Street Game (GhostWalkers 8)

All trace of amusement faded from her face. "I know you just as well as you know me. The minute I saw that dead body, I knew it was a warning. I knew I was getting close to Whitney's protectors. Then you showed up here because of a wrong address."

"Wait a minute," Mack said. There was a note in his voice, a strain of underlying anger that had Kane moving back out of harm's way. Quiet. Nasty. That dangerous tone that made Mack who he was. "Are you telling me that Sergeant Major traded information for Jaimie's safety? He actually knew she was in harm's way and made you pay a price to protect her?"

"Mack," Kane said.

Mack's teeth snapped together. "You watch her, Kane. I'll be back later. I think I'll go have a chat with Griffen."

"You'll be court-martialed if you lay a hand on him," Kane said. "You're not going anywhere."

"Because you think you can stop me?"

"You sound like a couple of little kids," Jaimie scolded. "Let's think this through instead of punching someone. Sheesh, Mack. Are you ever going to grow out of that?"

"I'm sublimating."

Jaimie stared at him. She felt heat moving up her neck and throat to her face. His eyes were black and glittering, but filled with more than just teasing lust. Possession maybe. Whatever it was, it was all male and very compelling. Like a starving wolf. "Well, don't." She croaked the words out. It was the best she could do with the sudden dry-mouth syndrome that seemed to afflict her whenever he gave her that hungry stare.

Mack's eyebrow shot up. "You heard her, Kane. She just gave me permission to punch out a superior officer."

"I did not," Jaimie denied.

"You told me not to sublimate."

She sighed. "You're so crazy, Mack. Sit down and quit prowling around while I'm trying to cook."

She glanced out the window at the sky. The sun had set already and fog swirled in, thick and gray, covering the buildings with a veil of mist. "Are the boys out in this weather?"

"A couple of them. They change shifts," Mack said.

"I'm making lasagna. They all love that with French bread and salad. I'll feed everyone and then call the ones on watch in." She sighed. "Maybe I should invite Joe to show him I'm not that angry."

"You should be angry at that Sicilian Don Juan with his stupid tight jeans and cocky grin. You're too forgiving, Jaimie."

Kane coughed, trying to be discreet. Don't tell her that. You're trying to get her to forgive you for being so dense, Mack. Are you crazy?

"A Sicilian Don Juan?" Jaimie echoed. "Joe?" She laughed softly. "Is he even Sicilian? I thought that was his cover."

"You bought the entire Sicilian carpenter persona?" Mack rolled his eyes and then flicked Kane a quelling look.

"He's got the muscles," Jaimie pointed out. "You know, hot carpenter bod and all that. And impeccable credentials. I tried to find holes in his story, but it was solid."

"Javier said that. He tried finding out about him. I take it you lifted his prints?"

She nodded. "First thing, but then, if he's in the GhostWalker program, he's hooked up and can be anybody he wants to be." She worked smoothly as she talked, carefully putting thick, flat noodles into boiling water before turning back to her sauce.

Mack crowded her all over again. "You don't need to be looking at his muscles, Jaimie."

"I can hardly help it, now, can I, Mack? His muscles are rather obvious."

"I told you to shoot the son of a bitch while you had the chance, Kane," Mack complained. "Now I've got to put up with Jaimie ogling him. And no, there's no need to invite him for dinner. I don't want him to see the boys. Not yet."

Jaimie didn't reply for a long time. "If he's a GhostWalker, and you let him work on me the other night, then why wouldn't you trust him?"

"Because I didn't listen to you last time when I should have. I'm going to be a lot more careful this time around. We have to think this bargain Kane made with Griffen over very carefully. If he's capable of bargaining for your safety, he isn't the man I thought he was."

Kane shrugged. "As long as she's safe, Mack. I don't want her anywhere near Whitney. The way the man treats those women is criminal. And I'm not convinced he doesn't have more orphans locked up somewhere, experimenting on them. I'll pay whatever price Griffen wants to keep Jaimie out of Whitney's hands."

She turned around and rested one hip against the counter to study Kane's face. He was handsome in a tough sort of way, even with the lines etched there. "What happened there, Kane? In Whitney's compound. I know you were assigned to guard the place . . ."

"I wish I'd been assigned to guard the place. That's what I thought. That's what we all thought. But it was for something altogether different. Whitney ran tests on all of us and he paired a few of us with some of the women being held there."

She swallowed hard. She'd hacked into Whitney's files and she had several condemning files. Had Kane really been asked to get one of the women pregnant? She couldn't imagine him doing something like that.

"I'm not discussing it, Jaimie, not yet. It's all too raw and I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do yet."

"Jaimie! Get down here now." Javier's voice came through the intercom. "You're being hacked. Double-time it."

Jaimie threw the spoon back in the sauce and pushed past Mack. She leapt across the room in two long bounds, landing at the top of the stairs in a crouch and then jumping to the landing below. She was comfortable using her enhanced genetic skills. Mack noted her body was fluid like a cat's as she leapt the remaining distances. He didn't use his cat skills; he used his teleportation speed, flashing from spot to spot and landing right with her.

"The alarm should have gone off upstairs. I've been waiting for this," Jaimie said, seating herself beside Javier. Her eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Did you touch anything?"

"I turned it off just now," Javier admitted. "It scared the hell out of me."

Her fingers raced over the keyboard at an enormous rate of speed. Javier seemed to know exactly what she was doing, his fingers were flying as well. To Mack the screen was nothing but numbers and red lines streaking in various directions.

"He's been nosing around trying to get past my security, so I set up a nice little trap and the idiot fell for it."

"He's good," Javier pointed out, his eyes glued to the data flowi

ng across the screen.

"Yep, but I'm better," Jaimie said. "I knew he was going to make his try soon. I put out bait and he took it. I'm going to find out exactly who he is."

"Will he know you've traced him?" Mack asked.

"He's bouncing all over the place," Javier hissed.

"He doesn't know we're tracking him," Jaimie said. "I just need another minute to get him. He's hacking into the trap I set and if he makes it in before I get him, he'll be gone."

"I take it you made it difficult?"

"You bet. I want to see how skilled he really is. He's moving through the walls fast."

"He's a pro with resources," Javier added. "Only a few in the world are good enough to hack into your system, Jaimie."

Mack marveled at the speed their fingers flew across the keyboard. Their eyes were glued to the screen. It all made sense to them, but to him it was a jumble of code and nothing more. That didn't stop uneasiness from creeping into him. He felt hunted. Watched. Something evil moving in the room.

Twice Jaimie's breath hissed out and once Javier hunched lower over the keys as if that small movement would increase his speed and dexterity.

The tension in the room coiled tighter and tighter, stretching nerves taut. Mack could hear breathing, feel the blood pounding in his veins, the knots forming in the pit of his stomach. He looked around, into every corner, half expecting someone to come jumping out at them. His hand actually crept toward the knife at his belt.

"I'm almost on him," Jaimie hissed. "I've got you, you toad."

Mack's gut reacted with more knots and somewhere in his brain a warning flash went off. He cleared his throat. "Jaimie, shut it down."

"Are you crazy?"

"Do it, Jaimie," Kane said. "Shut it down."

"Javier, that's an order," Mack snapped and caught Jaimie, jerking her away from the computer. "Pull the plug. Do it now, do it fast."

"Whose side are you on?" Jaimie demanded, twisting around, trying to get back to her chair. Mack kept his arm around her waist, lifting her off the ground to keep her from the keyboard.