Chapter 28
COLE
While Kate works to calm her grandmother, I do what I do best. It’s easy enough to hack into Nathan Cohen’s graduate school record—exactly what Orla asked me to do months ago.
He’s an excellent student, receiving top grades in all his classes. In fact, his coursework is complete. He’s moving on to fieldwork in Indonesia. According to a departmental calendar, Cohen is scheduled to arrive in Jakarta next Wednesday.
Airlines are only somewhat more challenging to hack into than universities.
The biggest challenge is that Cohen has traded in his original ticket so he can travel with his new wife.
He was supposed to enjoy a one-stop trip on Qatar Airways, with a single four-hour layover in Doha.
Now, the pair of them are scheduled to travel thirty-eight hours with three stops.
They’re scheduled to depart from Dulles at midnight tomorrow.
Kate reads over my shoulder as I confirm the new itinerary. “I’ve never even heard of Wikiwiki Airlines.”
I frown as I pull up recent news coverage. “They’ve only been around a few years. And their safety record is…marginal.”
Kate swallows audibly as she scans a summary of near-misses. “Breagha can’t—”
“She won’t,” I say.
It’s easier to book two new fares than it is to modify the current ones. First class. Qatar Airways. A private shower and sleep room reserved at the first-class lounge in Doha.
I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep spending like this. Between my sharply reduced client list and the IRS’s demands, I should be cutting back. But for now, I have the money—and the look of relief on Kate’s face makes the expense worth every penny.
“There,” I say, waving toward the confirmation screen. “Send my congratulations when you let the happy couple know about their wedding gift.”
“Thank you,” Kate breathes. She’s already typing on her phone.
I wait until she receives a thrilled reply—balloon emoji, heart emoji, plane emoji, and that fucking panda—before I say, “Now you need to eat some dinner and get to bed.”
“I’m not hungry,” she protests automatically.
“Your body needs protein to heal.”
“I’m fine.”
“Goddammit, Kate!”
Hearing the anger in my voice, I close my eyes. The day has already been more than she ever should have dealt with—the flight delay in New York, Collins’ execution, the shock of her sister’s elopement… All of that, on top of the physical trauma she’s still recovering from, the damage I inflicted.
“Don’t do this,” Kate says, her voice so soft I barely recognize it. She cups my jaw in her palm, staying with me when I try to toss away her touch.
“Do what?” I growl.
“Act like everything that happened was your fault.”
“It was. I met with Fournier. I walked us back to that fucking theater when we could have gone straight to the lobby. I…”
I chose the bullet vibrator.
I used the cane.
I fucked your ass, even though I knew your history with anal.
I hurt you in ways you never asked for. In ways no one could ever desire.
“It was Tarasov,” she says. “Not you.”
“I should have—”
She settles her finger against my lips. “No. No should. No could. No would. Do what you can do now. Figure out MAJAT. We’ll make that shitehawk suffer.”
She waits for me to nod before she says, “Come on. You need supper too.”
Our fingers lace together as we head for the dining room.