Predatory Game (GhostWalkers 6)

"Pressure switch. Now they know who they're dealing with. Fucking amateurs want to play with me in my own house."

Jess leaned his head back and kissed her. His mouth was hard and hot and commanding. She could feel the heat radiating from his skin and feel the rush of excitement flowing through his body.

A thousand butterfly wings brushed at her stomach and in spite of the situation they were in, her body reacted to his heat. "And all this time I thought you were so sweet."

He laughed softly. "The wheelchair was my friend. If you had met me before I was in that chair, you would have run." His eyes were locked on hers. Dark with the excitement of combat. Smoky with raw hunger. Sharp and piercing, revealing the true predator that lived in his skin.

She pressed a kiss to the back of his shoulder. "I would have run like a rabbit."

Her gaze shifted back to the monitor, her heart picking up the acceleration of the soldier in the other room. She could taste his fear. She wasn't made for this kind of combat. If she could have, she would have closed her eyes, but it was impossible to look away. The soldier shook, his rifle visibly trembling while his partner turned and ran from the living room to the stairs.

The soldier in the living room yelled loudly, but it didn't slow his partner down. The running man's sole hit the third stair, and the explosion rocked the house. Saber's body jerked and she turned away from the screen, unable to watch as the body lifted into the air along with half the railing and several stairs, slamming into the ceiling and raining down wood, plaster, and body parts. The second explosion followed closely on the heels of the first as the soldier in the kitchen jerked his foot in automatic reaction.

Jess whirled around and pulled Saber into his arms, sheltering her as violent energy rushed through the house, walls serving as no barrier, the red-and black-edged waves seeking a target. He wrapped her up, putting his head over hers, holding her to him while the energy washed over them like a tidal wave. She felt stabs of pain, but they passed quickly as Jess absorbed the violence.

Because her rhythm automatically synced with his, she felt the racing current. Instead of pain, Jess's body attracted the energy, soaked it up and processed it--and that startled her. She'd never actually thought much about how an anchor worked with that much energy, but it was as if he'd gobbled it up, absorbing it into his system to be used for other purposes. She could understand how he might be an adrenaline junkie. The violent energy infused him with strength, and the need for action.

"Are you all right?" Jess kissed the top of her head, stroked one hand down her hair, even as his eyes stayed glued to the screen.

She nodded. The two soldiers entering through the upstairs heard the explosions downstairs and they were sweeping the rooms in a hurried, but much more cautious manner. Two more were entering through the kitchen, and that made her heart jump--they were closest to the exercise room.

"Doesn't it upset you that so many people want you dead?" she whispered.

"No, it just pisses me off. These men work for whoever is betraying our country--and whoever that is ordered them to torture my sister. I'm taking them all to hell, but before they go, they're going to know they fucked with the wrong family."

She felt the resolve in him, the absolute conviction that he was taking his enemies down. The confidence that was beginning to bloom in her increased, spreading and growing. The other GhostWalkers had the same mentality as Jess. They would stand together and fight back. There would be no running, no lying down to allow someone to destroy them no matter what the odds. She wanted that. She wanted to feel that same confidence. Be part of that tight-knit group willing to band together against all odds and believe absolutely that they could win. More than that--she wanted to belong to this man with his fierce pride and courage.

"Okay."

The soldiers upstairs were at the top of the landing looking down into the destruction of the living room. One shifted position slightly to get a better look, hands on the railing as he bent over. Instantly a red light blinked on the bottom of the laptop screen.

"Okay what?" Jess asked.

She looked up at him, at the strength in his face, at those piercing ice-cold eyes alive with the cunning of a true predator.

"I'll marry you."

His gaze slid over her upturned face, and a slow smile softened the hard line of his mouth. He caught her chin. "And you'll have my children."

"You don't want very much, do you?"

He took her mouth with his, the flare of heat instant, the taste of joy evident. Even in combat he could melt her.

His arms were around her, his tongue dancing with hers when the next explosion rocked the house. The soldier holding the railing had shifted position and the pressure switch had blown.

Jess held Saber tight, kissing her, his lips moving against hers. She felt the vibration rush through him as he drew the energy to him like a magnet. Electricity zinged through her--through him, a physical wave nearly sexual, almost euphoric.

She let out her breath and caught at him for support. "Jesse. That's so dangerous."

"And addicting. Every psychic gift comes with a high price tag. It would be easy to become addicted and need that kind of rush." He flicked a glance at the screen and swore. "The bastard on the landing has an M203 attached to the bottom of his M16."

Saber's breath hitched in her throat. She knew that was a grenade launcher and she wanted no part of that.

"He's going for my office," Jess informed her.

Saber imagined hearing the distinctive click and then the thump as the grenade was sent streaking through the hall into the door of the office. The house shook as the office door blasted inward.

Once again Jess drew Saber close to him as the wave of energy rushed over them. Jess studied the soldier on the landing. "He's directing everything. See, he's staying to cover just in case either of the two coming from the kitchen steps on a switch. He's lost three men, and he knows the house is wired, but he's as cool as a cucumber. He's going to sit up there with his little grenade launcher, safe while everyone else takes the risks."

"Are we going to get out of here anytime soon?" Saber asked.

"I have a couple of things to take care of, baby."

"Like staying alive?"

It looked like a war zone on the screen. She didn't want to wait around until the intruders blew open the door to the exercise room.

"I have to make sure the office is destroyed with everything in it and I've got to kill every one of these bastards. The cops will be showing up any minute and I don't want any of them to die because I ran."

She couldn't argue with that, but she wasn't certain she believed him. The calm, easygoing man she'd been living with for the past year was riled, and he wasn't going to cut and run until he'd taken out the men who had threatened his family. In a strange way it made her feel safe knowing he was that kind of man. But she also felt as if she should grab him and drag him into their bolt hole. She didn't trust his legs. He hadn't walked one single step, and the wheelchair was on the other side of the door.

"One man is approaching the office. The door's gone. Let's see if my failsafe works. All data on the computers should be corrupted beyond repair even if they managed to get a hard drive intact, but just in case..." He murmured aloud, talking more to himself than to her.

Saber leaned closer to peer at the monitor. Smoke and dust swirled thickly. A soldier wearing a gas mask emerged out of the rubble and stood at the entrance to the office, staring inside. He turned and looked up at the man on the landing, holding his thumb up to indicate they'd found the computers. She felt Jess go still, and then his adrenaline spiked. His arms tightened around her, pulling her into his chest, his head going over hers.

The initial explosion shook the house, the ground, but didn't stop there. More followed, each blast louder than the last. The energy came at them in a series of waves. Saber was left feeling sick, her head poundi

ng. Even with Jess's presence absorbing all of it, the initial rush was a shock to her body.

Jess raised his head to take a quick glimpse at the monitor and swore. He caught at her, for the first time standing, pulling her up with him, dragging her down toward the grate. "Get down the steps, take the gear. Move fast, Saber."

She couldn't see what had alarmed him, and she didn't wait around to find out. She caught up as many weapons as she could, tossing the gas masks down into the tunnel before she dropped into the hole. The stairs were narrow and steep, leading down to a very small tunnel. She could walk upright, but she knew Jess would never be able to.

"Jess, we don't have your wheelchair."

"I can walk. I won't be winning any races, but I really can get my legs to work." He was already swinging his body through the gap and reaching for the stairs with his legs, pulling the grate after him. "Go, he's blowing the door."

She watched him come down the stairs, bending to keep from hitting his head as he neared the bottom. She wasn't running down that corridor until she knew he was safe.

"Go, damn it."

"Are you sure you can do this?"

He gave her a little push, indicating she should run ahead of him. Saber whirled around and sprinted down the length of the tunnel. She was very small and could move fast, but from the little she'd just observed, Jess was still unsteady on his legs. He was also tall, with broad shoulders. He had to stoop and turn his body at an awkward angle to get through the winding passageway.

The blast was loud, reverberating through the tunnel. Smoke and dust poured in. A thin trail of red light led the way as they followed the corridor deeper into the earth. The sides were shored up with thick timber and wire over the dirt walls.

"They're in," hissed Jess. "The one trying to get data from the office is toast, and the first one into the exercise room won't have a chance, but we'll still have the one with the grenade launcher, and we can't be caught inside this tunnel."

"Are you certain they won't get your files? What about the one you had on me?"