Then Kane was off and running.
Chapter 33
Kaitlin was running headlong down the mountain when the pain hit.
She tripped, stumbled, and then she was falling and rolling down the steep incline, the agony in her head overriding everything else. Finally, she slammed into some sort of bush that stopped her forward momentum. She lay there, fighting the pain.
She recognized the feeling—it was the same as when the woman, Stella, had interrogated her back in London. She had no doubt it was the same people. Or at least, more of their kind. Shehad to warn Kane and the others, but there was no way she was getting any thoughts out right now.
Her brain was melting. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to gain some sort of control, but it was beyond her strength. She tried to tell herself that it wouldn’t be permanent, but it felt so damn real, and a scream welled up inside her.
Then the pain was gone.
She lay for a second, breathing hard, just relishing the lack of pain. Except once her mind cleared, the other pains started up. She’d done something to her ankle when she fell. It throbbed, but she was guessing it was only sprained, not broken. There were other areas that hurt as well—her ribs, where she’d slammed into whatever had broken her downward rush. It had to have been some sort of prickly bush, going by the state of her skin. But nothing too serious. She’d live. For now, at least. Kpo was nowhere in sight. She reached out with her mind.“Kane?”
Nothing. Complete blankness. Was he dead? He couldn’t be dead. She forced the panic down.“Jake?”
Again, there was no reply and no sense of his presence either. Were they all gone? She tried a few of the others and got nothing. The panic was building again, and she swallowed, then sat up and opened her eyes.
Shit.
Stella stood only a foot away from her, holding some sort of pistol in her hand. It was pointing directly at Kaitlin. She swallowed again and tried to get her brain to function, to come down from the panic.
“Hi, again,” she muttered. “How lovely to see you.”
Stella’s lips twitched, but she didn’t reply. Instead, she just indicated with the gun for Kaitlin to get up. She tried, but her ankle gave way before she was upright, and she crashed down.Damn.
She tried again, this time grabbing a branch and pulling herself up. She glanced down. The ankle was already swelling. It hurt like crap, and her bare legs were covered in scratches, seeping blood. Her left arm was no better. But her injuries were more irritating than debilitating.
“So what now?” she asked.
“You take us to the machine.”
“I don’t think so. Actually, I don’t think I can. I’m not certain I can walk.”
“Do we need to do this again?” Stella said. “Couldn’t you save us both the trouble and just show us?”
She was guessing “this” referred to the mind probe thing. And she wished she could give in, but she just couldn’t. She shrugged. “Sorry.”
She braced herself and a second later, the pain struck. It lasted only moments, but she lost her hold on the branch and crashed to her knees, screaming as pain tore through her.
“Crap. Shit. Fuck.”
“Got it,” Stella said. “Now what shall we do with you?”
“Leave me here?” Kaitlin suggested without much hope. “I’m hardly a threat. I can’t even walk.”
This time Stella did smile. “I like you.”
“Goody. It’s a deal then. And I promise not to move at all.”
Stella laughed, but then her expression smoothed out. “That’s not happening, I’m afraid. Maybe we should take you along. Your friends are more likely to back down if we have you as a hostage.”
“No, they won’t.”
“You forget, I’ve been in your head.”
Kaitlin sniffed. “I still can’t walk.”
