Chapter 39
“Aweek to go,” Rose said.
They’d been in New York for just over six weeks. And Kaitlin was going slowly—okay maybe not so slowly—insane. She’d heard nothing from Kane, and the pain in her chest had become a constant companion that she was doing her best to ignore—and mostly failing.
They spent most of their time scouring the information networks, looking for any hint of anything unusual.
So far, it was all a big fat zero.
There was no hint of trouble between any of the big superpowers. North Korea was silent. Everything was peaceful. Everywhere. No sign of alien invasion. No hint of a major terrorist threat going down. Nothing.
“It seems unbelievable, doesn’t it,” she said.
“In a week, all this could be gone.” She waved her hand around to encompass the bar of just about the swankiest hotel in New York.
Ethan had organized the reservations—he had contacts everywhere.
They’d decided they had money, and they might as well spend it.
It wasn’t going to be much use after the cataclysm.
“Totally unbelievable,” Rose replied, eying her over the rim of her martini glass. “Except I do believe it.”
“Me too.”
She realized with that thought that she had just about given up.
Just about, but not enough to run to Australia, tail between her legs.
Most of the others had headed there two weeks ago, leaving just her, Rose, Dave and Stefan here in New York.
Kaitlin didn’t blame them for going. There was a big chance they were not going to make it.
Without a location, there was no way they could cover everywhere.
Which meant, the world as they knew it was going to end.
She’d also acknowledged that while no one was saying it—much of what had happened was her fault.
If she’d never come up with the plan to go back to London and use herself as bait, then she would never have been taken by the Tel Group, and they would have never known about the time machine or its location.
Of course, they would likely have found it another way, but who knew.
The strange thing was, she wasn’t beating herself up over it.
Nor was she wallowing in guilt because it was all her fault.
The truth was, she’d done the best she could under the circumstances.
No one had been able to come up with a better plan; they’d all agreed that they’d needed more information and that had been the only way to get it at the time.
Hey, she was growing up. She took another sip of her vodka martini. They were working their way through the cocktail list—she planned to get totally hammered.
“You know, I think I might be maturing.” She wasn’t sure she liked the idea, so she downed the rest of her drink and waved to a passing waiter for more.
“It’s sort of sad that your newfound maturity will be wasted by your imminent death.” Rose was well on her way to being hammered as well.
Dave and Stefan were at some sports event that she and Rose hadn’t the slightest interest in, so they’d decided to take a night off and hit the town.
They were all dressed up and had a list of bars to visit.
Or maybe they’d just stay here. It was extremely comfortable, and the service was excellent.
“It’s a pity Kane isn’t here to see my newfound maturity,” she said. “He’d be so impressed.”
“Have you heard from him?”
“No.”
Nothing. Not a word. Jake had told her that as far as he knew, Kane was still in Uganda, though he hadn’t heard from him in a while either.
Jake and Christa were safe in Australia.
Josie and Steve were also there. They’d left London at the same time as Kaitlin but had headed in a different direction. She was glad they were safe.
She’d been trying not to think about Kane. Because what good would it do? Besides, it hurt to think about him.
“You know,” she said to deflect her mind from unpleasant thoughts, “I think it’s time for you and Dave and Stefan to head down under.”
Rose regarded her through narrowed eyes.
Kaitlin wished she could have a peek in the other woman’s head to see what she was thinking.
But they’d all been wearing the reflector devices since they’d left Uganda, just in case.
It was a pain, because she would have really liked a chance to explore the Foci thing.
She’d talked to Kane’s mother about it and knew in principle how it should work, but she’d had no chance to test it in action. “Why is that?” Rose asked.
“Well, we’ve all but admitted that this isn’t going to work. That we’ll never find the location in time to do any good.”
“I notice you didn’t include yourself in that list of people you think should head down under. Why stay if it’s pointless?”
“Someone has to stay. Just in case.”
“Then we’ll stay as well. Look, I know it seems hopeless, but there’s always a chance. The world works in mysterious ways.”
She laughed. “How cliche.”
But then again, Sadie had seen her and Sam together in a vision—that was pretty mysterious.
Kaitlin had put the memory from her mind, because clearly, it could never happen.
Sam was dead. But the world was a strange place, filled with weird stuff like telepathy and time travel.
People who could flatten you with their mind like Rose or see the future like Sadie.
People who could travel through time. Change the past or the future.
The waiter set their drinks down with a smile. He was young and nice looking—why couldn’t she go for someone like him instead of a 150-year-old guy with more baggage than she had?
An image of Kane flashed in her mind. God, he was hot—that was why.
Well, partly why. If she was honest, she loved his mind as much as his body.
She sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Anything could happen.
Including the end of the world. But I can’t leave.
Somehow, I can’t get rid of the feeling that this is where I’m meant to be at this point in time. ”
“Where we’re meant to be,” Rose said. “We’re not leaving you, so you might as well stop trying to convince us to. If it comes to it, we’ll go out with a bang together.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“But we might survive, improbable though it seems right now.” Rose raised her glass, then lowered it again and frowned, her gaze fixed on something behind Kaitlin. “Talk about improbable...”
Kaitlin swiveled in her chair, and her heart stopped beating. A wild sense of joy filled her. Had she conjured him up with her thoughts? It didn’t matter…
He’d come.
She sat and stared at him as he weaved his way through the busy bar.
Everyone else faded from sight as she drank in his tall figure.
People seemed to move out of his way without any visible effort on his part.
He was dressed all in black, jeans, a button-down shirt, and a long leather duster coat. And he looked…perfect.
Behind her Rose sighed. “He is seriously hot. You know you can put up with serious levels of assholeness for that amount of hotness.” She prodded Kaitlin in the side. “I’m thinking I’m going to be spending the night alone.”
“What?” Kaitlin wasn’t really taking the words in.
“Don’t worry about little old me,” Rose said. “I’ll be fine. I can always go and play solitaire on my laptop.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Kaitlin murmured.
She was gripping the arms of her seat, fighting her natural instinct to jump out of the chair and run to him.
God, she wished she could read him, but he was also wearing one of the reflector devices, and she could get nothing from his expression.
He’d perfected the art of giving zero away long before she was even born.
Though he seemed...different, more relaxed than usual, while at the same time, he almost vibrated with a tangible excitement.
Her heart raced, and she sat very still as he came to a halt in front of her. Then he smiled and her insides melted. “I missed you,” he murmured.
Suddenly, she was up and out of her chair.
Choking back a sob, she hurled herself at him.
He caught her and held her close, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in the curve of her neck as though he could inhale her.
It felt so right. And for long moments, she just stayed unmoving in his arms. Finally, she pulled away.
Her eyes pricked and she blinked. “I missed you too.”
He lowered his head and took her lips in a long, sweet kiss and she sighed, feeling the tension ease from her body.
She hadn’t even known it was there until it was gone.
It had been an ever-present companion since the last time she had been in his arms. Finally, she pulled away slightly and looked up into his face. “Why?” she asked.
He gave a shrug. “I thought you might be able to use some help saving the world.” Then he shook his head. “That’s not really it. I couldn’t stay away. I did for a while, but I was just punishing myself.”
“And me.”
“No, not you. You did nothing wrong. You stayed true to your beliefs, what you knew to be right. I was the one who wavered. I couldn’t pick between one course of action and another, and I messed up.”
“I love you.”
“I know. And I love you.” He lowered his head and kissed her again. This time it wasn’t so sweet. His tongue pushed inside, and heat flared in her breasts and belly, sinking between her thighs.
“Hey, you two, get a goddamn room.”
That was a disgruntled Rose, but it did sound like a good idea.
“Soon,” he said, the words a promise. “First, I have some information. From Ethan. It’s important.”
She gave him a sharp look. “Is that why you came?”
He grinned. “No. I was already on a plane to New York, and we were close to landing, when Ethan called. He said he’d been trying to contact you, but you weren’t answering.”
“We were taking a night off.”
“So I see. Sit down for a minute, and I’ll tell you. It’s big, and it’s what we’ve been waiting for.” There was the excitement again, and she saw what was different—hope.