Quatrain 6, Century 8. "Where ivory towers meet the eastern sea Young trees of knowledge will fall crushed by the thorny vine of a red rose."

If Crazy Eddie's right, Nostradamus' idea of an ivory tower is here at the National Institute of Applied Mathematics in Boston, Massachussetts. A young Einstein named Ted Eichmann dropped dead with bubbles in his blood, like he's a can of soda someone shook too fast.

Word on campus had it he was working on a government project. The program needed a new boy wonder. Looks like I finally made it to college. Mom would've been proud.

Crazy Eddie wired me up with a microphone and earpiece so I could play genius to all the real geniuses. I fooled them with Eddie's help and made the grade. They told me we were working on a "communications satellite system." I didn't buy it. With the level of secrecy surrounding the project, I was betting this project was far more dangerous than anyone was letting on.

Quatrain 45. Century 3. "The trickster seeds the mind with paralyzing terror Bearing false witness to the bitter truth at hand."

I've seen the bitter truth. The aliens are here, among us, laying the ground work for a massive invasion to come. Crazy Eddie believed this Nostradamus quatrain suggested alien interference in a most unlikely place, an alien abduction therapy group.

I went to meet Dr. Rita Hagen, a nationally known expert on "alien abductions," thanks to the huge success of her best-selling book Sexual Contact: True Stories of Alien Contact. Were the patients at Hagen's clinic really abducted? Or was somebody trying to cover up the bitter truth?

That's why I journeyed to Hagen's group, in the '65 Mercury I bought for 300 bucks at a junkyard. After 43 days on the run, I could've used a good shrink.

Quatrain 13. "The younger woman shall surmount the old before the lusty hearts of many men. The precious drops quench the thirst of time before the ugly truth shall take its toll".

Crazy Eddie tied this quatrain into the bizarre events of May 16 in Kalkaska, Michigan. Customers say a beautiful young woman goes from 22 to 102 while doing the shimmy-shake at a local bar.

She was later identified as Miss Margaret Grant, resident of a local retirement home in town. Decided to start there. Eddie said records indicated that this woman had a nephew in Anchorage, Alaska. It was time to say goodbye to Cade Foster, and hello to Ben Grant.

The home's administrator, Sarah, was quick to write off the stories of Margaret's death to the local drunks in the bar. I made myself acquainted with Margaret's friends, Patricia and Leonard, to see if they had any insight into the recent death.

Quatrain 11. Century 2. "The Starborn one will fly into the hearts of many".

A reading from the alien testament: "The Almighty Force looked down from above. They surveyed the galaxy, and what they found was Earth. And the Almighty Force said, ‘Behold, the children of men...they are impure. They are imperfect. They are weak. We must establish our Kingdom on Earth. The children of men will welcome us with arms open wide.' So the Almighty Force cast one of their own in the image of man. So the divine shepherd did come down from the stars to lead the lambs to the Aftertime..."

And he was called Elton Beleye. Word was out this rock star preacher claimed extra-terrestrial ancestry. Said he wanted to lead the hearts and minds of humanity towards an alien eternity. Sounded like hell on Earth to me.

This is my reality. They are studying us. Testing us. Waiting to strike. But I'm not gonna clear my name without proof they're here, living among us. A blood test, a DNA sample...something.

Quatrain 32, Century 9: "The fish that travels land and sea will be cast up on shore by a great wave And pestilence from the sky will drive multitudes into the ocean".

I seek them. I hunt them. I will stop them. Since my crusade began, I've destroyed an alien cloning lab, ruined their disinformation campaign to discredit alien existence, and taken down a cult that sought an alien salvation.

But the trail was growing cold. For three weeks, Crazy Eddie had been studying Nostradamus quatrains to lead us to the aliens. The only lead he found was a newspaper clip about a farm in Indiana claiming to have a large mouth bass that breathed on land. It seemed to fit with the quatrain.

Eddie thought I was wasting my time going after a fish, but I had him make up some snappy credentials for me as a tabloid reporter for the World Standard News anyway. I thought it was time to go fishing.

Quatrain 42, Century 6. "The dark craft shall slay the dragons, conjured by the humble raven. Justice shall be blind to history, until windswept leaves return to the barren tree".

This Nostradamus quatrain brought me to Salem, Oregon, where high school cheerleader, Diana Black, was charged with multiple first-degree murders. She killed three prominent Salem citizens with poisoned cookies, a helluva fundraiser for the cheerleading squad. Diana claimed to be a witch... I came to see if her dark powers were of the alien variety. The defense needed an investigator, so Crazy Eddie created the credentials, and guess who got the job? It was time to see what was brewing!

There's no quatrain for this journal entry. I guess Nostradamus didn't see every little mess I'd walk into. Too bad. I could've used the warning.

I got spotted by a cop in Cascade County, Montana, while checking out a lead on possible alien activity. A deputy pegged me as a fugitive while I was eating my steak and eggs. I got away and made it to the woods, but the manhunt was on. A dozen sheriff's deputies, a couple bloodhounds, and a surveillance chopper breathing down my neck. I called Eddie on the cell phone. He told me to head west and he'd meet me. If I made it!

Eddie tipped me to tear up the underbrush to muck up the scent trail and confuse the dogs. It gave me enough time to make it to the river and evade the dogs. I thought I had shaken my pursuers. The leg chains thrown at my feet said different. I was caught.

He had the uniform of a U.S. Marshall, but I knew otherwise. I recognized him as the alien hitman (or Acolyte) who took out Elton Beleye a little ways back.

"Their doom was sealed at the gate, steel chariots vanished in still clear nigh. Glorious terrain left undefended, 'till the river changes course".

What did this Nostradamus quatrain have to do with Ash Grove, Missouri, a small Midwestern town that billed itself as "Hot Rod Heaven?" Crazy Eddie heard the news of the mysterious disappearance of one Jason Coleman, drag-racer and car mechanic, who vanished as he crossed the finish line.

Was the disappearance of Jason Coleman and his Corvette part of an alien experiment? With some bogus credentials from the Transportation Safety Board, I was gonna find out. Gentlemen, start your engines.

Investigating a small California inn, Cade becomes one of the subjects of an alien experiment that makes the guests' dreams come alive so that they can no longer tell what is real and what is merely a beguiling illusion.

Cade poses as a track coach to investigate reports of superhuman abilities in some of the students at a private school in New England.

Contacting his late wife's best friend for help, Cade discovers that she and other members of an exclusive club are the subjects of an alien experiment that uses a parasitic blue worm to read people's memories.

Following up on a report by a teenage boy about a sexy alien woman who is impervious to bullets, Cade discovers that she is manipulating the men in the community to do her bidding by means of a pheromone ingredient in her perfume.

Going back home to visit his wife's grave, Cade is captured by police officers and interrogated, but he manages to turn the tables on them and find out important information about the alien agenda.

"One man seeks a leap to the distant stars. Through a rift on the Northwest Sea. A forbidden love finds a safe shore. And removes battle lines between foes".

Eddie and I buried the Nostradamus book. Sealed it in a cooler, put it in a kevlar case, covered it with clay, and then dried the clay with a fire. That book has led us to all manner of Gua activity over these past few months – it's become invaluable to the crusade. But the aliens have targeted the book and seem intent on claiming it for their own. We're making sure the aliens are never gonna find it. And if Eddie or I ever get nabbed by the Gua, that book is our insurance policy. Consider it buried treasure.

Aliens conduct secret experiments in an abandoned hospital.

- - -

Quatrain 12, Century 5. "Where angels touch grace / One without sight sees the dark enemy / At the right hand of the twice-blessed man / The ally leads him to the summit".

I'm fighting against an enemy nobody sees or wants to believe exists. I'm getting to the point where I'm not sure why I was doing this – waging a war that I seemed doomed to lose. I was thinking of giving up the fight. Nostradamus predicted I'd find an ally where angels touch grace. Eddie and I thought that might be a reference to Grace General Hospital in Los Angeles. I needed to find that ally.

Foster arrives in a town where it has been raining for two years.

- - - Quatrain 64, Century 8. "The slayer flees to the shadow of Olympus / Where a mother' s tears wash away ties to Rome / Fear extracts vain sacrifice / Until the raging pyre of the deluge is quenched".

The Olympus that Nostradamus foresaw was Olympia, Washington, where convicted mass murderer Glenn Harris had escaped from police custody three weeks earlier. I pegged Harris as the "slayer" from the quatrain, and figured "the shadow" of Olympia laid just to the east... in a small lumber town called Athlone. That's where I hoped a mass murderer would lead me to aliens.

Foster poses as a record executive to investigate a band whose music inspires violence.

- - - Quatrain 30, Century 4: "Where iron chariots are forged / The sweet youth cries revolt over a bitter melody / The poisoned song taints mind and soul / Spread by air across the land' s tears washes away ties to Rome / Fear extracts vain sacrifice until the raging pyre of the deluge is quenched".

Seemed like Nostradamus' "iron chariots" might've been a reference to Detroit, Michigan the Motor City. A mob of teen-agers had made headlines when they assaulted two officers at an underground club. With both cops listed in critical condition, parents blamed a local band called Sonic War for inciting the violence. I knew if the aliens were involved, this was about a lot more than rock-n-roll.

A woman travels back in time to change history and save Cade from assassination.

- - - Quatrain 81, Century 5: "Dusk will become dawn / And the man twice-bless'd will be resurrected / The follower will beckon him to the great war ahead' s tears washes away ties to Rome / Fear extracts vain sacrifice, until the raging pyre of the deluge is quenched".

I had no idea what Nostradamus was talking about till we got a message on our Web site from someone claiming to be Joshua. He asked me to meet him in an abandoned lot in Cleveland, Ohio. Can't say I trusted him, but couldn't turn the meeting down either. I had to hear what Joshua had to say.

He told me someone using the handle "Rover" had intercepted a Gua transmission and recorded it on disk. If this was another alien experiment I wasn't playing. I was already walking away when Joshua showed his real hand. It was a warning the Gua would find the tape, and Rover would be killed.

Lucas is sent to Earth to test Cade Foster's warrior potential.

- - - Quatrain 99, Century 1: ""Heed the call to the island of commerce / Cut be watchful of footsteps that lead unto battle / Look to the light to guide thee / The hacking blade has a double edge""

This quatrain had had me and Eddie baffled for some time until Eddie began receiving a series of e-mails at the Paranoid Times from a man named Harold Shanley who claimed to have escaped from an alien experiment. The poor guy sounded out of his mind; seems he became delusional enough to shoot his own kids. His descriptions took me back to my own nightmare. As much pain as I felt at losing Hannah, I'm sure his was 100 times greater. I knew I was the only one who could help him, and I also knew that any information he had could undoubtedly help me too. I had to find him before the Gua did. According to the origins of his sporadic e-mails, Shanley was making his way across the country, the most recent was from an Industrial Trade