Phantom Game (GhostWalkers 18)

Don’t look toward Gorman when you inhale, Camellia cautioned Kyle.

On my way to you, Jeff reassured Kyle. Lewis is between us, trying to stare me down, thinking he’s a silverback gorilla or something. I’m coming to help you as soon as I take care of Bobo here.

I’ve got a spear through my shoulder. Can’t move.

They were all aware Kyle was in agony. They could feel it through their shared connection with him. Camellia didn’t want to think about Jonas attempting to reach Kyle with Pops, Lowell, Shaker and Tusker hunting him as well. She knew where they were. The underground network kept her informed of everyone’s position.

Right now, Pops was scooting on his belly, slithering over the vegetation on the ground much like a lizard or, more likely given his size, a Komodo dragon. He had turned in a full circle to go back toward the helicopters, but he was a distance from them, moving toward the edge of the clearing where Tusker stood facing the helicopters. Lowell stepped off the helicopter he’d been standing on and circled around, coming toward the same exact spot.

Camellia’s heart dropped. To her, they resembled a pack of wolves circling prey, ready to tear him apart. Jonas, I think they’re on you. Get out of there. He had to see what she was seeing. He was part of the underground network. Why wasn’t he moving?

She started to rise to go to him.

Stay down! Shaker’s on you, Camellia, Jonas snapped.

The bullet hit the rock just above her head, splintering off shards of granite. She had dipped her face down and covered her ears, but the sound was deafening. Splinters peppered the backs of her hands and arms. Two stuck in her scalp, up near her forehead, the blood immediately running down in little rivulets.

Damn it, Camellia. Don’t you move.

She’d never heard Jonas use that particular voice before, but it froze her in place. She had no intention of moving, not with Shaker being so accurate with his gun and his intention. She didn’t blame him. She’d killed Angel. Technically, she’d killed Gorman as well, although Shaker had no way of knowing she had been the one to actually kill him.

Don’t you worry about Shaker being on me, Jonas, not with them all converging on you. That was the best she could do. She couldn’t lift her head, not to get up and help, but she wasn’t cowering behind a boulder waiting for Shaker’s crew to kill Jonas, Kyle and Jeff if she could do anything to help.

She rolled over and crawled on her belly, wiping at the blood running down her face, depending on the underground network to keep any foliage from moving as she crept out from behind the shelter of the boulders to seek another spot. When she’d chosen her lookout perch to begin with, she’d scouted two other areas, discarding them as not being ideal. She didn’t need ideal now, only a place where she could see what was happening and know whether or not she could help the crew below by joining them or staying where she was.

Kyle’s pain jarred all of them. He gripped the spear in both hands, and her heart began to pound with alarm.

You’re a damn doctor, Kyle, Jonas declared. Leave it until one of us gets to you. It might be keeping you from bleeding out.

I can’t stand it, Jonas. It’s got to come out. If I just lie here, they’ll use me as bait to draw the two of you in. I won’t have that.

Camellia took a deep breath. It’s Shaker, Kyle. He’s burying his voice in the fog again. I almost stood up because of him. You’re trying to remove the spear because of him. It’s possible I can find a way to plug off the hole and any damage it’s done from here. You have to give me a few minutes to get to a safe place. Don’t do anything until I can help you.

Damn it, Camellia, I can’t worry about you and kill these bastards at the same time, Jonas said. Stay put.

Camellia didn’t reply. She monitored the underground network as she moved in the dense fog toward her destination, a depression hidden in a small grove of trees ringed with several large rocks. The depression was to the right of the smallest of the trees between two of the rocks. As shelters went, it wasn’t the best, but she could hide herself in the mist if she didn’t move around.

I’ll stay here, Jonas, for now. If I can help Kyle, I will, so he can move. That way, Shaker can’t use him as bait. She tried to sound reassuring. I’m in my second-choice location, so Shaker won’t know where I am.

She detested that Jonas was surrounded by Shaker, Tusker, Pops and Lowell. It didn’t matter that Shaker was currently focused on trying to shoot her. She suspected he was a multitasker, and if he was, his brother had to be as well. She also felt Jonas’s heavy guilt. He had loved Oliver. Whatever had happened, he had yet to come to terms with it. She worried that he might hesitate to kill Oliver’s brothers, even in self-defense.