Final Hours by Cate Dean Read Free Book Online Page B

calm.
Yes, they did; an agent came through with a working transport, to the
coordinates locked into the console at home.
    The coordinates for London, 14 May, 1940.
    He was in Dover.
    Kane leaned his head back against the wall and closed his
eyes.
    He was utterly screwed.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Mac tapped double time on his screen,
muttering under his breath. Elizabeth watched him, arms wrapped around her
waist, and fought the panic that threatened to break through. She would not let
it take over—not this time.
    She reached up for her gold locket, and took slow, deep
breaths. The panic faded, faster than normal, and her breath evened out.
    Mac stopped his furious tapping, stared at the screen for
endless seconds—and with a vicious curse, slammed his fist into it.
    “Mac—”
    “I lost him.” He stared at Elizabeth, oblivious to the blood
dripping off the torn skin over his knuckles, his face shock pale. “He’s gone.”
    “Dead?” Her question had everyone in the lab freezing mid
task. Panic didn’t have any room to move in this time—she was too scared for
Kane. “Mac—is he dead?”
    “He might as well be.” Relief nearly buckled her knees. She grabbed
the edge of the console at his next words. “Protocol is to send an agent in
with a new transport. Problem is, he’s not where he’s supposed to be. I checked
every damn square inch of London for his signal. He’s not there.”
    The lab buzzed with various reactions. Elizabeth ignored
them, forced herself to focus. “What if he detoured? Like an unintentional side
trip?”
    Color started to seep back into Mac’s face. “An
unintentional…” He swung back to his screen, and cursed at the broken glass.
“Follow me.”
    He ran to the main console and spoke to the tech in front of
the central screen. After constantly shaking his head, Mac said something that
had the tech’s eyes widen. He backed off and Mac jumped in, tapping on the
screen. Elizabeth inched forward, as inconspicuous as possible. She finally got
close enough to hear Mac, muttering as he kept moving his hands over the
screen.
    “Unintentional side trip—genius.” Elizabeth bit her lip on a
smile, just before Mac swung his head around, caught sight of her. “Come here.
Make way—get out of her way!” The space on either side of him cleared. “Your
brilliant observation made me think of this equally brilliant strategy. Look up
at the big screen.”
    She did. A map replaced the grid, and as she watched,
sections of the map start blinking, each one a different color. What he had
done jumped out at her. “You’re breaking it up.”
    “Got it in one. Genius.” He flashed her a smile, kept
tapping. “Watch the North East, top right on the map.” It stopped blinking,
then went dark. “By plugging Kane’s DNA signature in, we can go through each
part of the country until we pinpoint him. That is,” he glanced at her, the
smile gone. “If he landed there on the correct day.”
    “And if he didn’t?”
    “I’m gonna cross that bridge if we get to it, sweetheart,
not before.”
    “Okay.” She told herself to breathe, slow, deep. It helped
to focus on the screen, instead of the fear screaming at her. A small, red dot
snagged her attention, at the bottom of the map. “Mac—what is that?”
    He looked up—and stared at the map. “I’ll be damned.” His
fingers tapped and slid over the screen. “I’ll be double damned. You found
him.” Before she could escape he picked her up and swung her around. “You found
him!”
    He kissed her, hard and fast, and set her on her feet.
“Will! I need another transport. And line up an agent to go in—”
    “I have suspended all portal travel.” Dr. Kinimoto appeared
on the other side of the console. Glendon Harper stood just behind her, and he
looked smug. Elizabeth wanted to punch that smug right off his face.
    Mac looked like he wanted to do worse. “You can’t—”
    “I refuse to put another agent’s life in danger. Not until
we