“No problem.”
An idea had been hovering at the edge of her mind—a pretty good idea even if it was hers. Maybe even a breakthrough. “So,” she said, “are we presuming whoever it was who hired the thugs to get me are the same as the guys from the party? Not necessarily the same ones exactly, but—and I feel a little odd even saying this out loud—from the future?”
“I think we have to presume that,” Jake replied. “What are you thinking?”
He sounded so suspicious. Probably from past experience. “Well, what have we spent the last eighteen months trying to find out, with absolutely no success whatsoever?” When no one answered, she continued, “Duh. We’ve been trying to find out what happens in the future. What causes the cataclysm. And here’s someone, or likely more than one, who knows what happened, because they’ve been there.”
Jake frowned. “Except, we don’t even know if they’re still here. They might have already whizzed back to their own time.”
“Maybe. But I think not. After all, they didn’t get what they came for.”
“And that would be?” Jake sounded intrigued now.
She grinned. “Me.”
“No fucking way,” Kane growled from across the table.
Hah. She’d known he’d like her idea. An added bonus. Mr. Ruthless Revilla didn’t like the idea of her putting herself in harm’s way.
“Not your call,” she said with a smile and turned back to Jake. “We’ve been wandering about in the dark like fucking idiots, waiting to stumble over the answers. That hasn’t happened and we’re nearly out of time. We have to look at this as an opportunity.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Let me go back to London, meander around. Hopefully, they’ll send someone else to pick me up. This time, I’ll let myself be overpowered. They can take me to whoever is behind it, and I’ll ask them if they know what it is that’s going to destroy the world and exactly when it’s going to happen. Ta-da.”
“And you think they’re going to tell you?” Kane said, his tone incredulous. “What about the little fact that you’ll be theirprisoner. That’s a stupid, fucking harebrained plan, and it’s not going to happen.”
“It’s not down to you to say.”
His jaw clenched. “Not happening.”
“Actually, I think it’s a good idea,” Rose said. “Of course, we would make sure she has backup. As soon as the kidnappers deliver her to the bad guys, we move in and pick them up.”
“Wouldn’t any one of us work just as well?” Jake asked.
Kaitlin scowled. “Why should you be put in harm’s way any more than me? Are you being sexist?”
“Maybe. But I wasn’t thinking of someone of the opposite sex so much as someone a little less...reckless.”
“Good point. But it will probably work better with a girl,” Rose said. “Less of a threat.”
“Hah,” Kane muttered. “Not Kaitlin then.”
“I can look non-threatening.” Kaitlin forced her features into what she presumed was a sweet, vaguely simple expression. Nobody looked particularly impressed. She’d have to practice in front of the mirror.
“We could bug her, I suppose,” Jake said. “Some sort of tracking device.”
“You’re not seriously considering this?” Kane asked the room in general.
“Of course, they are.” She smirked. “Look, I know there is a small risk involved, but it’s got to be better than ambling around in a daze the way we have been doing. And did I mention—we’re running out of time.”
“Let’s leave it for now,” Jake said. “We’ll discuss it more at the meeting tomorrow. See what the others think.”
She cast a glance at Kane, he was looking pissed off. Good. At least winding him up took her mind off what was to come.
Whatever Ethan had found in the Conclave files.
Chapter 9
