Plan B, I: Missing in Action

Whit becomes alarmed after a full week passes without any word from Eugene. No one answers at Eugene's apartment or the Shanks home in Chicago, and the library has not seen him. Connie is distracted by her own silence toward Mitch, who has left repeated messages after confessing that he may be falling in love with her. She still cannot decide whether she trusts him enough to ask about the photograph of the woman who planted a secret modem in Whit's office.

Connie accompanies Whit to Eugene's apartment. They enter with an emergency key and discover that someone has ransacked every room. The computer remains, but its hard drive is gone. Eugene's favorite vests, shoes, and suitcases have also disappeared, suggesting either a strange robbery or a hurried departure.

At Campbell College, Eugene's assistant explains that he left suddenly after receiving an urgent call from Katrina. He identified the situation only as a family emergency and said he was going to Chicago Memorial Hospital. Whit prepares to travel there, but Connie remembers that Jack and Joanne Allen are already in Chicago for an antiques fair and asks them to investigate first.

Dr. Douglas Rogers, dean of computer science, privately tells Whit that all the data from Eugene's secret research project has vanished. Computer records show that Eugene last accessed it, and security video captures Eugene and Katrina entering the lab the previous night. Eugene copies the data onto a disk, erases the files from the college system, and leaves quickly with Katrina. Rogers concludes that Eugene stole the research.

Connie follows another telephone number left on Eugene's desk and reaches Katrina's former roommate, Janice. She learns that Katrina's father, Armitage Shanks, recently suffered a stroke. Doctors discovered that an unusually aggressive brain tumor caused it. The growth was too extensive to remove, and they expected him to live only a short time. Janice has heard nothing from the family since taking Katrina to the hospital.

Janice directs Connie to the Shanks family's pastor and friend, Brandon Tuller. His wife, Rebecca, says Brandon has stayed close to the family through the crisis and has performed both a funeral and a wedding. She will not reveal whose ceremonies they were.

Connie assumes Armitage has died and guesses that Eugene and Katrina married, but the news raises more questions. If they returned to Odyssey to steal the research, why did they tell no one about either event? Whit and Connie call Jack and Joanne, who have just reached the Shanks home.

Brandon receives the Allens and confirms that Armitage died after his rapid decline. Shortly before his death, he asked to see Eugene and Katrina married at his bedside. The couple exchanged vows and rings while Armitage watched, and he expressed pride in his daughter. Moments later, he addressed Eugene and apologized for getting him the job at Campbell College. Eugene did not understand what he meant. Armitage died before explaining.

Millie Shanks wanted the funeral completed quickly in the middle of her shock, so Brandon conducted it at the crematorium later that day. Armitage's final apology sent the newly married couple searching for answers. They returned to Odyssey, entered Eugene's lab, removed his research, and then disappeared.

An urgent-message alert sounds on Whit's computer. Eugene has sent a brief email assuring him that he and Katrina are safe but refusing to reveal their location because the message may be traced. He warns that appearances are misleading and repeats Jared's mysterious message: beware Andromeda.

Whit heads back to confront Dean Rogers with the new connection. In Chicago, Jack and Joanne tell Brandon that Eugene has made contact and appears safe. Millie Shanks emerges from her room and contradicts that assurance. Despite the doctor's instructions that she rest, she insists that Eugene and Katrina are not safe and announces that it is time someone learned the truth.