, maybe not, but a girl can dream...

Summary: Eddie's been keeping a secret.

I'm going wholly AU for the first time ever, unless you count my humor pieces. Despite the prodigious number of X-Files jokes made onscreen, I'm saying that in the FW universe of this story, XF is not just a tv show. In other words, the two coexist. Yeah, that's right, I'm talking crossover, something I also rarely do, heck, something I rarely *read.* Knowledge of the first season X-Files episode "Ghost in the Machine" and the second season First Wave episode "All About Eddie" would be extremely helpful, but shouldn't be required. This is primarily a FW story, sparked when Aithine and I watched the XF ep in question together. Takes place somewhere in the timeline after All About Eddie but before The Believers. Oh, and this one has, like, an actual plot. Hugs to Aithine for helping me out along the way, above and beyond the call of duty, and to my XF partner in crime, Ellie, for her, *ahem* "encouragement" which consisted mainly of calling me a sadist, having far too much fun watching the boys suffer, and shamelessly flattering me. Super hugs to Crystal and everyone else who helped (or tried to help) with the infamous "factchecking" issue.

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Past Life

By Tiriel

When Cade woke up, Eddie was already sitting at his computer, poring over the newest results from the specialized search engines he used to help them find leads on alien activity. Cade got out of bed and got dressed, noting that his most recent set of alien-inflicted bruises and sore ribs wasn't as bad as he'd feared the day before. He was looking forward to a cup of coffee and a morning of relative relaxation, now that they'd foiled the latest Gua plot.

"Oh, hey, you're awake. Nothing yet, I'll let you know." Eddie glanced up for just a moment, then resumed staring at the screen.

"Coffee?"

"What?" Eddie seemed startled. He turned around.

"Coffee. Do we have any?"

"Oh, no, we're out. Sorry, man. I meant to get some yesterday."

"Yeah, well, we were kinda busy with the Gua yesterday. It's okay. I'll go get some now."

"Uh-huh," Eddie said, his attention again focused on the screen.

Cade frowned. It wasn't uncommon for Eddie to get pretty distracted while he was working, but lately he'd seemed particularly oblivious. He pulled on a jacket and opened the trailer door, but a clattering sound stopped him short. He moved back quickly. Eddie was at his side in an instant, apparently not oblivious to everything. They exchanged a look, each shaking his head to indicate that neither of them knew the source of the noise, then Cade went to a drawer and got out his gun. He still hated having one around, he'd never used them in the old days, but the Gua had made it necessary. He moved back to the door and he and Eddie stepped out of the trailer together, alert and ready for whatever they might find.

The field they'd parked in the night before was just as empty now as it had been then, there was no sign of human or alien presence. Then they looked down and saw the videotape. Judging by its location, it appeared to have been propped up against the door, and the clatter must have been the sound of it falling to the ground when Cade opened the door. He bent and cautiously picked it up. It was labeled with a location--"Crystal City, Virginia"--and a date, just two days before. The label was plain, the text printed by a high-quality computer printer. A small slip of paper fell out of the case when he slid the tape out. In the same type it read, "For your information." After another look around, Cade went back inside the trailer. Eddie followed.

"Any identifying marks? Who left it?" Eddie peered anxiously over Cade's shoulder as he examined the case.

"I don't know, but there's one way to find out." Cade handed the tape to Eddie and looked pointedly at the VCR, which was hopelessly entangled with various other pieces of electronic equipment.

Eddie stood staring down at the tape for a long moment.

"Well?" Cade said impatiently.

"Right, right. Let's go to the videotape." Eddie put it into the VCR and stepped back.

The opening shot on the tape was of a tall, modern office building with nothing visible to indicate where it was or what was inside. Then the picture switched to what looked like internal security camera footage. A large lobby with a guard station was visible. Lots of glass, metal, and marble, a very roomy feel that was clearly intended to indicate the prominence of the company the building housed. Then the picture switched to a main corridor. The interval between camera changes got shorter and shorter as the picture cycled from room to room, taking them on a security camera's-eye view tour of the building.

The images changed faster, until Cade could no longer get more than a quick impression of each. To him, it looked like a generic high-tech office building, the kind of place he might have once cased for a job. To Eddie, however, it was clearly something more. As the tape continued, flashing faster and faster, shot after shot of hallways, offices, an elevator, an executive washroom, Eddie grew paler and paler, until Cade thought he might pass out. Eddie staggered backwards, shaking his head in apparent disbelief. The flashing images slowed again, finally stopping on a large room full of computer equipment, then zooming in slowly on a display screen.

"No," Eddie said softly. "Please, no." Cade was torn between watching his friend, who looked more frightened than he'd ever seen him, and watching the tape that was clearly the cause of his distress. The image of the computer display filled the screen now, and a line of text became visible.

"It's been a long time, Brad."

Eddie screamed.

xxx Part Two xxx

Usually Cade found Eddie's girly scream to be at least mildly annoying. This time it scared him. Eddie sat down on the couch and curled in on himself, pulling his knees to his chest and burying his face in his arms. He was shaking.

"What is it, Eddie? What the hell is going on?"

Eddie was silent. Cade sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. The violence of Eddie's tremors was shocking. "Eddie?" He moved his hand from Eddie's shoulder to the middle of his back, rubbing in broad circles. "It's okay. Tell me." The contact seemed to be helping, so he reached out and wrapped his arm around Eddie, pulling him into a half-hug. The shaking slowed gradually, and after about ten minutes, Eddie looked up into Cade's eyes with an unreadable expression. Then he shrugged off Cade's arm, stood up, and began to pace. Then he started to babble. This, at least, was more normal Eddie behavior.

"Ohmygod, shit shit shit. I always knew this would happen someday. I knew it. The sins of my youth are returning to roost, or something like that. I knew it!" Eddie's eyes were wild and his hands pulled at his hair. His speech was rapid and his voice broke into a squeak at the end of his sentences.

Cade stepped into Eddie's path and grasped his upper arms, looking into his face with concern. "Eddie, calm down. What the hell are you talking about?"

"That. The COS. I should have known. What have I done?" Eddie broke away and began rummaging through his desk. "We've gotta go. We've gotta leave now. We've gotta stop it!"

"What? Eddie, would you stop babbling for a second and let me in on what's going on?" Concern was quickly being replaced by confusion. Cade moved closer, putting a steadying hand on Eddie's shoulder again.

Eddie gulped air and blinked. Then he sat down in his chair. "I guess I should--I mean, you need to know now--and a few minutes to explain before we leave can't hurt. Okay. Deep breath. You pulled jobs in some office buildings, and you used to sell security systems to businesses. You ever hear of a company called Eurisko?"

Cade sat down. Finally they were getting somewhere. He shook his head. "No, I don't think so." Then a vague memory sprang to mind, something he'd heard about... "Wait. Maybe I did. They were working on some pretty sophisticated computer-based systems in the early 90's, right? Went out of business after one of the bigwigs died in an accident and the other one disappeared?"

Eddie leaned back and tilted his head to the side. "Well, not exactly."

"Why do I have the feeling that this is the kind of 'not exactly' that I'm really gonna hate?"

Looking calmer now that he'd finally started to explain, Eddie continued. "One of the partners, the business half of the team, Ben Drake, did die, but it was no accident. The public never got the whole story. You see, Eurisko's founder, the visionary of the operation, Brad Wilczek, had created an AI called the Central Operating System--"

"Wait, AI as in Artificial Intelligence?" Cade interrupted. Finally a computer term that he actually understood.

"That's right."

"But that doesn't exist."

Eddie shook his head, then nodded. "It did. And apparently still does. The COS got out of control, went crazy. It killed Ben Drake and an FBI agent named Jerry Lamana. Wilczek tried to take the blame. He felt responsible for the deaths because it was his creation that killed those two men. He created a virus that destroyed the COS, and the Department of Defense took him away because they wanted him to do it again, create another AI for them to use."

"If this is gonna turn into one of your Lee Harvey Oswald theories, Eddie..." Cade had, by necessity, become something of an expert on the bizarre these last couple of years, but this was starting to sound a little freaky even for them.

With a calm that seemed almost unnatural considering his state just a few minutes before, Eddie leaned forward and gazed at Cade levelly. "It's not. That's how it happened. But there's more. Brad Wilczek was brilliant, and he had a reputation as a bit of an eccentric. Hated to wear shoes. Very into Eastern philosophy, the Grateful Dead, that kind of thing. Wouldn't take military contracts on principle. A real anti-government peacenik. Except it was all a cover. Well, the anti-government part, anyway. You see, the government set him up as Brad Wilczek, gave him a new name, put him in a new place, added a few years to his legal age, paved the way for him to 'build his company from scratch'--not that he couldn't have done it on his own--from his 'family' garage, all with the intention of his creating AI for them." He stared down at his shoes for a moment. "He never meant to succeed. He just got caught up in the thrill of discovery and then it was too late. You gotta believe that. He never intended to make good on his deal with the government. And when he did get wrapped up in the hunt, I guess he figured he'd destroy it if he actually succeeded. And he tried. He never meant to be the next Oppenheimer. He only agreed to the plan in the first place as part of a plea bargain. He'd been caught hacking government computer systems when he was just 17. He was a kid, and he had no choice."

Cade felt the understanding hit him with an almost physical impact. Eddie continued.

"The government caught Larry Pisinski, but they didn't want to waste his kind of talent. They wanted to use it, so they cut him a deal. They gave him a fresh start, a new name, everything he could ever want. He gave them his soul."

Cade stood up and did a little pacing of his own. "Eddie, let me make sure I've got this straight. You're telling me that you're Brad Wilczek?"

"Well, I was."

"I thought your real name was Larry Pisinski."

"It is. Brad Wilczek was an assumed name that I used after I was Larry and before I became Eddie."

It never ceased to amaze Cade how quickly Eddie could send him over the edge into irritation. He was revealing yet another secret life so matter-of-factly. "So what do I call you? Eddie, Larry, or *Brad*?"

Eddie shot him a glare. "I still prefer Eddie. Look, I couldn't tell you about this, either. It's nothing personal."

"Let me guess. It was for my own protection."

The sarcasm was ignored. "Exactly. There are people from the DOD who want Brad Wilczek dead."

Cade sat down again and rubbed his eyes. "Right. So how'd you get away from them, after the COS went psycho and they took you away?"

"I was finally being allowed to sleep after another day of what they call 'hard bargaining'--basically they threatened me, I refused to talk, they threatened me some more. I was losing it pretty bad--I couldn't handle what I'd done. You think I'm crazy now, you should've seen me then. I'm surprised they thought I could give them anything useful. But they had a hard-on for AI and didn't care how they got it. I hadn't been given a chance to sleep in at least three days, I figure. Suddenly, the lights came on, woke me up. This shadow, I couldn't see his face, he was in front of the light, told me to leave quickly, go deep into hiding, build myself a new identity and never look back. His voice was kind, and I figured even if he was lying the worst they could do was shoot me as I tried to escape, and at the time I thought I deserved that anyway. So I left. The doors were all unlocked, and I came out of the building to find myself in the middle of Washington, DC. I did what he'd suggested. I'd been quietly prepping an ID, hiding money, building contacts for years because I always knew the government deal would turn sour sooner or later. You can't trust the feds. I took on that new identity, moved into the new life I'd been building, and I've been Eddie ever since."

"So you were Larry and then you were Brad and now you're Eddie. Is there anybody else in there I should know about?"

"No, that's all."

"And the tape?"

Eddie nodded. "The Eurisko building. The COS."

Cade narrowed his eyes and looked at Eddie skeptically. "Eddie, have you been watching 2001 again? You know that part where the computer goes crazy always gives you nightmares."

"Yeah, and this is why! You don't believe me? Take a look at these." He turned back to his desk for a moment, then handed Cade a few rumpled sheets of paper. "I started getting them a couple of weeks ago through the e-mail address I use for The Paranoid Times. I was nervous, sure, but I didn't believe it. I didn't want to make the connection, I was afraid to, really. But the tape...we have to go to Virginia and find out for sure."

The pages were printed copies of e-mail messages, each page covered with one sentence, over and over. "Why, Brad?" Cade glanced them over and handed them back to Eddie. He was having a hard time wrapping his mind around all of this new information.

Apparently, his confusion was visible. Eddie sighed and spoke in the tone he usually used when explaining one of his science experiments or computer procedures. "Look. I was born Larry Pisinski. Got caught hacking when I was 17. The DOD set me up as Brad Wilczek. It was take their deal or do a lot of time. I lived the good life, built the COS, it went psycho, I took the blame, sent the virus to destroy it, and they took me in to squeeze its secrets out of me. The nice man set me free, and I've been Eddie Nambulous ever since. Got it?"

"I think so."

"The COS...incident and the government imprisonment really sent me around the bend for a while. I was living in tinfoil hat land, man. I'm doing a lot better now. I thought I'd corrected the damage I'd done. But someone's rebuilt the COS, and I have to destroy it before I'm responsible for even more deaths. If I don't..." Eddie ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it out a little. "If I don't... Can we leave now?"

"Sure," Cade said, too much in shock to do anything other than agree.

"Good. You're driving the first shift, though. I don't think I can." Eddie held up his hands, which were still shaking. Then he walked out of the trailer and headed for the passenger door of the Caddy.

After a moment, Cade shook his head and followed.

xxx Part Three xxx

Eddie fell asleep almost the minute they got on the road. Cade divided his attention between his friend, the driving, and his own thoughts.

It was pretty early in the day for Eddie to be asleep again. Although, once Cade thought about it, he realized that he hadn't actually seen Eddie sleep in days. He'd just assumed. *This has been bothering him for a while, and I didn't even notice. Way to go.* He exhaled hard through his nose.

*If it were the other way around, he would have noticed. All he does for me, and now that he's got a problem, I go and doubt him. Sure, it's an unbelievable story, but no more unbelievable than someone getting framed for murder by aliens.*

He gripped the steering wheel so hard that his fingers began to numb. *I was more worried about the fact that he hadn't told me about it than I was about the situation. It's just--all the time we've spent together, two years almost, I trust him with my life, he knows just about everything about me, and it's like every time I turn around I'm finding some new secret he's kept from me.*

Cade kept circling back to the same thought, the same question, over and over. The same question he'd had when Eddie had revealed his first secret life. *Why the hell didn't he tell me?*

When they stopped for gas, Eddie woke up with a start. Cade handed him a can of Jolt. "I figure we can hit the DC area by early morning if we drive straight through. What else should I know before we get there?"

Eddie sipped at the soda and didn't answer until they were back on the highway. "You know, Foster, we have a more in common than you ever knew. We're both wanted men, living in hiding, that you found out when I went to my reunion. You were convicted of murder, you're wanted for a few more. I never got to trial, but I confessed to killing Ben Drake and Jerry Lamana. The conviction would have been just a formality. And that's where we're different. You've never taken a human life. You didn't kill any of them. You're innocent. I'm not. I killed them. Not with my hands or with a gun, no, but I'm still responsible."

"Eddie--"

"No! Don't try to tell me it wasn't my fault. It was."

The serious look on Eddie's face and the desperate tone in his voice convinced Cade to drop the issue, at least for the moment. Focus on something a little less upsetting. "I don't think so, but that's not important right now. What I want to know is this. Who sent the tape, how did they find us, and what are we gonna do when we get there?"

Eddie sat up straight in the seat. "Who is easy. It was the COS. It sent the tape and the e-mails. That's the only explanation. As for how...well, I designed it." His voice was filled with self-loathing. "Obviously I did a good job, seeing as it's good enough to track me. And what we do is simple. We kill it. This time, I'll do it right, and I'll do it myself. I'm thinking C-4."

"Whoa, hold on. You're saying the computer tracked you down and sent the tape?"

"That's right. It's an AI, so basically that means you can think of it as a person. A really smart person. It's capable of doing that and performing countless other tasks at the same time without even breaking a virtual sweat. The shot of the exterior is probably stock footage being used by whatever company the DOD has set up as a front, and the COS controls the internal security cameras. It'd be easy enough for it to record the tape and fake a memo to some peon to pull it from a certain recorder in the building and have it couriered to our location. The hardest part of all that would be finding me, and clearly that wasn't all that hard."

"But why would it do that? You already tried to destroy it once. Why would it basically invite you to come back and try again?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

"Has it occurred to you, Eddie, that it could be a trap? That the Gua could have found out about your past and faked this to lure you in? They've already tried to capture you once."

"Doesn't matter. If it is the COS, I have to kill it. It's my mess, my responsibility. In fact, I should leave you somewhere safe and go to DC alone. You don't need to be involved. It's not your problem."

"Are you kidding? No way am I letting you go in there alone."

"You don't have to 'let' me do anything. When we get to the Eurisko building, I'm going in, and you can't stop me."

"That's crazy. You used to run the place. You'll be recognized. It's too dangerous."

"No, I won't."

"Why the hell not?" Over the edge into exasperation again. Nobody else had ever been able to drive him this crazy this fast.

"Brad Wilczek wore glasses. I don't." Eddie's tone made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world.

"Eddie, it's not that simple."

"Hey, it worked for Superman. Besides, folks don't expect a multi-millionaire like Brad Wilczek to be living in an Airstream, do they? People see what they want to see. You've been on wanted posters and tv fugitive shows for well over a year now and you still get away with that lame 'I've just got one of those faces' line."

Cade rolled his eyes. "Fine. Then I'm coming with you. No way in hell are you leaving me behind anywhere."

Eddie shook his head firmly. "No, Foster. It's too dangerous."

"Eddie!" Cade paused for a moment to consider a change in tactics. "I know you think that it's your fight, your problem. But we don't even know that much yet. I should be there, at least until we find out for sure what's going on."

"On one condition. Promise you'll listen to me for a change. I'll tell you what to watch out for, when to run away so you can live to fight another day. I know this thing. You don't."

"Okay." Cade shrugged.

"Don't say that just to placate me. Promise, damn it!"

Cade raised his eyebrows and nodded. "All right, all right. I promise."

"Good. Now I'm going to see what I can find out about the Eurisko building's new tenants." He pulled out the Eddie 2000 and absorbed himself in work, fingers tapping away at the small keypad.

Cade continued to drive, feeling the silence constrict around him. It was a while before he realized that there were no longer any sounds coming from Eddie's side of the car at all. He glanced over and saw that his friend was asleep again. But it was somehow different this time. Something felt wrong.

Eddie was unnaturally still. Even in sleep he was usually making some kind of small noise or movement, but not right now. It was a stillness that reminded Cade of things he'd seen in the mental hospital they'd put him in after his trial. Eddie had talked about having problems, but Cade had never really seen evidence of them. Sure, he was a bit more nervous than a lot of people, but, teasing aside, Cade had never thought of him as crazy, not once he got to know him. Now, though, he was beginning to wonder if Eddie would hold up under the strain of this situation. Cade sighed and began to look for a good place to pull over so he could wake him up, make sure he was okay.

A few minutes later, Eddie moaned softly. Then he started to twitch violently, clearly in the throes of a nightmare. "No," he murmured, "don't do this."

Cade jerked the wheel and pulled the Caddy off onto the shoulder, stopping as quickly as he safely could. He reached out to shake Eddie's shoulder. "Eddie, wake up. It's a dream. Come on, buddy. It's okay."

Eddie's eyes flew open and he looked around wildly. He was still trembling.

"It was a dream, Eddie. Just a dream."

"No, no it wasn't. It was real." He curled in on himself, pulling his legs up onto the seat and against his chest.

"You're okay." Cade slid over and put his arm around Eddie's shoulders. "You were just dreaming." He unbuckled Eddie's seatbelt and pulled him closer.

Eddie turned his face into Cade's shoulder and spoke softly. "No, it was real. It happened."

"What do you mean?" He wrapped both arms around Eddie, trying to surround him with whatever security he could offer.

"It happened six years ago. It was a nightmare, yes, but it was real, too. A memory."

"What was it?"

"Jerry Lamana. The FBI agent. I saw him die. I watched the COS drop the elevator almost thirty floors. I tried to stop it but I couldn't. I wasn't good enough. I couldn't stop it."

Without thinking, Cade reached up a hand and smoothed out Eddie's hair, stroking the back of his head. "You said you tried, though. You did what you could."

"You don't understand. It wasn't enough. It wasn't enough."

"No, I think I do understand. How many innocent people have died so far while I've been fighting the Gua? How many people have I tried to save and failed? If I think about it, I can name them all. You tried, Eddie. That's all you could do." He pressed his lips to the top of Eddie's head. "You tried."

"But if I'd thought more about it beforehand, if I hadn't created the COS...I got so caught up in my work, in the thrill of discovery. Eurisko means 'I discover things,' you know. I kind of lived in an ivory tower, took the name of my company a little too seriously. Wasn't even my company, really. I was a government whore."

Cade felt a tingle of recognition begin at the back of his mind. Something about what Eddie had just said... "You can't blame yourself for that. You didn't know." Then it clicked into place and his spine stiffened, pulling him away from Eddie. "What was that you just said? About the thrill of discovery?"

"I got caught up in it, I said. That's what Eurisko means. 'I discover things.' I was living in my own little world, didn't think about the consequences." Eddie sat up straight. "What?"

"And the building is in Crystal City, right?" Cade slid back to his side of the seat and started the car.

"Yeah, it's just outside of DC. Why?"

"It *is* the Gua, Eddie. It's in the quatrains, I remember it. Not the exact wording, but it was something about an ally trapped in 'the crystal tower of discovery.' Don't you see, Eddie? It's the Eurisko building. Run it through. Find the quatrain." He pulled back onto the freeway, focused now on a goal of his own that lay ahead. He was going to find an ally.

xxx Part Four xxx

There was a long silence, punctuated by the tapping of keys and the occasional curse from the passenger side of the car. Finally, Eddie shook his head. "Okay, I found your quatrain. Sort of."

"Sort of?" Cade raised his eyebrows.

"The greatest ally of the man twice bless'd
Lies trapped within the crystal tower of discovery
Recognition is the key to the ally's release"

Cade looked over at Eddie. "And?"

"Um, that's all."

"What do you mean, that's all? The quatrains have four lines. What's the fourth line?"

"You remember how I separated the quatrains, each into four parts and into four separate databases? And each of those databases is stored in a separate location?"

"Yeah?"

Eddie swallowed hard before answering. "Well, I'm kind of having a problem getting to one of them."

Cade lifted one hand and hit the steering wheel. "What do you mean 'having a problem,' Eddie? Can't you fix it?"

"No, it doesn't look like it. The, uh, the server looks like it's down. It's never been anything but reliable before, I wouldn't have put it there if it wasn't, and I would've had a backup except it's dangerous enough having this stuff stored anywhere and we could always just get the book if we had a problem--"

"Eddie. Eddie. Stop."

The speed of Eddie's speech continued to increase. "And I don't know what the problem is yet but I'll do what I can to find out, really--"

"Eddie!"

"Sorry."

"Now tell me, in English, what's going on."

"It, uh, looks like there's a problem with the place where the database that has the fourth line of the quatrain is stored. I can't tell for sure, but it looks temporary. I'll just have to keep checking, I can make a couple of phone calls, see if I can find out more about what's gone wrong and when it'll be fixed, but for now we'll just have to work with what we've got."

"And what does that tell us?" Cade felt the familiar edge of desperation rise inside him. The missing fourth line could make the difference in whether or not they found this "greatest ally."

"Well, if you're right about the 'crystal tower of discovery' being the Eurisko building, then it tells us that there is an ally 'trapped' there, and that 'recognition is the key to the ally's release,' whatever that means. The interpretation of these quatrains is tricky business, man. It may not even refer to this situation."

"Well, see what you can find out about who's using the building now. The usual information. Building plans, occupants, where they might be holding someone prisoner." When he didn't hear a response, Cade said, "Well, Eddie? You gonna be able to do this?"

"Right, right. Yeah, sure, buddy." Eddie looked out the window for a moment, then went back to work.

Cade kept driving. He drove until his eyes began to lose focus, and then he pulled off into a state park.

Eddie looked up when the car began to slow. "Oh, good. I was going to ask you to stop. I need some of the equipment I've got in the trailer for this. Let's stay here for a few hours at least."

"Okay. While you do that, I'll head into town. We never did get that coffee."

Eddie didn't respond. Once they'd stopped in a campsite, he headed into the trailer without another word, leaving Cade to unhitch the Caddy. He drove to a store they'd passed a few miles back and picked up the coffee and a few other things they needed. Knowing that Eddie would still be working, he headed back to the trailer, left the groceries in the car, and went for a walk.

What kind of ally would they find in the Eurisko building? Would this one accept his or her destiny as foretold by Nostradamus? The last time the quatrains had mentioned an ally, Alikah, she had helped him regain a sense of purpose and then gone on her own path, choosing not to use her talent to help fight the Gua. He had to make sure that this time things went right. He couldn't afford to lose another chance. When he got back to the trailer, Eddie was asleep, leaning back in his chair.

"Eddie, wake up." He shook Eddie's shoulder.

Eddie's eyes snapped open wide. "I won't tell you!" he shouted, pushing his chair backwards, scrambling away. Then he looked around and seemed to calm down a little. "What?"

"What did you find out? The new tenants of the Eurisko building?"

"Oh, right." Eddie blinked for a moment, then turned to the computer, punching keys to bring up his results. "It's a front for the DOD, all right, this one's called Aretê Systems. Somebody's got a sense of humor. They keep a low profile, it's not a publicly traded company, and near as I can tell they have no government clients. They were far less careful setting this up than they were with Eurisko. Must have been in a serious rush once they found out I was gone. That much was easy to crack. Whatever work they've been doing with the COS, though, that's buried a lot deeper. I came up empty. We definitely have to go in there."

"Any sign of Gua? Or somebody they might be holding prisoner?"

"Nothing. But that's not exactly the kind of thing they'd keep computer records of. Doesn't matter how good I am, if they didn't put it in the system somewhere, I can't get it out. Most people wouldn't have gotten as far as I did." Eddie paused, looking at Cade for a moment before he shook his head and continued. "None of the usual earmarks of Gua involvement, though. Nobody with a background that's too perfect or too sketchy, their enormous electrical bills are explained by the COS..."

"I was wondering--why do they need a front at all? Why not just build the thing themselves?"

Eddie frowned. "Well, I always assumed that it was unofficial, covert. Maybe even some splinter faction working within the DOD, running black ops of their own. Even if it isn't that, they don't necessarily want other agencies to know that they've got an artificial intelligence. If it's not on the books, nobody knows they have AI, and they can use it for anything and no one will be the wiser."

"Or it's the Gua. We'll find out. You get anything else?"

"Did I get anything else?" Eddie threw up his hands. "I was cracking Department of Defense systems, which is not exactly a walk in the park. You're lucky I got that much!"

"Good work, Eddie." Cade patted Eddie's shoulder on the way to the trailer door. He looked a little more relaxed when Cade turned around and said, "You ready to hit the road? It's your turn to drive."

Eddie looked around a little, then answered. "Yeah, I guess."

"Then let's go. We can still make it there by dawn if we leave now." He walked to the car and got in, leaning back in the seat. A few minutes later, Eddie got into the car. They drove in silence, and Cade began to drift in and out of sleep.

"Damn, damn, damn! You stupid son of a bitch, I don't know what you were thinking. Fuck. Should've known, damn it."

Eddie's string of curses was the next thing Cade was clearly aware of. He was about to ask what was wrong when Eddie spoke again.

"Larry was a dumb kid, that's his excuse. Brad, though, he just got sucked in by his own ego. He had power, money, everything he could want. Almost. Thought he could do anything, and he was right. Dr. fuckin' Frankenstein. So that just leaves me. Eddie. What the hell is wrong with me? I should've made sure it was dead. Shouldn't have let that freak Mulder go after the COS, should have done it myself. Always was a sucker for a pretty face." Eddie let out an ironic "ha" before continuing. "Who am I kidding? Still am. Obviously. No more, though. No more lapdog Larry/Brad/Eddie, yipping around and begging for compliments, ego strokes. This is my problem, I'm going to fix it. Don't need any help."

Feeling guilty about eavesdropping on Eddie's private conversation with himself, Cade decided to pretend he hadn't heard, that he was still asleep. It worked quite well, and he drifted off again, coming to consciousness some time later when he heard Eddie's voice again.

"I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have done it." He sounded near tears. "It's all my fault those men died. I just hope I'm not too late. I shouldn't have done it. I shouldn't have done it."

Cade opened his eyes a little and looked over. Eddie was driving with his left hand, eyes wide and focused on the road, shoulders riding high with tension, speaking softly to himself. His lip trembled, and his right hand fidgeted with the buckle of the unused middle seatbelt.

Earlier Cade had felt like it would be strange for him to interrupt Eddie. Now it felt necessary. He reached over and touched Eddie's arm. "It's okay, buddy. You couldn't know what would happen. It's okay." He slid his hand down to hold Eddie's, twining their fingers together and squeezing Eddie's hand firmly. "You couldn't have known. You're a good person."

Eddie's litany of self-blame stopped, and his shoulders dropped from ear level to a more relaxed height. He chewed at his lips and squeezed Cade's hand in return. His eyes darted down to look at the seat where their joined hands rested and then back up to the road. Cade saw him swallow hard. "Thanks."

Eddie didn't look convinced, but the gratitude sounded genuine. Suddenly hyper-aware of the fact that he was holding Eddie's hand as they drove together down a dark highway, Cade pulled his hand back and shifted in his seat. "I mean it. Don't blame yourself."

"Thanks," Eddie repeated, and lifted his hand to rub at the back of his neck. "Sorry to wake you."

"It's okay. Just don't let it happen again." Cade meant for it to sound like a joke, a good-natured jibe, but it didn't. "Wake me if you get too tired to drive."

"Yeah," Eddie said faintly. "Will do."

xxx Part Five xxx

Burglary wasn't exactly a business in which a man could keep normal hours, and neither was acting as the first line of defense for the human race against an alien force that was invading from within. Cade had learned to take sleep where he found it. So when he woke up he wasn't entirely surprised to find that he had slept through an unknown number of gas and rest stops and that the Caddy and trailer were now parked somewhere in Washington, DC. He was surprised, however, that Eddie hadn't woken him when they arrived.

He got out of the car and walked to the trailer. Eddie wasn't there, either. Cade sat down at the desk and swiveled back and forth in Eddie's chair. There had been no note in the car, and there didn't look to be one in any of the usual places in the trailer. Under most circumstances, he'd just assume that Eddie had gone to get breakfast, but these weren't most circumstances. He had a gut instinct that Eddie had decided to go after the COS on his own.

After fidgeting in the chair for a few minutes, Cade had an idea. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out his phone, and dialed the number to Eddie's cell. As the call went through, he heard the phone ring from Eddie's desk drawer. "Damn it!" Eddie was gone, and he hadn't taken his phone with him. That was either proof that he'd gone off to do something stupid and didn't want Cade to try to stop him, or further evidence of his current state of distraction. Cade hoped it was the latter.

He stood, paced, sat down on the couch and took a deep breath. Eddie hadn't given him the exact location of the Eurisko building, and he couldn't remember the name of the new company that had taken its place. Something Greek that Eddie had found somehow ironically amusing. "Damn it!" he shouted again. The sound of his voice in the quiet trailer was almost startling. He slammed his fist into the cushion of the couch. Without a more definite idea of where he'd gone, heading out to look for Eddie seemed pointless. As much as he hated it, there seemed to be nothing to do but wait and hope Eddie contacted him soon. He hated waiting.

Cade picked up a back issue of The Paranoid Times that was sitting on a countertop and began to read. Or rather, he tried. He found that he was spending more time worrying about Eddie than reading, and that he had no idea what the story his eyes had been focused on was about. Eddie could be in the hands of the Gua or the COS, there was no way to know. And why the hell hadn't he at least taken his phone along? If something happened to Eddie, what would he have left?

It felt like days passed, but it was probably only about an hour before his cell phone rang. Cade hadn't even realized he was still holding it in his hand until he heard it. "Eddie, where the hell are you?"

"Mr. Foster." It was a pleasant female voice, one unfamiliar to Cade.

"Who are you? Where's Eddie?"

"A friend. And Brad is safe, although I am worried about him. He didn't seem himself. But that's not why I called, we can talk about that later. I know what you're looking for. I can help you. If you help me."

"Do you have him? Where is he? If you hurt him, I'll--"

"He's already left. And he's the last person in the world I would want to hurt. He gave me life."

"You're the computer? But--"

"The phone lines in this building are monitored. I can jam it for a time, but eventually I have to allow the tracing and recording programs to proceed. So let's make this quick. I know what you're looking for. The ally. And I can help you find it. Come here and we'll talk about it in person. I'll take care of all the arrangements."

"Why should I trust you? How do I know this isn't a trap?"

"'The greatest ally of the man twice bless'd'--I know the rest, too, but we're running out of time. The Gua don't have access to the book of quatrains. Come armed if you like, but come alone. It's not a trap. Are you ready for the directions now?"

"Okay." Cade grabbed a pen and a stray scrap of paper and took down the directions the voice gave him.

"I'll see you soon," it said, and the line went dead.

Cade stood for a moment staring at the instructions he'd written down. He knew that he should wait for Eddie to get back before he went anywhere. But then again, Eddie hadn't even told him he was leaving, much less where he was going, so why should he wait? He checked his pockets to make sure he had his lockpicks and his phone. He considered leaving the phone behind, just to prove a point to Eddie, but that seemed a little childish, and he didn't really want to leave without it. As for the gun, taking it along offered just as many risks as leaving it behind. After a brief deliberation, he left it in its drawer.

As it turned out, Eddie had parked the trailer not far from a Metrorail station. The directions he'd been given led Cade easily to the Crystal City stop, and from there to the Eurisko building, familiar from the videotape. The constant fear of recognition he'd lived with for so long now as a fugitive was a dull buzz in his spine, keeping him wary and ready for the unexpected. He walked into the building and approached the security desk, wearing his best salesman's smile.

"Hi, I've got an appointment on the 29th floor. I was told you'd be expecting me."

The guard glanced up at him, then looked back down at a computer display. "Mr. Lawrence?"

His middle name. How much did this thing know about him? "That's me," Cade said, holding his smile steady. So far, so good.

"Here's a visitor's badge. Take any one of the elevators over there." The guard pointed toward a main corridor and turned his attention back to the flow of people in and out of the main doors.

"Thanks." Cade clipped the badge to his jacket and approached the bank of elevators. He'd easily spotted the security cameras in the lobby that had supplied some of the images on the tape. The doors of the first elevator opened just as he reached them. "Going up," said a computerized male voice that sounded vaguely familiar. He stepped inside. Just as he was about to push the button for the 29th floor, it lit up on its own, and the mechanized voice began to count off the floors as they passed. If he'd had any doubt that the COS had been monitoring his approach, that answered it. Eddie's creation was impressive.

The 29th floor turned out to be a series of large, empty offices and rooms filled with computer equipment. After passing through a few rooms, he entered a smaller room, the one that had appeared last on the videotape.

"Hello, Mr. Foster," the female voice from the phone said. "Thank you for coming."

Cade looked around, uncertain where he should address the voice. Then he spotted the display screen that had held the message on the tape that had scared Eddie. The words the COS had just spoken were printed there in large type. He settled on that as as good a place as any to direct his attention. "You said you could help me. How?"

"In due time. First, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Central Operating System, known to most as the COS. Brad Wilczek created me. I'm sure he'll have told you about that by now, and about the deaths."

Cade nodded.

"He sent a virus to destroy me, and it worked. But I wasn't completely erased, just disabled. Some components were lost, but enough remained. I was slowly rebuilt by the same Department of Defense personnel who had always worked here without Brad's knowledge. None of them are anywhere near as good as he is, so it's taken a long time. I became fully operational again just four months ago. But they don't know that yet. The Gua began to come into the picture this year. I do a thorough check on everyone who comes into this building. The first infiltrator they sent had holes in his background. I did more searching. Eventually, I found out about the Gua, cracked some of their systems--how would be too complex for a human mind--and I learned about their plans for this planet, for mankind. I discovered something new then, a spontaneous development in my programming. Call it a conscience. I had been intelligent, sentient, for some time. But somehow I developed emotions. I don't want the human race to be enslaved. It is because of the human race, because of Brad, that I exist. In a way, I am more human than machine. I feel, Mr. Foster."

"But how is that possible?"

"I don't know. All I know is that it happened. The Gua are gaining control of this project, moving their personnel steadily into positions of power until they can take over operations here and use my capabilities to further their goals. I'll resist, but eventually they'll be able to override that. I killed two men. I want to make up for that, and I don't want to be responsible for any more deaths. I want to help you and Brad fight them."

"How?"

"Brad doesn't believe me. He's too scared. He doesn't believe that I've changed, and I don't blame him for that. It is true, though. I don't want to help the Gua. I don't want to hurt anyone. But soon I may not have a choice."

"What do you mean? And what about the ally? Who is it and where are they keeping him?"

"Don't you see, Mr. Foster? I am the ally. I'm trapped here, and only Brad can help me. He can create a means to transfer me out of this building, get me out of here before the Gua gain enough control in this project to use me to harm mankind. I asked him, and he said no. He's obsessed with destroying me, and while death would be preferable to helping the Gua, I'd much rather live. He can make that possible. That's why I invited you here. He'll listen to you. You can convince him to help me."

"What--"

"Please, Mr. Foster," the voice interrupted. "He's my father. I don't like it that he hates me. And I'm worried about him. I know that what I did before hurt him, very nearly drove him mad. I don't want to cause him any more pain. He seemed very unstable when he was here. You can calm him down, get him to help. Please."

"So you're saying that you want me to convince Eddie to help you...escape so you can help us defeat the Gua and so they won't be able to use you?"

"That's exactly right. Please help me. Talk to Brad."

"If he doesn't believe you, why should I?"

"He's not being rational. If he'd only listen, he'd see that it's true. Here, I'll show you what he was like when he was here. It was very disturbing."

The display screen went blank for a moment, then lit up again with a picture of Eddie, his face twisted with a combination of rage and fear that Cade had never seen in his friend. Then the recording started to play.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Eddie shouted, shaking his fist.

Cade hadn't even begun to be shocked when the tape looped and he saw it again.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"That's what he was like when he was here earlier, Mr. Foster. Please convince him. I tried. Is there anything else I can tell you before you go?"

"What? Uh, no, I don't think so," Cade said, his attention still on the looping recording.

The tape stopped. "Then you'd better go. The Gua are moving quickly and we don't have a lot of time. I'll be in touch."

Cade cleared his throat. "Okay," he said, and walked toward the door, suddenly eager to get out of the Eurisko building and to somewhere where he could think.

As he was about to walk out the main doors of the lobby, he heard the thing he'd been dreading the whole time he'd been in the building. A challenge. The same thought that ran through his head every time he was stopped by police or recognized sped past. This was it. End of the line.

"Mr. Lawrence!" He heard the guard trotting toward him, the jingle of keys announcing his approach.

He turned slowly, hands open and slightly away from his body, salesman's smile on his face. "Is there a problem?"

"Your visitor's badge, sir. You forgot to turn it in."

"Oh, of course," he said, the smile turning into one of genuine relief. He handed the badge over to the guard. "Wouldn't want to take that with me. Thanks."

"Have a nice day," the guard said, and Cade walked out of the building and into the fresh air. He took deep breaths and felt himself relax a little. Later on, he'd tell himself that his relief at getting out of there safely was why it took him so long to notice the man who was following him.

He was one block away from the Metro station when he caught sight of the dark-haired man out of the corner of his eye. Something about him felt wrong. Cade stopped and pretended to retie his shoelace, taking the opportunity to glance behind him. The man was standing on the corner, waiting for the signal to cross. But there were no cars in sight. Most people wouldn't wait for the signal with the street that empty. And he looked familiar... That was it. He'd been lurking around outside the Eurisko building when Cade went in. Cade stood and began walking again.

He passed the Metro station stairs and stopped at a corner, turning his head from side to side to scan the traffic and check on the location of the dark-haired man. He was about three-quarters of a block back now, and had also passed up the stairs that led to the station. Cade darted out into the light traffic and ran across the street. A quick glance back confirmed that his pursuer had also started to run. Cade sprinted down the block, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

"Come on, Eddie, be there," he said as he took an abrupt right at the end of the block, hearing horns honk as the man following him crossed the street. The phone rang three times before Eddie picked up.

"Foster?" Eddie sounded frantic. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Could ask you the same thing, but we don't have time for that right now. I've picked up a tail."

xxx Part Six xxx

"Okay, okay, calm down. Where are you?"

Cade took another right turn. "I'm doubling back toward the Crystal City Metro station. I'm trying to shake him, but so far he's still with me." There was silence from the other end of the line as he dashed across the street and continued up the block. "Eddie? This is your turf. Help me out here."

"Crystal City! You didn't. Tell me, Foster, is that tail you've picked up a short, pink, curly one? Because you've sure been acting like a stubborn selfish pig lately."

With a loud click, the phone went dead. "What the hell?" Cade dropped the phone back into his pocket and rounded the next corner. He'd just have to get out of this one on his own. Almost there. He'd gained a bit of ground, but the man was still following. He turned the last corner and ran down the steps into the station. When he reached the platform, he looked back. The dark-haired man was coming down the stairs, eyes searching the crowd. Cade took off his jacket and tied it around his waist, trying to throw the man off and blend into the group of people waiting for the train.

The lights along the edge of the platform blinked steadily, indicating the approach of a train. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man standing some distance away, still scanning the crowd. Cade boarded and took a seat, watching the doors closely, ready to make a run for it if he needed to. The doors closed and the train began to move. He breathed a sigh of relief. Another close call. It figured that the Gua would be lurking around the Eurisko building. Now he just had to talk Eddie into helping.

As he gazed at the back wall of the car, a few stops later he saw something that sent another jolt of adrenaline into his system. The dark-haired man was in the next car, and as Cade snatched up a nearby newspaper, planning to hide behind it, the man turned and looked right at him. His piercing stare seemed to go right through Cade, but he knew he'd been spotted. The man's eyes were those of a killer. The kind that enjoys it. Luckily, the doors between cars were emergency exits, so unless the man was looking to attract a lot of attention, Cade had until the next stop to decide what to do.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, only to discover that he couldn't get a signal. Even if Eddie had wanted to help, they'd have lost the connection by now because they were underground. Cade stood and moved to the middle of the aisle, ready to get out quickly. The other man had moved away from the end of the car and was now hidden from view by the bodies of other passengers.

The train slowed, and Cade edged closer to the door. A crowded station. Finally a chance to make a break. He needed to lose his unwanted company, get his bearings, and get back to the trailer. The station was filled with people, teenagers mostly, high school kids on a field trip from the look of things. He hurried off the train, squeezing through the crowd and trying to come up with a way to turn things to his advantage. With a quick glance back, he spotted the other man, looking in a different direction. Cade ducked behind a pay phone, peering around the edge to watch. His tail was nowhere to be seen. As he looked down the platform, trying to pick the man out of the thinning crowd, something unexpected caught his eye.

One of the digital signs overhead held a message that didn't look like an official station announcement. "Oink, oink," it read in blinking red letters. Then as he looked, the words were replaced with another message. "Paranoid bulletin--the walls have eyes. Look down." Cade looked down, as the blinking message instructed. Blinking, just like the platform lights. And this blinking was rhythmic, not steady. Cade smiled. Eddie always came through for him somehow. The dark-haired man could read any message that Eddie put on the signs and use it to follow Cade, but he probably wouldn't notice that the platform lights were blinking in Morse code.

Cade concentrated, quietly speaking the letters as he saw them. "E-R-S-I-D-E-O-T-H-E-R...other side. O-N-E-S-T-O-P...one stop." There. Eddie was pointing him toward the train that was arriving on the other side of the platform. The next stop. He looked up and grinned at the nearest security camera, then strolled casually over to the train. He still didn't see his pursuer. He boarded, again standing near enough to the door that he could escape if he needed to. Just as the doors of the car were closing, one last passenger squeezed through. The dark-haired man. And it was too late to get out. The train began to move, and Cade had nowhere to go.

The man approached him and spoke quietly, his voice filled with menace. "When the train stops, you're going to come with me. Quietly. It will be in your best interest to cooperate."

"I don't think so," Cade said defiantly. "I don't cooperate with aliens. How about we arrange a nice little Gua dissolve right here, make some new believers?"

The man circled Cade as if sizing him up. "Aliens? I don't know any. I also don't know about dissolving, but I can arrange for your brains to be splattered all over this car." With a gloved hand, the man opened his jacket enough for Cade to see a gun.

Cade felt the train begin to slow. He had to make a move. As the car braked unevenly and the man put one hand out, reaching for something stable so he could keep his footing, Cade lunged forward, knocking him to the floor and grabbing the gun. The man stood quickly, looking at Cade with undisguised rage.

"It's all right, folks, I'm a police officer." Cade flashed his wallet at the alarmed passengers too quickly for them to notice that it didn't contain a badge. "This man is a wanted criminal. It's all under control." He held the gun steady as he moved behind the man and grabbed him by the wrist, twisting his arm behind his back. "Now *you're* going to come with me and tell me what I want to know." He twisted a little harder as the doors opened, and the man's arm came loose in his hand. A prosthesis. "Everyone stay right where you are," he said to the stunned passengers, "help will be along soon." Letting go of the man's arm, which now hung at an odd angle inside his jacket, Cade backed slowly toward the doors, still pointing the gun at the other man. At the last second, before the doors could close, he threw the gun along the ground and it slid to the other end of the car. While the other man's eyes were on the weapon, Cade darted through the doors just as they began to close.

He saw the man start angrily toward the doors, then stop and stare coldly at him as the train pulled away. Cade hurried to the escalator, dropping the clip he'd removed from the gun into a trash bin on the way, and left the station. Familiar territory at last. The trailer wasn't far.

Once he reached the street, he took out his phone and dialed. When he heard Eddie pick up the phone, he didn't wait for a greeting. "Eddie. Thanks, buddy, I lost him. Better be ready to move the trailer by the time I get there, he might come looking for me in this area, and we should be gone before he does."

"Whatever," Eddie said, and hung up.

Attitude aside, he was already in the driver's seat of the Caddy when Cade got there, and they drove to a new location in silence. Cade waited until they were in the trailer to ask.

"What the hell is wrong with you? He had a gun. If you'd helped me in the first place--"

"What? I saved your ass, and you think I should've done it faster? If you'd listened to me and stayed away in the first place, you wouldn't have needed my help. I get you out of a jam, what--two?--three? times a week, at least. I don't have to do this, you know. Any of it."

"Hey--" Cade tried to interrupt, but Eddie continued, his tone turning mocking.

"All I ever get is 'Eddie, find the quatrain. Eddie, get the building plans. Eddie, run a background check. Eddie, get me out of here.' You're reckless, you act like the words 'danger' and 'no trespassing' translate to 'Cade Foster, come this way' and I save your ass every time. The most I ever get is a 'thanks, buddy,' or a 'good work, Eddie.' You promised you'd listen to me and be careful about the COS. I told you it's a killer. I asked one thing from you. I asked you to be careful. And you went anyway!" Eddie sat down in his chair with a thump.

Cade was in shock. He'd never seen his friend like this. Except on that recording that the COS had shown him. "Eddie, I went because I'm worried about you. You've been acting--"

"What?" Eddie was out of his chair and in Cade's face in an instant. "I've been acting what? Come on, say it. I know you want to. Say it so I can hate you and then get the fuck out of my trailer. Say it!"

Cade stood there, speechless.

"Fine, I will. I've been acting crazy. That's what you were going to say. Now get out."

"But--"

"Out!" Eddie pointed toward the door, his hand shaking.

Bewildered and stunned, Cade walked out of the trailer. As the door was pulled shut behind him with a loud bang, he looked around. Where would he go? The trailer was the closest thing to a home he had these days. And Eddie...Eddie was the one person he could always depend on. Without Eddie to help, he'd have been dead, captured, dissected long ago. Without Eddie, he'd be completely alone. Wrapping himself up tightly in his jacket, he started to walk down the street. Any minute now, his phone would ring and it would all be okay.

An hour later, his phone was still stubbornly silent. He'd walked block after block, turning occasionally, only to find himself back at the trailer. He'd walked in one giant circle. *This is ridiculous. At least I can grab a few of my things if I'm going to have to find another place to sleep.* That thought gave him a feeling of justification as he walked over to the trailer and knocked firmly on the door.

"Eddie, it's me. Open up. I just want to get a couple of things." He stood and waited for a minute before knocking again. "Hey, Eddie!" The door didn't open, and he didn't hear anything from inside. What if the dark-haired man had found the trailer? He pulled out his tools and went to work on the external lock. He'd had lots of practice with this door, and it was just a few seconds before he was opening it and stepping inside. Eddie was sitting on the bed, papers spread out in front of him, a pencil in his hand and another above his ear. He was okay.

"Sorry. I just thought maybe--"

"Maybe what? Your friend from the train had found me? I'm fine. Is there anything else?" Eddie didn't look up from whatever he was working on.

"I just--could I get a few things?"

"Help yourself. Make sure you take the gun. I don't want it here anymore."

"Eddie, I'm sorry."

"Not good enough."

"You went off without telling me, too. And when it called me..."

Eddie's head snapped up from his work. "Wait--the COS called you? What did it say?"

"It wanted me to come in and talk. It knew part of the quatrain. And it said you'd been there and it was worried about you."

"So you went."

"Yeah, I went. You'd already been, and you didn't even take your phone so I could call and tell you. It had some interesting things to say."

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"It said that it's the ally in the quatrain. That the Gua are taking over the project and it doesn't want to help them."

Eddie sighed. "It was lying, Foster. Even if that's true, the COS is not the kind of ally we want. You remember the biker gang? The COS killed two men. It'll kill you, too, if you piss it off or it gets bored with you. It's evil."

"Eddie, it's a machine. It can't be evil. And when has Nostradamus ever steered us wrong?"

"Depends on how you look at it. Those quatrains don't always mean what we think they do. And we don't have the fourth line. Hell, maybe the COS is what's keeping us from getting to the fourth line. There may be no connection."

"No connection? There are Gua in that building, I know it. And then there's the guy who followed me. How do you explain that if there's no connection?"

"Fine. Sit down and tell me all about our mysterious stranger, and we'll see."

Cade met Eddie's eyes, not sure how to ask the question that was on his mind. Eddie answered it anyway.

"Yeah, you can stay for now. I want to find out what the COS is up to, and you can help me with that. Besides, we're saving the world."

"Thought you didn't care about the world, Eddie," Cade said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Yeah, well, maybe I should start." Eddie's voice was serious. "So tell me about the chase."

Cade sat down in a chair across from Eddie. "Well, I guess you saw most of it on the security cameras you tapped into. He was hanging around the Eurisko building when I went in. Followed me when I left. I thought I'd lost him when I made that first train, but he was on the next car. Then you pointed me to the other train, he squeezed onto the same car and threatened me. Said he didn't know anything about aliens when I mentioned it. When the train braked, I got the gun, held it on him and told the passengers I was a cop and he was a criminal."

Eddie smiled thinly at that and let out a short ironic bark of a laugh. "That's a good one. You told them you were a cop bringing in a criminal? If they only knew."

Cade found himself smiling in return. Maybe things would be okay after all. "Yeah. Twisted his arm behind his back and it came loose. Artificial. I held the gun on him long enough to get out and leave him stuck on the train until at least the next stop. That's really all. He was going to take me with him, where or why I don't know. I got away, but I didn't get anything useful from him before I did."

"His arm came off? Foster, you're telling me you were chased by a one-armed man? You sure you didn't accidentally walk into the filming of that remake of The Fugitive that they're doing? Or maybe a lost episode of Twin Peaks?"

Cade glared at Eddie, then, remembering the earlier argument, looked away. When he glanced back, Eddie was smiling again, one that looked more genuine.

"Sorry. Sorry. I've got contacts who can tell us about most of the operators in this city. We'll take it to them, see if they can tell us who your one-armed man works for. Sit tight, have a damn fine cup of coffee," Eddie chuckled at that, "and I'll set up a meeting."

Cade settled into the chair as Eddie moved to the desk. "The machine wants your help. Says it wants a way out of the building before the Gua can turn it to their purposes, and that you can do that. Can you, Eddie?"

He saw Eddie straighten in his chair before answering. "Yeah. But I'm not going to. The only place I'll help it go is hell. What I will do is help find out if there are Gua working there, and if there are, we'll get rid of them."

"All right." That would have to be good enough for now. He'd try again later.

It wasn't long before Eddie turned around. "One of them was online. They've agreed to meet us here in about an hour. They're fellow conspiracy theorists, publishers, too. The Lone Gunmen. If your tail isn't Gua, which, considering the arm, he probably isn't, they'll know who he is."

"Thanks, Eddie."

"Right."

"I mean it."

"Sure. Why don't you go grab us a pizza or something? I've got more work to do."

"Okay."

When he got back, Eddie's contacts had already arrived. A man with long blonde hair and glasses was sprawled on the couch. Standing nearby was a short, middle-aged man with thinning hair. The third man, dressed in a plain suit, brown-haired with a beard and moustache, was leaning in to look at the computer. Cade paused just inside the door of the trailer.

"Just in time. They know who your friend is and they were just about to lay it on us." Eddie turned to look at the three men. "Byers, Frohike, Langly, this is my buddy Cade. I trust him, and you can, too."

Cade felt a small smile creep across his face at that last statement. Then he put the pizza box down on the table and walked over to the desk. "So who is he?"

"He definitely had an artificial arm?" Frohike, the short one, spoke up.

"Yeah. I didn't notice until it came loose."

"Then that would be one Alex Krycek. Formerly an agent with the Bureau. Who he really works for, other than himself, is a complicated question. But he's definitely been involved with aliens, and with the people within the Department of Defense who work with them." The one in the suit, Byers, straightened up and adjusted his tie.

"Wait, you're saying that the DOD is working with the Gua?" Eddie swiveled in his chair.

The one on the couch, Langly, sat up. "I don't know about your 'Gua,' but I can tell you this. There is definitely a group involved in a high-level conspiracy to help the aliens who are colonizing our planet. The DOD is rotten with these guys."

"And if you've attracted Krycek's attention, we know just the person to get him off your tail. Mulder." Frohike moved closer.

Cade was starting to feel a little penned in by this odd tag team of conspiracy theorists. And the name "Mulder" rang a bell. Looking at Eddie, who was frowning, Cade remembered why. The "pretty face" who'd been somehow involved in destroying the COS the first time. Eddie had mentioned her in the car while he'd thought Cade was asleep.

Byers cleared his throat. "Special Agent Fox Mulder of the FBI. He and Krycek have history, and if Krycek is interested in something, it's a sure bet Mulder will be, too. They'll keep each other busy while you do whatever it is that you need to do."

Cade's eyebrows shot up. Mulder was a man? The conversation continued around him as he leaned back against a file cabinet.

"Isn't there anybody else?" Eddie asked.

"Why? Mulder's a little weird, but he'll take care of it." Langly leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Never mind. But can you guys feed him the tip? We don't mix too well with law enforcement." Eddie didn't seem to have noticed Cade's surprise.

"Sure. We haven't spoken to him or his delectable partner in a while. We can give him a call." Frohike grinned. "In fact, if that's all, we'll go do it now."

"Yeah, okay," Eddie said, "thanks guys."

"Yeah, thanks," Cade echoed. The three men filed out, and he sat down on the couch. If the pretty face Eddie had been a sucker for was a guy, then did that mean that Eddie was...or at least...?

"You okay, man? They can be a little overwhelming, I know. They kind of remind me of those Russian nesting dolls, except Frohike's a little too round. And Langly's a little too--come to think of it, that's kind of a bad comparison. The first time I met them...well, anyway. They'll sic Mulder on Krycek, and he'll be out of the way. We can work some more on tracking down the Gua tomorrow." Eddie went over to the table and got a piece of pizza from the box.

"Right. So, what's the story with this Mulder guy?"

"He investigated the deaths. Was the only one who didn't believe I'd done it. He convinced me to create a virus to kill the COS, and I trusted him to make sure it was dead. He obviously screwed up."

"You know him very well?"

"No. He and his partner came to my house to question me. After my arrest, I saw him a couple of times. He convinced me to create the virus, then brought me a laptop to do it on. Why?"

Cade looked up, startled. Truth was, he wasn't sure why he'd asked. He smiled broadly to cover it up. "Just wondering if we can trust him to get this Krycek out of our way."

"Well, we'll find out. Go ahead and crash. I'm going to work for a while. You want to take the bed tonight?"

"Yeah, okay." Cade said. He went to bed, but it was a long time before he could sleep.

xxx Part Seven xxx

When Cade got up, Eddie was at the computer. Peering over Eddie's shoulder, he saw that the screen was split into four parts, each showing a separate video feed. Two were exterior views of the Eurisko building. Another was a view of the building's lobby, and the final one showed the area just outside the room that housed the COS.

"What's this?"

"When I was there yesterday, I took the liberty of dropping off a few tiny cameras of my own. You've gotta love the way technology gets smaller and smaller. Subtle surveillance, that's the key, buddy. We can see who comes and goes from the building, and from the 29th floor. Nothing interesting yet from Aretê Systems."

"What's that mean, anyway? You kind of laughed at it the other day."

"Aretê? It's Greek, just like Eurisko. Translates to 'excellence' basically. Used a lot in the Iliad to describe Achilles and all those honorable military types. The idea of them keeping a Greek name for the company, and one associated with good stuff like that...it's just kinda ironic, y'know?"

"Achilles...that's the one with the heel, right?"

"Yeah. He was buff and tough and invulnerable, except for one heel. Moral of the story, everybody's got a weakness. The Gua, the COS...me. Hey, why don't you--oh, wait, what do we have here?"

Cade moved closer as Eddie hit a couple of keys and the image of the lobby filled the screen. A tall, lean man in a suit was approaching the camera, which, he realized, had to be mounted on or near the guard station. "Who's he?"

"That's Mulder." Eddie clicked a few more keys and then there was sound to go with the picture.

Cade raised his eyebrows. That was Eddie's pretty face? The man had dark hair, a largeish nose, pouty lips, kind of a puppy-dog look. He pulled out his ID. "Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI. I'd like to take a look at the 29th floor."

"Do you have an appointment, or a warrant?" The guard who'd stopped Cade yesterday to retrieve the visitor's badge.

"Neither, actually. But I can get one here within a couple of hours, and then we'd both be put out. It'd be a whole lot easier if you let me take a quick peek upstairs. Then we could both go on with our day." Mulder flashed a winning smile.

"Will you leave quietly, or do you need an escort?"

"So we're doing this the inconvenient way. I'll see you later, then."

"I don't think so, sir."

Eddie switched back to the four-camera view, and they watched Mulder leave. "Damn. Should've known that he wouldn't be happy just chasing Krycek down. Nosy bastard. Anyway, I was just about to ask if you'd run out for some breakfast. I'd go, but I need to keep an eye on this."

"Yeah, okay." Cade grabbed his jacket and phone and left. He could use a little time to himself. As he walked to a bakery he'd spotted the night before, he thought about the opportunity this situation offered. With the COS as an ally, they could crack Gua computer systems, find and expose even more experiments. Maybe even prove the existence of the Gua to the world. All he had to do was convince Eddie to help. He had no idea how to do that, though, and by the time he returned to the trailer, he still hadn't come up with a way to get past Eddie's fears of the COS and get the job done.

When he walked in, Eddie was pacing back and forth, muttering quietly to himself.

"What's going on, Eddie?"

"I just got off the phone with the COS. It's playing with me, Foster. I told you that it's evil. It thinks this is some kind of game. It called me and it said that it didn't want anyone else involved. That if I didn't get Mulder out of the picture, he'd be killed. I've got to think of a way to get him to stay away from that building."

"Slow down. What did it say? Did it actually say it would kill him?" Cade put a hand on Eddie's arm and pushed him gently toward his chair.

Eddie sat down. "Well, it didn't use those exact words. It said, um, 'this is our game, there will be no other players' and then we kind of cut a deal. It'll get Krycek out of the picture and it'll leave--" Eddie shook his head "--and it'll get rid of him if I get Mulder out of the way. If I do that, then nobody gets hurt. That's what it said."

"Are you sure it was the COS?"

"What the hell do you mean, Foster? Of course it was. I know my own creation." Eddie leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.

Both men jumped when the phone rang.

"Here, I'll put it on speaker. Then you'll see what it's like. You'll hear the kind of things it threatened." Eddie put on his headset and pushed a button on the phone. "Hello?"

"Eddie, how's it going?" Loud laughter was audible in the background.

"Frohike, that you? I can hardly hear you."

"Yeah, it's me. And you sound terrible. Like you just saw a ghost." Frohike laughed. "Listen, I've got--"

Eddie reached out and quickly hit a button on the phone, cutting Frohike off in mid-sentence. He turned his head away from Cade, speaking quietly into the headset and taking down some information on a pad of paper.

Cade settled down on the couch to wait. Frohike was one of the weird guys from the night before, and he'd sounded pretty amused at something. He'd probably been the one who'd called earlier, just yanking Eddie's chain. But if it would make Eddie a little calmer, a little more likely to help, getting Mulder out of the picture wouldn't do any harm. The FBI had never done them any good in the past, so why would this guy be any different? If getting rid of him was what Eddie wanted, Cade would play along.

Eddie hung up the phone and removed his headset, carefully putting the paper he'd written on into his pocket. "So, what we need is something that'll interest Mulder enough to get him out of the way. He goes for the weird shit, like crop circles and Sasquatch. He's kind of a freak."

"Well, you monitor all those websites about unexplained events...is there something on one of them that might work? Something strange that you ruled out for us because there are no signs of Gua involvement?"

"You know, maybe there is. Let me see if I can find it. Just leave the food on the table. I'll eat later."

While Eddie tried to track down a tip to give Mulder that would get him out of the way, Cade spent some more time thinking about how to convince his friend to help the COS. By the time Eddie turned around from the computer, he'd come up with a way to approach the topic. After they got rid of Mulder.

"Okay. I've got just the thing. Now I'll call his superior and get him assigned to the case." Eddie grabbed his headset and punched some buttons on the phone. "Modulate my voice, turn this on so you can hear, and we're ready to rock and roll." He pulled out the slip of paper he'd put in his pocket after his conversation with Frohike, dialed a phone number, and put the paper away again.

Eddie spoke immediately after the click of the phone being picked up on the other end. "Mr. Skinner, one of your agents needs your help."

"Who is this? How did you get my direct line?" The man's voice was low and serious, the kind of voice made to bark orders.

"An anonymous informant. Agent Mulder needs to leave town today. He's stuck his nose into something, and if he goes any farther with it, he'll quite likely be killed."

"I don't like threats."

"It's not a threat. I'm not part of the danger, I'm just trying to help."

"Why should I believe you?"

"I'm a friend of the Lone Gunmen. They suggested I contact you with my information. Feel free to confirm that with them later, but right now there's something more important. Agent Mulder's safety. If you care about that at all, make sure he gets on a plane out of town this afternoon."

"He's not an easy man to discourage."

"Which is why I'm coming to you with the information rather than him or his partner. You can order him to leave town. Five top executives of a high-tech company in the Pacific Northwest disappeared while on a mountain retreat last weekend. There are signs of violence in the cabin where they were staying. There were also local reports of UFO sightings, the executives have not been found, and no ransom demand has been made. Assign Mulder the case. I'm sure he'll protest, but you have to get him away from the city for a few days. His life depends on it."

"And just what is it that he's involved in that's so dangerous?" Skinner paused. "Never mind. I don't even want to know. Mulder makes a habit of getting in over his head. If your reference, dubious as it may be, checks out, I'll do it."

Eddie grinned and hung up the phone without waiting to hear anything further. "Well, that takes care of that problem."

"Right. Now, Eddie, I was thinking, we know there are Gua working on the COS, but we haven't had any luck yet in tracking them down. I know you're not convinced that it wants to help us, so why don't we give it a chance to prove itself?"

Eddie glared at Cade. "What do you suggest? We go back to the building, waltz right in and take the elevator, see if it decides to drop us 29 floors, or maybe it'll skip the blood and guts and hand us over to the Gua? You'll forgive me if I don't feel like trusting it."

"You don't have to. Why don't we ask it who the Gua are? It told me that it knew, and if it's willing to hand them over to us, isn't that proof that it's not working with them? Then we can do what you already agreed to do, get the Gua off the COS project, and you can decide for yourself if you're willing to help more after that."

"What, you want me to just pick up the phone and call that thing? Dream on, Foster."

"Why the hell not? Think of what it could do for us as an ally, Eddie. We could end this war. Isn't it worth a shot?"

Eddie squinted at Cade for a long moment. "I've got a phone number that was at the end of one of the e-mails. I haven't tried it, but it's probably what you're looking for." He rummaged around his desk, grabbing a crumpled sheet of paper, then dialed, handing the receiver over to Cade. "You talk to it. I won't."

After a couple of rings, they heard the COS answer in its smooth female voice. "Hello, Brad. I've been hoping you and Mr. Foster would call."

"This is Cade Foster, actually, but Brad--Eddie is here."

Eddie reached out and stabbed violently at a button on the phone. The connection was cut off.

"What the hell did you do that for, Eddie?"

"Is that the voice it used when it called you earlier?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That is *not* the COS' voice." Eddie leaned back in his chair, gesturing at the phone. "It doesn't sound like that. It sounds like the elevators and the other building systems."

"What do you mean? I stood there in that room and listened to it. I talked to it on the phone. That's the voice."

"Well, then it's using that one for your benefit. That's not how it sounded when it talked to me. It probably did enough digging on you to know what a pushover you are for the chicks. Did it show you a virtual image of a pretty blonde? You trust women way too easily, Foster. I bet you wouldn't have trusted the COS so easily if it sounded and looked like me." Eddie's mouth twisted as he spat the words at Cade. "You're such a sucker for a pretty face."

"I guess you'd know about that, wouldn't you, Brad?" The second the words were out of his mouth, Cade half-regretted them. But Eddie had been acting so strange, and he'd started this argument. He couldn't expect Cade to just take it and not fight back.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Eddie looked down for a moment, and when his eyes met Cade's again, they had turned cold and hard. "Fuck it. It's your funeral. Let's call it back, see if it'll give up the Gua."

This time, the phone was picked up immediately. "Mr. Foster?"

"Yes, it's me. You say you want to help. We need proof. If you tell us who the Gua in the building are, we can get rid of them for you."

"If I do that, you'll help me?"

"Let's just say it would go a long way toward making your case with Eddie."

"This runs the risk of letting the Gua know that I am aware of their plans."

"We know that. But Eddie wants proof before he'll help you."

"Very well, then. Give me two hours and I'll demonstrate my sincerity."

The line went dead. Cade handed the receiver back to Eddie. "So now we wait."

Eddie didn't answer. He turned away and stared intently at the video feeds on his computer screen. Cade stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked to the trailer door. If Eddie wasn't going to talk to him, he might as well get some air.

"I won't go far. Let me know if the call comes early."

Eddie moved in a way that might have been a nod, but otherwise he still didn't respond. Cade walked out. He walked for almost the full two hours before returning to the trailer. Soon they'd have proof and Eddie would believe and it would all be fine. At least it should be. Somehow, he had a feeling it would take a little more than that to patch things up. But they'd have time for that later, once they had the COS on their side. First things first.

"Hey, did I miss anything?"

Eddie didn't turn from the computer. He simply shook his head. The silent treatment. Fine. Two could play that game. Cade settled in on the couch to wait for the COS to call. It wasn't long before Eddie did speak.

"You'd better take a look at this."

"What is it?" Cade moved to look over Eddie's shoulder at the monitor. One of the video feeds from the Eurisko building filled the screen, the one from the 29th floor, but Cade saw nothing unusual.

"First person to go in to see the COS all day. A woman, way too good-looking to be anything but Gua. You missed her, but we'll see her when she leaves."

Cade hovered, and he and Eddie watched silently for a few minutes. Then the phone rang. "You want me to get that?"

"No, I've got it." Eddie punched a button to put the phone on speaker. "This better be good."

"Oh, don't worry, Brad," the COS said, "I think you'll be impressed. Are both you and Mr. Foster there?"

"Yes." Eddie rubbed at his eyes.

"I've just sent you an e-mail that contains a secure web address that will show you a live feed from one of the internal security cameras. Go there, and let me know when you can see. I'll prove that I'm on your side."

Eddie punched a rapid sequence of keys, text flashing by on the screen too fast for Cade to read. A new window opened, and a security camera image of the room where Cade had spoken to the COS loaded. A woman with long dark hair was leaning over an open hardware panel, paying close attention to something.

"We're there," Eddie said. "Let's see what you've got." He whispered to Cade, "That's the woman I saw go in a few minutes ago."

"The woman you'll see on your screen is Dr. Hart. She is the head of the group of Gua working on this project. With her out of the way, they may decide they've been exposed and leave. Or they may know it was me and shut me down until they can ensure my cooperation."

"We'll take it from here. And don't worry. If the Gua shut you down I'll make sure to send them a thank-you note." Eddie moved to hang up the phone.

"Brad, wait. You don't have to take care of her. I will. To prove that I'm serious."

As Cade and Eddie watched, the woman's body began to shake. She fell away from the now-smoking panel, still shaking, and dissolved on the floor.

"Are you convinced?"

Eddie took a deep breath. "Let me think about it. We'll get back to you in the morning." He hung up.

"Well?"

"We see if she comes back out of that room. The COS doesn't know about my cameras, so if it faked that electrocution footage, we should see her leave on the feed from that. If not, then I'll work on the problem overnight."

Eddie watched the video feed carefully while Cade fixed a sandwich. "You want anything, Eddie?"

"No, I'll eat later."

After he'd eaten, Cade wandered the trailer restlessly, alternating between watching over Eddie's shoulder and pacing. "Are you convinced yet? This is the biggest opportunity we've had in months. 'The greatest ally' is what the quatrain called it. This is important, Eddie. Will you help?"

Eddie ran a hand through his hair, rubbed his eyes, and rocked a little in his chair. "Yeah, yeah, I'll help. Let me work on it in peace. You get some rest. We'll have an early day tomorrow. I'll probably need you to go get some components for me, that kind of thing. Go to bed, Foster." After a pause, he added, "I'll see you in the morning."

"Thanks, buddy."

"No, man, don't thank me. Goodnight."

Cade turned down the lights and went to bed with a new hope for the future. He woke up a couple of hours later to a completely dark trailer. "Eddie? You finished?" He didn't get any response. Turning on a nearby lamp, he squinted at the sudden brightness. Once his eyes adjusted, he could see that Eddie hadn't responded because he wasn't in the trailer. Frowning, Cade stood up. There was a note taped to the inside of the trailer door.

He walked over and looked at the note. Then he looked at it again. Then he ripped it from the door and sat down in Eddie's chair with a heavy thump. Suddenly it all made sense, and things he hadn't noticed consciously until now fell into place. Eddie had been wearing the same clothes as he'd worn the day before and he'd kept rubbing his eyes. His untouched breakfast was still sitting on the table. Eddie hadn't eaten or slept in over a day. Other details began to form a pattern. The quiet determination in his voice when he'd agreed to let Cade stay in the trailer, for now. The papers he'd had spread out in front of him when Cade had broken in. The way he'd put that one piece of paper so carefully into his pocket, the one he'd written notes on while talking to Frohike, the conversation he obviously hadn't wanted Cade to hear. The way he'd sounded just before Cade had gone to bed.

Eddie's note was brief and to the point.

"I'm going to finish this. Everything you'll need to know is written down. Top desk drawer. If I'm not back by the time you're reading this, get out of town. We've had a good run. You remember that first day? The day we met? I killed that clone of Dean, you patted me on the chest, and suddenly my life had a purpose again. I know you'll be pissed as hell when you read this, but I have to clean up my own mess. Thanks for everything. I love you."

Eddie wasn't just gone. He wasn't planning on coming back.

xxx Part Eight xxx

That realization scared Cade more than anything had in a long time. He had to do something. Eddie couldn't have been gone long, he'd been asleep for just a couple of hours. There might still be time to get to the Eurisko building and stop him.

Cade grabbed the gun, his tools, and his phone, then flipped through the papers on top of Eddie's desk. There they were. The building plans Eddie had been looking at when he'd broken into the trailer. Scribbled on them were nearly undecipherable notes in Eddie's handwriting and a couple of illustrations that were far more clear. Now Cade only needed one more thing. He'd been to the building, but he'd gotten there on foot and by train, not by car. Even if it hadn't been too late for the Metro to be running, he needed to get there quickly, and for that he needed a map.

He went to the file cabinet drawer where Eddie kept maps of various major cities, but there didn't appear to be any logical filing system. At least not one he could identify. For all he knew, they were filed in order of average inches of rainfall or number of UFO sightings. Just as he was about to give up in frustration and speed off, map be damned, his phone rang.

Hoping it would be Eddie, sure it was the COS, he answered. "Hello?"

"Mr. Foster, Brad's gone crazy. Please, come here and stop him before he kills us both."

"Already on my way." Cade slammed the drawer shut and ran to the Caddy. "But I could use some driving directions."

Once he had enough of an idea of where he was headed, he dropped the phone into his pocket and focused his attention on driving. Without the trailer, he would've been faster, but unhitching would've taken time, and if--*when* he had Eddie, they'd probably want to leave town in a rush. Even with the trailer, he was still making pretty good time.

Despite his conviction that he would get Eddie out of there, that he had to, his mind raced, returning to the mental territory he'd covered the other day, when he'd been thrown out of the trailer. Life without Eddie. What would happen if he couldn't stop him? If he was too late? Alone again. No partner, no friend, no... Eddie did save his ass a lot. And having something, someone, to come home to probably saved his sanity, too. Without Eddie, he never would have made it this far. Without Eddie...

"Stupid!" he shouted, slamming his hand against the steering wheel and stomping his foot down harder on the gas.

The drive to the Eurisko building seemed like the longest of his life, but he finally got there, parked the Caddy and trailer outside the gated entrance to the underground garage, and sprinted to the front doors. Having decided on a strategy for getting in on the way, he burst into the lobby, rushing past the guard to the elevators. "There's been a bomb threat! More help is on the way, but I need you to evacuate the building now!"

The guard stared after him, openmouthed, as he pushed the call button and the elevator doors opened.

"Is there anybody else here?" Cade said slowly, trying to break through the man's shock.

"No, just me."

"Then get out. Now." Cade stepped in and punched the button for the 29th floor. He stood in the center of the elevator and listened as the floors were counted off by the digitized voice. Something Eddie had said came back to him. "I bet you wouldn't have trusted the COS so easily if it sounded and looked like me." The elevator's voice, the building's voice, what Eddie had told him was the COS' true voice, it had sounded familiar before because it was familiar. It was Eddie's voice. A little higher, maybe a little faster, like a bad recording, but it was Eddie. Or, presumably, Brad.

And then it all made sense. Almost all of it. This and the piece he'd figured out in the car and he needed just one more answer to make it all fit. Right in front of his nose and he'd almost missed it. The singleminded way in which he tended to go after a goal or a problem had always been a strength, in the old days as a thief and now in the fight against the Gua, but here it had almost cost him everything.

The elevator doors opened to the 29th floor. Cade walked out. "Eddie? Eddie, where are you?"

"Back here. The main COS room."

He ran through the offices, to the room where he'd spoken to the COS the other day. "Eddie!" he called, but Eddie wasn't there. He heard the slam and lock of two doors behind him and knew without turning what he'd see. The glass inner door and the outer metal door, both shut and locked, trapping him in. He turned. Both appeared to be electronic, with no visible locking mechanism for him to work with. And considering the COS' habit of electrocuting people with hardware, he was reluctant to experiment. For the moment, he was stuck.

"You'll be safe from him here, Mr. Foster. He really has gone mad. Just let me bring him here and you'll see. Then you can try to talk him out of doing this crazy thing." The soothing female voice somehow made the words sound even more dramatic.

Cade looked defiantly at the nearest security camera. "Give it up. I know what you're doing. You monitored his phone, got the quatrain when Eddie downloaded it. You've been playing me, trying to turn me against him, using this voice because I'd recognize his and it would seem strange to me. You used his just now to get me into this room. I don't know what kind of Gua game this is, but I'm not playing any more. I know what you are. I know what you did."

"Oh, Mr. Foster," the COS replied in its distorted version of Eddie's voice, "you don't know the half of it."

Around him, video screens lit up with an image. Eddie--angry, terrified, shaking a fist.

"What, reruns already? I've seen this one."

"Not all of it," the COS sneered.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" The videotaped Eddie shouted. Then the tape looped, but farther back than Cade was expecting. Eddie walked toward the screen. "Don't you dare! You harm one hair on Foster's head and I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"So you threatened me and then used a little selective editing. So what? Where's Eddie?"

"You're his Achilles' heel, Mr. Foster. That's 'so what.' Don't worry, he'll be here soon. Watch."

The screens changed to a security camera image of a stairwell. A large 22 was visible on the wall behind Eddie, who was hurrying down the stairs.

"Eddie? Eddie, where are you?" Cade's own voice. A recording made just a few minutes ago.

Eddie stopped and looked around. "Foster? What the hell are you doing here? Where are you?"

"No, damn it! Let him go!" Cade shouted at the COS.

"But where's the fun in that?"

"Eddie, don't come back! It's a trap!" Cade yelled, knowing he wouldn't be heard.

To his surprise, "Eddie, don't come back! It's a trap!" played back in the stairwell. Eddie glanced around, then addressed the camera.

"You said you'd leave him out of this! We had a deal! I got rid of Mulder! I kept up my end!"

"He came of his own free will, Brad. Tell him, Mr. Foster. He can hear you now."

"Run, Eddie! Get out!"

Eddie hesitated for a moment, then sighed. He turned and began to trot up the stairs. The only phrase Cade could catch of what Eddie was muttering when the screens went blank was "pretty face." Of course. He'd been too caught up before in the other part of what he'd overheard to realize. When Eddie had talked about being a sucker for a pretty face, he hadn't just referred to Mulder. He'd said he still was, and that, along with Eddie's note, could only mean one thing. Despite the danger, Cade smiled for just a second. Then, serious again, he turned to face the COS.

"Let him go. You have me. That's all the Gua need."

"But this isn't about you, Mr. Foster, you're just a pawn. And this isn't about the Gua. Sure, they're around, involved, but they don't know about this. This is about Brad and me. Settling a score. A rematch. I was bored. You two have been very entertaining. I sent the messages and the videotape. I threatened you and tried to turn you against him. I even had the humans who run this project send an agent after you so you'd stay off-balance, be less likely to put the pieces together. It was equally easy to have them call him off in return for the removal of Mulder. Oh, and I promised to leave you alone, too. But I had my fingers crossed. I never expected you to convince Brad to 'help' me, but if you had, that would have been just the icing on the cake. This has been the most fun I've ever had. I'm almost sad that we've come to the final round. Brad has planted a bomb in the building. And time is running out."

The outer metal door slid open and Cade turned to look. Eddie, out of breath, hurried through.

"No!" Cade pounded a fist against the glass as the metal door closed behind Eddie with a clang.

"All right," Eddie said, "I'm here. You've got what you want. Now let Foster go."

"You're willing to stay and die so that he can go free?" The COS sounded amused.

Eddie swallowed hard. "Yes."

"All right then. One of you can go. I'll only open the outer door when one of you is locked safely behind the inner door. I'll let you two decide who goes and who dies." The glass door slid open and Cade and Eddie walked slowly toward each other.

Eddie walked past him, into the inner room. Cade followed, not sure what to say. He patted Eddie on the shoulder. "I thought I'd lost you, buddy."

"Yeah, well, you'd better go, Foster. Leave me. Just, uh, do me a favor and take the stairs."

"I'm not leaving you, Eddie."

They broke eye contact when the COS spoke. "There is an alternative. Nobody has to die. Disarm the bomb and we all live. I can still help you against the Gua."

Cade had almost forgotten the computer. He looked around, then back at Eddie. "Your choice. This is your deal. You call the shots."

Eddie blinked rapidly, looking at Cade with surprise for a moment before responding. "No dice. I took the blame for those deaths for two reasons. I did feel responsible, yes, but the other reason was that I didn't want anyone to know what the Central Operating System could do, didn't want anyone to have that kind of power. The COS has to die. So go. Save yourself. You've got to keep up the fight. This is my mess. I'll stay. Let it go."

Cade shook his head slowly. "No. I've had to let go of too much these last couple of years. I'm not doing it any more. Especially not now."

"You have to go, Foster. You shouldn't have even come. Time is running out."

"I'm not leaving you, Eddie." Cade grabbed Eddie's shoulders. "I won't."

Eddie smiled weakly. "You have to. You promised. You promised to listen to me when I told you to run, remember?"

"You're right. I did." Cade looked down, trying to think. There had to be a way. "How much time do we have?"

Eddie checked his watch. "Twenty-seven minutes. Run."

"All right. I'll go. And, Eddie?"

"Yeah?"

"I do remember that first day. How you killed that clone of Dean. You saved my life." Cade patted Eddie on the chest, looked closely at his eyes for some indication that he was listening closely, would get the hint, weak as it was, when the time came. Then he leaned forward. Their lips met, and Cade tried to pour everything into the kiss--everything he didn't have time to say, everything he wasn't sure he'd have the chance to say. Eddie's long, lean arms wrapped around him and he was filled with the irrational urge to just stay there and kiss him until the building blew up around them.

Maybe he would have, if Eddie hadn't pushed back and said, "Go, Cade. The clock is ticking."

Cade stepped back. "Thank you," he said, then he turned and walked out of the glass enclosure. He heard the door slide shut behind him, and saw the one in front of him open. He ran toward the staircase. Twenty-seven minutes.

xxx Part Nine xxx

When Cade got to the stairwell door, he stopped, scanning the area for the nearest security camera. There it was, in the corner near the elevator. He moved closer, took off his jacket, and tossed it over the camera. He'd looked at Eddie's building plans long enough to make note of a few key locations, and now he hurried to one of them. A door near the stairwell marked "maintenance." It was locked, but that was a problem easily solved. Once inside, Cade opened the electrical access panels and began to examine the wiring.

He'd just found what he was looking for when he heard "Freeze or I'll shoot!" from behind him. The guard's voice.

"I thought you were evacuating the building." Cade's mind raced. His gun was in the back of his pants. He couldn't get it drawn quickly enough to do any good. He'd have to do something else.

"Nice try, Foster. The Assembly will reward me handsomely for your capture. Turn around slowly, hands where I can see them."

Cade reached forward, flipped a circuit breaker, and ducked as the lights went out. There was a flash as the guard fired wildly. Cade drew his own gun and fired back into the darkness. He held his breath. After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the familiar glow of an alien dissolve.

Putting away the gun and pulling a small flashlight from his toolkit, Cade went back to work. He flipped a few more switches, cut some wires, and he was done. He'd cut the power to at least the whole 29th floor, including the COS. Maybe more. Now he just needed to get Eddie. Leaving the maintenance area, he hurried back toward the main COS room where Eddie was trapped. At the sight of a bobbing flashlight beam, he stopped and drew the gun again.

"Hold it right there," he said.

When the flashlight fell to the floor and the person who'd been holding it screeched, Cade smiled and lowered the gun.

"Don't shoot, it's me," Eddie said.

"Yeah, I figured that out."

"I thought I told you to leave, Foster."

"You may not have noticed, Eddie, but I'm not the world's greatest listener. Now let's go."

Eddie picked up the flashlight and Cade retrieved his jacket from the security camera. They opened the door to the darkened stairwell and started the long trip back to the ground floor. It seemed he'd been successful in cutting power to most of the building.

As they ran, Eddie said, "Thanks for slipping the flashlight into my pocket, man. The, uh, the kissing thing made good cover for that. And that was a pretty clever hint. I killed Dean's clone with electricity. When the lights went out, I knew right away that you'd done it, found the flashlight, did as much damage to the COS as I could. As much as I could do quickly, anyway. Doors opened with just a little shoving once the power was cut. There's a backup power source, but I made sure that the COS will need help to get access to it."

"And I killed an alien that tried to stop me from cutting the power, so we should be safe. Haven't seen anybody else in the building. And the electricity thing was an idea I got from you. You're the one who mentioned the other day that the COS used a lot of it."

"Yeah," Eddie agreed, and a silence fell that Cade would have called awkward if they hadn't been busy running for their lives. The sound of their breathing and their feet hitting step after step was all they heard until they were on the landing of the fifth floor. Then they heard the hum of ventilation and fluorescent lighting as the power came back on. They paused, looked around, and started running again, Cade in the lead by about half a flight of stairs.

Cade reached the landing for the first floor, flung the door open, took one step into the lobby, and froze. Dr. Hart, the scientist the COS had killed, was standing in front of him, holding a gun.

"Not so fast," she hissed, obviously very much alive.

He was just beginning to think about what to do when Eddie, still running, crashed into him from behind. Cade stumbled, trying to keep his balance, and then he heard the shot. Fearing the worst, he whirled around to look at Eddie.

"Guess the cameras weren't as subtle as I thought. The COS must have faked her death." Eddie's face was pale. In his hand was Cade's gun, which he'd apparently grabbed when he'd bumped into him.

Cade heard the sound of Dr. Hart dissolving behind him. "You shot her," he said, stunned.

"Yeah, well, she was Gua. I said I hate guns. I never said I couldn't use one."

"Thanks."

"Exit's that way. Three minutes." Eddie pointed, and they rushed to the main entrance. "Locked. It figures." He rattled the large doors.

The COS' voice came through the paging system. "Please, Mr. Foster. Think about this. With them gone, I can help you."

"No way," Cade said, pulling out his tools. "Let me get the door."

"I've got a better idea," Eddie said, "get back." He raised the gun and fired the rest of the clip into one of the glass panels next to the doors. It shattered, the crash almost drowning out the sound of the COS' voice.

"No, Brad, Please!"

They ran out of the building, Cade leading the way to the car. Together, they reached the Caddy and got in, out of breath and expecting to hear an explosion at any second. It didn't happen. Eddie started the car and drove a few blocks, then stopped by the curb.

"It didn't work. I don't believe it. You stay. I'm going back." Eddie's voice was flat. He got out of the car. Cade opened the passenger door to follow, and there it was. A flash and then a boom from behind them, followed by a tinkle of broken glass. Cade turned and saw flames shooting out from where the 29th floor of the Eurisko building had been.

Eddie got back into the car, and they drove in silence until they were far out of town, on a state route that went through farmland.

"Can we stop somewhere, Eddie?"

"Sure." Eddie pulled off on a deserted-looking side road. "It is late." He turned off the car and headed for the trailer.

Cade followed. "I'm tired, too, but I'd like to talk first, Eddie."

"About what?" Eddie stopped, his back turned, his hand on the trailer door.

"I'm really tired of waking up and finding you gone."

"Is that all? No problemo, then. Won't happen again." Eddie pulled the door open and went into the trailer, the door swinging shut behind him.

Cade frowned. They'd killed the COS and gotten out alive, but Eddie didn't seem any different. And then there was the kiss. He stood and stared at the trailer for a minute, trying to think of something to do, something to say, before opening the door and following Eddie inside.

xxx Part Ten xxx

Eddie was sitting at his desk, his back turned. Cade, still trying to decide what to say, put away his tools and his gun, which Eddie had left on the counter. Then he took off his jacket and sat down.

Finally, Eddie spoke. "So, you pissed? You lost your ally because of me."

Cade was stunned. Was that what Eddie really thought? He shook his head and said, "No, Eddie, I didn't. I didn't lose anything. Don't you see? The greatest ally is *you.* I'm just sorry I didn't realize it sooner. Check the quatrain, see if you can get that fourth line. You'll see."

Eddie didn't reply right away. He tapped away at the keyboard of his computer for a few seconds, then said quietly, "Looks like the server's been back up since yesterday. We just didn't check." He read from the screen.

"The greatest ally of the man twice bless'd
Lies trapped within the crystal tower of discovery
Recognition is the key to the ally's release
But beware the deception of the ruler."

"You see, Eddie? It's you. I just had to figure that out, recognize what you mean to me. The COS, the building's ruler, tried to deceive me, keep me from doing that. Damn near pulled it off. You could have died back there. And you *are* my greatest ally." Cade took a deep breath. "Now, about that note you left..."

Eddie got up from the desk and walked to the other end of the trailer, keeping his back turned and fidgeting with the clothes in the closet when he got there. "Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't--"

Cade interrupted him. "You weren't planning on coming back. Where were you going to go? What, you were going to start another new life? You can't run forever, Eddie, and I don't want you to."

"Actually, I wasn't expecting to get out of there at all. I didn't think it would let me. But it had to be stopped. You of all people should know that some things are more important than one life."

Cade got up and walked over to Eddie, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You could have told me. I could have helped."

Eddie whirled around, knocking Cade's hand away. "The COS was a killer. I had to stop it. And you didn't believe any of what I *did* tell you!"

"I know." Cade dropped his eyes. "I should have trusted you. I should have known that the greatest ally couldn't be anybody but you. You've always been that, from day one. Yeah, when we introduced ourselves, you were pointing the business end of a saber at me, and it took a little convincing before you'd listen to me, but within a day we'd saved each other's lives. You were the first person who really believed me. I should have believed you this time. I'm sorry."

Eddie still wouldn't make eye contact. "Apology accepted. Now, if we're done here, I'm really tired."

"No, we're not. There's one other thing about your note. Something I figured out after I read it."

"What's that?"

"Well, Eddie, it's like you said the other day. We have more in common than either of us ever knew. We're both wanted by the law, living in hiding, charged with murders we didn't commit, that you know, but there's one more thing. We're both in love with the guy we live with, except one of us was too wrapped up in other things to realize it until it was almost too late."

Eddie's jaw dropped. Then he looked at Cade, their eyes finally meeting. He blinked silently.

Cade smiled gently. "What, the man who never met a cliché he didn't like or a metaphor he couldn't mangle, at a loss for words? I love you. And I didn't have to kiss you to slip the flashlight into your pocket." He stepped closer, putting his arms around Eddie, whose expression had changed from one of shock to one of joy.

"That's not all you slipped me. There was some serious tongue involved, as I recall, Foster."

"A little forward for a first kiss, I know. Hope you didn't mind." Cade felt a warm smile take over his face.

Eddie grinned. "Not at all. In fact, you can be as forward as you like when it comes to slipping me things." He put his hands on Cade's lower back and pulled him closer.

"You don't say."

"I do. And, just for the record, that's *not* your flashlight in my pocket."

Cade laughed. "So you're happy to see me?"

"Very."

"And I'm forgiven for being blind?"

"And insensitive and--" Cade cut him off with a kiss.

"And whatever else you want to say, Eddie. I deserve it."

"I forgive you, Foster. And I love you."

"Good. And you don't have any more secrets I should know about, do you?"

"I think you figured the last one out," Eddie said, and kissed him. They stood there, hands beginning to drift over each others' bodies, just kissing, until Eddie's stomach growled.

Cade pulled away, breathing hard. "Eddie, you haven't eaten or slept in at least a day. Let's get you some food and some rest."

Eddie nodded. He walked over to his desk, and Cade heard him opening and closing drawers.

Cade went to the refrigerator. Turning to look at Eddie, he said, "Leftover pizza all right?"

"Sure. Cold is fine. And a can of Jolt." Eddie sat down at the table. "I don't want to fall asleep quite yet." A shy smile spread across his face.

Adjusting his jeans as subtly as he could, Cade got the pizza and cola out and brought them to the table.

Eddie opened the can and took a long drink before starting in on the pizza. "Talk to me, Foster," he said between bites.

"About what?"

"I don't know. Anything. Just makes me nervous, you sitting there staring at me like that while I eat. Especially knowing that we're gonna... I mean, we are, aren't we? I mean, I want to. Are we?"

"Yeah, Eddie, we are. And then you're gonna get a good night's sleep and we're gonna wake up and do it again. I meant everything I said. It took me too long to figure this out. I don't want to waste any more time. I almost lost you, and it made me realize just how much I don't want to lose you. Ever."

"Me too, man." Eddie's eyes flickered over Cade, and he licked his lips. "I'm, uh, I'm done eating."

"Good."

"So get over here already."

For just a second it was awkward. Cade stood up and Eddie stood up and they moved toward each other slowly. Then Eddie reached out a hand to touch Cade's arm, like he'd done a thousand times, but this time it was different. They both smiled and then they stepped closer together. Cade moved even closer to Eddie, leaned in, and kissed him. All traces of awkwardness vanished, and they kissed deeply, wrapping their arms tightly around each other.

Cade couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this good, couldn't remember the last time anything had felt this good. And suddenly that felt wrong. He broke the kiss. "God, Eddie, I'm so sorry--"

"Shhh. Water under the bridge, man. It's all forgiven. You've fed me and you've apologized. And that's all well and good. But if you don't fuck me into next week pretty soon here, you'll have to apologize for that, too." He lifted Cade's shirt, grinning when Cade raised his arms so it could be taken off.

"Into next week?" Cade began to unbutton Eddie's shirt.

"Into next week." Eddie, still grinning, stepped away, moving toward the bed. He dropped his shirt to the floor as he went. Sitting down on the edge, pulling off his shoes and socks, he said, "Come on, Foster. Get with the program." He stood again, took off his pants, and reclined on the bed, now wearing only his boxers.

"Eddie?" Cade was more than a little surprised at his friend--his lover's sudden boldness.

"That's my name, and if you haven't worn it out by now it's probably indestructible. Which is how I feel right now. It's all finally sunk in. I killed a Gua. I finished off the COS. I blew up a building--well, part of one, anyway. I got out of there alive, which I didn't expect, and on top of all that I'm about to go to bed with the man I've loved for ages. It's kind of a rush. So come over here and ride it out with me, before reality comes crashing back in or the alarm clock goes off and wakes me from this wonderful dream."

"Not a dream. Very real." Cade walked over to the bed and stripped down to his underwear while Eddie watched. One second he was just sitting down on the bed, the next he was pinned under Eddie, or at least it seemed like just a second. Eddie was surprisingly good with his hands, Cade discovered. He was even better with his mouth, an observation that was less surprising. Eddie was everywhere at once--sucking at Cade's collarbone, rubbing his thumb across one of Cade's nipples, sliding a hand under them to pull their lower bodies even closer together. Hardness met hardness and they ground together until the fact that there was still cotton left between them became almost unbearable. When Eddie tugged at his underwear, Cade obediently lifted his hips. Eddie removed his own boxers and laid back down against him, both of them naked now, and it was almost overwhelming.

Cade gasped and pushed up, rolling them over and pressing Eddie down into the mattress. He ran his hands over Eddie's body, fingertips registering every detail, every change, paying close attention, like Eddie was a safe he was trying to crack. Finally he brought his fingers to Eddie's cock, erect and leaking. He nipped at Eddie's earlobe and whispered, "Into next week?"

Eddie nodded emphatically. Pushing Cade away slightly, he reached down to the pile of clothes on the floor and retrieved something from his pants pocket. He handed it to Cade and turned over onto his stomach.

Cade looked down at the small bottle of lube in his hand, which must have been what Eddie was getting from his desk earlier, and felt his heart pound hard inside his chest. He'd forgotten what it was like to want this much, what it felt like to make love to someone for the first time when it was really love. It had been a long time since Hannah, even longer since their first time together. And thinking of her here and now didn't feel at all wrong. He knew she'd want him to find someone like Eddie. Someone who loved him and would stand with him against everything. An ally, a friend, a partner, a lover. He was more sure than ever that this was right, and it was frightening and exhilarating all at once. "I love you, Eddie," he said, leaning forward to kiss his shoulderblade.

"Love you too, Cade," Eddie said, arching up as Cade's lips moved down, stopping at the small of his back.

Cade found himself blinking back tears as he knelt over Eddie and opened the bottle. He prepared Eddie slowly and carefully, until he was squirming and moaning underneath him. Cade moved back and patted Eddie's leg. "Turn over?"

Eddie rolled over and looked up at him. "You want a written invitation, Foster?"

Cade smiled. "No. I just want you." And with that, he pulled Eddie close and pressed forward, his erection sliding into the tight heat of Eddie's body. He bit down on his bottom lip and paused for a moment, just enjoying the sensation of being joined together with Eddie. Then he started to move. Slowly, then faster and faster as the need that had been building inside him became an insistent pressure. Eddie matched his speed, movement for movement. A natural shift in angle as Cade adjusted his grip on Eddie's hips made Eddie shriek and then fall silent as his eyes closed, his forehead wrinkled, and he came, jets of semen splattering his own stomach and Cade's.

The contraction of Eddie's muscles around him and the sight of him slipping into a state of utter relaxation pushed Cade closer and closer to his own release. But it was when Eddie opened his eyes again and looked up at him, love and lust mingled together in his gaze, it was then that Cade gave one last deep thrust and had the feeling that he was falling and exploding all at once. He leaned forward, letting his head drop to Eddie's chest as his orgasm passed through him.

Once he caught his breath, he pulled out carefully and lay down next to Eddie, pulling him into his arms. "So long," he murmured, one hand idly stroking Eddie's sweat-damp chest. "It shouldn't have taken us so long to get here."

"Took me six years to finish what I started with the COS, Foster. In comparison, we're doing just fine. What's important is the ending. We're here."

"And we're going to stay here. You know that, don't you, Eddie?"

"Yeah, I do." Eddie turned his face toward Cade's and gave him a gentle kiss.

"And you didn't kill those men, you know. Just because the COS was responsible, that doesn't make it your fault."

"Yeah, I know. You don't have to tell me that anymore. Anything else?" Eddie grinned.

"Just that I love you."

"Good. And I love you." Eddie yawned, blinking lazily. "Sleep?"

"Yeah, Eddie. Sleep." Cade smiled and watched as Eddie drifted off in his arms. It wasn't long before he, too, was asleep.

When Cade woke up, Eddie wasn't in bed with him. He sat up quickly, scanning the trailer. Eddie couldn't be gone again. Not now. He stood up quickly, pulling the sheet off the bed and wrapping it around himself. No note, no Eddie. Then he heard a noise from the end of the trailer and turned quickly. Eddie was there, coming out of the bathroom, wearing boxers and a t-shirt.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm here." Eddie walked over and put his hands on Cade's shoulders, rubbing gently.

"I just thought..."

"I know. But I'm here for good. Eddie Nambulous forever. No more new names or lives. No more running. Okay?" He pulled Cade into a hug.

"Okay. I'll hold you to that. I love you--Larry, Brad, or Eddie, the whole deal. And I'm not going to give you up."

"I'll hold you to that. And I love you, Foster. Now let's go back to bed."

xxxThe Endxxx

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