A FRACTURE IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS ✓

JOSH

The next morning, the team made a game plan on how to capture the Einstein Killer.

Mark would go to Urie's apartment to see if he's home and talk to his surviving roommate to learn more about him. Josh and Tyler, accompanied by Officer Smith, would go through the back channel of hallways that led to the back of the warehouse. Jenna and Brad would go directly inside. Sarah would stay on the dock with the LAPD in case Urie tried to make a run for it.

Despite his worry of Urie's oddly specific victim choice, Josh knew he couldn't baby Tyler. He might be the youngest member of their team, but he'd been through worse. That didn't stop Josh from trying to convince him to sit this one out.

"It wouldn't hurt you to sit one out," he insisted, seeing Tyler roll his eyes.

"It'd hurt my ego," Tyler quipped. "And the mission."

Jenna, who was watching their argument, stepped in. "As much as I hate to say this, Joseph's our best defense against Urie."

Tyler pumped his chest out, smiling smugly. Josh rolled his eyes. He couldn't shake a feeling of unsettlement in his stomach, but swallowed it down for the sake of the mission.

Once they were all in position, they put their plan into action.

The hallways leading were cold and dank, a chilled humidity in the air. Josh walked ahead of the trio, keeping his eyes trained forward in the twisting metallic hall. He tried the handles of every door they came across, moving on whenever one would come up locked.

"Come out, come out, you dirty bastard," he called out, checking a locked side door.

Tyler followed closely behind him, the hollow echo of their footsteps setting Josh on edge. "Is that really a good idea, babe? 63% percent of shoot-outs starts with taunts towards the perpetrator, and I don't want to raise that number."

"You worry a lot for an FBI agent," Officer Smith behind them both scoffed.

"It's my personality. You get used to it."

Josh would've said that he should've stayed back like he'd told him to, but a solo pair of footsteps from up ahead made him freeze. He held up a fist and the two men behind him stopped. The steps echoed a couple more times before abruptly stopping as well, ending somewhere in front of him.

The darkness was so dense that he could barely see farther than a yard in either direction. That and with the reverberating echo, he couldn't tell where the footsteps were coming from. Tyler tapped his shoulder five times.

"They're coming from your 5 o'clock," he whispered.

"Inside is clear of... everything," Jenna's voice seemed to blast through his earpiece. "There's no torture station, no blood. The only thing there is an excess of is dust and rats."

"Dock is clear too," Sarah said.

"He's probably not even here," Brad replied with a sigh.

Josh pressed his finger to his walkie talkie. "I think we have something, but I'm not sure." His phone began to ring, and he glanced at the caller id, lowering his gun for a moment. "Hold on, Mark's calling me."

When he picked up, Mark was shouting. Josh, you need to leave that place. He's there!"

"What?" Josh looked around. There was nothing in front or behind them that he could see. "What do you mean he's here?"

"That's exactly what I fucking mean! There's nobody in their apartment. No Urie, no roommate, nothing. It looks like they haven't been here in months. All I found was a picture of Tyler with a knife through his forehead."

His blood turned to ice as Mark continued. "It's a trap, Dun. Tyler's the target, he was luring us to get to him. He knew we'd be looking for him there. You need to get out of there now!"

After that, the call dropped out. Josh clicked the safety off his gun and turned his walkie back on.

"Guys, we're leaving."

"It's clear?" Jenna asked.

Josh shook his head, slowly backing up. "I'm not sure, but Eshelman told me Tyler's a target. I'm not risking his life for this."

"Alright. Get him out of there and we'll go in after you're clear. What else did he say?"

"It looked like they hadn't been there in months."

Tyler, who had no idea how to pick up social cues, didn't move when Josh jerked his head back the way they came. "What's going on? We haven't cleared the halls yet."

Josh kept his eyes trained forward, hearing Officer Smith say into his walkie talkie that they were leaving. "You're a target, Ty. I'm getting you somewhere safe before we keep going. I don't care if it hurts your ego, I'm not letting anyone-"

There was a thud and grunt behind Josh. He and Tyler both spun around, Josh pointing his gun with his finger on the trigger. Officer Smith lied half-conscious on the floor, groaning. His head was split open and bleeding, a broken pipe sitting beside him. He had a bloody knife in his hand, most likely from trying to defend himself from the shadowy man standing above him.

Before Josh could fire, two gunshots rung out from the shadows, a hot searing pain exploded through his shoulder and over his whole chest. Josh stumbled backward, touching where the bullet it, and fell flat on He could already feel the hot blood running down his arm.

"Josh!"

Tyler,who was frozen in his place, didn't notice the looming shadow approaching him from behind, holding a glass syringe with the crystalline liquid inside. Josh shouted for him to watch out, but all that escaped was a strangled, "no!"

The figure stabbed the needle into the side of his neck, making Tyler gasp and shudder. He pressed the plunger down, and Josh watched in horror as Tyler's eyes went wide and foggy. Tyler stumbled forward, the figure pushing him to the ground.

Josh's vision started to go black around the edges, and Tyler fell to the ground beside him, hands fumbling to press his hands against his bleeding shoulder. He put an arm around Tyler protectively, Brendon Urie walking out of the shadows.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Dr. Joseph."