“You can channel the powers of others of our kind. Combine them and intensify them. You’re very rare.”
“Cool. But how does it work?”
He shrugged. “I have no clue. And there wasn’t time to get any more details. But when this is over, we can find out.”
“Something to look forward to.” If they actually survived.
“Yeah, we all need that. But back to Sadie’s vision. Maybe she’s just seeing what might have been. Or perhaps another dimension that runs parallel to our own.”
“Where we all live happily ever after. How do I get there?” Except she didn’t believe in happy endings. “Perhaps I should steal the time machine and go back and save him.” She watched his face for a reaction. Horror perhaps. But he just shook his head.
“It would need to work for that to happen.”
“Yeah. And then Kane wouldn’t get to do his mission and the world would end, or maybe it wouldn’t. This time travel thing seriously messes with your head.” She blew out her breath. “On the good side, I didn’t kill the colonel, so I’m definitely getting better. Maybe part of me doesn’t want to. Maybe I see it as letting Sam down. He wouldn’t want me to kill anyone.”
“He was a good person.”
“The best of us.”
She sniffed. Jake opened his arms, and she stepped close. He tightened his hold, and she laid her head on his chest as he stroked her back. Other than Sam, Jake had been the first person ever to hug her. He’d been father, brother, friend. Now the familiar scent of him filled her nostrils and a small sense of peace settled on her.
He went still, and she pulled away a little and peered into his face. “Your boyfriend is here,” he said.
“Hah.” She punched him on the arm but looked over his shoulder. Kane was heading their way and a tingle of something she didn’t recognize—or maybe didn’t want to recognize—shivered through her. She pulled out of Jake’s arms, stepped away, and watched as Kane strode toward them across the lawn.
He stopped in front of her and, looking into his face, she knew that something had happened. His dark blue eyes glowed with excitement and a smile tugged at his lips. He looked...happy. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him happy before. He was even more of a miserable bastard than she was. With far less reason.
Maybe he’d found out what his mission was, and he was going to save the world, instead of destroying it, after all. She knew he’d been thinking about it a lot.
“What’s happened?” Jake asked.
“Leila called. The time machine is working.”
What the hell did that mean?
“How is it working?” she asked.
“Lights flashing. And a door has appeared.”
“Well, a door always helps,” she muttered. But her own excitement was rising. A real honest-to-God time machine. It opened a whole world of possibilities. But she was getting ahead of herself. Just because there was a door, that didn’t mean they could actually use the thing. “Has Leila been inside?”
“No.”
Of course not. Kaitlin had met Leila on her one trip to Uganda. The woman was seriously freaky. Even more mission-mad than Kane, if that was possible. The time machine was like something sacred to her. It wouldn’t surprise Kaitlin if the woman actually prayed to it. The big silver god. No way would Leila lay a hand on it, never mind go inside. That would be like total desecration.
“We need to get back,” Kane said. “See what’s happening.”
“What about the London trip?” she asked.
“We’ll have to delay it.”
She looked at him. He was back to“it’s-all-about-the-mission” mode. Well, not her. He might think his precious mission was the most important thing in the universe. And maybe he had to. Maybe that was the only way he lived with himself and justified the things he had done, the people he had killed. But the destruction of 95 percent of the planet’s population came a little higher on her list.
She wasn’t being selfish; this was their chance to uncover some concrete information, and she wasn’t giving it up. What difference would it make anyway, if he was there or not?
Though something twisted inside her at the thought.
She ignored the sensation. She didn’t need him. He’d let her down before. Why should she be surprised he was doing it again? And for the same reason. His stupid fucking mission.
