in. The dress. Had to do something—the water wasn’t terribly deep and she couldn’t swim, but he’d told her time and again nature would do much of the work for her—
That’s my girl . . . his voice came to her on a whisper. Be strong. Be brave . . .
Her lungs screamed for air and she wanted so badly to breathe as she fumbled with them.
And then, she wasn’t fumbling alone.
Panicked, she jerked away, but the hands that held her were strong. Unrelenting. And gentle as she was pulled to the surface.
“Be quiet,” a man’s voice whispered. Low and soft, smooth. And kind, she thought. Very kind. “Be quiet, or he might hear us and then we’ll both die.”
She looked up, found herself staring at a face that wasn’t at all familiar to her. But it didn’t matter. The hands hauling her out of the water were gentle. And his face was kind.
She would live.
Her heart might be broken.
But she would live.
* * *
DRU came awake, the burn of water in her lungs, choking . . .
And those memories in her head. Crystalline and bright, like it had just happened.
A face loomed in her mind.
The face . . . different.
Gray eyes, though. Gray eyes . . . she remembered those eyes.
Tucker. Damn it. Just how much more complicated would all of this get? How much more insane?
Yet . . . how insane was it really? Tucker, like Joss, in his own way, was a man she’d trusted from the very beginning. Although she couldn’t remember anything more about him, just that brief, surreal flash, she didn’t doubt it.
Sucking in a desperate breath, she clambered out of the chair, stumbled over to the window. Damn thing was sealed shut, though. Fucking hospitals. Had to breathe, had to.
Outside.
She’d go outside—
On unsteady legs, she made her way to the door and eased it open. She made it a few feet before she collapsed against the wall, covering her face with her hands as she slid down to the floor.
Enough, she thought. She’d seen enough. Dealt with enough. Now it was time to let her brain catch up to reality, she thought. Let everything settle into place.
“Hi.”
Dru groaned at the woman’s voice. “I’ll get up in a minute,” she mumbled, certain it was a nurse.
“Nah, you’re fine. Matter of fact, I think I’ll join you.”
Startled, Dru jerked her head and looked over.
The woman’s face . . . familiar.
“Shit,” Dru whispered.
She smiled. “I look like my sister, don’t I?”
Sister—
“My name is Vaughnne.” She held out a hand.
Dru glanced down, not certain she was ready to touch.
“Ahhh . . .” A smiled curled Vaughnne’s lips. “Sorry. Psychometric. You’re touchy about being touched and all, right?”
“Pardon?”
“You pick up things through touch. Psychometric.”
“Ah.” Dru rubbed her head. “Sorry. Yes, I know what it means. I’m just . . . well, I’m not used to discussing it so openly.”
Vaughnne stretched out her legs in front of her and sighed. “I’m telepathic. I was the one planted on the inside last night. And you . . .” She slid Dru a look. “One of the girls you tracked down here . . . it was my sister, Daylin.”
“Daylin.” Dru licked her lips, closing her eyes as the sound of that name brought an image to mind. Young. Arrogant . . . strong. She was one of the ones who’d fought Patrick, and tried to escape. He’d killed her for it, and killed her horribly. But that awful, horrible death had been one of those threads that had led Dru here. “I . . . I don’t understand. If that girl had connections to the FBI, why . . .”
She blew out a breath and turned her ahead, staring at something neither of them could see. “My parents kicked me out of the house when I was fifteen . . . they wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire.” Vaughnne said it without emotion, but her eyes were bitter and haunted. “If they’d called me . . . maybe I could have saved her.”
Not knowing what else to say, Dru simply said, “I’m sorry.”
Vaughnne nodded. “I never even knew she was in trouble,” she whispered, her voice rough. “The job I do, all the shit I’m supposed to be capable of, and I couldn’t save my own blood.”
Dru said nothing. What could she say?
After a moment, Vaughnne blew out a breath and said, “I