Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

Draden, need you back here, stat. Emergency operation. Calling in the women. Jonquille, need you now, Rubin said, moving to the third man down.

Fortunately, this man didn’t look as if he was going to die any moment. He made a halfhearted attempt to give Rubin a smile and glanced up at Diego, Rubin’s ever-present shadow.

“I’m not so bad, sir. Master Sergeant Kevin Morris, sir.” He coughed, covering his mouth with his arm. When he took his arm away there was a tinge of pink around his lips.

Rubin sighed. “Are you having problems breathing?”

Morris hesitated. “Sometimes. Lying down.”

Rubin passed his hands over the man’s chest just as there was a small stir among the men, telling him the women had arrived. Zara was already in the building. Bellisia, Jonquille and Cayenne came up behind him. All three women looked sweet and innocent enough, but all three were deadly.

Rubin, we need you now. Double-time it, Joe’s voice blasted in his mind.

That shocked him. Joe had to know he was setting up for several important operations, operations that were time sensitive. That meant whatever he was going to find was even more pressing.

“Jonquille, finish assessing this patient and then lay out what we’ll need in the operating room for the others. We’re running out of time with Chief Petty Officer Harris Ledes. You may have to start without me. You’ve already done two of these before, so no worries, and you have access to my memories.”

Are you out of your mind? She had the presence of mind not to say it aloud where all the men could hear her, especially the patient she was kneeling down to take his place beside.

No choice, Lightning Bug. Wyatt’s with you. You’ll do fine. “Leaving you in good hands, Master Sergeant.” Rubin turned and sprinted in the direction Kingsley had led Joe. Diego followed him.

Ezekiel met them halfway to show them through the maze of stairwells and doors to the basement where the pilot was being held.

“Kingsley said they called him Swamp Man. Everyone did.”

Rubin’s gut knotted. He didn’t know why, maybe the warning note in Ezekiel’s voice. “Who is it, Zeke? Someone we know?”

“Wyatt’s brother,” Ezekiel whispered, as if saying it aloud would somehow make him overheard. Wyatt’s psychic gifts were powerful. The last thing they needed was for him to lose his mind while they were trying to save so many lives. “His brother Roch. I don’t know what the hell he’s doing here. He’s in bad shape, Rubin, but you have to save his life. You don’t, Wyatt will bring down this compound and everyone in it.”

“Thanks, Zeke, don’t put any pressure on me or anything.” Rubin kept pace with him, matching him stride for stride. “What am I looking at?”

“I’ve got lines into him. Loss of blood. They beat the holy shit out of him. Organ damage. Chandler injected him with chemicals for sure. Tried to get him to talk. He was enhanced as well. I think Chandler went at him a second time, this time on his own, without a surgical team. Really messed him up. I don’t know if you can fix him.”

Rubin drew in a sharp breath. “I might need Jonquille. If I do, we’ll lose the Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer Ledes. I can’t be in two places at one time, and neither can she, Zeke. Wyatt and Joe can maybe handle the other two, keep them alive until we can get there, but no way will the SEAL make it that long.”

Zeke swore under his breath as they leapt over the railing and landed at the bottom of the stairwell. Rubin followed Zeke down another narrow hallway to what appeared to be a gloomy basement without windows. The room smelled of blood and death. There were blazing lights set up. Clearly, operations had been performed in this room. There were bloodstains on the floor.

A man lay on a thin, boardlike gurney, a mop of thick black hair a stark contrast to the white cloth beneath his head. His face looked mostly gray, with bruises around his sunken eyes, nose and mouth, although his jaw was covered in that same jet-black hair, helping to hide any swelling. Rubin didn’t wait to be told anything else. He could feel the urgency in all the men in the room.

He laid his palms over Roch’s chest. He was shirtless, his body shivering uncontrollably. They had been fortunate that Draden had gone with them as protection. He could find a vein on anyone in the worst of circumstances, and he’d gotten a line into Roch.

We’ll need blood fast. Get Bellisia. Hopefully, Chandler has blood on hand for the others. Get Trap working on finding that out. Diego, get behind me. Stay right behind me. This one was going to be bad. Joe, you’re going to have to be on the other side of him.