They’d go to the meeting and discover the real people behind the kidnapping. Rose and Janelle would be wearing the reflector devices; they would have the element of surprise on their side, and they’d pick up whoever it was before the handover. Kaitlin would be wearing a tracker at all times. Her backup would never be far away. There was a very small risk everything might go to crap, but it was worth it for the information they might find. She’d be careful and wouldn’t take any undue risks. She had no wish to put the others in unnecessary danger.
On the other hand—they were trying to save the Earth here, so a little risk was justifiable.
The trip took just over six hours, and it grew dark as they drove. The Christmas lights were still on in the city, and the place was lit up like a fairytale. As a child, she’d missed out on the whole Christmas thing. The colonel hadn’t been the sentimental type, and she’d pretended not to care. Once the others had moved in, Jake had always tried to make Christmas special. Maybe that was part of why she’d developed such a huge crush on him. Apart from Sam, no one had ever cared before.
Anyway, while she liked to pretend she was a total hard ass, the lights and the trees and the decorations made her feel a little warm and fuzzy. Sam would have loved them.
Maybe next year she’d bring him to see them.
If there was a next year.
At the hotel, they parked in the underground garage.
They were all on the same floor but had rooms to themselves, except for Rose and Dave for obvious reasons. Rose never admitted it, but Kaitlin knew she loved Dave.
Everyone was finding someone.
Kaitlin paused outside her door and turned to Josie, who was in the room next to hers. “Can I come and talk to you? Say in five minutes.”
“Of course. Are you all right? Have you changed your mind?”
“No. It’s something else. Sort of.”
“Okay.”
Kaitlin dropped her bag on the floor by the bed, shrugged out of her coat and threw it on the chair. She stretched, stiff from the long drive. She’d talk to Josie, then she was going to have a long bath, a huge drink, and go to bed.
She tapped on the door to Josie’s room and pushed it open. Josie was sitting on the bed, staring at the phone.
“Are you going to call Steve?” Kaitlin asked.
She gave a small shrug. “I can’t decide.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Maybe.”
Kaitlin glanced around the room and then headed for the mini bar. She made them both a vodka and tonic and carried the drinks back to the bed. She handed one to Josie, toed off her boots and sat down, leaning against the wall behind her. Josie sipped her drink, still staring at the phone.
Kaitlin took a big gulp of hers. “Is this about the files Ethan found?”
Josie nodded. “I guess.” A sniff. “I’ve been such an idiot. All this time I’ve been holding onto the idea that somehow you were wrong about Travis. That he loved me. That he wasn’t a bad guy. I mean, Ethan is Conclave, and he’s not a bad person.”
There was a lot Kaitlin could say to that, but she decided to keep quiet and let Josie get it out of her system. She just gave a grunt of encouragement.
“Travis was always so sweet to me.”
Maybe that was because Josie had always toed the line, behaved perfectly. She was getting better, but whatever they had done to her had not only wiped her memory and deleted her telepathic ability, but it had also left her without a will of her own. She must have been like a walking, talking—and God knows what else—doll.
The last year had been as if she was waking from sleep.
“So what did Ethan show you?”
“My death warrant. Signed by Travis. I saw it in the file. He also okayed the experiment that did this”—she waved a hand toward her head—“to me. There was a seventy-five percent chance of failure, that the subject would die. And he agreed. There was a note in the file—the subject was expendable. That was me.Iwas expendable. My husband said I was fuckingexpendable.” Her voice was rising, and Kaitlin had never actually heard her swear before. Clearly, there was a lot of pent-up rage behind that seemingly perfect facade.
“Well, in all fairness, he wasn’t your husband then.”
Josie glared at her. “Don’t try and defend the bastard.”
