Chapter 30
As they reached the house, Kaitlin paused, then tried to pull away from him. “I’m going to see if Rose has any clothes I can borrow. I’ll die of heat exposure in these jeans.”
She’d dressed for winter in London, and her clothes were hardly suitable for Uganda. For a moment, his grip tightened, as though he didn’t want to let her go, then he gave a nod and released her.
“Okay. I’ll see you in the meeting.” He leaned down and kissed her lips; an all too brief kiss that re-awakened the desire inside her.
Her whole body felt sensitive. She had never experienced anything like the feel of his mouth on her.
She had an urge to reciprocate. To taste him, take all that raw male power into her mouth.
“Jesus,” he muttered. “You’re killing me. Why did you have to think that just now?” He pressed her hand against the hard length of his erection. “Have we time? Honestly, I’m guessing about thirty seconds will do it.”
“No,” Rose said, appearing at the door. “Keep it in your pants, big guy. We have a world to save.”
“Jesus,” he muttered again and Kaitlin almost giggled. He sounded so pissed off. She pulled her hand back; it didn’t seem appropriate with Rose leering at the two of them, an amused expression on her face.
“Can I borrow some shorts and a T-shirt?” she asked Rose. “And maybe some flip-flops.”
“Of course. We might just have time for that.”
Kane scowled. He clearly believed that the time might be better used giving him a blow job.
“Later.” She grinned.
He gave a sigh of resignation. “Go get your clothes.”
She went up on tiptoes and kissed him, then watched as he disappeared inside. Rose led her around the veranda that wrapped around the house to her room at the back of the building.
“You seem happy,” Rose said as she opened the door and hustled her inside. The room was cool after the heat of the day. “I don’t think you’ve been like this since...”
“Since before Sam died.”
“Yeah. I’m glad. I never liked Kane—”
“Me neither.”
Rose laughed. “But clearly, he’s good for you. I never would have thought it. But I guess you’re all grown up now.”
She scowled. “I’ve been grown up for a long time.”
“In some ways, maybe. In others, you were the most emotionally stunted person I’ve ever met.
Hardly surprising—so don’t get your panties in a twist.” She rummaged in one of the drawers and tossed Kaitlin a pair of khaki shorts and a hot pink tank top that matched the streak in her hair.
“Come to think about it, Kane’s pretty emotionally stunted as well.
In fact, the two of you are the perfect couple. ”
“Thanks.”
She wriggled out of her jeans and T-shirt, then pulled on the shorts and tank. “That’s so much better.” Except the shorts were in danger of slipping down over her hips. Which would not be a good look.
Rose studied her for a moment. “You’ve filled out a little since the last time you borrowed my clothes.
” That had been just after she’d escaped from the Conclave and six fun-filled months of incarceration.
Back then, she’d been bordering on emaciated.
“But you’re still a lot skinnier than me.
” Rose tossed her a rope belt, and she slipped it on, fastened it around her waist.
Kane hadn’t thought she was too skinny. He’d thought she was perfect.
“You are perfect,” Rose said, then stepped in close and gave her an impulsive hug. “God, we were all so worried about you. I’d be happy you were shagging the devil if it brought you back to us.”
Kaitlin’s eyes pricked. Of course, she’d known they were all worried about her, but she hadn’t allowed herself to dwell on it. She’d been too wound up with her own worries and fears.
“We’re starting without you,” Jake said in her head, and she pulled herself away and sniffed.
“Hold your horses, we’re coming.”
They were in the meeting room at the back of the house. Not everyone was present, and she guessed that they were still maintaining the watch on the perimeter and the cave.
Leila was there. She glanced over as Kaitlin entered, a speculative look crossing her face. Leila would know what she’d been up to with Kane. They all would. It was impossible to keep secrets with this group. But she found she didn’t care.
The colonel was over in the far corner of the room, standing alone.
He briefly caught her eye as she passed and then looked away.
Martin Rayleigh was standing not far away, deep in conversation with Janelle.
But it seemed as though they had reached some sort of accord; there was a closeness between them, even though they weren’t touching.
Martin had been fighting for so long—he didn’t want to be in a relationship with a woman who remained young and vital while he grew old.
But maybe that was no longer an issue. Christa thought she could implant the anti-aging gene into other people.
And besides, maybe the world was going to end soon, so what was the point in worrying about getting old?
Janelle gave her a smirk and a wink. “Welcome to the family.”
“Looks like hell must have frozen over,” Jake murmured as she passed him.
She turned and glared. She’d once told Jake that hell would freeze over before she’d allow Kane to get his hands on her. She opened her mouth but then closed it again when she saw the smile on Jake’s face. He was happy for her. For both of them.
“Don’t look so pleased with yourself,” she growled. “You haven’t entirely gotten me off your hands.”
“I wouldn’t want to.”
Someone had put a huge pot of coffee on the table, and she poured herself a cup. Kane wasn’t here yet, and she crossed the room and took a seat next to Josie. “How’s it going?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t I be asking that?” Josie said, sounding a little pissed. “Sometimes I hate the fact that everyone knows more of what’s going on than I do.”
“I don’t,” said Steve from beside her. “I have no fucking clue what’s going on. I’m just along for the ride. So, what is going on?”
“Something has happened. Everyone is looking very smug, and you look...” She peered at Kaitlin; her brows drawn together. “I’m not sure what you look, but something.”
“She looks like she just got laid,” Steve said.
Josie’s eyes widened. “You got laid. You and...”
“That asshole Kane,” Steve supplied.
Josie sat back in her chair. “I suppose it was inevitable. So how was it?”
Kaitlin raised an eyebrow.
“Well, honestly, everyone else knows, why shouldn’t I?”
Kaitlin supposed she had a point. It must be hard being on the outside. All the same, she wasn’t ready to talk about her and Kane just yet. It was too new.
He appeared at that moment. He’d changed into shorts and a T-shirt, his damp hair brushed back from his forehead.
He hesitated in the doorway, his gaze finding her, and a slow smile curved his lips.
His eyes darkened and heat flared in her core, radiating out until she thought she might burst into flames.
“Good, I reckon,” Josie said with a sigh.
Kane strolled over and took the seat on her other side, resting his arm along the back of her seat.
For a moment, she wasn’t sure what to do, then she thought “what the fuck”, and shifted in her chair, so she leaned in, fitting against his body as though they were made to be together.
It felt good. Right. She glanced up to find everyone watching her.
Most were grinning broadly, and she snarled.
Beside her, Kane chuckled, then took the coffee from her hand and sipped. He released his breath, and she felt the tension ease from him.
She dipped into his mind. He hadn’t known how the others would react to them as a couple.
He knew how protective they were of her.
And strangely, he wanted their approval.
All his life, he hadn’t worried what people thought of him or his actions.
Now he had people he cared about. But there were only good vibes in the air; everyone was happy for them.
But beneath that, she could sense his underlying tension. They had to make some decisions about what their next move would be. And while they’d found some new information, it just wasn’t enough.
Jake moved to the front of the room—Christa now beside him—and silence fell, everyone focused on what was to come.
“We’re here today to decide what to do next.
Maybe first we should list out what we see as our options right now.
Then we’ll go over the information we have and work out the best way forward.
I had a call this morning with Sadie and Ethan.
The Australian facilities are just about complete.
They will include a nuclear fallout shelter that will hold a thousand people.
Inside, there will be stores for up to five years and equipment that should enable us to monitor what’s happening on the planet surface and allow us to communicate with any other groups of survivors.
Which means there’s room for all of us, if we decide that’s the best course of action. ”
“You mean hide?” Kaitlin asked.
“That’s one way of looking at it, but it will be a group decision.
I’m not going to force anyone to do anything.
You’ll all get a say, and you’ll all decide what’s right for yourselves.
Sadie and Ethan will remain over there, though.
They’ll be running the facility. Christa is going to talk to you next about the machine. ”
Christa walked forward. “Morning everyone. As you all now know, we’ve gotten inside the machine and we have a date for something, though right now we don’t actually know what that something is.
We’ve also downloaded information from the machine’s hard drive.
It’s not in a language we can understand, but Stefan is working on an algorithm that will hopefully help us translate it. ”
“Any idea at all what it is?” Rose asked.
“We think it’s the specs for the machine, and maybe some sort of user manual.”
“Yay,” Kaitlin put in. “I vote we all go visit the wild west and become cowboys.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Josie muttered.
“You can be a saloon girl,” Kaitlin offered. “But really, why not? We could all go and have some fun and still come back and save the world or whatever we plan to do.”
“Except it seems that the machine isn’t exactly one hundred percent reliable,” Jake added. “Last time it was sent to do a job, it went back an extra ten thousand years and then crashed.”
Kaitlin supposed he had a valid point. They’d have to wait another ten thousand years for a chance to save the world. She didn’t think she had that much patience. “Okay, but if we do this saving the world thing, then I get first dibs on where and when we go in the time machine after it’s all over.”
Jake grinned. “Okay, you choose, but you might be on your own.”
“Nah, Kane wants to be a cowboy.”
“No, I don’t. Been there, done that. Choose again.”
“Okay. There’s plenty to choose from.”
“Christ, did she just give in without an argument?” Rose said. “The sex must have been out of this world.”
“Hah.” Kaitlin scowled. “You mean you don’t know?”
She smirked. “We know. I was just being polite.”
Christa spoke again. “We’re also hoping there’s some sort of ship’s log.
Some explanation of what they were doing and why, though that may be wishful thinking.
Anyway, Stefan reckons another day, and he should have an initial translation.
The other thing is that the object on board is definitely a bomb.
It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen, but we’ve estimated it has a power of around five hundred kilotons.
Which is powerful, but not enough to do the sort of damage we’re expecting from the cataclysm. ”
“So it’s unlikely that the bomb causes the cataclysm?” Kane said. She knew he wanted some sort of affirmation that the mission wasn’t to destroy the world.
“At this point, I think all we can say was that the intention was not to destroy the planet, but rather some specific target. But that’s not to say that the bomb doesn’t trigger something that ultimately results in the cataclysm.”
“Is it radioactive?” Kaitlin asked.
“We’re not sure yet. It’s a material we’ve never seen before.”
“So, our first decision is what to do with the bomb,” Jake said. “One option is that we destroy it now.”
“Maybe the bomb is to counteract some other threat,” Kane said. “Maybe it was sent back to destroy whatever caused the cataclysm.”
Jake frowned. “Maybe. The truth is we have no clue if the bomb was originally meant to destroy the planet or save it.”
“Does it matter?” Kane asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if the original mission was to set off a bomb to destroy the Earth, then obviously we’re not going to set it off.
Even if it was to destroy a different target, but causes the destruction of the planet, then we’re not going to set it off.
The only scenario where it could be used is if it was sent back to destroy a bigger threat—to stop whatever caused the cataclysm. ”
Kaitlin thought over what he’d said. He was admitting that he would not blindly carry out the mission. It had been his everything, his whole purpose in life for so long, and he was letting it go. She rested her hand on his leg and squeezed. He laced his fingers with hers.
Jake was pacing the front of the room, running his hands through his overlong hair—a sure sign he wasn’t happy with his thoughts. Finally, he turned back to face them all. “And now, we’re back to the beginning. We don’t fucking know.”
“But it does mean we can’t destroy the bomb,” Kaitlin said. “I mean...just in case.”
“I think you’re right. All the same, I hate having that thing sitting there. Anyone got any other thoughts? Any ideas?”
Someone asked a question and Kaitlin zoned out—it was stuff she already knew, and they weren’t getting anywhere.
What should they do?
What would Sam have done?
Kane was silent at her side, deep in his own thoughts. Saying goodbye to his mission. It must be so nice to have blind faith, to be so sure of something that you never had to question your actions. She questioned hers all the time, was never entirely sure she was doing the right thing.
“That’s what it is to be human,” Kane said in her head. “I always thought I was beyond that. That what was right and wrong didn’t matter. I had the mission.”
“How does it feel to be human?”
“Some of it, total crap. Some of it makes the rest worthwhile.”
She smiled.
“You know what we have to do,” Kane continued. “What Sam would want you to do. Just go tell them straight.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to tell them?”
“They’ll take it better from you.”
“They will?”
He smiled. “They love you. But they also respect you. You’re the heart of this group. You make us bigger than what we are alone.”
She blinked back a tear at that, then took a deep breath and rose to her feet and cleared her throat. Nobody took the slightest bit of notice. She closed her eyes and shouted in her head. “QUIET!”