Viper Game (GhostWalkers 11)

"My name is Trap. I'm a friend of your father's. We're like you. Enhanced. I don't know if you know what that means, but we've had experiments done on us." He bent to examine the bodies of the two soldiers, looking for keys. He could open the cells, but it would be easier with the actual keys.

Adrenaline had kept him going, but now that the two guards had been dispatched, he felt the effects of the wrenching of his body through the cement. He felt sick and dizzy. He couldn't think too much on it because he had to get out of the cell and into the next one if he was going to try to save that prisoner as well.

"Give me a minute," he said, and sank down to the floor beside one of the fallen soldiers.

The children were a little unnerving with their wide, unblinking eyes staring at him, trying to make up their minds whether or not he was friend or foe. Still, they looked just like Wyatt. Wyatt was one of the few people he could call his friend and he was intensely loyal to his friends. There was no doubt in his mind that these were Wyatt's children.

The little girl signed again.

He smiled at her. "Yes, I'm all right. Going through that thick of a barrier, like the outside of your cell, is hard on my body."

She frowned, and he found himself smiling. She was so tiny, her hands and feet like a doll's, but her intellect showed in her facial expressions and she looked so much like Wyatt when she frowned that Trap wanted to laugh. Her little hands moved even faster.

"How did I go through the wall?" Trap asked the question aloud. He put his head down and drew several deep breaths, trying to recover. The idea of repeating the experience was becoming harder to think about. "It's complicated, and no, you can't do it. Your bodies won't allow you to do it."

For the first time, the other child signed.

Trap's heart jumped when he saw her question. "What's a father? That's a good question, baby. I didn't have much of one, but your father is the best. The absolute rock solid best. You know how Pepper takes care of you? Looks after you? That's a mother. A father is the male version of a mother."

He didn't know how better to explain it to them. He felt a little silly sitting on the floor of a prison beside two dead bodies attempting to explain parents to two seventeen-month-old babies. How could they possibly comprehend the things he was telling them?

He opened the jacket of the soldier closest to him, for the first time realizing how cold the cell was. "Do they always keep it cold down here?"

The two babies were both shivering. He had barely registered that fact; now he could see that they were very cold. The more adventurous one signed again.

"They keep it cold so you can't move around very fast, is that right? Is that what you're saying?" Trap asked, feeling a slow burn of anger all over again.

The little heads nodded, the dark caps of wavy hair bobbing around their faces. He felt his heart melting a little. He didn't even like kids. Well... that wasn't exactly the truth. He didn't know if he liked them or not. Most of the time they seemed annoying. He ignored their existence, but these children seemed bright. He connected with intelligence, no matter the age.

The idea that these children, who clearly had a difficult time functioning in the cold, were kept in such conditions kept his anger growing. Pepper, it's freezing down here. Hurry up. I found the keys to their cells.

I'm on my way, Pepper responded. It's very narrow in here. I'll be there in a few minutes.

Don' open the cells, Trap, Wyatt advised.

They're cold and afraid, Trap explained, feeling a little ridiculous. He wasn't the kind of man to even notice such things other than in a purely scientific way, but for some reason, he wanted to hold both little babies close to him and warm them up. He figured it had to be because of his relationship with Wyatt. They deliberately keep these cells freezing.

They have somethin' in them other than snake, possibly cheetah, Wyatt said. So they're extremely fast. I saw Ginger runnin' in the swamp and I couldn' believe how fast she was. Faster than we are, Trap. They must keep it cold down there to keep them from movin' around too much.

Trap held up the keys to the two children. "Your mom's on her way. She's coming in through the air vent, just like she did when she managed to get your sister out. I can open your cells if you'd like and you can snuggle up in the soldier's coat to stay warm while you wait for her. Once you're warm you'll be able to move faster. But I don't want you to be afraid of me. If you'd rather, you can stay where you are until she gets here. You make the choice."

He figured the children weren't given many choices. The two babies looked at one another again, clearly talking it out in some telepathic language only they spoke. Eventually the more outgoing one nodded her head.

"What's your name?" Trap asked.

"Cannelle." For the first time the child spoke aloud.

"Thym." The other one added.

Pepper, I'm opening the cells. I can't stand them being so cold. If they bite me, at least it saves me from having to go through the wall again to get to our other prisoner.

Trap. Stop. If they bite you... Wyatt broke off.

Sorry, man, they're just too little to leave all alone in the cold. I already feel like a monster for killing the soldiers in front of them.

Chapter 16

Wyatt rubbed his hands together, generating heat. His palms grew hot and began to glow. He knelt down, cocking his head to one side, listening to the sounds emitting below him, coming from the laboratory. In spite of the "soundproofing," his acute hearing and cat sonar picked up more movement than there should have been. He knew the soldiers assigned to the lab had a recreation area right next to their workstation, but the rustles were in the lab below him, where the techs worked, not where they slept or relaxed.

He sighed. Nothing was ever easy and few missions ever came off without a hitch. For the sake of his family and his children, he needed to get into the laboratory, soldiers or no soldiers. He had known all along why Pepper and the children had been put in his path. He was too intelligent not to know, but that didn't mean he'd back down. He just had to be faster and outwit Whitney at his own game.

The soldiers in the third-story laboratory were lying in wait for anyone who would come to rescue the two children. Trap had run into two soldiers in the holding cells. Without a doubt, Whitney had used the babies as bait for Wyatt.

Wyatt listened carefully, noting every position. The soldiers had grown restless, and who could blame them? It was difficult to stay on high alert for days. The civilian guards had dismissed the danger all too readily - other than Larry and Jim, who had maintained their job as best they could by themselves.

The men in the laboratory had to be trained soldiers from Whitney's personal army. He'd smuggled them inside and kept them on alert waiting for Wyatt to make his move. Whitney clearly had expected him to wait for reinforcements or to secure his grandmother's home before coming after the two children.

Wyatt was hot-tempered and sometimes impulsive - such as when he'd joined the GhostWalker program after losing Joy. Whitney underestimated him, plain and simple. And he'd underestimated the loyalty of his team members as well.

Wyatt chose a corner where there was no sound at all. There had to be storage closets, and according to the original blueprints, one was built into that corner. Whether or not it had been changed was anyone's guess, but it was his best bet for point of entry.

I'm goin' in first, Draden. Stay back until I call you in. We've got company.

He felt Pepper's gasp. Soldiers? How many? You can't go in alone. Wyatt, please, no.

She'd never said "please" to him. She'd never sounded so anxious over him.

This is what I do, babe. Get our girls out of there.

Wyatt laid his palms on the concrete, pressing hard. At the same time, he uttered a low hum, a sound that couldn't be heard by humans. He waited while the energy built around him. The pressure built until he wanted to scream. His head felt as if it might explode. He slammed his palms down again, pushing the pulse through the cem

ent. As a large chunk disintegrated, he "felt" for the large chunks of debris and stilled them in midair, even as he muffled the sound.

It took a great deal of concentration to accomplish all three tasks nearly simultaneously and his brain actually hurt. He breathed away the pain and slowly floated the debris to the floor. He kept track of the movement of the soldiers in the laboratory. He'd counted five of them scattered around the room. Each moved differently, some more restless than others, but all of them shifted positions often.

No one came to investigate the hole in the roof. He peered down. Below him, he saw several brooms and a mop bucket on wheels. He'd caught a break - the original blueprints hadn't been altered there on the third floor. He dropped down fast, landing lightly on the balls of his feet, as silent as a stalking cat.

Light spilled under the crack of the door. The laboratory was lit up, but the windows had been blacked out so from the outside, the room appeared dark, as if no one was in it. Wyatt knew better. He stayed very still, his cat sonar stretching to find every source of light in the room and mark where the soldiers were waiting.