Street Game

CHAPTER 8

“You’re not cooking for all the boys, Jaimie. You’ve been ill. You couldn’t get out of bed for two days.”

Jaimie gave a little dismissive sniff and brushed past Mack. “I want to cook dinner for them. Kane already bought the groceries for me. And why does he have that bruise on his jaw?” She glared over her shoulder at Mack.

Mack shrugged. “I think he ran into a door.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say. You’ve been glowering at each other since I’ve been up. Why don’t you kiss and make up instead of walking around like a couple of bears with sore teeth? You always make up, and the longer it takes, the more we all have to suffer.”

Mack didn’t reply, but came up behind her. Close. Very close. So close she could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of her neck.

She threw her elbow back and caught him in the ribs. “I mean it, Mack. Go make up. I hate it when the two of you stomp around and growl at each other. What’s wrong with you?”

“I went to Sergeant Major and asked for protection for you,” Kane said. Jaimie whirled around and found herself up against Mack’s body. She felt his inhale, whether at the brush of her body against his or at Kane’s admission, she didn’t know.

“That’s no surprise.”

“It was to me,” Mack said. “He didn’t discuss it.”

“Jaimie’s my sister, Mack,” Kane said, his tone one of exaggerated patience. “I don’t have to discuss it with you. She left. She wasn’t going to let it go. I know her, the way she thinks, and she wasn’t going to drop her argument against Whitney. She was going to try to find proof for you.”

“You knew he was going to watch out for me anyway,” Jaimie pointed out, stepping away from Mack.

“From a distance, Jaimie. I wanted someone on you up close, where when you tripped up, they’d be able to send a report to Griffen and he’d contact me. That was the arrangement.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Mack demanded.

“Because the sergeant major wanted something in return,” Jaimie guessed, her eyes locked with Kane’s. “He did, didn’t he?”

Kane shrugged. “I knew what you’d do, Jaimie, and I wasn’t about to let you get your neck chopped off.”

“I’m not giving him my data. That’s what you promised him, isn’t it?”

“That and how you do what you do.”

“That’s too bad, Kane, because, had you asked me, I would have volunteered the information to you had I known how I do it. But no way in hell will I ever turn over my proof of Whitney’s crimes to Sergeant Major Griffen. He’s entrenched in the GhostWalker program and probably embroiled up to his medals in Whitney’s scum.”

“I can hack your computer.”

“You don’t have the skills to hack me. And neither do Sergeant Major’s little experts.” She tilted her chin at him, her eyes dark and stormy.

“Maybe, but Javier does.”

She smirked at him. “Maybe, but I don’t think so.”

Kane’s jaw tightened. “You anticipated me trading for protection.”

All trace of amusement faded from her face. “I know you just as well as you know me. The minute I saw that dead body, I knew it was a warning. I knew I was getting close to Whitney’s protectors. Then you showed up here because of a wrong address.”

“Wait a minute,” Mack said. There was a note in his voice, a strain of underlying anger that had Kane moving back out of harm’s way. Quiet. Nasty. That dangerous tone that made Mack who he was. “Are you telling me that Sergeant Major traded information for Jaimie’s safety? He actually knew she was in harm’s way and made you pay a price to protect her?”

“Mack,” Kane said.

Mack’s teeth snapped together. “You watch her, Kane. I’ll be back later. I think I’ll go have a chat with Griffen.”

“You’ll be court-martialed if you lay a hand on him,” Kane said. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Because you think you can stop me?”

“You sound like a couple of little kids,” Jaimie scolded. “Let’s think this through instead of punching someone. Sheesh, Mack. Are you ever going to grow out of that?”

“I’m sublimating.”

Jaimie stared at him. She felt heat moving up her neck and throat to her face. His eyes were black and glittering, but filled with more than just teasing lust. Possession maybe. Whatever it was, it was all male and very compelling. Like a starving wolf.

“Well, don’t.” She croaked the words out. It was the best she could do with the sudden dry-mouth syndrome that seemed to afflict her whenever he gave her that hungry stare.

Mack’s eyebrow shot up. “You heard her, Kane. She just gave me permission to punch out a superior officer.”

“I did not,” Jaimie denied.

“You told me not to sublimate.”

She sighed. “You’re so crazy, Mack. Sit down and quit prowling around while I’m trying to cook.”

She glanced out the window at the sky. The sun had set already and fog swirled in, thick and gray, covering the buildings with a veil of mist. “Are the boys out in this weather?”

“A couple of them. They change shifts,” Mack said.

“I’m making lasagna. They all love that with French bread and salad. I’ll feed everyone and then call the ones on watch in.” She sighed. “Maybe I should invite Joe to show him I’m not that angry.”

“You should be angry at that Sicilian Don Juan with his stupid tight jeans and cocky grin. You’re too forgiving, Jaimie.”

Kane coughed, trying to be discreet. Don’t tell her that. You’re trying to get her to forgive you for being so dense, Mack. Are you crazy?

“A Sicilian Don Juan?” Jaimie echoed. “Joe?” She laughed softly. “Is he even Sicilian? I thought that was his cover.”

“You bought the entire Sicilian carpenter persona?” Mack rolled his eyes and then flicked Kane a quelling look.

“He’s got the muscles,” Jaimie pointed out. “You know, hot carpenter bod and all that. And impeccable credentials. I tried to find holes in his story, but it was solid.”

“Javier said that. He tried finding out about him. I take it you lifted his prints?”

She nodded. “First thing, but then, if he’s in the GhostWalker program, he’s hooked up and can be anybody he wants to be.” She worked smoothly as she talked, carefully putting thick, flat noodles into boiling water before turning back to her sauce.

Mack crowded her all over again. “You don’t need to be looking at his muscles, Jaimie.”

“I can hardly help it, now, can I, Mack? His muscles are rather obvious.”

“I told you to shoot the son of a bitch while you had the chance, Kane,” Mack complained. “Now I’ve got to put up with Jaimie ogling him. And no, there’s no need to invite him for dinner. I don’t want him to see the boys. Not yet.”

Jaimie didn’t reply for a long time. “If he’s a GhostWalker, and you let him work on me the other night, then why wouldn’t you trust him?”

“Because I didn’t listen to you last time when I should have. I’m going to be a lot more careful this time around. We have to think this bargain Kane made with Griffen over very carefully. If he’s capable of bargaining for your safety, he isn’t the man I thought he was.”

Kane shrugged. “As long as she’s safe, Mack. I don’t want her anywhere near Whitney. The way the man treats those women is criminal. And I’m not convinced he doesn’t have more orphans locked up somewhere, experimenting on them. I’ll pay whatever price Griffen wants to keep Jaimie out of Whitney’s hands.”

She turned around and rested one hip against the counter to study Kane’s face. He was handsome in a tough sort of way, even with the lines etched there. “What happened there, Kane? In Whitney’s compound. I know you were assigned to guard the place…”

“I wish I’d been assigned to guard the place. That’s what I thought. That’s what we all thought. But it was for something altogether different. Whitney ran tests on all of us and he paired a few of us with some of the women being held there.”

She swallowed hard. She’d hacked into Whitney’s files and she had several condemning files. Had Kane really been asked to get one of the women pregnant? She couldn’t imagine him doing something like that.

“I’m not discussing it, Jaimie, not yet. It’s all too raw and I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to do yet.”

“Jaimie! Get down here now.” Javier’s voice came through the intercom. “You’re being hacked. Double-time it.”

Jaimie threw the spoon back in the sauce and pushed past Mack. She leapt across the room in two long bounds, landing at the top of the stairs in a crouch and then jumping to the landing below. She was comfortable using her enhanced genetic skills. Mack noted her body was fluid like a cat’s as she leapt the remaining distances. He didn’t use his cat skills; he used his teleportation speed, flashing from spot to spot and landing right with her.

“The alarm should have gone off upstairs. I’ve been waiting for this,” Jaimie said, seating herself beside Javier. Her eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Did you touch anything?”

“I turned it off just now,” Javier admitted. “It scared the hell out of me.”

Her fingers raced over the keyboard at an enormous rate of speed. Javier seemed to know exactly what she was doing, his fingers were flying as well. To Mack the screen was nothing but numbers and red lines streaking in various directions.

“He’s been nosing around trying to get past my security, so I set up a nice little trap and the idiot fell for it.”

“He’s good,” Javier pointed out, his eyes glued to the data flowing across the screen.

“Yep, but I’m better,” Jaimie said. “I knew he was going to make his try soon. I put out bait and he took it. I’m going to find out exactly who he is.”

“Will he know you’ve traced him?” Mack asked.

“He’s bouncing all over the place,” Javier hissed.

“He doesn’t know we’re tracking him,” Jaimie said. “I just need another minute to get him. He’s hacking into the trap I set and if he makes it in before I get him, he’ll be gone.”

“I take it you made it difficult?”

“You bet. I want to see how skilled he really is. He’s moving through the walls fast.”

“He’s a pro with resources,” Javier added. “Only a few in the world are good enough to hack into your system, Jaimie.”

Mack marveled at the speed their fingers flew across the keyboard. Their eyes were glued to the screen. It all made sense to them, but to him it was a jumble of code and nothing more. That didn’t stop uneasiness from creeping into him. He felt hunted. Watched. Something evil moving in the room.

Twice Jaimie’s breath hissed out and once Javier hunched lower over the keys as if that small movement would increase his speed and dexterity.

The tension in the room coiled tighter and tighter, stretching nerves taut. Mack could hear breathing, feel the blood pounding in his veins, the knots forming in the pit of his stomach. He looked around, into every corner, half expecting someone to come jumping out at them. His hand actually crept toward the knife at his belt.

“I’m almost on him,” Jaimie hissed. “I’ve got you, you toad.”

Mack’s gut reacted with more knots and somewhere in his brain a warning flash went off. He cleared his throat. “Jaimie, shut it down.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Do it, Jaimie,” Kane said. “Shut it down.”

“Javier, that’s an order,” Mack snapped and caught Jaimie, jerking her away from the computer. “Pull the plug. Do it now, do it fast.”

“Whose side are you on?” Jaimie demanded, twisting around, trying to get back to her chair. Mack kept his arm around her waist, lifting her off the ground to keep her from the keyboard.

Javier shook his head. “I don’t think I’m going to shut it down before he’s in.”

“Unplug the damn thing now.”

Kane was already in motion, sprinting for the power strip.

“No!” Jaimie wailed. “You can’t do it like that. You’ll mess up my programs. He won’t find anything. He’ll only think he’s in. I put all kinds of crap data for him to find. By the time he wades through it…” She broke off, horrified, as the screens went black.

“He’ll know you’re on to him and he’ll know you’re coming after him. They’ll blow this place out from under you to get you, Jaimie. Right now they only know you’re after Whitney. His cover was blown a long time ago. Half the world thinks he’s dead or a myth and the other half pretends he’s dead. He’s an embarrassment, but every GhostWalker team knows he’s alive. That was the only reason they didn’t kill you. What would be the point? But if they think you know who is supporting him, that’s an entirely different ball game.”

She jerked away from him, throwing a punch at his chest as she stumbled back. “I know exactly what I’m doing. I had him.”

“You mean he almost had you.”

“He already knows who I am, Mack, or I wouldn’t have had a dead body on my doorstep to warn me off or an assassin coming to my door. I’m so close to getting him.”

“Why the hell do you think he sent you the dead body, Jaimie? Someone looked you up and studied you, tried to find the perfect thing to scare you with. They killed some poor innocent woman and threw her body on your doorstep to tell you to back the hell off.”

Tears shimmered in her furious eyes. “You think I don’t know that?” She pointed to the stairs. “Get out, Mack. Take everyone with you. I’m not doing this with you, not ever again. I mean it; get the hell out of my house.” She turned her back on him and walked toward the plug.

“Don’t even think about it, Jaimie.” His voice dropped low in warning. She whirled back around and this time there were tears tracking down her face. “I can’t believe you said that to me. You think I don’t know? You think I’m so stupid I don’t get what’s going on? You want to hurl insults at each other? You think that’s the way to get me to listen? If you’d listened to me in the first place, none of this would be happening.”

“That isn’t true, Jaimie,” Kane intervened softly. “It would have happened to someone else. It did. To helpless children. To unsuspecting men and women. To women trapped in his breeding program. To Whitney’s own daughter. It would have happened no matter what. Just not to us. And we’re good. We’ve got each other. We know one another inside and out and that gives us the advantage. If he can’t separate us and break us apart, we’ve got power no other GhostWalker team has against him. And we have your brains.”

Jaimie didn’t look at him. She glared at Mack. “You don’t have the right to talk to me the way you do. I’m not one of your soldiers following orders. And I’m not your girlfriend.”

“Like hell you’re not. You want to prove me wrong so bad you’re willing to risk your life. I already believe you, Jaimie, I’ve seen the proof. You don’t need to put yourself in harm’s way in order to get me to believe Whitney’s a son of a bitch and he’s being protected.”

“For once in your life why don’t you acknowledge I have a brain? I was this close”-she held up her fingers an inch apart-“to getting the identity of the man or men protecting Whitney. We can’t take Whitney down without getting them. He’ll just run, even if we expose him with proof. He’ll be in the wind and we’ll never find him.”

“And if those protecting him are untouchable? What do you think is going to happen here, Jaimie? They’ve sent men trained in combat with enough experience to take on some of our best men. They put a sniper up on a roof to take you out.”

“I know when they’re close.” Jaimie tried to bring her voice back under control. The madder she got, the louder her voice, the quieter he became, making her feel like a child being reprimanded by an adult. “I can feel their energy, Mack.”

“You couldn’t feel Joe, Jaimie, and he’s a fucking sniper. He could have been sent to kill you, not protect you. He infiltrated your base and made himself your right-hand man. Suppose his orders change and he’s told to kill you?”

Her chin lifted. “Suppose your orders change,” she hurled back at him. Instant silence fell. The room charged with anger until they all seemed to choke on it. Abruptly Mack turned on his heel and stalked to the stairs.

Jaimie stood over her computers, tears running down her face, watching him go.

“Jaimie.” Javier slipped his arm around her. “You know I had to follow orders, but I should have realized you’d be in trouble. You got it, didn’t you? Right before Kane pulled the plug. You saw the location flash. I wasn’t looking at the screen at that point, I was trying to disconnect, but I heard you gasp. Give it up.”

“We didn’t get it,” Jaimie said. “Kane unplugged the system before it flashed on the screen. He didn’t make it in and I didn’t complete the trace.”

Javier and Jaimie stared into each other’s eyes.

Is she lying? Kane asked.

I can’t tell. It’s possible that she was upset because you shut down the system and some of her more sensitive programs might be messed up. That false computer was genius. They couldn’t know it was a trap. They had to believe they’d made it into her hard drive. My guess is they were trying to plant a Trojan to collect her data. Kane sent him a flash of puzzlement.

A spy inside her system, Javier explained. They want a look at her files.

“Don’t lie about this, Jaimie,” Kane warned. “It’s too important. We have to know how far they’re willing to go to kill you.”

“I think they’ve made it plain, they’re serious, Kane,” she shot back. “Maybe if I knew who my enemy was, I would be able to fight back. As it is, you and Mack managed to prevent that from happening.”

Did you get a look at her files?

They’re encrypted and Jaimie’s one of the best at encryption. It would take a long time to get past her security and she probably has more than one fail-safe. If you take her hard drive, can you get the files?

“Yeah, keep talking,” Jaimie said. “I’ll really trust you knowing you’re keeping secrets.”

“What the hell do you expect, Jaimie? You don’t trust us. You insulted Mack and now you’re insulting us with your lies. If you think you have to hide the truth from us, who the hell do you trust? Joe? Mack’s right, the man could get orders any minute to cut your throat. As for me, when I received an order that was wrong, I knew it was wrong and I risked my career and life to stop Whitney. And if you don’t know me or Mack by now, you deserve everything that’s coming.” Kane followed Mack up the stairs.

Jaimie switched her gaze to Javier. “Are you going to yell at me too?”

“No. I want a decent dinner tonight.” He sat on the edge of the desk and regarded her with cool eyes. “What’s going on, babe? Do you really think Mack and Kane would betray you? If they betray you, they’d have to go through all the rest of us. You’re my baby sister. The only one I’ve got. And don’t bring up Rhianna, because you know I don’t look at her that way and I never will, no matter what she says.”

Jaimie pressed her fingertips to her throbbing temples. “All of you like this life, Javier, including Rhianna. You’re all anchors. Using psychic energy doesn’t bother you. And all the genetic enhancements enable you to be faster and do really cool things. You all like and maybe even need the adrenaline rush, Mack and Kane included. You’re serving your country and you’re very good at what you do.”

“The point?”

“When you love something, Javier, it’s difficult to see the downside.”

He shrugged. “But not impossible, Jaimie. You don’t seem to realize the influence you have on all of us. You’re ours, Jaimie. You think you’re all alone in the world. And I think you somehow got it in your head that when you and Mack broke up, you broke up with the rest of us.”

He was shredding her heart with his words. Of course she thought that. What else could she think? Mack was the head of their family. What he said went. Where he led, the others followed. All of them were strong, independent men, but they worked together like a machine and Mack was always- always-at the wheel.

“Jaimie?” Javier insisted. “Did you write all of us off?”

She frowned at him, blinking away tears. There was something in his voice, a note of hurt in that soft inquiry, that gave her pause, made her think from their point of view. She hadn’t contacted any of them. Not a single one. When she’d left Mack, she believed they’d all side with him and when she split with the leader of the family, that she’d be the one alone.

“I didn’t write anyone off. Why do you think I’m doing this?” She swept her hand toward the computers. “Do you really think it’s to prove a point to Mack? That’s so like the way he’d think. He’s egotistical and arrogant. I want to keep you all safe. I found out that the first GhostWalker team was targeted for murder. Did you know that? They were incarcerated in Whitney’s lab and someone was sending them out on assignments and having them killed. Do you understand what that means, Javier? Sergeant Major could send you on a mission and you’d follow orders.”

Javier frowned and crossed his arms across his chest, stretching his legs out in front of him as he regarded her with his dark, unblinking eyes. “You sure about this?”

She nodded. “And the second GhostWalker team was sent to the Congo. It was a trap. Two of the members were horribly tortured. The report is very detailed and includes some ghastly photographs. I have plenty of proof that it was a conspiracy involving a senator and another female GhostWalker. There are so many incidents, Javier, where GhostWalkers were sent into impossible situations. Fortunately, when they’re together as a team, they’ve managed to escape, but I’ve pieced together at least four more incidents where I believe the first two teams were targeted for complete elimination.”

“What about us?”

She dropped her eyes and shrugged. Casually. Too casually. “I have only one suspect mission.”

“Our first. Where everything went to hell and they were waiting for us. It could have been bad intel, Jaimie.”

“Yes. But it wasn’t. I believe it was deliberate. If I hadn’t been there to warn you all, most of you, or all of you, would have been wiped out on a single mission.”

“And the fourth team?”

She shook her head. “They’re shrouded in mystery. To get to their files, I have to peel layers and layers of protection away. I think they’re hunting terrorist cells around the world. I think they assassinate them and melt back into the shadows. If I’m right, Javier, it would be easy for them to be eliminated.”

“You think Whitney is doing this? Killing the soldiers he made?”

Jaimie shook her head, grateful someone she cared about was willing to listen to her. “Not Whitney. It doesn’t fit his profile.” She paced across the room and back, a small frown creasing her forehead. “It isn’t him or his supporters. Those helping him know about his experiments with children and they’re covering for him. And they sure know about his breeding program, but they don’t want him dead. Or us. They believe his soldiers, all of you-me-are the answer for future soldiers.” She shook her head. “No, it’s someone else. Another group opposing Whitney’s work and they don’t mind murder to get rid of us.”

“So different groups could be after you,” Javier said.

She looked at him. “Probably.” He kept looking at her, his gaze locking with hers. She sighed. “Okay. Yes. Two different factions. I think Whitney’s supporters know about me and want me dead before I have a chance to expose them. The second group I don’t believe has a clue I’m coming after them.”

“Walk away from it, Jaimie.”

“I can’t. You’re my family. I’m not letting them target you for elimination. I can’t go with you, so this is the only way I have of protecting you.”

Javier’s smile was slow in coming. “That’s so you, Jaimie. In your own way you think you can save the world.”

“No, just my family. You and Mack and Kane save the world. I just care about saving you right now.”

“Do you really believe you can’t trust Mack?” His voice was quiet, not at all accusing.

She swallowed hard. What did she think? Kane had set Sergeant Major on her and what none of them seemed to realize was that he’d known she was digging for information. How had he known? “Mack protects all of us, Javier. He’d go up in flames if he saw I was setting myself up as a target in order to draw them away from you.”

His breath hissed out. “You fucking tipped them off.”

“I didn’t have any other way to keep them from going after you. I know they were going to kill all of you. I can’t prove it, not even to Mack. He wouldn’t listen or believe me, Javier. What was I supposed to do? If Mack, who’s known me most of my life and knows how intelligent I am, wouldn’t listen to me, why should anyone else? I need proof and in the meantime, I had to take their attention from you and put it on me.”

“Damn it, Jaimie. You should be kissing Kane’s feet for sending someone to look after you.”

“He brought Mack here. Mack wants to control every situation and he does insane things in the name of protecting us. Like pulling the plug just when I had the trace.”

His eyebrow shot up. “You can bullshit the others, but not me, Jaimie. You saw where the trace originated. I know you did.”

She studied his face. She’d never been all that good at poker, but she was brilliant when it came to dancing intrigue. “If it was there, Javier, then you’re the only one who knows.

Tell me. I can get them. You know I can. This war isn’t going to be fought with guns. It’s all about the paper trail.”

He shook his head. “Not me. I was following orders. Mack said to pull the plug and I was trying to shut it down fast.”

“Not looking at the monitor?” There was disbelief in her voice.

“I wish I had so I could tell you what you wanted to know, although I’m with Mack on this, and I think it’s too dangerous.”

“It’s too late, Javier. They already know or they wouldn’t be trying to scare me by leaving dead bodies on my doorstep, or sending two goons after me, or putting a sniper on a rooftop. And I’m not about to hide in a little cocoon while my entire family is slaughtered out in the field.”

“Talk to Mack about this.”

“Mack should have trusted me. He’s asking me to give him acceptance and trust, but he refuses to give the same to me. I’m not going to talk about this with him. I trust Mack with my life, but not with putting my life on the line.”

“None of us want you to put your life on the line, not just Mack, Jaimie. We’ve got you and Rhianna.” The name seemed to stick in his throat. He cleared it. “None of us want to give either of you up or put you in harm’s way.”

“You wanted me running missions with you.”

“Because we could protect you. This is suicide and you know it. You put yourself right in front of a gun.”

“You all do it every single day. I have the same training, Javier. I’m not a sacrificial lamb. I have a plan.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to expose them to the world. Once their names are splashed over every television network there is, they’ll be too busy running to try to hunt any of us down.”

Javier stared at her in stunned silence. “That’s it? That’s your big master plan? They’re going to come at you with everything they have.”

“Which is why I needed to get that trace.”

Javier shook his head. “You’re not invincible, Jaimie. You can’t take on people that powerful. They have to be in Congress, or the White House itself.”

“Someone has to do it. What’s the alternative? They can’t be above the law. If they are, there’s no chance for any of you. Any day now, they could send you into another trap. Someone told the Doomsday unit exactly where you were going to be. They baited a trap and sent us out. It wasn’t poor information, it was a deliberate attempt to eliminate all of us. Just like Team Two was sent to the Congo and the rebels were waiting for them.”

“Do you have any idea how often assassination looks like a common accident? If we didn’t know what you were doing, if Kane hadn’t been alarmed and sent someone in to watch you, and you were killed in an accident, none of us would have been the wiser.”

“And if you went out into the field and all of you were ambushed, the world wouldn’t even be told about it. You never would have existed in the first place. Well, you exist to me, Javier, and I’ll be damned if I let them kill you. I’ll find them and expose them.”

Javier stood up slowly. “You need to find a way to talk to Mack, Jaimie.”

She glared at him. “We’re so back to the boy’s club, aren’t we, Javier? He threw me away, not the other way around. We aren’t together anymore.”

He shrugged, in no way shaken by her anger. “Maybe not, hon, but we’re a family and Mack is the head. You and Rhianna are the heart. You’ve never seen Mack’s tough side. He’s gentle around you…”

She gave a snort of derision.

“He is, Jaimie. He’s different. He jokes and laughs and is a completely different man than he is out in the field. Do you think someone like me would follow him if he wasn’t? I’m lethal. You know that. Most of us are. Mack has to be strong to lead us all. He has to be reliable. That doesn’t mean he can’t make a few mistakes. If we’re going to get through this, we have to be all together on it. And we have to trust one another.”

Even as he said it he very casually, right in front of her, flicked at a switch on the control panel. Her breath caught in her throat. She brushed her hand over her face, realized she was trembling, and put her hands behind her back. “You have the intercom on, don’t you?”

“Of course. We’re in this together. I’m not holding back information that may save your life. You’re just going to have to accept that we’re here and we’re going to protect you.”

She bit down hard on her lower lip and shook her head. “I need to be alone for a little while. I’m not used to being around anyone anymore.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the first floor.” She looked at him with a mixture of despair and sadness. “I’m not stupid, Javier, and I don’t have a death wish. I won’t leave.”

“I’m not going to say I’m sorry. Keeping you safe is too important.”

“I don’t expect you to.”

She turned away from him. She didn’t fit anywhere anymore. Maybe she never had. She’d been so much younger than the others all through school. They were intensely physical and she spent most of her time inside her brain. She’d been devastated when she’d broken up with Mack, worse than devastated. She’d broken apart inside. He hadn’t trusted her. He hadn’t believed in her. And he hadn’t wanted to spend his life with her.

Mack had been her entire world. She’d spent the first year numb-existing-making it through not each day but each hour. She hadn’t realized how much she depended on him and how often she’d turned to him for everything in her life. He’d been her other half. She wasn’t complete without him. And to know he didn’t trust her had been even worse than his rejection of their life together.

Mack had always been the acknowledged leader, but there hadn’t been a single member of their makeshift family who hadn’t known she had brains. She’d been shocked when he wouldn’t give her suspicions any credence. What was she, then? A warm body he could sate himself with? A woman who fed him and kept his house, but should keep her opinions to herself?

“Jaimie,” Javier said softly, trying to reason with her.

There was nothing to say, nothing he could say. She went down the stairs to the darkened first floor. She’d had such plans when she first found the building; now they seemed hollow. She had Mack and the others back in her life, but Mack still saw her as a child to protect instead of a partner he could respect. How was she going to be able to face them all? How was she going to stay in the same room with Mack? She stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips feeling lost and alone. The sound of the water lapping at the pier was louder on the first floor. She’d done very little down here, other than to secure the windows and entrances against intruders. This would have been a perfect home for Kane and his chosen wife. Jaimie and Mack in her fantasy world would have lived on the third floor. The second floor would have a few spare bedrooms for the boys when they dropped by and a work area for the business.

She sank down onto the floor and dropped her head into her hands. Of course she’d been thinking they’d all work together. She hadn’t even realized that had been in the back of her head. She’d start a company, make it a success; Mack would see the error of his ways and he’d come back to her. What an idiot she’d been. All the time she’d been sure she’d been so independent, but all along, she’d been weaving a fantasy.

Jaimie sighed. She’d grown up in a mostly male world. They stuck together, thinking alike for the most part. She should have known Javier would switch the intercom on and try to get information out of her. He didn’t view his actions as disloyal any more than Kane viewed his actions as betrayal. Everything with her family seemed to be done in the name of protection. She wished Rhianna were there. Rhianna was very different, much more of a tomboy, edgier, but she at least understood Jaimie’s point of view.

She pressed her fingertips to her eyes and sat in silence, wishing she was alone again.