Kevin Fairchild's head felt like a bomb was about to go off inside it. He picked himself up off the floor, wincing a little. Even when he was alone he couldn't let them see he was vulnerable. God knew it was all an act, an act he had perfected well over the years.

"Give me what you have, Sullivan."

Kevin could hear a relieved sigh come over the airwaves before Bobbie spoke. "Not much, sir. I've identified everyone in the apartment, and... you aren't going to like it, sir."

"Just give it to me, Sullivan." Kevin held his throbbing head and leaned against the wall for support. In a minute he'd catch his breath.

"Currently, the apartment is empty." Bobbie could hear a muttered curse. He continued on a second later, "That noise you're hearing is from a few rooms down. From your own observation, you said Michela was in the apartment." Bobbie paused. "She wasn't, sir. Her bio link doesn't even register in this hemisphere.

"That's not possible. I know what I saw."

"I've double checked it, sir. I even have some KF operatives in America checking the bio link reading out for me." Sullivan hesitated, as if listening to someone else. "Wait, sir. Yes, we have a positive identification of Michela Forsythe in St. Louis."

"What the hell is going on?" Kevin muttered to himself. How could Michela be in St. Louis when he had just seen her in Ethan's apartment?

"There is another thing, sir. I don't know how to tell you this but... Katrina Bradley was in there too. And I don't know how it was possible considering she was reported dead a few months ago."

"Why am I not surprised?" Kevin didn't know why he was amazed. People in the Legacy seemed to come back to life right and left – his father being one of them.

"And, sir. From the recordings we made in Ethan's apartment prior to your arrival, he was theoretically in there with Katrina Bradley. His bio link reading tells another story."

"What are you saying?"

"According to my calculations, Ethan was never in the apartment."

Kevin knew there could be only one reason. "Ian!"

A mountain cabin near Jackson Pass

Faith Fairchild gathered her coat closer around her. Even though it had stopped snowing, she still felt the chill.

She crept away from the cabin hoping the wind would cover up any tracks she left in the snow. She didn't know why Kevin had insisted Jonah take care of her. She had been taking care of herself for years, hadn't she? Why now did he feel compelled to save her?

Ian had hurt her and she had hurt him in return. Neither of them were responsible for what had ultimately happened. Ian had died by her Uncle Julian's hand. In a way, she still blamed herself for his death. If she hadn't been so enthralled by him, her uncle would never have lost his temper and killed him. Her only lingering fear was that Ian would exact revenge against her once they met up again. Although, she knew the revenge would be bad, she knew he wouldn't try to kill her. Ian wasn't into an eye for an eye.

Jonah had said she was running through Legacy headquarters when he found her. That had to be a lie. She didn't remember anything of the like.

She thought a moment as she trudged closer to Jackson Pass. Maybe that incident had happened during one of her blackouts. Faith hadn't told anyone about them. She was afraid to even acknowledge them to herself. If she ignored them, maybe they would go away. They hadn't.

A couple of times in the past she had somehow lost hours of time – hours she couldn't get back again. Maybe she had better take these blackouts more seriously, she decided. Who knew what might happen the next time she had one.

Inside the Knights mansion

As the day drew longer, Ethan felt a weight of worry resting on his shoulders. If he was right, Phoenix Gray had the microfilm he had picked up in Bulgaria from Isidor. Every day it was in Phoenix's possession, the greater danger he was in. He had to find the kid quickly.

Fergus, the butler, only knew the children were away at school for the day. He wasn't very helpfull. Maybe it had something to do with protecting them from threats. They'd been in quite a few dangerous situations recently and he couldn't blame the butler for being protective of them.

He tried to contact Jeffrey, but to no avail. The one person he knew could find Phoenix was out with the flu. It only figured.

"I can't believe you're still talking about that jacket." Scarlett sighed and let herself back into the mansion.

She still couldn't get used to the fact that her grandfather was so rich. She also couldn't get past the fact that their father hadn't come to visit them yet.

"Why the long face?" Phoenix asked, while hanging his precious jacket in a place of honor where he could worship it.

"I'm just thinking about Dad. I nearly died from that stomach wound I got in Bulgaria, but has Dad called to check on me? No!"

"Maybe he's busy with Embassy stuff. You know how hard he works."

"Is he really working hard," Scarlett couldn't help but ask. "Or is he working hard to stay away from us?"

A good looking man with shaggy brown hair drove past her on an ancient tractor sporting a large plow attached to the front quarter of it. He looked to be clearing snow from the streets while pulling a truck behind him.

Faith smiled her biggest smile. It wasn't hard to pour on the charm because he was pretty high up on the cuteness scale.

"Hey there," she said throwing her voice into charm mode. "I think someone left the freezer door open. It's mighty chilly out here."

"Yeah," he laughed. "That's one way to explain it." He gave her a once over before continuing. "You must not be from around here. Are you lost?"

"Not exactly lost." Faith noticed the truck behind the tractor and realized it was her brother's truck. "But I am curious. Where did you get that truck?"

"Sully MacDonald was playing speed demon again and nearly ran a man off the road, which is not a hard feat in his big rig."

"Was anyone hurt?"

The man thought a moment. "I don't rightly know. I was at a school board meeting at the time. Do you know the man in the truck?"

Faith didn't have time to answer before shots rang out. Two slugs pierced the side door of the tractor. She ran for cover but tripped and fell face first in the snow.

Donovan rolled out of the opposite door and ran for where the girl had fallen. She wasn't moving and a large spot of red was staining the snow around her head.

"Oh, my God," he muttered. Donovan pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and punched in a familiar number. "Hank, I'm gonna need some help. We've got a sniper on the bluffs and a girl with a head injury. Hurry," he said. "She's losing blood fast.

Donovan ripped the bottom part of his flannel shirt and pressed the material to her wound.

"Hurry, Hank. Hurry."

In the Knights mansion

Ethan stumbled across Scarlett and Phoenix when they came home in the afternoon unexpectedly.

"Dude!" Phoenix cried mimicing an expression he'd heard on television. "We were just talking about you. Weren't we, Scarlett?"

Phoenix turned to his sister for confirmation and she nodded in agreement.

"Now give it back to him." she said abruptly.

Phoenix groaned. "Not now," he whispered. "The guys at school are really eating up my tales of being a spy."

"You're a spy wanna-be and a big, fat phoney."

"Ah, sis." Phoenix relented, knowing she was right. "Here you go." He handed the jacket to Ethan. "After the explosion they gave me this jacket by mistake."

Ethan couldn't believe his luck. He accepted the coat and checked the breast pocket.

It was gone! The postcard with the microfilm was gone!

Kevin was quickly updated on what he's missed while unconscious. He wasn't happy that Kim Sun had managed to kick his butt again. Thankfully, Sullivan kept his snide comments to himself.

Suddenly, he heard a loud beeping coming from Sullivan's side of the microphone.

"What's that noise?"

"Someone has broken into the building, sir. Hopefully, agents will have the intruder under control in a few seconds.

Kevin waited a few beats but the droning whine continued.

"What in the hell is going on over there?"

Outside Legacy Headquarters

Declan O'Connor had followed Katrina Bradley as she fled from Ethan's apartment. All he could think about was that she damn well better have a plausible explanation as to where she's been all these months.

He finally caught up to her outside the Legacy offices where she was talking to Philip Lancaster.

"I need to get out of the country," Katrina told Philip. "And you are going to help me." Kat's tone was menacing.

"Sweetheart, I've helped you enough as it is." Philip was playing it cool, exactly the way he always did.

Katrina laughed. It was a maniacal sound.

"Jacques informed me exactly what you planned to do with me. Subservient sex slave, was it? Yes, I believe that was the term they used." Katrina regarded him with a snarling upper lip. A sneer that would take any man aback. "You wanted me for your perverse sexual pleasure. What I wanted didn't matter to you."

"You can't want things," Philip shouted. "You're a damned computer program!"

"I am alive!" she said with passion. "Alive as you are. This body is merely an annoying host for me."

"You are psycho, lady. They said you could be controlled – that you'd one day represent the perfect spy."

Katrina stared at him blankly for a moment. "They were wrong."

In the Knights mansion

Ethan didn't want to scare the children but he had to find that microdot. Their lives would be in jeopardy if he wasn't successful today. He had already put them in danger by even showing up in their lives.

"Kids," Ethan said laying the jacket across his arm. "I had a postcard in the breast pocket of this jacket. You don't happen to know what happened to it, do you?"

"Sure," Phoenix said. "I put it on Scarlett's dresser. Right here."

Phoenix pointed to where he had laid the card only that morning.

Scarlett gasped. "It's gone!"

Outside Legacy Headquarters

Declan couldn't believe what he was hearing. Katrina's body had been overtaken by a rogue computer program? That wasn't possible, was it? It was too sci fi to be true. But he couldn't take back what he had already overheard.

He watched in awe as Katrina picked up Philip by the neck and threw him across the room. He landed in a heap near the far wall.

Declan could hear sensors going off like crazy. Katrina had alerted the Legacy to her presence. Declan had to do something. He had to get that damned computer program out of Katrina.

The only question was... how?

In the Knights mansion

"Gone? What do you mean it's gone?" Ethan took in a deep breath. "That postcard is extremely important."

"Important as in national security important?" Phoenix couldn't help but inquire about the possible dangerous nature of the card.

"No," Ethan said slowly. "World security important."

As the three of them searched the mansion for the postcard, Ethan came across a photo in the corner of Scarlett's room. It was of four people. Scarlett and Phoenix were very young at the time, but it was the woman in the photo that drew his attention.

"It couldn't be," he muttered. The woman in the photo looked exactly like Gia Doyle. "Who is this," he asked sitting the photo back down on the table.

"That's my mother? Did you know her?" Scarlett asked.

"I don't know, maybe. What did she do for a living?"

"Librarian. She was a librarian, but her secret dream was to be a writer. I even have her last manuscript. Wanna see it?"

Ethan nodded and Scarlett fished the bound pages out of a box in her closet. "It's romantic suspense. Probably not something you'd like to read."

He blanched when he saw the title. Alias Gia Doyle.

"Cool title, huh? Mom always wanted to be completely different than what she was. But when she pretended to be Gia Doyle in her novels, she was a powerhouse of confidence."

"Mind if I keep this?" Ethan said.

Scarlett bit her lip considering his request. It was obvious it meant a lot to her.

"Found it," Phoenix said, running in the room suddenly. He handed the postcard to Ethan. "War prevented. World safe once again."

Ethan accepted the postcard grabbing it where the stamp hid the microfilm. Suddenly, he felt a strange tightening in his chest. He stuffed the postcard into the back pocket of his jeans, but the damage had obviously already been done.

Scarlett paled when Ethan swooned grabbing for the dresser to steady himself.

"What's wrong?" She noticed the strange chalkiness of his skin.

"He couldn't be having a heart attack, could he?" Phoenix noted that Ethan was speechless and in a lot of pain.

"What should we do? Who should we call?" Scarlett's voice jumped an octave.

Ethan scribbled a name and a phone number on a sheet of paper before he collapsed on the floor.

Scarlett screamed. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! He's dead!"