by Nina Croft
But as she looked around at the others, a sense of peace settled over her mind. They were alive and free and whatever else happened, together they could overcome it. They hadn’t succeeded in their task to bring down the Conclave. But the Conclave was in disarray, and presumably, were no threat for the foreseeable future. And they did hold the Conclave’s next hereditary leader. Could she use Ethan as a bargaining tool? Maybe. But whatever, they were alive, and she planned on them all staying that way.
She drank the last of her scotch, refilled her glass, and looked around the cabin. Beside her, Rose and Dex sat close together, holding hands, his head on her shoulder. Dave stood behind them—as though to emphasize his separateness—sipping his drink. But his brooding gaze lingered on Rose.
Jake and Christa were on the sofa across from her, not touching but somehow exuding togetherness. Kaitlin was perched on the arm next to Jake, eyeing up the colonel, her nostrils flaring slightly as though she smelled something bad. The hostages all looked too thin, especially Kaitlin, but their eyes were clear and their minds at peace.
“Thank you,” Connor said to Jake. “But next time, don’t wait six months to come and get us.”
But they weren’t all here. Sadie raised her glass. “To Teagan,” she murmured.
All around the table, they lifted their glasses. “To Teagan.” And their sadness washed over her.
Kaitlin jumped to her feet, slammed her empty glass on the table, and scowled. “I can’t believe we’re working with this fucker.” She waved a hand toward the colonel. “He should be dead.” She turned to glare at Jake. “And I can’t believe you had the bad taste to fall in love with his goddamn daughter. Which means now, I really can’t kill him.”
Jake smiled. “Learn to live with it.”
She bit her lip. “I’m not sure I can. He might not have given the order to kill Sam, but he did nothing to stop it. I hate him.”
Sadie got to her feet and crossed over to Kaitlin. She wrapped an arm around her shoulder. The thin body was rigid, the muscles locked tight. “Let it go,” she murmured. “Don’t let the bitterness take you.”
For a moment Kaitlin resisted, and then the tenseness seeped from her body, and she rested her head against Sadie’s shoulder. “Like you did?” Sadie felt the gentle probe into her mind. “You still haven’t let go of your own.”
“Yeah, well, I’d never suggest you use me as a role model.”
“I’m sorry about Josie. But maybe we can do something.”
“Maybe.”
Kaitlin took a step back, grabbed her glass, and topped it off, then resumed her perch. “Okay, so say I accept that I can’t kill fucker over there. But really, honestly, you’re telling me that we are now actually working with that other fucker, Kane. Now him, we should really kill. He was totally responsible for Teagan’s death.” She swallowed the glass of wine in one gulp. “I’m quite happy to do it if you lot are all too chicken-livered. I’ll even kill him quickly, if that will make you feel better.”
Jake shook his head. “No more wine.”
She gave him a narrow-eyed stare. “What are you? My dad? I don’t think so.” She got up and poured another glass. This time she plonked herself down next to Sadie. “So tell me why we can’t kill him.”
There was a minute’s silence. Clearly it wasn’t a straightforward question. Jake rubbed his chin.
“Well?” Kaitlin prompted.
“Don’t look at me,” Sadie said. “I don’t like Kane, either.”
“He is Jake’s brother,” Christa said. “Sort of.”
“And he does apparently have a time machine,” Rose added. “Which is pretty cool.”
Kaitlin’s lips curled up in a malicious grin. “If we killed him, then it would be our time machine.”
It was a valid point.
Jake ran a hand through his hair. “We’re not killing anyone right now. Too many people have been killed already.” His gaze strayed to the room where Ethan was sleeping.
“Don’t even think about it,” she snarled in his mind.
He shrugged. “What we do need to decide is where to go next, and what to do when we get there. The plane is heading for New York, right now.”
“We could join up with Quinn and the others,” Rose said. Quinn was their second-in-command. He’d been in the States for the last six months, trying to locate Martin Rayleigh, the descendant of the explorer who had discovered the original tribe and Jake’s foster father. Martin had gone missing over four years ago.
“Or we could go home,” Jake suggested.
“Home?” Kaitlin asked, and Sadie could hear the confusion in her voice.
“The Mountains of the Moon.”
It was weird that he was already thinking of Uganda as home. None of them had ever really had a home before, just a series of foster homes, followed by rooms in a barracks, then the safe houses, which had never felt entirely safe. Well, certainly not after the first one had blown up.
“You four”—he waved a hand around to encompass the four ex-hostages—“need time to get your strength back. We need to see if we can find out who attacked the party—how they found us. We’ve got to get some intel together and find out if the Conclave is still a threat.”
“Could we not do that in New York?” Sadie asked. She didn’t want Ethan anywhere near Kane. She didn’t trust him not to do something drastic if he thought his precious mission was in danger.
“We could. But these people found us in London. They’re clearly powerful—they knocked out a whole room of people. I’d feel safer in Uganda, where we have the place set up so we get an early warning system if anyone comes close.”
She still didn’t like it. “How about we go to New York first? We can drop off Ethan—”
“I think he should stay with us.”
“You’d use him?”
“If we had to. But I won’t hurt him. Not without a very good reason. He’s safe with us.”
“You’ll protect him against Kane?”
“I’ll protect him,” Jake said.
She supposed that had to be enough. She glanced up to see everyone’s attention on her. “What?” she snarled.
“You care for him,” Rose said.
“No, I don’t. What about Quinn?” she asked, trying to change the subject.
“Quinn’s fine,” Jake said. “Still hasn’t found Martin. Maybe your friend can help with that.”
“I’ll ask him.”
“There’s another reason for going back,” Jake said. “I know a lot of us aren’t happy with the way things are, that you want to know more. I spoke to Kane before I left. He’s promised to discuss it with the other Guardians and see if they’re willing to let us investigate the machine, maybe find out a little more.”
“You really think he’ll let us touch his precious time machine?” Sadie said.
“If they agree. So is that—” His phone rang and he picked it up. Reading the screen, a grin spread across his face. “It’s from Kane.”
“What does it say?” Christa asked.
“They say yes.”
The lights were dimmed. Everyone was dozing or, from the sounds of snoring, sleeping deeply. They were all either stretched out on the sofas or curled on the chairs. Or in Dave’s case, stretched out on the floor beneath the sofa where Rose slept. Sadie noticed he held one of her hands in his.
Aw.
She got to her feet and made her way to the back of the cabin, pushing the door open to her sister’s room. A lamp was on by the bed but the light was dim. Her sister lay curled in a ball under the sheet. She was sobbing softly into the pillow.
For a second, Sadie considered backing out of the room and closing the door. She had no clue what to say to this woman. Sorry your husband’s dead, but look on the bright side, he was a complete monster, and you’re better off without him.
Yeah, that would go down really well. But she forced herself forward and sank down onto the mattress. She put a tentative hand on Josie’s shoulder, st
roked the fragile bones beneath the thin cotton.
Her sister went still. Then she rolled onto her back and stared at Sadie through tear-drenched eyes. “Is he really dead?”
Sadie nodded.
“I thought it might be a dream. I often have dreams, but Travis always says they won’t come true. That he would protect me.”
“I’ll protect you.” God, she hated that her sister needed protecting. Those bastards had done this. And for a moment, she felt a flicker of hatred toward all the Conclave, including Ethan.
Josie pushed herself up so she was leaning back against the headboard. She still wore her jewels from the party, diamonds glinting at her throat and wrist. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and, diamonds aside, she looked so like the old Josie that Sadie’s breath caught in her throat, and her chest ached.
“Why?” Josie asked. “Why would you protect me? Who are you?”
“My name is Sadie, and although you don’t remember me, I’m your sister. Your twin sister.”
She shook her head, her eyes wide. “No. Travis said I had no family. Why would he lie?”
Because he was a lying bastard? Again—probably not the right thing to say at this moment in time. Whatever else had happened to her sister, it seemed at some point she had actually fallen in love with her husband. Clearly, there was nothing of the old Josie left. Surely her sister hadn’t had that little taste. If she remembered rightly, she’d had a total crush on Stefan before she’d “died.” He’d treated her like a little sister.
“What do you remember of your life…before Travis?”
“Nothing. But he told me I had no family. That we were engaged and that he would be my family.”
“You don’t remember me?”
“No. I want Travis. I don’t believe he’s dead. He wouldn’t leave me. He—”
“Josie.” She reached out, rested her hand on her sister’s arm, squeezed.
But all she got was a look of alarm, and the arm was snatched away. “My name is Joelle. Joelle Weiland. And I’d like you to take me back to London. Right now. Or I’ll…”
Sadie’s heart was cracking open. This was like losing Josie all over again. Each breath hurt, and all the old bitterness and pain wrapped around her, tightening, so she thought she might snap under the pressure. She took a slow, deep breath. Then another. She’d had panic attacks after Josie had died, but had learned how to cope. Just breathe.
When she had herself under control, she forced a bright smile. “In the morning,” she said, “we’ll see about taking you home. But it’s the middle of the night. Everyone is asleep. Why don’t you do the same?” She rose to her feet. Ethan’s pills sat on the bedside table where she’d left them, and she shook two into her palm and held them out. Obediently, Josie placed them in her mouth and then took the proffered glass and a careful sip of water.
She lay down. “So you’ll take me home in the morning?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you. You’re very kind.”
Yeah. Of course I am.
She switched off the light and closed the door behind her, leaning back against it. Kaitlin was curled in a chair just outside, her arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes open, watching her. “Everything all right?”
“No. Nothing is all right.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I want to be happy because she’s alive and I thought she was dead. But she’s not really alive. She’s not even the same person. I can’t connect to her in any way.”
“Maybe you’re expecting too much, too soon.”
“Yeah, maybe. I’m going to check on Ethan, then how about you and me have some more wine?”
“Jake will have you for corrupting a minor.”
“Who gives a fuck? Anyway, you’re not really a minor, and I feel like getting pissed. And it’s a bad idea to drink alone. See, I’m teaching you good habits. But first…” She waved a hand to the other room.
When she went in, she knew he was sleeping. There were no thoughts in his head. She wished she could crawl in beside him and sleep as well, but knew it was futile to try. And she was scared to relax her mind. She didn’t want the dreams to creep in tonight. Not when she felt so… pathetic. So instead, she’d drink some wine and try not to think. They had a long drive. Once they landed, she could sleep in the vehicle.
She sat down on the seat by the bed, quietly so as not to wake him. He lay on his back, the lines of pain wiped away by sleep. He was so beautiful, her chest hurt. But she resisted the urge to stroke her fingers along the rough skin of his jawline. Lower her head and kiss his lips.
She’d watched him sleep before. In her dreams. Watched him, her heart filled with love and tenderness and all those soft emotions she’d never let herself feel for anyone but Josie.
And look how well that had turned out.
She wouldn’t risk it. Not again.
Ethan would never want her love, because deep down, he felt he didn’t deserve love. But then who did? Certainly not Travis, and yet he’d had her sister’s love. He’d stolen it from her. And she suspected that when she told Ethan what she knew of his mother, he would retreat even further from her. He’d see it as the definitive truth.
No, her dreams were just that.
She wouldn’t allow herself to love him.
But she couldn’t let him go just yet, either.
Chapter Twenty-One
Christ, it was hot.
Kaitlin wiped her sweaty palms down over her cutoffs. They belonged to Rose and were held up by a belt. She’d never thought of Rose as being fat before, but she was about twice the size around the hips as Kaitlin. She was either going to have to buy some clothes—and really, how likely was that to happen stuck in the middle of nowhere like this—or she was going to have to put on some weight. She reckoned the nearest shops must be like a day away, so it looked like she was going to have to eat—a lot. She tugged up the shorts and hitched up the top, also from Rose. She was eighteen. Where the hell were her breasts?
Actually, despite being in the middle of nowhere, and despite the intense heat and the abominable company—she cast a narrow-eyed glare toward where the colonel sat talking with Christa—she’d fallen instantly in love with this place.
Through the windows, she could see the vast array of the mountains looming over them, their tops shrouded in mist. But otherwise, the sky was a rich, clear blue. And the noises—the chatter of monkeys and birds in the forests surrounding the house—made her itch to go out and explore, lose herself in the vastness of this place. She’d been in a tiny cell for so long that she ached to be outside, to be part of the utter grandeur of the mountains.
Instead, they were having a meeting. Or they would be, once Kane turned up. Her stomach churned at the thought of meeting him again. She’d only seen him briefly once before, not long before they had broken away from their government controllers. It had been shortly after she’d been told of Sam’s death, and she’d been sunk in terror and misery. She’d been out on a job, gathering the colonel’s sordid little stock of lies. And Kane had given her hope.
The bastard.
But hey, she’d still been young and naive then. She’d believed in hope.
While she couldn’t lay the blame for Sam’s death on Kane, he was certainly responsible for Teagan’s. And many others—Senator Gilpin, who’d been her friend, and the rest of the oversight committee who’d been investigating the Tribe before they had broken away. He’d had them killed, all to protect this precious mission of his.
Well, stuff his mission.
She wasn’t helping him.
And what was much worse in her eyes was the betrayal. He’d pretended to be her friend, had said he would help them, and then he’d betrayed them in the worst possible way. Somehow, he would pay.
Having said that, she was intrigued by the thought of a time machine. Maybe she could steal it. She was betting that would piss him off.
They were in a large room with high ceilings and fans moving
the hot air. Sadie sat across from her. She didn’t look happy. Sadie had always felt too much. Now, she was determined never to feel again. In some ways, Kaitlin didn’t blame her.
But she wanted to feel. Everything.
They’d arrived after dark last night, after what seemed like hours of travel. Her head had hurt—probably from the alcohol—and she’d dozed most of the way. At least the truck had taken them all the way to the house. Christa had told her the first time they’d come, they’d had to trek through the jungle for hours to get here. They’d widened the road since.
At that moment, the door opened and there he was. She’d built him up into some sort of monster, but in fact, he looked so like Jake that for a moment her heart hitched. She’d had a crush on Jake since forever. Obviously, she was not going to get him now, unless she somehow got rid of Christa. And she wouldn’t do that. Not really because she liked her, which she did—it was impossible not to like Christa—but because Jake seemed truly happy. He’d been a miserable bastard before. Blaming himself for Sam’s death, for the others, when really, it was as much her fault as his. More maybe.
She was just thinking all this to stop her from concentrating on Kane. Because if she thought about him too much, she might implode with the need to tear him into little pieces.
He was wearing khaki shorts and a black T-shirt that showed off his tall, lean figure. He looked pretty good for a man who had to be over a hundred and fifty years old. His skin was tanned dark gold and his eyes were brilliant blue. He stopped in front of her.
Why?
Then he held out his hand.
What the fuck? Was he kidding?
She glanced around the room to find everyone’s eyes on her. Sadie’s lips twitched.
“Kaitlin?” He murmured her name, and the sound sent shivers running through her.
Ugh.
She scowled. “You’re kidding me, right? You think I’m going to shake your hand like you didn’t fucking betray us? Like it wasn’t your fault that we spent the last six months in prison. That we nearly died.” She got to her feet. Poked him in his rock-hard chest with her finger. “That Teagan did die. Your fault.”
