IX

November 8, 2016

1554 Hours

James was halfway to the motel, which was a few more miles, before he realized he had his phone on his person. He stopped moving, his feet aching from the tired walk, and closed his eyes in disbelief.

“You have to be…” James took out his phone, and looked up how to get an Uber. Suddenly the phone rang, scaring James half to death. The number started with a 210, and he didn’t identify it with any area code around here.

“Hello, Detective James here from the Brotective Agency, how may I help you?” James answered. A slight breathing came from the other end. The mysterious call gave James the creeps. His feet moved around a little, trying to distribute the aching feeling, and because he was nervous.

“Hello? Anyone there?” James asked to make sure he wasn’t crazy. The line went dead and James pulled the phone away from his ear in confusion. He shook his head to make sure no other crazy thoughts popped in there.

“About one mile from your destination, good sir,” The Uber driver said. He had a heavy German accent, but it was understandable.

“Thank you,” James replied. He looked in his hand and stared at the bugged putty resting in his palm. He didn’t know why, but James had a hunch that he shouldn’t tell Dan about the discovery of the bug. That James should lie and tell Dan that he didn’t find it in the rubble. James winced at that thought. Lying to his brother when he didn’t need to wasn’t the ideal action for him. This time though, he felt like he needed to. At the time, it was the right thing to do. Stuffing the putty into his pocket, James looked up to find the motel coming into view.

“Here we are.” The driver said as he pulled into the parking lot. James paid him the amount that was demanded, and walked to the section of the motel that had his room.

On the way to his door, James noticed a strange man giving him a weird look out of the corner of his eye. James turned his head to glance at the man. He seemed old and fragile with a long gray beard. The black baseball cap helped with the “creepy” factor. James steered his head forward, but wanted to look at the old man once more. James dropped his keys on purpose, and exclaimed out of “surprise”. As he bent down, James looked around trying to act nervously to see if anyone saw him drop the keys. His eyes focused on the old man, and gave him a sheepish smile. The old man nodded slightly, then walked away. James noticed that the man’s face didn’t have any wrinkles. His face didn’t match the beard. James stood there for a few seconds, debating on whether or not to follow him. He then remembered his brother, and quickly went to the door to see if he was in there.

Opening the door, he found Dan sitting there on his bed.  He was sitting there, breathing heavy, knuckles clenching and unclenching, forever staring at the blank TV in front of him lost in his own world. He most likely didn’t even notice James come in.

James stood in the doorway for a second looking at his brother. James honestly didn’t know what to expect when he walked through the door. He would be surprised if Dan wasn’t there. That would cause James to run to suburban neighborhoods to find some policemen arresting Dan for murder, or possibly attempted manslaughter. Finding Dan like this was also surprising; even though James subconsciously knew this would be the more probable scenario. He shut the door and then took off his shoes. Making his way to the bed that was closest to the door, he flopped onto it, and sighed with relief. His feet were killing him.

Dan changed to a lying position on his bed, and stared at the ceiling wistfully. He looked absolutely pitiful. James looked over at Dan’s clothes to see if there were any blood marks, just in case he somehow did kill her before he came here. No signs of any blood on the clothes. James looked at Dan’s hands, and noticed his knuckles were bloody. He was going to say something about it, but noticed the wall behind Dan was beaten in. James sighed as he knew they would have to pay extra for that.

“I couldn’t do it,” Dan said, his voice full of conflict. James sat up on his bed, and looked at Dan with concern. James didn’t expect his brother to talk about this to him. Especially this soon. James didn’t know what to say.

“I was there. I was outside, and I was going to go inside and beat her until she talked. Then, as I sat there with my hand on the handle of the driver’s door, I realized that beating the life out of someone won’t help with… anything. Beating up Rogers at Chelsea’s funeral didn’t help at all. It just made this anger inside of me burst with flames. So what made me think beating up his wife was any different?” Dan sighed. “The feeling of running and hiding I had at that funeral. That feeling came back, and I just sat there in the car and I succumbed to it. I was going to leave when I noticed her walking out of her house. I saw that she had a baby with her. A f*****g baby, James. I was going to go in there, and beat up someone’s mother. Possibly right in front of them. What kind of person does that make me? I’m weak for giving in to a pathetic feeling like sympathy, but I think I did the right thing. But doing the right thing goes against my own beliefs, James.” James sat there for a few minutes before he could think of anything to say.

“What are your beliefs?”

Dan looked over at James with hollow eyes. “Justice.” Dan sighed quietly.

“What you were about to do wasn’t justice, Dan. It was going to be assault.” James said. Dan grunted, not adding anything to the conversation. Silence dawned on the room for a few seconds before anyone else spoke.

“Do you know what kind of person you are?” James asked. Dan grunted again in a questioning manner. “The kind of person that realizes, and takes action upon his mistakes in the past. You realized that beating up someone wouldn’t help your own emotional turmoil, because you’ve done that before. By making mistakes, you learn and improve as a person. Dan, for God’s sake, you’re a good person! You just happen to have the wrong thoughts at the wrong times. And that feeling of running and fleeing? That’s instinct. It’s telling you this is not a good idea, and it’s a good thing you succumbed to it. Just imagine what would’ve happened if you didn’t.”

“I don’t want to imagine it, and I don’t succumb to anything. The fact that I did made me so… angry.” James looked over at the beaten wall.

“Is that why the wall is done for?” James asked. Dan sat up to look at the wall, and then down at his bloodied knuckles.

“I-I… don’t even remember that,” Dan said, almost emotionless. He quickly got up and went to the bathroom to wash his hands off. A sudden thought occurred to James while Dan was in the bathroom, and it gave him a reason to lie to Dan about finding the bug. A good reason.

I have to get him off this case. James thought. Dan’s getting too emotionally attached to this case, and it’s tearing him apart.  Now that he’s losing memory due to anger tantrums, James wanted him off. He had a feeling that he should talk to Dan about this face to face. Brother to brother. Yet, he didn’t even know where to start. What should they talk about? How is it going to turn out? Is talking to him the best idea? James decided against all that, and he chose the easiest route: lying to Dan about the bug, and trying to convince him this case is a bust. Somehow, everything about this case is getting to Dan on an emotional level, and it’s going to affect him in the worse way possible. James doesn’t know if the connection between Chelsea’s killer and Braydon’s supposed killer was a coincidence or not. But James was going to find out without the help of Dan.

It was going to be hard convincing Dan this case is a bust. Enough shady evidence has been brought up to peak Dan’s interest, but with the loss of the bug, Dan might just think about dropping this case with no new leads.

I have to listen to that bug. James thought. If that doesn’t help, then this case is a bust.

Dan came back into the room, wiping his hands with a white towel.

“It’s whatever man, ya know? It’s over with, and I feel better-” Dan lied, “-and I want to listen to that bug so we can move on with this case. What do you think, huh?” James smile sheepishly. He decided to stand up, wincing as he put pressure on his sore feet, and got ready to lie to his own brother.

“Dan…” James said. He couldn’t find the words for a few seconds, causing Dan to become curious.

“Yeah?” Dan asked, pressuring James to keep talking.

“I… I couldn’t find it.” Dan straightened himself up, and looked at James.

“Are you serious? Really?” Dan asked with a hint of anger in his voice. He wasn’t angry at James, but angry that the bug couldn’t be found.

“Yeah, after you… you know… ripped the phone off of the wall, it must’ve disappeared… or something. Because I couldn’t find it anywhere.” James lied. Dan went back to his previous position on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. James was anxious about what Dan was going to do next. Go on an anger tantrum? Just lie there silently? Start a killing spree? James couldn’t pinpoint which one was more likely.

Suddenly, Dan got up and walked straight to the door. James assumed that he was going to head back to the prison, and freaked out at the thought.

“Dan! Look, okay, I swear it’s not there! You don’t need to check!” James half-yelled. Dan stopped on the way out, and looked at James with a puzzled look.

“I’m going to go, um, clear my head,” He reassured. James made a silent “oh”, and nodded his head. Dan looked at him, a little suspicious at his odd behavior. “I won’t go to the prison, I swear. I’m just going to blast some Kansas and Boston while I drive around.” With that, he walked out the door. The bass kicked in for Carry on Wayward Son as he drove out of earshot. James waited a full minute or two to make sure he was gone before he moved a muscle. He strained his ear, and didn’t hear any sign of a wayward son.

James pulled out the bug from his bag, and stared at it in his hand. He made his way to his laptop, and took out the bug from the putty. The small microchip that consisted of all the audio was as big as James’ pinky’s fingernail. The microchip itself was fitted so it could be inserted into a specific USB, and transfer information to the USB itself. As soon as the USB was plugged in, an audio file popped up, and James put on his headphones. Double clicking the file, James found the section where Rogers was talking to the guard. He skipped around a few times, and found the beginning of that conversation.

“What, Hank?” Rogers asked. James smiled at the fact that this actually worked. There was dead silence after that, but he could hear a slight mumbling. The audio was probably too low to hear anything. He rewinded it, and turned up the volume some. He then heard very low snippets of Hank’s response.

“Come on,” James spoke to himself. He rewinded it again, then turned the volume up to its max.

“Sanine… and hid it… not remember?” Hank whispered. The audio sounded like a ghost was speaking from one of those supernatural haunting TV dramas.

“Sanine hid it? What?” James rewinded it once more, then crushed the headphones into his head.

“Sanine said... took... PS3 and hid it. … you not remember?” Hank whispered. James sat back in his chair; he was bewildered at this new piece of evidence. The rest of the audio wasn’t as evidence-filled like the console, but it did fill in some gaps.

“So Rogers didn’t take the console at all, but this Sanine guy told Rogers to take the blame for the console. But why? Why take the stupid console? What purpose does that have towards Sanine? And who is Sanine? Someone close apparently. The fact that a guard at the jail knows him says something. Maybe. I don’t know.” James sat there staring at the light outside of his window. It was already dark. “Why would Sanine frame Rogers for taking a console? Why. why, why, why, why. Is it because he wants to mess with us? Is it because he wants to make sure that no one is going to play video games during Braydon’s funeral? Is it because he wanted it to look like a regular burgla-” James stopped. He stood up suddenly, and started pacing the room. Thoughts entering his mind at 100 miles per hour.

“He wanted to make it seem like it was a regular burglary. That’s why Rogers went to the police station and turned himself in. To make it look like he did it. But what if he didn’t. What if Sanine hid the console, and killed Braydon. If he did that, then that means Rogers’ in jail for a prize. A reward. Rogers is innocent, and Sanine is guilty.” James was breathing heavy at this epiphany. He didn’t know if any of this was true or not, but it was the most probable idea he can come up with. He sat down back in the chair, and breathed in and out.

Deciding he was done with thinking about the case, James came to the conclusion that a nice bike ride would clear his head and calm him down. He went to gather his cycling clothes as he tried to think of places to go around this town. James donned his biking shorts and special dry fit shirt. On his way out the door, he snatched his helmet and his key for the bike lock.

James got his bike, unfolded it, and rode off into the night. He passed by several local gas stops and restaurants before getting to the downtown area. Luckily, the roads weren’t terribly busy, so he free-lanced in the middle of the road for a good while. The cold, refreshing wind clashing with his skin was the best feeling he had in forever. James started to notice the environment around him. Everywhere he looked, popular food chains and famous supermarkets were present. Panda Expresses, Sonics, McDonalds, Jack in the Boxes, Whataburgers, Wal-Marts, Targets, Krogers, etc. None of this amused James as he just kept riding down the highway through the city.

James suddenly braked as he thought of something really important. He turned around, and rode as fast as possible to the Wal-Mart he just passed. He parked his bike outside the doors, locked it in, and practically ran inside.

“Where is it, where is it,” James kept muttering to himself as he looked around. People gave him weird looks as he passed by. A guy muttering to himself in tight cycling clothes would naturally get some looks. James’ phone rang loud, and he picked it up without looking who was calling.

“Hey, Detective James here from the Brotective Agency, how may I help you?” James answered in a rushed voice. A heavy grunt replied to his message, and then the phone call ended. James was confused, and looked at the number. It was the same 210 number as before.

“Huh.” James said, reminding himself to look that number up later.

Finally, James found what he was looking for. He grabbed the bar of Snickers from the rack in the candy aisle, and his phone rang again. James checked the caller ID before picking up this time, and noticed it was his brother.

“Hey man,” James said. He could hear Foreplay on in the background as Dan turned it down.

“Hey, I just now realized that shark week is on tonight. Could you do me a favor, and record it?” Dan asked. James nearly chuckled to himself at this situation. He didn’t know why. Just thirty minutes ago, Dan was contemplating about his life choices, and now it’s shark week.

“Sorry man, I went for a bike ride, and I’m in the Wal-Mart right now. I’m going to buy myself a Snickers, and then head back to the motel.” James explained. Dan sighed, and muttered, “fine I’ll do it myself…” and then hung up. James shrugged, and made his way to the checkout.

When he got there, the only line that was open had a customer that had a bunch of items, and an old lady behind her. The old lady had five huge bags of dog food in her cart. James sighed, and went to stand behind the lady. He glanced at the dog food again, and wondered if she had a lot of dogs.

He then thought to himself, I wonder if she smells like dogs. He looked around quickly, saw no one around, and sniffed the old lady quietly. He was surprised; she didn’t smell like dogs.

“I don’t smell like cats, huh?” The old lady said, scaring James and causing him to drop his candy bar.

“E-excuse me?” James said, flustered as he picked up his bar. He looked up at the old lady in confusion. She turned around, and James noticed she was blind. Dark sunglasses and a cane with a button on top of it. He stood up all the way, and was now looking down at her.

No wonder she heard me sniff her. James thought. Then he froze inside for a second. That thought should’ve never entered my mind.

“Well sonny, I heard you sniff me. I assumed it was because you thought I smelled like cats because of all the cat food in my basket,” she said. She then smiled, and whispered, “Or you did it because you’re one sly fox!” The old lady then nudged James. He shivered inside at the comment, and looked in the basket once more to make sure it was dog food in her basket. It was dog food.

“Well, I… Uh, I did,” James said sheepishly. Realizing he forgot to say what he was smelling her for, he then added, “The cat thing! I smelled you because the cat thing… You know what, uh, this is awkward for me.” He stated. The old lady just simply smiled, and waved James off.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I needed someone to notice my new perfume anyways,” she said smiling. James cheeks reddened, and he nervously laughed.

“And uh… ma’am? That… isn’t cat food… it’s dog food,” James said hesitantly, not sure how she was going to take it. The old lady looked above her cart, then looked to the left of James.

“Well I suppose you’re right,” she said. The old lady snapped her fingers, and then shrugged. “I suppose they’ll suffer. Those silly cats, they’ll eat anything anyways!”

James nodded slowly, then said, “Isn’t-,” The old lady readjusted herself to look at James, “-dog food bad for… You know what never mind,” James said, changing his mind mid-way. He was tired of talking.

A few moments of silence between the two was filled with the cash register beeping, and the old lady humming a song. The humming made James hum slightly with her unknowingly. He then noticed he was humming Wannabe.

“Heh, that is… that was my brother’s favorite song,” James said. Anything to make Dan remember that night, he didn’t want to be reminded of. Especially that call to his ex before he found out Chelsea was being kidnapped.

“Ooooooh I know,” the old lady said, and she started humming it again. James didn’t think much about what she said, as he kept staring at the Nutrition Facts of the Snickers bar. It took a few moments, but what she said had finally sunk into James. He looked up slowly from the candy bar to the old lady.

What.

“Ma’am. How did you know that was my brother’s favorite song?” James asked. The old lady chuckled, as she finally moved up to the counter, and turned around to face James.

“Because sonny, I can see beyond what any other human can’t see,” She said with a mysterious tone to her. She then turned around, and took off her glasses. James gasped at what he saw in front of him. Her eyes weren’t just milky white and glassy, but it was like he could see whole galaxies in them. It seemed like thousands of years of wisdom were in these two pearly white eyes. James didn’t know what to think. He didn’t have any thoughts whatsoever in his brain. Everything was blank. It was like he was staring at himself in the mirror, the way he was lost in her eyes like he would be in his. The old lady smiled, and put on her glasses, breaking the contact between them and snapping James to reality.

As if to display her ultimate wisdom to him, the old lady got one bag, and scanned it five times.

Wow, she has a lot of wisdom to think of that. He thought. In reality, it was more like common sense, but no one ever told James that.

“Hey, come on you lonely psycho! You’re holding up the line!” A man said behind James. He just came up to the line, and got agitated right away at James. He turned around, quite stunned.

“Excuse me sir! I’m talking to this old lady!” James said, surprised at the man’s indecency. The man muttered, “yeah, okay” and got on his phone to avoid conversation.

“And I can tell you right now sonny, don’t go anywhere near this case.” James refocused his attention to the lady, “You don’t want that kind of crazy. You might die,” She said, drawing out the “die”. With that, she turned and left the store. James looked at the old lady leaving with a bewildered look. He shook it off, and paid for his candy bar. The Snickers was gone by the time he walked out of the store, and he noticed an old red car leaving the parking lot. A sudden impulse took over him, and he chased the car.

“Hey!” James yelled, hoping to get the car’s attention. It didn’t work, as it sped off, and Dan slowed to a stop. He bent over, trying to catch his breath.

“That old lady… I need to talk to her…” he said to himself in between breaths. A cackle sounded from behind him, and James jumped three feet into the air.

“Looking for me?” The old lady said. She wobbled up to James, using her stick to find out where she was going, and found herself slightly to the left of James, facing away from him. “I knew you were going to want to talk to me.”

“Yeah, I did,” James said as the old lady readjusted herself in front of him. “What do you mean I’m going to die?” The old lady looked around, which didn’t make any sense to James, and leaned in. She accidentally bumped her head into his chin, and backed off a foot. She shook it off, and decided that a feet away was good enough.

“The murderer of this case is psycho, and you know it. You do not want to even be near them. It would be best if you just left this case alone, and let the murderer be. You will die,” she said. James was stunned, and had to think about that comment. The old lady turned around, and got into the passenger seat of the car. James stood there for a few seconds, thinking about it. James looked up, and noticed the old lady wasn’t in front of her.

“WAIT!” James yelled, and turned over to the parked car that was still right next to him. The old lady looked out of the window, and faced towards James.

“No need to yell.” She said.

“Sorry, I thought you were… Never mind. How will I die?” James asked.

The old lady took off her glasses, and her white eyes showed deep concern. Her pupils focused from behind the glassy look of her blind eyes, and they looked right at James. Right in his eye, and all the way to his soul.

“You won’t if you don’t continue the case.” She then tapped her car keys, and a light shone bright from the car. James blinked profoundly, and the car was gone.

“Oh my God.” James said breathlessly. A car honked at him, causing him to jump three feet into the air again. He apologized with his hands, and ran back to the store to grab his bike. He took out his phone, and dialed his brother’s number.

“Leave a voicemail.” Dan’s voicemail said, followed by a beep.

“Come on Dan, you were just available! Get off your lazy bum, and pack up your stuff. We need to talk about this case. I met this crazy old lady who said we would die if we keep going on with the case… well I mean she said I would die… but I’m assuming she meant both of us! And… And I lied! Okay? I did find the bug, and turns out there’s this person named Sanine. Now, this guy fra- You know what, it doesn’t matter, because we’re dropping this case! It’s a lot to talk about, and I need yo-” A beep ended the voicemail, and James groaned. He put his phone back into his pocket, and rode his way back to the motel. As he got off his bike, he felt lightheaded from the heavy cycling he did just to get back to the motel as fast as possible. He stopped before the door, and rested on it. As he laid his hand on the door, it swung wide open, making him fall onto their floor. He grunted as he slammed on the ground, and felt a slight pain in his chest and head.

James looked up from the floor, and noticed the room was empty.

Dan must’ve come back, and forgot to close the door all the way.

James got up, and looked at the door. He noticed the lock was tampered with.

Or someone has been here and robbed us. James looked around unconvincingly. Or is here.

James then looked over at Dan’s bed, and noticed it was clean. No struggle. He looked over the whole place, and noticed there wasn’t a sign of any struggle.

“Oh.” James said, realizing what must’ve happened. Dan often left his keys in the room, and he had to break back into the room to get them. They often got more money taken from them on their bill because of the damage to the doors, but they avoided paying altogether a few times. James talked to Dan about this before, but he didn’t seem to listen.

“He’ll be back sooner or later,” James said to himself as he closed the door.  He got drowsy all of a sudden as he smelled sweet lavender. “Probably on a beer run after realizing we didn’t have any.” James then got into bed, and covered himself. “I’ll tell him about the thing tomorrow…” James was dozing off at this point, tired from the excitement and ride. “I hope he gets Coo-” James never finished that sentence. He passed out right there at that moment.

Charlie Angel, an ex-spy that ran for the highest branch of CIA, was lying under a bed in the same room the brother’s rented for an hour. His sister, Hannah Angel, was lying under the other bed across of him. She never worked for the CIA, but she was a good thief. Unfortunately, she had the motto “Go big or go home”; therefore, she had been to jail numerous times. It didn’t matter though, she always finds a way to bust out a week later. After getting out, she would go on more thieving sprees, and then get caught again, and rinse and repeat.

Recently, Charlie recruited his sister to be a mercenary with him. He fell out with the CIA over a debate on morality in the field, and decided he wanted to do things his way for once. Specifically, he wanted to be a man hunter. After recruiting his sister, and doing a few jobs, Charlie was happy. They were the best man hunters in the area, and the money just kept flowing. Twenty people was their streak, and it all took place in the past month. They were on a roll, and this case was going to be as easy as any other.

“How much longer?” Hannah asked, a little whine to her voice. Charlie looked her dead in the eyes, and lifted a finger to his lips slowly. Hannah pouted, and got on her phone.

“Hannah. Put. That. Away.” Charlie commanded. Hannah scoffed, and put away her phone. She tapped her fingernails on the carpeted floor impatiently.

“James is taking foreeeeeveeerrrrrrr!” She said, whining once again. Charlie laid his head down on the floor in embarrassment and annoyance. Even though she’s a huge pain in the a*s, she was a really good thief. She’s the one that broke them into the motel by tampering with the lock. Charlie would’ve just busted down the door with his heavy boot. He wasn’t much for tedious work; instead, he preferred to do things quickly and as sloppy as possible. It was just his style.

A vibration ran through Charlie, and he quickly went to the phone that was in his pocket. He took it out of his pocket, and ended the call. He unlocked it to check exactly who it was.

Hannah scoffed again before saying, “Oh, okay. So I can’t mess with my phone, but you can be on yours!” Charlie found out who called, and dismissed it as not important.

“Considering this is Sanine’s iPhone, and someone called on it, I think I can check it out.” Hannah wasn’t happy about the excuse, but she accepted it by looking away and staying silent. Charlie went to put away the phone, but had a hard time fitting it into his pocket. It was big and bulky for its kind due to the case it had on.

Charlie heard a bike screech outside to a stop.

Speak of the Devil. He thought. Heavy footsteps came up to the door, then stopped. Heavy breathing followed the stop of the footsteps, and then the door suddenly opened. James came crashing to the floor, and Charlie tensed up. He could visibly see the whites of James’ eyes. Luckily for Charlie, James covered his head with his hand, breaking possible visual with the hunter under the bed. James got up slowly to look around the room. Charlie looked over at Hannah, and she was smiling at him. Charlie mouthed “cut it off”, and focused his attention onto James. Looking over to see Hannah again from the corner of his eyes, Charlie noticed that her eyes were focused on James. She was dead serious, and there was nothing that could break her attention.

“Oh.” James said. Charlie didn’t know what he realized, but he hoped it wasn’t the fact that the lock was busted. Charlie gave the signal to Hannah, which was a flying cuckoo made from his hands, and she brought out the perfume bottle from one of her pockets in her pants.

“He’ll be back sooner or later,” James said. Charlie almost grunted when James sat on his bed, lowering it on the buff guy underneath. Hannah gave her brother a mischievous smile, and Charlie stuck out his tongue, then immediately put it back in.

Be professional. Charlie thought to himself. Sometimes he can’t help it when he’s around his sister; it’s a weird bond between them. Charlie, at most times, wish Hannah wasn’t with him. Yet, if she wasn’t, Charlie would feel sad and lonely.

Hannah heard the door shut, and gave Charlie the signal. They put on her gas masks, and Hannah sprayed her perfume into the air. The spurts of perfume were silent, and were laced with a sleeping drug. Knocking James out was going to be easy, getting him out was going to be slightly harder; considering that this was a busy motel for its kind.

“Probably on a beer run after realizing we didn’t have any.” James muttered as he clumsily got to bed, and crashed in it. Hannah got out from underneath Dan’s bed, and crept up to James as he was muttering to himself. Hannah tapped her feet, and Charlie got up from under James’ bed.

Charlie stretched his arms out wide, not knowing that this is what heaven must feel like.

“That feels goooooooooood!” Charlie said, very satisfied with his stretching. His voice echoed and seemed distant due to the mask he had on. He yawned, and smacked his lips while looking down at James pass out.

“Where’s the other one?” Hannah asked, not sure of being in the open right now was a good idea considering the other brother was still out there. Her voice was the same way, except with a higher pitch.

“Don’t worry about Dan; Ethan’s got him.” Charlie stated. Hannah relaxed, and looked down at James. He was now unconscious, and wouldn’t know what was going to happen next.

“Routine?” Hannah asked Charlie, a playful smile on her face. She loved the Routine.

“Routine.” Charlie commanded. Hannah smiled wide, and put a bag over James’ head.