“You have been at this for over three months, and I’ve seen hardly any results,” said an angry voice on the other side of the wall.  “I’d like to know why.”

“We’ve been trying, but Tyler is extraordinarily resistant and unbelievably stubborn.  We’ve been pushing him as hard as we can.  Any harder, and we might kill him.  He is in an extremely weakened condition now.  My medical opinion is that we should ease up for a while, give him time to regain some of his strength.”

“That is not an option.  I am not a patient man, as you well know, and this whole operation has cost a lot of money and time.  You do whatever it takes to get what we’re after.”

The second man sighed.  “All right, but I’m going to give Tyler a short break on the treatments.  His physical condition really is dangerously unstable.  After all the time we’ve spent on him, I don’t want it all to be for nothing because of an aneurism, stroke or cardiac failure. We’ll use the other . . . method, step up our efforts in that direction.”

“Whatever.  Just as long as it works.”

Hearing the sound of departing footsteps, Rollie shakily got to his feet, using the wall he’d been sitting against to brace himself.  He tottered weakly over to his cot and sat on it.  He stared down at his trembling hands, feeling the tremors throughout his whole body.  All he wanted to do was sleep, sleep for a hundred years, to feel an end to the pain.

The Aussie cradled his head in his hands and rubbed his temples, trying to ease the throbbing there.  It hurt all the time now, an endless ache that seemed to burn from deep inside his brain.  But it was nothing compared to the other pain, the pain when they used the machine.  There were no words to adequately describe that pain.

Escaping into the Dreamtime wasn’t helping anymore.  At first, it had been his shelter, his safe harbor from the agony, but, as time went on and they kept turning up and altering the settings on the machine, the Dreamtime had become less and less effective.  The pain was now searing downward through the Dreamtime into his subconscious mind.  His only true escape now was when he lost consciousness, the blessed darkness it brought.  Many times, he’d wished for the darkness of death.  He knew that he could bring about his own death.  That was within his power now.  But he would not give up, not as long as there was even the smallest shred of hope.  He had more than just a shred of hope now.  He’d finally managed to contact Daniel and Angie.  They would find him.  He did not know how long it would take, but they would come for him.

Rollie laid down on the cot, thinking about the discovery he’d made such a short time ago.  He had a brother, a twin brother.  The thought filled him with joy, but also puzzlement.  Why had his parents never told him?  Why had he and Daniel been separated?  He could not believe that their mother had given his brother up for adoption.  He could not even believe that of Dingo.  Had Daniel been kidnapped?  If so, where had he been all these years?

If only he had realized that the imaginary friend who was with him for those three days in the desert had really been his brother.  He’d have done everything he could to find him.  But they would be together soon.  He had to believe that.  He just had to live long enough for Daniel and Angie to find him.

Angie.  How he longed to see her, to hold her in his arms and never let her go.  Whenever it seemed too hard to go on, whenever he’d felt like just giving up and letting death take him, his love for her had kept him going.  He could not leave her.  He had to live.  He would be with her soon now.  He had to believe that.

Rollie thought about the conversation he’d just overheard.  Only one of the voices had been familiar to him, that of the doctor’s.  The others called him Doctor Kessler, and he knew, now, that the man was in charge of his ‘care’, though he had seldom seen the doctor in person.  As for the other man, it was obvious that the guy was the boss, but he did not even have a name to go with the voice.  Rollie’s will hardened.  Not having a name would make no difference in the end.  One way or another, he was going to make sure the man paid.  That was a promise.

The last thing the doctor had said caused worry to filter into Rollie’s mind.  He could not let them do what they intended.  The physical pain was far better than that.  He had to stop it somehow.  He was just so tired now.  He needed to sleep for a while.

Rollie’s eyes had just closed when they abruptly snapped open, his mind touched by a feeling that was unmistakable to him.  They were here.  Daniel and Angie were in New York.  He was certain of it.  Not long after finally contacting them, he’d had the feeling that they were getting physically closer to him, and, now, that feeling was confirmed.  Rollie curbed his smile of excitement, not wanting the people who were constantly watching him to see.  It might only be a matter of days now before he was found.  He just had to figure out a way to keep his captors at bay until then.

The Aussie made a sudden decision, knowing that it was the only thing he could do.  He knew it was dangerous, that, if he was not found in time, it could get him killed, but he had no choice.

Nodding to himself, he closed his eyes and waited for his captors to come for him again.

Daniel stared unblinkingly at the ceiling.  He and Angie had agreed that, as tired as they were, it would be best to get some rest before they got started on the task of trying to find Rollie so that their minds would be clearer.  The problem was that he couldn’t get to sleep.  His mind was too full of everything that had happened over the last few days.  Within the space of ten days, he’d gone through the most painful, tumultuous, confusing and frightening, yet also joyful, loving, exciting and life-changing time of his life.  He’d discovered the existence of a brother, believed that brother to be dead, and then found him to be alive.  He’d been give proof positive that psychic abilities do exist and that there was a possibility he possessed them.  He’d confessed his love and pledged to marry the woman he knew was the love of his life, and he’d formed at least two new friendships, ones he felt would last a lifetime.  If you thought about it all at once, it was overwhelming.

But Daniel knew that these thoughts were not what was really keeping him from sleeping.  It was the horrible feeling burning in the pit of his stomach, a feeling of dread and foreboding.  He knew that his brother was at the heart of that feeling.  Something was terribly, terribly wrong.  Something awful was going to happen soon if they didn’t find Rollie.  It could be that his feelings were just a result of his natural fear for his brother’s safety, but something was telling him there was more to it than that.

Daniel rolled over on the couch and closed his eyes, trying to calm his mind.  He forced himself to breathe slowly and deeply.  A friend in college had taught him some relaxation techniques, and he tried one of them now.  ‘Breathe slowly, in, out, in, out.  Relax your muscles one at a time, working from your head down to your toes, letting the tension ease away.  Now, release the thoughts from your mind, let it drift, go blank. . . .’

‘Daniel?’ inquired a quiet voice in his mind.

Surprised, Daniel stilled.  ‘Rollie?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is this a dream? Did I fall asleep?’

‘No, you’re not asleep, not completely.  I think we’re both in an in between place, neither awake nor asleep.’

‘Then I’m really talking to you?’

‘Yes . . . Brother.’

Daniel paused at the form of address.  Then he rushed forward.  ‘Rollie, we’re in New York.  We’ve started looking for you.’

‘I know.  I felt it when you arrived.’

‘Where are you? Can you tell us?’

‘I’m a few miles outside the city, in some kind of large complex.  It--’

‘Rollie?  Are you still there?  What’s wrong?’

‘They’re coming for me again.’

‘Who?  Who’s coming for you?’

‘Daniel . . . please hurry.’

‘Rollie?  Rollie?!’

Daniel roused suddenly to full wakefulness, sitting upright on the couch, his earlier fears even stronger now.  He threw off his blanket and quickly ran upstairs.  He headed to Angie’s bedroom.  His knock was immediately answered, which led him to believe that Angie had not been asleep.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up as he came in the room.

“Angie, I just spoke to Rollie.”

“What?!”

“I was trying to get to sleep, sort of drifting, and, all at once, he was there.”

“What did he say?  Is he all right?” Angie asked excitedly, climbing out of the bed.

“We didn’t get the chance to talk very long, but he had time to tell me one thing.  He said that he was in a place a few miles outside of town, some sort of large complex.  He is in New York, Angie.  He’s here.”

Angie threw herself into Daniel’s arms.  “We’re going to find him.  I know we are.”

“Yes.  Yes, we are.”  Daniel didn’t express his concern that they wouldn’t find him in time.

Angie drew away from him.  “We need to call Leo, tell him about this.”

The minister nodded.  “And I need to try to get through to Rollie again.”

“Do you think you can?”

“I’ve got to try.  We need to find him as fast as possible.”

Angie heard the urgency in Daniel’s voice, saw the fear in his eyes.  “Daniel, what aren’t you telling me?”

“I just have a terrible feeling that we need to hurry, that something’s going to happen to Rollie if we don’t find him soon.”

Angie’s fear for Rollie escalated dramatically.  She, also, had been experiencing a feeling that they needed to hurry, but what Daniel was saying sounded like more than just a feeling.  “Is this ‘feeling’ anything like what you experienced before that car accident?”  When the minister didn’t answer, she stepped closer to him.  “Is it?”

“Yes,” Daniel admitted reluctantly.

“Then it isn’t just a feeling.  You’re sensing that something is going to happen to Rollie.  You’re having a precognitive episode.”

Daniel didn’t reply.  He could no longer deny that there was a very real possibility that he was sensing things that were going to happen in the future.

Angie put on her shoes and headed out of the room.  Daniel followed her downstairs and to her computer.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

“It’s time to get to the bottom of this.  If the government is involved, or if they know what’s going on, I’m going to find out.”

“How?”

“I’ll start with the FBI, see if I can find any trace of something big going down on the day Rollie was kidnapped,” she replied as her hands flew over the keyboard.  “If I don’t find anything there, I’ll try the CIA next, then the NSA.  I’ll even hack into the damn Secret Service, if I have to.  I--”

“Angie,” Daniel interrupted, but she kept right on typing.  Daniel grabbed her shoulders.  “Angie, stop.”

She jerked away from him.  “I can’t stop!  We have to find him!”

“And we will.  But look at yourself, Angie.  You’re losing control.  I may not know anything about what you’re doing, but I’m smart enough to realize that something like this has to be done carefully and with caution.  Do you think you can do that right now?”

Angie’s blue eyes blazed up into his for a timeless moment, then she abruptly wilted.  She turned her face away.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said gently.

Angie’s head shook.  “No.  You’re right.  I’m not thinking clearly.”  She gave a short, almost bitter laugh.  “I’ve always prided myself on being in control, never letting my emotions get the better of me.  Most of the time, I succeeded.  But not with Rollie.  He could break through my control faster than anyone.  Did I tell you that there was another time when I thought he was dead?”

“No.”

“It was a few years ago.  Rollie was framed for murder.  We went after the real murderers, and it led us to an illegal auction for stolen diamonds.  Leo and Lucinda went in undercover, but they were caught.  So was I.  They were going to kill us.  Then, all of a sudden, Rollie came crashing through the skylight, yelling for us to run.  They opened up on him with automatic weapons.  I watched Rollie’s body get riddled with bullets, his blood everywhere.  Then he fell over the edge of the railing to the floor below.  I lost it.  I totally, completely lost it.  I felt like my heart was going to explode from the pain.”

“What happened?”

“It turned out that it wasn’t Rollie after all.  It was a mechanical creation of his that looked like him.  The whole thing was a ruse to distract them long enough for us to get the upper hand.  And it worked.”  Angie looked up at Daniel.  “Three months ago, I thought I’d lost him again.  Up until yesterday, I was living with constant, unending agony.  Now that I know he’s alive, I will do anything to make sure he’s safe.  I can’t lose him again, Daniel.  If I did, I know that it would kill me this time.”

Daniel took hold of her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.  “We are not going to lose him, Angie.  But we can’t go running off half-cocked.  These people who have Rollie can’t find out that we know he’s alive.  If I was them, I’d be feeling secure knowing that everyone thinks Rollie is dead and are not looking for him.  If they learn that we’ve discovered the truth, they might do something that will make things worse for him and harder for us to find him.”

Angie nodded.  “Yeah, you’re right, and that’s something I should have thought of myself.”  She stood and went to the phone.  “All right.  I’m going to call Leo, tell him what we’ve learned.”

Leo was excited by the news and agreed with Angie and Daniel that they had to proceed with caution.

“We found out something interesting,” the cop told them.  “The day before the bombing, Rollie went to his bank and requested access to his safe deposit box.”

“His safe deposit box?” Angie repeated.

“Yeah.  We didn’t find out about this before because our investigation didn’t go in that direction.  We were focusing on finding out who planted the bomb or who might have ordered Rollie’s death.  But I got to thinking that, if Rollie had some idea that something was going to happen to him, he might have taken a few precautions.”

Angie sat down.  “I never looked in the safe deposit box.  It’s in both Rollie’s and my name so that I could open it in case something happened to him, but I just couldn’t bear to go down there and go through it.  I know that the deed to the loft is in there, along with the titles to the vehicles and some other important papers.  A copy of Rollie’s will is there, too, as well as mine.”

“Well, I think we need to go to the bank and take a look.”

“Yeah.  I’ll meet you down there in half an hour, okay?”

“Okay.”

Both Angie and Daniel quickly changed clothes and freshened up, then they hopped in Rollie’s truck and headed for the bank, wondering what they were going to find there.

Rollie watched the door close behind the two men who had brought him back to his room.  He then laid down on the cot.  It was done.  The clock was now ticking.  He had just taken a huge gamble that Daniel and Angie would find him before the time ran out.  Rollie’s instincts, that sixth sense he’d developed, told him that, if he lost this bet, his life would be forfeit, but there was nothing else he could have done.  There were things more important than his life.

He would have to try to contact Daniel again.  Hopefully, this time, they could talk long enough for him to tell his brother where he was.

The opening of the door heralded the arrival of his captors again.  Three men came in, two of the musclebound men they used whenever Rollie needed to be subdued and one of the men who were perpetually dressed in lab coats.  Rollie stared at the man in the lab coat and saw a hypodermic in the guy’s hand.

“What’s that?” Rollie asked, sitting up, a frisson of fear shooting through him.

“Something to help you relax.”

“I don’t need help relaxing.”

“Sure you do.  And, even if you didn’t, you don’t have any choice in the matter.”  The man looked at his companions.  “Hold him.”

The two big men pinned Rollie to the cot as the guy bearing the hypo advanced.  Rollie struggled against their hold, but knew it was in vain.  He felt the sting of the needle going into his arm.

“There we are.  All finished,” the lab coat man said.  “You can let him go now,” he instructed the others.  The three men exited the room.  “Sweet dreams, Mister Tyler,” said the man who’d give Rollie the injection.

As the door closed, Rollie felt a deep lethargy take hold of him.  He tried to fight it, to hold onto his consciousness, knowing that he couldn’t contact Daniel if he was unconscious, but the effect of the drug was too strong.  As he slipped into blackness, he wondered if he would ever wake up again.

Daniel, Angie and Leo all squeezed into the tiny room, waiting for the safe deposit box to be brought to them.  When it arrived, they quickly opened it.  Angie immediately noticed a sealed letter lying at the top of the pile of documents.

“That wasn’t there the last time I looked,” she said.  With hands that trembled slightly, she opened the letter.  It was dated the day before the bombing.

Dear Angie,
 
If you’re reading this, it means that the vision I had has come true.  Several days ago, I had a vision about myself.  In it, I saw myself imprisoned in a cage, bolts of lightning being burned through my head.  In the dream, I was holding something that the ones who held me wanted, but it was something I could not give them, for, if I did, many people would suffer.  I can only guess that this dream means that I am going to be taken prisoner because I have something that somebody wants, but I don’t know what that something could be.

“So, we’re right.  Rollie does have something these people want,” Leo said excitedly.

“Yeah, but what?” Angie said.  She continued reading.

After having the vision, I planned on telling you about it, and I decided that it was time to confess to Leo about this ability I have, but something told me not to.  The next night, I had another dream that revealed to me why.  It showed me that, if I did say something, you would pay the price.  I couldn’t let that happen, Angie, so I kept silent.  I could only hope that my vision was enough of a warning that I could prevent myself from being taken.

Tears flooded Angie’s eyes.  “Oh, Rollie.  You should have told me.”

Daniel laid a hand on her arm.  “He was protecting you, Angie.”

“I know.  But I wish he’d told me anyway.  We might have stopped all this from happening.”

The fact that you’re reading this means that I could not prevent my capture, for it was only in the event of my disappearance or death that my lawyer was to call you and give you the message to open the safe deposit box.

“Wait a minute.  I didn’t get any call from Rollie’s lawyer, except about his will.”

“We’ll ask them about it,” Leo told her.

I’ve taken these precautions because I don’t know who it is that is after me.  I can’t take the chance that they’d find out I know something about what’s going to happen.  Otherwise, I’d have left you a letter at the loft where you could find it.

I don’t know if I will be alive or dead by the time you read this.  If I’m alive, I hope that what I’ve just told you will help you find me.  If I’m dead, I want you to know that the choice I made was the only one I could.  I once told you that I would do anything to protect my friends, no matter what the cost, and I meant it.  You are more important to me than anything on Earth, Angie.  I have loved you from the day I met you.  You have been my family, my voice of reason and common sense, my salvation, the part of my soul that I’d never known was missing until I met you.  But, most important of all, you have been my friend, a friend I could always count on when I needed you, and even when I didn’t.  You’ve been my angel.

Love,
 
Rollie

Angie was sobbing quietly as she finished reading the letter.  Daniel had put his arm around her and was holding her against him.

“He can’t die, Daniel.  He can’t die,” she whispered.

“He won’t, Angie.  We’ll find him.”

“So, this confirms that Rollie does have something the people who took him want but that he had no idea before his capture what it was,” Leo remarked.

“Or who would want to kidnap him,” Daniel added.

“But he knew they were going to hurt him,” Angie said in a low voice.  She looked back down in the safe deposit box and noticed the edge of another envelope that she didn’t recognize lying beneath the deed to the loft.  She picked it up and read the words on the front of the envelope.

“To be opened only in the event of my death.”

Angie stared at the envelope for several seconds, then placed it back in the box.  The others watched her as she closed the lid of the box.

“All right.  Let’s go to Rollie’s lawyer, find out why they didn’t call you about this letter,” Leo said.

They all headed over to the lawyer’s office.  After waiting fifteen minutes in the waiting room, they were ushered in.  The eyes of the man behind the desk widened when he caught sight of Daniel.  He stood up.

“Mister Tyler!  We . . . we were informed that you were dead.”

“I’m not Rollie Tyler, Mister Dreyfus.  I’m his brother . . . Matthew,” Daniel responded, making the sudden decision to use his birth name.

“I was not aware that Mister Tyler had a brother.”

“It’s a long story that we don’t have time to get into,” Leo said.  He showed the lawyer his badge.  “We’re here because we recently found out that your office was instructed to give Ms. Ramirez here notification about a letter contained in Rollie’s bank safe deposit box upon the event of his disappearance or death.  We want to know why she was never contacted about this.”

Mister Dreyfus frowned.  “I’m not aware of any request like that.  When would he have given it?”

“On March 17th.”

“Let me talk to my secretary.  Excuse me.”

The lawyer left the office, closing the door behind him.  They could all hear muffled voices.  A couple of minutes later, the man came back in, wearing an expression of embarrassment.

“I am terribly sorry.  My secretary was sick on that day, and someone from temporary services was taking her place.  Her replacement must have either lost or misfiled the request.  If I had gotten it, I would surely have abided by Mister Tyler’s wishes.”

“Misfiled?  Misfiled?!” Angie yelled.  “Of all the stupid, idiotic, incompetent things to do!  Do you have any idea how important that letter was?!  If I had gotten it, we would have known--”

“Thank you, Mister Dreyfus,” Daniel quickly said, cutting Angie off.  “We’ll be in touch with you later.”

They left the office, leaving Rollie’s lawyer with the fear that his office might be facing a lawsuit.

Daniel, Angie and Leo went to their vehicles.

“Angie--” Daniel began.

“No.  I’m sorry,” Angie interrupted.  “I just blew my stack in there.  I’m glad you stopped me before I spilled the beans.  But that makes me so mad!  If I’d read that letter, I would have known there was a possibility that Rollie was alive.”

“The evidence would still have shown that he was dead, Angie,” Leo pointed out.

“Yes, but that wouldn’t have stopped me from believing that there was some chance he might be alive.  All these months Rollie has been a prisoner because some stupid temp couldn’t do her job right.”

“Well, what’s done is done,” Daniel said, not letting what they’d learned upset him.  “What’s important right now is that we now know that Rollie did have something somebody wants but that he didn’t know what it was.”

“Whatever it is, it’s something really big,” Leo stated.  “You saw what Rollie said about this thing hurting a lot of people if the ones who have him get their hands on it.”

“Which is why Rollie still hasn’t given it to them,” Angie said.  “He must still have it, otherwise they wouldn’t still be holding him.”

Leo nodded in agreement.  “He’d probably be dead now if he had given it to them.”

“But what could Rollie possibly have that would be that important and dangerous?” Daniel asked.

“Whatever it is, he’s gone through three months of hell to protect it,” Angie said.  She turned to Daniel.  “I think it’s time to start trying to find Rollie in the one way that the people who have him couldn’t anticipate.”

The minister nodded.  “Let’s go back to the loft.”

Getting into their vehicles, Daniel, Angie and Leo headed for the loft, each of them hoping that the strange connection between the two brothers was strong enough to find Rollie.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“All right, so how did you and Rollie contact each other before?” Angie asked Daniel once they’d gotten back to the loft.

“Well, I was trying to get to sleep.  I was using a relaxation technique someone taught me.  I think I was just starting to fall asleep when Rollie contacted me.”

“Do you think you can do that again?”

“I don’t know.  I’m pretty keyed up.  I’m not sure I could relax enough now.”

“How about if you go lay on the bed?  Would that help?”

“It might.”

Daniel and Angie went up to the living quarters.  Angie waited on the top landing of the staircase as the minister continued to the bedroom and stretched out on the bed.  He closed his eyes and attempted to relax like before, but he couldn’t release his tension.

“It isn’t working,” he told Angie.  “I can’t relax enough.”

Angie chewed her lip thoughtfully.  “There were a couple of times that I gave Rollie a neck rub, and it always relaxed him.  Would you like me to try that with you?”

Daniel smiled.  “Well, now I’d have to be an idiot to turn down a free neck rub, wouldn’t I.”

Angie laughed.  They went back into the bedroom, and sat down on the bed with Angie behind the minister.  She began to kneed the muscles of his neck and shoulders, easing the tension she found there.

“Mmm.  You’re pretty good at this,” Daniel murmured, feeling himself already starting to relax.

“In college, my girlfriends and I used to do this for each other when the stress of schoolwork got to us.”

With a contented sigh, Daniel let Angie continue with what she was doing.  After about ten minutes, he felt relaxed enough to try again.  He laid back down on the bed, telling Angie that she could stay.  Daniel went through the procedure he’d used before, this time, managing to reach that floating stage between wakefulness and sleep.

‘Rollie?  Can you hear me?’  There was no answer.  He tried again, listening for some sign that his brother could hear him.  But there was nothing . . . almost nothing.  On the periphery of his senses he could feel what he realized was a presence, his brother’s presence.  It was similar to what he had been feeling ever since Rollie contacted them on Hope Island, except that it was on a deeper level.  Daniel tried to reach out for Rollie’s presence, strengthen the connection between them, but failed.  With a sense of defeat, he let himself wake up fully.  He opened his eyes to find Angie watching him intently.

“Did you do it?”

“No.  He’s not answering.”  Daniel sat up.  “When we talked before, Rollie said that we were both hovering between being asleep and being awake.  It might have to be that way for us to talk to each other like that.  I’ll just have to keep trying.  I did, however, feel something.  I could feel his presence, but it wasn’t strong enough for me to be able to tell where he is.”  The minister rubbed his face tiredly.

“You’re exhausted, Daniel.  You should try to get some sleep.”

“So should you.  Neither one of us is going to be able to think clearly when we’re this tired.”

“I’m used to all-nighters.  It’s an occupational hazzard.  Besides, I still want to do some poking around on the computer.”  Angie got up.  “Why don’t you stay in here and try to get a little rest.  I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.”

“All right, but just a couple of hours.  I want to try again.”

Angie left Daniel and went back downstairs.

“Nothing?” Leo asked.

“No.  He’s going to get some sleep and try again in a couple of hours.”  Angie sat at her computer with a sigh.  Leo looked at her closely.

“How are you holding up?” he asked.

“I’m all right, just worried about Rollie.  What about you?”

“I’m doing okay.  Worried, too.”  Leo’s expression darkened.  “These people who have Rollie, who have been hurting him, I’m going to make sure they pay, every one of them.”

Angie nodded to herself in agreement.  There was no way that the people responsible were going to get away.  “Do you have any thoughts at all about who they might be?”

“Well, actually, I have been tossing something around in my head.  What if Rollie saw something in one of his visions, something that these people want to know?  They might have found out somehow that Rollie had the information.”

“But Rollie made it clear in that letter that he didn’t know what these people wanted.”

“Okay, so how do these visions work?  By what Rollie said, it sounds like they’re kind of, um . . . abstract or symbolic.”

Angie nodded.  “Yeah, they are, almost allegorical.  It was even more so to begin with.  Rollie would usually see people represented by animals or other things.  I guess that’s the way the Aborigines see things in their Dreamings.  As time went on, Rollie’s visions became less symbolic, but they were never perfectly clear.  Rollie always had to figure out what the dream was telling him, and, sometimes, he couldn’t.”

“So, what if Rollie did see something in one of his visions, and he happened to mention something to someone who did figure out what it meant?”

Angie shook her head.  “Rollie wouldn’t tell anyone about a vision.  Even all the times that he tried to stop something from happening that he’d seen in a dream, he never revealed how he knew.  He didn’t want people to know.”  She stared at the screensaver on her monitor.  “But what if Rollie did see something, and he was trying to figure out what it was about?  He might have asked some questions that caught the attention of somebody who was involved.  They guessed that Rollie had information they needed and decided to grab him and force him to tell them.”

Leo nodded.  “You could be right.  But, whatever it is, Rollie didn’t suspect the connection between it and his vision of being captured.”

Angie sighed.  “But this doesn’t really help us.  It doesn’t tell us who might have grabbed him or where he is.”

“No, but every piece of the puzzle that we find might brings us one step closer to putting it all together.”

Angie’s eyes went to Leo’s.  “I’m just so afraid that we’re going to be too late.  Daniel is sensing that Rollie’s time is running out, that, if we don’t find him soon, he’s going to die.”

“Wait a minute.  Are you saying that Daniel has the same ability as Rollie?”

“Not entirely, at least not yet.  Right now, he’s just getting strong premonitions.  He hasn’t had a vision.”

“I guess it’s not all that much of a surprise, not when you consider this connection that’s between them.”

“No, it’s not.  The question is, will he ever reach the level of skill that Rollie has?  I hope he doesn’t.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It was bad enough for Rollie, who is used to being in dangerous, life-and-death situations,” Angie replied.  “Rollie has the skill, knowledge and resources to do something about what he sees in his visions.  Daniel is the minister of a small island community.  How do you think it would be for him if he starts seeing things that he can’t do anything to stop?  It would break his heart.”

“I didn’t think about it that way, but you’re right.  It would be a hard thing to live with.”

Angie nodded.  “For Daniel’s sake, I hope he never reaches even close to the level of Rollie’s abilities.”

Weak and battered, the eagle stared at the jackals defiantly, proudly facing down its captors as they advanced upon it, their angry growling the only sound that could be heard.  With a snarl, the jackals grabbed onto the eagle, their fangs tearing at it as they dragged it toward a white cave.  In the cave, they pinned the eagle down so that it could not move.  Suddenly, searing bolts of electricity struck the eagle, who screamed in anguish.  The lightning lasted for a minute or two, then stopped.  Then, again, the lightning came, lasting minutes more.  Half a dozen times, the lightning struck at the eagle until it lay nearly dead.  Yet, still, its spirit remained unconquered.

Just then, another figure entered, a huge black bat.  The bat stalked up to the eagle and looked down at it, its needle-sharp fangs glittering in the harsh light of the cave.  Their eyes met, and in the eyes of the eagle could be seen the knowledge of its fate.

The bat backed up and gestured with a wing to the jackals.  Once again, the bolts of electricity struck the eagle, only, this time, the fury of the lightning was far greater.  The eagle’s body caught fire, its screams rising to a wail of unendurable agony as it died.

“Nooo!  Rollie!” Daniel cried, his body flinging upward to a sitting position.  Shaking violently, his breath coming in heaving gasps, Daniel stared wide-eyed and unseeing across the room.  Moments later, Angie and Leo came rushing in.  His eyes turned to them.

“He’s going to die!  I saw him die!”  Daniel’s hands covered his face.  “Oh dear lord.”

Angie sat on the bed beside Daniel.  “Did you have a dream?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

Daniel gave one last shudder, then uncovered his face.  “Yeah.”

“What did you see?”

Daniel recounted what he’d seen in the dream.  “The eagle was Rollie, Angie, and they’re going to kill him.”

With an effort, Angie swallowed the lump of fear that was stuck in her throat.  “No, they’re not.  We’re going to find him before that happens.  Daniel, we need to figure out what this dream means.  It’s like the ones Rollie had in the beginning.  All those animals represent people or groups of people, and the people have some relation or resemblance to the animals used to represent them.  Let’s go with the jackals first.  Jackals are mostly scavengers that run in packs, though I think they do also hunt sometimes.”

“Isn’t jackal a term used to describe someone who does dishonest or nasty things as someone else’s accomplice?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, or for another person, and it’s sometimes just the menial or degrading tasks that the person they do them for doesn’t want to do themselves.”

“In the vision, it was clear that the bat was the boss of the jackals,” Daniel said.  “They were following its orders.”

“So, whoever took Rollie has henchmen that are doing the dirty work,” Leo determined.

Angie nodded in agreement.  “All right.  What about the bat.  Do you know what species it was?”

“No,” Daniel replied.

“Would you recognize it if you saw a photo?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

They all went downstairs, and Angie found a Web site about bats.  Daniel scanned the photos as they came up on the screen.

“Wait.  That’s it.  That’s the one.”  He looked at the name of the bat.

“Vampire bat,” Angie read aloud.  “I should have guessed.  Okay, we all know that they drink blood.”

“They survive on the blood of other creatures,” Daniel said thoughtfully.  “So, what does that mean, that this person uses what he can get from others for his own benefit?”

Angie smiled grimly.  “That’s a good guess.  And something else about vampire bats is that they don’t kill the creatures they feed off of, despite the fact that Hollywood connects vampire bats to Count Dracula.”

“So, whoever this person is, he uses other people to get what he wants but doesn’t kill them, at least not usually,” Leo concluded.

“Right,” Angie confirmed.

“They were angry with him,” Daniel murmured.  “In the vision, I could tell that the jackals and the bat were angry at Rollie.  They wanted him to suffer, tortured him before they killed him.”  The minister’s eyes lifted to Angie and Leo.  “Rollie has done something or is going to do something that will make the people who have him so angry that they’ll kill him.”

That thought drove everyone to silence.  Leo spoke first.

“What about the lightning?  We haven’t tried to figure out what that means?”

“I have no idea,” Angie confessed.

“In Rollie’s letter, he said that the lightning was striking his head,” Daniel reminded them.  “The pain I felt when I experienced Rollie’s suffering was in my head.”

“If these people are trying to get information from Rollie, they might be using some form of mind control that works through pain,” Leo said, feeling his stomach clench at the thought.

Angie closed her eyes, feeling almost physically ill.

“They’re torturing him,” Daniel whispered, tears burning his eyes.  “For three months they’ve been torturing him.”

“God,” Angie choked out.  She was seized by the sudden desire to rip to shreds the people who had been doing that to Rollie.

“I have to try to get in touch with him again,” Daniel said in a trembling voice.  He got up and headed back to the bedroom, followed by Angie and Leo.  This time, he was able to achieve the proper state more quickly, but, again, he was unable to reach his brother.

“This isn’t working,” he said in frustration.  “We need to try something else.  When Rollie and I contacted each other when we were eleven, we didn’t do it this way, or at least I didn’t.”

“Then we need to try it that way,” Angie responded.

“Do you guys need me for this?” Leo asked.  “I want to check out some ideas on the case.”

“No, go ahead,” Angie replied.  “We’ll let you know if we find out anything.”  After Leo had left, she turned back to Daniel.  “All right, so how do we start?”

“I guess the same way as I did it back then.  I concentrate on the feeling of Rollie’ presence and try to call to him through it.”

Daniel closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling that he believed was his connection to his brother.  He focused his whole attention on it, pushing everything else aside.  At first, nothing happened.  Refusing to give up, Daniel’s tried harder.  At last, something started happening.  Slowly, gradually, he felt his awareness of his brother’s presence sharpen, grow a little stronger.  As it did, he began to sense that something was wrong.  Honing and strengthening the connection even more, he realized that the problem wasn’t on his side but on Rollie’s.  Daniel could sense nothing from his brother except the fact that he was alive.  Rollie was too . . . passive.  There was nothing there, no hint of awareness, none at all.  That nothingness scared Daniel.

‘Rollie?  Rollie, I’m here.  Can you hear me?’  Nothing.  ‘Please answer me, Rollie.’  Still nothing.

Not knowing what else to do, Daniel returned to full awareness of his surroundings.

“Something’s wrong, Angie,” he said.  “I can feel him, and I managed to strengthen the connection, but I’m getting no response from him at all.  It’s like . . . like a void.  I know he’s alive, but there’s no spark of awareness.”

Angie’s heart started beating harder.  “Could he just be asleep?”

“No, I don’t think so.  I think that if he was only asleep, I’d be able to break through.”

“What have they done to him, Daniel?” Angie asked fearfully.

“Maybe he’s been drugged.  If they’ve knocked him out with a heavy sedative, it might explain why I’m not getting anything.”

“So, what do we do now?”

Daniel looked at her closely.  “We try again, only, this time, we try together.”

“I don’t know how, Daniel.  I can’t feel what you can.  I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Maybe if you try that relaxation technique, you’ll be able to feel him.  I still believe that there’s some kind of connection between you and him.  We have both experienced his pain, that is if that one incident was caused by us feeling Rollie’s pain.”

Angie nodded.  “All right.  Tell me what to do.”

Daniel had Angie lie on the bed and instructed her on the technique.  However, though she tried several times, she could not achieve the semiconscious state that Daniel could.

“Damn it!  I can’t do it!” she exclaimed, sitting up in frustration.

“Be patient, Angie.  You’ll get it.  My college friend, Luke, told me that it usually takes some practice, though I didn’t have any trouble myself.  It always worked pretty well for me, unless I was too upset or nervous.”  He smiled faintly.  “Luke told me that I would have made a good Buddhist monk since I could reach a meditative state so easily.  He thought it was a funny joke since he knew that I was planning on being a minister.”  Daniel looked at the tired droop of Angie’s shoulders.  “Angie, I really think that you should get some sleep.  You’re still not back to normal, physically.  You can’t let yourself get run down again.”

Angie sighed tiredly.  “Yeah, you’re right.”

The minister looked at his watch.  “You know, I didn’t even notice the time.  It’s well past lunch.  Would you like me to fix some sandwiches?”

“Yeah.  That sounds good.  I am kind of hungry.”

“Okay.  I’ll go do that.  You stay here, and I’ll bring yours up.”

Angie smiled slightly.  “Serving me lunch in bed, Daniel?  You’re going to spoil me.”

The minister chuckled.  “Well, I think you deserve a little spoiling.”  He stood.  “Be back in a few minutes.”

Daniel went down to what there was of a kitchen in the loft and raided the tiny refrigerator for the fixings for a couple of sandwiches.  He found a tray and put Angie’s sandwich and a freshly made cup of camomile tea on it.

“Lunch is served, ma. . . .”  Daniel’s voice halted when he caught sight of Angie.  She was curled up on the bed, fast asleep.  In her grasp was a man’s leather jacket that he guessed was Rollie’s.  A small part of his mind noticed that the jacket looked like the one he owned.

Daniel set down the tray and tucked the covers around Angie.  He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and, with tray in hand, quietly headed back downstairs.

“Of course, I knew all along that there was really nothing romantic going on between Reverend Cooper and that Angie Ramirez,” Henrietta stated to her companion.  “I can tell about things like that.”

“Really.  That’s not what I heard,” said the other woman.  “In fact, what I heard was that Alex told you off in front of everyone in the Widow’s Walk when you suggested that there was hanky panky going on between Daniel and Ms. Ramirez.”

Henrietta flushed red.  “Oh, that.  No, she totally misunderstood me.  I never said anything like that,” she stuttered.

The other woman looked at her unbelievingly.  “Uh huh.”

Henrietta changed her tone.  “However, you have to admit that this whole story about Reverend Cooper having a twin brother he knew nothing about is almost too hard to believe.”

“Why?”

“Well . . . I mean, it sounds like a plot from a movie.”

“So?  Does that mean it can’t be true?”

“Well, no.  I-I mean, I’m not saying it’s not true, just hard to believe.”

The other woman stood up.  “Look, Henrietta.  Everyone on this island has been listening to your gossip and opinions for a long time, and, most of the time, you don’t say anything nice.  Usually, it’s pretty harmless gossip that none of us believe anyway, but, sometimes, it hurts people.  Daniel does not deserve that.  He’s a wonderful man who has done nothing but good for this community, and I, for one, have complete faith in him, even if I’m not a member of his parish.  Next time, before you go spouting off nasty things about people, why don’t you stop and think about how you would feel if people were saying the same thing about you?”

Giving Henrietta a final disgusted look, the woman walked away.

Henrietta looked around at the people who had overheard the conversation.  They were all staring at her disapprovingly.  Her face beet red, she got up and slunk off.

A huge smile of satisfaction spread across Alex’s face.  She came out from around the corner of the building she had been hiding behind.  The woman had gotten just what she deserved.  Maybe she would think twice before passing along any more harmful gossip.

It was nice to hear how people felt about Daniel, that he had gained the trust and respect of the islanders.  He’d worked so hard, put so much of himself into his church and the community.  He deserved every good thing that people had to say about him.

“Hey, Alex.”

The redhead turned around to see Callie.  “Hi.”  She looked at the notebook in the reporter’s hand.  “Busy getting stories?”

“Yeah, trying to get everything together for the Sunday edition.  You know, I would love to put something in the paper about Daniel and Angie.  Daniel left before we got a chance to talk about it.  And what is this family emergency that he had to rush off for?  He left the same time that Angie and that detective from New York did.”

Alex shook her head.  “Sorry, Callie.  I can’t tell you anything without Daniel’s permission.  When he comes back, I’m sure that he’ll let you interview him.”

“And when will that be?  Molly told me that we might need to have services on the mainland for the next two Sundays.”

“I don’t know.  Things are really up in the air right now.”

Callie looked at the redhead more closely, her sharp journalist’s gaze noticing an air of tension and worry in Alex.  “This is pretty serious, isn’t it.”

Alex bit her lip, her gaze shifting to the ground.

Her thoughts on a possible story forgotten, Callie stepped closer.  “Alex, is Daniel going to be all right?”

“Sure.  He’ll be fine,” Alex replied too quickly.

“I don’t believe you.  This is something really bad, isn’t it.”  When Alex did not answer, Callie rested a hand on her arm.  “Alex, I may be a reporter, but I’m also Daniel’s friend, and that friendship is very important to me.  If Daniel is in trouble, I want to help somehow.  Please.”

Alex looked at the genuine concern and sincerity in Callie’s eyes, and her control broke.  She burst into tears.  Alarmed and now even more worried, Callie led her to a quiet spot away from prying eyes and listening ears.

“Tell me,” she said gently.

“Daniel’s brother is alive,” Alex told her.

“What?!” Callie exclaimed in astonishment.

“Daniel found out that Rollie isn’t dead.  Everyone had believed that he died in an explosion, a bomb placed in his car, but it was all some kind of trick to make everyone think he was dead.  Rollie is alive and being held against his will somewhere, has been for all this time.  Daniel’s gone with Angie and Leo to try to find him.”

“Holy cow!  That’s amazing.  Daniel and Angie must be so happy to know that Rollie’s alive.”

Alex stared at her hands, which were clutched in her lap.  “Yeah.”

“What is it?  What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared, Callie.  When they find out where Rollie is, they’re going to try to rescue him.”

“Well, yes, of course they are, but why. . . .”  Callie’s eyes widened.  “Alex, you don’t mean that Daniel’s going to be involved in the rescue, do you?”

Alex just nodded.

“But why?  The police should take care of that.  Daniel’s a minister.  How could he help?”

“I can’t tell you everything, Callie.  I don’t have the right to.  But Daniel believes that he has to be there.”

Callie’s eyes filled with fear.  “But . . . but he might get hurt or . . . or worse.”

Alex’s tears returned with a vengeance.  She closed her eyes against them.  She felt Callie’s arms go around her.

“Oh, Alex.  I’m so sorry.  Is there anything I can do?  Any way that I can help?”

“I wish there was.”  Alex looked into Callie’s eyes.  “Daniel, he, um . . . he could use your . . . your prayers,” she whispered.

Saying nothing about her surprise that the redhead would make that kind of request, Callie took hold of Alex’s hands.  “He has them, Alex.  In fact, I’m going to go right up to the church and pray now.”  She tightened her grip.  “He’s going to be all right, Alex.  We all need to believe that.”

Alex nodded.  She wiped away her tears.  “Thanks, Callie.  You’re a good friend to Daniel.”

“No more than he is to me.”  The reporter stood.  “And don’t worry.  Not one word of this will make it into The Lookout, not until Daniel comes back and gives me the whole story himself.  And I won’t tell anyone else either.”

Alex smiled faintly.  “I know.”

“If you need anyone to talk to, I’m here for you.”  With those words, Callie left.  Alex sat alone for several quiet minutes before getting up and heading back to the Widow’s Walk.

Arthur Cromwell stared down at the unconscious form of Rollie Tyler.  His men had passed onto him the information that the Australian gave them earlier.  After all these weeks, it looked as if their efforts were finally starting to pay off.  It was about time.

Cromwell was astonished by how long Tyler had stood up against them.  He hadn’t thought it was possible for anyone to resist for that long.  All of their test subjects had caved inside a week, yet Tyler had fought them for over three months.  Unbelievable.  How had he done it?  There was definitely a great deal more to this man than any of them had realized.

With one last thoughtful look at the Aussie, Cromwell left the room.  One of Kessler’s men was waiting for him outside.

“What do we do about Tyler, sir?” he asked.

“Keep him sedated for now, until we find out how accurate the information he gave was.”

“What if what he told us was no good?”

“Well, that all depends.  If it was a mistake, then we’ll try again.”

“And if he was lying?”

Cromwell’s gaze turned icy.  “If he lied to us, he’s dead.  And it won’t be a pleasant death.”

Cromwell turned on his heels and walked away, paying no attention to the way the other man’s face paled at the glimpse of evil he’d seen in his employer’s eyes.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

After repeated attempts, Angie had finally achieved the desired state between wakefulness and sleep.  Unfortunately, she was still unable to feel anything from Rollie.

“It’s no good, Daniel.  I just can’t feel him,” Angie said in defeat after yet another failed attempt.

“No.  I’m certain that you’ll be able to if we can just figure out how.”  Daniel leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin on steepled fingers.  “Okay, let’s think about all the times that Rollie contacted you somehow.  Except for those two times in the church and that last time, when he took us into the Dreamtime, you were asleep during every occasion.”

“Which would seem to indicate that he can more easily reach my subconscious mind.”

“Right.  But you were awake both of the times in the church.  Was anything the same on those two occasions?”

Angie thought about it for a while.  “Well, I was really upset both times.  I wanted so badly to talk to Rollie, to see him one last time.  The first time, I talked to God, begging him to let me see Rollie.  The second time, I talked to Rollie himself, hoping that, somehow, he’d hear me.”

“What exactly did Rollie say to you when he talked to you in the church?”

“Uh, first, he asked if I could hear him, then, when I said I could, he said that he couldn’t believe it.”

“You mean he was surprised that you could hear him?”

“Yes,” Angie replied.

“So, maybe he’d been trying to get through to you, but hadn’t really expected it to work.”

“Which means that something in particular that he or I did allowed it to happen.”

Daniel looked at her thoughtfully.  “Angie, you said that you were extremely emotional both of those times, that you were trying with all your heart to reach Rollie.”

“Uh huh.”

“Then maybe that’s it.  Maybe this isn’t a case of reaching the right state of mind, but the right state of heart.”  He smiled softly.  “Your connection with Rollie is one of the soul, not the mind and body.”

Surprised, Angie said nothing for several second.  “So, what does that mean, Daniel?  Before, I thought that Rollie was dead.  That’s why I was in such an emotional state.  I don’t think I could duplicate those feelings.”

“You may not have to.  It might be a simple case of just wanting to reach him badly enough.”  When Angie did not reply, Daniel laid his hand over hers.  “Think about Rollie, how important this is.  Think about how very much you want to see him again.  He’s counting on us, Angie.  He needs us.  Just think about how much you want to hold him, and touch him, and see him, safe here with us.”

Angie swallowed tightly.  She did want that, so much that it was like an ache in her soul.  She would give the rest of her life for just one more day with Rollie.

“Okay,” she whispered, almost on the verge of tears.

“Close your eyes, Angie, and wish with your whole heart to talk to him.”

Angie closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath.  ‘Rollie, please talk to me,’ she begged silently.  ‘I want to see you so much.  I need you.  I love you.  Please, please hear me.’  With every part of her heart and soul, Angie tried to reach Rollie, to feel him somehow.  For endless seconds there was nothing, then . . . something.  Distant and tenuous it was, hovering just on the edge of her awareness.  Eagerly, Angie grasped at it, trying harder to reach it than she’d ever tried to do anything in her life.  And, suddenly, it was there.  She could feel him.

‘Oh, Rollie, I can feel you.  I’m here.  Please answer me.’  There was no reply.  It was as Daniel described.  She could sense no awareness in Rollie at all.  But she could feel him, and that was the first step.

Angie blinked her eyes open and looked at Daniel.

“You did it,” he said with a smile.

“How do you know?”

“You were crying, and there was a smile on your face.”

Angie reached up and touched her cheeks, which she realized were wet.  She laughed softly.  “I felt him, Daniel.  I could sense his presence.  It felt so real.”  She sobered.  “But I couldn’t get through to him.  He wasn’t responding.  It was just like you said.”

Daniel nodded.  “I’m pretty sure that he’s been drugged.  The question is, how long is it going to last?”  He looked at his watch.  “We’ve been at this a long time.  I think we both need a little break.  There’s nothing more we can do now anyway.”

They went to the lounge and fixed some coffee.  They were sipping on the brew when Leo and Frank came in.

“So, did you have any luck?” the older cop asked.

“Yes, we did,” Daniel replied.  “Angie and I both succeeded in reaching a point where we could feel Rollie’s presence.  But neither of us were able to talk to him.  We think he’s been drugged, and that’s why he can’t hear us.”

“How about you?” Angie asked Leo.

“Well, we decided to pursue the lead Rollie gave us when he and Daniel talked.  He said that he was being held in a large complex several miles outside the city.  We did some research and came up with this list.”  Leo handed a sheet of paper with fifteen names and addresses on it.  “All those places are owned by private corporations, have tight security, and are closed to the public.”

“Is there any way to narrow the list?” Daniel asked.

“Not with what little information we have.  As it is, we trimmed it down quite a bit.”

Angie looked at the list.  “So, it could be any of these.”  In one of those places, Rollie was being held against his will.

“So, unless Angie and I can contact Rollie, we’re not going to be able to find him?” Daniel asked, afraid that they might not be able to get through to his brother in time.

“We might have more luck on our end,” Frank replied.  “We’re going to start checking on the companies that are in those buildings, see if we find anything suspicious.”

“Yeah, but it’s obvious that whoever is behind this is pretty smart,” Angie said.  “They managed to kidnap Rollie, make it look like a murder, and leave no tracks for you to follow.  I’d think that they would have a pretty good cover in place to hide whatever they’re really doing.”

“You’re probably right, but they wouldn’t have been counting on us getting this close to them,” Leo pointed out.  “If it hadn’t been for Rollie contacting you, we wouldn’t have been, and they aren’t aware that he’s able to do things like that.”

“So, we’re basically hoping that they got careless and left something for you to find,” Daniel said.

“In a nutshell,” Leo admitted.

“Well, if you can’t find anything, I will,” Angie stated, determination on her face.  “I can get into places that you guys can’t.”

Leo and Frank stayed a while longer, then left.  Deciding to try again, Daniel and Angie each attempted to contact Rollie, but still with no results.

The minister shook his head.  “I can feel him so clearly, but I just can’t tell where he is, not even what direction he’s in.”

“It was the same with me.  He was just . . . there, no sense of location.”

Daniel ran a hand through his hair in frustration.  “I wish I could figure out a way to fine tune this more.”  He laughed shortly.  “It sounds like I’m talking about a TV signal.”

Angie’s expression turned thoughtful.  “Daniel, how do you increase the strength of a television signal?”

The minister looked at her quizzically.  “Um, well, sometimes, if you adjust the position of your TV antenna. . . .”  His eyes widened.  “Of course!  If we went to each of those places, we should be able to tell which one Rollie’s in by how much closer he feels to us.”

Angie nodded excitedly.  “Exactly.  You said so yourself that the closer we got to New York, the stronger Rollie’s presence felt to you.”  Her excitement dimmed.  “The problem is that those complexes are all over the place.  It would take most of the day to go to all of them, and it’s getting too late to start today.”

“We could split up,” Daniel suggested.  “We’d cover twice the territory that way.”

“Yeah, but I’m not certain that what I felt would grow stronger with increased physical proximity.  It may not be the same as what you feel.”

Daniel sighed.  “If we only had a general direction to go in.”  An idea abruptly popped into his head.  “What other way do you increase the strength of a TV signal?”

“With a better antenna or a signal strength booster.”

“A booster.  Angie, when you were in the throes of that nightmare, and I reached out to wake you up, it was when I touched you that I felt Rollie’s pain.”  He smiled in excitement.  “Physical contact, Angie.  If you and I try to reach Rollie together while we’re in physical contact with each other, we might act as a sort of signal booster for each other.”

Angie returned the smile.  “Yes!  That just might work.”  She stood up.  “We need to try it, Daniel.”

They went up to the bedroom and laid side by side on the bed.  Daniel took Angie’s hand.  “Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

Together, they closed their eyes and went through the process that each of them used to awaken their senses to Rollie’s presence.  At first, neither one of them felt a difference in the contact, but then, at the same time, they sensed that something had altered.  It was as if a new dimension had been added to the feel of Rollie’s presence, as if, before, they had been sensing it only two-dimensionally and, now, it was three-dimensional.  As they concentrated more fully on it, they felt it grow stronger, far stronger than either of them had felt before.

‘Rollie!’ they called as one mind, and, this time, there was a response, a faint stirring of awareness.  They called again, but Rollie’s awareness grew no stronger.  It remained a shadowy ghost buried deep in his subconscious.  Daniel was certain that, with time and practice, they could manage to break through the hold that the drugs had on Rollie, but they could not afford that time, for he was suddenly struck with the absolute certainty that, if they did not find Rollie by Saturday, he would die.

‘Where are you, Rollie?  Where?’ he cried.  With all his might, he concentrated on trying to detect where his brother was.  For a long, terrible moment, he thought he would fail, then he had it.

Daniel and Angie roused at the same time and immediately sat up.  “East!” they cried simultaneously.  They looked at each other.

“He’s to the east or maybe a little northeast,” Angie said with confidence.

Daniel nodded in agreement.  “I couldn’t tell how far, though.”

“Me neither, but this will dramatically reduce the possibilities.”

They hurried downstairs.  With the help of maps and the Internet, they were able to trim the list of locations down to five places.

Angie smiled.  “We’re getting closer, Daniel!  First thing in the morning, we’ll go to all these places.”  She noticed the expression on the minister’s face.  “What’s wrong?”

Daniel looked at her with fearful eyes.  “We don’t have time to wait until tomorrow.”

Angie stiffened.  “What do you mean?”

“He’ll be dead on Saturday if we don’t get to him.”

Angie’s breath drew in sharply.  “Are you sure?”

“Yes.  I don’t know how, but I’m certain of it.  He’s going to die within the next forty hours.”

“My God,” Angie whispered.  “Blue!  Speakerphone, McCarthy’s cell phone.”

The robot dog dialed the number.  “McCarthy,” answered Leo’s voice over the speaker system.

“It’s Angie.  We found out that Rollie is east or northeast of town.  Daniel and I have cut the list down to five places.”

“That’s great!  Tell me which ones.”

Angie gave him the revised list.  “Leo, we figured out a way to tell which of these places Rollie is in.  We need to go to each one of them.  We believe that Daniel or perhaps both of us will be able to sense when we’re close to Rollie.  But we have to do it now, Leo.  There’s no more time.  Daniel’s positive that Rollie has no more than forty hours to live.”

“Dear God.  All right, I’m on my way.  I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Daniel and Angie gathered up the maps, then Angie began collecting some items she figured they’d need and loaded them in the van.  Daniel gazed around at the equipment in the vehicle.

“This thing is amazing,” he said.

“Yeah.  Rollie did most of the customization himself.  It’s really come in handy, both on the set and when we’re doing stuff for Leo.”

As soon as Leo arrived, they all took off in the van, heading for the first of the five places on the list.  Arriving at the place, they parked in an inconspicuous spot.  Both Angie and Leo turned to the minister.  Daniel stared at the complex and concentrated on the feeling of Rollie’s presence.

“No.  I don’t think that’s it.  I can tell that we’re closer to Rollie than we were at the loft, but I’m pretty sure he’s not in there.”

“All right, we’ll go on to the next,” Angie said.

The next place yielded the same results, as did the third.  They were just reaching the fourth place on the list when Daniel abruptly stiffened.

“This is it!  Rollie’s in there!” he cried.

“Are you certain?” Leo asked.

“Positive!  His presence is so strong.  I feel like I could reach out and touch him.”

They all stared at the large white and gray complex.  A high fence surrounded the place.  Leo grabbed a pair of binoculars and scanned the building.

“Okay, we’ve got cameras covering the outside,” he announced.  “I can’t see any guards, but that doesn’t surprise me.  If they’re trying to appear kosher, they wouldn’t want armed guards parading around outside.  There’s a chance, though, that they have a security force out on the grounds at night.  It looks like there’s only one main entrance, though I can see two other doorways, both of which can probably only be opened from the inside and likely set off an alarm if you open the door.  There’s a security booth at the front gate.”  He lowered the binoculars.  “I need to see what’s on the other sides of the building, try to determine the best approach.”

“Are you going to storm the place?” Daniel asked.

Leo shook his head.  “Too risky.  They might kill Rollie before we can find him.  We’re going to have to sneak in.”

“How, with all those cameras?”

“We’ll go in at night.  The cameras and any guards will be hampered by the darkness.”

Daniel peered at the facility.  “Aren’t those floodlights on those poles?”

“Yeah, but there are bound to be dark areas not covered by the light, especially with that shrubbery and the trees.”

“We can also make sure that one of the lights conveniently blows out,” Angie said.  “A focused beam of sound waves at the right frequency would cause the light to shatter.”

Daniel frowned.  “But won’t that draw somebody’s attention to that spot?”

“Yes, which means that we’re going to have to move fast,” Leo replied.  “We’ll pick a light that’s a few yards from someplace where we can duck out of sight.  We’ll get as close as possible before blowing out the light, then run like crazy to our hiding place.  We stay there out of sight until the coast is clear, then head to the closest entrance, staying near the wall so that the cameras can’t see us.”

“One problem, though,” Angie said.  “If we shatter the light, they might get suspicious.”  She suddenly smiled.  “Of course.”

“What?” both Daniel and Leo asked.

“Not long ago, Rollie was working on a project.  He built a laser gun.”

“You mean like in science fiction movies?” Daniel asked, astonished.

“No.  It’s not even close to being that powerful, but it’s strong enough that, if it was focused on the light socket of one of those floodlights, it would burn out the wiring.  It would appear that the wires burned out by themselves.  No one would suspect anything.”

“All right, then that’s how we’ll do it.”  Leo turned back to the building.  “We need to scope out the rest of that place, and we don’t have a whole lot of daylight left.”

They checked out the rest of the facility, sometimes having to go on foot to get close enough to the place.  Angie took digital photos and movies of the entire complex, which they would analyze once they got back to the loft.

They met Frank at the loft and started going through the images and movies.  After a few minutes, Leo began shaking his head.

“The architecture of that building doesn’t really give us a place to hide.”

Daniel stared at the photos, which were lined up on the table in order.  One in particular caught his eye.  He smiled faintly.  “How are your tree-climbing skills, Leo?”

“Huh?”

The minister pointed to one of the photos.  “That tree is pretty close to the wall, and it’s tall enough that you could hide in the upper limbs and not be seen from the ground unless a person looked up.”  He looked at the photos of the adjacent portions of the building.  “It looks like it’s about twenty feet or so from this floodlight, and aren’t those cameras several yards on either side of the tree?  There wouldn’t be a camera right where the tree is, would there?”

“No, there wouldn’t,” Angie replied.  “It would be pointless.”  She examined the photos.  “He’s right, Leo.  That’s the best place to go in.  We knock out the light, scale the tree, then sit up there and wait for anybody who comes to investigate to leave.”

Leo nodded.  “Then we can move along the wall to this window,” he pointed to a window about ten feet from the tree, “and get in that way, unless the room is occupied.  Hopefully, we’ll have a little luck and that window will go into an unoccupied room.”

“What about motion detectors and cameras on the inside?” Frank asked.

“I doubt they have motion detectors,” Leo replied.  “As for cameras, that might be a problem.  Any cameras are going to be in the hallways, and I don’t know how we could disable them all without alerting the people inside to our presence.”

“Even if we could get to the main feed line, and I could splice into it, record some quiet moments, then play the recording back to the monitors in a loop, it wouldn’t work if the place is staffed at night and there are people walking the hallways,” Angie said.

Daniel frowned in thought.  “Angie, you said that Rollie used a lot of disguises when he worked on cases.  Couldn’t everyone who goes in to get Rollie be disguised as people who work there?”

“That might work,” Leo replied.  “From what we saw on the video, some of the staff wear lab coats and the rest are dressed in regular clothes.”

“Yeah, but they all have ID badges,” Frank said.

“So, we need to get hold of some.”

“How?” Daniel asked.

“All we need is to get hold of one for a few minutes, long enough for me to scan it and see what type of badge it is,” Angie replied.  “I can then make copies.  I just hope that the badge isn’t also a card key for opening doors.”

“Okay, then our next step is to find out the names and addresses of some of the employees who work there,” Leo said.  “Hopefully, at least one of them will go out for the evening so that we can get into their house and get our hands on their badge.”

Daniel stared at Leo on astonishment.  “Are you talking about breaking into somebody’s house?”

Leo grinned.  “Well, we wouldn’t really be breaking in, just entering without the owner’s permission.”  He grew serious.  “I’ll do whatever it takes to get Rollie out of that place.  If it means breaking a few laws, so be it.”

Frank nodded in complete agreement.  “Are we going to bring the captain in on this?”

“I’m afraid we have to.  Once we get Rollie out safely, we’re going to need manpower to arrest everyone.  We have no choice but to inform the captain.  But we’ll wait until morning.”

Angie got online, where they learned all they could about the company that was housed within the complex Rollie was being held in.  Cassandra Electronics was a relatively new corporation that designed and built everything from microchips to medical CT scanners.  This complex was only one of four buildings that they owned in New York and Los Angeles.  By all appearances, they seemed to be a legitimate company, which they probably were--on the outside.  If they were running an illegal operation, it was so deeply hidden inside the company that you’d never find it unless you knew what you were looking for.  Unfortunately, since Angie didn’t know what kind of operation it was or anything about it, she did not know where to start.  But that didn’t matter now.  After Rollie was safe, they could pick the company apart and find out what they were up to.

They got the names and addresses of eight employees, who, according to their positions in the company, would have high security clearances.

“We’re going to need help staking out all these homes,” Leo remarked.  “I think I can get a couple of the guys from the precinct to help once they get off-duty.”

“I can call some stuntmen friends of Rollie’s,” Angie said.  “But what are we going to tell everyone?  Are we going to let them know that Rollie’s alive?”

“That all depends.  I know that anyone I get from the department will keep quiet, though I’m not going to let them know that we plan on breaking into one of these people’s houses.  I don’t want anyone else to get into trouble if things go sour.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about Rollie’s friends.  If they know that this is for him, they’ll keep quiet.”

“Then we tell them,” Frank concluded.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“All right.  There are quite a few people who work in that building,” Leo said.  “I doubt that all of them are involved in whatever’s going on with Rollie, so chances are that his captors have him in an isolated portion of the building.  We need to get hold of the blueprints for that place and see if we can figure out where the most likely area that they’d have him would be.  Now, the better part of the work force would be leaving at the end of regular work hours, but you can bet that they’ve got people there twenty-four hours of the day in the portion of the complex where Rollie is.”

Frank nodded.  “I see where you’re going with this.  We’d see more lights on in that section of the building.”

“Exactly.”

Daniel looked at all of the photos closely.  There was something about the place that. . . .  All at once, he knew what it was.  “Hey.  Look at this.  The building is shaped like a plus sign, right?  On these three wings, the front wing and the two that go off to the right and left, you can see quite a few windows.  But look at the back wing, the one farthest from the main entrance.”

“There are hardly any windows,” Angie said.

“Yeah.  Now, if I was up to no good, and I had someone that I was holding against his will, I’d want to be doing it someplace where there wasn’t a lot of windows for prying eyes to look in.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Leo agreed.

“But if that’s where they’ve got Rollie, then we have a problem,” Frank said.  “The tree is outside the wrong wing.  If we go in through that window nearby, we won’t be in the wing that we need to be in.  I’d think that they would have a whole lot of extra security at the entrance to that wing.”

Leo nodded.  “And it’s likely that only those with special clearance can get in there.”

Angie looked at the photos thoughtfully.  “I wonder what kind of ventilation system they’ve got in there.”

“You’re thinking we’d go in through the ventilation?” Daniel asked.

“No.  Despite what they show on TV, most ventilation system openings aren’t large enough for an adult human to fit through.  I was actually thinking of Bluey.”

At the sound of his name, the electronic dog let out a bark and wagged his tail.  Since Daniel’s arrival, Bluey had been hanging around the minister, always keeping him in sight whenever he could.  Angie guessed that the robot was still partially identifying Daniel with Rollie and didn’t want Daniel to disappear like Rollie had.

Daniel looked over at his brother’s ‘pet’, smiling.  He’d gotten used to the robot and was actually developing a fondness for the little guy.  “How can Bluey help?”

“Well, if we get him inside the ventilation system, he can scope out the place for us.  We can find out what kind of security they have, whether they use card keys, keypads or something else to gain access to secured rooms.  He can map out the layout of the wing where they have Rollie.  Things like that.  We might even be able to find out exactly which room they have Rollie in.”

“Good idea,” Leo said.  “But how do we get him in there?”

Angie thought about the problem, trying to come up with a solution.  “I wish Lucinda was here.”

Daniel’s brow furrowed in puzzlement.  “Lucinda?  Your actress friend?”

“Yeah.  Luce always came in handy when we needed a, um, diversion, if you know what I mean.”

Daniel grinned.  “Yeah, I think I understand.”

“So, what are you thinking?” Leo asked.

“Well, I was thinking that with Luce using her . . . physical attributes, she might be able to con the guard at the front gate to let her into the building, maybe to use the phone or the bathroom or something.  She could have Bluey in her purse.  All we’d have to do is get him into one of the vents.”

“All right, then we’ll get her here.”

“She’s in L.A., Leo.  It would take hours for her to get here, that is if she could find a seat on a flight at such short notice.  And we’re assuming that she’s not off on location for a shoot.”

“All we can do is try.  Give her a call.”

Angie put in a call to the actress who had become a good friend to Angie and Rollie.  She was relieved when Lucinda answered the phone.

“Hey, Luce.  It’s Angie.”

“Angie!  How great to hear from you.”  Her tone changed.  “How are you doing?” she asked gently.

“I’m doing okay.  Um . . . Luce, I have some news.  It’s really big.”

“What is it, Angie?  Is there something wrong?”

“Yes, there is something wrong, but there’s also something very right, fantastic, in fact.”

“Okay, I’m sitting down.  Hit me with it.”

“Rollie’s not dead.”

A loud, sharp gasp was the initial reply.  “Not . . . not dead?” Lucinda whispered.

“It was all a trick, Luce.  He was kidnapped, and the people who took him set things up to make it appear that Rollie was dead so that no one would look for him.”

“Oh my God.  Where is he?  Is he okay?”

“He’s being held prisoner in a complex here in New York.  We’re making plans to rescue him, but we need your help.”

“Of course!  Anything, Angie.  I’ll do anything you need,” Luce responded fervently, the tremor and pitch of her voice making it clear that she was crying.

“Can you get over here right away?  Tonight?”

“Yes! Absolutely!  I’m doing a shoot, but I’ll call in sick, tell them I’ve got the flu or something.  They can shoot around me.”

“Thanks, Luce.  Rollie will really appreciate it.”

“I’d do anything I could to help him, Angie.  You know that.”  A spark of joy lightened her voice.  “My God.  It’s so wonderful to know that he’s alive.  It hurt so much when I thought he was dead.”

“I know,” Angie whispered, her own voice now tight with emotion.  She cleared her throat.  “We’ll make the arrangements for your flight and give you a call back with the info.”

“Okay.  I’ll call the director’s assistant and start packing.  Is there anything special that I need to bring?”

“Yeah, the sexiest dress that you’ve got.  The more skin it shows, the better.”

Lucinda laughed.  “Ah, I see.  Will do, Angie.  Talk to you in a few.”

Daniel smiled.  “She sounds nice.”

“She is, and she’s a good friend.”

“She really cares about Rollie, doesn’t she.”

“Yeah.  I know that she was suffering with a lot of grief over Rollie’s death, but I was so immersed in my own pain that I never talked with her about it, about what we’d both lost.”

Daniel touched her hand.  “Don’t feel too bad, Angie.  I’m sure that she understood.”  He thought of something.  “You didn’t tell her about me.”

“No, there wasn’t time.  We can explain once she gets here.”

Leo, who had walked off to another part of the loft, returned, cell phone in hand.  “She’s coming?”

“Yeah.  We just have to get her on a flight.”

“Well, I’ve got that covered.  I called in a favor.  I have a friend in L.A. who has access to a private jet.  He’ll fly Lucinda out here as soon as we can get her to the airport.”

“Great.  That will save a lot of time.”

“Okay, I’ll call my friend back and tell him that everything is confirmed.”

Two phone calls later, and it was all set up.  Lucinda had succeeded in getting Friday off and was busily packing.  She would meet Leo’s friend at the airport.

“It’s all coming together,” Angie said.  “We’re going to get into that place and get Rollie out.”

“I just hope that we get to him in time,” Leo murmured.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Daniel and Angie watched the building closely.  They could make out the occasional movement of guards walking in the light from the floodlights.  Angie looked down at the computer screen, which showed an infrared image of the grounds.

“It looks like there are only two guards, at least on this side of the building.  There’s probably a couple more on the other side,” she said.

“The place is pretty dark, and there are only a few cars in the parking lot,” Daniel noted.

“Uh huh.  But there is a light in one of those windows on the south wing, the one we think Rollie’s in.”

“Wait!  There’s another light coming on, same wing.”

“Yeah, so there is definitely activity going on back there.”  Angie glared at the building.  “It makes me so furious to think that they’ve had Rollie a prisoner in there all these months, hurting him like that.”

“I know what you mean.  I always try to find the good in people, but the ones who took Rollie . . . well, I think I’d have a hard time forgiving them.”

Angie’s gaze returned to the monitor, not saying aloud what her thoughts were, that she would never forgive or forget what those monsters had been doing to Rollie.

“I know I'm not very knowledgeable about this kind of stuff, but do you have something that will let you see what's going on inside?” Daniel asked.

“The infrared scanner could detect the heat signatures of people inside, but its capabilities are limited.  I could use it to scan the building, but the layout of that place is too complex, too many walls.  The scanner would never be able to penetrate through all the walls.  Even if it could, you wouldn’t be able to differentiate between rooms, tell what was in which room.  Now, if we were lucky enough to have a spy satellite hovering over the building, I’d be able to tap into the feed and use it to look right through the roof of the building.  But, even if there was a satellite passing overhead, it wouldn’t be there long enough to help us.”

Daniel shook his head in amazement.  “You amaze me, Angie.  You and Rollie do stuff like this all the time?”

“Pretty much.  To be honest, I really wish Rollie was here right now.  He always comes up with brilliant ideas on how to solve problems and get out of sticky situations.”

“If he was here, we wouldn’t have to do this,” the minister said quietly.

“Yeah.”

They stayed there for a while longer, gathering what information they could, then headed back to the loft.  Leo and Frank were already there.

“Did you get one?” Angie asked.

“Yep.”  Leo handed her the ID badge they’d ‘borrowed’.  Since Angie and the van couldn’t be in two places at the same time, both at the stakeout of the building and at the home of the person they got the badge from, they had decided to get the badge and bring it back to the loft for her to scan and photograph.

Angie looked at the badge.  “So, how much time do I have before you need to get this back?”

“As much time as you need.  The owner of that badge is at a bar right now, hitting on the ladies, but if he should decide to leave, we’ll arrange a delay, like, say, a cop pulling him over and insisting on a Breathalyzer test.”

Angie smiled, and got to work.  The others watched her take the card over to some kind of handheld scanning equipment and run the scanner over the badge.  “We’re in luck.  It’s just a photo ID badge.”  She laid the badge on a flatbed scanner and scanned a picture of both sides into the computer.  She then took several digital photos of it and took some measurements.  “Fortunately, we’ve been in situations before where we needed fake ID’s, so we have several different types of the plastic used for ID badges and cards.”  Angie went through what they had and found a plastic that was the same texture and thickness of the type used for the badge.  “I wish I could hang onto this badge so that I could compare the ones I make to it, but we don’t have the time.  I’ll just have to hope that the ones I make are close enough to the real thing that no one will notice a difference.”

Angie gave the card back to Leo and Frank.  “Are you both going into the complex?  I need photos of whomever is going in.”

“I’m going in, but Frank’s not,” Leo replied.  “If the captain refuses to clear this operation, we’ll need someone covering the outside to watch for trouble.”

“Okay, come over here then.”

Angie led Leo to a white background and took a digital photo of his face.  The two cops then left to return the card.  Angie got busy on the first of the many projects she had to accomplish before Lucinda arrived.

“You need to take my photo, too,” Daniel said quietly.

Angie looked at him.  “What?”  Then realization struck her.  “Wait a minute.  You’re not coming with us inside, Daniel.  It’s too dangerous.”

“Angie, he’s my brother.  Do you think he’d do any less for me?”

“No, of course not, but Rollie’s done things like this before; you haven’t.  You’re a minister, for Pete’s sake!”  She shook her head.  “No way, Daniel, and Leo’s going to back me up on this.”

Daniel’s expression hardened.  “Yes, I’m a minister, and, yes, I have never been in anything even close to a situation like this, but get this straight, Angie.  Nothing on this Earth is going to keep me from going with you.  I don’t care if the entire NYPD says no.  I am going to go get my brother.”

Angie looked into Daniel’s eyes and saw something there that she recognized, the steel-hard will that Rollie had displayed so many times.  With a sinking heart, she knew what he’d said was true.  Only an act of God would keep Daniel from going right into the lion’s den with them.  She hid a humorless smile when she realized what she’d just thought.  Daniel and the lion’s den.  She just hoped that, this time, things turned out the way they did in the bible.

“Besides, there’s a good possibility that you’ll need my connection with Rollie in there,” the minister said more gently.

Angie sighed in resignation.  “You’re definitely Rollie Tyler’s brother.”

“You bet . . . mate.”

Angie looked at Daniel sharply, then saw the mischievous smile on his face.  For once, Daniel had been perfectly well aware of the fact that he’d just used an Australian accent.  “Heaven help me if you two ever decide to masquerade as each other.”

The minister chuckled.

After Angie had taken a picture of him, Daniel wandered over to the lounge, smothering a yawn.

“Why don’t you go get some sleep, Daniel?” Angie suggested.  “There’s nothing you can do right now.  I’ll wake you up before Lucinda’s due to arrive.”

“I am tired.  What with that nightmare, I didn’t get much sleep earlier.  But what about you?  You only got about an hour’s nap.”

Angie shook her head.  “I’ve got too much to do right now.  I can get some rest later.”

Knowing that there was no point in arguing, Daniel headed upstair to the bedroom.  He kicked off his shoes and crawled under the covers.  He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to get to sleep, what with all the things running through his mind, but before he knew it, Angie was shaking him awake.

“Luce will be here in about half an hour,” she told him.  “I figured that you’d want to shower and change.”

Daniel yawned and rubbed his eyes.  “Yeah.  Thanks.”

The minister grabbed a quick shower and put on fresh clothes.  From the top of the staircase, he watched Angie.  She was focused with single-minded intensity on the computer, but he could tell that she was exhausted.  He’d have to make sure she got some sleep later.

Angie looked up as Daniel descended the stairs.

“So, how do you want to do this?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t want Luce to mistakenly think that you’re Rollie, so it would be best for you to stay out of sight until I tell her about you.”

“I agree.  Where should I hide?”

“In the van would be fine.”  Angie turned to Bluey.  “Blue, warn us when a car pulls up out front.”

Bluey barked to acknowledge that he understood.

About ten minutes later, Bluey gave the warning.  Daniel hurried into the van and positioned himself at the window so he could watch.

The door opened and Leo came in with Lucinda.

“Angie!” the actress cried, running forward to give Angie a tight hug.  “It’s good to see you.”  She frowned.  “You’re too thin, Angie.  You haven’t been eating enough, have you.”

“No, I wasn’t, but that’s changed now, even before I found out Rollie was alive.  I met a . . . friend who helped me a lot with the grief.”

“A friend?” Luce asked, intrigued.

“Yeah.  Let’s go sit down.  I have a story to tell.”  They went to the lounge.  “Okay, it all started when I went on a trip to an island in Washington State about a week and a half ago.  I met someone there.  He was the minister.  His name is Daniel Cooper, and, with his help, I started coming to terms with Rollie’s death.”

“This was obviously before you found out that Rollie is alive.”

“Yeah.  Actually, we found out while I was still there on the island.”

“Well, I’m very happy that he helped you, Angie.  I know how hard Rollie’s death . . . assumed death hit you.”

Angie nodded.  “Um, there’s a special reason why Daniel was able to help me so much.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  Luce, we found out that Daniel is Rollie’s brother.”

“What?!  But . . . but Rollie doesn’t have a brother.  He told me he was an only child.”

“They never knew about each other.  It’s a really long story, one that I’ll tell you all about later.  Right now, I want you to meet Daniel.”

“He’s here?”

“Yes.”

Knowing that it was time, Daniel exited the van and approached the lounge.  Angie stood up, as did Lucinda.

“Luce, I’d like you to meet Reverend Daniel Cooper,” Angie said, turning to the minister.

The actress turned around.  Her breath drew inward sharply, her eyes growing as round as saucers.  Her hand clutched Angie’s arm.

“Oh.  My.  God.  You’re . . . you’re twins?” she gasped.  An expression of stunned disbelief on her face, she stepped forward, her eyes scanning every detail of the minister.  She reached out and touched his face.  “It’s like . . . it’s like I’m looking at Rollie.”

Angie smiled.  “Yeah, I know.  Imagine my reaction when I first saw him.”

Gaining control of herself with an effort, Lucinda smiled.  “Um, hi, I’m Lucinda Scott.”

Daniel returned the smile.  “Daniel Cooper.”

“Wow, you even have his smile.  But the accent’s not there.  You’re American?”

“Yeah.  I’ve spent my whole life in the States.”

Lucinda turned to Angie.  “But I don’t understand.”

“Like I said, we’ll explain it all later,” Angie told her.  “Right now, we need to get you ready for your acting appearance.”

The two women went up to the bedroom with Lucinda’s suitcase.  Leo and Daniel talked quietly as they waited for the women to return.  A while later, they looked up when they heard footsteps on the stairs.  Leo immediately let out a wolf whistle.

“That guard doesn’t stand a chance,” he stated, rising to his feet.

“I agree,” Daniel said, also standing.

Lucinda was wearing a clingy red velvet dress.  The skirt ended a couple of inches above her knees, and was slit on both sides up to the middle of her thighs.  The plunging neckline exposed a copious amount of cleavage, the effect of which was heightened by the fact that her hair was piled up in soft curls on the top of her head.  Her outfit was finished off by a matching pair of open-toed shoes with three-inch stiletto heels.

At the bottom of the stairs, Lucinda did a slow turn, revealing that the dress was cut down to the small of her back.  “So, you think this is enough exposed skin, boys?” the actress asked flirtatiously.

“Lucinda, if that dress showed any more skin, I’d have to arrest you for indecent exposure,” Leo replied.  “You’re going to have to peel the guard’s tongue off the pavement.”

Lucinda giggled.  “Why, thank you, Leo.”  She turned to Daniel.  “Does it meet with your approval, Reverend?”

“Um . . . yeah,” Daniel replied.  “You look beautiful.”

Lucinda batted her eyelashes playfully and gave him a coquettish smile, which made Daniel blush.  Angie elbowed the actress in the ribs.

“Cool it, Luce.  He’s an engaged man,” she said.  That statement made the minister’s blush brighten.

Lucinda pouted.  “Aw, too bad.  The good ones are always taken.”  Then she laughed and smiled, letting Daniel know that she’d only been teasing.

“So, shall we get this show on the road?” Leo asked.

“Yep.  Bluey!” Angie called.  The electronic dog came up to her.  She picked him up and took him over to a table, where a large purse was.  “Hide, Blue,” Angie ordered.  Bluey immediately tucked his head in close to his body and laid his tail down.  Angie put him in the purse and zipped it up, handing it to Lucinda.

They all drove over to the complex.  Just out of sight of the front gate, they pulled up behind a car.  Francis got out of the car and came up to the van.

“Everything been quiet?” Leo asked him.

“Uh huh.  There’s just one guard at the gate.”  Frank smiled when he saw Lucinda get out of the van.  “Wow, Luce.  You look great.”

“Thank you, Frankie.”  She smiled.  “Or should I call you Brother?”

“Okay, Lucinda.  Wait here a couple of minutes to give us time to get into position, then make your appearance,” Leo instructed the actress.

“Okay.”

Frank stayed at the car with the actress as Daniel, Angie and Leo drove to a spot where they could see the front gate and the main entrance of the building.  There, they waited for the show to begin.

Tom Grey stifled a yawn.  He hated it when he got posted at one of these security booths.  It was so boring.  No TV to watch.  About the only thing he could do was read, and once he’d gone through the paper’s sports section and the funnies, there was nothing left.  He’d pulled guard duty at Cassandra Electronics before and could never understand why it was necessary to have someone out at the gate at night.  Who was going to come at this time of night?  There was enough security inside the building to stop would-be thieves.  Besides, there were always people in the facility, so that alone would discourage someone from breaking in to steal something.

Tom sometimes wondered about the place.  All they did there was make electronics.  So, how come the place was staffed twenty-four hours a day?  Even stranger was the fact that most of the night staff worked in the area of the building that he wasn’t allowed to go into.  What did they do back there?  Tom wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

A movement out in the darkness caught the guard’s eye.  He peered into the blackness.  Someone was walking toward him.  The closer the person got, the wider Tom’s eyes became.  His mouth hanging open, he stared at the stunning brunette approaching him.  When she caught sight of him, the woman ran forward, which made Tom’s eyes just about pop out of his head at the sight of all those curves jiggling.

“Oh, thank goodness,” the woman said in a soft Southern accent.  She latched onto his arm, giving him a closeup view of her cleavage.  “I was just so frightened.”

Dragging his eyes with an almost audible popping sound from the woman’s chest, he focused on her face.  He managed to find some functioning brain cells.  “Uh . . . uh . . . frightened?”

“Oh, yes.  You see, I was at a party with my date, and, well, we were goin’ home, but he started to get fresh with me, puttin’ his hand on my legs and everything.”

Tom’s eyes instantly descended to the bare, curvaceous length of legs exposed by the woman’s dress, thinking that he couldn’t blame the woman’s date one little bit.  He began wondering what she’d meant by “and everything”.  Oh, she was still talking.  Eyes back to the face.

“. . . and, well, I’m just not that kinda girl on the first date, so I slapped him.  He got all mad and ordered me out of the car, then drove off, leaving me there all alone in the dark.”

A few more operational brain cells were discovered in the recesses of Tom’s skull.  “Um, I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am.”

“I was just so relieved when I saw you here.”

“Yeah, me too,” Tom murmured.

“So, I was wonderin’ if I could make a phone call to my brother so that he could come pick me up.”

Tom’s face brightened, and he grinned stupidly.  “Oh, sure.  No problem,” he responded cheerfully, realizing that he’d get to accompany the woman to the building--making sure to walk behind her.

They went to the front door, Tom’s eyes glued to a southerly portion of the woman’s anatomy the entire way.  He was so busy watching it that he almost walked into her when she stopped at the door.  Stuttering an apology, he unlocked the door and ushered her inside.  Fellow guard Karen Bradford was at the front desk.

“Karen, this is . . . uh, I didn’t get your name, ma’am.”

“Veronica,” the brunette answered with a smile.

“Veronica.  She needs to use the phone.  She’s stranded.”

Frowning, Karen handed the phone to the woman, who dialed a local number.

“Frankie?  It’s Veronica.  I’m in some trouble.  Could you come get me?  I’m at. . . .”  The brunette covered the mouthpiece.  “What’s the address here?”

Tom gave her the address, which she repeated over the phone.

“No, I’ll explain when I see you.  Okay, bye bye.”  The brunette handed the phone back to Karen.  “Thank you so much.  I really appreciate it.”  She looked at Tom.  “I just don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.”

Tom grinned.  “Glad I could help . . . Veronica.”

“Would it be possible for me to use the little girls room?” she asked.  “I’m feeling a little queasy.  All the nervousness, I guess.”

“It’s over there, first door,” Karen said, pointing at it.

“Thank you.”

Tom watched the woman leave, his eyes again locked on that southern region of her body.

“Put your tongue back in your head before you get it all dirty on the floor,” Karen said.

“Huh?”  The man swivelled about to face her.  She shook her head in disgust.

“I swear you men are all alike.  The second a pretty woman comes into view, your IQs drop to double digits, and another part of your anatomy takes over the thinking processes, and it doesn’t do a good job at it either!”

“Huh?” Tom repeated.

Karen made a growling sound.  “Forget it.  I wouldn’t want you to strain what little is left of your brain on trying to remember how to talk.”

Tom turned back to the ladies room, wondering how he could manage to get Veronica’s phone number.

Inside the bathroom, Lucinda went looking for the vent.  Unfortunately, when she found it, she realized there was going to be a problem.  She pulled out a tiny earpiece that had been hidden in her bodice.

“Um, guys?  I’ve got a problem.  I can’t reach the vent,” she whispered into the microphone that was also hidden in her bodice.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Angie said.  “Are you sure the vent is too far from the sink counter to stand up on it?”

“Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

“Is there anything at all that you can stand on?” Leo asked.

Lucinda glanced around the bathroom.  “No, nothing.”

“Okay, we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” Angie announced.  “It’s a good thing I installed Bluey’s accessories.  How is the vent attached?”

“With screws.”

“Okay, get Bluey out.”

Lucinda opened her purse and took the robot out.  “Hey, Blue.  It’s time for you to go to work.”  The robot’s tail wagged.  He had been given instructions from Angie not to bark.

“Now, take him over to the wall closest to the vent.”

Lucinda went to the wall that was about three feet from the ceiling vent.  “Done.”

“Be a spider, Blue,” Angie commanded.  “Go to the vent.”

Lucinda watched as small suction cups rotated down to the ends of Bluey’s feet.

“Okay, put him on the wall, facing upward, Luce,” Angie told her.

The actress carefully placed Bluey’s feet against the wall and watched as the robot began scaling it, heading upward toward the vent.  “He’s climbing.”

“Okay, Bluey will take it from here.  You’d better get back out there before they start getting suspicious.”

“But the guard at the desk is a woman.  What if she decides to use the bathroom?”

There was a short silence, then, “We’re just going to have to take that chance,” Leo replied.

Lucinda removed the earpiece and returned it to its hiding place.  She went over to one of the toilets and flushed it, then ran water in one of the sinks for a few seconds.  Smoothing a few strands of hair, she looked over at the electronic dog.  “Bye, Blue.  Good luck.”  Taking a deep breath, Lucinda went back out into the lobby.  The male guard beamed at her.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked.

“Oh, yes.  Thank you.  I guess we’d better go back outside to wait for my brother.”

“Oh, um, yeah, of course.”

Tom walked with her back to the front gate.  He was disappointed when a car pulled up only a few seconds later.  The brunette turned to him.

“Well, thank you so much. . . .”

“Tom.  Tom Grey,” the guard quickly said.

“Thank you, Tom.  You were a lifesaver.”  The woman leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  A dazed smile just about cracked Tom’s face in half.  He gathered up his courage.

“Uh . . . uh . . . maybe I could call you sometime?”

“Oh, but I really don’t like to give out my phone number to strangers.  It isn’t safe for a woman these days.”

Tom’s face fell dramatically.

“But how about if you give me yours?” the woman said.

Tom’s smile was instantly plastered back on his face.  “Sure!”  He grabbed a pencil and piece of paper and scribbled down his number.  He waved goodbye to the woman and watched her drive off with a deep sigh.  Regretfully, he then returned to his duties.

Lucinda and Frank drove to the van.  They got out of the car and went inside.  Everyone turned to the actress.  There was about three seconds of silence, then they all burst into laughter.

“I swear I thought that guy was going to trip over his own tongue and fall flat on his face,” Angie said between laughs.

Leo grinned.  “You were a big hit, Luce.  That poor guy fell like a ton of bricks.”

Smiling, Lucinda removed the microphone and earpiece from their hiding places.  “He was kind of cute.”  She lost her smile.  “You don’t think he’s involved in Rollie’s kidnapping, do you?”

“I kind of doubt it.  I have a feeling that the majority of Cassandra Electronic’s employees have no idea what’s going on.  And that guy might just be a rent-a-cop.”

“So, are you going to make Tom a very happy man and call him when this is all over, Luce?” Angie asked with a grin.

“Well, I just might do that.  He was very sweet.”

“Even if he did have a hard time keeping his eyes on your face.”

The two women laughed.  Becoming serious, Angie turned back to the monitor that showed the camera feed coming from Bluey.  The electronic dog had reached the vent.

“Remove the vent cover, Blue.  Don’t let anything drop.”

A tiny arm flipped up away from Bluey’s body and extended toward the closest screw.  Fitting the opening over the screw head, Bluey began removing the screw.

“Wow, he really is versatile,” Daniel remarked with admiration.

Angie smiled.  “Yeah.  Rollie created a big variety of tools and accessories for Bluey that could be installed on him as needed.  The suction cups are pretty recent.  He figured that they might come in handy if Blue ever had to scale a wall.”

“Good thing he thought of that.”

Bluey was down to the last screw.  Another arm came out, this one with a clamp at the end of it, which Bluey used to grab onto the edge of the vent cover.  He then began removing the final screw.

“Are those suction cups strong enough to hold the weight of that vent?” Leo asked.

Angie nodded.  “Rollie tested them under these circumstances.  He anticipated a situation like this.”

With the final screw removed, the vent cover came free.  Bluey held it dangling beneath him.

“How is he going to get inside the vent while holding the cover?” Daniel asked.

“Wait and see,” Angie replied with a smile.  “Blue, lower the vent cover to the floor.”

Daniel laughed as he watched the cover lowered slowly to the floor with a wire that was unwinding from a unit attached to the robot.  “That’s amazing.”

Once the cover was on the floor, the clamp released, and Bluey rewound the wire.

“Okay, this is the tricky part.  Get in the vent, Blue,” Angie instructed.

Clamping onto the edge of the vent, Bluey began maneuvering himself into the opening.  For a breathless moment, they all watched him dangle precariously from the hole.  Then he was inside, and they relaxed.

“Fetch the cover, Blue,” Angie told the robot.

The clamp lowered back down to the vent cover and reeled it up.  Bluey had just positioned the cover back into the opening, when they heard the restroom door open.

“Freeze, Blue!” Angie commanded sharply.

Their muscles tense, everyone watched the female guard walk to one of the stalls and go inside.  The men abruptly realized that, from this position, they could see all the way into the stall the woman had