The orderly stepped inside the room with him, but the doctor waved the man away.
 “I won’t be needing you,” he intoned, peering at the tablet in his hand as if he was looking over the patient’s notes.
 “Are you sure, Dr. Cruthers? She can be – “
 “She has been my patient for almost five years, Andy. I think I know what she can and cannot do.”
 Andy hesitated until the psychiatrist raised his head, piercing blue eyes boring into the orderly until the man backed off and went into the hallway.
 “I’ll just be out here if you – “
 “Thank you, Andy.”
 The door closed in his face before the younger man could finish his sentence.
 Dr. Cruthers turned back to the patient, a cold smile on his wrinkled face.
 “How are you feeling today, Sarah?” he asked without emotion.
 She stared up at him with haunted blue eyes, unspeaking.
 “Are you sleeping enough?” he asked, and she dropped her gaze to her hands, her face pale.
 “You can talk to me, Sarah. Why are you so quiet today? We have been making such good progress the last few weeks.”
 She did not speak but he saw a muscle in her slender jaw twitch.
 “Did something happen, Sarah?” he asked cajolingly. “Did you remember something else you wanted to tell me? Something about your brothers?”
 She raised her head and glared defiantly at him.
 “You forced that information out of me,” she spat. “None of it was true.”
 He maintained the stoic expression on his face.
 “No?” he asked pleasantly, perched on the edge of the bed at her side. “Are you sure?”
 Sarah whimpered softly.
 “Please, no more,” she begged him. “Leave me alone. Leave us all alone! We’ve been through enough!”
 Dr. Cruthers made a commiserating noise.
 “Of course you have, Sarah. You are so strong, just like Xander and Aiden, aren’t you? I have good news for you.”
 She eyed him warily, disgust puckering her face. Sarah trusted no one, that much was obvious.
 “What good news?” she demanded, inching away from him as she pulled the sheets around her.
 “Aiden is coming to visit this weekend.”
 A glimmer of suspicious hope fluttered through her face and she shook her head.
 “I don’t believe you,” she whispered. “He hasn’t come in so long!”
 “He’s coming,” Dr. Cruthers assured her. “And when he does, all your suffering will finally be over. You will be able to live in the peace you deserve.”
 He saw the fear in her expression and he lunged toward her, jabbing the hypodermic needle into her neck.
 She lashed out too late, the combination of lorazepam and sodium pentothal overtaking her in seconds.
 Sarah fell back against the limp pillows, her panicked expression falling away into that of a serene pool, no ripples or emotions in sight.
 “There you are, sweetie,” he cooed, adjusting the sheets around her comfortably. “Just take it easy now. Isn’t that better?”
 She nodded dumbly, the truth serum turning her into a puppet.
 “Now, you’ve told me about Xander and Aiden’s powers. Let’s talk about Audrey.”

  Half an hour later, Dr. Cruthers exited the room, nodding to Andy who stared after him.
 “Any problems, doc?”
 “None whatsoever,” he replied, smiling.
 As he turned the corner, he reached into his lab coat and withdrew the black burner phone. 
 After one ring it was answered.
 “It’s Cruthers. I was right. The Van Hoyt twins are the missing Conway twins. I’m sure of it.”
 “Is that a fact?” rasped the voice on the other end of the phone. “It is time to move then.”
 “There’s more,” Cruthers continued.
 “You know where the others are?”
 “Yes and no,” he replied smugly.
 “Stop speaking in riddles,” the voice snapped. “What do you know, Eli?”
 “Aiden Conway has a child and she is just like them.”
 There was a sharp intake of breath.
 “She?” he echoed. “It’s a girl?”
 “Audrey. Eight years old.”
 “What can she do?”
 “I’m not sure…” Cruthers faltered. “This is the first time she has mentioned the girl having abilities at all. Do you want me to try and find out more?”
 “You can try, but don’t compromise her,” he ordered and for the first time in the years that he’d known the Contact, Cruthers heard excitement in his voice.
 “I will see what I can do but I want you to know that Aiden will be here this weekend. It would be a good time to take him. He may even have his daughter.”
 “I’ll decide this, not you. The last time my men went in blind, they died – leaving me without valuable resources. I was not happy. I need to know what they are up against.”
 “I thought you had a drug,” Cruthers said in surprise. “Just stab them with that and -”
 “Just do what you’re told, Eli.”
 The call disconnected in Dr. Cruthers’ ear and he was left with the wheels of his own mind turning.
 After all this time, I have finally brought them a missing Conway and they still treat me like a lowly lab rat. I’m going to demand a raise and a better working environment. Five years of handling crazies in the middle of fucking nowhere. I deserve better than this –
 He felt a prick behind his ear and his hand flew up to touch the spot.
 A bee sting?
 He turned quickly, but as he did, his breathing suddenly became laboured, and his windpipe started to close.
 “How’s it going, Dr. C?” Andy asked, stepping back as he fell to his knees. “It’s peanuts that kill you, right? Major nut allergy, am I right?”
 Eli gasped, clawing at this throat as the anaphylactic shock continued to shut down his breathing. He fumbled for his Epi pen, but Andy wagged a finger, smiling softly.
 “No use,” he sighed. “You’re fresh out.”
 The lumbering orderly watched as Dr. Cruthers’ face turned purple, his airways failing.
 When he was sure the psychiatrist was on his last breath, he spoke again.
 “Oculus thanks you for your dedicated service,” he intoned before leaving the fresh corpse on the floor of the hospital, literal seconds away from equipment which would have saved his life.