Leesburg, Virginia – Present Day

 Gunshots rang out in the closed study, eight in total.
 He jumped as if it was the first time he had seen it but it was not.
 Drake had been playing and replaying the emailed video of his son, his first born being shot, since the day he had received it.
 He worried he might be losing his mind, watching it over and over but he could not tear himself away from what he was seeing.
 Is he dead? What happened to him? Where is he now?
 The note attached to the email explained that the footage was from Berlin.
 Berlin. Where Oculus had just attacked. Is this a coincidence?
 Something told Drake there was no such thing as coincidence.
 The questions swirled around in his mind endlessly but he was no closer to finding out anything as he had been for twenty-eight years.
 All he knew for certain was that Ryder was certainly alive – or at least he had been.
 Again, he picked up his burner phone, staring at it intently as if willing it to ring, but of course, it did not.
 A watched pot never boils, he thought, cringing at the silliness of the adage. He felt like a boiling pot, ready to spill over and explode.
 Why did he send me this if he has no other information? What good can this possibly do for me?
 It had been days since he had heard from The Contact, each day dragging on like molasses as he waited for news but there was nothing but silence to fill his ears and prolong his days.
 He finally pulled himself away from the desk and rose, his knees cracking as he did.
 He could not recall the last time he had moved from the leather chair in his office, ignoring all work-related calls and holding his breath as he stared in horror at what had happened to his son.
 Slowly, he walked toward the door, his mind aimless, unfocused.
 He was not himself.
 Drake Conway had disappeared and a shadow had taken over his solid, football player form.
 Stuffing down a sob, he dropped to his knees, lowering his salt and pepper head in woe.
 He clasped his hands together before him and for the first time since he was a young boy, Drake began to pray.

Chicago, Illinois

  She opened the door tentatively, peering inside.
 Exhaling slowly, she slipped inside the condo, closing the door at her back.
 “Your shift was over two hours ago.”
 She froze in her tracks, turning as her eyes attempted to adjust to the darkness.
 “Noel, what are you doing sitting there without the lights on?” she asked exasperated, flipping the switch to the lamp in the hall.
 “Waiting for you,” her boyfriend replied, rising from his spot on the wing chair and closing the space between them.
 Instantly, his arms were around her and his lips found hers like a magnet fusing to a metal.
 “I feel like I haven’t seen you in a month,” he sighed into her ear. “And then when I expect you home, you’re still not.”
 “I got a – “
 She paused. Paige knew she was forbidden from discussing the covert patients but if Noel were to learn about it…
 “I got detained.”
 He chuckled quietly, gently exposing her smooth neck for his mouth.
 “It’s the life of a doctor,” he replied. “Especially an attending.”
 She tensed slightly, hearing the bitterness in his voice.
 Wisely, she said nothing as his lips made their way down her neck and toward the vee of her scrubs.
 Swiftly, the green shirt was over her head, Noel’s hands cupping her full C-cups and drawing her toward him.
 “I miss you so much,” he sighed, shoving the lacy material of her bra aside. His tongue teased over the tight skin of her nipples and Paige twitched slightly as he bit her.
 Suddenly, he pushed her against the wall, the hall table rocking at the impact as Paige’s keys fell to the ground.
 His hands roughly yanked down the thin material of her pants, a palm rubbing against her crotch.
 “You don’t miss me, baby?” he murmured, his teeth gnashing against her again and Paige heard the zip of his pants as he undid his jeans.
 “Of course I do,” she murmured. He pulled her thighs up, her legs wrapping around his waist and without preamble, his hardness was pushing against her center.
 She wasn’t ready for him, not by a long shot.
 The exhaustion, the unexpectedness of the encounter, nothing was right about it but she did not voice her objections.
 Noel grunted in frustration, adjusting himself to push his way inside. She wriggled to help him in and finally he pushed inside her, forcing her against the wall in a vicious thrust.
 Paige gasped, her hands closing around his neck, trying to pull him in for a kiss but he resisted, groaning as he jerked himself in and out of her, his movements growing harder and more tense with each jab.
 Paige mewled slightly, her back hitting hard against the wall. She closed her eyes and tried to put herself in the proper mood but it was no use.
 Noel was not hoping for her pleasure, and she was somewhere else, somewhere a few miles away in Northwestern Memorial, staring down at a pair of sea green eyes.
 As Noel pumped into her, Paige was hearing Ryder’s voice telling her how he trusted her, how they were in on it together.
 Who is he? Why do I feel so connected to him? She wondered.
 Noel moaned then and spasmed, hotness flowing from his unit into her core but Paige barely noticed, her mind fixated on the handsome and mysterious man who had unexpectedly appeared in her life.
 Stop it! She scolded herself. You are not eerily connected to this man, whoever he is. You are looking for something to help you escape your life. Your Patient X is not it.
 “What the hell are you thinking about?”
 Noel’s voice forced her back to reality.
 “What?” she mumbled and Noel withdrew, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor. A stab of fear swept through her as he glowered at her.
 “What were you thinking about?” he asked again, pulling his jeans up around his slender waist. “You weren’t even here right now.”
 “Sure I was,” Paige protested. “I was just basking it the afterglow.”
 She should have predicted the kick but she did not and it landed squarely in her ribs.
 Through her pain, she marveled at the wonder that Noel could execute such damage without any effort whatsoever.
He doesn’t even need to see what he’s doing. He just inherently knows what will cause the most pain.
 “Get up,” he snapped. Slowly, she lumbered to her feet, her breathing jagged.
 “I don’t know why you have to be such a smart ass. We just made love.”
 “I wasn’t – “Paige gasped but he cut her off.
 “We’re going to dinner with Kyle and Alison tomorrow.”
 Paige inhaled sharply and instantly regretted it. The searing pain coursed through her entire body.
 “I can’t,” she whispered. “I’m working.”
 Immediately, she threw up her arms to cover her face which was silly; Noel would never hit her in the face. That would create too many questions around the hospital.
 He punched her in the kidney instead and she dropped to the ground at his feet.
 “You have got to be fucking kidding me, Paige!” he roared. “I have been blowing them off for months because you always have a fucking excuse! No, you’re not working tomorrow. Forget it.”
 He spun to saunter back toward the bedrooms.
 A spark of rage flew through her at that moment and before she could stop herself, she yelled out.
 “I am working tomorrow!” she screamed. “And you can’t stop me!”
 In the pale light of the moon dappled condo, Paige choked in fear as he deliberately turned to face her.
 “What did you say?” he snapped.
 “I am going to work tomorrow,” she said again but there was much less conviction in her voice as he moved toward her, his face contorted in fury.
 Shut up! Stop talking! She yelled at herself but something inside her remained strong. It was as if someone else was inside her mind, controlling her words.
 Again, Ryder’s face appeared in her head.
 “I have had enough of your attitude, Paige. Ever since you got promoted to head of surgery, you think you’re better than everyone else.”
 “Maybe I am better - which is why I got promoted,” she replied with smugness she neither felt nor possessed under normal circumstances.
 Paige did not know from where the words had come but she didn’t regret them for some reason, despite knowing what was going to occur in seconds.
 Of course it had been the wrong thing to say; the fury on Noel’s face was indescribable as he lunged for her.
 When Paige regained consciousness, bloodied and laying in the same spot where he had left her, it was dawn and time to start her shift.

--

  Riverville stared at him as he flipped through a magazine.
 Ryder had not read one word on any of the pages, his mind preoccupied with many thoughts but he was distinctly aware of his superior’s intense gaze.
 “What?” he demanded finally, throwing the magazine aside and returning his look. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
 “She’s beautiful,” Riverville replied quietly.
 “Who?” Ryder snapped but he knew exactly who the man meant. He had not been able to get the doctor from his mind since the second they had locked eyes on the helipad.
 “You are not going to be here long, Ryder,” Riverville reminded him. “Don’t form attachments.”
 Ryder snorted.
 “When have I ever formed attachments anywhere?” he replied, retrieving the book. The conversation was unnerving him and he didn’t know why.
 He had so much on his mind since Germany, so many things of which he could not make sense.
 Am I Ryder Conway? Who was I? Why was I raised by the Quinns? Was that memory real?
 “I am telling you because you are the best special operative I have, Ryder. I don’t want to lose you because of this.”
 His head whipped up.
 “What are you talking about, Major?” He was genuinely confused by the statement.
   “Ryder, we almost didn’t get you out on time. You died on us. Twice.”
 He had not known that information but it did not surprise him.
 “But you did and here I am,” he replied flippantly. “And as soon as they finish pumping me full of drugs, I will be back on my feet. This is all overkill if you ask me.”
 “Keeping you alive is not overkill.”
 “It is if it keeps me from returning to work.”
 Riverville regarded him pensively.
 “You truly feel that way?” he asked.
 Ryder was filled with consternation.
   “Are you trying to shrink me, Major? Are you worried about my mental state?”
 Riverville shook his greying head.
 “I have never worried about you, Ryder. You are the last operative I have ever felt needed my concern.”
 “And suddenly because I got hurt, that’s changed?”
 “That changes everyone,” he told his protégé. “It changed me.”
 A heavy silence hung in the air and Ryder wondered if he was supposed to question his superior’s words. He opted for quiet on the matter.
 “It hasn’t changed me,” he assured him. “I am ready to get back to work when Dr. Steward gives the go ahead.”
 Riverville’s mouth formed a fine line.
 “You’re attracted to her. And furthermore, I think you have feelings for her,” Riverville declared, studying Ryder’s reaction.
 Ryder laughed aloud but to his horror, the sound came out weak.
 “I have exchanged a dozen words with her in the course of ten minutes!” he protested, loathing the pitch in his voice.
 I sound like I am trying to convince myself.
 “You are the best operative I’ve got,” Riverville told him again. “But you’ll never be as intuitive or as good as me. And lying out of character doesn’t suit you.”
 Ryder’s mouth dropped open and he found himself beginning to sweat.
 What he’s saying is ridiculous. I am not a teenaged boy. I am a special ops tracker who has never allowed my emotions to overcome my judgement. Whatever he thinks he’s seeing, he’s wrong.
 Indignation flooded through Ryder.
 “You’re wrong,” he said coldly. Riverville shrugged and turned toward the door.
 “I am going for coffee. Paulson is stationed outside the door. I imagine that Dr. Steward will be in shortly to check on you even though it’s her scheduled day off.”
 Ryder felt goosebumps prickle his arms.
 “Is it?” he asked casually but he knew he was transparent. “Then why would she come to check on me?”
 “Because you guilted her into it, Ryder.”
 “Shh, Patient X, Cee,” Ryder grumbled, glancing around.
 “Oh yeah? Funny because I heard everyone’s calling you Ryder around here.”
 Riverville opened the door and stepped outside before Ryder could respond, leaving him to wonder how he had known.
 I was stupid to believe I could have any privacy in here.
 In a way, he was grateful for the endless tracking which the Army had put upon him. If not for his GPS chip, he likely would have died in that room with Franz Kaiser.
 He had little memory of how he had gotten out of Germany. There were flashes of a man stitching him up while someone held a rag of ether over his face.
 In an out of consciousness, reality and memories melded together as one. Franz was a man hiding behind a dining room table, a set of twins screaming as someone removed bullets from his body.
 What happened to me? He wondered.
 Ryder struggled to sit up, the lines of the IV straining against his arms. He pulled the hospital gown up over his stomach and peered at the wound.
 It gave him a shiver to look at it.
   The bullet was a reminder of how destructible he was, despite his incredible power.
 Where did this power come from?
 The door opened and Ryder looked up, sensing her before he saw her face. When he did lay eyes on her, it was like a blow to his gut.
 “What the hell happened?” he bit out, looking at her bruised face. “Who did that to you?”
 “No one! No one!” Dr. Steward told him quickly. “I was in a car accident after work last night.”
 Ryder stared at her, his mouth agape.
 “How are you doing today?” she asked, her voice hoarse as she approached him.
 “Look at me,” he ordered but she pretended to busy herself with the tubes attached to his body.
 He had done enough similar damage to men in the past to recognize the signs. Dr. Steward had not been in any car accident.
 Instantly, his eyes moved to her ring finger.
 She’s not married but it doesn’t mean she’s single.
  Rage began to consume him and in his fury, he forced her to turn her head. She resisted him but his anger was too strong and she faced him, full on, her swollen eyes bloodshot in the whites.
 “Who did this to you?” he growled again. She tried to move her head downward but his mind was too strong.
 “Tell me!” he insisted.
 “I told you!” she gasped, her voice laced with fear. “What are you doing to me?”
 Instantly, Ryder released her and she stared at her hands, her expression indecipherable.
 The last thing he wanted to do was scare her and he could sense the panic emanating from her pores.
 “Are you feeling any better?” she mumbled, stepping back from the bed but Ryder reached forward, grabbing her hand. Again, she attempted to move back but he pulled her close.
 “Don’t fight me,” he told her. “Trust me.”
 He could feel her heart beginning to race as he guided her to sit on the bedside.
 His own heart pounded as he willed himself to be calm.
 He had not healed anyone in twenty years. Ryder was not sure if he could still do it after what had happened on the playground with Sabrina Foster.
 Slowly, he raised his hands to her face, clenching his teeth as she flinched.
 She’s expecting me to hit her, he thought. Someone is going to pay for this. Someone is going to pay dearly.
 He asked himself why he was getting involved with this woman, someone he knew nothing about.
 I feel like I know everything about her.
 “I am not going to hurt you,” Ryder told her tenderly, laying his palms against the bruising. Gently, he applied pressure to her, feeling her tense beneath his touch but he closed his eyes and forced the venom from his thoughts.
 He could not heal if he was filled with wrath.
 After a moment, he pulled his hands away and sank back into the pillows.
 Dr. Steward stared at him, her mouth parted slightly as if she was searching for the words to say.
 “Wh – what was that?” she gasped but as she spoke, Ryder watched the cuts to her lovely skin begin to disappear. She blinked several times as her eyes came into focus, the tissue of her face settling.
 Her hands touched her cheeks and she jumped up, running into the private bathroom.
 Ryder listened as she gasped loudly.
 The door instantly flew open and Paulson jumped inside, his weapon drawn.
 “What the hell is going on?” he demanded, looking around. “Where is the doctor?”
 Ryder waved him away.
 “Everything’s fine,” he assured the guard. Paulson eyed him suspiciously and poked his head into the bathroom as Dr. Steward emerged.
 “Are you all right, ma’am?” Paulson asked. She nodded, dazed and Paulson stepped back in shock.
 “You – your face!” he cried.
 “Paulson, get out!” Ryder snarled. “You’re interrupting.”
 The guard looked from Ryder to Dr. Steward and back again, slowly backing away. He nodded slowly.
 “Yes sir,” he mumbled, almost tripping over his feet and Ryder felt a stab of foreboding.
He's going to run directly to Riverville and tell him what I did. I am never going to hear the end of this.
 Ryder wondered if he was facing sanctions.
 But as Dr. Steward approached him, the expression of awe and gratitude on her face melted away any apprehension he was feeling.
 “How did you do that?” she whispered. “Who are you?”
 “I think my name is Ryder Conway,” he replied. “Maybe you can help me find out who I am.”