The pair didn't say a word during the nearly 30-minute car ride from Anderson Park to the Fields of Arlington Grange apartment complex. Kai traded pleasantries with their driver to avoid being rude, but Hunter was deep in thought, staring at his phone, which wasn't on. His spare hand was in his right pocket, thumb and forefinger placed on a key he had washed with the jeans hundreds of times, but never bothered to remove.

When the car pulled up to the gate, Hunter jumped out. Kai followed behind. Without missing a beat, Hunter tapped in the gate code and hustled past the wrought iron the moment the gap between the halves was wide enough.

Kai spent a brief moment looking at the complex. Beautiful, seven-floored buildings, with gable-top roofs. Lush greenery on every block. A centralized office with a pool, lights dancing on its surface. A quaint, suburban complex.

He then realized he was quickly losing ground to his companion again. Kai jogged up to Hunter. "Are you alright?"

"I'd rather just get this done," Hunter said. With Kai just a step behind, Hunter paced to the end of the main avenue of the complex before banking to the right. He buzzed down the walkway leading to Building 3. "It's the top floor," he said, without turning to face Kai. He was trying not to let his reddening face or the fact he was near tears show.

A moment later, they were at Apartment 3721. Hunter had the key in the lock, but his fingers were quivering.

"Shall I?" Kai offered. Hunter nodded. "You should probably stay out here anyway. At least until I clear the apartment.

"Clear it?"

"You never know," Kai explained. "Some kook could have his place wired to explode the second an uninvited guest" --

"What do you think he is?" Hunter snapped. "He's not a criminal mastermind! He's just..." his voice trailed. "He's just not."

Kai nodded and made sure Hunter saw his eyes as he spoke. "I didn't mean to suggest that. In this line of work I have seen just about everything so I have learned to prepare myself."

Hunter nodded, trudged to the wall opposite the door, and waited, arms folded.

Kai pushed the key all the way into the lock, turned it, and opened the door cautiously.

And waited.

Silence.

Kai crept inside, then made a swift check, room-to-room. About 30 seconds passed before he stuck his head back into the hallway. "I think we're cool. I may need your help inside, though," he said to Hunter, who took a deep, labored breath, and followed inside.

Snapping the living room light on, Hunter found a familiar, yet strange sight. He remembered the layout of the apartment when he and Alex lived together. While it remained similar, what struck Hunter was how few possessions remained. Bookshelves once filled with manga, biographies, and discs the two enjoyed and shared... gone. Posters that once hung on the walls torn down -- ripped, leaving shreds of paper pinned to the drywall.

"So what was this idea you had?" Kai prompted.

"First, I assume you'll probably need to take his computer in to be examined, right?"

"Yeah."

"'Kay. Well, for starters," he pointed to a white square object mounted above the front door. "I need you to remove that from this room. Maybe toss it in the dumpster behind the building.

"What is it?"

"It's a high-powered magnet. It can erase traditional computer hard drives if they cross its path. That's why there's nothing electronic along that wall."

Fascinated, Kai closed the front door and looked up at the magnet from underneath. "Paranoid much?"

Hunter nodded with a rueful grin. "He was so into LAN parties and had guys over all the time until he started work at InnerCore. Then that stopped and the overbearing security measures took over."

"Is there a stepladder?" Hunter motioned to the utility closet down the hallway, and Kai procured the ladder. He took a small screwdriver from a pouch in his pants pocket and began dismantling the magnet.

Hunter stood in the living area, then walked to the kitchen. He opened the cabinets and the fridge. All bare. He watched Kai unhook the magnet and waited as he left to dispose of it.

"I'm also certain that wasn't the only thumb drive Alex had," Hunter said when Kai returned, as he crossed to the bedroom. "If he was trying to sell it to one person, he would have tried to offer it to others. Probably at the same time."

"Seriously?" Kai seemed incredulous. "That's a rookie move, trying to criss-cross."

"Precisely," Hunter said. "He was desperate, but for what, I don't know." 

In the bedroom, steps away from a queen mattress with no linen, was a fake oak computer desk, one hastily assembled from a cheap department store kit. An impressive widescreen monitor sat on its top. A large metallic PC tower sat to its right. Hunter began unhooking cables and cords, then spun the tower around to show Kai the panel. He pointed to a small device, no bigger than a thumbnail, attached to one of the USB ports.

"The computer he built for me has one of those things too," Hunter explained. He pulled out an identical device from his left pocket. "I think that this is why I never needed the third password. This thing might contain a bypass-or the password itself."

"So if someone else tried to access it without that thing," Kai said thoughtfully, "the thumb drive would self-destruct."

Hunter nodded. "It's just a theory, but it's the only thing that would make sense to me."

"It's a good one," Kai reassured him. "And yeah, it might be just as well to try that out on his own PC. But we're forgetting - we don't have that thumb drive anymore. You said there might be others."

"If there are, we'll have to look for them."

They spent about an hour combing through the apartment, checking and re-checking drawers, cabinets. They tried the water heater, the utility room, and even the boxes of baking soda left in the freezer. There was no trace of additional drives.

"Hmm. It was a good thought," Kai said. "But maybe there just aren't any."

"It's not his way, though," Hunter said. "His whole thing was to go hard if he was dedicated to something. He would cut corners, though. To save time or just out of laziness..."

Hunter stopped. He thought. He smiled. He went back to the bedroom. Kai followed.

Hunter got on his knees and went underneath the desk. "Aha!" There was the sound of something being ripped, and seconds later, Hunter sat upright, holding a long piece of Scotch tape with two USB drives stuck to it.

Kai looked at it in disbelief. "You're kidding," he said. "No box below the floorboards? No false-bottom can of soda - just taped under the desk?"

"Told you," Hunter said, "laziness."

"For him, maybe, but you..." Kai crossed the bedroom and sat down in front of Hunter. "You're... incredible."

Hunter balked, causing Kai to backtrack. "In-in this. Investigating. You know Alex's M.O. so well: You knew about the magnet, you knew about there being multiple drives. And you figured out about this other thing plugged into the computer."

"Now wait. That's still a theory," Hunter protested, blushing.

"Even so, it's a great one and I bet it has legs," Kai said. "We just have to take it to headquarters and see for ourselves."

"Headquarters?" Hearing it back made Kai cringe a bit. There wasn't any other way, he reasoned. "Yes. Hunter, I know you've had a lot go on in the past 24 hours, and I hate to slam you with some more stuff to process..."

Hunter nodded. "It's okay. I... I trust you."

If he had the need for a heartbeat, this is where it would have skipped -- Kai fought back old memories and carried on with what he was trying to say. "You are proving quite vital to this investigation. "I'm likely to have more need for you while we do this. I'm gonna have to ask you... to work with me."

"Work with you." Hunter's voice was flat. "Not even FBI asks people to just work with them."

"I'm not with the FBI," Kai reminded him. "This is something... off-sides. And deeper, if that makes sense."

Hunter shrugged, as if to say, "How could any of what's been going on make sense?"

"So, we'll take the computer down to headquarters, you'll help us gain access to what we need, and I'll fill you in on what's about to happen."

Hunter pointed to the giant PC. "Won't it be weird lugging that thing into a rideshare into... I'm assuming downtown? At this hour of the night?

Kai whipped out his phone. "We won't be taking a rideshare this time."

A sleek black Town Car was waiting by the time Hunter and Kai, carrying the large computer unit, made it back to the gate. Kai secured it in the trunk, and the pair got into the backseat.

As they drove back into the city, Hunter had come up with more questions for Kai. "Is the daylight thing true?"

"Sadly," Kai nodded. "Sometimes it's hard to believe I haven't seen a natural sunrise or sunset for more than 160 years."

"160!" Hunter gasped.

"That's the other thing that's true," Kai said with a sad smile. "Despite our true age, we'll never look more than the age we were when we... crossed over. I'll always look like I'm in my late 20s."

"Wow..." Hunter was at a loss for more words on the topic. He looked out his window as they entered the heart of downtown Dallas. They passed by an old television transmitter tower, whose red toplights continued blinking to life and fading over and over.

"We're here," Kai said.

"Seriously?" Hunter said in surprise. "I thought this was just an abandoned TV studio."

"To everyone else, it is," Kai explained. "For me, it's my office."

The car turned towards a loading dock at the rear of the building. A large metallic door began to lift, and the car passed through.

"I have to ask you now for your utmost silence on the things you're going to see and hear in this building," Kai said. "I cannot, under any circumstances, get wind of you telling somebody about this place.

"And, I'm sorry about how fast things are moving," he added. "I can't say it's going to slow down anytime soon."

"It's okay," Hunter said, unaware his hand was moving towards Kai's. "Like I said... I trust you."

Kai hesitated and reached for Hunter's hand. But just as his fingers were about to clasp around, the car jerked to a sudden halt. "We're here," he said. "Just stay by my side, okay? I'll explain everything as we go."

"I will."