Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

Rubin kept his voice even. Gentle. He never took his gaze from the major’s face. He could detect lies fairly easily. So far, Sean seemed to be telling the truth. He had no real reason to be lying to Rubin, other than that he knew Diego had a rifle pointed at him, and Diego wasn’t a man who missed.

“I have a place in Louisiana Chandler doesn’t know about. The property is in the middle of nowhere. Wasn’t developed. I only told my best friends about it. We went in and fixed it up. We built a barracks of sorts and a small cabin. A friend helped with electricity, plumbing, that sort of thing. She’d be safe there. Chandler wouldn’t find her, and we’ve stocked enough firepower to defend the place. Each time any of us went, we brought more firepower, including the new weapons.”

Rubin thought it was a strange coincidence that Major Sean O’Connell of the Air Force would end up in the state of Louisiana, where the members of Rubin’s GhostWalker team resided. They had women and children to protect. Sometimes Whitney set up elaborate plans to get to those children. He wanted them. Others wanted them dead.

“Where in Louisiana?”

Sean hesitated for the first time. “It’s the only place I can take my men where we can go and live out our lives. We’re not going to last very long, but at least we won’t be used to betray our country.”

Rubin. He’s so sad. I can feel the weight on him. He can’t fake that. What does he mean, they aren’t going to last very long? Ask him.

Jonquille sounded close to tears. Somehow she’d formed an attachment to Sean. Rubin didn’t like it. Not because he was jealous but because he worried that they might have to kill this man and she would hesitate, or always hold it against him.

It might be better if you slip away, Jonquille, head for woods, where the trees are thickest. We could use another person watching. And yes, I’ll ask him what he means. You’ll be looped in to the conversation.

Jonquille gave him such a stubborn look, her chin going up, her silvery-blue eyes flashing such little silver sparks at him, that it was all he could do not to lean over, frame her face with both hands and kiss her. It was the silliest impulse in the middle of a crisis situation and showed him why taking his woman into battle wasn’t a great idea. She was distracting. Instead of kissing her, he cupped the side of her face and ran his thumb over her soft skin just once.

I was so worried about you, Jonquille. I think we’re going to have to get married immediately so you stay very close to me. No more running off on your own. You took ten years off my life. He dropped his hand, still looking into her unusual eyes. He found them beautiful no matter if they were blue or silver or a mixture of both.

She burst out laughing, the low, soft notes skittering over his skin like caresses. I was kidnapped. I didn’t run off, you goof.

She touched his face every bit as gently as he had hers. He felt love in her touch. When had that happened? When had that emotion slipped in for both of them? Caring. Affection. Real love. He knew it was real for him. He had hoped it was the same for her. That touch told him it was.

Rubin turned back to the major, who was looking at the two of them with the realization that they were speaking telepathically to each other. Sean couldn’t be surprised. He’d known she could. She had set up the meeting between them that way.

“I understand you want to protect your men. I’m willing to bet that it’s no surprise to you that I’m a member of a GhostWalker team.”

“No, sir, it is not,” Sean answered honestly. “I was unaware that you were here or that you were associated in any way with Jonquille.”

“Are you aware of where my GhostWalker team resides?”

Sean looked uncomfortable. He sighed. “Chandler made it a point, once he learned about the GhostWalkers, to find them. He is very obsessed with them. So the answer is yes, I know where your home is.”

“Whitney told Oliver Chandler about the GhostWalkers?” Rubin asked.

“Whitney had soldiers around him all the time. He showed Chandler his experiments, especially Jonquille, as she was one he claimed was a failure when it came to using her as a weapon for lightning. Chandler’s job is to develop weapons, and Whitney really wanted to harness lightning. That led to talks about the GhostWalkers and how Whitney used his failures to develop perfection in his soldiers, specifically the GhostWalkers. Eventually, he showed training films of what all of you could do.”