Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

Rubin felt bad for Kingsley. They had no idea what kind of DNA had been put into him. He was in the Air Force and his record was spotless. He wouldn’t have been chosen for this assignment had it not been. He never would have passed the requirements for the GhostWalker program if he’d had any kind of psychological problems. Whatever had been done to him had caused the damage. The enhancement had pushed his natural aggression and testosterone levels off the charts, ripping away his basic kindness and humanity. Fortunately, his training kicked in and he obeyed his commanding officer, albeit reluctantly.

They still didn’t have the full list of men who had applied for the GhostWalker program under Oliver Chandler. They had lists of men who had been assigned to guard him over the last four years, but it was impossible to tell which ones he’d given the tests to and then chosen for the operations. Two of their best hackers had tried to get into Chandler’s computer and failed. His work had to be taken off the computer and stored until it could be looked at, but right now, it was imperative to see what shape these soldiers were in. And they had to find the missing pilot from the first group of soldiers—the squirrel men—Chandler had had enhanced.

The fate of these men was in Joe’s hands. Rubin didn’t envy him those life-or-death decisions. There were no trials for GhostWalkers. They signed on knowing that. If they ever went rogue, they would be hunted by other GhostWalkers and they would be destroyed. There was no real choice. All of them understood that when they signed the papers and agreed to be psychically enhanced. Technically, none of them had agreed to physical enhancements, but once it was done, there was no way to undo it. They all had to live with it. Rubin feared for Major Kingsley. He looked by turns confused, belligerent, resigned and grateful they were there.

Men began appearing, hurrying out of buildings to the lawn in various states of disarray. Three were being helped and they were obviously in bad shape. Rubin’s every instinct was to go to them. The healer in him was so strong he actually took a step toward them, but Diego and Ezekiel blocked his forward progress with their bodies.

Wait, Rubin. Let’s just assess what’s going on here first before anything else, Ezekiel cautioned. My understanding was that this group of GhostWalkers was in much better shape than the others, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case. There are fewer of them and they look sick. Either they aren’t all here, in which case we have weapons pointed at us, or Sean was very wrong. This isn’t a good scenario.

The men lined up. Rubin counted no more than twelve men who looked fit, three very ill and three others that were iffy. Ezekiel was right. It wasn’t a good scenario. Why would Sean think these men were the “perfect” ones as opposed to the squirrel men? They didn’t seem all that perfect to him. In fact, given that Major Kingsley had obvious problems, and he was certain Barry, the man who had betrayed Sean’s team, did as well, there was an underlying sickness Rubin needed to find and address in these men.

Joe walked slowly up and down the line of soldiers. When he came to one of the men swaying with illness but doing his best to stand, the colonel stopped in front of him for several long moments. Rubin knew he was assessing his condition.

“Sit in the grass, soldier.”

“Sir, I am fine, sir.”

“That was an order, soldier,” Joe said and moved on to the next man.

His insides are messed up, not like we saw with the squirrel men. This man has all human organs and parts, but he isn’t put together properly. He’s leaking blood internally. I don’t know who did these operations, but they didn’t know what the hell they were doing.

Joe was always calm. Always steady. The hint of anger, that lash to his voice that rumbled through their minds, was a warning. Joe’s powers unleashed could be devastating.

When he had all three of the obviously invalid men sitting in the grass and had moved to the second row, Ezekiel reached out to their allies. Ryland, you see anyone with eyes on us? I can’t feel them, but clearly this isn’t enough men. The major seemed too cocky to me, as if he could turn away officers without any repercussions.

We’ve searched the entire complex, and other than the few guards on the perimeters, and those are babies, certainly not GhostWalkers, there are no others. Kaden, Ian, Kyle, Tucker and Jonas have been all around the buildings and rooftops. So far, nothing. They aren’t even protecting that laboratory as they should.