She was called “Sister Spirit” when she was young. Traveled with her family throughout the country, revival tents and all. Some reviled them and called them snake charmers, others came away healed. It was a Gordian Knot childhood, put on display to present her uncanny ability to tell the believers not only what they wanted to hear, but to see their future. But it wasn’t until she was in her late twenties, working for the U.S. government as a diplomat in Israel, that she discovered she had the rare ability to remote view images at significant distance.

She’d kept this new ability silent—until the government was about to go to war after the 9/11 attacks, and she knew there were no weapons where the administration insisted there were. But she couldn’t get anyone to listen to what she saw because those in power had an agenda for war. Her advice had become unwelcome within the halls of power until she was able to locate the warehouse in Mosul. It was a reality the new administration couldn’t dismiss.

Vickers handed her a dossier as they made their way into the subterranean area of the CIA. She opened it and the first thing she saw was a photo of Abd al Hashim in a beard and dressed in the white robes and cap of an Islamic cleric.

“Intel says he left Iraq under mysterious circumstances,” Vickers said.

“Mysterious?”

“He’s disappeared from our radar. According to some intercepted transmissions it seems his own people have no idea where he is either. Those transmissions could be real or a ploy. We need you to find him.”

“I’m not making a believer out of you now, am I, Eric?”

“Don’t be cocky because you drew a few pictures.”

“Not defensive, are we?”

They reached the top security area. Vickers used his key card and punched in the code. Doors whooshed open. Again, they were on the move.

“What about the local cells?” she asked.

“They seem to be as confused by his disappearance as anyone, but something’s up.”

“And he’s still alive?”

“You can’t ‘see’ that with that thing you do?”

“Fuck you, too, Eric.”

“Ledge and Valen said they saw Hashim and the young boy alive after the blast.”

“Any reason to doubt that?”

“There’s reason to doubt everything,” he said, moving down the hall to a metal door.

He input a code and the door clicked open, revealing a state-of-the-art video and audio recording room.

For all their skepticism in paranormal science, the government held to the possibility the truth was out there. Whenever they were against a wall they gathered whatever psychic information could be leeched from willing and patriotic minds, and they had a room set up to prove it.

She shook her head.

“What’s the problem?” he asked.

“You guys don’t listen, do you?”

“What now?”