Epilogue
“Christa thinks that when we set off the countdown mechanism on the time machine, that we did something else as well. Presumably switched on some sort of transmitter. But transmitting what and to whom—and more importantly to when. We have no clue.”
Ethan had been busy—he had a lot of clearing up to do—and had missed the latest meeting. “So someone in the future picked up the signal, which told them you lot existed, so they sent someone back to kill you all.” Ethan frowned. “But how come they arrived before the countdown was activated?”
Sadie shrugged. “Hey, we’re talking time travel here—maybe they wanted to arrive before the signal, so they could stop it.”
“Why?”
“No clue. But Si said one day we’d understand everything. I’m not holding my breath.”
“I bet Christa has a few theories.”
“Of course. My favorite is that Kane’s mission exists after all, and someone tried to stop it right at the start when the original people were sent back in time. They sabotaged the machine so it crashed ten thousand years too early.”
He rubbed a hand through his hair. “It’s enough to make your head explode.”
“Tell me about it. And the best thing is the bad guys could come back anytime. Hell, they could turn up yesterday and then what happens? Yup—poof—my head just exploded.”
They’d gone over this stuff so many times. She was talking to take his mind off the upcoming meeting. But he loved her for it. Because he was terrified.
“On the positive side,” she said, “we heard from Quinn. He’s still in the States, but he thinks—with the information you gave him—that he’s found Martin Rayleigh. Which means we might locate what’s left of the original Tribe.”
“That’s good. And how’s Josie?” he asked.
“Still hasn’t remembered anything. But she seems happy.”
The rest of the Tribe had returned to Uganda. Only Sadie had stayed to be with him. To help him in his search. In the end, it had taken them only days. Too soon.
They came to a halt outside a pale blue gate. Beside them, Max whined and scratched at the wood. He’d recovered fully from his ordeal but didn’t like to let Sadie out of his sight. Ethan knew the feeling.
Sadie squeezed his hand. “It will be all right,” she said.
He swallowed. He didn’t want to do this.
What if she rejected him? Again. “Maybe we should write a letter. Or an email or…”
“Don’t be a wimp.”
Still he hesitated. So much had been achieved in a few days.
In the end, he hadn’t destroyed the Conclave. Sadie had said it needed to go on. Somewhere in the future, there was a man who would come back and rescue her. Maybe the future wasn’t set, but they could help it along.
So he was taking over. After Lauren’s death, no one had attempted to question his claim. But there would be changes. Accountability. Fergus was helping.
Ethan had warned Jake of the men on their way to Uganda. Kane had been prepared for them. They’d both died in the confrontation, so there was no way of knowing where they had come from.
But they all believed it was nowhere in this time.
Just live for the day. It was all any of them could do. He pushed open the gate which led into a pretty garden, walked up the drive to a matching blue door. He took a deep breath and knocked. There was no response.
“She’s not here,” he said. “We’ll come back another day.”
Sadie shook her head. She pushed on the door and it swung open. Without hesitating, she entered the dim hallway, heading to the back of the house. He followed, reluctantly. Then they walked through a big country kitchen and out the back door into another garden. At the bottom was a gate that led onto the beach.
His mother had always loved the sea.
“Go,” Sadie said.
He stood at the gate and looked out over the beach. A woman and a girl strolled along the edge of the water, a black Labrador trotting beside them. The girl hesitated, swung around, and met his gaze. She was tall and slim, still lanky, with long dark hair and golden eyes. His sister.
“Her name is Bethany,” Sadie said. “It’s her twelfth birthday today.”
He waited, unmoving, until they came up level with him, then he pushed the gate open and stepped out onto the sand.
The woman saw him first and she went still. Her eyes widened.
“She’s happy,” Sadie murmured. “She loves you so much. And she’s scared. Go tell her everything is going to be fine.”
And for the first time in his life, he believed that perhaps it would be.
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