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A series of muffled bangs echoed across the compound. Puffs of white smoke burst from the pillars and windows. One by one, the buildings imploded, walls collapsing inward and downward.
Within seconds, all that remained of the school was metal, stone, and dust.
CHAPTER 106
Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, Botswana
JAMELLE STOOD NEAR the arrival area, bouncing nervously on the balls of her feet. As passengers from Flight 3043 started to emerge, her heart started to pound even harder. Her eyes were wide and her breath came in shallow bursts. She tilted her head back and forth, trying to peer around the passengers as they surged forward to greet friends, relatives, and drivers.
The last traveler to emerge was a tall woman with copper-colored curls. She looked exactly like the picture she’d sent. Her arms were cradled across her chest. She held a small bundle in a baby blanket.
Jamelle ran past the barrier, laughing and crying at the same time, jostling other passengers as she went. When she got closer, she locked eyes with the woman.
“Kira??” she asked. As if there were any doubt.
“Jamelle,” said Kira, “it’s so good to meet you.”
Kira bent forward and slipped the sleeping baby into her mother’s arms. Jamelle looked down at her beautiful daughter, then back up at Kira. Tears streamed down her face. Her throat was so tight that she could no longer form words, but Kira understood.
Kira brushed her hand over the baby’s plump cheek one last time.
“Keep her safe,” she said. “Raise her well.”
CHAPTER 107
Chicago
One Year Later
DONE.
It was a relief to have the first class of the semester behind me. It felt good to shake the cobwebs off my delivery and get back into the rhythm of a lecture. I’d stayed a few minutes after class to answer the usual assortment of inane student questions.“Will this material be on the final?” “Will you be posting your lecture notes?” “Is class attendance required for a grade?”Christ. Some things never change.
As the lecture hall cleared out, I gathered my notebooks and laptop and tossed my water bottle into the recycling bin. At the last minute, I grabbed the eraser and wiped my name off the whiteboard. Clean slate for the next instructor using the room.
Behind me, a few rows back, I could hear two girls whispering as they headed for their next class. Before my transformation, their conversation would have just blended into the general buzz of the room. Now I could make out every word. My hearing was as sharp as my eyesight. Sometimes it could be a distraction.
“Think this class will be tough?” the first girl asked.
“Who cares?” her friend said, low and confidential. “The professor is reallyhot!”
I felt an odd flush and a flutter in my stomach, and it wasn’t from the backhanded compliment. It was something else. I put down the eraser and turned around. The room was empty now, but there was a figure silhouetted in the doorway. I caught a flash of color—and a halo of curls.
Dear God. It was her.
I felt the breath go out of me. I did my best to stay aloof and professorial, even though my heart was just about thumping through my chest. I hadn’t seen or heard from Kira since the day I climbed aboard that helicopter in Russia. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. I walked over.
“Am I too late to audit this class?” she asked. Still a wiseass.
I tried not to react. Tried not to reveal all the conflicting feelings running through my head. Tried to play it cool and match her flip attitude.
“Are you enrolled as an undergraduate?” I asked.
“Not really,” she said. “I’m a high-school dropout.”
“In that case, you’re trespassing.”
I’d forgotten what it was like to spar with her. I’d forgotten a lot of things. She moved into the room and leaned against the wall.
