, who is doing research by reading Renee’s novel Divorced and Dangerous. Eddie has discovered that he finds romance novels irresistible.
However, he proves that this doesn't make him any less of an investigator, tracking down the billing address of the disconnected phone number. There’s a new number for that account, so he gives it to Cade.
He’s also found the meaning of "undercroft," a Middle English word found in today's reading from the book of Nostradamus. It means a vaulted chamber under a church. Unfortunately, there are 483 churches in Boston, and no way of narrowing the possibilities down.
Cade calls the new phone number. A man answers and he hears piano music in the background – the same music Cade can hear being played in the hotel.
Never call me here
He walks into the piano bar and finds a man sitting in one of the chairs, holding a cell phone. It’s Russ.
Russ hangs up. Telling Cade, "You got the wrong guy," he picks up his keys from the table and leaves,
Cade follows him. As he rounds a corner, Russ pushes him against the wall and tells him, "Stay away from me."
Cade chases Russ up the stairs to the roof and draws his gun.
Russ looks over the edge of the roof and down five stories. He looks back at Cade, shrugs, and tosses himself off the roof.
His body smashes into the pavement. As Cade watches in horror, his broken bones begin to straighten and knit back together.
The man picks himself up, shakes himself, and strolls down the street.
You should see me with vaults
Renee has talked to housekeeping, which has given her the book Jennifer was reading. She and Cade go up to Jennifer's room, where she gets a surprising display of lockpicking from "bank investigator" Cade.
They look around the well-appointed hotel room. Cade searches the bathroom, finding a sample tube under a radiator. When he comes out, Renee has vanished, leaving the book behind.
As it turns out, the police called Renee to tell her they’ve found two bodies buried in the Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. Detective Walker warns her that her sister is probably dead, but she refuses to give up hope.
Eddie hacks into the autopsy reports for Cade, reporting that both women had puncture wounds in their foreheads and died seven days after they were abducted. Jennifer Ashford has been missing six days.
Tasty brains
He’s also analyzed the sample of fluid in the vial -- brain cells and some chemicals he doesn't recognize.
Cade is still amazed that Russ survived a five-story fall. Even the Gua aren’t that resilient.
"Immortal aliens?" worries Eddie. "If that’s the case, it’s over."
"It’s not over," Cade reassures him. "They’re not going to win. We’re not going to let them."
Eddie will take the sample to a buddy at MIT who might be able to learn more.
Cade tells Eddie about the key. It was shaped like an arrow, but neither he nor Eddie can figure out what that means.
It’s a little like a Screaming Viking
Cade is flipping through the book Jennifer was reading. He finds the words "blue moon with a twist" written on the back of a bookmark.
It sounds like a drink, but neither Eddie nor Cade has ever heard of it.
In a dilapidated church basement, Russ is tying off his arm. He injects fluid from his syringe into it and enjoys a rush of sensation.
He cuts off the end of his finger, and watches it grows back.
Later, Cade goes to the piano bar of the Whitmore and asks for a blue moon with a twist. The bartender directs him to Room 514, telling him "Yvonne" is waiting.
Russ watches unnoticed from his chair. As Cade leaves, he follows.
The champagne is cold, the brains are warm
Cade arrives in Room 514. He sees champagne on ice and meets Yvonne, who thinks he looks scrumptious.
"Is that a gun in your pocket," she purrs, "or are you just happy to see me?"
Actually, it’s a gun.
She panics, then, guessing Cade is a cop, begs not to be arrested. He offers to cut her a break if she’ll tell him how she knew about the password, and she tells him about that a girl at her gym gave it to her.
Cade sends her home, and leaves. Russ intercepts him on the way down.
They go for a drink in the piano bar.
What was she doing there, anyway?
Russ wants to know who Cade is. Cade remains cagey, but makes it clear he knows Russ is a Gua.
This revelation prompts his drinking partner to threaten to tear Cade’s head off, but Cade quietly draws his gun and calls the bluff. Russ can’t afford to show his superhuman strength or healing abilities in the crowded bar.
"What do you really want?" Russ asks.
"Just one thing," Cade says. "To shut you down."
"You’re too late," Russ says. "Too weak, too corrupt, too fragile. You’ve already lost."
"We’ll see about that," Cade says.
Russ gets up and leaves. He warns Cade not to follow, or he will snap the neck of a little girl that is standing near the door of the bar.
Single white Gua seeks brains
Eddie’s friend has identified oxytocin in the sample. It’s a peptide hormone produced in sexually aroused women that promotes regeneration of white blood cells.
The boys conclude that the Gua are harvesting oxytocin as a healing agent. If they get enough, they will be unstoppable in battle.
Cade tells Renee why Jennifer was in the hotel room. Renee can’t understand why Jennifer wouldn’t have confided in her.
"Maybe she needed to reach out and trust someone else," Cade says, astute as always.
Unfortunately, Renee has spent some time checking Cade’s identity, only to discover that "Keith Jeffries" does not exist. Cade tells her his real name, but says nothing about the aliens except that they killed his wife.
Renee doesn’t know if she should trust him.
"You have to trust someone," he tells her.
In a police station, Russ is talking to the police. He sees Cade’s wanted poster on the wall and identifies him.
The usual suspect
Detective Walker is thrilled to have the notorious Cade Foster on the hook for murdering the dead women. He leaves to call in the FBI.
Walker’s partner Malone is a Gua plant, and he is furious at Russ. The Assembly wants Cade for themselves, not in the hands of the police. Moreover, Russ is coming up short on his deliveries of oxytocin. He gets one day to make up the shortfall.
In the meantime, Malone will convince Walker to capture Foster by himself. Then he’ll take care of both.
Cade and Renee have a plan of their own: she will be the bait to capture Russ. She goes to the Whitmore Hotel and gives the password to the barman, who gives her a key wrapped in a napkin.
The napkin has the room number written on it. She drops it next to Cade as she leaves the bar, and he follows.
She goes upstairs. Cade heads for the stairs, but Walker stops him in the lobby and takes him in.
Russ arrives at Room 433, and Renee lets him in. He’s brusque, hurried.
Cade tries to convince Walker to send someone to Room 433. He fails.
Russ rushes through undressing Renee. She excuses herself, and goes to the bathroom to stall for time.
What’s another murder rap between friends?
Cade tells Walker he’s "blowing it." He pretends to be the killer, antagonizing Walker by taunting him and claiming there are more victims.
Walker loses his temper and hits Cade, who steps into the blow and hits back, taking Walker’s gun.
He forces Walker to unlock his handcuffs, and then shuts Walker in the trunk of the detective’s car. He runs back into the hotel.
Renee gets a gun out of her purse, telling herself she was a fool for relying on Cade. She emerges from the bathroom and holds Russ at gunpoint.
The alien is not impressed, even when she calls for Cade. "Foster won’t be able to make it this evening," he tells her.
She shoots Russ in the shoulder, and looks on in horror as he heals. Russ takes the gun from her and kisses her.
She resists. "Not exactly what I wanted," he says, raising the syringe, "but it’ll have to do."
Cade bursts in. He shoots Russ four times in the chest, but the Gua ignores the injuries. He drops the syringe and begins to beat Cade.
As Russ knocks Cade around the room, Renee stabs him in the back of the head with the syringe. Russ drops to the floor and begins to dissolve.
Then he begins to get back up. Cade shoots him again, and he finally dies and dissolves.
Knowledge is power
Cade and Renee still haven’t found Jennifer, though. They check Russ’ coat for clues.
A good Catholic girl, Renee recognizes the arrow key as representing St. Sebastian. There’s only one church of St. Sebastian in town.
They find Jennifer in the basement underneath the church, barely alive. Cade calls for an ambulance.
Before he leaves, he welcomes Renee to the war against the Gua, telling her that when the right time comes he’ll ask for her help.
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