Olivia fills Stabler in about Adam carrying a sword. She tells him about what he said about them not seeing the same world that he and Melinda see.
Hours later Stabler drives Olivia down a dirt road in the meadowlands of New Jersey in a place reminiscent of the "leave the gun, take the cannoli" scene from "The Godfather" to a point in the huge reeds where Adam leans on the fender of a rented car. The detectives get out and walk toward him.
"Hello Stabler" Adam says in a threatening manner "Remember what I told that 'expert' in that seminar? You'd better take me before I get too close." Adam starts to walk slowly toward them reaching under his coat as he does so.
"Don't" Stabler commands reaching for his automatic. Olivia puts her hand on hers as well. "Adam, please don't. Suicide by cop is not a solution."
Adam chuckles. "I like my chances of survival. You should have listened." Adam draws a sword from under his coat, shrugging off the coat and allowing it to fall to the ground as he does so. The eyes of both detectives widen as he quickens his pace. Adam raises his sword and nearly reaches Olivia before both detectives fire. Adam crumples to the ground at Olivia's feet. She feels for a pulse, feels none, and turns to Stabler for comfort.
"He gave us no choice." Stabler reassures Olivia. "I'll call it in."
"That was the point. Nice shot Olivia, two rounds, center of mass under pressure. You let me get too close though, the momentum of the sword would have killed you" comes a voice from the ground. Olivia gasps as Adam rolls to one side and starts to get up despite blood on his chest.
"Don't move. We'll get an ambulance." Olivia pleads. Stabler kicks the sword away from Adam pointing his gun at him.
"I don't need one." Adam pulls open his shirt and swipes the blood to reveal he's not wounded. He gets up and goes to the car and gets out a change of clothing. "I told you the limits of reality aren't where you thought they were." He casually removes his bloody shirt and uses it to wipe the blood from his body before tossing it to the side of the clearing.
Stabler asks "Is this a trick?"
Adam ignores the question but Olivia holds up the shirt spread out to reveal four bullet holes. "Elliot…" Olivia says in shock as she puts her fingers through the holes "I don't think that was a trick." Adam says "Better listen Elliott" as pulls on his fresh shirt. Elliot stares at the holes. Adam puts the coat back on and puts his sword away.
"There are people living among you that aren't exactly human. Their affairs are for their kind alone. Melinda has decided that the best thing for her to do was to be satisfied with mortal justice for whoever murdered her student. Many of us would take personal revenge… She a good person… But, f you don't get the murderer, she might decide to hunt him down herself. I'd hate to have her hunting for me; she's skilled, resourceful, and tenacious. But the end would be a fight to the death and I have my doubts she would survive the encounter."
Olivia takes this in and processes it quicker than Stabler. "She's your 'student' isn't she?" Olivia asks.
"I see why she puts so much faith in you." Adam says with a smile.
"How long ago did you meet her?" Olivia asks.
"About 1850." Adam answers. Stabler's eyes shift between Olivia and Adam following the discussion which feels as unreal as a dream.
"That fantasy you use to ease my bad dreams… that's not a fiction… you lived it."
"Yes"
"Why here? Why wait until noon?" Stabler asks.
"I took Melinda where she would be safe, convinced her to wait there, and she gave me permission to tell you about her. If she didn't, she and I would be several states away by now."
"Tell us about her." Olivia asks.
"Some other time, right now you need to be searching for hits on those forensics. I don't know who killed her student or why. The few others like us who live in the city would not likely have done it. It could be as simple as a chance encounter."
"They are running the DNA as we speak." Stabler advises.
"If it isn't as 'simple as a chance encounter'…?" Olivia asks.
"It could be someone hunting Melinda, trying to goad her into doing something stupid. If that is the case, they'd be far better off if you caught them."
"Have you killed?" Stabler asks.
"Heh" is all Adam says as he gets into his car.
Watching Adam's car slowly make its way through the soft muddy ground Stabler says "What the hell just happened?"
"I think we've just been served notice that we aren't in Kansas anymore. We're not even in New York anymore. Where we are, I have no idea. We can't even see our old reality from where we are. But I have an idea where we can get a map."
As Stabler and Benson park the car at the station, Olivia says "I can't get something out of my head. There were times when he wanted to avoid an area… What could scare a guy like him?" Elliott nods "It tells me that there is something else out there…and if that is right, I really don't want to meet it."
After making their way back to the squad room, the two detectives get Detective Munch, the squad's expert in the strange and unusual, to join them in the observation room to "the box." They relate their tale to Munch who listens carefully but isn't as shocked as they would have expected. "Well?" Stabler asks when they are through.
"Back in 1986 there was a series of murders by decapitation. In each case the surrounding area was damaged by some sort of plasma discharge. There was one witness, a survivalist slash mercenary slash crime fighter whack job. He claimed that he emptied a clip from a machine gun point blank into a guy wielding a sword only to have the guy get up and skewer him like an olive in a martini. There was one suspect, an antique dealer from Hudson Street, but nobody was ever charged. When he disappeared, the murders stopped."
"Do you remember his name?"
"No. But Cragen worked on the case."
Shortly later the three detectives gather with their captain in his office. Captain Cragen listens with a mixture of horror and sadness to what each has to say. When they are done Cragen says "I was a young detective. We had an old school police Lieutenant named Moran who headed the investigation with Bedsoe as the lead detective. Bedsoe was a creep, but a good detective. I was hoping to never see another murder like those. The antique dealer was named Russell Nash, but he disappeared in 1986. Moran retired and married Rachel, Nash's secretary but they've both passed away. If Moran learned anything after he retired, he never told anybody. Rachel never was interviewed. The antique store is still there. Moran and Rachel ran it for years before selling it and moving to Florida. You be careful. As you already know, guns are useless."
"Nash had a katana, right Captain?" Munch asks.
"Yeah." Cragen responds.
"That sword Adam had was not a katana." Olivia observes.
"It was an Ivanhoe…." Stabler observes and the others look at him with a mixture of surprise and amusement. "I've been researching since that class."
"Feeling inadequate?" Munch teases and Stabler shoots him a dirty look.
"Olivia, do you have a date planned with him for tonight?" Cragen asks and Olivia nods. "Keep it. See what you can find out."
"You want me to 'spy-bang' him?" Olivia asks aghast.
"Just do whatever you normally do, but see if he'll give up any more information." Cragan clarifies. Stabler snorts. "Problem Detective?" Cragan chastises.
"No Captain."
"Good. Munch and I will check out the shop on Hudson Street. Olivia and Elliot, you two see if you can figure out where Doctor Warner is and see if the M.E.'s lab has gotten any hits on the DNA. We keep any mention of plasma discharges and people who survive being shot strictly between us and out of your reports and notes. It has been PP's directive to Captains ever since 1986."
"Let me get this straight… I'm on the INSIDE of a conspiracy." Munch says.
"Congratulations Munch. But remember, you can never talk about it."
Shortly after the meeting breaks up Munch is driving Cragen to Hudson Street. They find a parking space near the shop and go in. Munch looks at the objects for sale and notices that there are no price tags and says. "I think the least expensive thing here would cost a month's pay." As Cragan and Munch walk around the shop they are watched by a muscular man working at a desk.
Meanwhile Olivia gets the information she requested about Dr. Warner's cell phone location. She quickly takes out her phone and calls her Captain.
At the antique shop the man from the desk approaches the two detectives. "We're still in the process of getting fully set up. But if you want any information, I'll be right over there."
"Thank you. My name is Don and this is John." Cragan says extending his hand.
"My name is Duncan. What are you looking for?
The Captain's phone rings and he excuses himself to answer it. "We're interested in antique weapons, specifically swords, perhaps a katana." Munch says.
"We have some swords. True katanas are very difficult to find for sale. What price range were you thinking?"
"Oh, perhaps ten thousand…" Munch says thinking the amount is sufficient.
"Okay, I can work with that… but you realize that…. What do you plan to do with it?"
Cragan returns. "Perhaps you could introduce us to Melinda Warner."
Duncan sizes up the two officers considering. "It's okay Duncan. They are friends" comes a familiar voice from the foot of the stairs. Doctor Warner approaches. "Couldn't resist checking up on me?"
"Actually we came here because it was a place involved with a series of decapitations in 1985. But Olivia called to tell me that your cell phone was here. Could we speak in private?"
"Anything we need to discuss we can talk about with Duncan."
"Are you sure?" Cragan asks.
"I'm sure. Have Olivia and Elliot met Adam?"
"Yes."
"Did things go well?"
"I'm not sure what you mean by 'well' but everyone is okay, although Olivia and Elliot were pretty shaken up."
"I can imagine. Did Adam explain to Olivia how he met me?"
"Only that it was a long time ago. Doc, are you in any danger?"
"As long as I stay here I'm quite safe. I have two brave gentlemen keeping me from harm."
"Well, if there is anything you need…"
"You mean other than the name." Melinda responds.
"Yes, other than that. I'm not setting anyone up, and I don't want to have to investigate either of your 'brave gentlemen' for murder."
"We're patient. Find the murderer and jail him for as long as mortal justice allows." Duncan responds with a grin.
"There is that term again 'mortal justice' which implies that there is… immortal justice?" Munch observes.
"No, just that your justice is limited. But it is sufficient to give one time to evade and establish a new identity. There is no 'immortal' justice." Duncan explains.
"There is revenge." Melinda growls to Cragan & Munch's shock.
"Your teacher would disagree." Duncan cautions. "He's been known to file false police complaints to force another to break off a hunt. He would also say that there is no margin in revenge."
"He always was too cautious." Melinda counters. Duncan nods, but Cragan notes an amused look on Duncan's face which indicates he knows something Melinda doesn't. Similar to the feeling Stabler got when Adam demonstrated knife fighting techniques, a shiver goes down his spine. He has the distinct feeling that Adam is very dangerous and he's got a date with Olivia in a few hours that he encouraged her to keep.
"Where were you last night Mr. Macleod?" Cragan asks.
"Right here, alone most of the evening except for about an hour when I went to the bar for a wee bit of Glenmorangie."
"You have good taste in whiskey." Munch says.
"I'd be a pretty poor Scotsman if I didn't." Duncan says with a smile. "Stop by about nine tonight and the three of us will have a wee nip."
"I may just take you up on that." Munch replies.
On their way back to the squad, Cragan cautions Munch. "If we get a hit on that DNA, you can forget that 'wee nip', we don't need that Scotsman drinking with you until YOU talk. Remember, these people kill. Their bite is worse than their bark, when they bark at all."
"I'm hearing you, but think of the things they've seen. Doctor Warner lived through the Civil War. Who knows how old Duncan is, or Adam. Think of the tales they could tell."
"I don't want to think about it. We need to deal with the here and now."
Later that evening as Munch tries unsuccessfully to get information from Duncan as Doctor Warner watches in amusement; Olivia is receiving her nightly massage.
"Have you ever killed anyone?" Olivia asks.
"Has your captain asked you to question me? Is he hoping I'll be so distracted by your body that I'll admit something?"
"Something like that, but that's not why I asked."
"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."
"And you think I don't really want the answer?"
"I think you would not believe it." Adam responds.
"How old are you?"
"I'm probably the only guy who has been on a stage with Julius Caesar and the Rolling Stones. How do you like this moisturizer?" Olivia's mind reels. She doesn't respond for a moment. "It smells nice doesn't it?" Adam asks in a manner indicating that this is the most important part of the conversation.
"Huh? Yes it does. You knew Julius Caesar?"
"Not well, I was a slave. But I was on the stage with him." Adam casually explains as he massages the back of Olivia's thighs.
"A slave?" Olivia questions her protective instincts have engaged.
"A chef, the pinnacle of being a Roman slave, you should taste my stuffed house mice. I once made peacock brains for ten. It's difficult to get enough peacocks for that, they have very small brains."
"I think I'll pass."
"I could do a thing for you with chestnuts and lentils…."
"I'm sorry I shot you."
"Sorry to put you through it, but it was the only way to convince you of the truth. But perhaps you could make it up to me later."
"I can't tell you what we learn…" Olivia cautions.
"I know, I had something sooner in mind…. And Stabler can just live with it."
"Ohhhhh" Olivia flirts back. "How did you meet Doctor Warner?"
"I dug her up." He says casually. "Her name was Sadie back then and mine was Nathan."
"Dug her up?"
"Literally, she was a slave who had been killed by her master." Adam says as he begins to work on Olivia's feet. "Do you really want to talk about this now?"
"Please."