Chapter 12
Wow.
She’d been expecting a few more objections—which of course she would have ignored.
The plan was a good one and there were ways to minimize the risks. Maybe he was mellowing in his old age. Though really, he’d been old for a long time. Maybe he was just—like many people before him—learning the futility of disagreeing with her.
She almost grinned.
She was glad she’d punched the colonel in the nose.
And she’d been telling the truth—she would have happily killed him.
Except it would probably make a few people unhappy—especially Christa.
And it wouldn’t bring Sam back. Maybe she was mellowing in her old age as well. She was twenty-one, after all.
But the punch had been cathartic in a way. It had released a lot of the tension inside her.
She relaxed and allowed herself to study Kane. Her skin prickled and warmth sank down low in her belly. He’d always had that effect on her, but then he was seriously hot. For an old guy. Though he didn’t have many wrinkles.
He looked around the same age as Jake, who was about thirty.
He was tall, maybe six-four, and lean with hard muscle.
His black hair was messy and overlong as though he couldn’t be bothered to keep it cut.
It fell into his eyes, which were the only thing that reflected his age.
They looked as though they had seen just about everything, and they probably had.
She’d never admit it to him, but she’d been fascinated by his comments the previous evening, about traveling the world—all the changes he must have seen.
If they had a time machine that worked, she’d love to go back and visit some of those places and times.
After she’d rescued Sam, they could both go.
They’d be like Doctor Who, rescuing people and having fun.
Except the stupid time machine was broken.
But if they survived the next year, then maybe they’d live long enough to see time travel invented. And then...
Someone poked her in the arm, and she jumped.
“Are you with us?” Sadie asked.
She glanced around and realized everyone was looking at her. Kane had one eyebrow raised—very impressive.
“Sorry. I was...” She shrugged.
“We’ll have a tracker on you,” Kane continued.
“And you’ll never be more than ten feet from your back-up.
The idea is for you to draw them out. Then we’ll nab whoever is after you—whether it’s hired thugs or the people behind it—before they can get their hands on you.
” She opened her mouth, but he continued before she could speak. “That’s non-negotiable.”
She didn’t like to agree, but it actually made sense, and she gave a curt nod. “But we have to presume it will likely just be hired thugs again. They’ll know nothing.”
“But they’ll have to have a way to contact whoever employed them, so they can hand you over. If we coerce them into setting up the transfer, we get whoever is behind it. But we cannot allow you to fall into these people’s hands.”
“Okay.”
He frowned, then shook his head. He hadn’t been expecting her capitulation, but she could be reasonable—occasionally.
“So, who do you want as backup?” he asked. “I’ll be there. But we need at least a couple of others. Maybe four.”
Why the hell did he need to be there?
“Aw, it’s sweet really,” Sadie said into her mind. “But he will keep you safe, so don’t chop off your nose to spite your face.”
She snorted. “I never understood where that saying came from.”
Who did she want? Ideally Jake. But she knew Christa needed to get back to her lab in Uganda, and Jake would want to go with her. He would stay if she asked, but she wouldn’t do that. The end of the world was approaching—Jake and Christa deserved to be together.
Sadie and Ethan were heading back to Australia.
Rose would be good. They’d all been developing new powers since they’d got out.
All except her—she was a little miffed about that.
Rose could send psi-bolts that literally knocked people out.
It was cool and useful. And Dave would no doubt come along.
He had his limitations—you had to actually talk out loud to communicate with him—but he was always up for a fight.
She looked around and caught a woman’s gaze across the room. She’d never actually met Janelle before last night. But she was Jake’s sister so that had to count for something. Of course, that also meant she was Kane’s sister, but then, they all had their crosses to bear.
The woman was trying not to look too eager, but Kaitlin could almost see it in her eyes, however cool she was trying to appear. Janelle had spent most of her life with the original tribe members who were not, by all accounts, a bundle of laughs. She was probably desperate for a little excitement.
“I wouldn’t say desperate.” The words sounded in her mind, and she realized Janelle was in her head. The other woman shrugged.
“You want to come along?” Kaitlin asked.
Janelle grinned. “Hell, yes.”
“Sounds pretty desperate to me.”
The others were all waiting for her to answer. “Rose and Dave, if they’re okay with it. And Janelle.”
Rose had a whispered conversation with Dave, who nodded. “We’re in,” Rose said.
“Are you sure Janelle’s a good choice?” Kane asked. He turned to the other woman. “No offense, but you don’t have field experience.”
“Offense taken. And I can shoot better than you.”
“Hopefully, it won’t come to shooting,” Jake added. “If she’s happy to go, let her.”
Kane still didn’t look happy.
“Asshole,” Janelle muttered.
“Hey, that’s your brother you’re talking about.”
“Yeah.”
Kane’s eyes had narrowed. He was obviously picking up the conversation—at least Janelle’s side of it.
“Okay, Rose, Dave, and Janelle. And me.” He said the last almost as a challenge, no doubt expecting her to argue. But she just smiled serenely.
She had a flashback to last night. She’d woken briefly as Kane had laid her down on the bed. And in that sleepy moment, when her defenses were down, she’d slipped into his mind. And she’d been suffused with a sensation of warmth and...love.
Kane loved her.
She’d been too tired and emotionally exhausted to fight the feelings, and they had wrapped around her. For the first time in an age, maybe in her entire life, she’d felt safe, and she’d fallen asleep again.
She’d half-woken in the night and for a moment she’d thought it must have been a dream, brought on by reliving the horrors inflicted on Sam. Then she’d spotted Kane—asleep in the chair by the bed. He looked softer in sleep. Which made her realize how intractable he appeared normally. So controlled.
And he loved her.
That didn’t mean she was ready to forgive the fucker.
Ha! Likely, he didn’t even know what love was. She knew. It was putting another’s wants and needs above your own. Above anything else. Let him put her above his stupid mission and then she might believe he loved her.
Until then...