Cole is pursuing an alien Nodulian, Kres, who is a ""courier""/smuggler. Kres is captured by U.S. government agents and taken into custody. Cole eludes them and uses satellite photography to locate the military base they've taken Kres to. Cole breaks in and discovers Kres is being tortured by Dr. Connelly, who knows that he is an alien. The government knows all about the energy burst that brought the escaped prisoners to Earth, and that Kres has deserted ""his"" human wife and family after being possessed. Kres is susceptible to heat, being an Nodulian. Cole is captured and subjected to the same treatment, which reenergizes him. Connelly realizes that and cools him down. Cole manages to escape using hypertime, but is captured with a fire extinguisher when Connelly lowers the base's air temperature. Kres has escaped from his cell and using an experimental hypertime simulator that Zin created, manages to free Cole. Cole has Mel download a virus into the base's computer, destroying all record

The U.S. government project devoted to detecting aliens (from ""Breach"") is back in action. They are keeping the body of Wes Tarber, previously inhabited by the Nodulian Kres alive, and bring Zan (disguised as a ""Dr. Armstrong"") in to revive him. Zan succeeds by injecting it with the essence of Ramel, who didn't get a body in the original takeover because there weren't enough humans on the train. Zin needs access to files in the complex and revives Ramel to get in good, but kills the general he's bribing when the general gets antsy. Meanwhile Cole is analyzing Mel's grandmother's key, which apparently opens some kind of ""door"" beneath the Watchfire. Ramel attacks Cole, who killed his brother previously, but Cole escapes. Cole sneaks into the complex, and finds out that a Vardian ship piloted by an ""Arkin"" crashed into Lake Michigan. A ""Dr. Milos Sandborn"" interrogated the alien and then disappeared before giving his files to the government. Zin wants the files and needs Ramel to help se