Murder Game (GhostWalkers 7)

"We lost her. She wasn't there, Gator," Nico said.

Jeff hit the arm of the chair with his fist. "The only answer is, while we were spinning our dream, Dunbar spun one she was more familiar with and pulled her in before we could draw her into ours. He has her. We have to get to her immediately. She'll be under his control. She doesn't dreamwalk."

"Get Kadan on the phone. He'll know if she has recurring dreams," Nico said. "Hurry. We don't have much time."

So much blood. It rose like a river, the current strong, threatening to pull her under. Tansy gasped and turned, looking in all directions, trying to find Kadan. He'd held her; she remembered the feeling of being safe in his arms. His velvet voice whispered to her; she felt his mouth against hers, so tender she ached inside. She knew he was beside her, knew it, but she could no longer feel him.

A shadow moved in the distance, striding toward her, taking the shape of a man. He waded through the blood, an evil grin on his face. She gasped, fighting for air, unable to move, afraid to speak, to draw attention to herself. Around her, she heard the wails of the dead.

"You're dreaming, Tansy. Wake up," she murmured, a litany of hope, but not believing for a moment that she would.

She even closed her eyes and prayed--that when she opened them, the shadowy figure would be gone. Instead, he was closer. A man of medium height, nondescript, he would get lost in a crowd. Not handsome, but not plain, a man with intelligence in his eyes who gave off a kind of cunning energy she recognized. Her heart sank. The puppet master.

"Tansy Meadows, how nice to finally meet you." He stood a short distance from her, his eyes running over her face, drinking in her fear, looking more feral than any animal she'd ever photographed. He was a predator, skillfully camouflaged in a sheep's skin.

Tansy straightened, lifting her chin, her heart beating fast. "You."

He smirked. "You were fairly good at keeping me out of your dreams. I was surprised what a worthy adversary you really were. Not quite my equal, but very good."

"Why would you think I'm not your equal?"

"I found you. You couldn't find me."

Her eyebrow shot up. "A reporter found me. You read about me in a newspaper and guessed. But you can't find my parents and you didn't track me by yourself. I, however, tracked and found you. Your safe little home just off base is not so safe. Your little shed where you carve your illegal ivory pieces for your game of murder is now my domain. And I know your name, not by cheating, but by being the elite tracker that I am. I found you, James R. Dunbar."

Tansy took a deep breath, forcing herself to keep a look of utter contempt on her face when she was quaking inside. There'd been a plan. It didn't involve wading through blood, but she remembered, there had been a plan, and Kadan had whispered she would be safe.

Fury twisted Dunbar's face. He turned bright red, his face mottled with color. "You bitch."

"Why do men always resort to calling women bitches when we kick their asses? I found out a lot about you, Dunbar. For instance, you have an amazing amount of money in an offshore account. It seems your puppets don't have a clue you're raking in the dough while they do the work. You take contracts and kill for money. I'll admit it's rather brilliant. You actually designed your own killers. You dream up a little game, prepare the cards with specific victims right down to the exact details on how they must be killed, and you direct your puppets to do the killing for you. Even if they got caught, you'd walk away clean."

The red faded from his face, and his features turned crafty and a little pleased by the flattery. "You are a clever girl. I underestimated you."

She shrugged. "Most people do. I'll bet they underestimate you all the time." She had to keep him talking while her mind struggled to remember the plan. She wanted to stay at a distance from him, but she couldn't move and he was easing closer.

"I think you underestimate me, Tansy," Dunbar said. "You found me out when no one else ever has, not even Whitney . . ."

He was close--too close. Tansy tried to draw back even as she forced a smile. "I knew you'd worked for Whitney. You were in the original enhanced psychic program, determining who went through and who didn't. You handpicked your killers based on their psychological profiles. They flunked, didn't they? They would never have made it through, but you changed it so they looked good."

As hard as she tried, she couldn't move her feet, they were frozen in place. Her heart accelerated, the roaring in her ears increased. Her palms went clammy. What was the plan? Why had Kadan sent her here and then abandoned her? She clamped down hard on her runaway thoughts. He would never do that, and to think it--even for a moment--meant she was panicking.

Dunbar nodded. "Whitney never suspected, even when I put in suggested genetic enhancements for each of them." He flashed a little smirk. "Designer killers. I like that."

His smugness bothered her. He might not have killed, but he was more responsible than the ones he'd orchestrated to carry out his plan. He'd profited from the murders. "You made a mistake with one of them. Your scorpion wasn't so easy to control. He isn't a murderer."

Again his face flushed. She'd definitely pricked his perfectionist ego. "I made him into one. He'll do whatever I want." He indicated her feet with his chin. "You made a little mistake of your own, Tansy. This is my dream, not yours. I initiated it, not you. You delivered yourself into my hands." He winked at her. "Ultimately, I win."

Her mouth went dry. "Maybe. We'll see." Wake up. Tansy, wake up. Kadan, where are you?

Dunbar waded through the blood toward her, stopping just an arm's distance away. She couldn't move. There was no point screaming. The dead were already wailing loud enough, trying to warn her, but they didn't need to bother. Somewhere inside, she knew he had her trapped.

Everything in her stilled. Kadan. Her one regret. Did he know she loved him? Would that be enough for him to realize the truth about himself? She could never love a monster, and deep down, he thought that was what he was. She hadn't had enough time with him to show him the truth of who he was.

I'll love you forever. She sent the whisper out to his mind, hoping it reached him. Her beloved warrior. Whatever had gone wrong wasn't his fault, but she knew him, knew he would carry the guilt for the rest of his life.

"I really didn't want to use this dream, but you visit here so often. I didn't want to get blood on my clothes. It really bothers you, doesn't it?" He waved his arm in a half circle to encompass the lake of blood with so many victims crying out for justice. "Who are these people to you? Nothing at all, but you make yourself suffer for no reason in an effort to appease them. You can't save them. Someone wanted them dead for a reason."

"Money."

He shrugged. "Or revenge. It doesn't much matter. Someone was going to kill them. Why not gain from it? I wouldn't have killed you, you know. I found I looked forward to our little game, but I can't have you knowing who I am."

He stepped close, right in front of her, so close she could smell him in spite of the overwhelming scent of blood. It took an effort not to gag--or cry out in

fear. She forced herself to be still, to gather her strength to fight.

Dunbar shook his head. "It's my dream, remember? You won't be able to fight. You aren't a dreamwalker."

He struck then, astonishingly fast, his hands spanning her throat, thumbs digging deep, cutting off air. He was very strong, something she hadn't expected. When she tried to struggle, to fight him, she couldn't lift her arms any more than she could move her feet. Her lungs burned. Her mind began to panic.

Tansy fought down the terror and forced her brain to function in the short time she had left. Her mind reached for his. He was controlling the dream, and that meant he had found a trail leading to her, or he couldn't have drawn her in, but she had the path that led to him. She followed it, trying not to succumb to the black edging around her and the white dots that swam in her vision.

She struck hard in his mind, ripping and clawing, shredding walls, trying to rip the dream apart. She attacked him using the same method as his attacks on Tom Delaney, clotting the blood, beating at the skull, shrieking until his mind was filled with pain and devastation. Dunbar screamed and let her go, grabbing his head with both hands.

"You bitch." He grabbed her again, throwing her forward, grasping her by her hair and shoving her down--down--holding her head so she couldn't break free.

She went under, the red blood thick and dark, pouring into her mouth and nose, flooding her mind and lungs, rising like a tidal wave, her worst nightmare. Hands reached for her, pulling her deeper; faces stared blankly, horror in their wide open eyes.

She knew she was dying. There was no way to think, no way to fight. She reached for peace, let it happen, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing or feeling her terror.

Kadan lay beside Tansy, listening to her breathing. It was the only way he could monitor what was happening to her. He wasn't a dreamwalker, and it was his job to guard her body while she was in Jeff and Nico's care. Something had gone wrong. The rhythm of her breathing had changed completely, until she was nearly hyperventilating. She was frightened. He shared her mind, although he couldn't enter the dream.