She made noise as she ran, deliberately making her footsteps loud, hoping he'd bring up the gun, but he kept screaming and rolling on the asphalt. Saber skidded to a halt, brought up the gun, and stared down into the face of the man who had violated her sanctuary--her home.
"Les." She let out her breath, a little shocked that the day soundman could have been stalking her for the last few weeks. He barely spoke to her, in fact the rare times they worked together, he was surly and mean.
He spat curses at her, the gun still in his hand, but he didn't lift it, only drummed his heels against the asphalt and raged as if demented. She could see he'd been wounded in the stomach. The pain had to be excruciating.
"Saber!"
If she was going to kill him, she had to do it now, squeeze the trigger and be done with him, but she couldn't. She stood there shaking, the energy swirling around her in blacks and reds, swallowing her up so that her vision darkened and she went to her knees.
Brian ran up behind her and the terrible churning in her stomach, the pounding in her head, lessened significantly. When he dropped his hand on her shoulder, it disappeared altogether.
"Are you all right?"
"Brady's been shot. We need to call an ambulance."
He reached down and helped her up, removing the gun and tucking it into his belt. "Did he hurt you?"
"No. But he's been the one calling and he broke into my house and did disgusting things in my bedroom. I don't understand this."
"No? Les was sent by Dr. Whitney to watch you and report back to him."
Brian drew a gun from beneath his shoulder and kicked at Les with the toe of his boot while Saber stood there, mouth open in shock.
"How would you know that? Who are you?"
"The theory was neither you nor Jess would pay much attention to someone not genetically enhanced. And you didn't. It was a test of sorts, one you both failed. You even disliked him, but you didn't bother to find out why. That's a weakness, Saber."
He brought up the gun, aimed it, and fired. A hole blossomed in the center of Les's forehead. Saber jumped and stepped back, horrified.
"You should have killed him. You never would have been safe as long as he was around. He's been deteriorating for months. He obsessed over you."
"Brian." Saber inhaled sharply, trying to keep panic down. He wasn't close enough to touch. And he didn't take his eyes off of her. "Do you work for Whitney?"
"You already know the answer to that and it should have occurred to you why you were so comfortable at work." There was a definite reprimand in his voice.
"You're an anchor." He was the reason she wasn't writhing on the ground with jackhammers pounding at her head from the aftermath of violence.
"And a shielder." He flashed a quick grin. "One of the rare ones--like you."
She raised her chin and took another step back. "You'll have to kill me, Brian, because I'm not going back."
His eyebrow shot up. "If I'd wanted to take you back, I would have knocked you out at work and gotten the job done."
"I liked you, Brian. You're very good at what you do."
"You don't have to stop liking me. I'm no different from you. I do a job. My job was to look out for you and I've done it. The next time you have a maggot on the ground, Saber, kill it. You've been taught right. Just because you don't want to work as an assassin anymore doesn't mean all of your training should be thrown out. You should be able to keep yourself alive."
Brian glanced over at Brady. "I've got to go. There are a couple of people I want to see before I take off."
She took a step toward him. "Not Jess."
"Of course not Jess. Back off, Saber. I wouldn't want to have to knock you out. I don't like seeing bruises on you. I'm going to see Patsy, just to make certain she's all right. I'm not going after Jess."
"She has guards on her," Saber felt compelled to point out. She liked Brian. She thought of him as a friend. And she was stunned that she had worked with him night after night and never once caught on to the fact that he was a GhostWalker working for Whitney.
"He's evil, Brian. You have to know that."
"I'm a soldier, Saber. Just like you. I take orders."
"You're not in his breeding program?"
"That's a rumor, nothing more."
She shook her head. "You're lying to yourself because you don't want it to be true. Why do you think he let me go? He wants Jess and me to have a baby."
In the distance they heard the wail of sirens. Brian didn't look away from her. In his eyes, on his face, she saw respect--the respect of a fellow soldier--admiration for what she could do.
"I do my job, Saber. Go where they tell me and carry out orders. I'm going to see Patsy and then I'll be gone. You stay out of trouble."
"Brian, get another assignment. Anyone but Whitney. Ask for a transfer to one of the other GhostWalker teams. Someone is out to kill all of us and we have no idea who. Not Whitney, but someone high enough up that they can mess with assignments. Some of the GhostWalkers have been sent out on suicide missions. You need to know that and all the men on your team need to be aware of it as well." She talked fast, keeping her voice low, aware of the janitor and two other security guards hesitantly coming toward them.
He smiled at her. "You take care of yourself. I have to get out before the cops arrive. Be safe, Saber. And don't let your guard down."
She was going to miss him. She watched him walk over to Brady and held her breath as he crouched down, took a pressure bandage out of his jacket, and handed it and Brady's gun back to the ex-SEAL. Brian went over the side of the mountain, using the exact escape route Saber had scoped out months earlier. He would have a car and a pack stashed close by.
She ran over to Brady and knelt down beside him. He tore open the packaging with his teeth. She ripped at the material of his trousers. His thigh was soaked with blood.
"Here, give it to me. The paramedics will be here any minute."
"Brian's military," Brady said. "Man, I didn't catch that. He blended so perfectly."
That was what a GhostWalker like Brian did. A chameleon, becoming who and what everyone expected. She shook her head. She'd heard of them, of course, but Brian was the first one she'd encountered. They could become anyone.
"Yeah, he's military."
"He executed that man."
She didn't reply, but sat back, rubbing her hand over her face, exhausted. Without Brian to pull the energy from her, she felt the aftereffects, although most of it was already dispersed. She held out her hand. "You have a cell phone." Because all she wanted to do was talk to Jess--hear the comfort of his voice.
Brady lay back in the grass beside her. "My pocket."
She glanced at him sharply. He was gray, with beads of sweat on his face. "Hey! You'd better not be thinking of dying on me."
Alarmed, she bent over him and pressed her fingers to his pulse. At once she felt the rhythm of his body. She could read it easily now, after working with Patsy and Jess. He was losing too much blood too fast. Swearing, she knelt beside him.
"Close your eyes and try to relax. You're going to feel warm, maybe even hot."
A faint grin told her he wanted to give her a snappy comeback, but he didn't have the energy to deliver it.
She sent out a tentative current, reading the feedback until she found the tiny nick in the artery. She closed herself off to all sights and sounds and sent a small pulse of heat to repair the tear. The electrical current stimulated cells to step up the repair process as well as closing off the artery.
Brady caught her wrist as she sank back on her heels. "What are you?"
She grinned at him. "I'm top secret, my friend." And she could save lives as well as take them.
She found his cell phone and flipped it open to call the one man she needed to share that piece of news with.