In Between Dreams (23 page)

Bailey felt her heart racing. Never in these missions had anyone talked about something like that. He asked if they were in a dream. She felt sick, her palms began to sweat, and she looked at Sam, who had gone pale as well. And Daniel just kept talking to Hui; he didn’t miss a metaphorical step when the words came out of Hui’s mouth.

She couldn’t describe the feeling she had in the pit of her stomach; she tuned out Daniel for a moment and pushed out her chair. “You don’t need me for this, do you? I need to step out for a second.”

Daniel tilted his head at her and looked at her with an abashed expression on his face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She shook her head curtly. “I’m fine. I just need to use the restroom,” she lied, and stood up and headed toward the back of the restaurant. She walked out of the back exit and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes tight and felt her lungs constrict. She was having a panic attack. She tried to slow her breathing.

She couldn’t seem to get a hold of herself. She leaned against the brick wall and slid down to the ground. She felt like she was going to throw up, or pass out. She cupped her hands together and put them over her mouth and began breathing into them as if she was breathing into a paper bag.

The door opened, and she saw Sam. He fell to his knees in front of her and ran his fingers through her hair. “Bailey?” he whispered. “Breathe.” He put his hand to her neck, underneath her short hair to feel her pulse. “Close your eyes,” he instructed. “Just breathe.”

Sam’s voice was rough and low. Bailey focused on his words and felt his hands on her neck. She did as she was told, and her breath slowed with the soft touch of his coarse fingers. “Listen to my voice. You are safe. You are strong. I am right here.”

Her breathing slowed more and he repeated himself. “You are safe. You are strong. I am here.” Sam had become the comforter. For her, Sam was always the comfort. The solace in the middle of madness.

Bailey’s breathing returned to normal, and she fluttered her eyes open to meet him. “Thank you,” she managed to get out, and he grinned at her sympathetically.

“My little sister is really high-strung; I’ve had to get her through panic attacks since she was in elementary school.” He moved his hand from her neck and moved to sit next to her. She missed the contact immediately. She liked the feeling of his hands on her, and when they left, she didn’t feel as comforted. They were under a small awning, and the rain was pouring down in front of them. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “It’s just, that guy.”

“The guy who asked if this was a dream?”

“Yeah…”

Sam shrugged. “Well, we always knew it was just a dream, right?” he half laughed. “Just a little weird hearing it, I guess.”

Bailey shook her head. “Yeah, that must be it. But why did he ask?” Sam shrugged in response. “There are so many pieces to all of this that I don’t understand. Still. After all these years…”

“Yeah,” Sam said softly. “It’s always like, why me? You know? Why is this happening to me?”

Bailey looked at him. “I think the same thing.”

Sam seemed bewildered when she said that; his eyes darkened, and his eyebrows shot up. “You do?”

Bailey nodded. “Of course I do.”

Sam looked out at the rain. “We should get back, huh? Dream or not, Mei needs saving.”

“Yeah.” Bailey pulled herself up and held her hand out for Sam. “You’re probably right.”

When they got back to the table, Daniel was putting on his jacket. “Okay, Hui is getting us a cab,” Daniel told them. He looked at Bailey’s expression and looked her up and down. “Are you ready for this? Are you in?” It was a phrase Rodney had asked multiple times before, his Brooklyn accent strong when he said it. It was never really a question. It was more of a command. It was his way of saying “you need to be ready.”

Bailey nodded. “I’m fine, Daniel. I’m in. I promise.”

“We’ve got to go a couple miles east. There is an apartment building directly above the hideout.” Daniel looked around awkwardly. “I’ll explain when we get there.” Daniel didn’t want anyone to hear him talking about the 14K. There were loyal members and allies everywhere.

Bailey and Sam followed him out. They got in the back of the waiting cab, and Hui got into the front. He directed the cabdriver. Sam listened intently to what Hui was saying. Bailey watched Hui as he spoke. When the man turned to look out the window, Bailey noticed his neck tattoo.

An image flashed into her mind of the man who held a gun at her. She jumped suddenly. She swallowed slowly and leaned over to Daniel. She was shaking noticeably. “He has the same tattoo as the man who shot me,” she whispered. Daniel turned to her swiftly, his mouth open.

Her eyes filled with tears, and though she tried to stop them, she couldn’t. She exhaled a shaky breath, and he put his arm around her to comfort her. She slumped up against him, her face pressed in his shirt. He smelled like Acqua di Gio and cigar smoke from the bar they were in.

Daniel leaned up to get a better look at the tattoo, inadvertently bringing her with him. She pulled back and turned to Sam. She rubbed her lips together. He put his hand on her cheek and dipped his head to meet her gaze. His fingertips grazed her cheek softly.

“You are strong,” her whispered so softly she could barely hear him. “Remember?”

Why was she falling apart like this? She agreed silently with a quick head nod. She breathed him in and felt safe again. They wouldn’t put her in an unsafe situation. She was okay. She was strong. She was safe. She was with Sam. And Daniel.

The cab stopped, and Daniel leaned his head down to her ear. “You stay behind me,” he murmured. She wiped her eyes quickly and noticed Daniel was getting out of the car.

“Come on,” Daniel said offering his hand. She grabbed it and let him help her up.

The three of them ran to the building, following Hui. They stood in the pouring rain as Hui attempted to unlock the front door of the building. Bailey inspected the structure in front of them. It was a very run-down apartment complex.

All she could hear was the rain beating on the sidewalks. She shivered and looked at Daniel. He nodded for her to get behind him. She moved so she was facing his back. She looked at Sam and saw he was shivering too.

Hui jimmied open the handle on the front door of the large brick building with a locksmith kit. “You a locksmith?” Sam asked.

“No. Criminal,” Hui said back.

Daniel looked at Bailey, and his eyes were soft and he was soaking wet. There were drops of rain dripping off his nose and chin. The rain was sliding down his cheeks like exaggerated teardrops. Bailey scrunched up her nose and wiped his cheek. “You got a little somethin’,” she teased. Daniel rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. Sam cleared his throat to break up their small exchange.

Bailey turned to Sam. The rain was dripping onto his forehead. His face was solemn, reminding her of why they were there. She rubbed her lips together and looked forward, waiting for Hui to get the group into the apartment complex.

“We in,” Hui stated.

“After you.” Daniel waved his hand for Hui to go in the dark building first.

Daniel held the door open for Hui. They filed in after him. Bailey looped her finger in Daniel’s belt loop to keep track of him. They took
the dimly lit stairs and went up to the second floor. The walls were white with what looked like cigarette burns and coffee stains scattered throughout the hallway. When they made it to the second floor and opened the door, a stray black cat scampered past them. Bailey turned away from it swiftly. This was no time for superstition.

sixteen.

B
ailey continued to hold on to Daniel’s belt loop as they walked through the flickering lights in the hallway. Hui looked each way as they crept down the seemingly abandoned complex. Hui led them to a red door. He felt around the edge of the door frame. He swore lightly under his breath as he picked the lock of the apartment door. He looked both ways every couple seconds, consistently paranoid of someone seeing him.

“This isn’t your place?” Daniel asked, frustration pouring off of him.

“This sister place,” he said. “Normally she leave key. I did not tell her we come this time.”

Daniel’s demeanor almost immediately changed, and he seemed uncomfortable. “Is your sister here
now
?”

“No. She rent to tourists,” he said as the door opened. It complained of its lack of use with a screech. “No one come here in June and July. Too rainy.”

“Clearly,” Sam mumbled just loud enough for Bailey to hear.

“It rain twenty day a month,” Hui shook his head. “Terrible.”

The group filed into the small apartment. As soon as Bailey walked in, she saw how small the space truly was. The kitchen was smaller than her closet; it had a mini fridge, a double burner stove, and a small amount of counter space, where an empty banana rack sat. Past the kitchen was a small living area. There was a simplistic black table and a
short square couch. Hui sat on the sofa and looked at Sam. He spoke in Mandarin rapidly.

“What is he saying?” Daniel asked roughly.

“He’s saying he’ll tell us what we need to do, but he won’t help us.” Sam looked at his feet as he spoke. One of his boyish qualities was his shyness. He never liked breaking bad news to the group.

“Why not?” Bailey asked Hui skeptically.

“When I leave the 14K, they angry with me. Even in dream, I don’t see Yin.”

Bailey shivered when she heard his name, and Hui noticed. “You right to be scared. Yin is not good man.” His accent seemed to get thicker as he spoke about his past. It was as if the fear of his past penetrated so deeply into him it disrupted his every word.

Sam and Bailey exchanged a quick look as Sam spoke in Mandarin and walked toward the man. Bailey looked at Daniel, who was getting more agitated by the second.

Sam nodded a couple times as Hui spoke back and then looked at Bailey. “Most members of the 14K have that same tattoo. Some have it on their neck; others have a larger version on their back,” Sam explained to her. Trying to relieve her fear of the marks.

Bailey nodded solemnly. “I figured.”

“Enough pussy footing around,” Daniel said. Daniel’s sudden mood change made Bailey’s stomach turn. “What do we need to do, Hui?”

Hui grabbed a paper and pen and drew a map of the basement. He marked
X
s around the sketch in various places. “These are the guards,” Sam translated for Hui. Hui was pointing to the
X
s. “They only have one at a time. They are able-bodied men, so taking on one isn’t easy. Or possible.”

“We don’t want to take anyone on,” Daniel explained. “How probable is it that we can slip in undetected?”

“They have cracks in their protection that I’ve found over the years,” Sam translated as Hui spoke. “You can do it, but you’ll need a distraction.”

“Like what?” Bailey asked.

“It’s a who,” Sam translated somberly.

They continued to discuss the best tactics to break into the fortress. Hui told them of a place they could slip in by dropping from the apartment building into the hallway. If they went under the cover of night, fewer people would be roaming the halls, and they would have a good chance at making it to where Hui believed Mei was being held. Hui explained that they would need three people to go into the fortress to be the most efficient, and one person to create a distraction.

“Even Fort Knox has its weak spots,” Sam said with a sort of earnestness in his voice. Daniel huffed at his confidence.

“If we need four…” Bailey started.

Daniel immediately shook his head. “No, not Halene,” Daniel snapped. His temper increased rapidly. The stress, tied with his sobriety, was getting to him.

“Then who?” Bailey shot back. She gritted her teeth, and she locked her eyes with his. She was in stubborn mode. She wasn’t going to let Daniel’s temper take over. “I don’t know why you’re being this way, Daniel, but it’s exhausting. You’re not helping. You just become irate for no reason.”

“I’ll call Halene and get her to send us someone else,” Daniel said. “Or we can wait for Katherine. I don’t even want
you
going in there, Bales.”

Bailey curled up her lip. “Don’t call me that. And I’m doing this.
We’re
doing this.”

Hui perked up. “You seen him? Yin?”

Bailey shook her head. “Not in person. No.”

“You see his soldiers?” Hui asked, eyes wide.

Sam and Bailey exchanged a glance. “Sort of,” Sam answered.

Hui’s back straightened, and he became more attentive. “Wait, you see him or he see you?” He leaned in, anticipating the answer.

“Well…” Bailey started. “Both, I guess.”

Hui put his head in his hands. “You cannot be distraction. They know.”

“Bailey isn’t going in,” Daniel shouted. “She’s just not.”

“Calm down, Daniel,” Bailey said, and moved toward him to comfort him. When her hand was on his arm, he pulled away and moved toward Hui.

“There’s gotta be another way,” Daniel said, pointing his finger into Hui’s chest.

Hui shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t give.”

“Give me a plan B, Hui,” Daniel raised his voice.

“Daniel, relax,” Bailey stated again, and Daniel turned on her almost immediately.

“You relax. All of you relax. I’m fine,” he said in a loud voice. “It’s you two who are crazy if you think I’m letting you go in with Sam’s useless ass.”

“Hey, now,” Sam said. Daniel paced around the room furtively. “What’s your deal, man?”

Bailey watched Daniel go back and forth. She wanted to be there for him, but he was belligerent. Something had gone off inside of him. A switch seemed to flip in his mind that was making him crazy. He was mumbling to himself and kept touching his forehead like it would help him think.

Bailey leaned against the wall; she was completely baffled by his erratic motions. “
My deal
is that we brought you in”—he pointed at Hui—“and you’re not helping.”

Hui put his hands up in exasperation. “I help you,” he stood up. “What you want from me?”

“Can you talk to Hui for a moment?” Bailey pleaded with Sam. “Keep him here.” Bailey knew they couldn’t afford to lose Hui. He was their key to getting them to Mei. He had information they couldn’t find out from anyone else. They needed him. Daniel was the barricade between the current hysteria and where they needed to go.