“It all sounds a little too...easy.” Janelle frowned. “And where do we take them? We can’t just...question them in the street. Or bring them back to the hotel.”
“It’s all organized. Dave has found a place. Apparently, he has contacts.”
Kaitlin swallowed the rest of her croissant and washed it down with coffee. She was itching to get going. To get this over with and find out something useful.
It had to work.
Otherwise, they were back to square one again with no leads. She sighed. “Anything else?”
“Remember to avoid telephone conversations in case anyone is monitoring,” Rose said. “But you’ll have the tracking device and the panic button. Hit it as soon as you feel anything out of the ordinary.” Rose came toward her, the small circular tracker in her hand, and considered Kaitlin for a moment. “Hmm, maybe we should have had this inserted under your skin. Though I suppose we still could.”
No, we could not.“You’re not cutting me open. And anyway, if they scan for a tracker, they’ll find it and then slice me open—again—to get it out.”
“They’re not going to get a chance to scan you. That’s not part of the plan. But I suppose you’re right.” Rose sounded almost upset.
“Bloodthirsty bitch,” Kaitlin muttered.
Rose laughed. “You could swallow it.” She took one look at Kaitlin’s face and sighed. “Maybe not.” She tucked the tracker in Kaitlin’s inside pocket. “Just remember, we will never be far away. We’ve got your back.”
“I know.”
Rose patted her arm. “You’ll be fine. You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
Kaitlin decided honesty was the best policy. “And third and fourth. But I still think it’s our best option. Actually, ouronlyoption.”
“Okay then, let’s do this. Dave and I are going to be following you this morning. Then Janelle and Josie this afternoon and evening.”
“I’m going to head to the apartment first. It would make sense that they’d be keeping an eye on the place. Then just...saunter about. Maybe visit the dojo and the police station. Anywhere I usually hang out.”
“You really need to get a more balanced life,” Rose said.
She was probably right.
“I’ll wait until I’m fifteen minutes out from here to take off the reflector device, so I don’t lead them to the rest of you. Just in case it all goes tits up.”
“It’s not going to go tits up. But it doesn’t hurt to be careful.” Rose fiddled with the reflector device, though it was unobtrusive and could hardly be seen under her hair.
Kaitlin jumped to her feet. “Right. I’ll be off then.”
“And we’ll be close behind.”
Josie got up as well and gave her a hug. “Don’t take any stupid chances.”
“When have you ever known me to be stupid? On second thoughts—don’t answer that.”
She left the room and took the elevator down to the ground floor. It was weird, but she felt...alone. She’d spent a lot of time on her own—even not counting the six months she’d spent in virtual solitary confinement when she was imprisoned by the Conclave. But she’d not really been lonely. Now she felt isolated. It was partly the reflector device, but also maybe she was beginning to actually need people.
An image of Kane flashed in front of her eyes. Luckily, the elevator door pinged open to distract her. But as she exited the hotel lobby, she couldn’t help but wonder where he was, what he was doing. He was probably at home in Uganda and playing with his time machine. She hoped he got the answers he was looking for.
At the thought, her feet stopped moving.
Kane was the enemy, wasn’t he?
She had a flashback to the kiss.
The kiss!
And she suddenly realized that she wanted to kiss him again. She wasn’t ready to fall in love or anything—that would be stupid. But the kiss had been everything she had always imagined a kiss should be.
