Chapter 26
Kane lay back on the bed and watched, arms clasped behind his head, as Kaitlin groped for her sweater on the floor, then tugged it over her head.
Pity.
His dick ached, but otherwise, he felt good. More positive than in a long time. Maybe ever. It was as though he’d finally let go of the things that had been holding him back.
He felt like together they could save the world.
He still hoped that saving the world somehow coincided with his mission. But if it didn’t, then he would choose the right course—not the one he’d been set upon from the moment he was born.
That was what it was to be human. You got to choose.
And he’d chosen Kaitlin. In some ways, that was seriously scary.
Still, he was glad she’d decided against stealing the time machine. Because, although he’d said he’d support her, he thought it was a really bad idea—one doomed to failure.
“Are you going to lie there all day?”
“Night,” he murmured. “It’s nighttime.”
“Okay. Are you going to lie there all night?” She cocked her head to one side and studied him. “Don’t you want to know what Christa has found?”
He rolled over and then sat up, scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Maybe. But this conversation is not over.”
“I know.” She licked her lips again, her gaze wandering down over his body, and his heat surged through him. “We’ll finish it soon.”
Would she let him in? And if she wouldn’t, would he hold out? Refuse her his body? He grinned at the thought. That would be a definite case of cutting off his nose to spite his face.
But he wanted her mind as much as he wanted her body. He’d grown up in a small society where everyone was in each other’s heads. Nothing held back. No lies. He wanted that with Kaitlin.
He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You once told me you wanted a world with no more lies,” he said. “Well, I want that as well. At least between the two of us.”
She nodded. “I told you—I’m working on it.”
He supposed that was the best he could ask for. And it was far more than he had once thought he would get from her.
It just wasn’t enough.
He brushed past her and opened the door. The group were in the lounge area, seated around a coffee table with a laptop placed in the center. They all looked up with varying levels of interest as he entered, Kaitlin behind him.
“Hmm, you look pretty pleased with yourself,” Rose said to Kaitlin. “But Kane still looks a little on the tense side, so I’m guessing he didn’t get laid.”
“Mind your own business,” Kane replied though with zero hope that would happen.
“Nope,” Janelle murmured, her eyes widening, and a wicked grin curved her lips. “My brother is holding out on her. Kane’s playing hard to get.”
He pursed his lips but decided not to respond.
Instead, he went and sat down in one of the free seats.
Kaitlin had located the drinks cart and was pouring herself a glass of wine.
She hesitated, then poured scotch for him, and brought the drinks over.
She handed him the scotch and then sank down close beside him and sighed.
“Does this ever get annoying?” Steve asked. “I mean, you have zero privacy.”
“You get used to it,” Rose said.
At that moment, the screen on the laptop lit up and Christa’s face appeared. Jake stood behind her with one hand on her shoulder.
What had she found? He’d been too caught up in Kaitlin to wonder, but now he could see the barely suppressed excitement on her face, and his curiosity rose. But first things first. “You’ve got the place secured?” he asked.
“Yes,” Jake replied. “We have guards all around the perimeter, and extra surveillance set up around the cavern. If anything moves, we’ll know about it.”
“Good.” There, he’d proved he was cool about all this. Time to move on to the interesting stuff. “What have you found?”
“We got inside,” Christa said. “There was a panel beside the door. When Jake put his palm on it, the whole thing just slid open.”
They’d gotten inside? Part of him wished he’d been there. He’d thought he was past that, but how could he be? His whole life had been leading up to this point. He was allowed a little excitement. Kaitlin squeezed his thigh. “I’m sorry you weren’t there.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I thought you’d want to see inside,” Christa said.
Her face was replaced by a video feed. It started off first showing the door.
Then whoever was carrying the camera stepped inside.
He leaned closer. The camera panned around a circular room with very little in it.
It settled on a console with a screen. The camera moved closer.
It showed a time and a date and coordinates which he presumed were a location.
Then Christa’s face appeared again. “28th February,” she said. “We have to presume that’s the date when whatever is going to happen, happens.”
“And the coordinates?”
“I’m not sure yet. It isn’t anything I’ve seen before. We presume it’s a location, but I’m working on it, just to be sure. Don’t worry, I’ll get there.”
The 28th of February. Two months away. Hopefully that would be long enough for them to get everything set up in Australia, so there would be a safe place for anyone who wanted it.
And at least it gave them a time frame. They could narrow down their search for whatever was about to happen.
The location would be a huge help as well.
“There’s something else,” Christa said. Her face disappeared to be replaced again by the video feed.
It shifted from the console and carried on around the small room.
Then it settled on something, obviously not part of the time machine.
It stood away from the wall, situated on some sort of trolley.
It looked to be around five feet tall, three feet wide, two feet deep and rectangular.
There were no marks or labels to indicate what it was.
“What is it?” he asked.
Christa reappeared. “We’re pretty sure it’s a bomb.”
“A fucking great bomb,” Jake added. “It’s nothing like we’ve ever seen before, but we’re doing some analysis—very careful analysis. It looks powerful enough to take out a city.”
“Nuclear?”
“Maybe. We’ll know more later.”
A city wasn’t most of the world, though. Maybe this wasn’t the source of the cataclysm.
“Presumably we—and I mean the original tribe—are supposed to take this bomb to the time and location shown on the console. And then what?” He’d thought the instructions would have been clearer.
That all would be revealed. That they would finally know the answers.
Instead, he was as much in the dark as ever.
“Jesus, I thought it would be more straightforward.”
“We have a date,” Jake said. “And hopefully, soon, we’ll also have a place.”
“We also have a fucking great bomb and no clue what we’re supposed to do with it.” He took a deep breath and calmed his thoughts. Beside him, Kaitlin leaned forward.
“I don’t suppose there’s a user manual, is there? You know. Something like a How-to-Fly-this-Time-Machine booklet.”
She wasn’t still planning on stealing the thing, was she? He’d thought she was past that.
“Don’t fret,” she murmured. “I am past it.”
“Past what?” Christa asked.
“Kaitlin was planning to steal the time machine,” Kane said.
“She was? Why?”
“That’s her business.” If she wanted to share, then that was up to her. She squeezed his leg again.
“I was thinking about going back and saving Sam. But don’t worry, it was a momentary aberration which has now passed.”
“Wow. Good. I think.”
Kaitlin grinned. “But it would still be cool to be able to fly the thing. Just think of the possibilities. Once we’ve saved the world, of course.”
“Well, we haven’t found anything yet, but we’re still investigating,” Christa said.
“We’re proceeding slowly. I don’t want to inadvertently press a button and disappear to God knows where, never mind God knows when.
” She gave a short laugh. “Jake insists on coming inside with me whenever I go in there. I think that if I do vanish in a puff of smoke, he’ll make sure he vanishes with me. ”
“Good plan,” Kane said. “Anything else?”
“No, that’s it.” She gave him a sly look. “Except...Rose said they had to get you out of bed. You and Kaitlin.”
“We weren’t in bed. We were discussing...strategy.”
“I bet that was interesting. Anyway, I’m glad the two of you have made up.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, so he kept quiet on the subject. “We’ll be there in about six hours,” he said, glancing at his watch.
“We’ll meet you at the airport. Stay safe.”
And the screen went dead.
“So,” he said, looking around at their faces. No one was giving anything away. “We have a date and hopefully soon a place. That’s some progress anyway.”
“And we also have a bomb,” Kaitlin added. “All we need to do now is work out what to blow up.”
God help them all.