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“ Reacting works. In a way we expect that from people who haven’t been trained in this energy work.

We need to have a certain amount of understanding as to how this energy craziness works in order to not just be sitting here and reacting,” he shared, with a gentle smile.

“I mean, it’s not that easy to just let all this happen around you and to not question it.

And questioning it doesn’t mean that it won’t be something that works out well, but you do have to deal with the answers.

Still, if you don’t ask questions, you don’t have to face the answers. ”

“Do you think anybody really doesn’t want answers in this?” she asked, staring at him.

“I’ve seen it. A lot of people out there are seriously angry and don’t care what’s going on. They’re just in a red-hot haze and are lashing out. For all we know, Don could have been in a fight that just happened. Maybe he punched somebody. Maybe he hesitated…”

Sadie immediately filled in the rest of the sentence. “Maybe he killed somebody in his own crew?”

Morrison nodded slowly. “That is a possibility, especially if they broke up the partnership, or there was some feuding, and Don took one side, and somebody took another. No telling what could have happened in Don’s world,” Morrison said dispassionately, and it unnerved her.

“But for that energy to have blasted you like it did, it sounds very much like there was a dart of energy, a fury that lashed out, and whether you caught the backlash because you are somebody who can feel that kind of energy, or because he’s very connected to you, or Don’s not very good with his aim when using his energy like that, I just don’t know. ”

“I don’t know either,” she admitted, staring at him.

“It’s not something I’d ever really considered.

I was initially thinking of my twin brother as someone nice and comforting.

I even imagined a crying jag between the two of us, lamenting all we missed out on together,” she shared on a bitter note.

“Instead, my brother is a killer, a murderer, roving around with seemingly unleashed fury.… If that’s true—and I don’t have any reason to think it’s not—I don’t even know how you can stop him.

” Sadie sighed. “That energy he just hit me with was brutal,” she whispered.

“It was brutal. I saw it, and I saw how you reacted to it,” Morrison agreed. “So that’s another issue that we’ll have to deal with. It’s potentially possible that Don has more power than he knows how to handle or to understand, and he may not realize what he’s capable of.”

“Or he does know,” she suggested immediately, “and he’s using it against his partners. I mean, what if he’s the driving force behind all this?”

“That’s certainly possible, especially if he just came into some energy ability or just finally realized what he could do with it. Or maybe he hooked up with somebody who showed him what to do with it.” Morrison shrugged. “I don’t have answers, and it seems that all we have is more questions.”

She settled back into the passenger seat and groaned. “We should have brought coffee.”

He laughed. “I would suggest that we get delivery, but I don’t know if they deliver to a car parked on the side of a street. Besides, we’re trying to keep a low profile. So, we’ll sit here and be quiet for a bit. Terk’s arranging for somebody to come take our spot, so it won’t be too long.”

She nodded. “Tell them to bring coffee.”

“Yet, if he takes our spot,” he pointed out, “we need to just leave and not to draw attention to the fact that we know the person in this other car.”

She sighed. “Fine,” she muttered, then settled back, closing her eyes.

“I guess I’m the one who’ll keep my eyes open, huh ?”

Such a note of humor filled his tone that she opened her eyes and smiled at him. “Oh, fine. I will also keep watch,” she muttered. “I was attempting to send out a signal to see if I could find Don.”

He looked at her intently. “And?”

“You interrupted me,” she said, closing her eyes again.

“Don’t let me do that,” he told her. “Anything you can find would be a help.”

“Got it,” she muttered.

And, with that, she settled back into her seat a little bit more and sent out a probe, looking for the same energy that had hit her.

She didn’t know how to do what she was doing, so she just went on instincts, which, as far as anybody could tell her, was all they were doing anyway.

Kind of weird to think so much ability was out there, yet nobody had names for it, training for it, or even an understanding of it.

If you have a body, a physical human body, then who knows what all else was possible because nobody really explored it.

Well, except for the elusive Terk and also Celia.

So here she was, with her mind calling out to her brother, Hey, Don, are you there? She kept calling out to him, but she got absolutely no response. She did it again and again. She sagged into place, then looked at Morrison with a shrug. “Nothing.”

He nodded. “Leave the door open, just in case.”

“As long as he doesn’t punch me the way he did before,” she muttered. “I can’t tell you how much that hurt and still does.”

“He’s not likely to be punching you individually as much as hitting at any available target.”

“I get that. I just don’t really want to have a repeat of that.”

“Understood,” he noted, with a smile. “Now, how about we take our leave and maybe we can go get some food,” he asked, with a smile, pointing at a vehicle that just drove past them.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

“It’s Gage.”

“Oh, good, we get to leave.”

His phone buzzed then, and he looked down at it. “Gage is in position. So, yeah. We get to leave.” He started up the car and slowly pulled out.

As they drove past, Sadie smiled at Gage, who gave her a quick grin. Once they had driven out of the immediate area, she asked, “How about some coffee and a whole lot of food?”

“Good idea. Any particular place in mind?”

“Yeah, the one where I caught some energy before.”

“Fine,” he said, looking at her. “I didn’t realize you were still catching energy.”

“The thing is, I guess I wasn’t realizing that’s what I was catching,” she muttered. “Now I’m questioning everything since this all started.”

“That’s a good idea, and, if you come up with anything, you need to tell me,” he muttered.

“Will do, except that it seems way too easy.”

“Not necessarily. Let’s go to this spot you found, and we’ll see what we come up with.” They pulled into the parking lot of a small café, and she smiled in delight.

“It’s an Italian place, with outdoor eating spaces,” she noted. “I always wanted to try one of those.”

“Can’t say I’ve tried one myself,” he muttered. As they hopped out, he reached out a hand, and instinctively she placed hers in it.

She looked down at their entwined fingers. “Why?”

“Why not?” he asked, with a laugh. “It just seemed to be the thing to do.”

“Yet I responded as if it was the thing to do as well,” she noted, shaking her head. “That’s very not like me.”

“It’s not a case of it not being you versus something else,” he pointed out. “Why can’t it just be natural?”

“It should be just natural, but it feels weird.”

“Meaning it’s not behavior you’re used to.”

“Right. It’s not something I would normally do.

” She shrugged, and they walked inside the café, finding a menu board up.

He sized up the menu, as Sadie looked around.

Then she froze. She nudged Morrison and whispered, “Look who’s behind the counter.

” He turned to the other side to see a young woman, who he recognized full well as Penny.

He nodded. “So, that explains the energy coming from here. I can feel it too.”

She sighed. “So now what?”

He smiled. “We eat and drink and don’t say or do anything.” She hesitated at that, but he squeezed her fingers and nodded. “It’s important. It keeps you safe, and it doesn’t somehow alert your brother.”

*

Morrison appreciated the fact that Sadie was at least following instructions, knowing she was studying the other woman intently.

When their order was ready, he got up, left Sadie at the table, and headed to collect their food and drinks.

As he walked back, Penny stepped up to the counter and helped another customer.

Her voice was soft, gentle, and other than that, he couldn’t tell a whole lot about her.

As he walked back over and sat down, Sadie whispered, “A lot of my brother’s energy is hanging on her.”

“I imagine there is, what with her being the crew’s getaway driver.”

“ Right .” She winced and nodded. “How do you ever learn about all this stuff?”

“Through people like Celia and Terk. Celia’s his wife now. I thought you participated in one of her research studies.”

Sadie nodded. “Yet it was more of a one-way endeavor. Celia gathered information from us, but she wasn’t so keen on divulging anything to us. Plus, maybe I wasn’t as gifted back then.” Sadie shrugged.

Morrison snorted. “Celia’s always after anybody who comes through there to give her permission to examine them.”

Sadie pursed her lips. “I would love to be her research assistant. Wouldn’t that be a fascinating job to do?”

Morrison shook his head. “As far as I understand, most of Terk’s own team members aren’t terribly thrilled to work with Celia,” he said, with a laugh.

“You also have to remember that everybody who does this is learning as they go and doesn’t necessarily want to share anything about it.

It’s dangerous to share, and it’s dangerous to have people know too much.

We cannot let people in, not when there is the CIA, MI6, and KGB on our asses. ”

“Back to that whole fear factor, huh ?” She picked up her coffee and sipped it, then nodded. “I guess I can understand that. After all, I don’t have any answers to all the questions you guys keep asking me.”