Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

“They needed her magic shop open,” Amaryllis said without thinking. She didn’t even open her eyes. “If they killed her, the shop would close. There was no one to take her place. She’d said so dozens of times. But if they just had her go away for a time, they would have the shop and be able to do anything they wanted from it.”

Ezekiel nodded. “Thank you, Amaryllis. I believe you’re correct. They needed her alive more than they needed her dead.”

“Callendine trusted someone to do the intel on Miss Crystal. He would never have been so sloppy as to say she was visiting a son. That was just idiocy not to say she was on a cruise,” Malichai said.

“They practiced a script,” Mordichai guessed. “Just like we rehearse a mission, over and over until we know exactly what we’re going to do, they had to have rehearsed a script. My guess, in the script they first used, she was dead, they killed her, so they came up with various reasons why she wasn’t there. Midstream, they sent her on a cruise and everyone got confused.”

That was plausible. Amaryllis didn’t like to think that the people she knew were so easily disposable to others, but it was obvious that they were to Callendine. He had hired a man to rid the world of Marie, Jacy and Amaryllis.

“Rubin, you can’t go to the magic shop pretending to look for Shevfield because they aren’t there. I’m going to have you arrested and put it in the papers that you’re a suspect in Anna and Bryon Cooper’s deaths. Callendine will look into you. He has to have someone at the police department or a hacker helping him. You will be suspected of being a hit man, but no one has ever been able to convict you. The police will have to release you because there is no evidence against you and you’ll be staying here.”

“Lovely,” Amaryllis murmured. “Our reputation is growing.”

“A thrill a minute, baby,” Malichai assured. “People love that. The B and B will be more popular than ever.”

Ezekiel ignored them. “Shevfield’s body will be found so Callendine will have to use one of his men to create his diversion or contact the supposed hit man at the B and B. That puts Rubin right in an enticing situation. Callendine won’t be able to resist the fact that you’re exactly where you need to be to carry out his diversion.”

“You don’t think it’s too big of an apple falling in his lap?” Malichai asked.

Ezekiel shrugged. “We have to take that chance. We don’t have any other play. When Amaryllis is feeling better, she can unlock the attic. Trap and Cayenne want the basement. Cayenne will be more comfortable there. We’ve still got to go through the house and find any bugs. There weren’t any in this room. We’ve gone over it several times. Even so, we’ve got a jammer in here, so when we need to talk, let’s use this room.”

“I thought you wanted to move us to Amaryllis’s room,” Malichai said.

Ezekiel shook his head. “No, I’ll put one of the men in there. Probably Gino. Draden and Shylah will take one of the two rooms Marie has been renovating. That will give us, including you and Amaryllis, eight here at the inn. Bellisia is joining me at the house I rented. Mordichai is already there and Joe will be coming in. So, we’ll have three more of us within minutes of you.”

“Only Wyatt and Diego home?” Malichai asked. “That’s not good.”

“Jack and Ken Norton have some of their team members on the way to Louisiana right now,” Ezekiel said. “Everyone will be safe while we take care of whatever is going on here. Jack and Ken will back us up along with half of their team members here if we need to call on them. In addition, we have access to the base.”

“I don’t like the fact that Callendine is legitimately a soldier and was a good one at that,” Malichai said.

“Decorated,” Ezekiel supplied.

Malichai swore under his breath. “This has all the marks of a major clusterfuck, Zeke. If they’re here on what is supposed to be legitimate business . . .”

“Hiring a hit man?”

“You know what I mean. Under orders. And he’s a decorated officer? His men?” Malichai shook his head. “We’re under scrutiny already in the White House. They’re looking for any excuse to terminate us.”

Amaryllis gasped. Shocked. Whitney didn’t mind terminating the girls. To him they were throwaways. He acted as if they should be happy to give their lives in service to their country through his experiments. But the soldiers? They were miracle workers on the battlefield. They ran covert missions and saved lives like no others. Someone wanted them terminated? How did that make any sense? She could see why they were building fortresses. It wasn’t about Whitney. It was about any others who might consider them the enemy. Malichai had said that to her, but she hadn’t really comprehended that someone in power, someone in the White House, maybe even the president of the country, might decide to give the order to have them killed.