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S adie understood what Morrison was trying to do. He was shifting her focus to use this energy flow in some way that was constructive and helpful, but to feel her body almost trying to follow commands from somebody else was the strangest thing she’d experienced yet.

She walked several more steps, and Morrison slowly kept pace with her. She muttered, “I feel as if I’m recovering from some injury. I am so sore.”

“That’s how you look too,” he noted cheerfully, “but that’s okay. You don’t care how anybody else views you.”

“ You don’t anyway,” she said, with a smile.

“Neither do you, not really,” he clarified in that same gentle tone she’d come to understand from him.

“You’re being very considerate.”

“I’m a very considerate person,” he noted, frowning at her. “Did you think I wasn’t?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure what I thought. It’s just… I need to keep this up and to figure out what’s happening.… It seems he’s up and pacing again,” she added suddenly.

“Good, let’s go forward as fast as we can, so we can get as far as we can in his direction. That will probably trigger another surge of energy because you’ll pick up a stronger message from him. Yet hopefully we’ll get close enough that we can pinpoint where he is.”

“I think he’s back in that same apartment.”

“Good, let’s get there faster.” They kept walking, and, when they came around the corner of the block, she smiled.

Sadie pointed. “It is the same apartment.”

*

And up ahead, although they had come from a different direction, Morrison could see the building. He quickly texted Gage that they were approaching from the other side and that she was picking up movements from inside the building.

When Gage phoned him immediately, he asked, “What movements?”

“She’s connected on a physical level to Don. When he gets up and walks around, then she is walking around, but when he throws himself down onto a couch or whatever it is that he’s sitting on, she basically comes to a stop and has to collapse too.”

Gage burst out laughing. “What the hell? Jeez, I’m not sure why I laughed, just being an inconsiderate bastard.”

“Yes, you are. But I know, I get it. I know it sounds weird,… and don’t get me started on how it looks,” he stated.

“All I can tell you is, we’re outside, walking from the little Italian place, heading up to the apartment building.

I’m trying to get her as close as we can to see if we can pinpoint exactly where Don is in there because she’s connected on a level I’ve never seen before.

She doesn’t know how to control it or what to even do with it, so we’re just trying to go with the flow. ”

“I’m coming around to your side,” Gage noted.

“Yeah, you won’t have any problem recognizing us. I’m just trying to figure out how to get her to judge where Don is in terms of which floor and maybe which apartment. Any suggestions you have would be gratefully received.”

“I’ll be there in five.” And, with that, Gage ended the call.

Morrison looked over at Sadie. “Gage is on his way. He wants to see this.”

“What? Am I a show pony now?”

He laughed. “Hey, in this business, none of us have seen everything—or enough to not be curious,” he pointed out. “This is a first for him, and it’s certainly a first for me.”

“It’s definitely not what I was thinking about doing today,” she muttered.

“I was trying to reach out to my brother, but I didn’t expect to lock on to him like this.

I guess I don’t even know if he’s locked on to me or if I’ve locked on to him.

However, if he’s locked on to me, I don’t think he’s aware of it. ”

“Sure, how many are?” he muttered. “Just think about it. If you were trying to explain this conversation, how many people would even understand what you were saying?”

She laughed. “God, it’s a good thing I can still laugh,” she muttered, as she suddenly sat down hard on the grass. He quickly directed her to a little sidewalk and a makeshift bench. “We’ll have to find places where I can sit all along the way,” she muttered. “This is ridiculous.”

“It’s definitely unique,” Morrison said. “And I’ve got to say, I’m not against this if it works.”

“I don’t know what’s working though,” she clarified, looking over at him. “That’s the part that I don’t get.”

“I know, but we’re getting somewhere, and you’re still connected, so any closer we can get will help us in understanding how high up in that apartment building Don is.”

“Right, I guess we need to cut the numbers down, don’t we?” She studied the building up ahead. “It’s pretty big, isn’t it?”

“It is, as apartment buildings go, plenty big, and it could definitely cost us some time and a lot of issues sorting through the records for all the people there, particularly when you think of sublets and friends of friends.”

“Right. Okay, let’s go again. He’s up.”

“Why the hell is he up?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, with a shrug. “It’s almost as if we’re back to that pacing. He wants to leave but doesn’t think he should. He’s afraid of getting caught, yet wants to get out and just… run.”

“Interesting,” he murmured. “Any other insights?”

“He’s angry, very angry,… mad angry. Something didn’t go according to plan, and… wait. It was supposed to be their last job, but it’s not. And now he wants out because his instincts are telling him to run.”

“Makes sense,” Morrison muttered. “He’s close to getting caught and instinctively knows it, so he’s trying to do what he can to get away from it.”

“And yet”—she frowned—“I’m getting a really weird sense that it’s not his fault.”

“Sure, but don’t forget. If you’re in any way connected with a crime gone wrong, and somebody dies, then, in the eyes of the law, it’s still on you.”

“Right, and I don’t think Don thought of that,” she shared. “I think he was hired to do part of the job, and the rest of this isn’t going the way it was supposed to.”

“And yet this isn’t the first death related to their crimes,” Morrison pointed out.

Sadie froze. “The connection’s gone. Nothing else in there, at least nothing I’m getting right now.”

“There should be some thought process behind his leaving the heist crew. Don just might not be considering that right now.”

They walked normally for a few more yards, and then, almost in relief, she sighed. “Some of the energy is easing back.”

“Easing, as in he’s leaving?”

“No, easing, as in he’s calming down. He’s calming down, and I’m still connected. I can sense that some of his panic has eased back.” Then she stopped and frowned. “I think he’s talking to somebody.”

“On the phone maybe,” Morrison suggested.

“Oh, that would make sense, wouldn’t it?” He nodded and headed toward the front of the building.

“I can’t get into the building,” she muttered, “so that won’t help.”

Just then Gage came up beside them. “Oh, I’ll get you into the building,” he announced.

It unnerved her that she didn’t even notice he was that close to her. Then he walked forward, and, by the time they got there, he had the door opened. She stared at him in shock.

He just smiled as they walked into the building. She leaned up against the wall by the elevator, staring at them. “The conversation is not going the way Don wants it to.”

Gage listened to her, one eyebrow raised, but didn’t ask any questions. Morrison nodded at her. “Think about it though. I mean, he wants to leave. He’s panicking, and he doesn’t like anything about this, and, if the crew is telling him he can’t leave, then it won’t go the way Don wants it to go.”

She stared at him and added, “He’s getting more and more angry again.”

“Sure he is,” Morrison noted, sending her calming energy. “Stay calm, stay focused, and keep talking to us. Whatever you’re hearing, whatever you think is coming from that conversation, let us know.”

“He’s back to being angry, how it wasn’t supposed to be like this. He wants out. It’s just this litany in his head, over and over again.”

“Think about it. When you get upset about something, it keeps going through your head too, over and over. The thoughts just keep driving through your head, and you never have a way to get free of it with all that repetition going on. That’s what he’s doing.”

“Of course,” she muttered, understanding. “He’s still not happy.”

Morrison didn’t say anything, just nudged Sadie into the elevator, getting her to whatever floor they needed to be on.

If he could even get her to pick which elevator button to push, that would be huge.

It’s not that they could count on it, but they would certainly have some direction to travel.

With a cheerful smile, Morrison suggested to Sadie, “Pick a button.”

Her hand instinctively hit the ninth-floor button.

With that, Gage quickly pulled out his phone and started texting. As soon as they reached that floor, she stepped out, her head tilted. “He’s gone quiet.”

“Of course he has,” Morrison whispered, looking around. “Could be that his instincts are telling him how you’re on the way or that he needs to stay quiet or…” He contemplated it a bit. “Do you feel his energy on the move?”

“No. Not on the move at all, but it definitely feels off.”

As they walked down the hallway, a couple people got onto another elevator and headed down. She looked at them and kept on going.

Morrison took a look, trying to see them, but they were already closing the elevator door. He asked Sadie, “You’re sure he isn’t moving, right? He didn’t just get on that elevator?”

“No, but there’s something.” She stared at him, her face paling.

Then her hands grasped her chest. “Something’s wrong.

Something’s really wrong.” She broke into a stumbling run, moving as if she were drunk and had been on a heavy bender all night.

She lunged from hallway wall to the opposite hallway wall.

She came up against a locked door in front of her, and she pounded on it, crying out, “Let me in. Let me in.”

Gage stepped forward, while she continued to pound on the door, with Morrison trying hard to keep her a little bit quieter.

Other people in the hallway had opened doors to look at them.

Morrison was hell-bent on trying to briefly explain to the neighbors, since keeping Sadie quiet wasn’t working. “Something wrong with the guy inside.”

The doors in the hallway slammed shut, and Gage suddenly had the door before them open, and they raced inside to see a young man on the floor, his hands gripping his chest, as he stared at the ceiling. Sadie dropped to his side and cried out, “Can you talk to me?”

“Help,” he whispered, his voice thin. “Help me.”

“We’re here. We’re here, and we’re getting you help.” She cast an anxious look back at the others, as Morrison dropped at her side and reached out to check the young man.

“The ambulance is on the way,” Morrison said.