"Welcome to your new home, for the time being anyway." Helen said. She had taken Connor to what seemed to be an underground bunker. The main room contained several computer workstations, with office chairs and various boxes of files on the desks. At the far side of the room were three beds, the type you'd find in a hospital perhaps, and some kind of machine, again medical in appearance.

"What is this place?" Connor asked

"It's my office, laboratory, factory … whatever you want to call it." Helen said. "I've been based here for a couple of years now, on and off. There used to be some scientists working here too, but they've now served their purpose and I got rid of them." She smiled at Connor in an almost evil way that made him shudder. "The replicas were made here, and all my research is on those computers. You could say this is my ARC."

"OK." Connor nodded. He usually felt right at home in this kind of environment, but he was very uncomfortable. What did Helen mean about getting rid of the scientists after they'd served their purpose? What were her plans for him? He was beginning to think he'd made a huge mistake. "I'm looking forward to getting on with the research." He tried to sound enthusiastic.

"Good. I knew there was something I liked about you, Connor. With your brains and my knowledge, we will be unstoppable!"

Connor swallowed nervously. "Where do I start then?" he rubbed his hands together and glanced around the room.

"Slow down!" she laughed. "One or two things have changed since you messed about with events in the present. Your death has altered the path of things slightly and we need to get things back on track." Connor looked puzzled. "You recall the artefact?" Connor nodded, of course he did! Cutter had passed it to him before he died, telling Connor he needed to find out what it was and what it did. "Well, because you died, it never gets made – at least, not in the form we know."

Connor was still puzzled. He couldn't understand what his death had to do with the artefact not being made. Then it dawned on him – surely he didn't make the artefact? He didn't want to seem completely clueless around Helen, but he had to ask. "I'm responsible for the artefact?"

"Sort of. You created the database that starts it off. It contained your program that you created to help Dr Page begin to recreate Nick's model."

Connor knew exactly what she was talking about. After Cutter's death, Sarah had tried to fix the model they had started. It was too huge a task and she gave up. However, one afternoon, Connor had reawakened her interest in it and suggested they did it on a computer instead. He came up with a program that Sarah could use to input all the information she'd helped Cutter with, and a basic model was forming. He had no idea how far Sarah had gotten with it. "Let me guess. The artefact doesn't get made, so no anomaly opener?" he said.

"Correct. The only anomaly opener we have is the one I have, but it's useless without the database and the program. That computer over on the far side has a hard drive taken from the future and contains information on all known anomalies, but that too is useless without your program."

Connor was beginning to see where this was leading. "I'm not sure I can remember the program, it may take me a few days."

"I'm sure a man of your skill has ways and means of finding what you need." Helen said. "Would you be able to hack into the ARCs computers and get it from there?"

Connor laughed. "The ARC has a very complex security system on its computers. It would be virtually impossible to hack into. I should know. I set it all up."

Helen placed a hand on Connor's shoulder. "I'll leave you to it then, shall I?" she walked out, leaving Connor alone with all the computers. His head was spinning. Within his grasp, he had access to the information he and the rest of the ARC team had wanted for so long. He just had to play along for a little while.

--

10th April

"What is going on with these computers today?" Sarah complained.

"Mine's OK." Abby said. "What's wrong?"

"It just keeps doing odd things. Look, its doing it again!" The screen on Sarah's computer was displaying a string of random numbers and letters.

"Have you called Simon?" Abby asked. The words were hard to get out. Simon was the new technical support guy, recruited from the team that looked after the ADD with Connor. She knew they needed someone to deal with computer issues now that Connor had passed away, but it was still difficult.

"Simon's on his way, but he said that half an hour ago." Sarah sighed. "I'm going to make a drink, if he's not showed by the time I come back, I'll go and find him."

Minutes later, Simon was scratching his head and had called Danny to come and have a look with him. "We're being hacked into." He said.

"That's impossible." Danny said. "Connor put so many blocks and security devices in there, you'd need to be a genius or …" Danny stopped. He could see Abby out of the corner of his eyes. She'd been fine up to now, but it had only been a few days since Connor's funeral and this was the first time anyone had even mentioned his name around her since then. "Abby, you OK?"

She wiped her eyes and nodded. "You're right, Danny. Connor was very proud of the security he installed into the network. He'd be the only person who could get into it, and we all know that's impossible."

Simon was shaking his head. "It's definitely a hacker. I guess someone just got lucky. I'll take a closer look." He sat at Sarah's desk and began typing away. Abby turned back to her own computer and noticed the internal messenger system was flashing. Someone was messaging her. She opened the window that had appeared, and it said "guest". Then she read the message. Her heart began pounding hard and she felt like she couldn't breathe. – How are Rex, Sid and Nancy?

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, running out. Danny and Sarah stared after her.

"She shouldn't have come back so soon." Sarah said. "She's not handling this as well as she wants us to believe."

"I'll go after her, see if I can persuade her to take some time off." Danny said. He found Abby sat in the gym area. She was shaking. He sat next to her. "Want to talk about it?"

Abby took a deep breathe. "You'll think I'm going crazy." She said.

"No I won't, well, no more than usual!" he smiled. "I've been there too you know. I know what its like to grieve for someone you were close to."

"Its just … well, there's been a few weird things happen and I don't know how to explain them." Abby sniffed, blinking back tears.

"Weird things? Like what?"

"My mobile has rung twice, and when I look at the display, it says 'Connor calling'. The first time, I just stared at it until it stopped. The second time, I answered, but there wasn't anyone there. Then yesterday I got a final bank statement from Connor's bank. His card was used twice on the day of the funeral, but its still in his wallet. I have the things he had on him when he …"

Danny could see Abby was shaken by these events. He needed to reassure her. "The card is an easy one to explain. It's quite a common crime these days. Devices get fitted to the cash machines, it clones the data on the card and reads the PIN number. The criminals copy the card and use it to withdraw cash. That'll be what happened here, that's all. As for the phone, maybe it's a network thing, or your phone. I'm sure it can be explained easily." He took her hand and squeezed it.

"Just now, my messenger flashed up a message from a guest user, asking after Rex, Sid and Nancy. No-one knows about them, apart from us on the ARC team. How do you explain that?" Abby pulled away from Danny. Whilst she was grateful for Danny's concern, he wasn't Connor.

"Maybe Simon can explain that. It's probably connected to the hacker in some way." He stood up to go back. "Look, Abby. Perhaps you need more time to deal with this? Why don't you take a few more days off?"

"I don't need more time off, Danny!" she snapped. "I just need to get on with my job!" she stormed off, back to her computer. Simon was still sat at Sarah's desk, looking puzzled.

"It's odd." He was saying to her. "Your computer is the only one being targeted, and only one file is being accessed. If this was an opportune hacker, we'd see more erratic activity."

"It's someone who knows what they're doing then? Someone looking for something specific?" Danny said, rejoining them.

"That's what it looks like." Simon said. "What is this file, Sarah?"

Sarah checked. She hadn't looked at it for several weeks. "That's just something Connor and I were working on a while ago."

Abby's eyes grew wide and she looked at Danny. "You and Connor?"

"We were trying to recreate Cutter's model using some program he came up with. I didn't get that far with it though." Sarah said. "I can't imagine it would be much use to anyone."

"Danny." Abby said shakily. "So how do you explain away this one?"

Danny couldn't answer.

--

14th April

Connor had been working solidly for four whole days. He'd managed to copy over the data he needed from Sarah's computer and was combining it with the information Helen had on her computer. He grinned as he skimmed through the database, he now had every known anomaly at his fingertips. The program he had devised for Sarah enabled him to view a map, one he had seen only briefly and accidentally before. The swirls and loops were the most beautiful sight he had seen in a long time. All he needed now was to get his hands on Helen's anomaly opener and find out how it worked so he could make his own version of it.

"How would like a little fun, Connor?" Helen purred when she came in later that morning. "You've been working hard and stuck indoors. It's time you got some fresh air."

"What did you have in mind?" Connor asked warily.

"A new anomaly opened up about 20 minutes ago, I intercepted a call between Danny and Becker. They're probably already there, and we'd need to be careful, but I'd like to see where it will take us." Helen was already preparing to go, loading her pistol and filling a water bottle.

"OK." Connor said. He did need some fresh air, and he liked the idea of going out to an anomaly. He wasn't sure he was ready to see his old friends though. He missed them, especially Abby, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before they realised he was working with Helen. He put on his leather jacket and followed Helen towards the door. Suddenly she turned to face him, pointing her pistol directly at his chest.

"This is just a little warning. You might be tempted to go back to your old life. I can't allow that. You know too much now. Call this my insurance policy. Any attempt to tell them what's going on and …" she made a shooting motion with the pistol, leaving Connor in no doubt what she would do.

"You have nothing to worry about." He said.

--

As they arrived at the anomaly site, Connor saw something very familiar. Sarah was there, setting up the locking device. He smiled, then looked around for the others. Danny's 4x4 was parked up alongside two others that Connor recognised as belonging to Becker's soldiers. He could only guess that they had all gone through the anomaly.

"Come on!" Helen said. Connor watched her with interest. She may be an evil, twisted, scheming bitch, but they did have something in common. They both got a thrill when they saw an anomaly. Connor's heart was pounding, whatever was on the other side it was bound to be something interesting.

Within minutes of going through, Connor could see why Helen had always managed to slip away from them and stay hidden. She moved like a cat, silently, swiftly. He had difficulty keeping up with her. He was about to complain when she turned and motioned for him to hide and keep silent. Just beyond the next rock, he could see Danny and Becker. He tried to hear what they were saying, but they were just too far away. He saw Danny turn and wave to someone, then seconds later, Abby was there. He crept closer, desperate to hear her voice.

"You need to make sure you stay with us, Abby" Danny was saying.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm so used to you two going off together and me going off with Connor." Abby looked sad. "It's weird not having him here."

"I know." Danny placed his hand on her shoulder. "But we have to get used it. You need to keep your wits about you, we can't lose another member of the team."

Connor was fighting every instinct in his body. He desperately wanted to be the one comforting Abby, and the sight of Danny doing it made him jealous. His hand clenched into a fist as he watched Abby lean into Danny and allow him to hug her.

"Connor." Helen whispered. "Stay calm. There's no room for emotional attachments in what we do."

"I know." He sighed. He closed his eyes and hoped Danny and Abby would have moved away by the time he opened them again. They hadn't. In fact, they were getting closer, and any moment now, Helen would be seen. He tried to motion to her, but Helen was already aware of the fact and was climbing down from the tree she'd been hiding in.

"Danny Quinn, Captain Becker and Abby Maitland. What a pleasant surprise seeing you here. It's been too long." Helen said.

"Which gutter did you crawl out of?" Danny spat. Becker had his gun raised, pointing directly at her.

"Really Danny, you don't have to be quite so rude. The team is looking somewhat … depleted. Such a shame about young Connor. I was sorry to hear about his accident. He was the only one who actually had some brains about him. I expect you're missing his skills?"

"We're doing fine, thank you," Abby said. "And the only thing you're sorry about is the fact you didn't have anything to do with his death. I'm sure you would have liked to add his blood to your collection."

Helen ignored what Abby had just said. "My team, on the other hand, is growing. I've just acquired a new accomplice. He's my computer specialist, and he's currently working on something that will keep me one step ahead of you."

"Bill Gates needed a new challenge did he?" Becker said.

"Meet my new team member." Helen said. She turned to the rock where Connor had been hiding until now and motioned for him to come out. Connor bit his bottom lip, and with a deep breath, stepped out into the open. The silence said it all. He looked directly at Abby and he could see confusion and pain in her eyes. "Well." Helen said, after several awkward seconds. "I don't think I need to introduce you, so we'll be on our way. Catch you later!" she was away, as swift as ever. Not daring to speak, Connor followed.

Abby, Danny and Becker stared at each other in disbelief for several minutes. Becker eventually broke the silence. "Was that him?"

"I don't know." Abby said, shakily. "He's dead. I identified his body at the hospital, but …"

"It's impossible." Danny said. "It was someone using that hologram device that Helen used to disguise herself as Eve before. It has to be."

"But why impersonate a dead man? It doesn't make sense." Becker said.

"Helen's playing mind games. She's trying to rattle us." Danny replied.

"Danny … the phone calls, the cash withdrawal, the hacker…" Abby was fighting tears.

"Abby, listen to me. I know you want to believe Connor is still alive, but it is just that bitch playing some kind of sick, twisted game with us." Danny had both his hands on her shoulders and was speaking directly facing her. She shrugged him off and began to walk towards the anomaly. "Abby!"

"I'm OK. Let's just get back eh? I've had enough today." She could almost feel the physical barriers going up around her, the way she used to do before Connor had come into her life. She went through the anomaly, expecting to be met by Sarah, but it was Connor sitting by the locking device instead.

"Abby, I don't have much time. Helen will realise I'm not following and come back for me." He said, rushing towards her.

"If you're so concerned about your new best friend, why are you here?" Abby spat. She really didn't know what to think. Danny was right, she did want to believe it was Connor standing in front of her.

"Because I need you to know why I'm working with Helen. Remember the morning of the accident? I came through an anomaly and warned you not to drive to work. It was supposed to be you that died, not me." Connor spoke rapidly, glancing around him for signs for Helen. "I had to go to Helen. She was the only one who would be able to open the right anomaly, but the price I paid was that I would be in debt to Helen. I did it because I love you, Abby."

Danny and Becker were now through the anomaly as well, and standing behind Abby. Danny whispered. "Becker's finger is poised on the trigger, just say the word."

"No." Abby whispered back.

"You don't still think this is Connor, do you?" Danny said, loud enough for Connor to hear.

"No. The Connor I knew would never have sold his soul to the devil like this." She walked off, making her way towards the 4x4 without looking back. The others all followed. Connor stared after them, feeling like his heart had just been ripped out of his chest.

Just as they were about to drive off, Danny turned off the ignition and got out. "Sorry guys, there's something I've forgotten." He had a determined look on his face. He walked back towards the anomaly site, Connor was still there.

"What kind of sick bastard are you?" Danny spat. "That poor girl back there is still grieving for her best friend, and you show up pretending to be him."

"Danny, you have to believe …" Connor didn't get to finish his sentence. Danny had punched him hard in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"That was for Abby! She doesn't deserve this." Danny was rubbing his hand. He then kicked Connor in the stomach. Connor yelled out in agony, doubling up and clutching at his stomach. "And that was from me as a warning. Tell Helen we don't join in her games."

"Danny! What the hell have you done?!" Abby was running towards them. She dropped to her knees at Connor's side and cradled his head in her hands, sobbing.