Ezra Standish, a man of many talents - most of them illegal - stared at the man sitting across from him. His own poker face was firmly in place, just like his mother had taught him. His handsome features gave absolutely nothing away. The intense green eyes held no emotions. His winning hand rested comfortably within his nimble fingers. He wanted to tap the left fingers in a show of impatience but then he would be betraying the five cards that were going to win him the five thousand dollars in the pot. Just enough to finance a con in which he could earn three times as much.

Martin Hendriks, an officer with the Denver PD for fifteen years - the last three as an undercover police officer - fidgeted in his seat. It didn't matter about the poker face he was incapable of wearing; he didn't own one, not like the man that sat across from him. This young man was the best poker player he'd ever seen. He couldn't read him, there was no repeated body language that he could associate with a winning or losing hand. He couldn't help but smile, the little smartass was going to be in jail before too long. And that face of his wasn't going to make it easy for him. The smile turned into a frown. It wouldn't be easy at all, he was young, good looking and thin. Just the way they liked them. Maybe he would have a word with his boss. They had a list of organisations that were on the look out for guys who were good at their trade that they could use. Abuse was more like it, but it was better than jail. This man hadn't killed anyone, his only crime was being able to play poker and play it well. He made a living out of it. He would just have to change the way he lived.

It was time to end this. The team was waiting outside, all they needed was his signal to come and make the arrest. He shifted in his seat one last time and threw his five hundred dollars into the pot.

"I call." Hendriks spoke with confidence. He knew he'd lose but the arrest would be made.

Ezra watched as the last player threw his cards onto the table. The hand was good, a four of a kind but not good enough to beat his. He placed his straight flush on the table and began to rake in the cash. Life was good. But life was about to take a nasty turn that he wasn't prepared for.

"Oh, by the way," Hendriks smiled, "your under arrest."

"Under arrest, me, what on earth for?" Ezra tried to keep his poker face in place. He was succeeding.

"Illegal gambling," Hendriks stated simply.

"Oh, you mean, prohibited gamesmanship." Ezra raised an eyebrow in innocence as his Southern accent rolled around the words.

"Isn't that what I said." Hendriks was beginning to get angry, maybe they would just send him to jail after all.

"No, you said illegal gambling."

Ezra didn't flinch when the door was slammed open and a number of police officers entered the room. Both uniformed and plain clothes began to surround the table. Hendriks stood up and moved out of the way.

"All these gentlemen just to apprehend me." Ezra smiled revealing the dimples that graced his cheeks and the gold molar that had been used to replace a damaged tooth on the right side of his upper jaw.

"We heard about how slippery you can be," Hendriks admitted.

"My, my. My reputation proceeds me." His tone was cocky.

"Follows you like a piece of crap more like it." The undercover cop smiled.

Ezra returned the smile, he was use to this sort of treatment. He had received a lot worse all his life and he knew he would continue to be treated like shit. He had no friends and never would. People can't be trusted. His mother had taught him that.

"You have the right to remain silent."

"The word 'silent' doesn't belong in my vocabulary," Ezra stated simply as another officer pulled him from chair and began to cuff his hands in front of him.

"Why do I find that easy to believe," Hendriks replied then continued. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

"I doubt that a man with your lack of intelligence would even begin to understand what I would endeavour to explain in my statement." The Southerner pushed himself away from the officer and began to gather his winnings.

"That's not yours," Hendriks warned him. "It's now evidence."

Ezra shrugged. "I expect it to be returned when I am found innocent."

"Cocky son of a bitch aren't you?"

"Right on both accounts." Ezra smiled even though he knew Hendriks had hit a sore point with the simple words.

"You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you while you are being questioned."

"I would prefer a female. Preferably one like Ally McBeal. You know, short skirt, nice legs, isn't afraid to kick a man in the balls when he deserves it."

"If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you before any questioning, if you wish."

"How could I afford a lawyer, you just took all my money."

God he felt like knocking the smug little bastard off his feet. "You can decide at any time to exercise these rights and not answer any question or make any statements." Hendriks waited. He expected a smart ass remark. He didn't get one so he continued. "Do you understand each of these rights I have explained to you?"

"No." Ezra smiled.

He was retiring in six months. If he hit him now he would lose his job and his pension. "Having these rights in mind, do you wish to talk to us now?"

"Well, I have this nasty little rash that I would like to talk about . . . "

SPI Headquarters, Denver Colorado - Thursday, 10:42am

Chris Larabee, leader of the Scientific Paranormal Investigation's Team Seven, or SPIT7 as his team had come to call themselves, walked with confidence towards Director Travis' office. His boots echoed within the hallway informing other workers that he was on his way. They would then create enough distance between themselves and the man who carried a lot of anger within his soul. If you rubbed him the wrong way, you were going to pay for it, usually by receiving more than one physical blow to the body.

He knocked on the door and entered the office without waiting for an answer. Travis sat behind his large desk going over some reports. The silence told Chris to take a seat and wait. Chris did as he was instructed. He sat his lithe body down into the small leather chair. He looked at the digital clock that sat on the corner of the desk, he would give Travis five minutes then he was out of there. Chris had better things to do and he wasn't going to hang around here waiting until the Director decided that he was ready to talk to him.

Travis looked up and adjusted his steel rimmed eye glasses. "I understand that you have feelers out for a seventh man to be placed with your team." He didn't expect an answer because it hadn't been a question. "You do understand that you are supposed to go through normal channels to do this?"

"There wouldn't be any decent prospects if I went through normal channels," Chris told him calmly.

"You've got a point." Travis leaned back in his chair and stared at his best SPI leader. "Why do you want another man?"

"I need someone who can go in undercover, blend in. Sometimes it's difficult to get people to talk and if we were able to put a man on the . . . "

"I get the picture. Why can't one of the men you already have do it?

"They already have their assigned tasks. I need another man." Chris became more serious.

"What about an undercover police officer. There's plenty of those available to you." Travis told him. He couldn't understand why Larabee was more interested in recruiting a criminal than a law enforcement officer.

"A cop won't fit within the team. We don't like them." It was the truth, his team continuously had confrontations with the law, they had grown to dislike them - a lot.

"A friend of mine from the 47th Precinct faxed this over. He knew that you were looking for someone and thought you would be interested."

Chris took the sheet of paper and quickly scanned it. The prospect looked interesting. "He's been arrested for illegal gambling."

"You'll also notice that he's a con artist. Takes on other roles. Might be just what you need."

"I'll have to talk to him first. Get a feel for what he's like. I don't want anyone who won't fit in with the team."

"They're expecting you."

47th Precinct, Denver Colorado - Thursday, 11:27am

Chris sat in the number three interview room. His close friend and fellow team member, Vin Tanner, sat on his left side. They had been waiting for thirty three minutes for one Ezra Standish to arrive. Both men were becoming impatient with the police officer who had left to retrieve the accused man. Tanner began to tap his fingers against the table, a cold glare from his boss caused him to stop, leaving his fingers in mid-air.

The door finally opened and Ezra Standish entered the room. He was followed by the officer who had taken so long to get him. He forced the smaller man into the chair and left his hands cuffed in front of him. They had learnt the hard way how slippery the Southerner could be, they had lost him three times since his arrest, only to find him in the most unexpected places.

"Chris Larabee, and this is Vin Tanner." Chris introduced himself to the man who now sat in front of them. He wasn't what he was expecting. The man was immaculately dressed in black trousers, white shirt, and thigh length black leather jacket. His short light brown hair was neat, the intense green eyes sparkled and his face was shaven, but it was the smile on the handsome face that threw him. The man was facing a jail term and he didn't look worried. Someone with his looks should be worried.

"So?" Ezra shrugged his shoulders as he studied the two men.

The one who had introduced himself as Larabee glared at him with cold blue eyes. The man could have been a beach bum because he had the blond hair to match. He was amused by the entire black wardrobe that he was wearing. Black jeans, black t-shirt and a black jacket. Was this man in mourning? Interesting question. Ezra studied the second man without looking directly at him. Soft blue eyes and a head of shoulder length light brown hair. Torn blue jeans, white t-shirt and a blue shirt over the top. A hippie? He didn't think so. Both men carried themselves with confidence, these weren't ordinary men. He was going to have to be careful.

"So," Chris repeated as he leaned forward. "We'll drop the usual stuff, you know, coffee, cigarettes, all that crap and get to the point."

"Which is?" Ezra still refused to look at Tanner. He wasn't the man in charge. The man in black was. "We're with the Scientific Paranormal Investigations unit and I want you on my team," Chris informed him.

Larabee had read Standish's rap sheet and he had been impressed. The man had been wanted for cons in just about every state in the country for the last four years, he had to be good, he'd only been caught once, not counting this arrest. The previous arrest had resulted in a jail term consisting of six months.

"You're talking about ghosts and that sort of thing." The gambler raised an eyebrow at the man who was smiling at him.

"Something like that," Chris answered with a shrug of his own. He wasn't willing to give out too much information and scare the man off. He might decide that jail was preferable after all.

"I'm afraid I have other plans." Ezra smiled at him.

"And they are?" Vin Tanner finally joined the conversation.

"Jail." Standish shifted his eyes then moved them back to look at Larabee.

"I don't believe you want to go to jail," Chris returned the smile.

"You my dear sir, don't know what I want," Ezra replied flatly.

"All I know is that a man with your looks wouldn't want to go to jail."

"I've been to jail before, I handled it, I can handle it again."

"Yeah, I read the report." Chris nodded. "You seemed to have spent a lot of time in the infirmary." Chris had actually felt sorry for the man when he had read the list of injuries he had suffered during his jail term. "You handled it very well."

"I didn't get raped, that was the main thing. Injuries heal, they always have," Ezra informed him.

Chris frowned at that statement, it implied that Standish had suffered those sort of injuries for most of his life. Suddenly he felt a kind of kinship with the man.

"You're a con man, which means you're capable of taking on different personalities. That's what I need. Someone to go undercover during investigations."

"No." Ezra stood up but he was pushed back down again.

"Jail or a cushy job with me." Chris gave him a choice but he knew which one the Southerner was going to take.

"You might not be so lucky this time. You can't fight them all off, one of them will get you," Tanner told him. He hoped Standish agreed to Chris' proposal, no man deserved to go through what he did a second time.

Ezra snarled at Tanner, the man certainly had a way with words. "I'll think about it."

"You've got ten minutes." Chris walked away from him and opened the door. He waited for Vin to join him then followed him through the open exit.

Ezra watched them go. Ten minutes. He was expected to make a life changing decision in ten minutes. Jail, it hadn't been a pleasant experience and he didn't want to go through it again. The beatings that he had suffered were still fresh in his mind. Tanner was also right, he wasn't going to last long, not this time. He had been given a choice, live that hell again or take on a new life. He knew he was capable of doing what Larabee wanted. But why did Larabee want him, surely there were plenty of other candidates out there. Why him?

If he took the job he would be working on the right side of the law. His mother would love that. Her son helping people instead of conning them out of their life savings. She would have something to say about this. He was grateful that he only saw her once or twice a year. It would be a while before she found out. But then again once he was out of here he could easily leave. He would give Larabee a week, if he didn't like it he would go back to his old life.

He looked up when Larabee entered the room. Tanner wasn't with him. "Well?"

"I'll take the job." Ezra stood up and allowed the handcuffs to fall loudly onto the table. He walked away from them and out of the room into what was going to be his new life, he just didn't know it yet.

Chris stared at the object on the table then at the officer who was chuckling at the sight.

"He's a slippery, smart ass bastard, you're going to have your hands full with that one." He continued to laugh even after Chris had left the room and shut the door. The expression on the SPI agent's face had been priceless.

Ezra sat in the back of the black dodge - what a surprise, was everything this man owned black - he wore his steel rimmed sunglasses to hide his eyes. It was a way for him to feel without anyone seeing his emotions. He'd learnt to hide his feelings from the day he was born, both from his mother's teachings and his life experiences. Life wasn't always good to Ezra Standish.

"Is there anywhere you want to stop before we get to the office?" Chris looked into the rearview mirror at the newest member of SPIT7.

"No." Where was he going to go? He lived in a hotel room, you don't stay in one place when your a criminal, it would make it too easy for anyone to find you. It wasn't only the police who had been searching for him.

"You'll like the rest of the guys," Vin told him.

"Sure," Ezra answered. But would they like me.

"You're sure you don't want to stop at your place, get a change of clothes?" Chris asked again.

"I am sure Mr Larabee."

"Call me Chris." He waited for an answer but Standish didn't come forward with one.

The three men became silent as the short trip continued. Chris continued to look into the back seat. The man wasn't exactly an open book. He'd been trying to read Standish since he first laid eyes on him but the attempts had been a complete failure. He would have to ask Vin what he thought of the man, he was capable of reading anyone.

SPI Headquarters, Denver Colorado - Thursday, 13:24pm

Ezra Standish stood calmly facing the four men he was about to be introduced to. On the outside he was showing the confidence that he didn't feel. This was a new thing and it scared him. He had never worked with other people before, he had never depended on anyone or had people depending on him. Could he do it? He wasn't sure.

"Vin Tanner you've already met, he's in charge of security," Chris informed the new man.

Ezra shook Tanner's hand and frowned at the wink he received.

"Buck Wilmington and JD Dunne. Electronic experts, they'll fit you with all the gear your going to need," his leader continued. "These two and Tanner like to get each other with practical jokes so if something happens to you, they're just trying to make you feel at home."

The Southerner shook hands. "I've been known to succeed with a practical joke or two in my time." Ezra smiled falsely. Practical jokes was the only way he'd been able to seek revenge against childhood bullies.

"Nathan Jackson, medical scientist."

Again he shook hands, this time with a larger black man. The man seemed to be frowning down at him. Jackson was going to be a problem. Ezra didn't care, he wasn't going to be around long enough to care. He was a man that wasn't concerned with what other people thought of him. He wasn't on this planet to make friends; only money.

"Josiah Sanchez, ex-preacher who specialised in exorcism."

"Have you ever met the devil Mr Sanchez." Ezra seriously asked him. Because I have.

"Not yet Ezra, but maybe one day he'll come knocking at my door." Josiah shook the smaller man's hand. There had been a flicker of emotion in the young man's eyes but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Vin, you want to show Ezra around, then bring him into the conference room," Chris suggested to him.

"Sure." Vin stretched out his left arm as he indicated for Standish to begin his tour.

Ezra had to admit that he was impressed. Not only were the offices well furnished, the equipment they used included things that he'd never seen before. This agency had a lot of money to spend and spend it they did, wisely though. Tanner had showed him his office. Ezra Standish had an office, he had laughed out loud at the idea and when Vin had asked what was so funny he didn't answer him. Vin explained to him that most of the equipment that he would be using was in the SPI equipment van.

As the tour continued, Vin explained to him what it was they actually did. And they thought he was capable of doing the same thing? He'd probably run a mile if he saw a ghost. The question was raised again. Why him? He then had to fill out the paperwork for the new position, he had to put his mother's address on it because he had no permanent address of his own; it was in his name after all, a tax right off she had said. This had taken up most of the afternoon, and his stomach and body were beginning to remind him that he hadn't eaten anything for nearly two days.

Once he had seen all there was to see he was taken to the conference room where the others were waiting for them. Vin took the chair to the right of Larabee and Ezra took the remaining empty seat which was between Nathan and Josiah. The two men smiled at him as he sat down next to them and he felt his skin crawl. Why were they being so nice?

"What?" he asked them.

"Just being friendly is all," Josiah replied.

"Uh huh." Ezra nodded and looked away. He was supposed to be friends with these people too?

"What do you think of the place Ezra?" Chris asked him.

"Quite impressive Mr Larabee."

"Coffee?" JD Dunne asked him.

"Thanks." Ezra watched as the man, who could be no older than twenty two years of age, headed towards the coffee machine. Another hippie. The kid was constantly using his fingers to brush the shoulder length thick brown hair out of his face. It was a nasty habit, which at least Tanner didn't do. JD returned with a large cup of coffee. Ezra looked into the soft large brown eyes and thanked him with a nod of his head. His attention was grabbed when Wilmington began to cough.

"You get your own Buck, I ain't your mother," JD told him.

"You sure are pretty enough to be my mother." Buck smiled and wiped his mustache with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

"I'm obviously not your mother because your not pretty." JD tried to swipe Buck across the back of the head but his friend and room mate easily ducked under the blow.

"Don't worry about those two, they're like brothers, never serious about anything," Josiah warned Standish.

"Really." Ezra grimaced at him. Like he really wanted to know all of this useless information.

"Did Vin explain what we do around here?" Chris put a stop to the actions of his two electronics experts.

"You investigate paranormal activities. Anything from ghost to aliens," Ezra repeated what Vin had told him.

"You're going to have to learn on the job Standish because we leave in two hours for our next operation," the leader of SPIT7 informed him.

Ezra's head began to spin, this was all happening a little too quickly for his liking. What happened to 'just relax, take a look around, see what everyone else is doing, take notes then we'll get you to jump into the shallow end in a couple of weeks'. No, not here, he was being pushed into the deep end on his first day.

"What? Now?" Ezra sat up in the chair.

"Yep, now. Vin why don't you take him home to get some things then meet us at the airport in an hour," Chris ordered him.

The hippie again. Great. He had a feeling that this man was going to ask a lot of questions. He looked over at Tanner to find him smiling at him. His skin crawled again. He really wasn't use to this.

"What have we got this time Chris?" JD asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Alien sightings and abductions." Chris smiled at him.

"You want me to go in as a alien, ask a few questions?" Ezra asked him.

There were some snorts of laughter around the large conference table. Chris hid his smile. This man was going to fit in nicely. What he didn't realise was that it was going to take a hell of a lot of work on their part to make him feel like a friend and a constructive member of the team.

"Where to?" this question came from Sanchez.

"Salem, Oregon. Airport one hour. Vin." Chris got up and began to walk away from his team, confident that they would be prepared and at the airport when requested.

"Come on Ezra," Vin moved towards him, "let's go and get you some floaties."

"Floaties?" the Southerner frowned up at him.

"Your going in the deep end, you might need them." Vin grinned widely at the astonished look on the man's face. It was the first bit of emotion he had seen since he met him.

"Shouldn't I have a parachute instead?"

"What for?"

"Aliens fly don't they, how am I going to escape if I don't have a parachute," Ezra said deadpanned.

"You're going to fit in fine Ezra." Vin pulled him from his seat and began to drag him to the door.

Don't let what you see on the outside fool you Tanner. I don't plan on staying around. The thought was kept to himself though. Aliens, what a way to start your first day. Wasn't life bad enough as it was? Did it have to get worse? Maybe he should have just gone back to jail.

"So where are you from originally?" Vin glanced sideways at his passenger. The security man decided that this was a good time to find out more about Chris' most recent recruit. Why he hired a criminal he didn't know and he wasn't going to ask. Chris would have his reasons and Vin trusted him. They all did. They trusted him with their lives.

"South," was the only information he was given.

"I gathered that by your accent." This wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. "That where you grew up?"

"No," another one worded answer.

A red light gave Tanner the opportunity to turn sideways and scrutinise the Southerner. He was facing the window, a glimpse of the left green eye told him that he was staring into space, not really looking at anything. Maybe he was scared, Vin had been when Chris had asked him to join the team. Hell, the first case had scared the shit out of him, but it was the adrenaline that he had enjoyed. It was what kept him in the job. It was the same for all of them, except Chris, he just wanted to catch the nasties and close the case file. The man hated having to leave a case open.

"You going to give me anymore information than that?"

Ezra shifted his head so he could see what Tanner was up to. The man obviously wanted to know more about him. Why? That's what was making him suspicious. His experienced eyes watched and waited. There was no hidden agenda written on the man's face.

"No," he turned back to the window. He didn't want to talk to this man, to give him information that could later be used against him. A week, let them think that he'd settled in, then he was out of there. He had money hidden away, he knew how to hide, to blend in so no one could find him. He'd had to do it before and he could do it again.

"Why not?" Vin accelerated when the light changed to green. His confused eyes watched as the buildings passed by. Standish had said he lived on Pentington Drive, if that was the case then he lived in a hotel. It wasn't a home by any standard. He knew, he had lived in plenty of hotels in his long twenty seven years of life. But then where would someone with his life live, he wouldn't stay in one place long enough to call it a home. Well, maybe he could now that he had a straight job. If he stayed that was.

"Because it's not any of your business where I grew up," Ezra retorted, showing a spurt of anger that he hoped would shut the hippie up. The man asked more questions than Oprah.

It didn't work, of course it didn't work, why would it.

"I'm from Texas originally, travelled around a lot though so I didn't really have a permanent home." Vin hoped that relaying this information about himself would get the man to open up to him. He could understand why he didn't want to talk to him. It must be difficult dealing with the situation he was now in. New people, a new job that was different from any other. He had been torn from a life that he was comfortable with and thrown into a new one that was going to be difficult to adjust to.

"Really. What about your folks?" Maybe if he could turn it around, get him to do the talking.

"Mum died when I was five, never knew my father." Vin shrugged, not realising what Ezra was doing.

"I'm sorry that your mother died so young." Ezra was truly sorry. There were times when he wished that his own mother had died in child birth. She was an aggravating woman who had never really shown any love towards her only child. He didn't know what it was like to have a loving mother, or family for that matter. He had become independent at a very young age.

"Thanks. Wasn't much I could do about it, she got sick and didn't get better." Vin steered the run-down jeep into Pentington Drive.

"You can stop here," Ezra informed him.

Vin had been right, it was a hotel. His gaze turned to the man next to him, he then quickly pulled it away when Ezra turned towards him.

"I won't be long." He opened the door to get out and stopped when he heard Tanner's soft voice.

"I'll come with you, give you a hand."

"I don't need company." Ezra slammed the door shut and quickly headed to the hotel's entrance. He just hoped the nosy prat wouldn't follow him.

Vin waited, it seemed that he didn't have a choice. He was watching the front door of the hotel hoping that the man would return. This would be the perfect opportunity for him to escape the new life that Chris had given him. He was still staring at the entrance when Ezra returned ten minutes later. Vin sighed with relief that Ezra was still with them, he didn't know why, but he liked the man. The new agent obviously didn't have many belongings. Vin frowned at the moving form. He wondered if Standish's whole life was hidden away in the carry bag he was bringing with him.

Somewhere over Wyoming- Thursday, 19:54pm

Ezra Standish had no choice, he was forced to sit in the middle - well almost the middle - in the four seating section in the centre of the plane. Josiah Sanchez sat on his left, with Chris on his right and Vin taking the aisle seat next to Chris. He wasn't impressed. Why couldn't they have sat in the three seater section, that way the six of them would take two rows and he could then sit on his own. This wasn't good, not good at all. At first it had only been polite questions; did he like to fly? did he get motion sickness? did he like airline food? His answers had been yes, no and no. The fact that he hated airline food meant that he was more than likely to go another day without eating. Even the coffee was bad. But then the questions became more personal; did he have any siblings? were his parents alive? how long had he been living on the wrong side of the law? was there a girlfriend somewhere? shouldn't he be letting his friends know where he was and what he was now doing? Ezra answered no to the first two then ignored the rest. They were trying to make conversation and his refusal to talk didn't stop them. What was it with these people, couldn't they take a hint? Was he going to have to politely tell them to mind their own fucking business? He could have done with a drink, a very strong drink but he wasn't prepared to get drunk on his first day. His new boss and team mates wouldn't be very impressed. But then again who was he to care what they thought of him.

"Miss," he leaned forward when the air hostess was passing, "may I have a large scotch whiskey please, no ice. Thanks."

He ignored the frown that he received from the man sitting on his left. Sanchez was an ex-priest, he probably thought that his background gave him the right to preach to him about his bad habits. Let him, he would have a few choice words to throw back at him. No-one told him what to do. He would take orders from Larabee only to please the man until it was time to leave. It was going to be one of his biggest cons. But he wasn't prepared to take orders from anyone else.

Ezra's eyes began to grow heavy after the fourth drink. His intention had been to only have one but the suggestion that he should have something to eat before he drank something as strong as whiskey had him asking for another. Then his intentions changed, he just wanted to shut the voices out, to close his mind off to the new environment that he was in. The lecture began after the third one. Jackson spoke from the seat behind him, telling him that he'd had enough, that he shouldn't be drinking so much without something in his stomach. Sanchez followed with his own lecture of what alcohol can do to a man's liver. He'd only known these men for a matter of hours and already they were trying to run his life. His mind grew fuzzy after the fourth and he knew he'd be asleep in a matter of minutes. He didn't care. At least he wouldn't have to listen to them anymore. His eyelids closed and he began to breath more evenly. He heard Josiah's voice as the larger man informed the others that he was falling asleep.

Josiah waited a few minutes and when he was sure the young man was sleeping, he covered him with a blanket that he had gotten earlier. He tucked it in around the shoulders and was surprised when Ezra jerked away from him. It forced the Southerner's head to move closer to Chris' shoulder.

"You find out anything?" Chris asked Vin.

"Only that he was living in a hotel and that his entire belongings fitted into that bag of his," Vin released the information he had gained.

"That's it?"

"Wouldn't tell me anything, said it was none of my business." Vin shrugged his shoulders. "Nothin' more I could do. And I sure as hell couldn't read him, best poker face I've ever met."

"Think he'll work out?" It was Josiah's turn to ask the question.

"Yeah I do, just give him some time, it's a new life for him. It'll take him a while to adjust."

"He was different back in the conference room, was friendly enough there," Vin reminded them.

"That was until he found out he was on his way to his first SPI operation," Chris smiled. "He won't need those floaties Vin, I'm not going to throw him into the deep end just yet. Just want him around to see what it is we do and how we do it."

"What if he gets scared off?"

"Somehow I don't think he will," the smile grew on Chris' face. "I think he'll stick around."

"You didn't really give him a choice. What if he takes off."

"I think that once he sees what it's like on the other side, he'll stay." Chris was sure, he didn't know why but he was willing to trust Ezra Standish. He just hoped that he didn't regret it.

Salem, Oregon - Friday, 6:08am

His stomach rolled violently, forcing him to roll onto his side. Eyes were squeezed tight against the light that was finding it's way into his already pain riddled skull. Teeth were clenched and fists curled into tight balls of flesh. Knees were drawn up to his chest in an attempt to calm his stomach. He hadn't felt this bad for a long time, he couldn't even remember the last time he had felt like this. Sometimes life really sucked. His stomach lurched again. God no. Don't make me get up, not now. Just let me sleep for a few more hours then I'll get up, you can do what you want then, you could even kill me if you want to. He sighed in relief when his stomach settled down. The pillow that lay under his head felt so comfortable that he never wanted to leave it. A blanket covered his body and he pulled it closer to his flesh in order to keep out the chill that suddenly took control of him.

He was just beginning to relax and fall back to sleep when his stomach spoke again. He voiced his own protest with a loud groan. Damn it! Next time, don't drink so much. He forced his eyes open and revealed blood shot orbs that had been hidden since he fell asleep on the plane. Where the hell was he? And where was the damn bathroom? It didn't matter, he wasn't going to make it, he knew it. He would have to be sick on the floor. The floor wouldn't mind, it wouldn't feel anything, not like the pain he was feeling.

Ezra threw the blanket aside and searched the room quickly. There was nothing in the room that he recognised. He wasn't in his own room, must be someone else's. But who's? His eyes fell on a second sleeping form. It lay on a fold-up bed. The head was covered by a blanket so he had no idea who it was. Maybe a woman. No, she would be in this bed and he would never have been drunk if he was with a woman. What the hell was going on? He ignored the person as he made his way to the open door that he prayed led to the bathroom. He might just make it afterall.

Hold on just a few seconds more. That's all, just a few. Is that asking to much? Probably. He didn't bother with the light, he could see where he was going. The toilet was in sight, just a bit further. The bile began to rise into his throat, causing him to move faster than he thought he could. He placed an open palm against his mouth to keep it in for another second. Ezra fell to his knees and bent over the toilet bowl. He removed his hand and opened his mouth. He gagged as his stomach muscles clenched. Then the liquid came. It spilled from his mouth into the bowl. Ezra closed his eyes so he didn't have to look at the contents of his stomach. That would only make it worse.

For once he was grateful he hadn't eaten much. This wasn't going to take too long, then he could go back to bed and sleep for the rest of the day. His muscles continued to contract then relax as he threw up the small amount of liquid in his stomach. It was over in a couple of minutes. He sat down and leant his forehead on the cool porcelain and took a few deep breaths. How could life get any worse?

"Feel better?" Nathan Jackson asked from the doorway.

Ezra jumped and fell back against the bath tub, the back of his head slammed against the outer edge and he grunted in surprise. One hand rubbed the injured area while he glared at the man who had caused the injury. Jackson also caused his memory to return. The glare turned into a scowl as he turned away from him. Life had gotten worse, he'd just forgotten. The vision before him also explained where he was and how he had gotten here.

"What do you want?"

"You drank too much yesterday, thought you might need some help when you woke up." Nathan moved towards the man who was suffering from a hangover.

"I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, thank you very much," Ezra growled.

He got to his feet and grabbed the basin. He hung his head towards his bare chest and waited for the nausea to pass. Boxer shorts, he was dressed only in his boxers. Someone had undressed him.

"Want an aspirin?"

"No." Ezra moved away from the basin and pushed his way past the taller man. His mouth could wait, the taste wasn't so bad. All he wanted was to go back to bed and forget that life still existed. He saw the comfortable warm bed and headed towards it. He crawled onto it and under the covers. His head slowly fell towards the pillow. A soft moan escaped his mouth and he closed his eyes, grateful that he was going to get a few more hours sleep, maybe more if luck allowed it.

"I wouldn't bother. Chris wants a meeting at seven." Nathan smiled at the comfortable man. Serves himself right for drinking on the first day. Nice way to impress your new workmates. He wanted to voice his feelings but Chris had ordered him to keep his mouth shut. Nathan knew better than to disobey a Larabee order.

"You couldn't have told me that before I got back into bed?" Ezra growled from beneath the covers. He opened his eyes and squinted at the clock on the bedside table. 6:14. At least he got a sleep-in. If he was in jail he would have been up at five. Be grateful for small mercies. Jackson came into his line of vision. On second thoughts.

The restaurant that sat on the edge of the small Motel was quiet, two young men were it's only customers. They sat side by side in a booth facing the door. The two men were waiting. They needed new blood. There was no-one left in town that they could abuse and they were beginning to get bored. The grapevine had told them that seven men had booked into the Motel the night before. Surely out of seven men they could find one man they could play with. They wanted some fun, they needed it, they craved it. Sam Orstein was the first one to discover his talent. He found out at the young age of nine that he was able to make people see things. At first it had been difficult and it took a few years to master the craft he had been gifted with. He believed that God had given it to him for a reason, but things went wrong. People called him evil, that he should be driven from town, or worse, killed. Orstein turned and took his revenge and at the age of fourteen, he killed for the first time. And he enjoyed it. This was the reason he had received the gift, to seek enjoyment by killing.

Jimmy Morris, was older by at least six years. He was now twenty five. His talent was drugs and hypnosis. Within a short period of time he was able to place a false memory and feelings into a person's mind. The drugs he used helped him to do what the victim's mind normally wouldn't allow itself to do. He had found Sam five years ago when the younger man had attempted to have his mind visualise a vampire. It had worked at first but it had failed the second time. The use of self-hypnosis had ended anymore attempts by Orstein to have his fun. They had teamed up in an attempt to force a young teenage girl to see an alien. The young men then came up with the idea to abduct and implant a false memory that she had been taken by aliens where they had completed bizarre experiments on and within her body. It had been such a success that the sixteen year old had committed suicide three days later. They had been repeating the same experiment since and each time they had introduced something new. They now killed their victims exactly two days after abducting them. Sometimes the bodies were never found, other times unidentifiable corpses were discovered days, or weeks later.

Orstein's green eyes stared out of the window. He smiled when he saw five men approaching the restaurant. They looked strong and healthy, it would take some work to break one of them, that was when the fun started. Morris would make the decision as to whom the target would be. He had a way of reading people. He usually chose someone that he disliked. And he hated most people on sight. He wanted someone that needed to be taught a lesson, a person that needed to go through hell and back. To be scared so badly that when it came time for their death that they would be begging for their lives.

Chris Larabee entered the restaurant first, the brief case that he carried softly bumped against his leg as it moved along side of him. He looked sideways and saw the two young men watching him. He smiled a greeting which they returned, then continued on to one of the larger booths. JD actually waved to the two men who he thought were of similar age to him. Josiah winked, he always enjoyed the early mornings the best, he loved to watch the sun rise, it put him in an extremely good mood. Vin saluted, it was his way. Buck smiled then nodded towards the blonde waitress, he winked at the two men who nodded in agreement.

They sat around the booth leaving the end seats for Nathan and Ezra. Chris trusted Nathan to bring the new man in on time for the meeting. He knew what condition Standish would be in. The man needed to be taught a lesson and an early morning meeting while eating was just the thing to do it. He wondered if the drinking was a regular occurrence, he hoped not. Standish was good, very good, he knew that already and he didn't want the talent he had to be wasted in a jail cell.

"Why don't we order some coffee to start with, then breakfast when they get here," he suggested.

The waitress moved gracefully towards the booth. The handsome man with the mustache was already smiling widely at her. In fact they were all handsome in their own way. What a group of men. She sighed inwardly at the waste. Pity she was married. She lifted her left hand to show him that she was already attached but he just smiled even more, as though the ring meant that it was just going to be a bit more of a challenge to win her. Ralph's smile pushed any thought of adultery from her mind. She loved her husband and would never cheat on him.

"What can I get you gentlemen?"

"Lucy," Buck had leaned forward to look at her name tag and then up into her bright, clear blue eyes,

"we'll have coffee for seven."

"You expecting company?"

"Yep, they should be here any moment. Oh and make one of them strong. One of the guys has a bit of a hangover." The ladies man winked and she smiled in embarrassment.

"Sure, I'll be right back."

"Leave her be Buck, we have a job to do," Chris ordered.

It was the same everywhere they went. The woman didn't even have to be beautiful, just pretty, or even cute. Buck loved all women, especially the ones that fell into his open embrace. But that wasn't many, not all women loved him back. But that didn't stop him from attempting to seduce almost every woman he met.

"Speak of the devil." Josiah nodded towards the window.

Everyone stared, they couldn't help it. They saw Nathan throw up his arms as he walked behind the new guy, he obviously wasn't going to be able to explain why Standish looked so healthy. Chris frowned and then looked across at Vin, the man shrugged in return. They continued to stare as Standish entered the restaurant without acknowledging the two men that sat close to the door. He moved easily to the booth and sat down beside JD.

"Uh, morning Ez." JD's expression held a touch of respect.

"Morning JD, and it's Ezra, not Ez." Ezra nodded at him.

"Sorry."

"So, how's the hangover?" Buck spoke a little to loudly and was disappointed when Standish didn't wince at the volume. Everyone else always did. What was with this guy? He wasn't going to be any fun, he knew it.

"Clearing up nicely thank you," Ezra lied.

He still felt like hell but he wasn't going to allow these people to see it. He'd been taught the tricks of the trade, he knew how to look extremely healthy when on the inside he felt like he was dying. Standish had learnt from a young age to hide an illness. His mother didn't take too kindly to a sickly child, she didn't have time for them, she never really had time for him when he was healthy either.

"What's your secret?" Chris asked him.

He was secretly amazed. Ezra looked better than any of them. He wore his black leather jacket over a light blue shirt that wasn't tucked in, it seemed that the shirt was made to be worn that way. There were no wrinkles in the material. A second pair of black slacks covered his lower body. His face was cleanly shaven and every hair on his head was in place. The green eyes were clear, they weren't even bloodshot. How the hell did he do it?

"Now if I told you Mr Larabee, it wouldn't be a secret would it." Ezra smiled and revealed the dimples that didn't really want to be used. His whole head hurt and his body was weak from lack of food. He'd gone days without food before but hadn't suffered from a hangover that was only making it worse. He would eat something later when he was confident that his stomach wouldn't bring it back up again. In the meantime, coffee would do just fine.

Lucy returned with a tray full of cups and a jug of hot coffee. She placed a cup in front of each man and smiled at the two new customers. She had thought the others were handsome but when she laid eyes on the young man with the green eyes she almost thought cheating on her husband would be worth it. She shook the thought out of her mind and concentrated on her job.

"Which one of you has the hangover?"

"That would be me." Ezra smiled at her. Just want he needed. Was the woman going to take pity on him and smother him with concern that he didn't want?

She moved the cup closer to him. "I put something in there to help your headache."

"Thank you kindly Lucy. I do appreciate it."

"Your welcome. Now what would you gentlemen like to eat?"

Eat! Ezra almost groaned out loud. This was just getting worse.

"Bacon and eggs all round," Chris ordered for everyone.

"And fries," JD added.

"Toast too," this was Nathan. He knew Ezra wouldn't eat the greasy food no matter how good he looked. The toast would go down better.

"Sausages, don't forget them," Buck reminded them.

"That it?" Lucy smiled at the men around the table. Her eyes stayed on Ezra for a while longer, she could look, there was nothing wrong with that was there. Maybe he would smile again for her. She blushed as she reminded herself that she was no longer a school girl with a crush.

"Yep, that's it. Unless Ezra wants to add anything to it," the leader winked at Vin.

"Sounds fine to me." Ezra hid his anger, he knew what they were doing and it wasn't kind, not kind at all.

Chris laid his brief case on the table and pulled out three files. The first one he handed to Buck. "This is where most of the sightings have occurred. I want you to take JD and Ezra, set up the area, and while your doing that you can show him the way around the van and the equipment. It should be there by the time you arrive." The second one was handed to Nathan. "Take Josiah and check with the coroner and sheriff on the deaths of two of the 'said' abductees." A third folder was kept to himself. "Vin and I will question the last victim."

Ezra could smell the food before it arrived. His entire body protested against the intrusion. Five minutes later the food was brought out. A large plate was placed before him and he grimaced at the food that was swimming around in the grease. His gaze drifted around the table at the others as they began to eat. He almost gagged when JD covered his food with ketchup and began to mix it up.

"What are you waiting for Ezra?" Buck asked him.

"Something edible," Ezra retorted.

"Here." Nathan pushed the plate of toast towards him. "It'll help."

"I think I'll just stick with the coffee." Ezra grimaced at the plate of food.

"As far as I know, you haven't eaten since I met you. Eat!"

"What are you? My mother," Ezra growled at him. "You don't tell me what to do!"

"Just trying to help, that's all."

"I don't need it."

"That's enough!" Chris' tone caused both men to look at him. "Nathan, ease up on him. Ezra, he's just trying to help, it's his nature. He acts like everyone's mother so get used to it. Now both of you eat and that's an order."

Ezra pushed his plate away and stood up. He moved away without looking at anyone and purposely stormed towards the bathroom. He knew he was going to be sick again but he wasn't going to run. The sight of JD placing a fork full of runny food into his mouth was the final straw. He wanted to glance over his shoulder to make sure that no-one was following him but it would be a show of weakness. Ezra Standish never allowed anyone to see any sort of weakness. Again he reached the toilet basin before his stomach lurched and began to empty itself. But there was nothing there. The muscles went through the normal procedure only to produce nothing that would help ease the burden of the hangover.

He forced himself up onto his shaking legs and walked to the wash basin. The cold water against his face felt good. A wet towel was what he needed. He refused to look up when he heard the door. He didn't know which one of the six men it was. He was yet to find out who the spokesperson was. Maybe it was Jackson coming to apologise. But he didn't think so, people didn't apologise for what they thought of him. Jackson must assume that he was a drunk and that this was a regular event. Let him think that, he didn't care.

Jimmy Morris watched as the man cleansed his face. He had chosen their next victim but this man had changed his mind. Originally the one with the mustache was going to pay for the way he had looked at Lucy, for the dirty thoughts that he was thinking. Morris silently admired and respected Lucy and she was always nice to him. The man with the dark hair wanted to sleep with her, he was able to see it in his eyes. But then when Lucy saw this one, her body language said that she would do almost anything for him. And the way he had smiled at her, he didn't trust him. His decision had been changed instantly. This man, the one with the smile that had almost melted Lucy's heart was going to be the victim. There was no way that he was going to get close to Lucy, she wasn't that kind of woman. That's what he had always thought until she had gazed upon this man. Maybe she could be next. Or the one with the moustache.

Ezra finally looked up when the silence had become too much. None of the men he had to work with was standing next to him. It was one of the young men who had been seated in one of the other booths. Ezra smiled but the younger man didn't smile back. He shrugged and grabbed a hand towel and dried his face under the scrutiny of the other man. He would have asked him what he wanted but he couldn't be bothered to get into an argument, he would only end up taking his anger out on someone who didn't deserve it. Knowing the way his luck was going at the moment, he would end up in jail anyway. He threw the paper towel away and pushed passed the man who was watching him. He wasn't gentle. He heard him grunt when he hit the wall.

He didn't bother returning to the booth, he didn't want company, he'd always been comfortable being alone. Ezra walked straight past the booth without acknowledging the six men and out into the morning sun. He stopped for a moment and looked up into the sky. It was going to be a beautiful day, such a pity it was going to be ruined by the over bearing men he'd left behind. He pulled out a pair of dark glasses and placed them on his face to keep the sun out of his eyes and to hide any emotions that he may feel. He moved to one of the outside tables and sat down with his back to the window. He would wait for them here. The sound of movement caused him to look up. It was Lucy. He forced himself to smile even though he didn't feel like it.

"Thought you might want this." Lucy placed the coffee in front of him then pulled out some aspirin from her apron's pocket and held them out to him. She just wanted to touch him, to know what his skin felt like. Her body tingled when his fingers brushed against her palm.

"Thanks."

"Your welcome." She moved away when there was no longer any reason to stay. Ezra followed her movements with his eyes. They soon rested on the man that had come into the men's room. His features were full of hatred. Ezra turned away wondering why someone could be full of so much hate. Five minutes later the man was forgotten as his thoughts drifted back to his own situation. Why the hell was he still here? He could have left easily enough on more than one occasion. They wouldn't have been able to find him. Why was he staying with a group of people he didn't want to be with? Or in a job he didn't want? He wanted to look over his shoulder at the men who no doubt would be watching him but he wouldn't allow himself to. He had decided to give Larabee a week before escaping from them. Why? Ezra searched his mind for the reason he was staying. There had to be one. He just wished he knew what it was.

Buck drove the hire car while JD played with the radio. They both enjoyed the same type of music - rock 'n' roll and it had to be very loud. Music wasn't good unless it was loud, that's what JD always said. But this time they kept it low in consideration for the man who sat in the back. No matter how he looked, they knew Ezra would be suffering some of the symptoms of a hangover. They didn't want to make an enemy on the first day of the operation.

"Anything you want to listen to Ezra? Classical, Blues, Jazz," Buck checked the rearview mirror. Standish was relaxing with his head leaning against the back seat. "It'll take at least another twenty minutes to get there."

"Some silence would be nice."

JD took that as to meaning he didn't want the radio on so he turned it off then twisted around his seat.

"You believe in aliens Ezra?"

"Do you believe in Santa Claus Mr Dunne?" Ezra answered without looking at the younger man.

"No," JD told him. "Not since I was nine."

"During your first nine years of life did you ever see him?"

"No."

"Then why did you believe in something you had never seen?"

JD stared at Ezra for a moment before answering. "Because my mother told me he existed."

"Do you believe everything people tell you?"

"Not everything," JD admitted, he had no idea where this conversation was going.

"You don't believe anything anyone tells you unless you have either seen it or have positive proof that it exists. Until then everything you are told is a lie."

"You really believe that?" JD was shocked. How could a person go through life thinking that? If that was the way Ezra thought about it then he mustn't trust anyone.

"I've had to JD."

Both Buck and JD looked at Ezra in surprise, each of them wondering what kind of life the man had been living. Not knowing what to say to that answer they became quiet. JD turned back around to the front. Ezra lifted his head and opened his eyes to look at the two men. He berated himself for giving out too much information. What was it about these men that caused him to give out little bits of information about his life. They were smart, they only needed enough to put two and two together and work out what type of person he was. If they did find out, they wouldn't like what they discovered.

"There it is, just like Chris said it would be." JD nodded towards the equipment van that was parked amongst the trees. "Wonder if Joe brought it this time?"

"Lord I hope so." Buck winked at him. Joe Desom had a way of filling the small fridge with beer cans and peanuts.

Ezra couldn't see it from the back seat of the vehicle, not that he was really interested. He was still too busy trying to find the reason that was hidden in his mind for staying. He was actually becoming confused over the entire situation, he hadn't been confused for years. He was always confident and knew what he wanted and what he was doing. And now he didn't.

Buck brought the car to a stop, then got out and headed towards the van. He was eager to get started, he was a man who loved his work. JD soon joined his side and both hurried towards their destination.

Ezra wasn't in such a hurry, he wanted to scan the area with his experienced eyes. His mother had taught him a lot of things and one of them was to see what other people couldn't or wouldn't see. A camp site lay a hundred metres to the left, a lake to the right and a large clearing separated the two. The north was covered by an area of trees, and he saw the van amongst them. Behind him was the dirt road that led to the camping area. It was a beautiful location and he was sure that plenty of people came here to enjoy the facilities. A peaceful area for a person to suffer an hallucination. There were no aliens, there never were. There was another explanation for what was happening in this town. Even the name Salem would cause people to think the place was full of witches.

"Hey Ezra, you comin' or what?" Buck yelled out to him from the entrance to the van.

"Or what." Ezra muttered then followed the two men to the van.

He stopped outside and surveyed it. A van, it was more like an eighteen wheeler than a van. It was entirely white, it would stand out anywhere. The aliens won't come around with this thing sitting here. Ezra went through the door and into the van. He was even more impressed than he was at the offices of the SPI headquarters. The equipment again, was expensive. He recognised motion detectors, security devices, video cameras, night vision equipment, surveillance and communication equipment and the large armory that lined the back wall. He smiled when he saw the explosives, one of his favourite things. He turned and saw a set of bunkbeds on the other end of the van. What he wouldn't give to just go and lie down and get some much needed sleep. A cornered off section told him where the toilet was. He hoped there was a shower in there as well, but it didn't look big enough. Well, there was always the lake if he became desperate. Or he could just leave. To do that he would have to steal a set of keys, but that wouldn't be difficult for him to do.

"I'll show you around Ezra," JD called to him from his position.

"It's all right JD, I recognise most of the equipment."

"You want me to show you how to use them?"

"I know how to use them." Ezra smiled at him.

"And how would you know how to use this stuff," Buck asked him suspiciously.

"In my life you have to know a little bit about everything," Ezra answered. "I've also sold most of this stuff to other people and you have to know about the equipment your selling or you won't make a sale."

Buck threw a carry bag at him. "Then we won't need to show you how to set up the equipment. You do north and the campsite. Set them up 250 metres out and 100 metres apart. JD and I will do the rest."

Ezra gave them an imaginary salute and watched them leave. That was it, he was left to his own devices. Why not, it's what he wanted, to be alone. Now he could think without being interrupted. As he made his way back to the door he saw the portable fridge. He opened it. There was no alcohol. But it was full of soft drinks, bagels and fresh fruit. He took a diet coke and two bagels, he could eat while he worked. His stomach wasn't so bad now, maybe some food would make him feel better. There was no hurry to set up the equipment, aliens didn't come during the day, only at night when they visited your home to take you on a mystery flight. He placed them in the bag and left the van, closing the door behind him. He could see JD and Buck in the distance, the two men were close friends, even an idiot could see that. He felt a pang of jealousy. Is that why he was here? Because he wanted friends? He shook his head, that wasn't the reason, it couldn't be, he had lived most of his life without friends, he didn't need them. He wouldn't know how to be one anyway. He turned his back to them and headed further into the trees.

He didn't realise he was being watched by two men who were going to make his life even worse than he could have imagined. The sunlight began to break up as he went deeper into the woods. The natural noises that surrounded him were like music to his ears. He enjoyed the outdoors, the freedom and the dependency on nature itself. There were no city noises to destroy the natural beauty that lived around him. He admired the beauty of the trees, they were old, at least two hundred years.

Once he had walked the required distance he stopped and dropped the bag. He sat down on a thick patch of grass where the sun was able to filter down through the trees onto his face. He removed the bagel from the bag and took a small bite, his stomach had to be tested before he devoured it. The food that hit his stomach only caused it to growl in hunger, reminding him that he had been neglecting it for so long. He answered it by taking another bite. He wanted to stay there all day but he couldn't, he was supposed to be doing a job. A job he didn't want. If anything he was going to prove that he was capable of doing what was asked of him. The sun had moved overhead into the afternoon, causing the light to shift and change along the ground and surrounding trees. Ezra ducked as a bird flew closely over his head. He was beginning to feel hot under his jacket but he left it on, he was nearly finished.

There was only one motion detector left to set and he was 40 metres from it's position. The feeling of somebody watching him caused him to stop. His eyes searched unsuccessfully to find the source. Ezra moved on, watching everything that was within his line of vision. He was hunched over as he secured the last of the equipment, making sure that it wouldn't be easily tampered with by the smaller animals that lived in the woods. The second bagel that was half eaten hung from his mouth while he was required to use both hands. For some reason his headache began to worsen. He had thought the fresh air was doing him good. The headache had eased and he was eating food that his stomach was accepting without question. But now it had suddenly come back with a vengence. He couldn't understand why.

A noise to his right caused his head to jerk up. He would have ignored it but it wasn't the usual sound that an animal would cause. It was larger, more like a human. Ezra removed the bagel from his mouth and placed it carefully on the bag. He removed his sunglasses and after placing them back into the inside pocket of his jacket he slowly stood up, turning as he stretched his body to it's full height. He was now positive that he was being watched.

He turned to the right, the direction that would take him even deeper into the woods. Someone was standing there watching him. Someone or was it.....something? A sharp pain shot through his skull causing him to lower his head. His right hand moved quickly to clasp his forehead. The pain eased but only slightly. He looked back to find the creature still staring at him. It looked like the aliens that you saw on the TV and in books. Too much like it as far as he was concerned. It was just over four foot, with grey skin. The arms were long and the head was an oval shape with large dark eyes. Too much like the pictures you saw.

Ezra took a step towards it. There was no movement in return. He took another step. His movements became quicker and soon turned into a run. He knew it wasn't real, it couldn't be, he didn't believe that aliens existed. As he ran towards it his headache grew. Movement to his left cause him to slide to a halt. His left hand flew out in front of his body to stop it's progress towards the ground. A second one was staring at him. His eyes flickered towards the first, it was still there and it was the closest. He began to run again. A light shone down on the apparition, the brightness causing him to squint. He tripped. He tried to put his arms out in front of him but he twisted as he fell. His left shoulder slammed into a tree, the joint painfully popping out of it's socket. His head hit the base of the tree as he landed painfully on the ground. Ezra looked up to find one of them standing over him. There was something about it that wasn't right. He closed his eyes after a final thought entered it. As soon as he woke up, he was leaving, he wasn't going to put up with this shit.

As Chris drove up the dirt road towards the SPI equipment van, he saw Buck and JD heading towards them with an empty bag. He wondered why Ezra wasn't with them. Had they allowed him to work on his own? There was going to be hell to pay if something had happened to the man. He looked sideways at Vin who wore the same expression that he did. He was obviously thinking the same thought. Chris parked the hire car next to the one that Buck had driven up and got out of the vehicle, he looked around the surrounding area but still couldn't see Standish. Maybe he was in the van.

"Hey Chris," JD called out to him. "Vin."

Chris nodded in return. "Where's Standish?"

"He should be back soon, he's setting up the perimeter to the north and west," Buck informed him as he got closer to his two friends.

"He's out there on his own?" Chris frowned at Buck then JD.

"Said he knew what he was doing," Buck shrugged.

"You don't think he took off do you Chris?" JD looked towards the woods. He hadn't thought about Ezra running off, and neither did Buck because they both had allowed him to work alone.

"If he does he'll probably get lost, he is a city man after all. Probably doesn't even know what a tree looks like," Chris growled at them. "Go west and look for him, we'll go north."

Vin winked at JD and Buck, if Standish was lost or even worse, gone, they were going to pay dearly. He jogged off after Chris to try and stabilise his temper. Doesn't know what a tree looks like huh? Vin shook his head as he caught up with his closest friend.

"What are you smiling at?" Chris practically spat at him.

"Being a bit protective aren't you and I'm sure he knows what a tree looks like." Vin couldn't help but smile. On the outside Chris was a hard man, towards his team and anyone else who got in his way, but underneath he was as soft as a puppy and he protected his men as though they were his family. And as far as he was concerned they were, he just didn't tell them that. No-one harmed them and got away with it. Why should it be any different for the new man? He cared but didn't show it unless one of them was hurt. Then all hell broke lose and God help the person who had harmed one of them.

"I don't know Vin." Chris shook his head as he entered the woods. "There's something about him, I know he's good at what he does but there's something inside that's not right."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it's . . .

"What?"

"He sort of reminds me of me, after Sarah and Adam died. He's got a chip on his shoulder and I'd like to know what it is."

Vin became silent for a moment. He hadn't been part of the team when Chris' wife and son were murdered. It had been a house fire but they found out later that it had been deliberately lit. Chris had known that he was the intended victim, he was supposed to be home that night but Buck had talked him into going on a fishing trip with him. They had returned to find the house burnt down and Chris' family in the morgue. Buck had explained to them that Chris had died inside and it had taken him a year to bring his friend back to life.

"I don't think he's the type that's going to tell you, think he keeps everything close to his chest."

"That's what I mean."

"Hell Chris, you're like that."

"And what's wrong with being like that?"

Vin held up his arms in surrender. "Nothing, just so you know when he doesn't talk to you. He's been with us one day Chris, he's not going to tell you anything."

"Yeah you're right, it took you a month before you said anything worth listening to."

"Only because it took you guys a month to learn how to have a conversation."

They stopped arguing when they heard muttered curses coming from their left. Chris put out an arm to stop Vin but his security man had already done so. It took him a few seconds to recognise the Southern accent. He nodded to Vin and they walked towards the voice. He didn't like what he found. Standish was walking towards them. His left arm hung at an angle and a thick trail of blood lined the left side of his face. He had a carry bag in his right hand.

"What the hell happened to you?" Chris asked him.

Ezra walked straight past them as though he hadn't seen them. His soft curses continued as he headed back to the van.

"Why me? Why me for fuck's sake? What the hell did I do to deserve this shit? I was only playing cards and now I'm here chasing aliens that don't exist. Must think I'm stupid, that I have nothing better to do. Well I have, I could be . . . I could be sleeping for one thing."

"STANDISH!" Chris finally got his attention.

"WHAT?!" Ezra yelled back at him then winced at the sound of his own voice. His head hurt, his shoulder hurt and he was feeling sick again.

Chris calmed himself down. "What happened?"

"I fell over. Can I go now?" He didn't wait for an answer, he continued walking. He was going to clean himself up, take a car and leave. He wasn't staying, not if this sort of thing was going to happen to him. He could get injuries just as bad in jail.

"Let me take that." Vin took the bag from Ezra and walked beside him. "You're not having a good day are you?"

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one Mr Tanner," Ezra growled at him.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about." Chris patted him on his good shoulder.

"I'm not embarrassed!" Ezra snarled at him as he pushed his arm away.

"Nathan will fix you up." Chris walked on his left side and he could see the condition the shoulder was in. It had been dislocated. Must have fallen off something to do that. Even the head wound looked nasty.

"I don't need Mr Jackson to fix me up, I can do that myself."

"He may want you to go to the hospital," Chris warned him.

"I don't go to hospitals."

"If you're worried about medical insurance, we have that covered," Chris explained.

"I don't go to hospitals," Ezra repeated more firmly.

Chris shrugged, it didn't matter, if Nathan wanted Ezra to go to the hospital then he would make sure the stubborn Southerner got there. Even he could see that the cut on his forehead was going to need stitches. Standish was steady on his feet and didn't seem to be confused so there was a good chance that he hadn't suffered a concussion.

Ezra didn't like having the two men with him, it would make it harder for him to leave. Would they physically restrain him? In the condition he was in they would be able to. He might have been able to take one of them with a bad arm but not two. If Wilmington and Dunne were back at the van it was certain he'd never get away from them.

The van came into sight and he sighed when he saw the two men in question begin to move towards him. He ignored their questions and kept walking. If he could just get into the bathroom - he still hoped that it included a shower - he could lock himself in, then he wouldn't have to deal with them.

He made it to the large vehicle without falling over. His right arm helped him to navigate the stairs. He turned and headed straight for door that was going to lead to his much needed solitude. He stepped in and shut the door behind him. It did have a lock which he engaged immediately. Someone tried to follow him in. He looked around and saw the portable shower, it would do. The first thing that he was going to have to do was to put his shoulder back in place. He knew it was going to hurt like hell but the longer he left it the harder it was going to be.

"Ezra will you let me in, I only want to help," Chris' voice came through the door.

"Help me?" Ezra spoke quietly. "Like hell."

He stepped up to the shower stall and gritted his teeth. One, two, three, he slammed his shoulder against the solid object and fell to the floor in agony. It didn't work. His shoulder was still out of place. Damn it! It had worked before. Now it really hurt. He sat on the floor taking deep breaths to try and ease the fear that was beginning to creep into his body. He was under control in a few seconds but it still hurt. He would wait a while before he tried again.

Ezra lifted his head to watch when someone began to force the door open. He shook his head. He didn't understand these men. Why did they want to help him? No one had ever helped him before, mostly because he wouldn't allow anyone to but none had offered help when he was in a difficult situation. It was only a matter of seconds before the door burst open. Chris and Vin came straight towards him.

"What do you think your doing?" Chris saw the light sheen of sweat glistening on Ezra's forehead. "Is this how you take care of yourself?" He pulled Ezra to his feet with Vin's help. "Buck, give Nathan a call, find out how long he's going to be."

"I can do this myself," Ezra tried to inform them again but they only ignored him.

Chris carefully pushed him out of the room and down onto the bottom bunk then stepped back from him.

"Lie down and stay there, as soon as Nathan gets back he's going to check you over."

"Then I'm leaving." Ezra stared into the blue eyes that looked back at him.

"Why?"

"I don't need to give a reason."

"You don't leave unless you give me a reason to allow you to leave." Chris waited. "Just because you tripped over something . . . that's no reason to leave."

Ezra diverted his eyes, he suddenly needed to look somewhere else. He wasn't willing to trust his poker face with the pain he was in. "This isn't for me."

"How would you know? You've only been at it one day."

"I didn't want this job, you didn't give me much of a choice remember." Ezra glared back at Chris.

"That's right and you chose this job instead of jail." Chris knelt down in front of Ezra. "Don't you ever run out on me!"

Ezra was momentarily stunned. This man wanted him to stay on his team, he was even threatening him. It didn't matter, if he wanted to leave he would leave, Larabee wouldn't be able to stop him.

"Buck!" Chris stood up and walked away from Ezra leaving Vin with the Southerner.

"Said he'd be here in about thirty minutes, suggested we take him to the hospital but I told him that he didn't want to go," Buck informed him.

Thirty minutes. Chris shifted his position so he could see Ezra. There was pain written all over the man's face. The pain hadn't been there before, the idiot probably tried to put his shoulder back in place on his own. Why was he so independent, or stubborn which was actually a better description for him. He walked purposely back to him.

"You're going to the hospital whether you like it or not," Chris ordered him.

"No I'm not." Ezra pushed himself further back onto the bunk with his good arm.

"Why not?"

"I don't like hospitals," Ezra admitted to him.

Chris saw the fear that flickered across the handsome features. "Okay." He knew there was nothing else he could do but physically drag the man to the hospital but he wasn't prepared to do that right then. Ezra was ready to run and he didn't want to give him another reason. "But if Nathan says that you have no choice, your going to have to go."

Ezra didn't answer him, instead he struggled to lie down. He glared at Vin when the security man reached out to help him. After he finally found a comfortable position on his right side, facing the wall, he closed his eyes. His headache was even worse than it had been. He felt the bunk shift beneath him when someone sat down, he ignored them. A presence leant over him, he hoped it was one of the men in the van and not what he had seen in the woods. He refused to open his eyes to find out. A damp cloth began to wipe the blood from his face, he didn't like the intrusion so he swatted it away but it came back like an annoying fly.

"You need anything?" Vin asked as he looked over Ezra's shoulder.

"No, want to sleep." He pushed his head away from the annoying cloth and further into the pillow.

"Might have a concussion after all," Chris observed.

"Ezra. Does your head hurt?" Vin asked again.

"Leave me alone will you," was his answer.

Of course his head hurt, he'd drunk too much the night before, and for some reason it had decided to hurt even more when he saw what people were calling 'aliens', and then of all things he had to trip over and hit his head against a tree. Does your head hurt? What a stupid question.

"Yes or no," Chris growled at him.

"I hit my head, of course it hurts," Ezra retorted. "Now would you please stop asking me such stupid questions and let me sleep!"

"No, if you have a concussion, the worst thing you can do is sleep." Chris went to grab the prone man but didn't know where, it was the injured shoulder that stared back at him. He couldn't use that to lift him up. Under the right shoulder, that was the way to go. He nodded to Vin who would know what he was thinking; he always did, it was uncanny. Vin grabbed the lapels of the leather jacket and began to pull him up, as he did Chris slipped an arm around Ezra's back and pushed him forward. They both twisted him until his legs were off the bunk and his back was against the wall. Chris pushed the pillow behind Ezra's back so he would be more comfortable.

"Stay awake, that's an order."

He was too tired to argue, he'll say something later when he was feeling better. He allowed his head to fall back against the wall and closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep. Someone slapped his face and his eyes flew open. Chris was smiling at him. Jeez, when he gave an order he meant it. He lifted his right leg and sat it on the bunk and shifted towards it to take some of the weight off his shoulder. The thirty minutes passed slowly but Nathan finally arrived. He seemed to rush through the door into the van then straight towards the bunk. Ezra watched as he shoved Chris and Vin out of the way. He tried to move away from the threat before him but there was no where to escape.

"What happened?" Nathan lifted an eyelid to search for a concussion.

"I tripped." Ezra moved his head away.

"Shift forward so I can check your shoulder."

"It's out," Ezra replied sarcastically.

"I can see that," Nathan replied with the same tone. "I'm going to take you're jacket and shirt off so I can see if I can put it back or if you'll have to have it done at the hospital."

"I'm not going to the hospital."

"So you keep saying," Chris chuckled from his position next to the bunk.

Ezra gritted his teeth as Nathan pulled the expensive jacket from his right then left arm. His shirt followed it. The bruising had travelled to the upper part of his chest. Nathan began to prod and poke the shoulder. The next thing Ezra felt was intense pain as the shoulder was expertly put back into place. He tried not to cry out, he did his best not to show his weakness but it escaped anyway. The pain caused him to double over, his head falling against Nathan's shoulder. Nathan pushed him back against the wall and used the wet cloth that Vin gave him to start cleaning the head wound. It was small but deep. "It's going to need stitches. You're going to the hospital."

"No." Ezra was insistent that he didn't go.

"You need stitches Ezra." Nathan tried but saw the determination on the man's face. Why won't he go?

"They won't keep you in, just the stitches then we'll bring you back."

"What if they do?"

"They won't." Chris came forward. "You have my word they won't admit you."

Ezra saw that Chris wasn't lying to him, he read the truth in the blue eyes. He nodded and allowed them to pull him off the bunk then dress him. For the first time since he was seven he was going to trust someone.

County Hospital, Salem- Friday, 12:19pm

White. Why were hospitals always white. The colour made it look more like a morgue than a facility that was supposed to heal people, but not everyone left with their health still in tack. Gawd, he hated hospitals and it's staff with a passion.

Ezra sat on a gurney in the emergency room, he was impatiently waiting for someone to come and stitch his head wound back together. He'd already been here for nearly two hours. Four times he had gotten up and started walking towards the exit only to have Larabee and Jackson grab him and pull him back. He had so far, managed to keep calm, but he wasn't going to be calm for much longer. His patience had already run out one hour and fifty seven minutes ago.

"So, why don't you like hospitals Ezra?" Chris was trying to take the Southerner's mind off what was happening but the look on the man's face told him that it wasn't going to work.

"You mean apart from all the paper work, the outfits that you have to wear, nurses who wake you up in the middle of the night to see if your asleep, the five am wake up calls, nurses who don't really care, doctors who don't know what their doing. Should I go on." Ezra turned away as he began to remember the real reason why he didn't like hospitals, it wasn't the building itself, it was the people that worked in them.

The only person who had ever cared about him had died in a cold hospital ward. Her last hours were undignified, nurses and doctors continued to try and keep her alive while telling her seven year old nephew that she was going to be fine. 'Trust me', they said. He had trusted them, they were doctors after all, they were supposed to know what they were doing. But they were doctors who also lied to the relatives of dying patients. Adults would say anything to a child to keep them happy and out of the way. He hadn't trusted a nurse or doctor since.

Ezra went back to looking for a way out when he heard a stranger's voice use his name. He turned with a grimace on his face. He wasn't going to enjoy this and neither was the doctor.

"Mr Standish?" the intern hoped that he wasn't required to stitch up the man who had unsuccessfully, tried to escape four times. He was sure he would be a difficult patient and he only had an hour to go on his shift. He didn't want to end his day on a bad note.

"Here." Chris answered and stepped out of the way.

Damn. Just typical. "I'm Doctor Jenz, I'll be doing your sutures for you."

Instead of replying, Ezra glared at the man who stood before him. He looked like he'd only just gotten out of nappies. A threat was written on his face and he knew that the young man if front of him understood it clearly. Jenz had blinked then looked at the two men with him for support. It seemed he wasn't going to get any.

"Could you lie down please, it would make it easier for both of us." Jenz placed the tray he was carrying down on a trolley and pulled it closer to the gurnery. "Would you gentlemen like to stay or wait outside." Please stay!

"We'll stay if you don't mind." Chris smiled at him. Ezra had scared the guy with a simple look. And he thought his threatening expressions were bad. Standish easily gave him a run for his money.

Thank you. Jenz lifted his eyes skyward then returned to the job in hand, he wanted to get this over and done with. Sometimes he really hated his job. Not a day went by when one of the staff was assaulted in the emergency room. Some people just weren't happy about receiving medical treatment. He lifted the syringe off the tray and leant over the patient, he refused to look into the angry green eyes that he knew would be staring back at him. He felt the man tense up as he inserted the needle close to the wound. It was going to take a couple of minutes for it to go numb.

"How did you manage to do this?" Jenz spoke to Ezra but hoped one of the others was going to answer.

"A tree assaulted me." Ezra growled up at him.

"Did you have it arrested?" Jenz chuckled as he tried to break up the tension that surrounded him.

"I had to shoot it, resisting arrest." Ezra stared back at him. "Know what I mean."

"Um, that should be ready now." he began to stitch the wound while ignoring the patient.

Ten minutes later he was finished. The wound was clean, closed and covered. Now it was time to tell him. "We'd like to keep you in overnight for observation, just to be safe."

"Sorry, he's not staying." Chris told him.

"Sure, if that's what he wants but if he suffers from any nausea or dizziness then bring him back as soon as you can."

"Thanks doc." Chris waited for Ezra to thank the young physician. The expression that the man's face held told him that he wasn't going to say a word. Ezra was still glaring at the man before him, it looked as though he was ready to beat him to a pulp if he said or did the wrong thing. "Let's go Ezra."

Jenz watched as the three men left, one of them in a hurry, while the other two had to practically jog to keep up with him. "Your welcome." he told Ezra, but he made sure that his voice was low,so he wouldn't hear him. "Well, that wasn't so bad."

Protected Park Land, Salem- Friday, 3:32pm

Nathan Jackson had insisted that Ezra return to the hotel to get some rest. The impolite refusal angered him. Was this man going to be just like Vin and Chris. That was all he needed, three of the six men were as stubborn as hell. Just great. One of these days he was going to quit, that would teach them, who would look after them then. No one, they would have to go to a hospital where they would be lying on a bed being prodded and poked at by a doctor, wishing that they had never treated him the way they did. He smiled, that day will come.

Now they were back at the van. Ezra was sitting on the bottom bunk again, glaring at everyone around him. They kept asking him if he needed anything and Nathan would swear that he was about to become violent. Jackson turned back to the conversation he knew was about to start.

"So what did you guys find out?" Chris asked Josiah and Nathan as he sat down on one of the desks that was full of equipment. Lights were blinking on and off and small beeping noises echoed within the space of the van.

"Two victims," Nathan began, "Sarah Hinley, nineteen years of age. Wasn't popular around town. Apparently she was easy, as it was put by the young man we spoke to. There was a Josh Tomkins who helps out at the morgue, went to school with Sarah so he gave us some information on her. It seems that a lot of people were happy to see her go. Coroner said the cause of death was a fall from a great height. Body was found at the bottom of the cliff, two days after the accused abduction. There was no exact proof that she had been abducted though. Small wounds covered her upper body, which would not have resulted from the fall, too neat and precise. During the autopsy a small chip was removed from the back of her right hand. They're still testing it to see what it is."

He looked across at Josiah to see if he wanted to continue but the large man - more in height than width - stayed silent. "John Heaslip, thirty years of age. The coroner knew him, saw him quite a bit at the local bar. Said he was a nice guy, everyone liked him. About three weeks ago he started to act differently, he got mean, spent a couple of nights in the town jail. He picked fights with everyone he could find. No one could understand the change. They found out why at the autopsy. Cancer, he would have had only three months to live. Guess he didn't take it too well. As to the abduction, it's the same as Sarah, small wounds and the chip in the back of the right hand. Cause of death. He was hit by a train but he wasn't standing or jumped in front of it. Coroner said that he had to be lying down on the tracks."

"So, two people who claimed they saw aliens in this area, were abducted then died a few days later." Josiah finished off.

"Suicide?" Vin asked them.

"Could have been but you can easily be pushed off a cliff, or knocked out and laid down on a set of train tracks." Nathan told him.

"True." Vin agreed with Nathan's suspicions. There were no aliens until it was proven, until then this had been done by humans.

"And you?" Josiah wanted to know what Chris and Vin had found out.

"Forty eight year old Nancy Witt. Meanest bitch I've ever met." Chris grimaced. He hoped that she had never been a mother. "Said she always comes up here to swim in the lake. Last Tuesday afternoon at twelve past one she claimed to have seen an alien. She said it looked the same as the one on the book cover. Short, grey with large black eyes. Witt says that it was just watching her then a few minutes later it walked away. Wednesday she was up here again, remembers swimming then nothing else. She woke up in the woods. A couple that was bush walking found her and took her to the hospital. Since then she remembers being in a room with aliens, pain and nothing else."

"You believe her?" Josiah watched Chris' face, the expression said no.

"I'll run the tape with the Tremolo, check the stress levels in her voice. That'll give us an idea if she's telling the truth or not." Chris answered.

"And in the meantime?"

"In the meantime we wait, Buck and JD can wait with Miss Witt, they might come back for her. We'll keep watch here."

"Excuse me," Buck stood up and moved closer to Chris so he could be standing over him when he asked his question. "Why us?"

"Because you have a way with woman." Chris smiled up at him. "And I give the orders, got a problem with that."

"Only problem I got is that I'm going to have to deal with a cow. And poor JD here, how do you think he's going to handle it. I mean, hell, he thinks every woman is an angel, I don't think we should put him through that Chris."

"You can go on your own if you like."

"JD, your with me!" Buck returned to his seat without another word on the subject.

"Knew you would understand." Chris turned to check if Ezra had fallen asleep yet, the man was wide awake, his intense green eyes were staring back at him. Chris smiled but Ezra's face didn't flinch. "Anyone hungry?"

A chorus of yes, starving and about time was his answer.

"Buck and JD can get something to eat on their way to Witt's place. Any volunteers to get our dinner?" he looked around at the remaining agents. "Okay," he stood up, "I think it's about time that Nathan and I let someone else have a turn, it's only fair. Vin, Josiah, you know what we want. Ezra? You hungry?"

"What's on the menu?" Ezra continued to watch Chris.

"Italian."

"Sounds fine to me."

Josiah and Vin muttered and cursed as they left the van, why they kept getting the short end of the stick, they didn't know.

Ezra continued to watch Chris. He had allowed himself to trust him and Larabee had come through for him. No hesitation at all, as soon as an overnight stay was mentioned Chris spoke up and said no. He had kept his word. Ezra didn't think it would happen, he had put his trust in other people only to be thrown to the wolves, after the wolves were finished the person he trusted then stomped him into the ground. It had always taken him a while to get up again. By the time he was eight he no longer trusted anyone, and that included his mother.

"Ezra, you okay?" Chris could see that the Southerner was thinking, even though he had been staring at him. Chris though, couldn't read his expression, he didn't know what was going on behind those staring eyes.

"Fine, just a bit of a headache, shoulder's sore too." he admitted.

"Nathan, Ezra's not feeling too well." Chris informed him.

Jackson moved to the bed and began to prod and poke. Ezra didn't like it. This guy was as bad as those he had left behind at the hospital. It was the last time he was going to tell them how he was feeling, it had been a mistake and the only time he was going to make it.

"There is no need for this, I would feel better if you stopped doing that." Ezra grabbed Nathan's left wrist and held it in a vise like grip. "No more."

"Sure, if that's what you want." Nathan pulled his hand from Ezra's grip then gave Chris one his looks. Chris tried to hide his smile which only frustrated Nathan more.

"Why don't you get some rest Ezra, it'll be a while before Vin and Josiah get back."

Ezra watched Chris move away. He first took in the blond man's rugged features. He'd had a hard life. Ezra could read it in his eyes and his movements. He was a man that didn't take any shit from anyone. Nathan was next, that man was already looking down at him as though he were just piece of dirt. So far he didn't like Nathan very much. He blinked and felt his eyelids becoming heavy. Maybe he should lie down, just for a little while. He shifted his body to the side so he could lie down on his right side. Ezra's head hit the soft pillow, his eyes closed and he was asleep within minutes.

Something caused him to wake suddenly, he didn't know what so he lay quietly to see if it happened again. It did. A sharp pain tore through his skull. It went as quickly as it came. There was something outside, something not right. He didn't know how he knew, he just knew it. He opened his eyes to a room full of filtered darkness and twisted his head so he could look over his shoulder. Sitting at the back of the van was a lamp, the low wattage bulb broke up the darkness enough to allow a person to find their way around. He could see a figure slumped in a chair, the clothing was dark. Chris Larabee. Did that man always wear black, he was yet to see him in anything else. A faint smell of pasta sauce floated within the van. His stomach growled in response. Later, he had to see what was outside first.

Ezra tip toed to the door, a glance over his shoulder told him that someone was sleeping on the top bunk, he thought it was Vin. Nathan and Josiah must have gone back to the motel. It would have been nice if they invited him along. A night in a comfortable bed was just what he wanted. Unfortunately he wasn't going to get it tonight.

He unlocked the door carefully and opened it. The night's cool air bit his face and hands. A few minutes and he will go back inside. An image flashed in his mind, the stupid teenager in a horror movie who went to investigate a noise instead of running away from it. That was exactly what he was doing. He should be waking Chris and Vin so they could investigate with him. But there was nothing to be afraid of, no monsters, no ghosts and certainly no aliens.

The moon was full so he was able to see without a torch, not that he had brought one with him. Movement beyond the line of trees in front of him caught his attention. He slowly walked towards it, making sure that his eyes watched everything that they were able to see. Someone ran from one tree to another. It didn't look like an alien. It was tall and dressed in clothing and it certainly looked human. His own movements were quiet as he crept towards the hidden person. What he didn't realise was that there were two men waiting for him, not one.

He stopped as the headache began, he frowned in confusion as his mind began to tick over. His eyes searched the woods. There it was. The last time he had seen what looked like an alien his headache had worsened. It was too much of a coincedence. There was something that connected the two things; headaches and aliens. He had never read about that type of symptom when it came to alien sightings. Ezra watched it as it began to move towards him. He wasn't going to turn and run, he would wait, let it continue with it's intentions. The sound of a snapping twig caused him to turn quickly, but not quick enough.

Jimmy Morris knew what he was doing, he had been doing the same thing long enough to catch each victim by surprise. Even this man. He plunged the needle into the exposed neck then stepped back to watch. The smile that spread across his face didn't show how deep his enjoyment of watching others suffer went.

Ezra felt the pain before he saw the man he recognised as being the man from the restaurant. What the hell was going on? The needle that hung loosely from his fingers told him. He had been drugged. Why? The world began to spin faster around him. He put his arms out to try and balance himself but only succeeded in falling down hard on his knees. His posterior was next. The alien stepped into his vision. Alien? It was changing into a human form. The second man at the restaurant. He was right, the aliens weren't real. Lord he wished he knew what was happening. Ezra fell onto his back with his legs twisted beneath him. He blinked, trying to bring his vision into focus. It didn't work. Blackness took over his world as he felt the two men begin to lift him to his feet.

An Unknown House, Salem - Saturday, 1:48am

Pain erupted on the side of his face. Then again on the other side. He forced his eyes open and looked up into the face of the man who had drugged him. Ezra ignored him and turned his head so he could explore his surroundings, he needed to find a way out. A strong hand gripped his jaw painfully and pulled his head back but he saw enough. It was a basement, he was sure. The wooden steps he had seen would lead to his escape.

Ezra tried to lift his arms but couldn't, something held them down. He attempted to lift his feet next, the same thing happened. It was then he realised he was naked from the waist up. He struggled to remove the hand from his face. He couldn't, the strength he required to do so seemed to be lacking. A side effect from the drug, had to be. Well, his decision was now made, he no longer wanted the job, if this is what it entailed then he would go to jail. At least there, he had a better chance of fighting back.

"You going to put him under or what?" Orstien asked as he watched Morris stare into the eyes of the man below him. He still couldn't understand why he had chosen this one.

"No, I want him awake when we do this." Morris smiled. "I want him to feel everything."

"What if he remembers something afterwards?"

"No one will believe him, not after he tells them he was abducted by aliens. They'll call him a liar if he changes his story."

"Okay, as long as you know what your doing."

"Don't I always?"

"You haven't been wrong yet." Orstein moved closer and brought the tray of equipment with him. "Where do you want to start?"

"The chip."

Pain? They were going to cause him pain. Then he remembered, the bodies of the 'abductee's' had small wounds covering their bodies and a chip on the back of the right hand. He didn't want pain, he didn't like it very much, but then who did. Now he wished he had gotten more involved in the previous conversation. How deep were the wounds going to be? How large was the chip? His eyes opened a little wider when he saw the scapel.

"This won't hurt much." Orstein told the man on the table. He didn't even know the victim's name. They had never done this to a stranger before. They had always known the victim, knew their weaknesses and their strengths. Morris had known what information to put in their minds to get the best results. They were going blind with this one.

Morris chuckled as he lowered the small weapon toward the right hand. The cut was usually small but he was going to go out of his way to make everything a bit longer, a bit deeper, and inflict them a bit slower. He loved his work.

Ezra gritted his teeth, this was only the first, there was going to be a lot more to come. He forced his mind to think of other things. Larabee. Would he think that he had run out? Of course he would, what else was he going to think, that he was abducted by aliens. They wouldn't even come looking for him, why would they. If things went the same for him as the others then he would wake up somewhere in the woods, hopefully near the SPI van. But would he remember what really happened or would he tell them that he was abducted. His mind then told him the bad news. All but one of the victims had died a couple of days later. Aw shit! This was not good. His jaw began to ache. He knew the guy was going out of his way to make it hurt more than it should.

The pain finally stopped a few minutes later but started again when a set of forceps began to pull back the flap of skin. The chip was inserted painfully, why would he assume anything else. A face then leered down at him. The scapel was held in front of his face, his own blood dripping from the sharp edge of the small blade. His eyes followed the medical instrument as it made it's way to his chest. He watched, fascinated as the blade began to cut into his flesh. Ezra didn't feel the pain at first, it came a few seconds later. Son of a bitch! He kept the thought to himself. They weren't going to hear or see him suffer.

Ezra didn't know how long it took to inflict the numerous wounds on his chest and arms but it finally stopped. The pain continued though. The small incisions hurt like hell. He blinked when the scapel was placed against his throat.

"One move and your dead. Understand?" Morris warned him. "Dead now or dead in two days, it doesn't matter to us but it might matter to you."

Ezra nodded that he understood. He was right. If he was given a two day reprieve he might be able to get himself out of this shit hole he had placed himself in. His left arm was untied. A sharp twinge of pain reminded him that it had been dislocated the day before. He hoped that it stayed in place. His upper body was then forced onto it's side. His left ankle twisted painfully as he was turned.

Morris knelt down in front of Ezra. He wanted to see the blood flow from his neck but the thought of the fun they were going to have watching him wake up in the middle of the woods kept him from doing it. Instead he watched the handsome face as his partner inflicted more wounds on the man's back. The face before him was calm, even though sweat appeared on the skin. If it wasn't for the pain in his eyes, you wouldn't think that anything was wrong.

Next came the antiseptic, the cleaning of the wounds. He thought it hurt before, this was worse. It took even longer than it did to inflict the wounds. The pain only stopped when the bleeding did. The next thing he knew he was being drugged again. The needle was embedded in the same place as the first one. Ezra fought the drugs effects. He didn't know what they were going to do to him while he was unconscious. The drug was stronger than he was. He felt the familiar nausea roll through his body then nothing.

SPI Van, Salem - Saturday, 6:22am

Chris stretched and his back bone cracked. Ouch! But he did feel better as a result of it. The van was quiet except for the sound of the equipment. Obviously nothing had gone off in the night to alert them to intruders. His eyes stayed closed as he enjoyed the quiet, he knew it wouldn't last. He stretched again, this time allowing his muscles to work out the stiffness that had settled in during the night. Alarm bells began to ring telling him that he needed to answer nature's call. His bladder began to feel like it was about to burst. He rushed to the bathroom, trying not to wake the two occupants on the bunks. He shut the door and five minutes later returned with a frown on his face. The bottom bunk was empty.

"Vin!" He slammed his fist against the top bunk. "Get up!"

"What?" Vin muttered as he shot up into a sitting position. The top of his forehead slammed into the roof of the van. "SHIT!" he always forgot about that thing.

"Ezra's gone."

"You check the privy?" Vin asked him as he started to rub his forehead.

"Just been in there." Chris told him.

"Give me a minute so I can go, then we'll look for him." he jumped off the bed while still holding his head with his hand. "You should do something about that roof, a guy can get killed sleeping on that bunk."

"Thought you had a thick skull."

"Even my thick skull can only take so many hits." Vin yelled through the door.

"Maybe we should test that theory." Chris muttered.

"Heard that." Vin smiled at him as he opened the door.

"Heard what?" Chris raised an eyebrow in innocence. "Come on, let's go find the slippery bastard."

"You think he took off."

"I didn't think he would, still don't, we'll look around here first, maybe he's just gone for a walk."

"He would have set off the motion detectors."

"I know, but I want to check anyway."

Protected Park Land, Salem - Saturday, 7:05am

Ezra's eyes opened. At first they saw nothing. It wasn't until a few seconds later his vision began to register the trees above him, the blue sky and the few thin white clouds that drifted by. Another beautiful day. God his head hurt. It was then that he began to feel the pain in the rest of his upper body. It wasn't that bad but he couldn't understand why he hurt. He allowed his head to roll to the right. He blinked at the sight before him. An alien stood watching him. Had he been abducted? Ezra searched his memory. A silver room appeared in his mind. Then pain, weird experiments and something else but it wouldn't come to him, it stayed hidden in the back of his mind.

He watched the alien walk away then disappear altogether. His headache eased. Something wasn't right. Headaches and aliens, why was he remembering that. It wasn't right. There was something wrong with the entire situation. He brought his head back to it's original position. Ezra was content lying on the dry grass and dead branches, some of which were digging into his back. Maybe he should just roll onto his side. Before he made the decision his body moved. He now lay on his right side, it was more comfortable. Two men were walking towards him, the sight caused something else to began nagging at his thoughts. Two men, headaches and aliens. They were all connected, he knew that but nothing else.

His eyes closed, he was tired, he wanted to sleep. And he could easily do that where he was. The thought of moving wasn't going down to well. The sun shone down on his face and body driving the chill from his flesh and bones. Ezra eyes snapped open when he heard someone yelling his name. The two men were practically on top of him. Was that Chris and Vin? Had they come looking for him? He would like to think yes but it must have been a coincidence.

"Ezra!" Chris yelled to him when he saw him lying on the ground with his eyes closed. What the hell had happened to him this time.

He began to run and Vin equalled his pace. Chris relaxed slightly when Ezra opened his eyes and looked at them. There was recognition in the green eyes. Chris knelt down in front of his fallen agent, there had to be something wrong, he wouldn't have left the van to come out here and sleep. He put a hand on the younger man's forehead. There was a slight fever. Was this a result of the head wound. It was the only thing he could think of. He knew about delayed concussion, it could be even worse than the normal concussion.

"Ezra? You okay?" Chris knew it was a stupid question but what else was he going to say.

"Not really." Why was he telling this man how he felt. "Think I was abducted."

"Abducted?!" Chris and Vin spoke together.

"Yeah, think, little green men, UFO's, that sort of thing." he rolled onto his back and looked up into the sky again. The clouds had disappeared leaving the sky clear and blue. What a sight, he could lie here all day. "Hurts up here." he waved his hand over his chest.

Chris grabbed the right hand that was being used to indicate where the pain was. There was a small wound on the back of Ezra's right hand. "Shit. This time your going to the hospital, no arguments."

"No." Ezra pleaded with him.

"It's okay Ezra, I won't leave you alone." he turned to Vin. "Help me get him to the car, then I want you to stay here and let the others know what happened. Send Nathan and Josiah to relieve Buck and JD. I'll give you a call later and let you know what's happening."

"No problem."

Together they lifted Ezra to his feet. A grunt of pain caused them to be more cautious in their movements. They had to move slowly after Ezra complained that his left ankle also hurt. Chris was going to be surprised if Ezra still wanted to stay with the team after this. They had all been injured at one time or another, he himself had been seriously injured on one operation but they all took it as part of the job. They had a choice when they joined the unit and knew there would be risks, but Ezra didn't. He hadn't been given a choice and hadn't been warned before hand of the risks. He should have told him.

They finally reached the car and placed Ezra in the front passenger seat. Ezra immediately closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Chris got into the car and frowned at the vehicle's other occupant. It was as though Ezra was under the influence of drugs. He would make sure they did blood tests at the hospital. Curiosity caused him to lean over towards the younger man, he carefully undid the top buttons of the blue shirt and pulled it open. Two wounds stared back at him. He wanted to look for more but Ezra needed medical attention. He would find out the extent of his wounds later. And whoever inflicted the wounds was going to pay dearly for hurting Ezra, whether it be alien or human.

Peter Jenz pushed his way through the emergency doors. He hated doing a morning shift after a later afternoon shift. It didn't give him enough time to wind down. The pen he used hung from his mouth, he often chewed it as a stress related reaction. He took it out and began to tap it against the tip of his small nose. It was what he did when he was thinking, he never did it in front of a patient or member of staff. He didn't want them to nag him about it like his mother did. Who invented mothers anyway, that's what he wanted to know. And like many other children, if he ever found out, he would knock them off their feet and tell them how mother's should act towards their children. He looked up and groaned. The man from last night was returning. His brown eyes quickly searched the corridor for another intern or doctor. He didn't need this, not first thing in the morning. Hell, his shift only just started. This wasn't the way to begin a day.

There was no one else. Just wait until they were in the same position. He was going to be no help at all. Typical, no one was willing to work anymore. He took a deep breath. Go and do it and before you know it, it'll be all over. He walked towards the two men and began to do his job.

"Is it the head wound?" Jenz asked as he took the left arm and helped to take Standish to one of the emergency cubicles.

"No, abducted by aliens." Chris grimaced at him.

"Your kidding. This is like the tree shooting thing isn't it. Your just being sarcastic."

"Sorry, it's like the other three abductions."

"There's been others. I haven't heard about them."

"Your not here to hear about them. Just fix him up will you." Chris demanded.

They helped Ezra up onto a gurney where he promptly fell asleep again. Jenz began his examination grateful that the patient wasn't conscious. He pulled on a pair of gloves and checked the pupils first. "He's been drugged. We'll do a blood work up, find out what kind of drug it is."

"Aliens don't drug their victims do they." Chris stated the fact. "He's also got some wounds on his chest.

Jenz cut open the shirt and pulled it away from the chest. "He's got more than a few."

The dozen or so wounds stood out darkly against the pale flesh. The few on the stomach were surrounded by pale bruises that would soon darken. Jenz began to remove the upper clothing with Chris' help. His experienced eyes saw the wounds to the arms and back.

"There's got to be at least two dozen. They won't need stitches. They're precise, not very deep, I'd say something as sharp as a scapel did this. I'll clean them up and put some butterfly clips on them to keep the skin together."

"There should be a chip in his hand as well." Chris lifted Ezra's right hand.

Jenz looked closely at the hand. "Not a good job, which is surprising considering these other wounds." he turned away and got the instruments he was going to need.

The wound had closed but was yet to begin it's healing process. With the help of a pair of tweezers and forceps he was able to pull the skin away to reveal the chip. His patient moved against the pain then settled down again. He removed the chip then began to disinfect the small wound. A small bandage was enough to cover the wound. He then began to work on the others. They had been cleaned, at least that was something. Some people needed to be shot on sight. The things they did to other human beings, it wasn't right. Maybe they should shoot the person who invented humans without a conscious as well as hitting the person who invented mothers.

"We're going to have to admit him this time. At least until we know what drug was used and make sure there are no side effects."

"I understand that." Chris nodded as he looked down at Ezra's sleeping form. "Don't know if he will. Doesn't like hospitals."

"I noticed. There were a few times last night where I thought he was going to hit me." Jenz smiled at Larabee.

"I'll make sure that he doesn't."

"I would appreciate it."

Jenz continued his work in silence. Once each wound was checked, cleaned and bandaged he moved onto the legs. He removed the trousers to find the legs free of any injuries. There was some slight bruising around the left ankle though. He tested it for broken bones.

"Just twisted I'd say, not even badly, but we'll take an xray just to be safe."

"I want to stay with him, just in case." Chris informed him.

"That's okay, under the circumstances I'll consider it as protection on our part." Jenz began to take a blood sample for testing. Once he was finished and satisfied with the work he had done he covered the patient with blanket. "Why don't we get the paper work started then we can send you down to xray then get him settled into a bed."

Chris sat in a chair that had been pulled closer to the bed. His feet sat comfortably on the edge of the bed, his left ankle crossed over the right. A magazine that held no interest for him was being held in his hands so he could glance over the printed text. Something about how torn blue jeans were no longer fashionable. He'd have to tell Vin, better still he'll show him the article, otherwise he wouldn't believe him. He lowered the magazine a little to check on the occupant in the bed. Still sleeping. Chris was told the strong sedative that had been given to Ezra wouldn't begin to wear off for another couple of hours. He had contacted the others to let them know that Ezra was going to be okay. Vin and Buck told him that they were on their way. He went back to gazing at the magazine. He'd only read two words when the door burst open.

"Abducted by aliens huh," Buck smiled at Chris as he made his way to the bed, "and on his second day." he reached forward and touched one of the wounds on the Southerner's chest. "They did this to him."

"Don't think it was aliens." Chris told him. "He was given a sedative, that's why he's sleeping. Doc said there were other drugs in his system too, they're still trying to work out what they are."

"So we're looking for humans." Vin nodded as he watched Ezra's sleeping form.

"Looks like it. Ezra should be able to tell us more when he wakes up. It'll be another couple of hours yet." he handed the magazine to Vin. "Why don't you read this while your waiting, important fashion information about the jeans you wear."

"They're back in fashion then," Vin smiled as he quickly read the heading, "what do they know anyway, as long as the woman love them, I'll keep wearing them." he threw it back at Chris who caught and dropped it on the floor next to his chair.

"So how did things go with Miss Nancy Witt?" Chris asked Buck.

"You owe my big time for that one Chris. Bitch wouldn't even let us in the house, had to spend the night in the car. Froze our balls off we did. Then it was hard to check the yard and house with that killer dog . . . "

"It's a poodle Buck." Chris kept his face straight.

"It's a killer. Bit a hole in poor JD's jeans . . . and I'm not talking about his ankles "

"See, even a dog knows that torn jeans are the in thing." Vin grumbled.

"Then the cow came out just after eleven, screaming that there was an alien in her bedroom. There wasn't. Then again at one forty two, two twenty six, four fifty one, six twenty two and six forty four." he had memorised the times so he could inform Chris of the nightmare he and JD had suffered.

"So you had fun then?" Chris asked innocently.

"If you want to put it that way." Buck clenched his fists as he faced his friend. He had been friends with Larabee since they were kids. If anyone knew him, Buck did. "I'll quit before I go back there."

"That's fine by me."

"God dammit Chris, why do you have to be such a stubborn son of a bitch." Buck threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Like a mule with two heads, never known anyone like you, and why I ever put up with you I don't know. Total bastard if you ask me."

"Didn't ask you Buck." Chris was smiling now.

"Remind me again why I work for you?"

"Your a love sick fool . . . "

"You two in love?" Vin joined in. "Always knew it, the way you look at each, touch each other's arm, just so softly and you always lean close when your . . . "

Chris' cold glare stopped him before he could say it.

"If you make me go back there, I'll tell everyone back at the office about our secret relationship." Buck's smile spread from ear to ear.

"And ruin your reputation with the women."

"I can get my reputation back, I can't get my balls back if that dog eats them."

"Well when you put it like that . . , " Chris shrugged, "I'll think about it."

Buck's shoulders slumped in defeat. Why could you never beat this man. Buck knew he was stubborn but he was also fair. Chris would take his shift when it came to staying with Witt, except he would manage to get into the house, she would probably even make him dinner. It wasn't his leader's smile, rugged looks or even his bright blue eyes. It was his short temper and ability to say what he thinks. He would first tell the woman off, and not in a polite manner, then demand that she allow him to stay inside. And if she said no, he would force his way in, lock her in her bedroom then make himself coffee. That was the type of person he was. He didn't take shit from anyone.

"Think about it, not actually take tonight's shift for me instead."

"Sorry, got other matters to attend to." Chris nodded towards Ezra's inert form.

"Sure, look after the new guy and not the man you've known for more than twenty years. Why should the friendship we've shared mean anything to you." Buck went to a corner and sat down on a small set of drawers and continued to complain during the two hours that passed slowly. Chris didn't give in, instead he ignored him and spoke to Vin, a more agreeable companion, or so he thought.

Chris and Vin argued about serious things during the two hours they had to wait for Ezra to wake up. Was Seinfeld actually funny. They both agreed that it wasn't. And didn't that guy in The Jimmy episode look a lot like Ezra. How did CatDog go to the toilet? Why were Johnny Bravo's legs shorter than his hair style? Why did Daggett and Norbett of The Angry Beavers wear pyjamas to bed but wore nothing during the day? It may not be the things that people usually discussed but it was a way for the members of SPIT7 to deal with the stress that the job entailed. Sometimes the discussions lead to heated arguments.

It was during The Angry Beavers argument that Ezra began to wake. He listened to what was being said and smiled to himself. He actually liked the two beavers; Dagett being his favourite. The subject of the discussion always came up when he watched the program, and he was yet to come up with a sensible answer.

"If you can enlighten me to the answer to your question, I would be eternally grateful." Ezra interrupted the conversation with his question. He pushed himself up after opening his eyes to the late afternoon sun that shone through the hospital window. He was suprised to see three men watching him with expressions of surprise. "What?"

"You watch that show?" Vin asked him then looked towards Chris. He had been shocked when he found out that Chris sometimes watched the popular cartoon. And now Ezra, but then again he didn't even know anything about the man. Now he knew they had something in common and could discuss the question at a later time.

"I thought everyone watched it." Ezra threw the covers aside and began to escape from the fearful confinement of the hospital.

"Where do you think your going?" Chris stood up and blocked Ezra's path.

"Any where but here." Ezra stepped to the side then sighed in frustration when Chris matched his movement. "I don't want to stay here, I don't like hospitals."

"This isn't a simple bump on the head Ezra, something serious has happened. You have shallow cuts all over your upper body, a chip was inserted into the back of your right hand and you've been pumped full of drugs that the doctors haven't been able to identify yet."

An image of a small room with circular silver walls flashed through his mind, movement caused him to blink to try and stop the image from forming. He was unaware that his body began to tremble or of the hands that helped him back onto the bed. The pain that he had felt registered in his mind. They had experimented on him. Aliens? That's what his mind told him but there was something wrong. What? He didn't know.

"Ezra? You okay?" Chris asked him as he stepped back from the bed. "Ezra."

"Yes. Just a memory of what happened."

"What happened?"

"I was abducted by aliens." his eyes shifted to Chris' concerned features.

The man was concerned about him. He looked at the other two men. Their expressions were the same. How could they be concerned about someone they had only known for a few days. And a person who had refused to discuss anything with them about his personal or professional life. This wasn't normal, maybe for someone else but not him. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

"Can I go back to the hotel now?"

"I'd rather you didn't." Chris replied forcefully.

"I don't like hospitals." Ezra repeated more sternly.

"Because they wake you up early?" Chris raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

Ezra quickly looked away but not before Chris saw the fear in his eyes. He made a decision that he hoped he wasn't going to regret. He also hoped that it would give Ezra a reason to stay with the team. He wanted Ezra to know that he could trust him and the others.

"Okay Ezra, but we're not taking you to the hotel, it will have to be the SPI van. I don't have enough men to spread around." Chris stared at the man before him. "You don't leave our sight. Understand?"

"Anything Mr Larabee, as long as I don't have to stay here." Ezra got out of the bed quickly. "Where are my clothes?"

Chris wanted to get more information from Ezra in regards to what had happened to him. Abducted by aliens wasn't enough, especially when he knew that aliens weren't involved. By the time they had reached their destination Ezra's eyelids were drooping. The only thing Ezra was going to want to do was sleep. Chris was going to have to wait.

Ezra walked to the vehicle on his own, he ignored JD who watched his movements with interest and headed straight for the bottom bunk. He was tired, very tired and he felt like he could sleep for a month. Well, until the next day anyway. He lay face down, feeling the discomfort through his chest and stomach. He didn't care, he'd had suffered worse pain than this in his life. His eyes closed. Someone began to pull his boots off. Ezra was too tired to open his eyes or complain about what was happening. His jacket was next. A blanket was thrown over him and then he was left in peace. He began to think about the men who would be watching him, they seemed to care about a total stranger. The stares were boaring into his back making it itch. He unconsciously shifted his shoulders. The left one still gave him some pain but he knew it would be gone in another few days. He heard JD ask if he was going to be all right. He felt like telling him that he was and they could stop showing concern that he didn't want or need. Chris answered yes. It was the last thing he remembered hearing before he fell asleep.

The dream was pleasant enough to start with, he was walking in the woods, enjoying the sunshine and sounds that were all around him. Then the noise suddenly stopped, sending him into an unpleasant nightmare. He stood frozen in one spot but the trees spun around him. Ezra closed his eyes and slammed his fists against them. After counting to five, he revealed them to what was happening around him. The two aliens that stood in front of him looked friendly enough, the faces that had very few features watched him. He grimaced when his head began to hurt. Ezra looked up to see a human form watching him. He knew the face. This wasn't right, something was wrong. The sound of something moving caused him to look back towards the aliens. They had come closer, the large black eyes now held a menacing look. Fear gripped his heart. He took a step backwards and fell.

When he opened his eyes he was laying on a cold metal table. He thought he was dead but realised he was still breathing. A face appeared above him, at first it was human, then it changed to something more alien. A long sharp blade was held in front of him. The experiments started. Pain radiated throughout his body, it wasn't just centred on his chest and back. Even his mind hurt. Blood began to pour from his body. He struggled to move but couldn't. His eyes searched the room, he thought he saw stairs at the end of the room. When he blinked they disappeared. Ezra turned his head to the right. Two men were there. The smiles on their faces told him they weren't on his side. Were they helping the aliens. One of them held a bloody scaple in his hand. The revelation hit him so hard it stole the air from his chest. They had done this to him, not aliens. He began to fight even harder to get away. He stopped when one of them appeared before him. The scaple was pressed against the vulnerable flesh around his neck. He felt the surgical knife began to slice into his flesh.

"NO!" Ezra woke suddenly with a scream.

The sweat had soaked his through his shirt and scalp. The salt water ran down his face in small rivulets. His body shook with the fear that his mind still held. The darkness he was in didn't help to set his mind at ease. For a moment he didn't know where he was. A light made his body jerk with surprise. He covered his eyes so they could adjust to the sudden intrusion.

"Ezra?"

The voice was familiar. Chris. He was safe. He tried to concentrate on the nightmare, something important had happened but the fear that still raged within him made if difficult.

"Ezra?" Chris spoke louder than was necessary.

Ezra held up a hand to stop him from talking. "It wasn't aliens." his eyes searched his dream and his head moved with them. "There were wooden stairs, a basement."

Chris kept silent and watched the man he was beginning to admire. He had to be scared and yet he was pushing himself to remember the nightmare that had left him in a cold sweat and shaking with fear.

"A scapel, two men, blood." it was fading. His eyes were closed tightly and his fists were clenched against them trying to stop the images from escaping. "The restaurant, they were there." Then it was gone. There was nothing left to allow him to remember what had really happened.

"Ezra?" Chris had listened to what Ezra had described. It wasn't much but it was enough to confirm him suspicions that it was a human act of evil and not an alien visit. A basement could belong to any house or farm in the area. But Ezra had recognised the two men at the hotel restaurant as being the culprits of the crimes that had been committed over the last few months. Ezra had been there only once so Chris knew who he was talking about. The two men had been sitting near the front entrance. Chris saw the young faces in his mind. The waitress would know who they were.

"Yes." Ezra removed his hands and opened his eyes. He squinted against the light then looked at Chris and Vin.

"You okay?"

Ezra nodded then turned away from the two men. He lay down on his side with his back to them. He tried to remember the dream but it was useless. Again he believed he had been abducted by aliens but couldn't understand why.

"We'll talk in the morning." Chris patted the exposed shoulder and placed the blanket back over his agent.

Morning wasn't going to come soon enough for him. Their first job was to visit the restaurant, with any luck the two men would be there, if not then he would find out who they were, where they lived, then pay them a visit. No one hurt one of his men and got away with it. No one.

Ezra waited until they moved away. Someone got back up onto the top bunk and the other sat down in a chair. He let go of the breath he was holding. The nightmare was no longer in his memory but the fear was still there. His body was still shaking, the sweat still forming on his body. A river of fear was running out of control. He had always been able to control his fear but not now. It made him feel weak and embarrassed. He berated himself for his childish behaviour. He had to think of other things, anything that would rid his body of the fear he was feeling. He remembered the discussion he had woken up to in the hospital. A calmness began to fill him as he thought about the cartoon characters they had been discussing. Talk about childish behaviour. He began to think about Muscular Beaver, Daggett's alter ego. The fear began to leave him as he pictured the large white underwear, the fake muscles and the large ski hat. No one was to know about this, no one could know what he was thinking at that moment. If anyone found out, they would have to die. As the fear left him, sleep began to take control once more.

Chris hung up on Buck after trying to explain Ezra's nightmare, and the ladies man claimed he wouldn't listen. He turned to see how Vin was getting along. The security expert had been trying unsuccessfully to wake the Southerner for the last ten minutes. He was deciding whether or not he should call Dr Jenz and find out if the drugs may be the reason for being unable to wake Ezra. The last thing he wanted to do was to take him back to the hospital. Chris watched as a hand appeared from under the thick blanket to swipe at Vin's form. The hand missed. Chris smiled and folded his arms and leaned against the low desk, it wasn't the drugs, the man just didn't want to wake up.

Vin's worry eased when Ezra tried to hit him, it would have been only a light tap but that wasn't the point. He shook the shoulder under the blanket, no longer caring if it was going to hurt him. He was beginning to get frustrated about the fact he was spending so much time just trying to wake one man. How could it be so difficult. This time an entire limb appeared and managed to hit Vin across the face.

"Damn it Ezra!"

"Well if you left me alone, it wouldn't happen." Ezra growled and pulled the covers up over his head. He was still tired and as far as he was concerned it wasn't the next day yet. The sun was barely shining through the windows in the van. Usually he didn't get up before ten, or midday if he had a late night.

"I ain't leaving you alone until you get up."

"Expect to be hit again then Mr Tanner." he snuggled further into his pillow. "I refuse to get up before the sun."

"The sun is up." Vin argued.

"The sun is up when it's above you, from what I can see the sun is still below the tree line."

"How can you see anything from under that blanket?"

"Experience. Maybe you've heard of the term."

That was enough for Vin. He tore the blanket from the tight grip it was being held in. A fist then closed around Ezra's wrist and he was pulled from the bed. The ex-con ended up on the floor with a shocked expression on his face.

"Learn from the experience Ezra." Vin walked away, passed Chris who was wearing an amused expression and out into the fresh air.

"How rude." Ezra muttered then gathered the blanket and began to climb back into bed, he was going to go back to sleep, he had earned it after what he'd been through. Yesterday they were concerned, today they didn't care.

Chris smiled, it was times like this that would make you think Ezra had been with them for several months instead of days. "Ezra!" He had enjoyed the show but he wasn't going to allow Ezra to go back to bed. God help them if it was going to be like this each time they had to get the man out of bed.

"There is way too much noise in this place. Perhaps I should go back to the hotel. You know, the one in Denver."

"Quit your complaining and get up. We've got a lot of work to do today." Chris reminded him.

"I'm not well, perhaps I should stay in bed." Ezra told him.

"Perhaps you should go back to the hospital. You know the one you don't want to stay in."

Ezra looked over his shoulder and glared at the man before him. "That was not kind, not kind at all."

"Ten minutes Ezra, I'll wait for you in the car."

"How is a man supposed to be ready in ten minutes. I don't even have a change of clothing."

"You'll find some in the bathroom, Josiah brought some back with him last night."

"Remind me to thank him." Ezra scowled at Larabee's back.

He didn't like anyone to go through his belongings, not that there was much in his bag. The few things that were there were his personal things and he wanted them to stay that way. He wondered if Josiah had read the latest letter from his mother. God he hoped not, he didn't want the man's pity. Ezra decided to take his time getting ready. He stepped out of the van twenty five minutes later looking refreshed. Sunglasses hid his eyes while a dark blue shirt covered his wounds. You couldn't tell that anything was wrong with him.

Chris and Vin kept their thoughts to themselves. It wasn't the time or the place for an argument. Chris though, was beginning to think that Ezra was going to more trouble than he was worth. The police officer had told him that Ezra was a slippery bastard, he didn't mention anything about him being stubborn, unsociable, moody, a smartass, or aggravating . . . he stopped thinking about it, if he continued he was going to need a thesaurus and he didn't have one.

"Josiah and Nathan are going to meet us at the hotel restaurant." Chris informed their passenger.

"I'm not really up to breakfast Mr Larabee, I think I'll pass if you don't mind." Ezra watched the trees passing by.

"We're not going there for breakfast Ezra." Chris turned around to face the younger man. "Do you remember anything about the dream you had last night?"

"I had a dream?"

"You don't remember do you?"

"No."

"You said that you hadn't been taken by aliens, it had been the two guys at the restaurant the other day. You said that you were in a basement with stairs."

"I don't remember that. My mind keeps telling me I was abducted by aliens." Ezra frowned. "Headaches. I got a headache when I saw them in the woods."

"When they took you?" Vin looked into the rear-view mirror and saw the confusion written all over Ezra's face.

"No, before then. When I was setting up the equipment. My headache got worse then I saw one. I ran towards it but another appeared. I continued to go after the first one but I tripped over." Ezra looked at Chris. There was a touch of anger in the blue eyes. "I got a headache when I saw them."

"So you don't remember anything about the two men taking you and cutting you up?" Chris demanded of him.

"No."

"Damn it." Chris slammed his fist against the dash board. "That means you won't be able to identify them."

"We can't arrest them on what Ezra saw in a dream." Vin told him.

"I'm not responsible for my incorrect memory." Ezra tried to assure them. He wasn't going to take the blame for this.

"It's not your fault Ezra. They did something to you, something that made you believe it was aliens and not them that did this to you. But how, that's the question."

"So what are we going to do?" Vin asked him.

"We'll have breakfast after all and see what happens." Chris shrugged. "There isn't much else we can we do right now."

Ezra stepped into the restaurant first. His green eyes quickly glanced over his surroundings. It was empty except for the waitress who had served them when they were first here. He moved to the booth that was closest to the men's room, he had a feeling he was going to need it. Ezra sat down and was then forced to move up when Chris sat down next to him, Vin sat opposite him.

Lucy smiled when she noticed the three men come in. Included in the small group was the man with the green eyes. She straightened her uniform then walked seductively to the table. Thoughts of her husband had been pushed aside by this man. She hadn't thought of anything or anyone since. No man had affected her like this since she met her husband.

"Morning," Lucy smiled at each man then her eyes settled on the handsome stranger, "what can I get you today?"

"Morning Lucy. Coffee all round for now." Vin told her. "We might eat later, not sure if we're staying yet."

Lucy nodded then waited a moment. She turned and left, the disappointment she felt matched her movements. The man hadn't even looked at her. He had been friendly enough the other day, she wasn't sure what had happened.

Five minutes later she returned with the coffee. The man that made her feel good was rubbing his forehead with his right hand. She saw the small bandage on the back of it. That's what had happened.

"You okay?"

Chris nudged Ezra and when he got his attention he nodded towards the waitress. "Lucy asked if you were okay."

"Fine, thank you for asking." Ezra smiled up at her.

Lucy smiled in return and began to pour the coffee.

"Lucy, do you remember when we were in the other day?" Chris asked her.

"Sure. Why?"

"Those two guys that were sitting near the entrance. Do you know who they were?"

"Jimmy Morris and Sam Orstein. Moved here about three months ago. Nice guys. Why?"

"Know where they live?"

"Out on Jordan's Road. Big white house at the end of the road. "Why?"

Chris flashed his badge at her. "Don't let them know we've been asking about them. Official business and all that. You think they'll be in today?"

"Should be here in about ten minutes."

"Thanks." Chris smiled then leaned towards her. "If things look like they're going to get nasty, I want you to go into the kitchen and stay there. Understand?"

"Yeah. Nasty? Your not going to hurt them are you? What did they do?"

"They hurt one of my men." That was Chris' explanation, and it surprised Ezra so much that he wasn't able to hide it.

"Excuse me?" Ezra realised they must be able to see what he was feeling, he quickly changed his expression. The poker face that he wore so often was back in place.

"He hurt one of my men." Chris repeated for Ezra's benefit. "No one does that and gets away with it."

Ezra's shock took any words that he might have voiced from his mind. He just sat there without saying anything. Chris took it as a thank you and that Ezra was agreeing to be part of the team. "Drink your coffee Ezra before you drool into it."

The main entrance was opened. Nathan and Josiah stepped in through the open doorway and smiled a greeting at their fellow team mates. They quickly joined them and asked for more coffee.

"They coming?" Josiah asked as his eyes examined Ezra.

"They'll be here in ten minutes. Got a problem though." Chris glanced at Ezra and saw the guilt flash across his features. "Through no fault of his own, Ezra doesn't remember what happened. He still thinks he was abducted by aliens, even though in the dream he had, it was humans who took him."

Nathan studied Ezra. "Do you remember the dream at all Ezra?"

"No, only what Mr Larabee reminded me of what I said." Ezra admitted.

"But you believe it was aliens even though you dreamt it was humans?"

"Yes." Ezra growled.

"Take it easy Ezra, just trying to work out why your mind's telling you one thing while your awake but something else when your asleep."

"Either way, Orstein and Morris can tell us what happened." Chris informed them.

Fifteen minutes later the two men arrived. If they were surprised to find Ezra and the others in the restaurant they didn't show it. They sat in their usual booth, placed their order with Lucy then watched the other occupants of the restaurant. Their interest seemed to be in Ezra. Morris spoke to Orstein who smiled then nodded. It was time to have some more fun.

Ezra knew he was being watched, by everyone. The men he sat with, Lucy who was behind the counter and the two men near the front entrance. He felt like telling them all to go to hell. He wasn't use to attracting so much attention, normally know one knew he was around. He blended in, became one with the crowd. Not here, he stuck out like a sore thumb and there was nothing he could do about it. A sharp headache began to form within his skull. Ezra grimaced and began to rub his temples. He'd had these headaches when he saw the aliens. Was he going to see them again.

"I'm getting a headache." Ezra announced to the group of men. Why did he just say that? He had no idea.

"I'll get you something for it." Nathan began to get up from his seat.

"No," Ezra waved a hand at him, "I got these before . . . "

"When you saw something?" Chris looked sideways at him.

"Yes."

Chris lowered his head, when he lifted it again, his angry gaze was aimed at the two men that were the cause of what was happening with his new team member. But what could he do now? There was no evidence to arrest them. They would be out of jail in twenty four hours and what would they do. Take their anger and revenge out on Ezra? Probably. He had to come up with a plan to either get the evidence that was required to take them down, or, catch them in the act and that meant using Ezra as bait. That was going to be a last resort. He didn't want the man hurt anymore, hell this was his first operation and maybe his last. He was going to need to do some fast talking to get Ezra to stay.

Ezra stared down at his coffee, a large black hand appeared, it poured sugar into his cup. He scowled at the cup then at Nathan. He hated sugar. The hand began to stir the liquid, a lump was forming. At first Ezra thought it was the sugar refusing to dissolve. It wasn't. A black form was now floating to the surface. Ezra stared at the object, fascinated by it's birth. Small legs began to fight for air, they found a surface they could grip and they began to pull it's body to freedom. A head appeared, the eyes searching for something to aid in it's escape. They found Ezra. It attacked what it thought to be the reason for it's fight for life. Ezra jumped back, more as a reflex than in fear. His hands grabbed for the spider that was now crawling on his chest up towards his face. It scuttled away from the reaching hand. Ezra felt more movement. There was a second spider on his chest, this one bigger than the first.

"You okay Ezra?" Chris noticed Ezra's quick movements and followed the confused eyes to what he was looking at. He saw nothing. But obviously Ezra did. "What is it Ezra?"

"Spiders, they're on me." Ezra now counted five, each of them were able to escape his attempts of capturing them.

"I don't see any." Nathan leaned over the table closer to Ezra.

Ezra looked up at Nathan, then Chris. "Aliens, it's the same. They're not real, they can't be."

"What the hell is going on?" Vin had turned in his seat and was now staring at the two men. One of them was concentrating, his eyes never leaving Ezra's face. "Chris?" he nodded towards the young man when he knew he had gotten Chris' attention. "What do you think he's doing?"

"I don't know." Chris decided to ignore them for now and concentrate on Ezra. The man was now staring at Vin.

The spiders had left his body, he didn't know why at first but understood when they begun to crawl across the table towards Vin. He wanted to say something, to warn the man that spiders that couldn't be real were creeping closer to his form. A voice called his name and he slowly turned to look at Chris, he blinked once then his eyes returned to watch what was going to happen. The spiders were now on Vin. He was unaware of their touch. They moved quickly up to his face. Three of them scattered to the back of his skull and began to move freely through the long fine hair. The two remaining tarantulas looked for moist dark places to hide. One darted into the open mouth of Vin Tanner. Ezra's mouth closed in response to the vision. The second one tried to gain entrance to the left ear. Ezra stuck a finger in his own in an attempt to erase the phantom feeling. It was as though he could feel the movements of the spiders that were crawling over Vin's face and hair. Ezra's eyes widened when Vin turned to him and began talking, he could see the dark form moving around within his mouth.

Something else caught Ezra's attention. He knew what it was before he looked. An alien stood close to the two men who were watching him with amusement written all over their faces. The alien seemed to smile at him, he wasn't sure, there had only been a slight twitching of it's mouth. It took a step towards him. The room that he had been held in appeared in his mind. The fear began to grow and take control. He tried to concentrate on the thought that Chris had told them that they weren't real, that humans had taken him. But the fear he was feeling was real. Humans wouldn't scare him like this. Maybe Chris was wrong. Maybe they were all playing with his mind. He pushed himself further into the seat when it took a second step. The features change, it was no longer a smile but something more evil. A guttural sound came from the being, sharp teeth appeared where they hadn't been before. Light glistened off a sharp instrument that was being held within it's long fingers.

"Aw shit." Ezra muttered as he began to lift his feet.

The creature lunged at him. Ezra ran, he couldn't help it, he'd never faced this sort of thing before. He knew how to fight humans, even had a few dirty tricks up his sleeve. Had to, you needed something when you fought people who were bigger than you. Ezra scrambled to his feet and fell backwards into another booth. He rolled off the table onto the floor and managed to get himself up onto his feet. He began to walk backwards, more aliens faced him now, each of them holding an instrument of death. These were the same ones that had experimented on him. He turned and looked for an escape route. The only thing he saw was the door to the men's room. Had there been a window large enough for him to climb through? He forced his mind to remember. Yes there had been. He made himself walk, if he ran they would move faster and catch him before he could escape. They followed him, their arms reached out for him. Sounds came from their mouths but he couldn't understand the words they were trying to form.

"Ezra?" Chris had grabbed for him as the smaller man scrambled from the booth. His hands missed the quick movements of the Southerner. "Ezra!"

Vin motioned for Nathan and Josiah to let him out, he had all intentions of distracting the men who were doing this. If Ezra stopped and calmed down then it would be confirmation that the young men were responsible. The only question was; how were they doing it?

Nathan and Josiah joined Chris in his attempts to help Standish. The fear the man was feeling radiated from his eyes. He didn't see them, he was seeing something else, something that terrified him. Jesus, what a way to start your new job. Nathan reached out and grabbed Chris' arm.

"Don't rush him, he might do something we'll all end up regretting."

Chris nodded in agreement. He stood still as did Josiah and Nathan but Ezra kept moving. Each step he took led him closer to the bathroom. Chris was aware of the lack of presence by Vin, he also knew what he would be doing. He took another cautious step towards Ezra when he had reached the door to the men's room. He then ran when Ezra disappeared behind the door.

Vin rushed to the booth that held the two men. The one that was concentrating on Ezra didn't flinch, he continued to do what he was doing; whatever that was. The second man stood up to confront Vin. No words were spoken, each man knew what was about to happen. A physical altercation began. Vin knew he was protecting the other man, he was buying him time. Vin pulled every trick he knew but the guy he was fighting was good. This was going to take a bit longer than he expected.

Ezra allowed the door to close behind him. Now he ran, it was only a few steps but he was no longer willing to take his time. The window was high, he didn't remember that. Shit. He was going to need something to stand on. Green eyes quickly searched the tiled room. A large bin stood by the sink, it was plastic, it wouldn't hold his weight. Shit. Shit. Shit. The door burst open and a shout of surprise was torn from Ezra's mouth. He etched his way to the corner. There was no where to hide, he could no longer escape from his fate. They moved closer to him. Ezra fell to the floor slowly, his back sliding against the wall, his knees creeping closer to his chin.

"No," it was a whispered plea that seemed to do him no good. They still came. The flesh began to melt from the skull of the first alien. "no," he began to peddle his legs in an attempt to get further away from them. Human features began to appear as the flesh melted away. Blond hair, then familiar blue eyes stared down at him. It couldn't be, Chris. No, he was one of them, they had fooled him. The fear gripped his heart like an icicle. Why didn't he listen to his mother, he would be living a comfortable life instead of sitting here in fear as what he had thought never existed came even closer to him.

"Ezra, it's me Chris. Come on, whatever it is that your seeing it's not real."

A cold sweat began to soak into his hair, his face had paled considerably, his shirt was sticking to his back causing the wounds to itch. He was hating every second of this. Even though the faces had changed, the weapons were still there to threaten him.

Ezra made up his mind, he wasn't going to die like this, a frightened animal hiding in a corner. He was going to fight, hurt them as much as he could before they killed him. His eyes shifted when the door opened a second time. Vin walked in, or stumbled was more like it. His face was bloodied. The three aliens quickly moved to the injured man. That was it for Ezra. They could kill him but not the man that had been trying to be his friend. This time it was Ezra's turn to lunge.

Chris took Vin's arm and helped him to the floor. He grimaced at the cuts and bruises.

"He was a better fighter than I thought, but I finally beat him. The other guy was easier." Vin smiled up at his friend and saw the threat over Chris' left shoulder. "Watch it guys." he nodded at Ezra.

Chris turned just as Ezra landed in his back. The smaller man had a tight grip on him and had begun to hit every vulnerable spot he could reach. Josiah grabbed one arm and Nathan the other, together they were able to tear Ezra off Chris' back. But then he began to kick. A heavy boot landed in between Chris' shoulder blades. He was forced forward and he took Vin with him.

"Ezra!" Josiah yelled into his ear.

Ezra didn't listen, he continued to struggle. There were no longer any aliens present but the fear continued to control him. Fear for his own life and Vin's.

"Ezra stop it. It's us, we're not going to hurt you!" Nathan growled at him. He wouldn't have imagined this thin, smaller man held so much strength and so many moves. He knew of two bruises that were already forming on his own legs. Chris and Josiah weren't doing any better. They were all going to be pretty sore after this event.

Chris momentarily forgot about Vin. He pushed him out of his way and stood up. The distance he kept himself in was more for protection than anything else. He waited for his chance, when the opening came he struck out and his fist slammed against Ezra's unprotected jaw. The ex-con collapsed, falling towards Josiah. Nathan let go and allowed the larger man to take the burden.

"What did you do that for?" Vin asked from his position on the floor.

"What else was I supposed to do." Chris growled at him on his way to the door.

Once Chris was back in the restaurant he searched it for the two men. They were gone. The only person there was Lucy, she was already beginning to clean up the mess. He muttered an obscene curse then went back into the men's room. Ezra was cradled in Josiah's arms as he tried to wake the unconscious man. Nathan was examining Vin. What a mess.

"They're gone." Chris informed them. "We're going after them."

"We can't go after them now. Ezra's unconscious and Vin's in a mess." Nathan told him.

"They have to know that we're onto them, if we don't go now they're going to leave town and we won't be able to find them." Chris growled at him. "We're going now!"

There was no choice. Josiah lifted Ezra into his arms and Nathan helped Vin up onto shaking legs. They followed Chris out into the restaurant where Josiah was questioned by an obviously distraught waitress. Lucy wanted to help. Josiah told her that Ezra would be fine, that they were taking him to the hospital. It wasn't really a lie, they probably would be by the end of the day. Once he reached the car, Nathan helped him to get Ezra into the back seat where Vin was. Josiah struggled over the smaller man so he could sit in the middle, he needed to keep an eye on both team members. Chris pushed the accelerator to the floor before Josiah could even close the car door.

"Jordan Road, house at the end of the street." Chris informed Nathan of their destination.

"You going to call Buck?" Nathan asked Chris as his eyes searched the road map he had gotten out of the glove compartment.

"No, I want him staying where he is just in case they're headed his way."

"Take a left up here," Nathan ordered. "what about the sheriff?"

"What about him?"

The car lurched around the corner, Josiah feared that they were going to tip over, he reached out with both arms to protect the men who sat on either side of him. Vin was able to stop his head from hitting the window. Ezra's slammed against Josiah's shoulder, the sudden movement elicited a moan from the younger man.

"Ezra?"

"Right just up here, it'll come to a t-section, turn right again," he pointed to the turning, "don't you think he should be notified of what we're doing?"

Ezra didn't want to answer, he was confused. His eyes searched his surroundings, he was in the hire car that Chris had been using. Was it a dream? It had to have been. He must of fallen asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant. Nothing had really happened, it had been a nightmare, it was the only explanation that he would accept. For now anyway, he would go crazy otherwise.

"And what are we going to tell him Nathan, that we're after two men that abducted one of my men, made him see things that don't exist, did the same to three other people, two of whom are now dead."

"Ezra?" Josiah used his shoulder to shove Ezra in an attempt to get a response out of him.

He sighed silently, these men would not leave him alone. "What?"

"You okay?"

"Fine, just had a nightmare that's all."

"Left up here onto Jordan's road, house should be at the end of the street."

"He'll just laugh at us Nathan, then get in my way. I want these guys for what they did to Ezra."

Chris slowed down, the road was short in distance so it wasn't long before the house they were searching for came into sight. The blond leader slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a halt. All occupants were forced forward by the cars sudden lack of momentum. Muttered curses were voiced from the back. Chris ignored them. He had a mission to complete.

"Ezra, Vin, stay here!"

"You will receive no argument from me Mr Larabee." Ezra replied.

Ezra stared at the house, it was like any normal residence. White panelling, a large porch ran from left to right. Huge arm chairs sat on either side of the front door. Pot plants could be seen through the railing, some dying while others had already lost the fight to live. The grass on the front lawn was long, large trees gave the porch the shade it required to allow people to spend time there. Ezra was distracted from his view when Chris and the others crossed it as they ran to the front door. They separated before they got there. Nathan and Josiah moved to the left and right. The back door. He flinched when Chris forced the front door open, he'd obviously done it before, it had only taken one kick.

Ten minutes passed, no sound came from the house. Ezra was beginning to worry about the men who had entered it. Vin was beginning to fidget. The slender man was about to exit the vehicle and go in. Ezra wanted to stop him but both his body and voice refused to aid him in his attempts. The car door slammed shut, he was gone. He continued to watch as Vin moved slowly towards the front door, he looked as though he was going to fall over. Ezra wanted to turn away, he wanted to get out of the car himself and walk away from the entire situation he had been placed in. It wasn't what he wanted.

Voices brought him back from his thoughts. His eyes had seen Chris and the others leave the house but it was his ears that made him aware of them. He could see that Chris was angry, they were also empty handed. Ezra felt as though he hadn't done enough to help them catch the two men that had committed crimes against himself and others. But what could he have done, he didn't remember anything that connected them to the crime. There was nothing he could do.

Ezra got out of the car, he wanted to hear what they were talking about. He leaned against the door he just closed. His eyes followed Chris' pacing, occasionally he glanced at Josiah and saw the determination that was written all over his face. Ezra wanted and needed to know what Chris was angry about, or who he was angry at.

"I want an APB put out on them!" Chris growled at anyone who was listening.

"Why?" Josiah stood still with his hands on his hips, he wasn't going to budge. "You said it yourself Chris, there's no evidence, nothing to connect them to the crime. It's like you said in the car, the police will just laugh at you, if they did manage to arrest them, the case would get thrown out of court."

"FUCK!"

"Until evidence is found there is nothing we can do." Josiah reminded.

"They hurt one of my men Josiah." Chris turned to him, he didn't know Ezra was listening.

"I know Chris, we all saw what Ezra went through. At the moment there's just nothing we can do about it."

"We can get the evidence we need."

"How?"

"We can search the house . . . "

"And if we find nothing?" Josiah was also following Chris' pacing, they all were. He could see Ezra leaning against the car. He was rubbing his jaw and listening to every word that was being said.

"I can't let them get away with it."

"They're not getting away with it Chris, there's just nothing we can do to stop them. The only chance we had was to catch them in the act, that's not going to happen now. They're gone."

"We don't know that for sure." Nathan suggested.

"Yes we do," Josiah said what they all were thinking, "they weren't stupid, they got past our detectors, were able to draw Ezra out of the van without us knowing it. They knew we were on to them when Vin tried to stop them. They left town, probably when they left the restaurant. I'm sure they've done it before, they know what they're doing."

"I hate it when this fucking happens!"

"We all do Chris."

"Shit!"

"It happens Chris, this isn't the first time we haven't been able to close a case." Vin told him, he was leaning against one of the trees that lived in the front yard. Right now all he wanted to do was get Chris to calm down and accept the fact that they had given themselves away and the culprits were smart enough to skip town.

"But we had them."

"They're gone Mr Larabee, let them go." Ezra called out to him. He just wanted to get away from this place, sleep in a comfortable bed and forget that it ever happened. He knew that wouldn't happen, maybe he could think of it as a nightmare and leave it at that, like the incident in the restaurant earlier.

"I'm sorry Ezra." Chris walked back to the car and stood next to his newest team member.

"For what Mr Larabee?" Ezra raised an inquiring eyebrow at him, he had no idea why this man would be apologising to him.

"That we couldn't get the bastards that hurt you, put you through so much shit."

"Don't worry about it Mr Larabee, I've been through shit, as you put it, before and the culprits were never apprehended. You just have to realise that justice isn't always available. Not everyone is going to get caught."

"I know," Chris let the confession that gave him a little bit more of Ezra's past slide for now, "it just pisses me off."

"That is why you, Mr Larabee, are prematurely ageing."

"Excuse me?" Chris turned to him.

"You look older than you are."

"I know what it means, I want to know what you meant by it."

"Perhaps we should go back to the hotel, I could do with some more sleep."

"It's the middle of the morning Ezra." Vin told him as he made his way back to the car. He glared at Nathan when the scientist tried to help him.

"As far as I am concerned Mr Tanner, the sun is still not up." Ezra opened the door and slid along the seat.

"You haven't answered my question Ezra." Chris got into the driver's seat and twisted his body so he could look at the younger man who now sat in the back seat.

"And what question was that?"

"Ezra!"

"Leave him be Chris, he's been through a lot the last couple of days." Nathan chastised Chris when he took his position in the passenger's side.

"Didn't you hear what he said to me?" Chris was astonished.

"Yeah, we all did and speaking for myself, I agree with him." Vin leaned back against the seat and used Josiah's large shoulder as a pillow. A day in bed sounded pretty good to him now that he thought about it.

"Agreed." Nathan and Josiah spoke in unison.

"Great, just fucking great. Of all the people I had to pick to join the team it was a smartass that's going to get the sympathy from the others. Six against one, why me?"

"Your talking out loud again Chris." Vin told him. "You know I warned you about that."

"Shut up Vin."

"Is it always like this Mr Sanchez?" Ezra asked the larger man who sat next to him.

"Afraid so Ezra. They're like children most of the time. Need a man like me to keep them in line."

"I thought you were the mother." Ezra frowned in confusion at him.

"Chris, I think he's going to be worse than Vin and Buck put together." Josiah rubbed his stubble with his fingers. "Do I look like a mother to you?"

"You look like a mother to me." Vin pressed a hand against Josiah's chest. "Your just lacking in some areas."

"Why you little . . . "

"Now, now Mr Sanchez, Mr Tanner is injured and I am suffering from a headache, so if you would, please stop harassing us and let us get some much needed rest."

"What!? I didn't start this, you did." Josiah pointed an accusing finger at Ezra.

"You Mr Sanchez, are mistaken. Mr Larabee started it."

"You wait until we get back to the hotel . . ." Chris began.

"Chris! Josiah!" Nathan spoke with confidence. "Will you please leave them alone."

"Us!?" Chris and Josiah answered.

"Yes you!"

Josiah looked at Vin then at Ezra. He shook his head. If Ezra stayed - which he hoped he would - then they were going to have to keep these two separated, or Chris was going to kill one of them.

Somewhere over Wyoming - Sunday, 2:58pm

Chris sat in his seat watching as Ezra stared out of the airplane window. They had forced him to sit with them again but after take-off the ex-con had extracted himself from their care to find a seat where he could sit on his own. Chris understood that Ezra had a lot to think about, he still hadn't informed him if he was staying or going. He was worried that his newest recruit wasn't going to stay. Could he blame him? Of course he couldn't. Ezra was supposed to just watch and learn on his first case, instead he had been thrown into it head first. He had injured himself, through no fault of his own, was abducted and carved up like a piece of beef carcass and suffered hallucinations. Why would the man stay.

The report that he had completed, after discovering that the culprits they so desperately wanted to arrest got away, told a simple tale of alien abduction - unproven of course. End of story. There was nothing else to say. He had forced Vin and Ezra to stay in his room so he could watch them both. He knew Vin was going to be okay. He wasn't so sure about Ezra, the man had had a restless night, the nightmares causing him to wake up in a sweat. Each time Ezra had refused to talk about them or what had happened to him. Even Vin had tried to get him to talk but to no avail.

Chris knew Ezra was trying to deal with it in his own way, on the outside everything seemed to be normal while on the inside he was full of confusion, doubt and fear. Chris did have his hands full with this one but he knew he wasn't going to regret it. Maybe he would come around like Vin had.

He couldn't stand it any longer, Chris got up and and took the few steps that were required to take him to Ezra.

"Can I sit down?"

"Can I stop you?"

"No." Chris smiled.

"Then by all means Mr Larabee, sit down." Ezra watched him take a seat then waited to hear what he had to say.

"You doin' okay?"

"Doing fine, and you?"

"Fine. You going to stay?" Chris watched for a reaction, there wasn't one. Ezra did have one of the best poker face's he'd ever come across. There was also no reply to his question. "You angry?"

"About what?"

"That we didn't catch them."

"No, I already told you Mr Larabee that it happens, there's nothing you can do about it."

"It's happened to you before?" Again there was no answer.

"Do you always look after your men like that?"

"Yeah, but I didn't this time." Chris leaned further back into his chair. "I wasn't able to take care of you."

"But I'm not one of your men."

"While you work on my team you are." Chris assured him.

Ezra looked out at the brilliant blue sky. His mind had been full of confusion. Some of what happened seemed to be real while the rest of it felt like a nightmare. He was finding it hard to separate reality from the dreams. He hadn't thought about whether or not he was going to stay. These men had made him do things that no other person could. He had trusted Larabee and the man came through. He had allowed small pieces of information to be given to them. His own type of humour matched theirs. He found that he, Chris and Vin had something in common; cartoons. He actually liked these people.

"Ezra."

They had wanted to take care of him when he was hurt, to comfort him after he'd woken up from his nightmares. They protected him as best they could from the enemy and felt anger when they had failed. He got a sudden feeling that he belonged with these men. And he did trust his own feelings, they kept him alive.

"Mr Larabee." Ezra's expression was serious when he turned from the window. "I quit."

"If that's what you want Ezra. But just so you know, I enjoyed working with you." Chris shifted in his seat. He wanted to leave it there, to stand up and walk away but he couldn't.

"Perhaps a weeks recuperation, with sick pay of course, is needed before I rejoin the team."

"Huh?"

"You can't expect me to go back to work after what I've been through." Ezra made himself more comfortable. "Not only did I suffer physical injuries at the hands of criminals or aliens, which ever it was, I was also verbally assaulted by my team mates. Mr Jackson caused me undue pain while trying to repair my injuries, you forced me to go to a hospital which I did not want to do, I had to be a passenger in that dreadful vehicle Mr Tanner calls a jeep. I was forced to work with hippies," Chris smiled at that one, he knew Ezra was talking about Vin and JD with their shoulder length hair, "not to mention a man who dresses entirely in black, colour blind if you ask me. Why no one has bought him a coloured piece of clothing for Christmas, I do not know." Chris' smiled dropped from his features. "Kicked, literally, out of my bed at an ungodly hour every morning and not to mention the five thousand dollars I lost. That was a lot of money, and it was meant to earn me a lot more. Forced from my home, the fact that it was a hotel isn't the point. And not all in that order."

Chris' mouth was now hanging open.

"Mr Larabee? Are you okay?" Ezra waved a hand in front of the man's face.

"Um, yeah."

"Considering the fact that I faced danger during this first job, I hope I will be receiving danger pay and would the organisation be willing to compensate me for loss of personal effects. My blue shirt was ruined, I can't replace that, well I could but it was expensive and now that I have no money, well, you can see my predicament." Ezra was far from finished. "Do I get a gun? A company car? What about a place to stay? I did have one but I can't go back there, not now and what about clothing, do I have to supply my own when I am required to go undercover . . ."

The Southern accent was beginning to drive Chris insane. He put out a hand and covered Ezra's mouth. "You finished?" A shake of the head indicated that Ezra wasn't. "Well you are now. Understand." Ezra nodded. Chris removed his hand. "You always talk that much?"

"Only when I have something to say." Ezra smiled at him.

"Is that often?" Chris grimaced, he was hoping the answer was going to be no.

"Yes."

"Damn."

Ezra looked away as the smile filtered across his face.

"How about we get serious for a minute Ezra." Chris shifted sideways so he could look at Ezra. "Do you need to talk about what happened? Because I'm here if you do. You can talk to any of us, we'll all listen. You went through some bad stuff back there. None of it has been explained in a way that satisfies you. Your always going to have questions about what really happened."

"I know but there isn't really anything I can do about it."

"You can talk to me."

"No, it's like hospitals, I don't talk to people about my problems.. I deal with things better on my own. Everything seems to be a dream anyway, as long as I think about it like that I'm okay."

"Those dreams are pretty nasty though Ezra."

"I know but they won't last."

"You can stay with me until you find your own place."

"Thanks Chris, I appreciate that."

"Why did you decide to stay?"

"Just had a feeling that I should."

Chris nodded. He wasn't sure what to say next. He turned his head sideways to find the others watching him, he smiled at them and they all seemed to relax. They all wanted Ezra to stay. He was sure the Southerner was going to fit in well with the group.

"So what is it you like about the Angry Beavers?"

Ezra hung his head as a huge smile lit up his face, dimples appeared and his eyes sparkled. He looked up at Chris. "The noises Daggett makes when he's running around and his attitude, he's my hero."

Before both men knew it, Vin was sitting in the third seat. "I like it when he's muscular beaver."

"Toe robot." Ezra nodded in agreement.

"And what is it with that naked episode. What were they hiding anyway?"

"What do you think Vin?" Chris smiled at him.

"Well it's not their genitals." Vin assured him. "They don't have any."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because if it they did they would dress during the day."

"It's their belly buttons." Ezra told them.

"What?" They both looked at him.

"They're hiding their belly buttons." he repeated.

"They don't have belly buttons." Chris informed him.

"Yes they do!" Vin argued.

"No they don't, if they did you would still see them when they had fur." Chris growled at him.

"So why do they wear pyjamas?" Vin asked the question again.

"And underwear." Ezra added.

"And swimming costumes."

"Who the hell knows, I still can't figure it out." Chris shook his head.

"I know." Ezra lied

"Then tell us." Chris ordered him.

"No."

"You don't know do you." Vin sneered at him.

"Why would I lie about something as serious as this."

"You didn't know at the hospital." Vin smiled smugly.

"I've had time to think about it." Ezra shrugged.

Chris and Vin looked at each other then Ezra. They couldn't read his face, this was going to make their arguments more difficult.

"You know what I want to know?" Ezra leaned towards them.

"What?" they asked together.

"Why doesn't Johnny Bravo get whiplash?"

Yep, Chris thought as he smiled at Vin. Ezra was going to fit in just fine.

The End

Fiction