“I know.” She gave a half-hearted grin. “Anyway, if I go to Australia, I might end up living in a bunker for five years with that lot.” She waved a hand toward the house. “I’m not sure I could face that. I’m not good with enclosed spaces.” At that moment, the horn sounded from the truck. She gave a small shrug and a rueful smile. Then she reached up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his cheek. “You know, despite all this, I’m glad you showed me how love could be.” She stepped back. “Goodbye, Kane.”
He watched as she reached down and picked up her stick, then hobbled back to the house. He didn’t move until she had disappeared from sight. Then he sank down onto the hammock and put his head in his hands.
It was over.
All that was left was the waiting.
Chapter 39
“Aweek to go,” Rose said.
They’d been in New York for just over six weeks. And Kaitlin was going slowly—okay maybe not so slowly—insane. She’d heard nothing from Kane, and the pain in her chest had become a constant companion that she was doing her best to ignore—and mostly failing.
They spent most of their time scouring the information networks, looking for any hint of anything unusual.
So far, it was all a big fat zero.
There was no hint of trouble between any of the big superpowers. North Korea was silent. Everything was peaceful.Everywhere. No sign of alien invasion. No hint of a major terrorist threat going down. Nothing.
“It seems unbelievable, doesn’t it,” she said. “In a week, all this could be gone.” She waved her hand around to encompass the bar of just about the swankiest hotel in New York. Ethan had organized the reservations—he had contacts everywhere. They’d decided they had money, and they might as well spend it. It wasn’t going to be much use after the cataclysm.
“Totally unbelievable,” Rose replied, eying her over the rim of her martini glass. “Except I do believe it.”
“Me too.”
She realized with that thought that she had just about given up. Just about, but not enough to run to Australia, tail between her legs. Most of the others had headed there two weeks ago, leaving just her, Rose, Dave and Stefan here in New York. Kaitlin didn’t blame them for going. There was a big chance they were not going to make it. Without a location, there was no way they could cover everywhere. Which meant, the world as they knew it was going to end.
She’d also acknowledged that while no one was saying it—much of what had happened was her fault. If she’d never come up with the plan to go back to London and use herself as bait, then she would never have been taken by the Tel Group, and they would have never known about the time machine or its location. Of course, they would likely have found it another way, but who knew.
The strange thing was, she wasn’t beating herself up over it. Nor was she wallowing in guilt because it was all her fault. The truth was, she’d done the best she could under the circumstances. No one had been able to come up with a better plan; they’d all agreed that they’d needed more information and that had been the only way to get it at the time.
Hey, she was growing up. She took another sip of her vodka martini. They were working their way through the cocktail list—she planned to get totally hammered.
“You know, I think I might be maturing.” She wasn’t sure she liked the idea, so she downed the rest of her drink and waved to a passing waiter for more.
“It’s sort of sad that your newfound maturity will be wasted by your imminent death.” Rose was well on her way to being hammered as well.
Dave and Stefan were at some sports event that she and Rose hadn’t the slightest interest in, so they’d decided to take a night off and hit the town. They were all dressed up and had a list of bars to visit. Or maybe they’d just stay here. It was extremely comfortable, and the service was excellent.
“It’s a pity Kane isn’t here to see my newfound maturity,” she said. “He’d be so impressed.”
“Have you heard from him?”
“No.”
Nothing. Not a word. Jake had told her that as far as he knew, Kane was still in Uganda, though he hadn’t heard from him in a while either. Jake and Christa were safe in Australia. Josie and Steve were also there. They’d left London at the same time as Kaitlin but had headed in a different direction. She was glad they were safe.
She’d been trying not to think about Kane. Because what good would it do? Besides, it hurt to think about him.
“You know,” she said to deflect her mind from unpleasant thoughts, “I think it’s time for you and Dave and Stefan to head down under.”
Rose regarded her through narrowed eyes. Kaitlin wished she could have a peek in the other woman’s head to see what she was thinking. But they’d all been wearing the reflector devices since they’d left Uganda, just in case. It was a pain, because she wouldhave really liked a chance to explore the Foci thing. She’d talked to Kane’s mother about it and knew in principle how it should work, but she’d had no chance to test it in action. “Why is that?” Rose asked.
“Well, we’ve all but admitted that this isn’t going to work. That we’ll never find the location in time to do any good.”
“I notice you didn’t include yourself in that list of people you think should head down under. Why stay if it’s pointless?”
“Someone has to stay. Just in case.”
