Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

Lying on a bed with an aching leg made him feel like a whiner. He was used to action and without Amaryllis to distract him, he felt a little like he was going out of his mind. Amaryllis, his little puzzle. His mind turned back to her eagerly. He wanted to remember every detail, especially the way her face lit up when she laughed.

She had moved through the sand easily, he would have to say fluidly, like water flowing across the surface, not at all bogged down by the granules of sand. GhostWalkers sensed one another. Most of the time they recognized one another just by the energy fields projected around them. If she was a GhostWalker, one of her talents had to be to shield herself, and that talent was rare.

Suppose she was one of Whitney’s experiments. He’d have to conclude that he’d stumbled across one of the women who had escaped from one of the many compounds scattered throughout the world and that she’d successfully managed to stay under Whitney’s radar. If that was true, she would view him as a threat, not someone she found “sweet.”

He sighed. He wasn’t good at the woman thing, but he wanted to be. He was already missing her. Already eager to see her again. He was very glad the dishwasher needed a part that had to be sent away for. It was extra work for Amaryllis, but it meant, as the resident dishwasher, he got to spend time with her.

His phone kept pinging, annoying him to no end. He pulled it out of his pocket and glared at the screen. Ezekiel was blowing his phone up, now using numerous profanities, demanding his response. The last message said he would be using Trap’s plane to come and find him. Shit. That wasn’t good, and Zeke would really do it too.

“It’s about damn time,” his oldest brother greeted him.

“What’s the problem?”

“You disappeared.”

His body relaxed. He hadn’t even realized he’d been tense. His brother was as tough as nails, mean as a snake, but he was a worrier. “As I recall, Zeke, your wife was instrumental in picking my vacation spot. She knows exactly where I am.”

“You could have had Mordichai go with you, or Rubin. Someone.”

“You think I need someone to hold my hand?”

There was a small silence. “I think I nearly lost my brother on that last mission, Malichai. That’s what I think. I came too damn close to losing you. We don’t know if that leg is going to recover and—”

Malichai cut him off. “It’s going to recover. I did my walk in the sand, swam in the ocean and didn’t overdo it, just like I promised. I’m fine. Everything is good here. I’m snapping pictures of the other guests at the B and B and sending them for facial recognition and all that bullshit. I don’t think any other vacationer does that sort of thing. Don’t worry so much.”

Ezekiel sighed. “I just don’t like you so far from home when you’re vulnerable, Malichai. If Whitney gets wind you’re there, you could be in trouble. We have all kinds of enemies, not just Whitney. There’s an entire faction of fanatics who’d like to eliminate every one of us. What about Cheng in China? He’s still around. And we’ve got the coalition of bankers or whatever they are. It isn’t like we’re not surrounded on every front by enemies.”

Malichai decided it wasn’t a good time to bring up Amaryllis and the fact that he was a little apprehensive she might be one of Whitney’s girls. One word about her, even if he didn’t voice his suspicions, and Ezekiel would be on that plane, just as he’d threatened to do earlier.

“You get me, Malichai? Don’t treat this as a joke, or act like it’s me being paranoid. The danger to you is very real. You’re fucked-up right now. We both know that leg won’t hold if you need to run.”

Malichai knew he didn’t have a prayer that the leg would hold if he needed to run.

“I’m alive, Zeke,” he said quietly, gently. He loved his brother. Ezekiel had fought for everything they had when they were young, clothes, food, even toothbrushes. What he couldn’t buy with the money he earned in various ways, he stole for Malichai and Mordichai. He fought off two-legged predators and other kids wanting their territory. “I’m alive and I’m on vacation for the first time in my life. I’ve got a beach out my front door, good food and good company.”

There was another silence. “Good company?” Ezekiel ventured.

Malichai wouldn’t go there. That was dangerous territory. “Yeah, there’re these five men, each from a different country, with a cool idea for peaceful talks—”

Ezekiel broke in, just the way Malichai knew he would. “That’s good, Kai, but you do exactly what the doc said. Don’t deviate. You want that leg to heal.”