“And we should call Jake in Uganda, tell him what’s happened. They need to be prepared in case their location is compromised.”
“I’ll call him,” Janelle said.
“Okay. I’m going to take off the reflector and see if I can get a lock on Kaitlin—they’ll have to remove hers if they want to get inside her head. If I can’t reach her, we’ll go to the last location, and hope Ethan gets us something on the vehicle. We need to get closer. Sooner or later, we’ll pick her up.”
“Should we take off the devices as well?” Rose asked.
“No. I’m stronger than all of you. If I can’t find her, then you won’t either. If we need to spread out later and cover a bigger area, then we’ll rethink that strategy, but for now, we keep you hidden from them for as long as possible. Okay, go make those calls.”
Once they were gone, he sat for a moment.
“Just tell me you’ll get them back,” Steve said.
“I’ll get them back.”
He slid off the reflector device. Closing his eyes, he reached out and searched for Kaitlin but found nothing. It could be that she was unconscious. They’d probably stunned her as well. She wouldn’t have gone with them without a fight. And after the failed attempt on New Year’s Eve, they would have been expecting that.
He blew out his breath and opened his eyes.
“Anything?” Steve asked.
“No.” He studied the other man and then slipped into his mind. It was a little chaotic in there. He was panicking almost as much as Kane. He cared about Josie.
“Think about the accident,” Kane said.
“You’re in my mind?”
He nodded. “I might be able to pick up some details you’ve forgotten.”
“Okay.”
Steve’s mind cleared a little. Kane followed the pathways, saw the accident happening as Steve had seen it. But he’d already given them everything he remembered. Most of the time, people had no clue that Kane was in their heads. When they did know, they invariably clamped up, as though they could hide whatever they were thinking from him. Steve’s mind was open.
Then Kane backed up. Therewassomething the other man was trying not to think about. Kane dug a little deeper, and he went still with shock.
Even she wouldn’t do that.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?” he growled.
Steve winced.
Kane couldn’t believe she’d actually told this outsider about the time machine. That was almost sacrilegious. Never mind her harebrained idea to steal it and go back in time and save her brother. She was clearly not thinking straight. That was probably why she’d come up with this other—also totally harebrained—plan to use herself as bait. He gritted his teeth.
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t actually think either of them had thought it through.” That was from Steve. Kane studied the man with narrowed eyes. Maybe he should take the guy out—teach Kaitlin once and for all that she shouldn’t share secrets that were not her own. But he realized he couldn’t do that.
Once perhaps, he would have done it without too many qualms. He was no longer that same person.
“Are you going to kill me?” Steve asked.
“No. I’m going to fucking kill Kaitlin.”
“You’ll have to find her first,” Rose said coming back into the room. “What’s she done now?”
He shook his head. “She’s un-fucking-believable. And crazy. And a danger to herself.” He was going to find her, and he was going to handcuff her to his side and never let her out of his sight again. She certainly wasn’t going to be stealing any time machines.
“Yep. All those things and don’t you love her for it?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
