Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

“Mr. Fortunes,” the man greeted. “As one soldier to another, I really am sorry we have to meet under such poor circumstances. I’m sure you can appreciate that it’s a sign of respect that we are being so careful. A man who’s sustained the kinds of wounds you have in combat is a very lethal human being.”

The man spoke very precisely. The way he spoke suggested education. Malichai guessed that he had been an officer. Yeah, it was a great sign of respect to kick the shit out of his wounded leg so he couldn’t defend himself. What an asshole. He stayed silent.

The handcuffs were somewhat loose and he worked at slipping them off without moving his shoulders. To cover what he was doing, he made a show of struggling into a sitting position. He kept an expressionless mask, but every movement of his body, as he tried to push himself so his back was to the wall of the unit, was excruciatingly painful.

His leg hurt so bad he feared Mills had those tiny fractures Amaryllis had worked on dissecting his bones all over again. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Mills had undone the miracle Rubin had worked.

“What is it you want from me, Mr. . . . ?” Deliberately he called the man “mister,” knowing if he was in charge and he’d been an officer, that would rankle.

“I’m Lieutenant Colonel Callendine. This is Major Salsberry.” He indicated the older woman. I’m afraid you’ve stumbled onto one of our missions, Mr. Fortunes. You’ve met Sergeant Mills already.” He drummed his fingers against his thigh. “I find it incredible that I can’t find anything on you other than you do in fact exist and you are in the military. Understand, my orders come all the way from the White House, so I do have resources that should have uncovered everything about you, yet so far, they’ve been unable to do so.”

Those sharp eyes moved over Malichai carefully, inspecting every inch of him. He couldn’t fail to see the very real beads of sweat trickling down his forehead or running from his neck down his chest. Malichai tried to keep his breathing even, but it seemed impossible when every breath caused pain to explode through him.

Zeke, this is some kind of military operation. Man claims he’s got orders from the White House. Who in the White House he hasn’t said, but he doesn’t know about our unit. Says his name’s Lieutenant Colonel Callendine. Woman with him is Major Salsberry. Says the gorilla who just kicked the holy shit out of my leg is named Sergeant Mills. I’ve got the cuffs off. I just need a couple of minutes to catch my breath. I want to see if I can find out what the hell they’re up to.

“If you really are who you say you are, why didn’t you just come to me, soldier to soldier, and tell me to back off? Your man there scared the shit out of the owner of the bed-and-breakfast. Both the owner and the manager have video of him trying to intimidate them. If you’re on some secret mission, why would he be dumb enough to have his face plastered all over social media? And why would you attack and injure a fellow soldier? That makes even less sense.”

Callendine turned to look at Mills, his eyebrow raised as if seeking an answer.

“The woman, Amaryllis is her name, she gave off this vibe that said she was going to make trouble. I didn’t want to hurt her, so I went for maximum intimidation. I planned on taking their phones, but Fortunes showed up.”

Callendine nodded as if that was a perfectly acceptable explanation. It wasn’t and it didn’t make sense to Malichai. Nothing was adding up—unless these were the people planning on killing Marie, Jacy and Amaryllis and then burning down the bed-and-breakfast. Callendine spoke in a very sincere tone as if he was telling the truth. Malichai leaned his head back against the wall as if he was exhausted from fighting the pain. He was just plain pissed off at this point. He was more than positive that it was Callendine who planned on killing the women and Jacy.

Right now, Ezekiel would be contacting Major General for information regarding Callendine, Salsberry and Mills. Who they worked for and why they were in San Diego. Malichai didn’t think it was possible they were working toward the same end, but it was possible someone in the White House had a very different agenda and had sent a team out. Whatever their mission was, they were far too comfortable using deadly force against civilians.

“We are looking for a colleague of ours who has disappeared,” Callendine continued. “His name is Henry Shevfield. I’m certain you met him.”

Malichai made a show of frowning and even glanced up and to his left in a manner many people used when trying to recall a specific person or event. They’re asking about Shevfield, Zeke. He wanted his brother informed every step of the way just in case he didn’t make it out alive.