“Oh God,” he said, covering his eyes. “It had me from the second I entered. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t get away. It took me … all over the world. I saw their eyes, and the disasters started. Over and over and over … I couldn’t stop it.”

“I saw you … in flames. That … thing … had you.”

“I couldn’t get away … but I could divert. Just for a moment. I found him, the man in the flames. But he’s afraid.”

“Of course he is. He’s surrounded by fire,” Jane said.

“No,” William said. “He’s afraid of me.”

TWENTY

The smoke was relentless. Outside the window of the Gulfstream, it looked to Kate like the entire world was burning. The footage from television didn’t do the fires justice; everything below the plane was gray and ash.

Across from her sat an armed soldier, who, uncomfortably, kept a fairly constant gaze upon her. If she were to swivel around, she would see the same arrangement was made for her mother, Stella, even Roxy.

“What do you think I’m going to do? Flip someone over my shoulder? Maybe a karate chop?” Roxy had complained when they’d boarded the plane six hours prior, and she was forced to sit in her own section under the watch of the soldier.

Stella had lectured everyone intensely about the freedoms of the press and pointed out that journalists in the United States cannot be taken prisoners of the government. She’d been shown her seat at the back of the plane.

Kate had raised her own hell on the flight, demanding to speak with her staff, even invoking the name of the president. Mark Wolve had just given her an aggravated look, ordering the soldiers to keep them silent as he drew a curtain separating him and his staff from the rest of them.

Only her mother had said nothing, sitting, folding her hands in her lap, and looking out the window. Four soldiers were stationed around her.

Kate wanted to stand and tear the curtain open, demanding to know where they were going. But she knew if she dared make a move, that soldier would be on her in a heartbeat. Even when she did turn around to check on her family, he cleared his throat as a warning.

She thought about praying, something she hadn’t done in perhaps a decade or more. She’d prayed at her dad’s funeral, hadn’t she?

Dad. Would you be ashamed of me? Would you understand I did what I thought I had to do to protect the nation? Or would you frown that I had put country before family—

The curtain abruptly parted, and Mark stepped through, carrying a laptop. All the soldiers snapped to attention. “Corporal Rice, your seat.”

“Yes sir, General Wolve, sir.” As the corporal went to stand in the back of the plane, Mark sat down, opening up the laptop.