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A gasp filled the room cloaked in darkness, forcing Julia Argent to sit up quickly in bed. Images from her dream continued to play out behind her eyes as she tried to catch her breath. She tried to shake away the bright eyes that filled her mind as she reached for her glasses on her bedside table. Slowly, she brought a shaking hand to her face before donning her glasses and moved her feet to the side of the bed. It had been days like this where she woke up in the middle of the night from either pleasant dreams of Carmen or nightmares of her previous job. She had yet to figure out which one was worse.
Julia walked over to her dresser, stepping over the small bundle of clothing that had missed her hamper. She quickly donned casual clothing as well as her jacket and shoes before slipping out of her apartment Into the night. Just down the street from her apartment was a late night Café and looking at her watch she knew she had some time before it closed. More than once this week alone she found herself walking to the café for a cup of tea to help her sleep again. Julia passed the orange and white Fuzzy cat sitting in the window of one of the apartments down the road as she neared the café. She wondered if they knew her name by now.
The café was warm as she entered it from the slight chill of the night. She met the eye of the Café owner and nodded. The woman smiled and grabbed for the same tea she had ordered the past few nights. Julia looked around for a table and found one in the back corner. Removing her jacket, Julia sat down and stared out the window. Only then did she let her mind wander back to the phantom touches of the woman known as Carmen Sandiego. Only then did she think about the way lips upon hers, if only in dreams, made her feel. She shivered, unsure if it was due to these thoughts or the lingering Chill from outside.
A steaming cup appeared before her on the table. Slowly her eyes lifted to the hand holding the saucer, intending to thank the owner but was met by familiar bright eyes. Julia got an eyeful of the color red. Without meaning to, Julia gasped. She opened her mouth to ask the other woman why she was there, but the mysterious woman spoke first.
"It's been awhile, Jules," she said. "I haven't seen you around much lately."
That voice, Julia thought. That voice wasn't something her dreams could conjure and Julia found it was often wrong. The silk of it wrapped around her now as Carmen took the seat across from her, catching her eye. The ex agent swallowed, but all she could do was nod.
"Are you all right?" Carmen asked. Her voice was low, concerned. Julia was almost startled out of her stupor upon seeing the other woman. Why would she use such a tone with her? They were on separate sides of the law weren't they?
Weren't they?
"Yes I'm fine," Julia finally said in a tone matching Carmen's, and she hoped that she had given nothing else away. After a small sip of her scalding tea, Julia asked, "Have you been following me?"
At this, red lips curled up into a smile. Julia hoped the other woman couldn't hear her heart rate picking up. "I'm here, so you must know the answer to that." Her voice went back to the tone she had before, serious but concerned. "Where have you been?"
Julia's eyes flickered to the window and then back to Carmen's before saying, "If you have been following me, then you must know the answer to that." She hoped her voice hold the bravado she didn't feel.
"Why did you leave Interpol? ACME?"
Julia did look away then, but she said nothing else. Her fingers played idly with the handle of her teacup as she stared out the window and away from Carmen Sandiego.
"The truth is," the mysterious woman began again, "I think you're the only one who understands me... Who I am and what I'm trying to do. If nothing else, I think you're starting to. That's why I'm here." Carmen reached out and placed the hand over Julia's, catching her eye once more. Julia shyly removed her hand, never breaking the eye contact. She willed her cheeks to stop burning redder than Carmen's fedora.
"I want to know more about you. To... understand more." This is the only truth Julia could give her at this time. Carmen nodded as if to know this as well. She reached into an inside pocket and for the briefest of moments, Julia thought she would extract a gun, but instead there was only a white card between her index and middle finger.
"Well. In that case, don't be a stranger." Carmen stood up then when Julia grabbed the card from her. She suppressed the shiver as their fingers touched briefly and she watched as Carmen left until the very last swish the trench coat was gone. Julia realized then that she could breathe properly once more. Looking down, she saw only a numerical code upon the card. No name, no address, nothing. Julia was eager to crack the code that was both on the card and the one known as Carmen Sandiego.