Murder Game (GhostWalkers 7)

"Yes, eventually. For now, the best we can do is jam it. I don't want to cut you open to take it out. We need a doc for that."

"No, we don't. Not if it's in my hip where the first one was. I remember having stitches in my hip. Dad told me I fell and hit my head and tore a laceration in my hip but--" She stopped abruptly and turned her face away from them. "I'm going to make tea. Does anyone want a cup?"

Kadan filled her mind with him, wrapping himself in her. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but she kept space between them. The only thing he had was his mind and he used it, pushing inside her where she was silently weeping, where the pain of her father's betrayal cut like a knife. Even when he willed her to look at him, she kept her head down, her arms crossing her breasts in a protective gesture. He hated the separation. And he hated more that his reaction went from being about her and the pain her father caused, to him and his own need to be complete with her.

He watched her walk out and felt like she took all the warmth in the room with her. His eyes met Ryland's. "I've never wanted to hurt anyone in my life the way I want to hurt her father," he admitted.

"Man," Ryland set the heavy bag he'd carried in onto the couch and unzipped it, "I'm sorry to have to tell her. And he bragged about it, bragged he could find her anywhere in the world. He may not have realized he set the assassins on her trail, but he did. He led them right to her."

"She'll handle it," Kadan said.

"Yeah, but she shouldn't have to," Ryland said, dragging weapons from the bag. "I brought a few supplies. Thought they might come in handy. And I've got transport standing by just in case we need it."

"Isn't Gator's wife really good on a computer?"

"She can hack just about anything," Ryland confirmed.

"I'm going to need her to work on a few things for me. With her help, I think I can find and take down killers on the East Coast team, but not until Tansy handles the other team's game pieces and gives me enough to find them. I'm going to have to eliminate them all fast so no one has time to disappear."

"Tansy can do that? She looks a little worn."

Kadan shook his head. "I almost lost her with the last one. We'll have to be careful. But I can't eliminate anyone without the others going underground. I have to know who they are."

"I can ask Lily if there are any other trackers, but I've not heard of it, not legitimate ones anyway." Ryland began pulling guns and ammunition out of the sack and spreading the cache across the couch. "So she has to handle how many more objects before we can go after them?"

"Four."

"That burns." He added grenades and claymore mines to the mix. "You better pack up whatever evidence you have and get it ready to move fast. We secured another house, and partially set it up. We can use this one as bait, but I doubt if they'll be very far behind us. They've had the information for a while. They'll be trying to find out who is with her."

Gator and Nico came in and scooped up the claymores. "We'll handle the setup outside," Gator drawled.

"Don't kill the neighborhood dogs," Kadan warned.

Gator flashed him a grin. "Hey, man, they shouldn't be on my property. Where's that good-lookin' woman of yours? You don' much let her outa your sight."

Kadan sent his friend an ice-cold stare that failed to wipe the grin from Gator's face. The Cajun just shrugged his shoulders, shouldered his weapon, and followed Nico out with a handful of claymores.

"Does he ever stop smiling?" Kadan asked.

"Not in all the time I've known him." Ryland shoved a magazine into an automatic. "This woman is the one?"

"The only."

"Then we make certain she's safe," Ryland said.

A muffled noise, like something thumping against the floor, came from the kitchen. Kadan whirled around, inhaling sharply, and caught the coppery scent of blood. He sprinted, using his enhanced speed, his heart in his throat.

No! Damn it, no! He knew what Tansy was doing. He should have known from the moment he saw her face when they'd told her.

He halted at the kitchen entrance, his heart nearly stopping. He stood for a beat of time staring almost uncomprehendingly at the blood soaking into the kitchen tile and the knife in Tansy's hand. He moved with blurring speed, gripping her wrist, twisting hard to remove the weapon and toss it across the room with so much force it dented the wall where it hit, before clattering to the floor.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Pressing his hands tightly to the gushing wound in her hip, he raised his voice. "Ryland. Get the emergency medical kit now."

"I want it out of me."

"Shut up." Kadan's piercing eyes slashed at her face as he put pressure on the wound. "Don't talk or move. Damn it! Just damn it. Ryland. Fucking get in here."

Ryland came at a run, the medical kit in his hand. He threw himself on the floor beside Kadan, ignoring the blood soaking into his jeans.

"Okay." Ryland took a breath. "Okay," he repeated, waiting for his heart to start again. "We've got Nico. He can deal with this shit. He's good, Kadan. I've called him in."

"I need more pressure. She's losing too much blood." Kadan tried to detach himself, to find that calm that was always at his core, but there was only fear. He'd never been so shaken by fear. There wasn't enough air in the room to breathe.

Nico and Gator came rushing in, and Nico pushed his way in between Kadan and Ryland, indicating for Kadan to let him see the damage.

Kadan caught Tansy's face in his blood-soaked hands. "I swear I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life for this. Damn you for this, Tansy."

"You're not helping," Nico said. "Back off and give me some room. I need hot water and some towels fast. Ryland, get me the iodine."

Without a word, Kadan positioned himself at Tansy's head, so that she was pillowed in his lap. He tried to keep his mind blank, for once in his life, allowing his teammates to do the work.

"Normally when I use healing energy, Dahlia is with me to focus the crystals. Somehow she can get what's inside of me to flow much more easily." As he spoke, Nico dumped the antiseptic into the wound.

Tansy screamed and nearly came off of Kadan's lap. It was liquid fire pouring through her flesh. Kadan held her down and she clutched at his arms. "Make them take it out."

He swore savagely. Kadan, the ice man, who was about to go off like a nuclear blast. "Can you do it and still stop the bleeding? Can you get it out of her?"

Nico muttered to himself, but he wiped at the wound and peered into the deep slash. "I can see the edge of it. It's close to the bone, Kadan. Maybe. Give me the small knife in the kit, Rye." He held out his hand for the instrument while he looked at Tansy. "Can you take the pain?"

"Anything to get it out," Tansy said. She looked up at Kadan, tears swimming in her eyes. I know you're angry with me.

Damn it, just stay quiet right now. His chest was so tight it burned. He couldn't lose her. Thunder roared in his ears. Fire burned in his belly. His gut knotted tight and hard and dangerous--oh so dangerous. His mind actually went numb, blank, except for the protest, the litany. Don't take her. You can't take her. Whatever you do, don't take her. He didn't even know who he was pleading with, but there was too much blood.

Tansy wanted him to understand how desperate she felt. Killers crowded into her head, victims shared the space. There was no way to tell him, not now when he was so angry with her. She almost wished for his cold mask. He looked frightening, a dangerous man on the edge of sanity. She should have thought before she'd decided to take the tracking device out herself. How deep could it be? Her hand had slipped. There'd been more blood, the shock of pain; her hand just slipped. She couldn't stand the thought of anything else foreign in her body. And she couldn't bear the idea that she might cause the death of Kadan or any one of his friends.

Kadan gripped her shoulders hard and Gator thrust a towel into her mouth as Nico took the tip of the blade and sliced deeper around the small tracker. She heard her muffled scream, her body arched in torment, but she fought the re

action, wanting Nico to succeed.

Kadan swallowed bile and bent over her. You're all right, baby. He's getting it out of you. Just breathe through it. Almost there.

All the while Kadan soothed her, he kept shifting his gaze back and forth between Tansy's face and Nico. Ryland put tweezers into Nico's hand, and Nico carefully inserted the tips into the wound. Sweat beaded on Tansy's forehead; there were white lines around her mouth. Her lashes fluttered and her eyes turned opaque.

Kadan wanted her to pass out. Her fainting would be good for both of them. He willed her to let herself go, and thankfully, she did, slumping in his arms, making it much easier for Nico.

"Got it." Triumphantly, Nico held up the small chip. He handed it off to Gator and turned back to the deep slice along Tansy's hip and thigh. "I'm going to need to stitch this. Do we know her blood type?"

Kadan nodded. "It was in her file. She has the same type I do."