Shadows Lurk

John Daniels is distraught over the loss of the GEE. It was clearly stolen, but who could have taken it? Why? And most importantly, how? Convinced that it is his fault in more ways than one, the last thing he wants to deal with is meeting Lieutenant Kiel Samuels’ newly-rescued girlfriend, Alison. Explaining that he is JD—yes, that JD—and answering questions about the mission he has undertaken will be a complete waste of time—especially since explaining is so much harder to do without the GEE. Explaining to his best friend what happened to the GEE proves equally unappealing. As the repercussions of his loss begin to appear in a fresh media storm, his despair grows.

Sarah Parrish is worried about her boyfriend. John has faced challenges before, but the depths of his despair over the missing GEE surprises and scares her. Luckily, she has gotten pretty good at avoiding her own fears by focusing her energy on helping John overcome his. Sarah aims to get John back on his feet by helping him to realize that he can investigate cases, find answers, and bring closure to families without relying on the GEE as his primary resource; it may take him more time, but if he is willing to put in the extra effort, there is no reason she sees for why he cannot continue. She just needs to find the right case for him to work on. But will her efforts lift John from his misery, or will his determined pessimism prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Elsewhere, Adelaide Furson celebrates her recent victory, bringing the GEE with her to a remote cabin in the woods where she can have privacy and take her time bending the GEE to her will. She decides that her first order of business will be erasing all cases connected to her from the GEE website and gifting herself a fresh start—thankfully, none of the cases have been opened to the public yet. After that, she will thoroughly enjoy using it against her enemies to pad her bank account. However, from the moment she arrives at the cabin, things begin happening—strange and unsettling things that leave her questioning herself. Her frustration builds as she also discovers the GEE is not as simple a device as she originally thought. As events begin to get further out of Adelaide’s control, she comes to the conclusion that she is going to need to bring someone in for help—and that the price of a new start may turn out to be her sanity.

Unbeknownst to John and Sarah (and Adelaide), the group Ryder Trenton warned them about has been gathering in the shadows. They are zeroing in on the GEE and have plenty of ideas for what to do with the GEE—all of them nefarious, though they prefer to think of them as necessary evils. Fueled by deep pockets and—temporarily—a common purpose, they dispatch an elite team of skilled operatives to retrieve the GEE and neutralize the threat John poses. In the race to recover the GEE, who will triumph and who will fall along the way?