And the line went dead.
They were all wearing the reflector devices and consequently having to depend on more conventional ways to communicate—like telephones. It had a certain novelty value.
She’d stayed awake a long time after she’d left Josie and returned to her own room. They hadn’t talked much after shehad made her bombshell announcement. Josie had gone quiet, but she hadn’t come right out and said that Kaitlin was crazy.
Josie had kissed her as she left and told her that she believed in her and whatever she wanted, she would do her best to help.
It had almost made her cry.
Okay, she had actually blinked back a tear or two. Then she’d gone to bed and thought about Sam. Seeing the files seemed to have unlocked a door to her memories. She hadn’t realized just how tightly she had sealed them away. But strangely, most of the memories were good.
Time healed all wounds. It was a total cliche but also true. She could think of him now with joy as well as pain.
Or maybe her plan had given her some sort of crazy hope. Because itwascrazy.
But she wouldn’t think about that today. Right now, she couldn’t afford to be distracted; she had to concentrate on the matter at hand.
Acting as bait. Drawing out the bad guys. Keeping safe while she did it.
The phone rang again.
“Five minutes,” Janelle snapped, and the line went dead.
That woman really had to work on her communication skills.
She dragged herself out of bed and into the shower, then dressed in black jeans, flat boots—she suspected she’d be doing a lot of walking during the day—a black sweater and a leather jacket. She met Rose and Dave in the corridor outside Janelle’s room.
“Are you ready for this?” Rose asked as she opened the door and ushered the other two inside.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Josie was already seated on the sofa, a plate on her lap, a cup in her hand.
She grinned. “Morning.”
“You’re amazingly chirpy,” Rose said.
“I slept well.”
“I’m glad one of us did,” Kaitlin muttered. “She’s just excited because she’s going to see Detective Steve.”
Josie smiled serenely.
“Are you worried about today?” Janelle asked, appearing from the bedroom, dressed very similar to Kaitlin.
Why did everyone seem to think she should be worried? “No. Because nothing is going to go wrong. And you know why? Because I’m not willing to give Kane the opportunity to say I told you so.”
“I thought you were doing this to save the world.” Josie smirked. “Not get one up on Kane.”
“The two are not mutually exclusive. My motives are pure.” She helped herself to a coffee and a croissant, though she wasn’t hungry. Maybe shewasa little nervous, after all.
“Are we all clear on how we’re going to work this?” Janelle asked.
“Yes. I shall wander around, radiating come-hither brainwaves and hope someone picks them up. You will follow at a safe distance. If anyone attacks me, you move in and take them. If it’s the bad guys from the future, we take them and question them, find out everything they know. If it’s hired help, we get them to set up the meet. We go along and you swoop in and pick up the real bad guys…and voila!”
“Voila?”
“We take them and question them and find out everything they know.”
