The OSIR is called into action when the mutilated corpse of a police detective who gunned down an escaped convict is found in a dumpster. The officer, Sgt. Nathan Cole, is discovered with his tongue bitten out, his eyes collapsed into his skull and, as would later be discovered in an autopsy, his organs shriveled to about 15 percent of their original size.
While investigating the area of the dumpster with Axon, Praeger encounters his ex-wife Jennifer, a newspaper reporter who was also on the scene when Cole shot the convict, Jeremy Olin. Also on site is a meddlesome television reporter named Fred Di Genova who tries unsuccessfully to gather information from the OSIR about the case.
Determining that fingerprints found on Cole's badge belong to a woman, Donner visits the police station to ask the other two officers who witnessed Olin's shooting whether Cole was seeing anyone. They tell her that he wasn't and emphasize that while their former partner was a tough cop, he was fully justified in shooting Olin.
That night, one of the officers, Bobby Fossett succumbs to the same fate as Cole. He is in bed with an unidentified woman who kisses him so violently, he cannot escape. The next morning, when he is discovered, it's as if, as Praeger says, he had the life sucked right out of him. Hendricks examines fingerprints found at the murder scene and concludes that while they are similar to those found on Cole's badge, these prints belong to a man. Axon matches the prints to those of Olin?? man who had been killed by Cole. Upon further examination, Axon and Hendricks conclude that the prints at both murder scenes belong to the same person after all. DNA testing of hair found at the scenes supports their theory: Somehow Olin has transformed himself into someone else and is avenging his own death.
Learning of Axon's amazing conclusion, Di Genova takes to the airwaves, openly criticizing the OSIR. for such a "ridiculous" explanation. After seeing the broadcast, an angry Praeger confronts Di Genova and becomes suspicious about the reporter's inside knowledge of the case. A scuffle ensues. Back at the OSIR lab, Praeger gives Axon the jacket he had been wearing when he tangled with Di Genova. Axon extracts a hair from the coat for DNA testing and, as Praeger expected, discovers a match for a hair found at the Fossett murder scene. But the hair is not Di Genova's. It belongs to Jennifer. They discover that Jennifer is being possessed by Olin, one cell at a time.
Meanwhile, Jennifer (now possessed by Olin) strikes again, killing the third officer, Carla Baines. Praeger later finds Jennifer at the morgue, where the narcissistic Olin has taken her in order to be near his own body. She tells Praeger about how Olin died, how he was unnecessarily gunned down by Cole and how the three police officers stood around and watched him die. She tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him but, as she says, while "I breathed life into him, he breathed death into me."
When Jennifer transforms into Olin and attacks Praeger and is about to stab Praeger with a surgical knife when, suddenly, the tables are turned and it remains to be seen who among them will be left alive. |
