Predatory Game (13 page)

“Just the police station to report the accident.”

Saber nodded. “Maybe you should have gone to the hospital and let them check you out. You didn’t hit your head did you? Or hurt your neck?”

She had it now. The low-level energy was coming from Patsy’s jacket pocket. Anyone could have dropped it in as she passed by them on a sidewalk.

She was fairly certain that it was no accident that someone had hit Patsy’s car and then taken off. But why? Saber studied Jess’s face. He looked cool until she looked at his eyes and felt the volcano simmering just below the surface. He was enraged, and that meant he’d come to the same conclusion Saber had: someone had tried to harm his sister. But if that was so, then who put the bug in her pocket? She looked at Jess again as he leaned forward, his sister’s hand in his, murmuring comfort to her.

She had been with him nearly eleven months. When she was close to him, he stilled the demons that plagued her. Not because he was a GhostWalker and an anchor, but because everything inside her was at peace when he was near. He made her laugh. Not a fake, polite smile, but a genuine laugh. More than that, she liked him, liked being with him. He was intelligent and could talk about any subject she was interested in. Jess was her best friend.

She couldn’t believe he was really betraying her. She couldn’t bear it if he was involved in a conspiracy against her. She took a breath, let it out, and turned away to keep her composure. There was something so endearing in watching him comfort his sister, that look of love on his face, the gentleness in him.

But the fact remained that he was a GhostWalker and she was on the run and Whitney would do just about anything to get his hands on her. But could she leave Jess when he might need her the most? There was a listening device tuned to the exact frequency of his voice—she’d worked with rhythm and sound enough to know Jess’s when she heard it. Still, her mouth was dry, her heart fighting for acceleration, which meant her body was in flight mode.

Jess chose that moment to look up at her and smile. The warmth in his eyes, the tenderness, swamped her.

Okay. She would try to gather more information and just keep her guard up every second. That meant watching him taste their food and drink in case he put a drug in it to sedate her. She shoved a hand through her hair and sighed. The complications were enormous and she was crazy to stay.

“Saber,” he asked, his voice gentle, “is something wrong?”

“I’m upset that this could happen to Patsy,” Saber said, and it wasn’t altogether a lie. She hated that Patsy might be in danger as well.

Patsy immediately reached out and caught her hand. “I’m all right, just a little shaken. If it hadn’t been that exact spot, I’d be all right. I go there often and put flowers just over the guardrail. I had no idea that dirt road was there or that anyone lived on it. It’s a scary drive to come off of, onto that highway right in the middle of a hairpin turn.”

Saber took the opportunity to move very close to Patsy, zeroing in on the listening device. One tiny burst and the bug was toast, but if she didn’t direct it exactly, she could destroy everything electronic in the house. Worse, she was sincerely worried about Patsy’s heart. Something was off, the rhythm not quite right. If she blew it, she could kill Patsy, and that didn’t bear thinking about.

“Tell us what was so important before all this happened,” Saber encouraged, knowing she was opening a can of worms, but determined that Patsy would stop crying. “Let me take your jacket for you, and you just relax and have tea and tell us what’s up.”

Patsy straightened immediately. “Yes. I had something very important to discuss with you both.”

Saber reached down to help Patsy out of her jacket, not giving her a choice in the matter. Jess raised his eyebrows at her, not at all pleased that they were about to get a lecture. Both of them knew what was coming, and Saber had deliberately invited it.

Patsy lifted her chin and glared at her brother, which was difficult to do when he had just been so loving to her. “I have come to save Saber from your playboy tendencies, Jess. You’re a hound dog and you know it. She’s a sweet, innocent girl who needs my protection and I intend to give it to her.”

Saber hid a grin at Jesse’s aggrieved look and carried the jacket across the room to the doorway leading to the living room. She needed to get it as far from Patsy as possible.

Saber hung the coat in the closet and, glancing back toward the kitchen to assure herself no one could observe her, placed her hand on the listening device and concentrated on keeping the electromagnetic pulse streamlined toward that one small object only. The brief surge of energy eliminated the faint vibration so she could breathe a sigh of relief. She’d check the computers and Jess’s cell phone as soon as she could, but she was fairly certain she’d kept the pulse centered on Patsy’s jacket pocket.

“Very funny, you two,” Jess said as Saber reentered the room. “It’s a good thing I’m not sensitive.”

“I’m thinking you need to go to the hospital for a checkup, Patsy,” Saber said, changing the subject abruptly, knowing Jess would follow her lead if only to get out of another lecture.

“Saber’s right, Patsy. You could have internal injuries we don’t know about,” Jess agreed.

Patsy rolled her eyes. “You’re both just saying that to distract me. Saber’s much too young, Jess, to be living with you like this.”

“Actually I just look young,” Saber said. She might be small and waiflike, not tall and elegant with womanly curves, but she certainly was a fully grown woman. “I’m a lot older than you think.” But she couldn’t very well tell her age when she didn’t know it herself. Whitney wasn’t big on giving out that kind of information. She hadn’t known people celebrated things like birthdays and Christmases and anniversaries until very recently. “And truly, when you came in that day and we were clowning around, it was only a joke. Jess is always a gentleman with me.”

“Even when I don’t want to be,” Jess muttered under his breath.

Patsy leaned forward. “What did you say?”

“I said I’d never hurt Saber, not in a million years, Patsy,” Jess assured.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t hurt her deliberately,” Patsy said. “But she isn’t like your other bimbos.”

Saber leaned her hip against the wall and grinned at Jess. “I see Patsy’s met Chaleen. She was here recently, Patsy. She wanted to pick up where they left off.”

“Jess!” Clearly aghast, Patsy reached out to her brother. “Are you all right?”

“Of course I am. Saber sent her away.”

Patsy cast Saber a grateful look. “I detested that woman. She only pretended to enjoy all the things Jess liked. And she really didn’t like the family.”

“Families can be scary,” Saber admitted.

“Not ours,” Jess said, holding out his hand. He noticed she was staying far away from him and knew it was a bad sign. “Come here.”

Saber crossed to his side, hiding her reluctance. The more she was with him, the more physical contact they had, the more she knew she would be trapped by her own feelings for him. But she put her hand in Jess’s because she couldn’t resist.

Jess tugged at her until she was close to him and he could catch the nape of her neck, dragging her head to his level to brush a kiss in her hair. “I’m sorry, ladies, but I have an appointment with my doctors, so I’ll have to leave you two alone. Patsy, don’t you dare persuade Saber to leave me. I wouldn’t survive it.”

“Just the opposite. I’m going to persuade her she needs to make an honest man out of you.”

Jess flashed a quick smile at his sister. “I’ll love you forever if you manage to convince her.”

“You’ll love me forever anyway,” Patsy said.

He pushed himself out of the room, hearing Saber urging Patsy to go for a quick checkup, even if it was just to her own doctor, “just in case.”

Jess entered his office, upset over Patsy’s supposed accident. Coincidences were piling up and they were beginning to strain the bounds of credibility. And Saber, well, she was just acting weird.

He had a meeting with Lily and Eric about the bionics and he wasn’t looking forward to it. By now the therapy, visualization, and drugs should have been working, but he still couldn’t walk. He didn’t need to be wasting his time with doctors who weren’t doing him any good.

Something was wrong with Saber and he was terrified she was on the verge of pulling a vanishing act. If she took off, he’d never find her. And that scared the holy crap out of him.

Lily and Eric were both waiting, greeting him from their respective monitors. “How are you feeling?” Lily asked.

“Like I can’t walk,” Jess replied, an edge to his voice. “Hell, you used enough iguana and lizard DNA to turn me into a reptile. I thought it would regenerate the cells with or without the drugs you’re pumping into me.”

“You have to have patience, Jess,” Eric said. “We told you, this course of treatment has never been tried on a human. The theory is sound and it worked on a few lab animals but we didn’t have time to even perfect that.”

“A few lab animals,” Jess echoed. “That’s great. Just great. If my tongue starts to grow and I suddenly develop a taste for flies, you’ll tell the others why, won’t you?”

Lily passed a hand over the mound of her stomach. She looked like she had swallowed a basketball. “I know you’re upset, Jess. But this will work. We just have to give it a little time. Are you still having trouble with bleeding?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes.”

“And you’re not overdoing it? You only do your therapy when you have someone with you, right?” Eric said.

Rather than lie Jess scowled at them. “I’m beginning to think neither one of you really knew what you were doing when you talked me into this.”

“I told you it was highly experimental,” Eric pointed out. “When I said it had never been tried, I meant it had never been tried.”

Lily leaned forward. “I’m working on it, Jess. You know I’ll keep going until I get it right. Your body hasn’t rejected the bionics, and that’s the biggest hurdle. We just haven’t yet managed to get them hooked into your brain. If worse comes to worst, we can go back to the power pack idea.”

“Which gives me a few hours and then I’m back in the chair, still a liability if I’m on a mission.”

“So you really want to go back into the field,” Eric asked.

“Of course.” But he was no longer so certain. He didn’t want to leave Saber behind. “Look, there’s nothing new you’re telling me. I’m going to sign off now and get some other things done.”

Lily nodded. “We’ll figure this out, Jess.”

He lifted a hand at both of them, inexplicably angry with them and with himself. He had agreed to the surgery. Neither had lied to him about the possibility that it wouldn’t work, but he had been so certain. Iguanas and lizards regenerated tails, why not find a way to regenerate his damaged nerves so his bionics would be directed by his brain, just as if his legs were all his?

He needed Saber. He needed to hold her. To be with her. To just breathe clean fresh air and forget that he might not walk again after his hopes had been raised. He went looking for Saber because she was the one person who soothed him when he was ready to explode with frustration or anger. She was in the kitchen putting dishes away.

“Is Patsy gone?” Jess asked.

Saber nodded. “A little while ago. I tried to get her to go to the hospital and get checked out, and I really think you should call her and try to persuade her. Sometimes things show up later. She shouldn’t take any chances.”

“Patsy’s stubborn. Maybe if she wakes up tomorrow and hurts like hell, she’ll go.”

Saber pressed her lips together to keep from insisting. “Are you all right? You look upset. If you’re worried about Patsy, I still think you should have a doctor check her out and then hire security—a bodyguard, someone to keep an eye on her.”

Jess had already planned to do just that. In fact, he was going to make a few phone calls. He was feeling restless.

He dragged both hands through his hair. “I’m feeling cooped up. Let’s get the hell out of here and go on a picnic.”

Her eyebrow shot up. “A
picnic
?”

“Yeah, a picnic. You know, blanket on the ground—”

“Cold ground,” she interrupted.

“Blanket on the
cold ground
,” he repeated. “Wicker basket loaded with goodies especially prepared for outdoor dining. You know—picnic.”

“I know what a picnic is, Jesse, I just don’t understand your sudden urge to go on one, especially now when nature is about to dump a ton of snow on us.”

“It’s just a bit brisk. You’ll love it.”

“Yeah right. Me and the penguins.” But he was starting to grin and the sparkle in his eyes was irresistible. Darn him. He knew she couldn’t resist that teasing look. “Suppose I agree to this ridiculous picnic idea. As you’ve just pointed out, picnics involve food.” She opened the refrigerator and pointed with a smirk. “Hate to burst your bubble, Calhoun, but that looks empty to me.”

“Give me some help here, you little whiner. We’ll stop at the store. I need some enthusiasm from you.”

“All right already,” Saber capitulated. “I’m enthused. I can’t wait.” And she couldn’t. She’d never been on a picnic before. It was one of those things normal people did. Normal, just like she’d always wanted. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see. Dress warm and don’t forget your gloves,” he instructed.

Saber allowed herself to really study his face. It was difficult to read Jess; it always had been. She felt comfortable with him, alive and happy. And there were no headaches, no bleeding from her mouth, nose, or ears. When she was close to him, she could handle all the energy flooding her brain, all the emotions and the bombardment of sound assaulting her. She had never questioned that, but she should have. Only a GhostWalker who was an anchor could draw the energy away from her, and Jess Calhoun had to be an anchor. Was that why she felt so close to him? Because he was like her?

Had she really deceived herself all these months? He had to be very well trained to have concealed his part in the program from her. Ordinarily she could spot a GhostWalker a mile away, but because Jess was in a wheelchair, it hadn’t even occurred to her that he could possibly be in that program.