Viper Game (GhostWalkers 11)

Wyatt moved his leg very casually closer to the table, wedging it between Pepper and Trap, his thigh pressing tight against her body as he leaned down to study the drawing of the large building she'd superimposed over the blueprints.

"The cargo elevator is here." He drew a line with his finger. "So this has to be the recreation room for the guards who don' have any real knowledge of what's takin' place in their own backyard. The kitchen and cafeteria. You've got bathrooms and the plastic plant itself. So those workin' the plant itself are kept away from anythin' they might be able to talk about."

Pepper nodded. "They bring in prisoners through the cargo elevator enclosed in a truck. Everyone's used to the trucks bringing supplies for the plant. When a prisoner is brought in, they're completely enclosed in a type of crate and sometimes unconscious. The woman they're terminating was definitely unconscious. I was hiding in the vent just opposite the second elevator and I saw them take her in the crate down to the cells on the other side."

Wyatt scowled. "Where were they holdin' you?"

"Down in the cells with the children. They keep it cold down there, so it makes it harder for us to move around or fight them."

Wyatt closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to think what would have happened to her and the children had the cells flooded. The water table in the swamp was particularly high, which was the reason most houses were built fairly high off the ground.

"I think I'd like to break Whitney's neck," he said softly, his Cajun accent deepening in direct proportion to his temper.

"Get in line," Trap said. "Can you imagine if he happened to employ a sadistic guard to look after his prisoners? No one would be around to know what was done down there, and if the prisoner was going to be terminated, anything could happen and be gotten away with."

All the men looked at Pepper. She took a deep breath and let it out. Wyatt noted that her hand trembled.

"Those guards and lab workers come in only when they have prisoners there." She changed the subject hastily. "When we came, no one else was there. The laboratory is on the third floor along with sleeping and recreation quarters for those personnel."

I'm here, baby. Don' think about it. We'll sort that out later.

I'm good. I'm here. I've got you and we're getting the children out.

Still, she was shaken. He had the feeling those guards hadn't been easy to manage. He didn't want to think what they might have done to her.

"And the elevators go all the way up from the cells below to the third floor, is that correct?" Malichai asked. "Are they guarded, Pepper?"

"No, they aren't guarded, but both are locked down by codes and palm print scans. You have to have both to get into the elevators. And yes, all elevators run to all floors, but those two can't be accessed by everyone."

Wyatt was proud of her voice, smooth and steady. Whatever memory Trap had brought up with his mention of the guards she had tucked away and then kept strictly professional.

"I take it on the third floor they have all kinds of chemicals," Trap said.

Pepper nodded. "I've gone up there numerous times with the children. I'm more familiar with the third floor than the plant floor."

"How were you able to move around in the plant without detection?" Ezekiel asked.

"I can fit in very small places," she explained. "I'm very flexible."

Wyatt nearly groaned aloud. Don' be sayin' thin's like that out loud, he cautioned. I'm standin' right behind you, remember? Deliberately he smoothed his hand down the curve of her butt. He wanted her to laugh. To feel his presence and know she was safe with them. That means I can feel your skin against mine and I'm breathin' you in with every damn breath I take. I'm as hard as a rock and I can' exactly move right now. Usin' a word like "flexible" is just bound to conjure up images neither of us wants to think about.

Pepper leaned back, pushing her bottom tight against him. It was a subtle move, but the contact with his heavy erection sent flames dancing through him. You're a little insane, aren't you? Does your grand-mere know she raised an oversexed crazy man?

I'm Cajun, honey, we know what the good thin's in life are. Food. Fightin' and lovin'. He nudged her with his thigh. Not necessarily in that order.

Pepper coughed and covered her mouth as she looked back at him over her shoulder, but it was impossible to cover the flash of laughter in her eyes or the answering spark of desire. Wyatt found the laughter was every bit as important to him as the desire was. She wasn't a woman who ever had much to laugh about.

"Pepper?" Ezekiel prompted. "If Wyatt can quit trying to charm your panties off, we might actually come up with a plan."

"I have no idea why you're accusin' me of misconduct," Wyatt said. "And don' be thinkin' about her panties or I'll have to pound you into the ground. Don' even say the word 'panties.' "

He groaned inside his head deliberately, centering Pepper's attention on him. Now he's got me thinkin' about your panties. You are wearin' some, aren' you? Wait. Don' be answerin' that. If you're not, we're goin' to have words about it, and if you are, I'll be deeply disappointed.

You really are obsessed with sex.

Ma'am, I do thank you for the compliment. It's true. Absolutely true. Know I'll take good care of you and anytime we have an argument, I will find the perfect way to make things up to you.

Wyatt poured sincerity into his voice.

Pepper burst out laughing. "You really are insane, and if you keep it up, I'm telling Grand-mere on you."

He placed his hand over his heart. "I'm just reassurin' you, darlin', that I can take very good care of you, that's all."

"Miss Pepper," Ezekiel said. "Would you like me to take him outside behind the barn and teach him a few manners? I'd be happy to do that for you."

"I wouldn't mind getting in on that," Malichai added. "Having been on the receiving end of his lessons on manners quite a few times, I can testify that my brother has excellent skills in this particular area."

"Don' even think the two of you city boys could take on a Cajun born and bred in the bayou and win," Wyatt cautioned. "'Specially when a lady is watchin'."

Pepper tapped the blueprints. "Maybe we should just forego the lesson in manners altogether. My guess is, Grand-mere tried her best, and if she couldn't get anything through that thick skull of his, no one could."

"So how did you get out?" Trap asked, bringing them all back to the important matters at hand.

"The ventilation system, which, by the way, is very narrow. I actually was afraid I'd get stuck a couple of times. Every eight feet they have high-speed fans. I believe it was more to ensure against escape than to ventilate, but I could be wrong."

"So thick concrete, elevators requiring both palm prints and a code," Wyatt said. "Whose palm print?"

"A specific guard. There're only two of them. They always are the ones to accompany the prisoners. They escorted me and the children, and they left and came back with the other woman."

"You had no communication with the woman?" Draden asked.

"I didn't say that," Pepper said. "I just don't know anything about her. We used a kind of Morse code. Every soldier is taught it at school and I knew she was one of us - the flawed rejects, not worthy of being called a soldier."

"Don' say that." The table trembled and Wyatt pulled his fists from the top of it and put his hands on her narrow waist. "That just pisses me off. You're one of us - a GhostWalker - and so is that woman. If she's still alive, we'll go in and get her out. We don' leave anyone behind."

"Her name is Cayenne. That means she was developed at the school in France. Everyone there was given the name of a spice. She wasn't with my group, so she's probably a little younger than me."

The men looked at one another. "That means she can't be more than eighteen or nineteen. Twenty at the oldest," Wyatt said. "What the hell did she do to get herself on a termination list?"

"Unfortunately, if you don't follow orders and you try to escape or you refuse to do something they think is import

ant, with Braden, that's pretty much all it takes, especially if they already think you're dangerous."

"Every GhostWalker is dangerous," Trap pointed out. "We're supposed to be. I think the original idea of enhancing our psychic abilities was lost a bit when Whitney switched that over to genetics."

"Whitney uses women and children to experiment on," Draden said, "to perfect his ideas before he tries them on his male soldiers."

"Damn him," Ezekiel said. "Why can't one of us get to him?"

"The intel on him is that he moves every couple of days. He can be anyone," Wyatt said. "He's become that good."