“Of course you would,” Barbara replied. “Jo is that way. I’ll make a note in the little old brain-a-dex”—she tapped the rim of her glass against her temple—“to have her add you to the schedule. Don’t think we haven’t been keeping a good eyeball out for you, though. That little adventure on the Potomac certainly made a lot of people sit up and take notice, didn’t it! And we just have been doing our best to make sure none of that notice gives you the time of day here.”

Now Jordan felt truly uncomfortable. Had Boudicca been keeping menace from her doorstep? Or were they just saying it to pull her into the fold? She needed to say something. Something that kept Barbara from completely having the upper hand. Something Boudicca couldn’t know about. Think, Jordan.

Jordan smiled broadly and took a risk. “It’s nice to have Bryde on our side, too, after all this time.”

Barbara’s smile was fixed in concrete.

Bingo. They didn’t know a damn thing about Bryde, either, except for his power.

“If you’ll ex-kwoooooooooooze me,” Barbara said, tapping a dainty silver watch on her wrist with the bottom of her wineglass, “I should get this rolling. I know you’re looking forward to it. So glad. So glad you could make it. Don’t forget about Jo. She’ll be around.”

The first time Jordan had been approached by Boudicca it had been a bit of a joke, a bit of a compliment. She and Hennessy and June had sniggered about it over a few drinks and a few tubes of paint in the way they might have snickered over bumbling, unwanted flirtation at a bar. Nice to be wanted, I reckon. As if. Dream on. But it was a different feeling now that she was alone in Boston. She’d forgotten that there was a disadvantage to being not one of many Jordan Hennessys, but rather one of one: vulnerability.

Jordan stood there with her orange drink and her orange top, feeling misgiving pile upon misgiving, and then she discovered the music had stopped and all the partygoers were moving generally toward the back of the building. They murmured and checked watches and eyed each other, and Jordan realized they must all be headed to the real reason for this party.

Eventually, after they had all pressed into a large room in the back, Barbara’s voice came over the speaker. Jordan could hear her unamplified voice as well, so she had to be close, but she couldn’t see her over the crowd.

“Thanks for coming,” said Barbara. “We have a really splendid group here today. You’re all really spiffy women. I know we’re excited about the events coming up and we’re all excited about, uh, where are my notes, Fisher? Fisher, you do this.”