Murder Game

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

What's wrong?" Tansy asked as Ryland, Gator, and Nico entered the house.

The sun had gone down, leaving shadows over the windows. She'd had to sleep on and off throughout the day, waiting for her headache to let up. Without the glare of light, her eyes felt better and she was beginning to feel alive again.

The three men collectively winced at her question and then exchanged a long look with one another.

For men who were normally inscrutable, Kadan found it surprisingly easy to recognize trouble the moment he saw the faces of the three GhostWalkers. They looked grim, angry, and very upset that Tansy was in the room with him. There was nothing wrong with Tansy's radar. She picked up the signal almost at the same moment he did.

Kadan. She wont like hearing what we have to say. Her father's involved, Ryland warned. She's in immediate danger.

Kadan felt the blow to his gut, but stayed outwardly impassive. Immediate danger. How?

"Don't!" Tansy said sharply. "If you think you can cut me out of this now, Kadan, I swear I'll walk out of this house. I deserve better than that."

"I thought you were shielding," Ryland said a little sheepishly. "Sorry, Tansy."

"I am shielding. She's very sensitive to vibrations." Kadan reached out and shackled Tansy's wrist, pulling her beneath his shoulder so he could circle her waist with one arm. Don't threaten me like that. You try to walk out and see what happens. He didn't give a damn if all three GhostWalkers knew he was talking telepathically. Her threat had shaken him more than he wanted to admit. In place of ice, there was suddenly a cauldron of fire roaring in his belly.

"We wanted to protect you, chere," Gator added in his thick Cajun drawl.

Tansy shoved at the wall of Kadan's chest, not even rocking him. That took her temper up another notch. "I'm putting myself on the line too. If you have something to say, just tell me. I don't break so easily, and I don't need to be wrapped up in cotton like a doll."

"Settle down, Tansy," Kadan said without looking at her. He couldn't look at her. She thought she was going to walk out of the house? What the hell did that mean? His grip on her waist tightened. "You need coffee, Ryland?"

"I'm not sure we have time for coffee. How well guarded is this place? You have an escape route?"

"Of course. We can defend fairly easily, that's why I chose it. We have a way to the roof and another belowground if need be. If the bastards want to come for us, they'll get more than they bargained for."

Gator and Nico were already moving to the windows, checking alarms and drawing the drapes. Gator flicked off the lights and went to the next room to do the same there.

"Who's after us?" Kadan asked.

"Our friend in Washington."

"The same one who sent the first team after Tansy?"

Ryland nodded. "They know where she is."

Kadan felt the breath slam out of Tansy's body, but she stayed still, waiting for Ryland's explanation. "Here? They know she's here? How?" He drew her closer, his arm going from an iron band to protection.

"I spent some time with the reporter who broke the story on the murders and how they might be connected." Ryland didn't go into how he'd spent the time with the reporter, but Kadan knew his friend and his patience when it came to getting information. "He was also the one who wrote about Tansy's whereabouts in the Sierras. It seems he was tipped off by a friend of his, a secretary to Senator Freeman's wife, Violet."

"Violet Freeman. She just keeps turning up. You'd think she'd have enough to do with her husband on life support." Kadan shook his head. "We should have capped her when we had the chance."

"Are you talking about Violet Smythe-Freeman? What does she have to do with this? She and the senator are good friends with my parents. I've been to their home any number of times," Tansy said. "Her husband was a presidential candidate and someone shot him in the head, leaving him on life support. It's a terrible tragedy."

"Yeah, a real tragedy," Kadan said. "We all held a candlelight vigil for him."

Tansy frowned. "He was a friend."

"He was a slimebag. He sold out his country, Tansy. He sent a team of GhostWalkers to the Congo, where a particularly vicious rebel leader was waiting to ambush them. The torture a couple of them endured was immeasurable. He then toured Whitney's breeding facility with Violet-yes, she not only knows about Whitney, she's one of his enhanced girls, and she allows his work to continue so that she and her husband can get into the White House. He was shot at Whitney's compound, not as the newspapers reported."

Tansy sank onto the couch. "Are you certain? They've been at my house. Violet and my mother go shopping together. They play cards. They…" She trailed off and looked up at Ryland. "What else? Just tell me."

Kadan stood behind the couch, dropping his hands to her shoulders, fingers easing the tension from her. He ached for her. Her world was turning upside down.

"Whitney put a tracking device in all the girls. He surgically implants it in their hips."

Tansy gasped and looked up and back at Kadan, her eyes locking with his.

It's okay, baby. We'll deal with it. He wanted to hold her, rock her, take her somewhere else where all the ugliness was out of her life. Unfortunately, this was their lives and always would be. He had no choice. He was enhanced and so was Tansy. He couldn't change that.

"Your father apparently found out about the tracking device when.you were about fifteen or sixteen and had it removed. He told Violet about it. According to the secretary-"

"You talked to the secretary?" Tansy asked.

Ryland shrugged. "We had a little meeting. It seems she enjoys knowing secrets, so she often listens in to Violet's conversations with her guests. She claims Violet initiated the topic of tracking children with your father."

"She's taking a huge risk, spying on Violet," Kadan said. "Violet would have no hesitation killing her."

Ryland nodded. "I did suggest that Ms. Harris get a different job immediately and destroy any tapes she may have. Whether she listens or not is up to her. Meadows knows Violet was one of Whitney's experiments. My guess is she confided in him to gain his trust."

"And then when Whitney lost his tracking device, he sent Violet to find out why," Kadan guessed. "That would be like him. She's playing both sides."

Ryland nodded, avoiding looking at Tansy. "And Meadows planted one of his own when he had Whitney's removed."

"In me?" Tansy leapt off the couch and paced across the room, whirling around to face Ryland, her fingers closed into two tight fists. "My father planted a tracking device in me? They can actually use GPS to find me?"

Ryland nodded. "I'm sorry, but yes, that's what he told Violet. They apparently had a long conversation about how all parents should put them in at birth, and she was interested because the senator might want to bring this up and back the idea. Kidnapped children could be found easily. The conversation was all about what tracking devices could be used for, the good they could do. It also got a little technical on how they work. Violet knew how to find you." Ryland looked at Kadan. "I spent some time with Ms. Harris, and as it turns out, Violet wanted the information about the murders and Tansy given to the reporter. Violet had her secretary leak the information."

Tansy's hand was still over her mouth, her eyes wide. "And the secretary just gave you this all because of the generous good heart that she has?"

"I persuaded her that if she wanted to live a few minutes longer, she'd better tell me the truth," Ryland said without flinching away from her steady gaze.

Tansy glanced at Kadan's impassive face. "You all play for keeps, don't you?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ryland answered. "We've dealt with these people for a long time. Our friends end up dead or tortured. Sometimes both. Violet traded your location, and basically your life, for something big that she wants. What it is I don't know, but the reporter heard a rumor that Senator Freeman was going to undergo some kind of new, experimental brain operation. If that's true, I'm guessing your life is the price someone was asking in order for the senator to be a candidate for the surgery."

"So they're going to come here and kill me." She swallowed hard. "And all of you."

"I would think that was the plan," Ryland agreed. "But we have a few plans of our own."

"Great." Tansy swept a hand through her hair and looked at Kadan. "Can we get rid of the tracking device?"

"Yes, eventually. For now, the best we can do is jam it. I don't want to cut you open to take it out. We need a doc for that."

"No, we don't. Not if it's in my hip where the first one was. I remember having stitches in my hip. Dad told me I fell and hit my head and tore a laceration in my hip but-" She stopped abruptly and turned her face away from them. "I'm going to make tea. Does anyone want a cup?"

Kadan filled her mind with him, wrapping himself in her. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but she kept space between them. The only thing he had was his mind and he used it, pushing inside her where she was silently weeping, where the pain of her father's betrayal cut like a knife. Even when he willed her to look at him, she kept her head down, her arms crossing her breasts in a protective gesture. He hated the separation. And he hated more that his reaction went from being about her and the pain her father caused, to him and his own need to be complete with her.

He watched her walk out and felt like she took all the warmth in the room with her. His eyes met Ryland's. "I've never wanted to hurt anyone in my life the way I want to hurt her father," he admitted.

"Man," Ryland set the heavy bag he'd carried in onto the couch and unzipped it, "I'm sorry to have to tell her. And he bragged about it, bragged he could find her anywhere in the world. He may not have realized he set the assassins on her trail, but he did. He led them right to her."

"She'll handle it," Kadan said.

"Yeah, but she shouldn't have to," Ryland said, dragging weapons from the bag. "I brought a few supplies. Thought they might come in handy. And I've got transport standing by just in case we need it."

"Isn't Gator's wife really good on a computer?"

"She can hack just about anything," Ryland confirmed.

"I'm going to need her to work on a few things for me. With her help, I think I can find and take down killers on the East Coast team, but not until Tansy handles the other team's game pieces and gives me enough to find them. I'm going to have eliminate them all fast so no one has time to disappear."

"Tansy can do that? She looks a little worn."

Kadan shook his head. "I almost lost her with the last one. We'll have to be careful. But I can't eliminate anyone without the others going underground. I have to know who they are."

"I can ask Lily if there are any other trackers, but I've not heard of it, not legitimate ones anyway." Ryland began pulling guns and ammunition out of the sack and spreading the cache across the couch. "So she has to handle how many more objects before we can go after them?"

"Four."

"That burns." He added grenades and claymore mines to the mix. "You better pack up whatever evidence you have and get it ready to move fast. We secured another house, and partially set it up. We can use this one as bait, but I doubt if they'll be very far behind us. They've had the information for a while. They'll be trying to find out who is with her."

Gator and Nico came in and scooped up the claymores. "We'll handle the setup outside," Gator drawled.

"Don't kill the neighborhood dogs," Kadan warned.

Gator flashed him a grin. "Hey, man, they shouldn't be on my property. Where's that good-lookin' woman of yours? You don' much let her outa your sight."

Kadan sent his friend an ice cold stare that failed to wipe the grin from Gator's face. The Cajun just shrugged his shoulders, shouldered his weapon, and followed Nico out with a handful of claymores.

"Does he ever stop smiling?" Kadan asked.

"Not in all the time I've known him." Ryland shoved a magazine into an automatic. "This woman is the one?"

"The only."

"Then we make certain she's safe," Ryland said.

A muffled noise, like something thumping against the floor, came from the kitchen. Kadan whirled around, inhaling sharply, and caught the coppery scent of blood. He sprinted, using his enhanced speed, his heart in his throat.

No! Damn it, no! He knew what Tansy was doing. He should have known from the moment he saw her face when they'd told her.

He halted at the kitchen entrance, his heart nearly stopping. He stood for a beat of time staring almost uncomprehendingly at the blood soaking into the kitchen tile and the knife in Tansy's hand. He moved with blurring speed, gripping her wrist, twisting hard to remove the weapon and toss it across the room with so much force it dented the wall where it hit, before clattering to the floor.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Pressing his hands tightly to the gushing wound in her hip, he raised his voice. "Ryland. Get the emergency medical kit now."

"I want it out of me."

"Shut up." Kadan's piercing eyes slashed at her face as he put pressure on the wound. "Don't talk or move. Damn it! Just damn it. Ryland. Fucking get in here."

Ryland came at a run, the medical kit in his hand. He threw himself on the floor beside Kadan, ignoring the blood soaking into his jeans.

"Okay." Ryland took a breath. "Okay," he repeated, waiting for his heart to start again. "We've got Nico. He can deal with this shit. He's good, Kadan. I've called him in."

"I need more pressure. She's losing too much blood." Kadan tried to detach himself, to find that calm that was always at his core, but there was only fear. He'd never been so shaken by fear. There wasn't enough air in the room to breathe.

Nico and Gator came rushing in, and Nico pushed his way in between Kadan and Ryland, indicating for Kadan to let him see the damage.

Kadan caught Tansy's face in his blood-soaked hands. "I swear I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life for this. Damn you for this, Tansy."

"You're not helping," Nico said. "Back off and give me some room. I need hot water and some towels fast. Ryland, get me the iodine."

Without a word, Kadan positioned himself at Tansy's head, so that she was pillowed in his lap. He tried to keep his mind blank, for once in his life, allowing his teammates to do the work.

"Normally when I use healing energy, Dahlia is with me to focus the crystals. Somehow she can get what's inside of me to flow much more easily." As he spoke, Nico dumped the antiseptic into the wound.

Tansy screamed and nearly came off of Kadan's lap. It was liquid fire pouring through her flesh. Kadan held her down and she clutched at his arms. "Make them take it out;"

He swore savagely. Kadan, the ice man, who was about to go off like a nuclear blast. "Can you do it and still stop the bleeding? Can you get it out of her?"

Nico muttered to himself, but he wiped at the wound and peered into the deep slash. "I can see the edge of it. It's close to the bone, Kadan. Maybe. Give me the small knife in the kit, Rye." He held out his hand for the instrument while he looked at Tansy. "Can you take the pain?"

"Anything to get it out," Tansy said. She looked up at Kadan, tears swimming in her eyes. I know you're angry with me.

Damn it, just stay quiet right now. His chest was so tight it burned. He couldn't lose her. Thunder roared in his ears. Fire burned in his belly. His gut knotted tight and hard and dangerous-oh so dangerous. His mind actually went numb, blank, except for the protest, the litany. Don't take her. You can't take her. Whatever you do, don't take her. He didn't even know who he was pleading with, but there was too much blood.

Tansy wanted him to understand how desperate she felt. Killers crowded into her head, victims shared the space. There was no way to tell him, not now when he was so angry with her. She almost wished for his cold mask. He looked frightening, a dangerous man on the edge of sanity. She should have thought before she'd decided to take the tracking device out herself. How deep could it be? Her hand had slipped. There'd been more blood, the shock of pain; her hand just slipped. She couldn't stand the thought of anything else foreign in her body. And she couldn't bear the idea that she might cause the death of Kadan or any one of his friends.

Kadan gripped her shoulders hard and Gator thrust a towel into her mouth, as Nico took the tip of the blade and sliced deeper around the small tracker. She heard her muffled scream, her body arched in torment, but she fought the reaction, wanting Nico to succeed.

Kadan swallowed bile and bent over her. You're all right, baby. He's getting it out of you. Just breathe through it. Almost there.

All the while Kadan soothed her, he kept shifting his gaze back and forth between Tansy's face and Nico. Ryland put tweezers into Nico's hand, and Nico carefully inserted the tips into the wound. Sweat beaded on Tansy's forehead; there were white lines around her mouth. Her lashes fluttered and her eyes turned opaque.

Kadan wanted her to pass out. Her fainting would be good for both of them. He willed her to let herself go, and thankfully, she did, slumping in his arms, making it much easier for Nico.

"Got it." Triumphantly, Nico held up the small chip. He handed it off to Gator and turned back to the deep slice along Tansy's hip and thigh. "I'm going to need stitch this. Do we know her blood type?"

Kadan nodded. "It was in her file. She has the same type I do."

"That's not a surprise," Ryland said. "Lily found documentation that Whitney's been trying to make us universal so we can all give to each other. With pairing, he tried to make certain. Remember, we're all supposed to be the ultimate weapons in combat situations, so that means we have to be able to heal each other."

"Yeah, well, if I can't do my thing with her, she's going to be out of commission for a while. We may need to take her to a hospital."

"Do your thing then," Kadan said, ice creeping back into his voice, "because protecting her in that public a place will be nearly impossible."

Nico didn't reply. He simply began the intricate and difficult job of meticulously repairing the damage Tansy had done to her leg.

"Do we move her? We're going to have company and she probably needs a transfusion," Ryland said. "It's up to you, Kadan."

"We fight here. Get fluids in her and see if we can hold off the transfusion until we move. If we're lucky, maybe she won't need one." Kadan wanted a battle-even needed one. He felt the familiar calm settle over him. The warrior was stronger than the lover, more recognizable. The persona fit him. "I've got the escape routes ready. If you have to go up, there's a rope ladder as well as a cable to shoot to the roof on the west side. I don't want to let it get that far."

"I'll be outside then," Nico said! "When I'm done here, I'll find myself a spot."

"They'll send a team," Kadan warned. "I took out two of them in the mountains. They aren't going to be happy about it."

"I'm feeling a little mean about now," Nico said as he took another stitch.

Gator nodded, and the smile not only faded from his eyes, but his mouth had gone tight and grim. "I'm getting damn tired of our women having to suffer."

Kadan looked at Ryland, who shrugged his broad shoulders.

"I've been looking for a little action ever since I found out Freeman was involved. She's a traitor of the worst sort, turning on her sisters to further her own cause. I could use a little combat time."

"Set up an IV in the bedroom," Nico instructed. "I'll try to heal her. Don't worry, bro, we'll get her right."

"I can't do what Dahlia does," Kadan said, "but I'm fairly accurate at focusing energy. I can take a shot at helping you."

Nico nodded and kept working. Ryland added more light while Gator found a mop and a bucket to try to clean the mess.

"What are we going to do about her clothes?" Ryland asked.

Kadan sighed. "She'll run out at this rate. I'll cut off her jeans. They're ruined anyway. She'll have to be ready to go once we take out the team. I'll get her ready, don't worry."

Nico sank back on his heels and wiped his face, smearing it with Tansy's blood. "Get her ready then. Are you set otherwise?"

"No. Rye, you'll have to pack up the war room. Don't touch anything with your skin. Use gloves, double them up if you can. I'll need everything out of there, and be especially careful with the game pieces on the table. She handles those to track the killers."

Kadan lifted Tansy into his arms. She flinched and murmured a protest, instinctively trying to pull away. "Do you have painkillers in that bag?"

"Yeah. Hurry, Kadan. We'll need you for this. They'll be coming in when they think you've gone to bed." He glanced at his watch. "We've probably only got an hour before they come at us." He threw a towel on the bed as Kadan jerked a knife from his boot. "I'll get the equipment, but if she ends up needing a transfusion we could be in trouble."

Kadan appreciated Ryland giving him a few minutes of privacy to strip the bloody clothes from Tansy's body. He cleaned her as best he could and wrapped her in one of his shirts, but left off the sweatpants he'd found in her bag until Nico gave healing a try. He was covering her when Ryland returned with the IV equipment.

They worked fast, pushing the fluids while Nico knelt beside the bed. He unwrapped a crystal from a soft cloth he kept in his pocket. "This is amethyst for focus, Kadan. You want to direct through this. I'll use the rose quartz for healing." He unwrapped the second piece.

"I'll place my hands over the wound and you gather the energy using the amethyst. Try to pull it to you and then focus it over my hands. I've never done this without Dahlia."

"I can do it," Kadan said. He had to do it. He had no choice. "Energy swarms to me, and as a rule I can focus, direct, and even bend it to my will. Give me the image of what Dahlia does and I can grab it out of your head."

Nico extended his hands over Tansy's bare hip, directly over the long gash. He wanted the inside of the torn wound to heal, the tear to repair itself. His hands felt cold, as they always did when he started. He used a Lakota healing chant his grandfather had taught him years earlier, the steady rhythm helping to block out everything around him but the task at hand.

Kadan reached for Nico's exact brain wave, found where he could merge and slid respectfully in. He saw the image of Nico's wife, Dahlia, with the two crystals in her hands, and he picked them up, closing his fingers around them. The air around him instantly charged, crackling with electricity as the energy rushed to him, filling him, so that his core temperature rose and, with it, heat invaded the room. The crystals in his hands glowed hot, and he felt a jolt and then the sizzling tingle of an electrical current. He placed his hands over Nico's, palms down, the crystals between them.

The current hit Nico hard, slamming into his body with much more force than when Dahlia conducted. The whip of electricity sizzled through him, white-hot, almost frightening in its strength, and then it jumped back to Kadan. Tiny sparks rained down around them.

"Rein it in," Nico hissed between clenched teeth. "Too much power."

"I'm trying." The heat the crystals gave off burned against his rough palms. He hated to think what that would do to Dahlia's hands.

Kadan took a breath and forced his mind to stay connected with Nico's. He heard the man's heartbeat, the flow of blood through his veins. It took a moment for him to realize it wasn't Nico's heart he was hearing, but Tansy's. He took a breath and called the energy to him again. It swelled in answer, a hot burn that went through him, once again gathering strength, until it boiled and seethed in a violent mass as he focused and aimed it through the crystals. Mimicking the images of Dahlia in Nico's mind, Kadan pressed the amethyst crystal into Nico's hand.

There was a moment, a breath between time. Kadan saw prisms of light burst from beneath Nico's hand and radiate through Tansy's hip. Another beat of time and they were gone, but the heat was there, rising around them, white-hot. Sharing Nico's mind allowed Kadan to feel power uncoiling, shifting and moving, coming from a tight core to spread and grow.

The universe unfurled, stretching out before them, so that both men seemed to become an integral, fundamental part of it. Atoms and molecules burst around them, lights like cosmic

Stardust beckoned from every direction and gathered inside of them. Power moved through their bodies, sizzling in veins and arteries and even in their brains. Kadan placed the rose quartz in Nico's hand.

At once the force grew, gathering into a huge collective pool of electrical energy. Kadan felt the change in Nico, the sudden focus. Immediately the energy surged toward Nico's hands and the crystals he held. Light burst bright and radiant beneath his palms, saturating the wound, cauterizing the tears, and speeding the healing process. GhostWalkers already possessed a natural ability to heal faster, but Nico's healing energy visibly repaired damage.

The flow only lasted a few moments, but the light was blinding and the heat intense. When Nico dropped the crystals back into Kadan's palms, they were warm, almost to the point of being hot. Nico slumped forward against the bed.

"That's all I can do. I hope it's enough. She nicked an artery, and I'm no vascular surgeon. If that didn't repair the damage, she'll have to go to a hospital."

"If that didn't work, no surgeon is going to be able to help her."

"I tried to direct the energy to her artery, but this is the first time I've worked like this without Dahlia, and the power is much stronger coming through you and harder to work with." He glanced up at Kadan. "You're one scary man, my friend."

Kadan shrugged. "I wouldn't mind having your talent."

Gator stuck his head in the door. "Nico, you need to be getting outside. I don't think we've got much time. I hear dogs in the neighborhood acting up, and the word is we've got strangers drifting from house to house."

"The word is?" Kadan echoed. "Seriously, Gator, talking to animals is making you nuttier than ever."

Gator flashed his ever present grin and winked. "Yeah, you remember you said that when the animals take over and I rule the world."

"Rule outside, where you can call your army in to help," Ryland suggested.

Gator saluted and followed Nico into the living room, scooping up weapons and ammunition as he went through.

"Do we have a vehicle ready for a quick escape?" Kadan asked as he checked the IV. He crouched down beside the bed, taking Tansy's hand in his.

"We're ready for them. The neighborhood's going to hell though." Ryland went out, turning off lights as he went, plunging the house into darkness.

Kadan pressed his forehead to Tansy's. "You awake, baby? I need you to wake up."

"It hurts. I'm not sure I want to be awake." She'd been aware of Nico sending fire through her body and not much else. Everything around her had taken on a dreamlike quality.

"I'm putting a knife under your pillow. Use it on the enemy, not on yourself." There was a bite to his voice, suppressed hurt under the layer of coolness.

She caught his sleeve and turned her head, her lashes lifting so he could look into her eyes. "I wasn't leaving you, Kadan. It was an accident. Really an accident. I wouldn't do that. I was hurt and upset and angry at my father, but I wouldn't do that to either one of us."

"We'll talk about this later." He pulled out a gun. "Keep this in your hand, and don't shoot me when I come for you. We'll have to move fast when we leave."

"Take the IV out then." She tried to sit up.

His arm was a bar across her chest. "You're going to just lie here and rest while we take care of you. Don't give me any problems right now. Tansy, because I'm willing to tie you to the bed to keep you out of trouble. You scared the hell out of me and I didn't much like it."

"It was an accident."

His hand spanned her throat, tipping her head up. Cold blue eyes stared down at her. "Accidents are fucking out of the question from here on out. Are we straight on that?"

Tansy's eyes searched his. She swallowed against his hard, calloused palm before nodding.

Kadan leaned down to kiss her, brushing feathery kisses all over her face, throat, and neck. When he got to her earlobe, he tugged with his teeth and then pressed his lips against her. "Never scare me like that again. Never."

"I won't."

Kadan didn't much care that he was demanding the impossible. He kissed her again and pushed the gun into her hand. "Don't move until one of us comes for you." He waited until she nodded again before he turned away and strode out of the room.

The moment he was in the living room, he went into warrior mode, gathering his equipment and slipping out of the house through a window. He went up where he could have a better view of the neighborhood and the yard. He didn't want anyone to get close enough to enter the house, or even get where they could fire into the bedroom where Tansy lay. On the outside Kadan had Nico, who could hit anything in his crosshairs, and Gator, who had an army of animals and the capability to walk through enemy lines and dispose of anything coming at him with his knife. Ryland was inside, prepared to evacuate with Tansy at a moment's notice.

"I want a full count, Nico," Ryland's voice hissed in Kadan's ear. "We're taking this one to them. They've been coming at us, and this time we send a message back to Violet. Bring it hard."

Kadan took a long, slow look around. He'd chosen a house far back from the street in a quiet cul-de-sac. The streetlights didn't reach the edge of the property and the nearest house was yards away. Down the street, only a half a block away, was a park, well manicured but with several stands of trees. Behind his house was his escape route, a Jeep trail through an undeveloped lot that dumped into a street near a freeway.

"I have six. They think they're being very stealthy and they're definitely loaded for bear."

"Give me positions," Kadan snapped.

"Six o'clock, between two houses. Coming toward the backyard," Nico responded.

"I've got him," Gator said into his radio. "You can move, Kadan; none of the dogs are going to bark."

"Second man coming over the roof, third house on the right. I've got him marked," Nico droned. 'Third running along the fence just about a block away, but coming fast."

"He's mine," Kadan said, and slipped over the edge of the roof, dropping into a crouch in the grass.

"Make the targets quiet, if possible," Ryland said. "Nico, can you hold off on your man until we locate the other three? Once you take your shot, the others will know we're hunting them."

Kadan went through the front yard in a crouching run, using blurring speed. Motion drew the eye, but with the night and their enemies a distance away, he was confident he could make it to cover before he was spotted. He flattened against the SUV parked in front of the house, waiting again.

"Position," he whispered.

"Closing fast, about ten yards."

Kadan went up the side of the SUV and gained the roof, lying flat, knife in his fist. Gator crossed the open meadow at the back of the house, a shadowy figure that flitted from one lone tree to the next, taking him closer and closer to the neighbor's yard. Kadan had always admired the smooth, stealthy way Gator moved. There was never a sound, as if even the wind held back when he was on the move. He could make himself part of anything, until it was impossible to see him when he went still, and then he just flowed like water over rock.

Gator stretched out on the lawn, lying prone out in the open. Kadan marked where he'd gone down, but still had trouble spotting him. Footsteps forced him to look away. His prey was drawing close. He shifted, the movement barely discernible. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the first man emerge between two houses and rush across the open space of the lawn, directly in Gator's path. The Cajun rose up like a specter, his knife hand flashing in a swift slash, across, down, and back up. He stepped back and the body fell forward. Gator was already moving fast for the shadows. The hit had taken less than two seconds.

Kadan concentrated on the runner approaching. He counted the steps, lifting his head to watch the man emerge from the tree line and burst along the walkway coming straight at him.

He reversed the knife and threw, using a sidearm technique, keeping from exposing himself at all as he lay flat on the roof of the vehicle. The man staggered backward, clutching at his throat, gurgling. He went to his knees and fell face forward onto the walkway.

Kadan immediately slid from the roof to the house side of the SUV, away from the street, and crouched low to minimize any target he might present. He glanced around in a wide sweep. Nico had his eye to a scope, sighting down on the sniper on the roof several houses down. Behind him a man rose up, all in black, gun in hand. Kadan drew and fired in one swift motion, squeezing the trigger three times.

Nico rolled, came up, rifle to his shoulder, and fired off a round at the sniper. The man went down, his gun skittering across the roof, followed by his body.

"Thanks, bro."

"Four down," Kadan reported.

"Find the other two," Ryland snapped. "No one goes home on this one."

Nico kept rolling to the edge of the roof and disappeared as he leapt to the ground. Gator skirted some hedges and came out fighting hand to hand with a fifth man. It was impossible to get a clear shot at him. Kadan sprinted, covering the distance fast to back the Cajun, just as Gator went inside and sunk his knife into the man's thigh. Kadan shot the man as he lurched back.

"Five, Rye," Kadan reported.

"I've got six. He tried the window. Clean up and let's get out before the cops arrive. We're on the clock," Ryland said. "Gator, don't leave behind any of those mines. Let's move, everybody."