Chapter 34
Kane forced down the panic building inside him.
He could no longer see their attackers. They’d taken cover behind a huge rocky outcrop.
Leila and Brandon, and he guessed the colonel, since he hadn’t returned, were on the far side of them, shooting.
They might hit Kaitlin, and he needed to stop them.
But he couldn’t risk taking off the reflector device, or he’d be incapacitated.
A scream ripped through the air. Kaitlin.
He lurched forward, but someone grabbed him from behind.
“Wait,” Jake said.
Silence followed.
Was she hurt...dead?
Shots still rang out from beyond them. Had Kaitlin taken a bullet? From one of their own people? Jesus—he needed to know more. He jerked at the grip on his arm, but Jake held him tight.
“You can’t go out there. You’ll be in the direct line of fire. Come on, Kane, pull it together. You can’t help her if you go to pieces.”
Kane slowed his breathing, taking long, deep breaths.
She couldn’t be dead. Even without the telepathic connection, he’d know.
He would sense it. He had to work on the presumption that she was alive, though she must have been hurt.
That had been a scream of pure agony. He was going to kill the fuckers.
And he was going to kill Leila. She must know they had Kaitlin.
Jake was right. They had to think through this. Work out a way to get her out and neutralize whoever had her. First, he needed confirmation she was alive, because if not, he was going right in there and killing them all.
“Kaitlin,” he called out. “Are you okay?”
For a few seconds there was no reply, and he could feel the panic rising again, choking him.
“I’m alive,” she called out, and for a moment his heart stopped beating. “And I’d really like to stay that way, if that’s okay with you.”
Oh God, he could breathe again. But he needed to hold her. “Are you shot?”
“No. I twisted my ankle running down the mountain.”
“Thank Christ,” Jake muttered from beside him.
It was a stalemate.
Leila and Brandon had their attackers pinned down.
They couldn’t move from their cover under the rock, or they would be easy targets.
Their next move had to be some sort of threat against Kaitlin in exchange for safe conduct.
Except, he didn’t think that would work with Leila.
While she wouldn’t kill Kaitlin in cold blood, she would do whatever was necessary to protect the time machine.
And if that resulted in Kaitlin’s death, she would see it as a fair trade.
“We need to find out what they want,” he said.
Jake ran a hand through his hair. “It’s pretty obvious they were heading for the time machine, so we have to guess it’s something to do with that. I don’t think they simply want to take us out.”
“But do they want to steal it, or do they want to destroy it?”
“Who the fuck knows? But we need to decide what our priority is here.”
Kane glared at him. “Our priority is getting Kaitlin out of there alive and safe,” he snapped.
“Good. Because if it was anything else, we’d have a problem.”
“Unfortunately, I’m not sure Leila and Brandon would agree.”
“Can’t you stop them? Aren’t you their fucking boss?”
“Leila pretty much told me she doesn’t trust me anymore. That she doesn’t believe my loyalties lie with the mission.”
“And is she right?”
He didn’t even need to think about it. He’d made his decision. People were what mattered. “Yes. But Leila’s loyalty will always be to the mission. She won’t stand down and let them destroy the machine. Even if it means Kaitlin is sacrificed.”
“Christ, what a mess.”
Too right. He forced his mind to focus. There had to be a way. Maybe it was time to find out their endgame.
“What do you want?” he called out. Sometimes it was easiest to just ask.
“We want safe passage to the machine,” a woman replied.
“Release Kaitlin, and we’ll consider your request.”
“I don’t think so. Stop shooting, let us go to the machine, and then we’ll release her.”
“Do you trust them?” Jake asked quietly.
“Hell, no.” He blew out his breath. There had been a short cessation of shots while they talked. Obviously, Leila was listening in. Now they started shooting again. And the gunfire was moving closer to where they had taken cover with Kaitlin.
“Leila’s going to try and take them out,” he muttered. “Shit.” He could see Leila now, and Brandon off to her left, crossing a short space of clear ground.
Beside him, Jake raised his rifle and took aim. At Leila.
“Jake?”
“If it’s a choice between Leila and Kaitlin, I will shoot her. I’ll try not to make it fatal, but I can’t promise.”
Kane gritted his teeth. Part of him knew he should stop Jake, and his hand inched out. This was Leila. He’d known her all his life. But then there was Kaitlin. He couldn’t let her die.
“Leila, back down,” he called out. But she didn’t even glance his way, and he knew she wouldn’t listen to him any longer.
His hand dropped to his side as Jake’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Before he could shoot, there was movement behind Leila—two dark figures against the backdrop of rock. A laser blasted out, hitting Leila directly in the back, spinning her around, and she crashed to the ground unmoving. A second shot took out Brandon. Then silence.
Jake lowered his weapon. “Shit.”
He wasn’t wrong there. “Are they dead?” Leila’s head was turned in their direction and her eyes were wide open and staring.
“I think so,” Jake said.
Kane’s mind was blank. They were the last of the Guardians.
But he couldn’t think about it now. He pushed the grief to the back of his mind, knowing he would grieve for them later.
The two figures, both dressed in what looked like black body armor with helmets and face masks, moved closer, their weapons aimed toward him and Jake. Kane held himself still.
A second later, a man and a woman emerged from their cover, Kaitlin held in front of them like a shield.
Kane’s breath caught. She was alive, though her face was screwed up in pain.
The man holding her also wore black body armor, but no helmet.
In one hand he held a pistol aimed at Kaitlin’s head, the other hand gripped her upper arm.
Kane suspected it was all that was keeping her upright.
She stumbled and almost fell as the man pulled her out from under the cover of the rock.
“Can we take them?” Jake murmured from beside him. “A coordinated shot to each one of them.”
Kane shook his head. “Not a chance. Not with that armor. Likely our bullets won’t even get through. No, we’ve got to let this play out. But we need to find a way to separate Kaitlin from them.”
“We could try and take out the guy holding her with a head shot.”
“If Kaitlin could run, maybe. But she can hardly stand up. We take him out, she drops to the ground, and they’ll just shoot her.”
They were starting to head backwards, holding Kaitlin in front of them. He caught her gaze, and she gave a tiny, almost imperceptible shrug as if to say she was sorry.
He gave a small shake of his head. This wasn’t down to her. God, he wanted into her head right then. Wanted to tell her he loved her. That he would do whatever was needed to save her. But he couldn’t risk it, so he tried to convey his feelings through a look.
She smiled and mouthed the words. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Then another grimace of pain flashed across her face as she was dragged away. He stared at her as they backed slowly up the track.
There was a flurry of movement from the side, and someone hurled himself into the man holding Kaitlin. They all went down, and for a moment everything was chaos, and Kane couldn’t quite see what was happening. A figure jumped up, grabbed Kaitlin from the ground, and carried her, racing toward them.
It was the colonel. And he was totally exposed.
“Give them cover,” Jake snapped, already letting off a shot at the four figures standing staring down at them.
Kane raised his own gun and shot toward the man still on the ground.
Others were shooting all around them and the woman was hurled backward as a bullet took her in the chest. She was up a moment later.
Aiming her weapon toward the colonel. He’d almost reached them, when a laser blast shot out from the gun, flashed across the space, and the colonel flew forward.
Kaitlin was hurled to the ground, and she rolled and started scrambling toward them.
“Cover us,” Jake shouted to the others as all around them, the shots multiplied.
Kane raced forward, scooped up Kaitlin, then dived for the cover of the trees. Beside him, Jake was dragging the colonel.
Kane collapsed, Kaitlin wrapped tight in his arms, his heart racing. He lay still for a moment, hardly daring to believe he had her. That she was alive and, if not safe, then at least in his arms and out of harm’s way for now.
She wriggled. “I can’t breathe,” she mumbled, and he reluctantly loosened his hold. She took a deep breath. “I really thought that was it. I can’t believe I was saved by the colonel. Is he okay?”
He didn’t know. He pushed himself up and looked across to where Jake crouched over the colonel. He glanced up, as if sensing Kane’s gaze and gave a small shake of his head. “He’s alive, but it’s not good.”
“Let me go,” Kaitlin said.
He didn’t want to. But he released his hold, and she crawled across the space between her and Jake.
Kane followed, keeping his head low. Shots still rang out.
The colonel lay on his back, his eyes closed. But as Kaitlin reached out and touched him lightly on the chest, he blinked, and a wince of pain flashed across his face. “Well, that wasn’t too clever,” he muttered.
“Just lie still,” Jake said. “Christa is coming. She’ll have a medical kit. We’ll get you patched up.”
“I think I’m beyond patching this time.”
“Thank you,” Kaitlin said. “You saved my life.”
He gave her a small smile. “I owed you a life. Make it a good one.”
Kaitlin sniffed.
“I never said I was sorry,” the colonel continued, “but I was. More than I can ever say. People make mistakes. Though mine was bigger than most and cost the lives of people you cared about. I was blinded by the idea of a better world. But you can never have a better world by sacrificing others. I’m so sorry. ”
“I’m sorry as well,” Kaitlin said. “I won’t forgive you for Sam but thank you for saving my life.”
At that moment, Christa appeared. She dropped to her knees beside her father and took his hand.
Kaitlin backed away, dragging herself across the ground to sit with her back against a tree trunk, her legs stretched out in front of her. They were scratched and covered with blood and her left ankle was swollen. She looked up at him. “I’m sorry about Leila and Brandon.”
He nodded. But he couldn’t even think about them now. Later. He would think about them later.
“You need to stop them,” she said. “I think they’re going to destroy the time machine.”
Jake approached them.
“He’s dead?” she asked.
Jake nodded. Christa was silently weeping by her father’s body, still holding his hand. “Look after her,” Jake said to Kaitlin.
“I’ll do my best. Now go. Stop them.”
Kane peered out from the shelter of the trees. The shooting had ceased. And he caught a brief flash of black through the branches, high up on the trail. The others were disappearing, almost at the cave.
“Come on.” He ran out into the open, Jake close behind him, Rose and Imogen bringing up the rear. He passed the bodies of Leila and Brandon—but didn’t slow down.
There was no shooting now, just their harsh breathing as they raced up the track, which twisted and wound around the mountain. He could see no one in front of them, and he pushed himself harder. Up ahead an explosion ripped through the air.
Shit.
They must have blown up the steel doors leading into the cave.
Finally, he turned the last corner. Smoke billowed from the entrance, and no one was in sight. They must already be inside. A laser blast shot out from the doorway, and he skidded to a halt, then threw himself to the side as another blast roared over his head.
Rose and Imogen returned the fire, and under cover of their shots—he had to hope they wouldn’t take him out—he was up and running again, Jake close beside him. He didn’t even hesitate at the doorway but just ran through into the cave.
How long would it take to prime the bomb? And presumably, they’d have to give themselves time to vanish to wherever, or rather whenever, they originated from. There had to be time to stop them.
He skidded to a halt. The door of the time machine was open and one of the men stood in the entrance. His pistol was aimed at Kane.
“Come closer and we’ll detonate the bomb now,” he said.
“Does it matter if it’s now or in a few minutes? We’re dead anyway.”
“Maybe we don’t mean to blow it up. Are you willing to take the risk? You can’t kill us all. You’ve lost.”
Kane growled low in his throat, and Jake put a hand on his arm and gave him a small nod. They were going to go for it. They’d all be killed if the bomb went off. He had a momentary image of Kaitlin lying beneath him, and a moment of regret.
He nodded back. And they both lifted their weapons.
Someone called from inside the time machine, and the man disappeared from the doorway. Kane hurried forward. He had a brief glimpse inside, the four figures standing in front of the console, then the door slid closed.
He stared at the no longer visible doorway, just smooth silver metal.
A low humming filled the cave, the air around them shimmered, then the machine was gone.
He sank to his knees in the sand.
It was over.
They’d failed.