Predatory Game (20 page)

“He is good, isn’t he?” Saber said with pride.

Mari nodded. “I’ve never seen anything quite like that.”

It was kind of funny that they were all sitting at the same table pretending they were all just friends—normal people—instead of their reality. Saber had learned to handle the crush of energy others gave off, but it was difficult over long periods of time. She usually avoided crowds. Mari wasn’t an anchor either and she would have the same problems being out in public. It gave Saber a kindred feeling toward Mari.

“I love to dance, and Jess was so good about dancing at home with me.”

Home. Jess liked the way she said it. He’d never thought much about having a home. He’d taken it for granted, growing up in a loving family the way he had. He wondered what Saber’s childhood had been like. He knew Mari’s had been extremely difficult. Jess reached for Saber’s hand, thumb feathering over her knuckles. “It was fun,” he said decisively. “Although I think she’s always afraid I might fall over backward.”

“That’s because you deliberately scare me.” She laughed because she couldn’t help it as he caught at the wheels to do a pop-up. “Stop, you know I hate that.”

“Stop showing off for your woman,” Ken ordered.
She’s laughing but she’s really worried about it.

Jess shot his friend a shut-up look, but he stopped teasing her. “I do it all the time, honey, and I never fall.”

“I know,” Saber sipped at her drink and flashed him a reassuring smile.

That was the problem right there, Jess decided. That smile. Like she was taking care of him, watching over him. Afraid he’d hurt himself. He knew where all the exits and windows were. He knew who would be the most dangerous men in the room in a fight. He knew the make and model of every car in the parking lot and exactly how they were parked. He knew which of the customers were armed and which ones he could take—most likely all of them—without breaking a sweat and still sitting in his wheelchair. But she didn’t see him as someone who could take care of her.

He wanted to shake things up. He was tired of pretending to be less capable than he truly was. But he couldn’t tell her the truth because he was a top secret national security weapon. And most likely, she couldn’t say anything to him for the same reason.

As if reading his mind, Ken gave a small shake of his head.
Mari thinks she’s on the run.

Was he really that transparent? He wanted to lean across the table and kiss her. She melted when he kissed her, forgetting all about the chair. Jess sighed and sought a safe topic of conversation. “How’s Briony? Her baby must be due soon.” He found Saber’s hand again, tangling their fingers because he needed to touch her. “Briony, Mari’s sister, is married to Ken’s brother, Jack.”

“Jack and I are twins,” Ken explained. “And so are Mari and Briony. Briony is expecting twins.”

“How did that happen?” Saber asked. “Because that’s plain scary.”

Ken laughed. “It’s a curse in my family. We always have twins. The men in our family find women who produce identical twins. It’s either a blessing or a curse, we’re not certain which.”

Mari shot him a look. “Not me. My poor sister is terrified of having children and with two of them coming, I can’t blame her.”

Saber was horrified. “Two? I’ve never even held a baby.”

“Neither have I,” Mari confessed. “Briony hasn’t either, but I told her I’d help her. Jack is really good with her.”

“Jack has these books he’s always reading,” Ken said with a little grin. “On pregnancy, having twins, labor, and now parenting.”

“He makes us all read them,” Mari added.

Saber felt tears burning behind her eyes. It was so unexpected she wasn’t prepared for the emotion overwhelming her. Their voices, she decided, held so much love, so much warmth. They were a family. Jack and Briony. Ken and Mari. And now children. Somehow they’d made it out of the insanity that was the life of a GhostWalker.

She wanted to ask them so many questions, but at the same time she wanted to beat back hope. Because if you hoped and then it was taken from you, life was far worse than ever before. She had escaped, but Whitney kept coming after her. Sooner or later he would catch up with her, and she would be dead, because there was no way she’d ever go back to that hellish captivity. She’d die first. How had Mari gotten out? And was Briony a GhostWalker as well? Why had Whitney let them leave? Why was he leaving them alone and not her?

Jess tugged at her until she came out of her chair and settled on his lap. “Dance with me again, baby,” he said, keeping his voice soft and low. The look on her face was heartbreaking. If there was ever a moment in his life when he really considered breaking security clearance, it was right then.

Her arms circled his neck and she relaxed into him as he powered the chair onto the dance floor. He found a quiet corner where the shadows felt intimate. The music was soft and soothing. Saber relaxed into his arms, burying her face against his throat.

He spotted Logan Maxwell in the crowd, and Martin Howard at the bar. He felt better knowing they were close. Whoever was watching them would get more than they bargained for if they made a move against Saber or him. Logan wielded power with infinite skill. Ken was one of the toughest GhostWalkers in the business. Martin was lethal in any situation. Mari was an unknown to Jesse having recently married Ken, but if she was strong enough to stand with Ken, then she was welcome.

Jess wasn’t losing Saber. Her running days were over, and if she was still working for Whitney, then he would see to it she knew exactly who and what Whitney really was.

“What’s wrong?” Saber’s whisper was in his ear, in his mind, sliding over his skin like a caress.

He made himself breathe. “Nothing, baby. I’m just enjoying holding you.”

The chair swayed to the music. He knew the others could read him. They would know how deep his feelings for Saber really went, but at that moment the only thing that mattered to him was keeping her safe.

Outside, Neil Campbell would be lying up on a rooftop or in a tree somewhere with a night scope. Ordinarily Ken and Jack Norton took up sniper duty, but with Jack’s wife so close to having her babies, and Ken having the only female partner available to their team, Neil pulled the task of providing cover.

The last notes of the music faded away and Jess maneuvered the chair through the crowd back toward the table. Saber stayed on his lap because she wanted a few more stolen minutes with him. The path opened up along the wall, and her legs brushed against a very good-looking man with ice-cold blue eyes, wide shoulders, and muscles in his arms to rival Jess’s.

The moment she brushed against him, an electric current sizzled through her body and she had to force herself to keep from looking up.
GhostWalker.
Damn it. Damn it, she’d waited too long. The man was an enhanced soldier, an anchor if she wasn’t mistaken, and no one was safe now. She had to get Jess out of the bar as quickly as possible and maybe—oh God, she couldn’t believe she was considering it—she had to find a way for Ken and Mari to escort them to the van. Unless…

For a moment she couldn’t breathe, her breath hitching, but she was a professional, and if Jess was betraying her, delivering her back into Whitney’s hands, then she’d better be prepared for anything. She was surrounded, and they couldn’t know that she knew. But would Jess allow her to snuggle onto his lap if he’d been told about her? She had to think. Maybe excuse herself and go to the restroom. She could be gone in seconds. Saber was an expert at disappearing. They’d have a man, maybe two outside, but she could make it out. Eventually they’d find her gear. She sighed. If Jess was really in danger, then she was leaving him vulnerable.

Jess knew immediately that Saber had identified Logan as a GhostWalker. She didn’t change expression or even stiffen, but for one split second her breathing had caught.

You’re made, Logan. Even with me shielding, she knew.

I felt it when she touched me.
Logan did a mental shrug.
It doesn’t surprise me in the least. I was shocked that the two of you had been in the same house for so long and neither knew about the other.

Saber had her arms around Jess, her palm curled along the nape of his neck, skin to skin, and she felt the current of energy arc in the air, from Jess to the stranger. She automatically tuned her biorhythm to Jess’s to get the feeling for the current. The brain activity gave telepathic communication away every time. She knew exactly what part of the brain did what and where the pulses came from. He was talking to the man with the ice-cold blue eyes.

She kept the rhythm of her heart exactly the same. Her pulse didn’t leap, not even when it entered her mind that she could be in a trap, with Jess as the bait—all-too-aware bait. He knew them all. And he was talking to them. If she slipped into his rhythm, she might even pick up the exact pathway and eavesdrop.

She didn’t dare think that Jess had betrayed her—not for real—because if he had, she didn’t know what she might do. Would she—could she—kill him?

“Saber, talk to me,” Jess said. She was moving away from him. Not physically. If he didn’t know her so well he wouldn’t have sensed any difference in her, but he felt a jarring note, as if his energy had fit with hers and now it bounced back as if she had turned away. “What’s wrong?”

She wanted to shake him. She detested playing games, but she had no choice. “Nothing.” Now she sounded sulky and felt inadequate. The moment they returned to the table, she jumped off his lap. “Nothing at all.” She even managed a quick, bright smile. Who smiled before they killed? She’d undergone tests most of her life, mental, psychological, physical, and emotional. She’d always been too emotional to please Whitney. He’d come close to terminating her several times, close to using her in one of the programs few survived, but by that time, she’d caught on. She knew she had to play his game and be better at it, because in her world, being the best at dealing death meant surviving.

Mari indicated the drinks on the table. “The owner sent us another round.”

There was no more sipping at drinks or trusting her companions, not even to pretend. She watched Jess take his drink and lift it with a nod toward the bartender. Ken tipped Mari’s glass and then Saber’s. She was careful about actually putting her lips to the rim. A dusting of poison could kill in an instant. Appearing distracted by a dancer, she set the drink aside, still standing, tapping her foot to the beat.

“This is great music,” she said to no one in particular, allowing her gaze to drift over the crowd. Men and women who could handle themselves had a distinct look. She touched a few potentials, men who looked good in a fight, men who carried themselves with confidence, who moved with easy, sure steps and flowing muscles. She couldn’t discount the women as a threat either.

Mari was a soldier. There was no doubt in Saber’s mind. She’d gone through the same extensive training Saber had, and it had been thorough. She probably knew more ways to kill a man than most individuals in the room. She’d gone through psychological and emotional testing. She was trained extensively in weapons and hand-to-hand, but more importantly, she had been put through test after test on her ability to think in a crisis. On how to remain cool and calm, how to be as cold as ice in any given situation.

For the first time in her life, Saber was grateful for the years of training, for all the times she’d been punished for showing emotion. Jess had betrayed her, sold her out to the other GhostWalkers. By all rights she should terminate him.

“Have you met Jess’s sister, Patsy?” she inquired, hanging on to her smile.

Ken nodded. “I have. I had met her before this happened.” He ran his hand over the scars on his face. “She cried when she saw me. Patsy is a very caring woman.”

“I haven’t met her,” Mari said. “I’d like to though. Both Jack and Ken talk about Jess and his family quite a bit.”

“Jess always invited us for holidays,” Ken said. “He has a nice family.”

Saber continued to search the room without seeming to do so. There would be others in the crowd. They would want a full team if they planned to reacquire her. She pushed all sentiment away, all regret. Escape wouldn’t be easy. She was small and her strength wasn’t in hand-to-hand. She was good with weapons, but again, it wasn’t her specialty. She could do it—would do it—because she had to. When failure wasn’t an option, you found a way to get it done.

“I’ve only met Patsy, and I really like her.”

“She thinks Saber is too young for me,” Jess said. She was pulling away from him. He could feel her withdrawal as surely as if she were already gone. Something close to panic pressed on his chest until he could barely breathe. He had never panicked in his life. Not once. Not in training, not in combat, not when he’d been captured and tortured. But panic filled him until he could barely think straight.

“Saber.” He said her name in a low voice. “Look at me.”

She didn’t even turn her head his way. She kept that soft, dreamy look on her face, the small half smile, and she looked as if she was very interested in the dancers.

“I’m listening.”

Even her voice was perky, damn her, but he knew. He knew with every fiber of his being.
Look at me now!
It was a command, sharp and firm and demanding.

Startled, her eyes met his in shock.

Do you honestly believe that I would betray you? Don’t look at anyone else. Look at me. Do you think I brought you here so that bastard Whitney could take you away from me?

He was furious with her—that she could believe such a betrayal. And hurt. God, it hurt like a son of a bitch. He wanted to shake her, so much so that he didn’t dare put his hands on her. The table vibrated beneath his palms. Ken shot him a quick inquiry, but Jess ignored him, holding Saber’s gaze.
Answer me, damn it, is that what you think of me? That I would hand you over to him after living with you for nearly a year?

She moistened her lips, her only nervous gesture. She didn’t even blink, but stared him right in the eye. Her gaze shifted back to the crowd. His heart slammed hard in his chest, one jolt and his stomach felt as if he’d been sucker punched.