Chapter 6
Kaitlin didn’t want to admit it, but she was curious.
They were entering the doors of Brite Futures; the charitable organization Kane had set up over two decades ago. She’d read up about them. They did some good work—mainly in developing countries, but also with street kids here in London.
Kane obviously wasn’t a complete bastard.
In fact, he was a contradiction. A philanthropist who killed with ease.
The reception area was small, and a woman sat behind a desk in the far corner, across from a bank of elevators. Kane spoke to her without slowing. “Is it all set, Maria?”
“Of course. The flight plan is filed. You can be in the air in minutes.”
Flight plan? They were flying? Without conscious thought, Kaitlin’s forward momentum slowed.
She hadn’t asked how they were getting to Scotland; she’d presumed they were driving. Now it looked like they were flying. Probably in a helicopter, if they were taking off from the roof. Her stomach flip-flopped, and her mouth flooded with saliva.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Who was she kidding? She hated the idea. She’d had a thing about flying ever since she’d been in a plane crash eighteen months ago.
She’d been traveling through the States, just wandering aimlessly when she’d learned that Quinn, the Kindred’s second-in-command, was also in America on a job.
She hadn’t been able to resist a visit—big mistake.
Melody had been there as well—back when they’d believed her to be an FBI agent.
They’d all been on a private plane together when they were shot out of the sky at 30,000 feet.
She’d broken her leg and ruined her favorite pair of leather pants.
Both had hurt.
Since then, she’d been a little bit nervous about leaving the ground.
Not that she’d let it stop her, but all the same, she didn’t like it.
Josie slipped her hand into hers and squeezed.
Kaitlin had once confided her dislike—she wouldn’t call it anything as strong as fear—to Josie over a few glasses of wine.
Kane had gotten ahead of them; now he turned, brows drawn together in a frown. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to get wrinkles, even if he didn’t age. His gaze dropped to their clasped hands, and she pulled free.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
She gave a casual shrug. “No problem. Lead the way, oh mighty leader.”
His eyes narrowed a little at that. One thing she had learned early on about Kane was he hated people making fun of him.
He took himself way too seriously. And she saw it as a sacred duty to wind him up whenever she could.
This time though, he just headed to the elevator and punched the button.
It opened straight away, probably not daring to do anything else.
He waved them inside and then got in himself. The door shut behind them, making the space seem small—too small to be shut in with Kane. Her heart rate sped up. He was just so big. Tall and broad at the shoulder but lean at the hips.
She cast him a sideways glance. She’d always found him physically attractive. But she’d put that down to the fact that he looked very much like Jake—they were actually genetic brothers. And she’d literally grown up with a thumping great crush on Jake.
When she was twelve, she’d told him she was going to marry him.
Jake had patted her on the head, which pretty much summed up their relationship.
Obviously, the whole marrying Jake thing wasn’t going to work now, since he was married to Christa.
And while Kaitlin would have loved to hate the other woman, Christa was, in fact, one of the nicest people she knew.
So yeah, Kane just reminded her of Jake. That was all it was.
He wore black jeans and a black sweater under a long black coat. And he gave off a vaguely menacing vibe.
While Jake always surprised her when he did anything.
..bad, she almost expected it of Kane. It would come naturally to him, and he’d strike out without thinking.
But then, he had grown up in the jungle.
Like a lion. Or maybe more like the black leopard, Kpo, whom he’d raised from a cub. Conscienceless.
He turned, stared down at her, and heat washed through her. His eyes were the piercing blue of all the Kindred and seemed to see into her mind. But despite all the bad things she thought about him, she trusted him not to enter her head without permission.
And he wouldn’t be getting that anytime soon.
She slipped into his and picked up his thoughts. He liked that she was looking at him.
She dug deeper. His mind had always seemed so clear cut, now she sensed a level of confusion. The knowledge of the cataclysm had sent his world into chaos. He’d been so sure of his mission, of its importance, its rightness.
That’s what had made it possible for him to do the things he’d done; kill the people he’d killed.
A sure knowledge that the end justified the means, as long as the end was big enough—and it didn’t come much bigger than saving mankind.
His mission had been like a religion to him, based on a blind faith. Now, he was no longer sure.
She could almost feel sorry for him.
Almost, but not quite.
He was wondering what she was thinking. Whether she still hated him.
“Yes,” she said, and his lips twitched.
He wasn’t worried. He knew she liked him deep down.
That almost made her lips twitch. He was feeding her thoughts.
“In your dreams,” she muttered.
He chuckled, but at that moment, the doors opened.
The elevator opened directly onto the roof, and she pulled her coat around her and hitched her bag onto her shoulder.
Kane had offered to carry it. Ha! As if she couldn’t carry her own bag.
He was carrying Josie’s though. Josie had spent so many years living with a man who had treated her like a delicate flower, she’d sort of grown into the role.
Kaitlin suspected she enjoyed it, and so she was doing her best to toughen the other woman up. Taking her to the dojang every day, teaching her Taekwondo. Josie had asked what was the point, when the world was going to end?
A helicopter stood in the center of the flat roof, the blades already whirling. Kaitlin ducked instinctively as they got near, though she didn’t really need to.
She was trying not to think about the flying bit. There was no one around to shoot them out of the sky this time.
Was there?
To take her mind off the possibility, she thought back to the sensation she’d felt last night just before the attack. She’d been searching for something similar ever since. She did it again now, reaching out across the city for anything unusual, anything that didn’t belong. But she found nothing.
She climbed into the helicopter without waiting for any help, tossed her bag behind the seat, sat down, and fastened the harness. Josie climbed in beside her. Kane was assisting her, and Josie was smiling at him prettily.
He glanced up at that moment and must have caught her sour look as he smiled. He thought she was jealous. Hah.
Luckily, he couldn’t speak as it was way too loud under the whir of the blades. There was no one in the pilot’s seat. Who was flying this thing?
Then Kane got in. She should have known he could fly a helicopter. Kane could do everything. But then, he had had a hell of a lot of years to learn how.
Josie slipped her hand into Kaitlin’s and the blades whirled faster.
Then they were lifting into the air. Her stomach churned.
An image flashed in her mind—for a moment she didn’t recognize it—then she realized it was the thoughts of the pilot who had been flying the plane that crashed.
She was remembering seeing the plane hurtle toward the earth through his eyes.
He’d died in the crash, and she shut down the memory.
Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind as they had taught her in meditation class, breathing slowly and evenly until her fear faded and she opened her eyes.
The sun was setting, and the sky was pink and gold. They were flying over the city, and it was beautiful. Really, it was. After five minutes of staring, she decided she’d done enough to prove that she wouldn’t be conquered by her fears. She closed her eyes and settled back.
She’d gotten zero sleep the night before; time to shut down and get a little rest. But as she relaxed, other memories slipped into her mind. Memories of Sam. Not that last day—she still couldn’t bring herself to think of that. But of Sam growing up.
They’d lived in a compound—little more than a lab—with no real family.
But they’d had each other, and it had been more than enough.
When they’d become telepathic, just after they turned eleven, the bond had grown even stronger; they’d lived in each other’s minds.
She’d been as at home in Sam’s head as in her own. They’d hidden nothing from each other.
Sam had been so good. She’d been the selfish one. She’d tried to persuade Sam to run away so many times. She’d just wanted a little excitement, and towards the end, she’d sensed that the people controlling them could no longer be trusted.
But Sam had believed they were there for a purpose, that through them the world could be a better place. He was such a good person, even if he wasn’t as powerful as she was. She’d always believed that was why they had chosen him for their experiments.
At the thought, her heart cracked. It should have been her. Sam was the best person she had ever known, and he would have made the world better. What could she do? She’d tried to help Sam, and where had it gotten her?
Nowhere.
Well, six months in a prison cell and a whole load of anger and bitterness.
Josie was right. The negative emotions were tearing her apart, but she couldn’t seem to stop the guilt that ate at her soul. She just wanted him back, wanted to be able to tell him she loved him, and she was trying, and...
That was what she’d do if she had a time machine. She would go back and tell Sam that she loved him.
Hell, maybe she could go back and save him. Return to before it had all gone to crap. Rescue him. Bring him to safety.
Except there was no safety. The world was about to end, and she could guarantee that Sam wouldn’t run away to Australia if he knew. No, he’d want to save the world and no doubt, he’d die all over again.
All the same, once the idea had come to her, she couldn’t seem to shift it.
Finally, she slept and dreamed of stealing a time machine, of going back in time and saving her brother.