The children would inherit.
It was her mission. No more shootings, no more innocents dying. Only the good would survive her cataclysm. Only the good.
She sank back into Daddy’s chair and stared at the flames. “And I want to see him.”
“I’m sorry?” Brenda, intelligent though she was, didn’t always follow.
“The man. I want to see him once they’ve found him. Right here, face-to-face. I want him to know.”
“I’ll make sure our team is briefed.” A pause, during which Katherine felt Brenda’s eyes hard on her. Curious, perhaps. Worried? Resentful? “Anything else?”
“No. No, I believe that is all. For now.” She smiled. “Thank you, Brenda. You’re a godsend.”
Chapter 56
Two Days Later—Polaris Platform
Leontyne Eddowes muttered something into her headset that Angel couldn’t understand as they settled onto the helipad in the middle of the ocean. Airplanes, helicopters—apparently the woman flew everything.
Angel glanced at Ford and found him watching her with a half smile.
Would she ever get used to seeing that expression on his face? The softness in his eyes? Hopefully not. Because the jolt of surprise it sent through her every time was pure pleasure.
Man, she loved him. So much it hurt.
He grabbed her hand and squeezed briefly before helping her out of the helicopter. Nobody called them choppers, according to Leo.This is a helicopter or an aircraft. Helo if you’re in a rush, she’d said.Only people in the movies use chopper.
Ducking—though in all honesty, she didn’t need to—they ran across the helipad, then down a flight of stairs and inside.
“What do you think?” Side by side, they made their way down a long well-lit hall to a thick metal door.
“Reminds me of Burke-Ruhe.”
“Yeah?” His face was so wide-open that she wanted to spread little kisses all over it. In deference to the fact that they were here to join his macho brother’s underground paramilitary team of good-guy vigilantes, she refrained. Barely.
“Yes.” She squeezed his hand back.
“Sure?”
“Yes. Not trying to become a killing machine or anything, but I don’t regret what I did. And I’ll never regret what happened.”
He smiled. “Good. ’Cause Eric’s not kidding about recruiting you to the cause.”
“I told you. I’m in.” She shook her head. “You should know that by now.”
They stepped out of the first passageway and she noted that the door wasn’t quite the station’s refrigerator-styled ones, but more like a submarine’s. Not that she’d visited many of those.
But she would, if Ford took her there.
At the end of another long hall, Eric and his girlfriend, Zoe Garcia, met them. It gave her a weird rush of adrenaline to see them both again, especially in this strange, out-of-the-way setting.
“You made it!” Zoe hugged Ford.
“Course.” Ford sounded grumpy, as usual, but she saw through him like cellophane. Gruff meant he had something to hide. In this case, it was happiness and affection at the sight of his brother. It was adorable.
God, she hoped she never got over this first-crush feeling.
“It’s so good to see you again!” Zoe rushed forward to hug Angel, then Eric gave her a peck on the cheek. Zoe led the way. “Watch your step down here. The place is a work in progress.” She turned one last time. “Welcome to Polaris.”
