Chapter 17
The buzzing from beside the bed pulled her from sleep. Kaitlin blinked open her eyes and grabbed for the phone.
“It’s Janelle. I’ve ordered room service. Breakfast for all of us. You have fifteen minutes to get here.”
And the line went dead.
They were all wearing the reflector devices and consequently having to depend on more conventional ways to communicate—like telephones. It had a certain novelty value.
She’d stayed awake a long time after she’d left Josie and returned to her own room. They hadn’t talked much after she had made her bombshell announcement. Josie had gone quiet, but she hadn’t come right out and said that Kaitlin was crazy.
Josie had kissed her as she left and told her that she believed in her and whatever she wanted, she would do her best to help.
It had almost made her cry.
Okay, she had actually blinked back a tear or two. Then she’d gone to bed and thought about Sam. Seeing the files seemed to have unlocked a door to her memories. She hadn’t realized just how tightly she had sealed them away. But strangely, most of the memories were good.
Time healed all wounds. It was a total cliche but also true. She could think of him now with joy as well as pain.
Or maybe her plan had given her some sort of crazy hope. Because it was crazy.
But she wouldn’t think about that today. Right now, she couldn’t afford to be distracted; she had to concentrate on the matter at hand.
Acting as bait. Drawing out the bad guys. Keeping safe while she did it.
The phone rang again.
“Five minutes,” Janelle snapped, and the line went dead.
That woman really had to work on her communication skills.
She dragged herself out of bed and into the shower, then dressed in black jeans, flat boots—she suspected she’d be doing a lot of walking during the day—a black sweater and a leather jacket. She met Rose and Dave in the corridor outside Janelle’s room.
“Are you ready for this?” Rose asked as she opened the door and ushered the other two inside.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Josie was already seated on the sofa, a plate on her lap, a cup in her hand.
She grinned. “Morning.”
“You’re amazingly chirpy,” Rose said.
“I slept well.”
“I’m glad one of us did,” Kaitlin muttered. “She’s just excited because she’s going to see Detective Steve.”
Josie smiled serenely.
“Are you worried about today?” Janelle asked, appearing from the bedroom, dressed very similar to Kaitlin.
Why did everyone seem to think she should be worried? “No. Because nothing is going to go wrong. And you know why? Because I’m not willing to give Kane the opportunity to say I told you so.”
“I thought you were doing this to save the world.” Josie smirked. “Not get one up on Kane.”
“The two are not mutually exclusive. My motives are pure.” She helped herself to a coffee and a croissant, though she wasn’t hungry. Maybe she was a little nervous, after all.
“Are we all clear on how we’re going to work this?” Janelle asked.
“Yes. I shall wander around, radiating come-hither brainwaves and hope someone picks them up. You will follow at a safe distance. If anyone attacks me, you move in and take them. If it’s the bad guys from the future, we take them and question them, find out everything they know.
If it’s hired help, we get them to set up the meet.
We go along and you swoop in and pick up the real bad guys… and voila!”
“Voila?”
“We take them and question them and find out everything they know.”
“It all sounds a little too...easy.” Janelle frowned. “And where do we take them? We can’t just...question them in the street. Or bring them back to the hotel.”
“It’s all organized. Dave has found a place. Apparently, he has contacts.”
Kaitlin swallowed the rest of her croissant and washed it down with coffee. She was itching to get going. To get this over with and find out something useful.
It had to work.
Otherwise, they were back to square one again with no leads. She sighed. “Anything else?”
“Remember to avoid telephone conversations in case anyone is monitoring,” Rose said.
“But you’ll have the tracking device and the panic button.
Hit it as soon as you feel anything out of the ordinary.
” Rose came toward her, the small circular tracker in her hand, and considered Kaitlin for a moment.
“Hmm, maybe we should have had this inserted under your skin. Though I suppose we still could.”
No, we could not. “You’re not cutting me open. And anyway, if they scan for a tracker, they’ll find it and then slice me open—again—to get it out.”
“They’re not going to get a chance to scan you. That’s not part of the plan. But I suppose you’re right.” Rose sounded almost upset.
“Bloodthirsty bitch,” Kaitlin muttered.
Rose laughed. “You could swallow it.” She took one look at Kaitlin’s face and sighed. “Maybe not.” She tucked the tracker in Kaitlin’s inside pocket. “Just remember, we will never be far away. We’ve got your back.”
“I know.”
Rose patted her arm. “You’ll be fine. You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
Kaitlin decided honesty was the best policy. “And third and fourth. But I still think it’s our best option. Actually, our only option.”
“Okay then, let’s do this. Dave and I are going to be following you this morning. Then Janelle and Josie this afternoon and evening.”
“I’m going to head to the apartment first. It would make sense that they’d be keeping an eye on the place. Then just...saunter about. Maybe visit the dojo and the police station. Anywhere I usually hang out.”
“You really need to get a more balanced life,” Rose said.
She was probably right.
“I’ll wait until I’m fifteen minutes out from here to take off the reflector device, so I don’t lead them to the rest of you. Just in case it all goes tits up.”
“It’s not going to go tits up. But it doesn’t hurt to be careful.” Rose fiddled with the reflector device, though it was unobtrusive and could hardly be seen under her hair.
Kaitlin jumped to her feet. “Right. I’ll be off then.”
“And we’ll be close behind.”
Josie got up as well and gave her a hug. “Don’t take any stupid chances.”
“When have you ever known me to be stupid? On second thoughts—don’t answer that.”
She left the room and took the elevator down to the ground floor.
It was weird, but she felt...alone. She’d spent a lot of time on her own—even not counting the six months she’d spent in virtual solitary confinement when she was imprisoned by the Conclave.
But she’d not really been lonely. Now she felt isolated.
It was partly the reflector device, but also maybe she was beginning to actually need people.
An image of Kane flashed in front of her eyes.
Luckily, the elevator door pinged open to distract her.
But as she exited the hotel lobby, she couldn’t help but wonder where he was, what he was doing.
He was probably at home in Uganda and playing with his time machine.
She hoped he got the answers he was looking for.
At the thought, her feet stopped moving.
Kane was the enemy, wasn’t he?
She had a flashback to the kiss.
The kiss!
And she suddenly realized that she wanted to kiss him again. She wasn’t ready to fall in love or anything—that would be stupid. But the kiss had been everything she had always imagined a kiss should be.
Maybe because Kane loved her. Even if she didn’t love him. Anyway, that was unlikely to last if she stole his time machine.
After walking for a good fifteen minutes, she stopped.
Glancing behind her, she couldn’t see Rose or Dave.
She slipped the reflector device from her head and placed it in her bag.
Then she closed her eyes for a moment, reaching out with her mind and finding nothing unexpected.
She could hear the myriad thoughts of all the passing people.
Someone crashed into her, and she nearly went over, but when she opened her eyes, it was just a harried man in a suit trying to walk and read his cell at the same time.
He flashed her an irritated glance as though it was her fault, though she supposed she had been standing in the middle of a busy street with her eyes closed.
She shook herself, then headed off in the direction of her apartment. It was a thirty-minute walk; she could have taken the tube, but she needed to use up some energy. And for once, the sun was shining, though the temperature was close to freezing. She hunched her shoulders and walked on.
Maybe she’d get lucky, and they’d find her quickly and she could go somewhere warm. Like...Uganda perhaps.
She couldn’t believe she was even thinking that. Bloody Kane—infiltrating her thoughts. Kissing her...though she had kissed him back.
Anyway, there were other things in Uganda besides Kane. Like his time machine, for instance. Though maybe she shouldn’t be thinking about the time machine when there might be powerful telepaths about. That was maybe just wishful thinking. So far, she hadn’t caught a flicker of anything interesting.
She got to the apartment, loitered inside for a few minutes, but couldn’t settle and set off again. There was a coffee shop across the road, and she got herself a coffee and took a window seat, putting herself on display for anyone to see.
Come and get me!
Except it looked like nobody wanted her.
After that, she spent another couple of hours wandering aimlessly. She was bored. She wanted something to happen. Anything. She was cold and hungry.
She grabbed a sandwich from a takeout place and ate it on the move, then decided to head over to the police station.
This time, she did take the tube. Her feet were starting to ache, and it was a long walk.
She caught a glimpse of Rose and Dave getting into a carriage a few down from her, but neither of them acknowledged her presence.
At the station, she asked for Steve. She had no clue if he was on duty, or if he was, whether he would even be here. But she felt she had to do something. And it turned out he was.
He gave her a hug and then stepped away. “I didn’t think you’d be home yet.”
“We had things to do here.”
“Is Josie with you?”
“Not right now, but she is back in London. Why don’t you give her a call?”
He smiled. “I might do that. Is she at the apartment?”
“No, we’re staying in a hotel at the moment.”
His eyes narrowed at that. “For any particular reason?”
She gave a casual shrug. “It’s tied to the things we came back to do. But if you want to know any more, you’ll have to talk to Josie. I’m pretty sure she wants to talk to you.”
“She does?” He sounded happy at that.
“Oh, yeah, big time.” There, she’d done her good deed for the day. She’d never considered herself a matchmaker but hey, anyone could learn new tricks.
“What about your other friend—Kane? Did he return to London with you?”
“No. He’s gone...somewhere else.”
“You don’t sound too happy about that.”
“I’m fucking delirious.”
He chuckled and she gave what she hoped was a sarcastic smile. “What about those two guys I took down on New Year’s Eve? What happened to them?”
“Out on bail. Though I doubt it will go to trial.”
Interesting. “Do you know who posted bail?”
“I can probably get the details for you.”
“Thanks.”
Time to get back to trudging the streets of London, hoping someone would spot her. Maybe the guys from New Year’s Eve would have another go. But she doubted it—they hadn’t done such a good job last time. “Okay, I’ve got to be off. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
Four hours later, she was about to collapse in a heap and admit she was wrong. No one wanted her. Who would have thought wandering aimlessly could be so boring? It was probably that she was waiting for something that never happened.
She was aware that her backup team had changed. She’d caught sight of Janelle a couple of times. Rose and Dave were probably back at the nice warm hotel, likely snuggled up in bed. At that thought, an image of Kane flashed up in her mind. Why was that? Her brain should have more sense.
Her phone rang, and she pulled it out and glanced at the caller ID. It was Janelle. What had happened to maintaining silence? Still, she was glad of the interruption. Maybe they should end the session. She could come out again later. Maybe they only worked at night.
“I thought you weren’t allowed to call me.”
“We decided you’d want to hear this.”
“What is it?”
“My brother is right now on his way to the hotel.”
Her heart jumped in her chest, but she forced herself to remain cool. “Which brother?”
“Hah. Which one would you like it to be?”
“Jake.”
“Liar.”
Her heart jumped again and started a steady thump in her chest. “Kane is on his way? How come? Why isn’t he in Uganda where he’s supposed to be? Has something gone wrong?”
“Not that I know of. Apparently, he had a change of heart while waiting in Kampala airport and decided that looking after you was more important than his time machine.”
“I somehow don’t believe that. And why didn’t anyone tell us he was on his way?”
“Jake told Rose but said not to tell you yet—he didn’t want to get your hopes up in case Kane changed his mind and turned back.”
“More hah!” She looked around searching for Janelle but couldn’t spot her anywhere. “Where are you? Where do we meet? Or shall I see you back at the hotel?”
“There’s an underground parking facility just around the corner. Meet us there in ten and we’ll drive you back.”
“Okay.”
Looked like her aimless wandering was over for the moment. To be safe, she pulled the reflector device from her bag and slipped it in place. Now she could relax for the rest of the day.
She spotted the sign for parking and started walking fast. What the hell was going on?
Kane had chosen her over his time machine.
It was inconceivable. Her blood was fizzing in her veins.
He was in London. For a moment, she was tempted to take off the reflector device and reach out to him.
But likely, he would be wearing one of the devices as well, so the bad guys wouldn’t pick him up. She’d see him soon enough.
She stopped short. What was she doing? She was acting like some lovesick teenager. He probably had a perfectly pragmatic reason for coming to London that had nothing to do with her.
Be cool.