Page 87 of Dark Rebel's Fortune

When they'd left, the weather was still clinging to winter, but it seemed that summer had suddenly descended while they were away.

He immediately closed the shade and turned to look at Kyra, who was still dozing off or just keeping her eyes closed. He wanted her to have these last moments of peace to relax because as soon as they disembarked, she would once again get consumed by caring for her sisters and their kids.

The truth was that he couldn't wait to be alone with her, and not just because he wanted to strip her naked and make love to her all day and night long until he erased every last bit of subconscious memory of all the horrible things that had been doneto her. Logically, he knew that he couldn't do that, but emotionally, he was driven to give it his best shot. For now, though, he would just love a couple of hours without anyone else making demands on her time.

As they taxied toward the clan's private hangar, Kyra opened her eyes and looked at the closed shade. "Can you open it? I want to see where we are."

"Of course, but be ready for extreme sunshine in your eyes."

She shielded them with her hand. "I'm ready."

"Home sweet home," he said as he lifted the shade. "Or rather, home away from home. The village is about two hours from here, maybe more, depending on traffic."

Kyra nodded, scanning the airstrip. "It's nice to have a private airfield and a hangar. I didn't even know it was an option."

He chuckled. "We live in the land of the free, where everything is possible if you have the money to bribe local politicians or if you can thrall them to do what you want."

"And the clan can do both."

"Correct."

As the plane came to a complete stop, Max saw that the medical van was already parked by the hangar, with Julian and Gertrude standing beside it. The bus was a little farther away, parked next to Morris's car.

"Remind your sisters about the screening," Maxsaid. "Tell them it's nothing to be afraid of, and to prepare the kids."

Concern flashed across Kyra's face as she looked back at her sisters and their children. "Do you think the Doomers implanted Yasmin's kids with trackers? Or Parisa's? They could have done that while the boys were at school."

"It's possible," Max said. "With how sophisticated the Doomers suddenly appear to be, they might have gotten to the boys in school, given them a shot, and then made them forget about it. It's even more likely with Yasmin and her kids, who were held by the Doomers for several hours before we got them out. Then again, Yasmin and her children were in the safe house, and no one came for them while the Doomers came after the rest of us."

"So, can we skip Yasmin and her kids?" Kyra asked. "They are the most fragile right now."

"Of course not. It would be irresponsible of us to bring anyone to the village before verifying that they can't unknowingly bring the enemy to us."

"What's going to happen now?" Soraya asked.

"As I told you before, all of you need to be scanned for trackers," Kyra said. "Then we'll board the bus that will take us to the village. It's a two-hour ride from here."

"I hope the bus has a toilet," Parisa said, seemingly unconcerned with the scanner.

Parisa's youngest boy looked at him with big, rounded eyes. "Will it hurt?"

Max crouched down to the boy's level. "Not at all. It's just like taking a picture, only lying down. You will need to be very still while the machine takes lots of pictures."

The child didn't look entirely convinced but nodded anyway.

"Is it an X-ray machine?" Parisa's oldest asked.

"Similar," Max said.

As Morris opened the plane's exit door, Max extended the stairs and led the way down, with Kyra directly behind him and the rest of the family following in a tight cluster.

He welcomed the familiar dry and warm California air. It was wonderfully clean up here in the mountains.

"Welcome back," Julian said, extending his hand first to Kyra, then to Max. "I'm glad to see everyone made it out safely." He shifted his gaze to Kyra's sisters and their children. "Welcome to the United States of America," he said more formally, then looked at Kyra again. "Care to do the introductions?"

Gertrude joined them, and Kyra introduced her as well.

The children shook hands with the doctor and the nurse, and they in turn smiled and said all the right things, but the kids were still eyeing the medical van with trepidation. One of Parisa's sons was edging behind his mother, while Yasmin's youngest had buried her face in her mother's side and refused to shake hands with anyone or even show her face.

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