LOMAN HOME

Duncan Kincaid removed a sheet of paper from his pocket and checked the address he had scrawled onto the sheet this morning. He was now standing in front of the former home of Arthur Loman. Expecting to find the home dilapidated, Duncan was surprised to see a remodeled house standing before him.

However, the house didn't appear to have any inhabitants due to a "For Sale" sign firmly planted on the front lawn. Which meant that Duncan would now have time to survey the inside and see if there were any remnants of Arthur Loman's life.

Oddly enough, the home hadn't belonged to Loman last. An Asian family by the name of Lim lived at the address for less than a year following Loman's initial arrest. There was no other information on the Lim family available, not even on why they no longer lived there.

Duncan took a deep breath and approached the front door. He reached for the doorknob and found that the door was unlocked. Startled, Duncan pushed the door open and entered the house.

"Hello?" Duncan called out, his voice echoing throughout the bare house. "Is anyone here?"

When he didn't hear a response, Duncan closed the door and tried looking around for something useful. Maybe there was some area of the house that hadn't been renovated.

The basement was the first area that cam to Duncan's mind, and so he did a quick sweep of the first floor to find a basement door. After finding the door leading downstairs, Duncan heard someone crying.



ABANDONED CHURCH

Vincent Moore opened his eyes and tried to discern where he was, since it was obvious he wasn't waking up in his bedroom at the Hanley mansion. Realizing that he was resting in a shallow pool of water, he quickly rose to his feet and cried out.

"Stop yelling," Julia Mitchell muttered, approaching him. "It won't do any good."

Vince cried out again. "Where did you come from?"

"I tried walking down the sewer while you and Blake were unconscious," Julia said. "But it was a bust, there was some cave in or something, I can barely get twenty feet."

"Oh yeah…we're in a sewer," Vince muttered. "Now I remember."

"Well, do you also remember the guy who looked like you that you couldn't use your weird Alex Mack powers on?" Julia asked.

"Yeah, I do," Vince said, rubbing his head. "I think that…"

Vince groaned, clutching his head with more force and leaning against the wall. He tried taking a deep breath to calm himself, while Julia watched in shock.

"Are you okay?" Julia demanded.

"I'm…I thought I heard someone talking," Vince said.

"It must be them up there," Julia said. "Those nuts who are keeping us captive."

"Are you guys okay?" Blake asked, sitting up in the pool of water.

"Us? You're the one who's been out since we first got here," Julia said.

"I'm fine," Blake insisted. "I'm just worried about getting out of here."

"Someone has to come looking for us," Julia insisted.

"If they even notice we're gone," Blake muttered.

Vince grimaced and turned away from his friends to shield his expression. Because the voices he was wearing definitely weren't coming from above him, they were coming from inside his mind. The only problem was, he didn't know why…and he didn't know whom the voices belonged to.



PHILLIPS HOME

Ryan Phillips lifted a picture frame that held a photograph of him, his wife Vanessa Phillips, and their son Eamon. Ryan planned to hold onto the picture, despite its inherent falseness. Vanessa has only married Ryan because she thought they shared a child together. If she knew that Eamon wasn't really Ryan's son, then she would divorce him and have him thrown in jail for altering her paternity test results.

"I can't do this anymore," Ryan sighed, dropping the picture frame into a box that was lying on his bed. "There's nothing left for me in Marquette Cove."

Ryan's statement was true in more than one way. He had lost Vanessa, and he would probably lose his job if anyone decided to start a fuss about his legal issues involving Alexis Lopez. He no longer had a good reputation in town, he was met with stares and whispers everywhere he went. And now that Michael Hanley was still able to blackmail him…Ryan needed a new start.

"Maybe I can move somewhere and get another teaching job," Ryan muttered.

Teaching was one thing he did love. He would still be able to enjoy it if it weren't for the unfortunate incident of sleeping with one of his students…a night which Ryan still didn't understand entirely.

But he couldn't focus on that anymore.

"I guess I'd better call Janice and let her know that I won't be coming back to school in the fall," Ryan said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "And then…I'll have just one more loose end to tie up."



SUNNYDALE APARTMENTS
FORDHAM BAY

Michael Hanley unlocked the door to Apartment #615 and stepped inside. He left the door open so that Dr. Victor Collins could follow them inside with their guest, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt to conceal his face. Once all three were inside, Michael closed the door and removed the hood, revealing Sean Moore's face.

"Hello Simon," Michael said, smiling at him.

"This apartment is great, Mr. Eastcott," Sean said, surveying the apartment's living room. "It's so nice of you to give me a home."

"It's the least I could do, Simon," Michael said. "After the horrible accident that killed your family, I feel obligated to help you."

"Accident?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Michael said. "I didn't want to bring up the fact that drug dealers murdered your family again. But honestly, living here where no one will be able to find you is going to be perfect."

"But Marquette Cove is so close to here," Sean said.

"No, it's not," Michael snapped. "Besides, the building superintendent is working for me. He'll be keeping a close watch to make sure no harm comes to you."

"And I will be visiting periodically to check up on your health," Victor offered. "We want you to lead a happy and healthy life."

"I will," Sean reassured them. "Simon Price is no quitter, and I'm not going to let this get me down. I just wish I remembered more about my…"

"Just a little amnesia," Victor said, cutting him off. "Nothing to worry about. Memories of your family should come back to you soon enough."

"Thank you," Sean said, embracing Michael. "Thank you so much, Bruce."

Michael smiled at Victor as he hugged Sean, knowing that all of his plans were finally coming together nicely. "It's my pleasure, Simon."

Duncan froze when he saw a girl kneeling on the floor, concealing her face with her hands and her long black hair. She also seemed to be whispering something in Japanese.

"Are you okay?" Duncan asked. "How did you get in here?"

"I…I live here," the young girl said, speaking in Japanese.

Duncan didn't understand Japanese, and so he didn't know how to respond. He tried approaching the girl, as she raised her head to meet his face. She brushed away the strands of hair covering her eyes.

Duncan cried out and stumbled backward after catching a glimpse of the girl's face. It was swollen, and blood dripped from a pair of empty eye sockets. Before he had a chance to react, the girl leapt to her feet and lunged at Duncan's neck.

He screamed and elbowed the girl in the face, while scrambling to escape the kitchen. He raced for the front door and tried pulling it open, but it was jammed. As the girl approached, Duncan stepped back and tried kicking the door open.

It didn't work, and so Duncan staggered toward a nearby window and kicked a hole through the glass. Once he had cleared a space, he turned around just in time for the girl to pounce on him and send him flying through the window.

Duncan landed on the lawn outside. Moments later, Duncan rose to his feet and walked toward the front door. As he tried opening the door, he found that it was locked.

"Damn," Duncan muttered. "I guess I'll have to find some other way to get inside this house."

He checked his watch and realized that he was late for work at the Marquette Messenger, and so he turned around to head to the newspaper office. Duncan, having no recollection of entering the house, resolved to visit the Loman home again and get inside as soon as possible.



EMERALD SQUARE

Ricard Branch sat across from Chris Server at the Emerald Café, attempting to ease his mind by drinking an orange mocha frappucino. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly working as he planned it to. Both were waiting for Matt Holden to join them, so they could receive word from Quentin Blood as to what their next assignment would be.

"Where the hell is Matt?" Chris demanded.

"Yeah, you're usually the one who comes in late," Ric said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I didn't…God, shut up, Chris," Ric snapped. "I didn't mean it in a racial way."

"I'll bet," Chris said. "Look, I'm sorry. I've been on edge lately."

"Well, that's what happens when you end up lying to the person you love because you only rejoined Quentin's organization to help them and in the end you ended up hurting them and if they find out you could lose them forever and possibly land in jail," Ric said, without taking a single breath. "Or, you know…something like that."

"Yeah," Chris muttered. "I know what you mean."

At no point during their conversation were Ric or Chris both discussing the same situation, however it turned out that Ric's situation with Sara Reynolds was eerily similar to Chris Server's relationship with Blake Thomas.

The only difference was that Ric's secret resulted in the death of Sara's girlfriend, Erin Maddock, and Chris's secret resulted in getting Blake out of jail but putting his life in danger by aligning him with a drug dealer for a boyfriend.

"Maybe we should call Matt," Ric suggested, as his cell phone began to ring. He paused to answer the phone and saw that Quentin's name was on the caller ID. "Hello, sir."

"Ricard, I need you and Chris to come to my mansion immediately," Quentin said.

"What's up?" Ric asked.

"There's a new project I need both of you to work on."

"What about Matt?"

"Matthew Holden is no longer with us," Quentin replied. "You two have half and hour to be here."

Quentin hung up the phone. Frowning, Ric turned off his phone and returned his attention to Chris.

"What's going on?" Chris asked.



ABANDONED CHURCH

Vince's thoughts were interrupted as someone opened the entrance to the sewer and peered inside. It was Tanya, one of the women working for Discourse. She stared at Vince for a moment, and then she turned her attention to Julia. "You, come me with me."

"What?" Julia demanded.

"Come with me," Tanya said, extending a hand.

Vince tried reaching for Tanya, but Vanessa and Marcia also appeared in the sewer hole and pointed guns at him. Thinking better of his hasty plan, Vince pulled his arm away and allowed Julia to nervously take Tanya's hand.

"It's okay," Vince reassured her. "We'll be fine."

Blake nodded in agreement, and Julia took Tanya's hand to climb out of the sewer. Once she was standing on her feet again, the sewer hole was closed, leaving Vince and Blake alone in the dark. Julia folded her arms and turned to face the three girls surrounding her.

"What do you want from me?" Julia demanded.

"Discourse would like you to join him," Tanya said.

"Your…your Vince leader?"

"He would like you to join him," Tanya repeated, ignoring Julia's comments. "Unless, you would like your friends to meet an untimely demise."

Julia gasped. "You mean, you'll kill them?"

"He would like you to join him."

"Of…of course," Julia said, closing her eyes to fight back tears.



SUNNYDALE APARTMENTS
FORDHAM BAY

William Connor entered the apartment building and checked his mail, while noticing that there was finally a new name on the apartment next to his. The person's name was Simon Price. William was surprised that he now had a new neighbor, and started toward the stairs to see who it was.

As he approached the stairs, he saw someone exiting the elevator. The person that was leaving looked very familiar to William, but he couldn't place where he knew them from. However, the second person to exit the elevator — William knew exactly who that was.

"Michael Hanley," William gasped, hurrying to the stairs to hide his presence from the two men.

He watched as they left, and then raced up the stairs to see if they had been near his room. When he reached the sixth floor, William opened the door and stepped into the hallway and headed toward his apartment, #614.

As he walked past the door, he found the door to Apartment #615 was partially open. Inside, he could see his new neighbor, Simon Price, standing in the living room. But William knew that he wasn't staring at someone by the name of Simon Price.

"Sean," William gasped. "Sean Moore…he's alive!"

William backed away from the door so that Sean couldn't see him, and then he hurried to his own apartment. Once he was inside, William slammed the door shut and took a deep breath. He clutched his chest and realized now, more than ever, he would never be able to escape his past.

It had come back to haunt him in the worst possible way. The man he thought he had killed years ago…the man who was his own brother, was now living next door to him.

William sighed. "Looks like I can't lay Derek Moore to rest just yet."