Jayden leaned against the door, cool against his back. He clasped his shaking arms around his knees, drew them close to his chest. Just Tripto withdrawal, he just had to wait it out. At least the banging in his head had stopped. It wouldn't last long. He tried to concentrate on controlling his breathing.

Where was he? This was somewhere new. It was quiet around him, besides the sound of his harsh breath. He studied the crisp white towels. Another hotel room. But what town? He couldn't remember the name, but he remembered the killer, eight kids, dead in the rain.

The tripto could stop this. There must be more somewhere in the room. But he couldn't remember where. He would have laughed if he could. He had hidden it a little too well. Never thought he would need it this bad.

He watched the world flow in between autumn woods and bathroom tiles. He had to hide it. They expected him to tread an impossible line between ARI and Tripto. But they knew he was a perfectionist. And how could he cut down on ARI when lives were at stake? Jayden raised his hands to his head. He tried to focus, remember the case but he couldn't. Just the dead kids. And now there was a new child missing. And it was his job to find him.

He tried to pull himself up, reaching an arm up to hold onto the door handle. Slipped down, as the muscles in his legs refused to co-operate, refused to go on. He knew how they felt. He needed the Tripto, now. He glanced desperately around the bathroom. Would he have hidden it in here? The new stuff had to be around here somewhere. They never gave him enough. So he had to get more. How could they expect him to handle it? Didn't care what happened, so long as their little experiment got a good airing. Now he was screwed, just a vehicle for ARI and Tripto.

The blood rushing in his ears grew louder and he could hear the banging again. His heart pounding in his chest. He had to control his breathing. He couldn't die here, it would be days before anyone found him.

There were voices in the room behind him, a moment of silence and then the door behind him moved and he was propelled forward, landing on the tiled floor.

Something grabbed him, jerked him to his feet.

"You fuck! Blake screamed in his face, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him back against the wall. "You let Ethan Mars go!"

"What?" Jayden managed to gasp out, grabbing at Blake for support. Blake, what the hell was he doing here? How long had he been sitting on the floor? His thoughts were blurry and he struggled to remember. He had let Mars go, he remembered as Blake dragged him into the main room and threw him onto the bed. Jayden turned over onto his back, stared at the ceiling, the sky, barely hearing as Blake ranted at him.

Blake paused and looked down at him "What the hell is wrong with you?" Realisation dawned in his eyes. "You fucking junkie." He leaned over Jayden, one hand at his throat, one on his chest, pressing him down. "Where's the tape?" Blake asked slowly and calmly, tone full of controlled violence.

"The tape?"

"Where is the fucking tape!" Blake backhanded him hard. The slap seemed to return some clarity to Jayden's thoughts. The tape of the interrogation. Yes, he had taken it. Had almost forgotten it, an afterthought after Mars had gone.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Blake slapped him again and Jayden put his hands out to defend himself. Where had he put the tape? He couldn't remember.

"For fucks sake I know you did it! You don't expect me to think Gary let him go?" Blake pushed his hands away and Jayden closed his eyes, prepared for the next blow. Instead the weight on his chest lifted and he opened his eyes to see Blake searching his room, opening drawers, throwing the contents onto the floor.

Jayden pulled himself up onto his elbows. Had he been stupid enough to bring the tape here? It was the only thing that could incriminate him. It suddenly struck him why Blake was so desperate to get hold of the tape. "That tape has you interrogation of Mars on it too. If that got out, it would destroy your career."

In a second Blake was on top of him, hands around his throat, squeezing the breath out of him. "Don't you fucking threaten me!"

Jayden gasped for breath and struggled to push Blake off, then stopped, a look of confusion crossed his face. He could feel something hard pressing against his stomach that surely shouldn't be there.

Blake must have noticed it too because he jumped off, turned away, walked a full circle of the room, muttering curses under his breath. He stormed off into the bathroom , not looking back.

Jayden lay down, catching his breath. What the hell was that? Probably was just Blake's normal reaction to inflicting violence. Definitely nothing to do with him. Although it had a striking resemblance to that dream a couple of days ago. Great, the withdrawal kept him from remembering which city he was in but perverted dreams of Blake were fine. Unless… it was wearing off. He stared up at the ceiling, which was now only a ceiling again. Outside the window he heard the steady drizzle grow louder. He closed his eyes.

"Why did you do it?" Blake was back suddenly, looking down at him. He seemed slightly calmer now, and confused.

Jayden reached for the answer, and found it. "Ethan Mars is innocent. Someone is controlling him, making him think he's responsible. You would be better off following him than arresting him."

Blake stood there for a long moment, looking at Jayden. Jayden couldn't read his expression, and that scared him more than anything else.

"Fine. Destroy the tape, we're even."

Jayden hesitated and then nodded, watching Blake warily. Blake's expression never changed, staring back guarded and impenetrable. Then he turned and walked quickly to the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Slowly, Jayden pulled himself up to a sitting position. His brain still felt sluggish and fuzzy. What had just happened? Why had Blake given up so easily? He had a feeling he was missing something important. He pulled himself into a sitting position, his ARI glasses on the desk, catching his eye. He forced himself to not think about Blake, not about himself, think about the case. What had he been doing before the trip? The answers trickled in, maddeningly slowly, ARI, the car, Mad Jack.

Jayden stood and walked unsteadily into the bathroom to wash his face. He looked around him. It didn't look like Blake had moved anything in here? Had he even really been here? The whole experience felt strangely unreal. For a moment he wondered if that had been some new, disturbing kind of hallucination. Maybe he was really losing it. But no, the mirror disagreed. One side of his face was red, the over half was unusually pale. And he still looked better than he felt. Before he left the room he picked up a blue vial which had fallen onto the floor. The withdrawal periods were stronger than ever and the world seemed out to get him lately. He pushed the tripto deep into his jacket pocket, and smoothed down his hair before leaving. He had a feeling he would need it.