Power Game (GhostWalkers 13)

Gino's head suddenly snapped up, alerting Ezekiel, who immediately slowed the boat. Gino lifted his face toward the wind, shook his head and lowered his hand palm down. Ezekiel allowed the motor to idle and let the craft drift in the river. Gino was silent, turning his head in every direction. He pointed to the small island. Ezekiel swung the wheel around and took the boat slowly toward that very tiny land mass.

"There's a plane," Mordichai said. "If they have her, they haven't left yet."

The plane sat in the dark, parked on a strip of land that was bare other than grass. There appeared to be no signs of life anywhere.

Let us find her. Let us find her. He found himself repeating the mantra over and over as he had dozens of times throughout the night.

"Gino?" He waited, needing his friend to assure him Bellisia was alive.

"She came this way, that's all I can tell you."

He couldn't blame Gino. The man was tracking her, but the trail was faint. Very faint. Ezekiel had an acute sense of smell and he could track prey with unbelievable skill, but he was nowhere near as good as Gino. Still, that didn't stop him from catching the faint trace of blood when he drew in air through his nose.

Everything in him stilled. Emotion drained out of him, leaving him with nothing but that dark entity rising fast, taking him over. Around them, the water churned. The boat rocked.

"Gino?"

"It's her blood," Gino confirmed. "That doesn't mean anything, Zeke. She could have cut herself on a rock. Let's just get there before we decide to panic."

Mordichai shot Ezekiel a shocked look. Ezekiel was stone--the rock everyone counted on. He didn't panic, not ever. The idea was ludicrous. But Ezekiel knew better. Little jackhammers tripped in his head. His blood was a roar of thunder in his ears. His mind was pure chaos. Just the idea of her hurt was enough to send him over the edge, when nothing else in his life had ever done so.

As Ezekiel drove the boat right up to the shore beside another boat, Mordichai jumped out to drag theirs partway on land while Gino and Ezekiel covered him. They spread out, moving toward the plane. Violet's body lay in a heap on the ground, as if carelessly dropped. Her face was covered in mud and leaves.

Ezekiel felt for a pulse on Violet's neck. "She's dead. Body's cold."

A few feet away lay another man, obviously one of her mercenaries. He lay facedown. Mordichai lifted his head by his hair. "Any of you see him before?"

Gino and Ezekiel shook their heads. Mordichai dropped the head back into the mud and checked for a pulse. "He's long gone."

They moved on, spreading out to look for signs.

Ezekiel used his night vision to read the ground. There was a fight--a vicious one. One man lay on the ground, faceup, his eyes wide, staring up at the night sky in horror. In one fist was a bloody knife. Ezekiel's heart stuttered. His breath caught in his lungs. Beside him, Mordichai crouched down to check for a pulse.

"Take the knife," Gino advised, his voice grim. "We don't want anyone to get cute and take DNA samples. We have to leave them here for someone to find. We'll call it in and have one of our other teams find them. That will give us time to clean up any sign of Bellisia being here."

There were dark stains on the ground. Ezekiel barely listened to Gino as he followed the stains back down to the water. He looked over the gently lapping waves as they hit the shore. Where was she? Bellisia wouldn't drown, not even if she was wounded, and judging by the amount of blood, the knife had cut deep.

Mordichai and Gino came up on either side of him. "She went back into the water."

"She'd be home by now if she could have gotten there," Ezekiel said. There was no inflection whatsoever in his voice. "She's injured. Knife wound, judging by the knife in his hand and the blood all over the ground."

"She can handle herself," Mordichai said.

"Two big men and Violet," Gino echoed. "Your woman is tough."

She was tough, all right, but she was injured and holed up somewhere waiting for him.

"She'll come home," Mordichai added. "We know she's alive."

Ezekiel shot him a look that told his brother he'd better shut the fuck up. No way was Ezekiel leaving without Bellisia. "She's here and we're going to find her."

"It's a damn big lake," Gino pointed out. When Ezekiel flicked him a glare, he held his hands up in surrender. "Just sayin', bro."

"Her instinct is going to be to find somewhere in the water she can hide but still breathe. She's small and she can make herself even smaller," Ezekiel said. "Think in terms of an octopus. Where would be the places one might hide, but close to the surface. She has to breathe. If she's injured, she wouldn't want to have to keep swimming up from the bottom, or even hold herself on the bottom. That would be too tiring."

"So shallow," Mordichai acknowledged, walking along the shore.

"Blue-ringed octopi like to hang out in tide pools," Ezekiel added, not really paying attention to the other two men. His entire being concentrated on one thing only--finding Bellisia.

She knew she was leaking blood and she hadn't been able to stop it. That worried him. Anyone following that blood trail would know exactly where she entered the water. She wouldn't want to lead them to her hiding spot, so no way was she in open, deeper water. He paced slowly along the shore, keeping his eye out for the shallower tide pools. Even if the water had receded, he knew he wouldn't easily spot her.

Where are you, baby? I'm not going home without you.

Ezekiel shoved both hands through his hair, his gaze quartering the water. She was here. Close. He could feel her now. He willed her to surface, to show herself to him. Gino cast for sign in one direction, Mordichai the other, but he stayed still, working it out in his head. He'd told the others she could make herself very small. Not as small as a blue-ringed octopus, but still, very, very small.

She'd need to be close to the surface so she could breathe without effort, but she'd stay in the water when possible. She was injured, and she'd want to be where she knew she could escape fast.

I'm closer, baby, coming closer every minute. Can you feel me? I'm so close. Just hang in there a little longer.

He walked along the shore to the right of the blood trail where there were a series of tide pools. The shallow water lapped gently over rocks. His night vision allowed him to see into the water. The rocks created little pools and hideaways, but there was nowhere Bellisia could hide and not be seen. He kept walking, trying to visualize her path.

The next set of tide pools was several feet past the first one. The rocks were a little larger. The water was definitely heavy with salt. His heart stuttered wildly. This was the one. She was there, he could feel her. He just had to locate her hiding place.

Ezekiel crouched down beside the water and peered at each individual rock. There was a small overhang, but the space was empty. He shook his head and glared at the pool.

"No luck over here, Zeke," Mordichai called.

"She's here." Ezekiel indicated the tide pool. "I just can't find her."

Both men hurried over. Mordichai frowned. "You sure? This one has larger rocks, but it's small compared to the others."

"She's here," he repeated. "I feel her close." He stepped into the pool and crouched down, uncaring that he was getting soaked. "Don't touch anything. If she's as hurt as I think she is, she'll be in defense mode. She'll fight back. If you see anything at all, no matter how small, that she might fit into, call it out and I'll do the checking." He wasn't risking his brother or Gino. He knew Bellisia would defend herself. Anyone coming too close to her was at risk. The evidence of how lethal she was lay on the island.

"Move to your left, Zeke," Gino said. "There's a crack. It runs along the rock. I can't see how large it is, but there's something drifting in the water that moves with the waves. It's fine like seaweed, but it's anchored because the waves don't take it out."

Ezekiel swept his hand through the water to his left as he moved forward to examine the crack. Hair brushed across his wrist. Long strands of

blond hair moving with the rhythm of the water. She was there. "Bellisia." He whispered her name and closed his eyes for a moment, his heart hammering out his thanks.

"It's her. She's in this crevice. I don't see how she got herself in there, and I have to figure a way to get her out without her thinking I'm attacking her."

He peered closer. He couldn't see her, but she had to be partially out of the crack in order to breathe. Her body blended with the water. Her hair, a pale yellowish red, looked almost like seaweed, blending as well. How Gino had spotted those strands moving in the tide pool when they looked so much a part of her surroundings, Ezekiel would never know.

"Come on, baby," he said softly. "I'm here to take you home." He bunched the strands of hair in his palm and followed them back to her scalp. Her head was just a foot from him. A scant twelve inches. He tugged gently.

Her eyes opened and he was looking right into all that sea blue.

"Come here to me," he said again and added a second tug. His heart pounded hard, telling him she was in trouble. She blinked and recognition was there. Relief. Something else. Something wild and beautiful and all his. He held out his arms.

Bellisia moved slowly. That worried him. She eased out of the crevice, unfolding her body, reaching for him. He closed his arms around her and lifted her, cradling her against his chest.

"I've got you, sweetheart. I've got you now." He started across the beach for his boat, Mordichai and Gino pacing beside him. Bellisia shivered constantly. He could feel blood soaking into his shirt. He knew it was blood and not water because it was warm.

"I'll need a clot bandage," he snapped as he took her into the boat and laid her on the bench seat.

His heart contracted. She was black and blue and swollen. There were shallow defensive wounds on her arms and a long thin slice down one leg, several lacerations, but the worst injury was the knife wound just under her heart.

"Ezekiel." She breathed his name, her eyes drifting lovingly over his face. "I knew you'd come for me." Both of her hands pressed tightly against the wound.

"I will always come for you," he assured. Very gently he took her wrists. "You have to let me see."

Reluctantly she lifted her hands. "I closed it off so I wouldn't bleed out."

"Fuck." He took a breath and forced ice into his veins. He was a doctor, for God's sake. He couldn't panic because this was Bellisia, but he'd be doing surgery the moment he got home. "Baby, I know you're tired, but I need you to close off this wound one more time, just until we get home. Mordichai is going to get us there fast, and then I'll take care of you."

She moistened her lips. Shook her head. "I'm tired."

"I know you are. I know it's hard, but just a little longer. For me. That's all I'm asking, just a little bit longer." He pressed the clot bandage to the wound, knowing that wasn't going to stop the bleeding internally. Her muscles had to do that. He lifted her back into his arms, felt her wince and cursed again under his breath. She wouldn't have survived if she hadn't been able to manipulate the muscles surrounding the gash.

Blood bubbled up, dark and frightening--too much for such a small woman--and she was already drifting away from him, her lashes veiling her eyes and her head turned slightly away from him.

He wasn't going to lose her. Not now, not when he finally had her. He hadn't lost Joe and he damn well wasn't losing her.

"Bellisia, I'm not fucking around, lock down that wound now." He used the no-nonsense voice he'd taken with patients at death's door, ones who wanted to just drift away. More often than not, that voice would force them to rally.

A small brief smile curved her mouth. "Are you talking to me the way you do to your soldiers?"

His hand was on her rib cage, fingers splayed wide just under her heart. He felt the tightening of her muscles, that hard squeeze that cut off the blood. He signaled Mordichai to get moving. Fast. Faster than he'd taken them there. Mordichai nodded, indicating he knew the urgency of the situation.

"Gino, call back to the house. Tell Draden to set up the operating room again. I'll need Pepper to assist."

Gino nodded and complied.

Ezekiel looked down at her face. "Don't you die on me."

"Is that an order?"

"Absolutely it's an order. I've decided I can't do without you. Ever. I think I'll keep you tied to me."

She snuggled into him, her lashes drifting down. "That's not going to work so well when they call you for a mission."

"Then I'll make certain I have fifteen guards around you at all times." He was only half joking. "You're a pain in the ass, Bellisia. A total pain."

"Don't make me laugh." A frown crossed her face. "It hurts, Ezekiel."

"I know it does, sweetheart. I'll make it better in just a few minutes."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For coming to get me. I knew you would. That's all I thought about. I just had to hang on until you got there."

He brushed kisses over her forehead, tasting the salt water from the lake. Tasting Bellisia beneath it. "I'm right here, baby, and I'm not going anywhere."

17

Four days. Five nights. Bellisia barely ate when Ezekiel brought her food. Sometimes she ran a fever. He checked the lacerations several times and the one deep wound so close to her heart. That had been a near miss. If she hadn't had the muscles running just beneath her skin to clamp off the artery, she'd be dead. As it was, he'd spent a hell of a long time repairing the damage. She was a GhostWalker, healing faster than humanly possible, but she looked a mess and slept so much that it deeply worried him.

During the day he kept watch over her, filling the tub and gently putting her in it, on his lap so she could sleep if she wanted with the water surrounding her. That eased the soreness, so he did it several times a day. Sometimes, at her request, he dumped sea salt into the water. She curled into him and slept right there while he held her. He left her only when he saw to the other patients. Mordichai and Gino had taken his guard shifts, and Draden did most of the follow-up work with Cayenne and Diego.

He talked with her, little things, nothing to do with work, just about her, what she liked. She seemed overly concerned with the gumbo she'd helped make and wondered several times if anyone had eaten it. He assured her every time she asked that it was good. She didn't talk much and she smiled occasionally trying to reassure him, but she'd just go back to sleep.

Nights he spent painting thin wood he'd set on the walls of the room, leaving the windows wide open and the fan running. He painted a mural of the sea with a tiny blue-ringed octopus inside a large shell in the tide pool. He had Pepper, Cayenne and his brother purchasing large seashells from one of the stores in town. He put blown glass starfish on the walls and a huge wooden sea turtle. One side of the room looked like a cave with silvery veins glowing, the starfish clinging and lit up jellyfish in glass in various colors. He filled the room with beautiful flowers, the most exotic he could find close to home.

Sometimes he sang to her, softly, so no one else would hear, but he held her and rocked her in the rocking chair Nonny let him borrow from the porch. Just sang silly songs, ones that, if she'd been awake, would tell her how he felt. Soft. Romantic. Loving. He wrapped himself around her. Every now and then he got a smile, but mostly, if she was awake, she just listened to him.

Ezekiel had gone through another long night, and if she didn't pull out of it soon, he was going to have to do something. What? He had no idea, but he needed her to wake up. He propped himself up on one elbow and stared down at the woman in his bed. He had tucked Bellisia close to him a few hours earlier and she was still there, tight against his body. She didn't ever seem to move in her sleep unless she woke and wanted to take a long bath. She hadn't even done that, she was so exhausted. She was beaten all to hell, but she'd held her own against two men and Violet.

He ran his finger alongside the shallow knife wound, a defensive wound. They'd taken the senator's body to the island where a small plane was waiting. She'd

followed them. They'd seen her and they would bring back an army against her. All they had to do was testify that she'd killed a senator and it wouldn't matter what Violet had come to do. She'd used herself as bait to draw them close enough so she could inject venom into their bodies.

He'd seen the news reports. Senator Smythe was being mourned. She and two bodyguards who clearly had tried to save her--there was evidence of CPR on the senator's body--were bitten by a creature not native to the waters. There was speculation that they had found a tiny octopus hiding in a crevice, never thinking the creature at five to eight inches could be poisonous. All three were dead. It was a terrible tragedy. There was speculation that the octopus, found primarily in waters from Japan to Australia, had been trafficked and dumped.

He pulled the light blanket back to look at her body. There were still bruises on her. A lot of them. His heart contracted and he bent his head to brush his lips across a particularly nasty one on her hip. She'd been kicked. Hard. He wanted to go kill the bastards all over again. He hoped to hell it had taken them a long time to die. A really long time.

"You're growling again."

Bellisia's soft voice brushed over him like the tips of her fingers. He loved when she stroked her fingertips over his body. Now, her voice gave him that same reaction and she hadn't even physically touched him.

"Are you going to wake up?" He brushed a kiss over each eyelid because he had to kiss her and she was still beaten up. There was a faint bruise on the side of her mouth and he kissed that as well. Gently. A whisper, no more, just enough to let her know what she meant to him and how afraid for her he'd been.

"I'm awake now. I've been awake on and off for the last few days but it hurt to move. For some reason, when I'm injured, my body just wants to sleep. I heal faster that way."

It was the most she'd said in a week. Mostly their talks were her responding with yes or no. This felt so much better. He almost felt like he could breathe again.

"Is Joe alive?" Her voice was soft with compassion.