“Bloody hell,” muttered Claire as she dabbed the wet towel against Kate’s face.
Isabelle was asleep somewhere, exhausted from her ordeal over the last few days. She shouldn’t dream again until later. Whether that was tonight or a few nights from now, nobody knew.
“You could have stopped her,” Claire admonished Andy.
“Why?” Andy shot back. “Kate deserved it. She grabbed Isabelle without even trying to explain why. Took me from London without my consent. I’m just as pissed off.” Her anger mounted with every word. “We’re talking abduction here. A federal crime. And what she’s going to do now is even worse. She’s going to force someone—a complete rookie at this—to put themselves in danger for the sake of some murky, outdated ideal.”
Kate batted the towel away and touched her nose gingerly. “Stop talking like I’m not in the room.” She stared at Andy. “It’s not a murky, outdated ideal. Your lack of faith doesn’t make it any less real than it was thousands of years ago.”
“Spare me the politics. It’s like everything in this world. It starts out all nice and idealistic, but in the end, it’s all about power and money. Surprise, surprise.”
“How could you even say—”
Kate placed her hand on top of Claire’s, stopping her midsentence.
Kate shook her head. “You don’t have to believe. I can live with that. But you do have to keep Isabelle Templeton safe.” She looked Andy up and down. “You’re a bit softer than you used to be. Won’t hurt you both to get some training.” She gently patted her nose again. “Woman’s got a mule kick in that left hook.”
“I know.” Andy sounded pleased and she knew it.
She still couldn’t believe that Kate would bring her here against her will, especially after everything that happened.
Kate inspected her face in the mirror. Andy looked out the window. At least she finally knew exactly where she was. A nondescript five-story building in Brooklyn, one of the many buildings that belonged to Ma Soeur. My Sister. A registered nonprofit organization with offices in thirty-three countries dedicated to uplifting women.
Kate swung around on her black, red-soled heels. Christian Louboutin’s. She always liked the expensive stuff. Andy looked down at her own boots and ripped jeans, surprised at the skin showing through the material. Sure didn’t start out that way. She must have fought like crazy on the way here.
She couldn’t remember anything though beyond the Taser in the Black Sheep.
Kate turned from the sink. “You and Isabelle can take the unit in the southwest corner,” she said. “Third floor.”
“Two units.” Andy wasn’t sharing a bed with a dreamer ever again. Besides, there was no way she would ever force herself into Isabelle Templeton’s life. The woman deserved better.
“Nice try, but no. You said you’d look after her. You share a room like the rest of the teams. I don’t want her disappearing on us.”
“What if she doesn’t want to play your little game? You can’t force her to become part of Ma Soeur.”
“Then you better welcome her to the family. Warm her up a bit. Or can’t you seduce a woman anymore? She’s beautiful, smart. Would it be such a misery to sleep with her?”
Andy gritted her teeth. “You can’t keep her here against her will.”
“Maybe she’d want to stay after we explained to her who we are. What she is. What she is capable of doing. Ever considered that? Moving from wondering what the hell is going on to a sense of magnificent purpose? Using your gift for the greater good?”
Andy squared her shoulders. “The problem comes in when you interpret this so-called greater good for something that suits your own little power plays.”
“Despite what you may think of me, I don’t play games. If we don’t even out the world’s power structures, if we don’t create a far better balance between men and women in power, then we are going to be extinct as a species within a few generations. In fact, it won’t be more than two generations. If someone presses that little red button, we’re all screwed and you know it.”
Andy had heard this a thousand times before. It was the justification for everything that went wrong in her mother’s world. “Say you.”
“Say thousands of years of Ma Soeur. The ancient texts. The prophecies. We serve a purpose. We strive for balance. We—”
“Spare me the detail.”
“What happened to you—”
“Stop it.” Claire shook her head at both of them. “There’s no time for this. Isabelle had a dream and we need to know what that dream was. We’re only guessing that she can dream four days in advance. We’re not certain. Maybe today’s dream happens within the next twenty-four hours, like we’re used to.”
Kate contemplated her words. She looked from Claire to Andy. “You’re right. Let’s get going. We can talk to her in the comm center.”
Andy shook her head in disbelief. “No way. If I’m doing this I’m talking to her privately in our…in the room. Whatever. Just Isabelle and me. That’s it. No watching, no controlling. She needs a safe space and she needs someone to trust. Give her a key to the door and give us some peace. She’s twenty. That’s very young.”
“You started when you were sixteen.”
“I was raised to do this. She’s a novice with no idea what she’s about to get into. How on earth did you miss her? How did the network not pick her up at school already?”
“I don’t know.” Kate seemed angry at the oversight. “She was a foster kid. That’s all we know. Believe me. I also want to find out where the hell she comes from.”
Next to Kate, Claire stirred impatiently. “Can we please stop arguing now? We’re wasting time.” She looked at Andy. “We can put her in the unit alone with you, and with a key to the room, but with no access through the front and back doors. What if she escaped?”
“I’m sure you’ve got the building on lockdown,” said Andy.
“Yes. But you know this place like the back of your hand. You know exactly how to get out of here.”
“I said I’ll do this. Don’t you trust me?”
“I trust you about as much as you trust us,” Claire said.
“Then think of us as enemies working toward the same goal—for me to get out of here as soon as possible and for Isabelle to decide, for herself, what she wants to do with the rest of her life.”
“Stop it, you two.” Kate held the bridge of her nose between her fingers, as if attempting to calm the pain. “I’m trying to think.”
“There’s nothing to think about,” Andy retorted. “You’ll afford Isabelle Templeton the same courtesy you give the other dreamers. The same level of safety. The same protection. The same privacy. Otherwise I’m out of here.” She looked from Claire to Kate. “And there will be no cameras and no microphones in the unit. Ever.”
Kate mulled it over for a few long seconds.
“Okay,” she agreed. “But you better tell us everything about this dream, and fast. You have two hours and then I want to see both of you in the comm center so we can work through the dream.”
As Kate and Claire turned to leave the bathroom, Andy called Kate back.
“How did you find Isabelle? You never said.”
“Interested?”
“Just answer the question.”
“We keep tabs on psychiatrists who specialize in dreaming and hypnosis. She went to see one once, three months ago. She said she wondered whether she could dream the future. He didn’t believe her. We did.”