The front window rolled down, and Josie poked her head out. “I’m here.”
“And you’re not alone.” She’d picked up the hum of another familiar mind in the driving seat. “Detective Steve, you’re a fast worker.”
“Why waste time?” he replied. “That’s my motto.”
“I take it you haven’t sensed anything today,” Janelle said.
“Not a goddamn thing. Total waste of time.”
“Maybe they’re not here anymore.”
“Maybe.” That would explain why they hadn’t found her when she’d been all but offering herself to them on a plate.
“Kane might have some ideas,” Janelle said.
“More likely, he’s just come to whisk Kaitlin away to safety,” Josie suggested.
“No. I don’t think so,” Janelle replied. “I think he’s given up on that. I think he wants to be here to help.”
“I bet he does.” Kaitlin scowled, but she had to admit to a very faint, warm fuzzy feeling somewhere in the vicinity of her gut. It was a nice change from the everything-is-about-to-go-to-shit feeling that was usually lodged there. “Let’s get going.”
“Can’t wait to see him, huh?” Janelle grinned. “If it’s okay and you’ve finished wandering for the day, then I’m going to leave you here. I presume you can all get back to the hotel in one piece.”
“Where are you going?”
“Sightseeing. I’ve never been to London, and I have a long list of places I want to visit.”
“Yeah, because who knows how long London is going to be here.”
“Don’t be negative. I’ll see you all at dinner tonight and we can work out our next move.”
Janelle sauntered off, and Kaitlin climbed into the back seat of the SUV. She let out a huge sigh.
“What’s wrong?” Josie asked.
“Well, it would have been nice if we had something positive to tell Kane.”
“You mean like we had one of the bad guys locked in the trunk?” Josie suggested.
“That would have been good. Let’s go.”
Steve turned on the engine, and they drove out of the garage and onto the street. It was already getting dark, the Christmas lights giving the place a festive air. She found herself smiling. Weird.
“Is someone going to fill me in on what’s going on?” Steve asked. “Maybe starting with who you would like to have locked in the trunk.”
“You said I could tell him anything, but I wasn’t sure you were serious,” Josie said. “So I thought I’d wait until you were here.”
“Nice, but not needed. I’m always serious.” She took a deep breath and thought how to condense the story. They only had fifteen minutes to get to the hotel. “Okay, so we have some pretty persuasive intel that there is going to be some sort of cataclysm happening this year that will result in the death of 95 percent of the Earth’s population.”
Steve swiveled in his seat and stared at her. “What? You’re kidding, right? That’s not possible.”
“Watch the road—I’m not ready to die yet. And I never kid. It goes with my ‘I’m always serious’ trait. And unfortunately, it’s entirely possible.”
“But how do you know? Where did you get this reliable intel?”
“Well, that’s where things get a little murky. And you might want to suspend disbelief for just a few minutes.”
“You mean it’s going to be even more unbelievable than the fact that you can read my mind?”
