Street Game

CHAPTER 4

Jaimie woke with a start, her heart pounding, her mouth dry. Another nightmare. Wouldn’t they ever go away and leave her in peace? She moved and immediately came into contact with Mack’s muscular thigh. He was asleep, his breathing even. From across the room, Kane snored gently. Very carefully, knowing what a light sleeper Mack was, Jaimie turned over, propping herself up on one elbow so she could look down into his face. She wanted to touch him, reassure herself he was really there, right beside her. Reality, not a dream. He looked younger in his sleep, ridiculously long lashes guarding his cold, black eyes. His thick, dark hair spilled over his forehead. There was a blue black shadow along his jaw.

It was frightening how it made her feel having Mack there with her. Confused. Elated. Scared. Safe. Mack had always made her feel safe, even though she was grown up now and he led them all into dangerous situations. Mack made them feel safe and somewhat immortal. He made them believe that if they were together, they could do anything.

Beside her, Mack stirred, murmured her name softly, his breath warm on her neck as he turned, fitting his body around hers, his hand sliding to her hip. The edge of her shirt had ridden up and Mack’s fingertips pressed into the bare skin at her waist. It felt as if four red-hot brands were touching her. The fire spread through her body like a storm she couldn’t control. Her breasts ached, there was an answering rush of liquid heat just as there always had been. As if two years hadn’t gone by. Just like that, it started all over again.

Jaimie tried to ease away from him, but there wasn’t much room, she was already on the edge of the bed, up against the wall. As she moved, Mack made a small protest in his throat, his body following hers possessively, one leg sliding over her thigh to trap her against him. His hand slid over the curve of her hip to move along her flat stomach, fingers splayed wide as if taking in as much of her bare skin as possible. Jaimie rubbed her hot cheek into the coolness of the pillow. If she squirmed around, heaven only knew what Mack might do in his sleep. Suddenly, she was scowling darkly. Obviously, he must be used to sleeping with a woman. While she’d been alone for two years, he had found others to replace her. The thought infuriated her.

“Move over, you jerk!” Jaimie shoved at his shoulder, hissing the words in a low, furious voice.

His mocking laughter was soft in her ear, alerting her to the fact that he had been awake all along. Jaimie turned toward him in a little fit of temper, shoving at the heavy wall of his chest.

“Settle down, honey. I was only teasing you.” Both of his hands covered hers, clamped her palms to his heavily muscled chest. His thumbs moved over her knuckles, the small, intimate gesture disturbingly sensuous.

“This bed isn’t big enough for the two of us,” Jaimie said, alarmed at the breathless catch in her voice and the way her body just wanted to melt into his.

“This bed is ridiculous,” Mack agreed, “but it’s all we have.”

“It’s my bed, McKinley. It’s perfectly adequate without you in it.” Jaimie tugged at her hands to free them from his grasp.

Mack tightened his grip, black eyes glinting with humor. “Where do you expect me to sleep? Kane took the couch.”

“He fell off it, remember? Let go. You weren’t supposed to get under the covers.”

She was whispering to keep from waking up Kane.

“I was cold. Honestly, Jaimie, don’t be so hard-hearted. You wouldn’t want me to catch pneumonia.”

A faint derisive snicker came from across the room.

“My sentiments exactly,” Jaimie concurred. She was wearing herself out with the ridiculous tug-of-war over who had possession of her hands. She knew Mack in this mood. He would go on for hours; worse, she was beginning to have trouble containing her own sense of humor.

“Stay out of this, Cannon,” Mack ordered. “I have enough trouble with Jaimie here. You know how out of sorts she gets when she hasn’t had enough sleep.”

Deliberately, he tugged her body onto its side, his arms firmly around her again.

“I’m never out of sorts,” Jaimie protested.

Kane cleared his throat. “Actually, honey, that’s a bald-faced lie. If you don’t get eight hours of sleep, you’re vicious.”

“No one asked you,” Jaimie groused.

“You woke me up,” he grumbled. “What do you expect? Oh, all right, I’ll help you out. If she’s going to be so damned contrary, Mack, I’ll take the bed and you can have the couch,” Kane suggested slyly.

“It’s my bed,” Jaimie pointed out belligerently. “I didn’t offer to share with either of you.”

Mack nuzzled her silky hair, inhaled her fresh, clean scent. Like hell Kane was going to switch places. Kane knew it too. “I can’t believe your manners have disintegrated in such a short time.”

“We worked hard to teach you,” Kane added sorrowfully.

“It was the other way around. Without me, you two wouldn’t even know what civilization was all about,” Jaimie argued indignantly.

Mack took several silky strands of her hair in his mouth, tugged gently as he allowed them to slide off his tongue through his lips. He laughed softly when Jaimie took a poorly aimed swipe at him, missing by several inches. “This woman has such a temper, Kane.” Mack surrounded her arms with his own, crowding even closer, dwarfing her with his size. “So contrary.”

“I don’t think so,” Jaimie protested. She pressed her smiling mouth into the pillow. They’d always been like this. Talking back and forth and making her laugh when she didn’t want to.

“Fortunately we’ll have plenty of time to work on these little imperfections,”

Kane said.

“I’ve got a great idea,” Jaimie ventured. “I’ll take the couch and you two jokers can share the bed.”

Mac’s arm muscles tightened perceptibly as he clamped her to him. “I’m not about to share this dinky little bed with that shaggy bear,” Mack objected. “He kicks like a mule.”

“He wakes up throwing punches.” Kane imparted the information with relish. “I refuse to be anywhere near him.”

“The arrangements are just fine.” Mack was emphatic.

His fingers brushed her breast and she wasn’t smiling anymore. Just like that her body flooded with heat. She was certain it was an accident, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t do this, slip back into the old patterns so easily, teasing each other and feeling the fire sweeping through her body, hot and wild and so tempting. She felt alive again and that scared her so much that for a terrible moment she couldn’t think or breathe. Her heart slamming hard in her chest, she leapt from the bed, right over the top of Mack, landing like a cat, crouched on the floor, and then scrambling backward, away from him.

“Jaimie?” Mack sounded troubled. “Are you all right? We were just teasing, honey.”

She forced words past the sudden lump clogging her throat. “I’m okay. I still get claustrophobia at times.” She was hyperventilating, just as she had all those nights for months when she woke up alone without Mack beside her. She could feel sweat beading on her forehead, dangerous now, because both Mack and Kane could smell fear. Cursing under her breath, she moved to the window, staring out over the water. The sea always calmed her. That was a good part of the reason for her chosen location. She wasn’t an anchor and the chaos of people could cause severe damage. The sea helped block the waves of energy coming at her, or maybe it just drowned out the worst of it. Whatever. She didn’t want to think about what Whitney had done and what she’d become thanks to him. She couldn’t lose herself, not when it had taken her so long to build her self-esteem and courage. Mack couldn’t just come back and steal it all away. She wasn’t that same innocent girl.

When she was with Mack, he overshadowed her. She knew she was intelligent, more so than both Mack and Kane, yet she never felt strong around them. They had a different kind of strength and for some reason, she could never quite feel equal to them. She couldn’t blame Mack for treating her as someone he had to take care of when she didn’t act like a partner, but she had stood on her own and she liked herself. She didn’t want to go back.

A tingling awareness crept down the back of her neck and she took a breath.

“Who do you have watching me, Mack?” There was accusation in her voice. Mack glanced at his watch. “It’s Gideon’s shift. In another hour Jacob will take over on the roof. We’ve got a ship coming in around eleven and the boys will be coming off that and securing residences around the neighborhood. We made certain the rooms we wanted were open. You’ve got someone watching you across the way. He’s got to be a GhostWalker, or he’s a damn good terrorist. We didn’t even get close to him. He won’t go back to his room, so we’ve got people going through it. If he left anything behind, we’ll find it.”

“If he’s that good, there won’t be anything,” she said with a sigh as she swung around and leaned one hip against the windowsill. If Mack was right, her warning system had definitely failed. She shook her head. Everything had been right. Good. And now, in one moment, she was back into something she couldn’t handle. Mack and Kane had turned her life upside down just like they always did. Jaimie turned back to the window and stared down at the water, her fingers twisting together, betraying her agitation. “Maybe you’d answer a question for me, Kane.”

“Does it have to be tonight?” Kane asked easily. “Or rather this morning?”

Mack sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Both Jaimie and Kane sounded tense in spite of their deliberately casual tones. He knew them both too well. The muscles in his belly knotted uncomfortably.

Jaimie didn’t turn, but stood unnaturally stiff, hands linked behind her back like a soldier-waiting for bad news. “Now would be a good time.”

“So shoot.”

“What do you think the odds are on you and Mack chasing a shipment of explosives halfway around the world and ending up in San Francisco at the wrong warehouse?”

“Jaimie, I told you.” Mack stood up and padded across the room on silent feet to stand behind her. “Do you think I would lie about this? Lie to you?”

“Let Kane answer me,” Jaimie suggested quietly. “I think it’s a legitimate question, don’t you, Kane?”

Mack shook his head. “I took the order from Sergeant Major, not Kane. I made the mistake, didn’t adequately check things out.” Mack hastened to defend Kane. “We were so close to catching them after following the shipment and I didn’t want to delay even a few minutes.”

“I want Kane to answer my question, Mack,” Jaimie insisted, her voice very low. Kane’s sigh was audible. “No, you don’t, honey, you already have your answers and a closed mind.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“What are you accusing Kane of, Jaimie?” Mack demanded.

Kane ignored Mack and posed his own question. “What are the odds on you training nearly three years, topping everyone in every drill, and freaking out on the first mission?”

Mack stiffened, instant rage coiling in his gut. “Damn you, Kane, you’re going too far.” He looked from one to the other. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but stop.”

Jaimie’s fingers curled around Mack’s forearm, silencing him. “No, Mack. I want him to continue.” There was no mistaking the accusation in her voice. Mack turned to look at his oldest and closest friend, the man he considered a brother. Kane remained lying on the couch, his legs stretched out, his fingers linked behind his neck, his eyes staring up at the ceiling as he spoke.

“What are the odds you would have a terrible fight with Mack and me, when we never had a fight before?” Kane’s voice was very even, almost unconcerned. “And what do you think the odds would be, Jaimie, on you taking off, checking into a hotel you picked at random in a city you picked at random, and running into your old college professor?”

Jaimie’s nails dug into Mack’s skin. He didn’t think she was aware of it. “That isn’t an answer, Kane. It’s like you to try to throw me off the track, but I’m not going to let it happen.”

“What good is this?” Kane demanded, the coolness abruptly evaporating. “We’re here with you. Does it matter what brought us here? You had all the time in the world to figure things out. You didn’t want to know. Why the hell do it now that we’re here with you? Why care now how it all came about?”

“Maybe I can accept manipulation better than I can accept betrayal.”

Mack swore and yanked her around. “What the hell does that mean, Jaimie?”

She blinked back tears and met his furious gaze. “Kane knows what it means. Am I being set up, Kane?”

“Well, damn it, Jaimie.” Kane sounded astonished. “You’re my family. You’re Mack’s woman. Why the hell would you get it in your head that I’d do anything but protect you?”

“This doesn’t feel like protection to me.” Jaimie moved away from Mack with a small, defensive gesture.

Mack’s stomach knotted. “Jaimie.” He didn’t know what to say.

“I have a life now.” She motioned toward the window. “And now I’m right back in the middle of something I don’t want. I’m not an anchor the way all of you are. I barely get by. It’s a struggle every single day. Most nights I lie in bed with a killer headache wondering if I’m going to make it through the night. I’m not going back, not for either of you.”

Mack ignored her small retreat and followed her, wrapping his arms around her.

“You never get headaches if I’m with you.”

Not headaches. But heartaches, and that was worse. She wasn’t going to let him comfort her, or change the subject. Deliberately, Jaimie stepped away from him.

“What are you really doing here?” Jaimie walked to the sink and poured herself a glass of water to gain her equilibrium. Mack looked hurt. He felt hurt. That was the last thing she wanted, but their coming was no coincidence.

Mack raked both hands through his hair in agitation. “I told you it was a mistake.”

Jaimie wandered across the room to the street side, staring moodily down at the tendrils of fog reaching in off the bay.

“Come on, Jaimie,” Kane said, his voice utterly calm. “We didn’t bring this down on you and you know it. We’re the convenient whipping boys. You were manipulated and you let yourself be. You wanted out and you jumped at the easy way out. It came with strings. As for who is watching you, they were here before we got here. You’re safer with us close than not.” He yawned. “I’m not getting up at five A.M. to hash this out. If you two are going to keep talking, do it in sign language.”

Get her away from the window. Get her back! Gideon’s voice burst into Mack’s head.

Without hesitation, Mack leapt forward and tackled Jaimie, bringing her to the ground. Kane rolled off the couch, hitting the floor and fighting his way out of his sleeping bag, gun already in his hand, indicating Gideon had called the warning to both men telepathically. Kane crawled to the window, where Mack’s body covered Jaimie’s. She didn’t protest or ask questions, but lay quietly beneath both men. What do you have, Gideon? Is Superman back?

I wish. I think these two came looking for their buddies. They’re loaded for bear. Can you get a shot at them?

Yes. I can take both out, but it won’t be quiet, boss.

“Tell me,” Jaimie said.

There was no panic in her voice, but there was suppressed rage. Mack’s gaze met Kane’s above her head. “Who are they, Jaimie?” Mack asked.

“You tell me, Mack,” she shot back and for the first time, struggled to get out from under him.

“You little liar.” Mack hissed the words in her ear, bending close, trapping her beneath him. “You know who they are. They aren’t terrorists coming to get you, are they? Not the ones we’ve been following.”

“They aren’t any friends of mine.” She turned her head to glare at Kane. “I’m not going back. Not ever. I don’t care how many you send after me. I will never go back to work for Whitney. I’ve hacked into enough files to know what he’s doing and he isn’t alone in it. He experimented on children. And he’s got a breeding program. The women are forced to pair with a man of Whitney’s choosing. It’s barbaric and illegal and the women are held prisoners with no one to help them.”

Mack saw Kane wince and covered for him automatically, catching Jaimie’s chin and forcing her to look at him. “Does he know you’ve been collecting evidence against him?”

“Get off me, Mack.” She bit out each word between her teeth. “Right now.”

He stayed where he was for a full minute, looking into her eyes. With a sinking heart he realized the truth. “You don’t trust me.”

He had lost something beyond measure if she didn’t trust him. Jaimie had believed the sun rose and set with him. She had believed in everything he did and said. He’d been her hero. He waited but he saw it on her face, in the way she schooled her expression. She wasn’t going to tell him anything about her current life. Not one thing. And that just might get her killed.

“Damn it, Jaimie. This is Mack. You know me. You know Kane. We’re your family.”

The voice in his head whispered again. One is a sniffer, like Jacob. He’s running his hand along the doors and windows and he knows they’re wired to blow them to kingdom come. I could take them out.

We don’t know enough yet, Mack objected reluctantly. He wanted Jaimie safe and the temptation to kill the two men was strong. But if they were GhostWalkers under legitimate orders, Mack’s team had already made one serious mistake when Javier killed the two men earlier. They were trying to identify the bodies fast. They didn’t need to add two more.

He eased his body away from Jaimie. She sat up, her back to the wall, drawing her knees up, staying below the window. They stared at each other.

“We’re family, Jaimie.”

She shook her head and there was a flash of pain in her eyes. “I don’t know what we are anymore, Mack, but we aren’t family. You chose them over me. The GhostWalkers. And they’re evil. I can’t trust anyone who is part of it.”

He swore and turned away from her, his hands itching to shake her. This was his fault. He knew it was. She’d lost faith in him and no longer looked to him or the others to help her. But whatever she was into was definitely trouble.

“We have the same code of honor we’ve always had,” Kane said, his voice calm, much calmer than Mack could have managed. “That’s ridiculous for you to think just because an evil man started the program that it makes us all tainted. Our commanding officers run legitimate missions and we save lives. We specialize in hostage rescue and put our lives on the line all the time.”

“So why are you here, Kane?” she demanded again.

Mack frowned. Jaimie was being very persistent and Jaimie was extremely intelligent. He looked at his best friend. “Do you know something I don’t, Kane?”

Kane sighed. “Do you really think this is the best time to go into it? Of course I knew they’d watch Jaimie; you knew it too. She’s a multimillion-dollar weapon and she’s smart as a whip. Not to mention she can do things no one else can do and no one, not even Whitney, can figure out how the hell she does it. I have no idea what she’s into or why these men are sniffing around her home now.”

Gideon’s voice whispered in Mack’s head again. Superman has joined the party. He’s good, Mack. His camouflage is every bit as good as or better than mine. He’s like a damned ghost. I barely caught sight of him. He moved to get a better angle on the two moving around Jaimie’s house. He’s got the mean end of a rifle on them and looks like he knows how to use it.

Mack looked at Kane over the top of Jaimie’s head, knowing Gideon had sent the information to Kane as well. They had another player in the mix, with no way of knowing if he was a friend or enemy.

Has he spotted you? Kane asked.

I don’t think so, but I’m pinned down. If I move to check out the two below, he’s got a clear shot at me.

Mack turned the information over in his mind. Stay where you are. Javier wouldn’t have left an opening for visitors to come in, and Jaimie’s got this place fully secure. If they break in, we’ll know about it, most likely with a big boom. Keep your eye on Superman. Try to get a good look at him through the scope, but don’t expose yourself. Just watch him.

“Are you going to let me in on what’s going on?” Jaimie asked.

“Like you share information with me?” Mack asked and instantly regretted it.

“We’re trying to sort it all out. Gideon spotted the two men moving around the first floor, looking for a way in. They were obviously looking for their friends, the ones Javier took out.”

“I see. Did you tell Gideon not to include me in the broadcast, or did he make that decision all on his own?” She knew Gideon had to be following orders.

Mack ignored her question. “And then someone else showed up on one of the rooftops and he’s watching them too. We’re fairly certain he isn’t with the others. I think we’ve got two factions here.”

“Great. You show up, Mack, and my life is instantly turned upside down.” Jaimie swept both hands through her hair, struggling not to cry.

The insanity had started all over again. And the hurt. As much as she hated it all, she should have been included. She fought to make a life for herself, but now… She shook her head. She couldn’t entirely blame Mack, although she wanted to. It would be so much easier to drive a wedge deeper between them, but that was a coward’s way out. She didn’t want to love him. To feel weak inside when he was close. Her body felt out of control, alert and alive around him. Almost desperate, and she wasn’t a desperate woman.

She was blaming him unfairly for the firestorm she’d brought down on herself. She’d been gathering information against Whitney, but more important, she’d been trying to find out who was supporting him, who was sanctioning his criminal experiments. Hacking into a government site was risky business. She had a high security clearance, but not high enough, not when they were protecting their connections with Whitney. Someone had buried him deep and there were so many layers and red flags, she may have tripped one without knowing it. She hadn’t thought so, but she had no doubt in her mind that if she was found out, they would erase her. She’d gone after them anyway.

Whitney had taken all their lives. He’d promised to enhance them psychically. He already had conducted experiments on children, which none of them had known. He knew the effects it would have on them, but he’d done it anyway. Worse, he’d altered them genetically as well. And he’d paired them using pheromones, with the idea of breeding the perfect soldier. The man was a maniac and someone had to stop him. Unfortunately he still had powerful friends in high places and he had access to all the money in the world. He could move around from one facility to another and often had military protection where he went.

She couldn’t blame Mack, as much as she’d like to, and it made her ashamed of herself that she’d let him think she believed he’d brought trouble with him. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, he probably had saved her a lot of trouble. She had two escape routes, and may have gotten away, but she had sunk most of her money into her current project, looking to build a future not only for herself but for the others should there be need.

“I’m sorry, Mack. I shouldn’t have said that. This isn’t your fault and I know it isn’t.” Jaimie sighed and leaned back against the wall. “I had a couple of years to pretend my life was my own. I don’t know who these men are. As far as I know, I haven’t had anyone watching me until Gideon discovered the room across the way. And I have to tell you, no one has ever managed to surprise me, so either he just set up there, or I’m losing my abilities.”

“The room had been lived in for a time, Jaimie.”

She bit her lower lip and looked away from him, for the first time very shaken. If her radar system was faulty, she was in real trouble. She’d always been able to detect danger. She knew where the enemy was and became aware of anyone stalking them. Even snipers would have a difficult time targeting her. If that was no longer true, there was no place she was safe.

“What does Gideon say?” She knew Gideon was always their eyes. The man was an eagle, a ghost, and a phenomenal shot all rolled into one.

“He calls the man Superman. Says this Superman has the same attributes as he does. Do you have trouble detecting Gideon? Maybe it’s something in his makeup.”

She frowned. “I don’t know. Gideon’s never hunted me. At least not to my knowledge. He’s always been with the rest of you.”

“Do your thing, Jaimie,” Kane suggested. “Tell us where they all are. Everyone you can detect.”

Her brows drew together. It was a gift they all wished they had, to be able to detect the enemy’s exact position. She was never certain exactly how she did it, her mind just expanded and she felt the energy, dark, sometimes malevolent, but always strong. They all wanted to know how she did it, but there was no real explanation. They thought she was stubborn, and maybe she’d become stubborn, sick of what they wanted from her.

She closed her eyes, inhaled to clear her mind and let go, seeking outside of herself to find those hunting her. She felt the ocean first, the surge of power that connected with her almost immediately, heightening her senses and expanding her range. She felt the two men moving around the corner of her warehouse, staying low as they carefully examined the building for weaknesses in security. She felt their heartbeats, the adrenaline in their systems. She felt the breath moving through their bodies. Anger. Fear. Puzzlement. She could almost read their thoughts, but the body chemistry was enough to know they were enemies. She forced herself past them to encompass the street and buildings running alongside her warehouse.

A man huddled on the steps of the building to the right of her. His mind was a haze, a blur of no thinking, just shivering. He was cold and wanted more alcohol, but was oblivious to anyone else. Up the street a group of a four partied together. Drugs raced through their systems, not adrenaline. She examined the rooftops. She knew Gideon was up there somewhere along with the one they called Superman, yet she couldn’t find either of them.

She opened her eyes and looked at Mack. “I don’t know how long I’ve been under surveillance. He has to be a GhostWalker. I can’t detect Gideon either.”

“But you can detect both of us?” Mack asked.

She nodded. “And the two outside moving around the first floor, looking for a way in.”

“But not Gideon or the other man?”

She shook her head. “That’s never happened before, Mack. Not once. Not in all the times I trained. What’s different about Gideon?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want you saying anything. We’ll need to protect that information. Don’t document it,” Mack cautioned.

She crawled away from the window to the center of the room where her furniture was. “Because you know they’d dissect him to see if they could make you all that way.”

“The mysterious ‘they’ again,” Mack said. “You use ‘they’ and ‘you’ a lot. You’re a GhostWalker too, Jaimie. You gave your consent just like the rest of us. And not everyone in the program is corrupt.”

She sank into a chair across from Kane. “I know that, Mack. I just despise the entire mess. Whitney’s given some people cancer. He’s hurt them in order to see if he could speed the healing process. He’s so far out of control and someone knows it. More than one someone, yet they protect him. They want his research and we’re all expendable to protect it. And we have foreign governments wanting one of us to dissect so they can build the same kind of soldier. Do you think any of us are going to have a life if we don’t get out now?”

Kane slipped his gun back beneath his sleeping bag, knowing Jaimie hated the weapon. “We’re going to be fine as long as we stick together, Jaimie.”

Her eyes met his. There was despair there. She was too intelligent to be reassured like a child and they both knew it. She had logged in hundreds of hours going over Whitney’s experiment. It read like a horror story. Her temples throbbed with pain, an aftermath of using psychic ability. It helped with Mack and Kane in the room, but still, the pain made her stomach lurch.

She didn’t want to think about all the children Whitney had conducted his experiments on. The adults had been bad enough, but she knew there had been children involved. The man was still out there, on the loose, condoned and aided by a group of power-hungry men who believed themselves above the law. The men in GhostWalker Team Three were all members of her family. No, they weren’t bound by blood, but they’d chosen years ago to band together and make it through life together. Now they were all in jeopardy.

“I can’t save them,” she said aloud, and then was horrified that she’d spoken without thinking.

She could no longer trust either Mack or Kane. They had embraced their new bodies and minds and they believed they could make a huge difference. They were honorable men and they fought for what they believed. She was no longer part of that circle. No matter how familiar, no matter how much she loved them, she had to remember she wasn’t part of what they were doing and if orders came down regarding her-both men would follow those orders.

As if reading her mind, Mack sank into the chair beside hers and reached out to take her hand. “We’re here in San Francisco hunting this shipment of weapons and the men who are going to buy them. It’s our one chance to get at the Doomsday unit. They happen to be in the same neighborhood you’re living in. Whatever that means. However it happened. Someone is threatening you. Let’s just call a truce until we remove the threat and I have my terrorists in custody.”

“You don’t take them into custody, Mack,” she pointed out. “You assassinate them.”

“I do whatever it takes. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you alive, Jaimie. Whatever is going on here is not of my making. You wanted out. I was hoping you would get out and make a life for yourself.”

He had hoped she’d come back to him and tell him she was missing him every single minute of every single day-that she couldn’t breathe without him. That hadn’t happened. It didn’t look like it was going to happen anytime soon.

“We’re a family,” Kane added. “We’d never leave you until we knew the threat to you was past. So we’ll be moving in here for a long while. We’ve already gotten permission. The boys are setting up their rooms; we’ll be here with you. You’ll be safe.”

“What does Sergeant Major want in return? He doesn’t do anything for free.”

“That’s for us to worry about,” Mack said. “Not you. Let’s just enjoy whatever time we have together while we figure all this out. I missed you, Jaimie.” There was an ache in his voice. An unexpected lump in his throat. She had no idea. He’d felt shattered. Fractured. And he’d had no idea how much he needed her or depended on her until she was gone.

There was resentment in him. Stubbornness. She’d left him. Walked out. Whatever her reasons, however stupid he’d been, she’d left him. For a moment it took all his discipline not to yank her out of the chair and shake her into seeing sense. They were meant for each other. He’d thought-hoped-that when he saw her again, the impact she had on him would lessen, but it was worse than ever. He craved her like some terrible addiction. He wanted the adoration back, that look of absolute love in her eyes. He wanted her soft body streaking fire through his. He wanted the sound of her laughter and her trust. More than anything he wanted that back. Jaimie pushed both hands through her hair. Living with Mack again. She doubted she could survive it. But what else could she do? She wasn’t stupid. Someone had sent GhostWalkers after her and that meant Whitney was probably on to her and she was in danger. If he knew the evidence she’d been compiling against him, he’d never let her live. And she was tracing his connections, getting closer to his supporters. They would be even more dangerous than Whitney. He was obscure. A ghost. But his backers had political lives. They were powerful men with lots to lose and they’d never let her expose their crimes to the world.

She’d known when she started researching and documenting that she was entering a dangerous game, but she had always known she had to find a way to protect her family. She loved them and she wasn’t going to see them thrown to the wolves. No one was going to set them up to be killed by sending them on a bogus mission. She’d make certain of that.

“Can’t you stay in one of the places around here, Mack? I’m used to being on my own and you’re bossy.”

Kane made a sound in his throat that was cut off when Mack shot him a warning look. “I’m not in the least bit bossy. I know how to keep you alive, and you tend to trust everyone.”

She scowled at him. “I do not. Do you see what I’m talking about? I’ve been in business for two years, Mack. I haven’t needed you to tell me who I can work for.”

“That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have benefited from my experience.”

A slow smile curved her mouth. “Now you’re just teasing.”

“I’m glad you remember what teasing is.”

She deserved that, she knew. Mack and Kane were the two people she loved most in the world and she hadn’t exactly been hospitable. She’d accused Kane outright of betrayal, and there was still a certainty that he had known the address was wrong. He had been close to the one new man when they’d come into her home, the one they weren’t certain of, and it had been Kane who had blocked his weapon, almost before Mack had identified her.

“Okay, fine. But you’re getting your own beds. I mean it. I’m not sharing my bed.”

“Who wants that tiny little thing?” Mack scoffed. “We’ll get manly furniture tomorrow.”

The two poking around are leaving, Top. I have the feeling they’ll be back, Gideon reported. But they’re going to do a little investigating. Superman has slipped away.

Did he see you? Mack asked.

Naw. I just became part of the wall. Never moved.

We’re going to get some sleep. Thanks, Gideon. Be careful. And don’t trust anyone not our own.

Okay, Mom. Gideon laughed softly in his ear.

Mack sighed. Trying to keep them all in line was difficult. “We can turn in. The threat’s over.”

“Lucky us,” Jaimie muttered.