Predatory Game (GhostWalkers 6)

Fuck that. You're coming with us.

She sent him one telling look. The elevator was going to make noise. No matter how modern, it wasn't silent when running. The enemy would know and would be standing at the door, blasting away as it opened.

Damn it, Saber. But he was already using powerful strokes to propel the chair down the hall to the small cage. Saber inserted her body between Jess's and the stairs. She no longer had the gun, but it didn't matter. Her mind would never take another assault and survive. There had to be another way.

Two men leapt onto the gallery floor, rolling away from each other to take cover behind the massive columns. Before Saber could react, the paintings and sculptures began to shake, the floor undulating. She caught at the banister for support, glancing at Jess in alarm.

Take cover, Saber.

She didn't have time for much more than dropping down with her hands over her head for protection as sculptures began to fly through the air. Statues and paintings crashed around and into the columns. Pieces of the frames became weapons, hurtling through the air like missiles.

I think this is considered priceless art, Jesse. Saber peered through her fingers. He was destroying Patsy's art gallery. Glass and plaster whirled in the air so that it created a screen.

Now, Saber. Run. Let's get out of here. We have a better chance outside. Jess cursed himself for shutting down his team earlier. With the capture of the two locals and Chaleen discovered, neither he nor Ken nor Mari had felt any immediate threat. He cursed under his breath as he directed a painting to slam down over the top of the head of one of the gunmen.

Saber moved fast, her small figure a blur as she came rushing toward him. The elevator door slammed shut and they were moving. Jess counted the seconds it took to get to the first floor--an eternity when the two gunmen had only to run down a flight of stairs. He could only hope that both were so shaken by the strange phenomenon of flying art that they remained where they were for a few moments, although they were professionals. They hadn't fired blindly, or panicked, either of them.

The door slid open and he propelled the chair out onto the floor of the small room Patsy used as a den. That was the other advantage Jess figured he had. The elevator shaft was hidden in the walls and all the panels appeared to be smooth. Even if the enemy had a house plan, the location of the elevator doors wasn't included. Patsy had installed the lift within the past year. They wouldn't have any way of knowing which room the elevator opened into.

"You hanging in there, Pats?" Jess asked, worried about his sister.

Her breathing was shallow and her pulse was racing. Her skin was cold and clammy and she wasn't even attempting to hold herself up, slumping against him as if she were too exhausted to move.

"Talk to me, sis," Jess said, powering the chair down the hall to the back of the house, where he'd parked the van beside the ramp. Saber, something's wrong.

Saber shook her head. They were in a hell of a mess. She could hear the men running through the house. They have radios. Someone's outside.

Fuck. I left the van running. They've got us trapped. Because whoever was outside would be waiting in that van, or at a vantage point where they could pick off anyone running to it. He had two women to protect, and if the enemy got their hands on either of them, they'd have Jess by the balls.

Give me some direction. Saber skidded to a halt.

The basement. Through the kitchen. The door's to the left of the pantry.

Stairs? She was not hiding in a basement while he tried to outrace them in his chair. Jess, I'm not leaving you. She didn't care if he used his manly I'm-in-command voice and glared at her, she was sticking to him like glue.

I'll be with you. Just go. Get there fast before they find us.

Saber ran, following Jess's instructions on left and right turns. She yanked open the door. Her heart sank. The stairs were narrow and steep, although there weren't that many of them.

Help Patsy.

Saber dragged the taller woman from Jess's lap, getting an arm around her waist. Patsy said nothing, barely opening her eyes, slumping her weight against Saber, nearly knocking her down the stairs.

Hurry, Saber. You'll have to get my chair and then close the door.

Saber didn't look at him, terrified at what he planned. She concentrated on getting Patsy down the stairs. The woman wasn't walking, so Saber had no choice but to half carry, half drag her. She left Patsy slumped on the floor of the basement and rushed back to see Jess swinging his body from his chair and, using only upper body strength, began to descend the stairs.

The muscles in his arms and shoulders bulged with the effort, and she found her breath catching in her throat. There was determination on his face, his mouth firm, eyes glittering with menace. Even on the stairs, pulling the lower half of his body, he managed to look more predator than prey. She swallowed her admiration and jumped over him, landing like a cat beside the chair to yank it out of the way so she could close the door.

The basement instantly went pitch black. For a moment there was silence, then Jess swore beneath his breath and struck a match. "There's a light switch near the door, Saber, can you see it?"

She flicked it and below, back toward the wall, a single bulb lit up. "I take it Patsy doesn't use this much."

"No. Hurry. Get down here. We'll have to turn off the light again and unscrew the bulb so it won't work when they try it."

She was already carrying the chair down to him, taking the stairs two at a time. Placing the chair beside him, she raced to the back of the room and unscrewed the lightbulb, o

nce more plunging the room into darkness.

"They'll be coming, Jesse. They aren't going to be fooled into thinking we're gone."

She crouched down beside Patsy and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, aware of Jess moving toward them in the dark. Only the energy field allowed her to "see" where everyone was. Although she was listening intently for the sound of the enemy, she automatically picked up the rhythm of Patsy's heart--and stiffened.

"Jesse. We've got a problem. Can you get over here now? Feel your way to us? You have a clear path. Right now." She turned Patsy's limp body over so she lay on her back. Pressing her palm over Patsy's heart, Saber looked toward Jesse in dismay.

CHAPTER 14

"Patsy's having a heart attack," Saber said. "If we don't help her now, her heart could be damaged beyond repair by the time we make it to a hospital."

"What the hell are you saying?" For the first time, Jess's composure was truly shaken. "She can't have a heart attack, she's too young."

The wheelchair shot across the basement floor. Jess leaned down to find his sister's pulse, his fingers searching in the darkness. "Are you certain, Saber? I can't tell."

"Yes, I'm certain."

"Do something."

Saber shoved back her hair, sitting back on her heels, one hand pressed to her forehead. Patsy needed help fast. The enemy was searching the house and the grounds and eventually would find them. Jess couldn't run. Neither could Patsy. They were royally screwed unless the GhostWalker team arrived in the next few minutes.

She took a breath, let it out, and laid her palm over Patsy's chest. At once she could feel the heart squeezing, clamping, laboring when it should have beat steadily.

"What are you doing?" Jess demanded, his breath coming in a harsh rasp.

"The only thing I can think of. I'm going to try to trip her heart back into rhythm."

"Using an electrical charge?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Fear made her snap at him and she was instantly ashamed. She couldn't blame him for questioning her. She killed people, she didn't save them. "I'm sorry. You do what you think will help."

Jess swallowed a retort and pushed down the urge to order Saber away from Patsy. "Do you have to sync up your rhythm with hers? Is that how it works?"