Phantom Game (GhostWalkers 18)

The other two men, Pops and Lowell, were close to Jonas. Jonas was perfectly still, immersed in the midst of the fog, impossible to see when he was so much a part of the drops. Still, because the enhanced soldiers were so close to him, Camellia’s heart drummed in her ears, a steady, rhythmical beat.

Slow your heart, baby, Jonas advised.

They can’t possibly hear my heart. Camellia was confident that Red muffled the sound. She was hidden in the mist, impossible for Angel to find. No scent. No way for enhanced vision to see. So why was he so close?

Do you think the underground network connects him to us? she ventured. Watch yourself. Pops and Lowell are coming around the helicopter, Pops to the right of you. The other to the left.

I’m on it.

Her heart lurched again. If you move, they’ll know where you are. Shaker may be the boss, but it’s Angel directing everyone right now. He’s connected to the underground network. I know he is. He can’t feel Jeff because Jeff isn’t touching the ground. But he’s in the tree and the tree is part of the network.

Silence met her declaration. She was very aware Jonas would know what that meant. If Angel was plugged into the mycelium network, then Whitney very well could have gone a step further and paired the man with her. That would explain why he had locked on to her presence.

She was directing the others. Would he have felt their presence through her? She didn’t think so. That didn’t make sense. Something else was going on. All of them were in danger until they figured it out. She didn’t want Jonas to overreact. She willed him to think calmly, not allow the animals in his genetic code to take over the way Gray’s had the moment he saw a rival in his claimed territory.

That pulled her up short. Was that something Whitney or Abrams counted on? Was this a trap planned in advance if Jonas was leading a team against them? Even that didn’t make sense. How could they count on Camellia and Jonas meeting? Her brain worked at a very fast speed, computing all the possibilities and discarding them just as fast. They couldn’t. Unless . . .

That fucking Whitney and his gift to all of you, the tattoo on your ankle. Jonas filled in the blanks for her. We weren’t aware of it immediately and weren’t able to start interfering with his ability to track each of you. But he was sophisticated in the way he placed his tracking devices on each of you. They aren’t the same.

Camellia took a deep breath and allowed herself to tap into Red completely. Red was aware of the six enhanced commanders and Shaker, as well as their movements in the fog. She did not confirm Angel was on the mycelium network. In fact, she rejected the idea of it. Camellia had been studying him and the way he was stalking her through the mist.

It would still be too much of a coincidence. They couldn’t rely on us meeting, Jonas. This is something else altogether. They’re all shifting positions. Guessing where you are, but they know you’re there. They haven’t alerted anyone else. Not the troops, not even the helicopter pilots. Don’t you think that’s strange?

They sent the helicopter pilots away earlier with the troops, Jonas told her.

Camellia considered what that meant, turning the information over and over in her mind. It didn’t make sense for Shaker to give that order unless he didn’t want the mercenaries to see what the enhanced men were doing. What was Shaker up to that he didn’t want all those men to see?

She pulled the map up that the two owls had pushed into her head. Because Kyle had already used Gray’s vision and hearing more than once, the owl knew how to assemble the lines and grids. Blue had followed her mate’s example. They had taken a snapshot of the map from various angles as they flew overhead and sent it to her. It looked to Camellia as if Shaker was sending all six commanders and their troops to Team One’s fortress for a hard strike from every direction, including air. He hadn’t spared a single man for Team Two. At least not now. There was no doubt his intention was eventually taking them all out. Team Two would not be spared.

The breeze blew through the fog, creating a subtle movement, proving a distraction. The blue-gray mist swirled just a bit, where before it had been still, just hanging dense and impenetrable. Now there was a slight sound, like a musical note on the lower end of the scale, that added to the ominous feeling in the fog. She used every very real resource available to her when building illusions to make them more compelling. Oftentimes, people overlooked sounds in fog. Sound could be muffled or distorted, and it was often the cause of a feeling of fear.