Deadly Game (GhostWalkers, #5)(6)

Mari was small and shapely beneath the vests, camouflage clothing, and regulation boots. The moment Ken drew her scent into his lungs, he knew he was in trouble. It mattered little that they were surrounded by the enemy, or that she smelled of sweat and blood; her natural scent acted like a powerful drug, an aphrodisiac, and he found his body reacting in spite of the dangerous situation. He clenched his teeth and brought her up to his shoulders, then moved quickly through the heavy brush toward the rendezvous point with the helicopter.

Jack retrieved her weapon, slinging it around his neck and falling in behind his brother, forcing his attention on keeping them alive, and not worrying about what might happen to his wife’s sister.

Kadan and the rest of the team would get the senator and his wife to safety, utilizing the vehicles. Kadan had already arranged for another helicopter pickup at an opposite location. Ken and Jack were fairly certain the assassination team was going to be charging after them and their prisoner, or at least dividing. In any case, Kadan needed to question the senator’s wife. At the very least they needed to take a much closer look at her.

Ken ran, feeling with every step he took the weight of the knowledge that he was the one who had shot the woman. If she died, he would never be able to face Briony, Jack’s wife. He loved Briony. She accepted him with his ugly face and body, never flinching away or averting her eyes. But more than her acceptance, she’d changed Jack’s life. She’d brought happiness and hope to both of them when their world had been bleak and unforgiving.

Briony and her twin sister had been two of the orphans Whitney had experimented on, and he had separated the twins, keeping Marigold and giving Briony up for adoption. Briony was frantic to find Mari, and if Ken had killed her, he had no idea what that would do to their family. He sent up a silent prayer as he jogged, trying to ignore the smell of blood and the feel of it soaking into his shirt.

They had been looking for Marigold, unraveling the clues leading to her for weeks now. They’d started with the premise that Whitney still had her locked away in one of his many compounds. The locations were secret and difficult to find, as he had a high security clearance and someone very high up was helping him cover his tracks. But they had the name and registration number of the private jet that had gone down in the Congo carrying the senator. And there had been a private jet carrying the team of men who had chased Briony across the country.

The jets were owned by two different corporations. The company in Nevada had a secretary who simply stated that the owner, an Earl Thomas Barlett, was not available. He signed all the documents and owned a home, yet there was no public document on him, not even a driver’s license. Strangely enough, the company in Wyoming mirrored the one in Nevada. Both consulting companies were represented by the same attorney, who had purchased the jets for each.

The corporation in Wyoming owned a great deal of wilderness in the Cascades, inaccessible by anything but small planes landing on the very expensive airstrip or by a rapid and dangerous river. The senator just happened to own a hunting cabin on the adjacent land and have landing privileges given by the Wyoming consulting company. The same attorney had been used to acquire those privileges.

Jack and Ken had been on their way to do a little recon when the orders came down to protect the senator. Their team had taken a helicopter into the remote area and set up surveillance and an exit plan. The senator had insisted he and his wife should continue their hunting trip in spite of the danger, and she had concurred, turning down the team’s recommendation to move to a more secure area.

Ken tried not to think about the woman slung around his shoulders, or how her body felt against his. He didn’t want to touch her skin or feel for a pulse, or acknowledge the slide of silky hair along his jaw where her head bounced. She seemed to envelop him, and the scent of her soaked into him through his pores, his lungs, deep into his tissues and bones where he knew he’d never eradicate her.

He wanted to stay numb for the rest of his life. He didn’t want to have to face another trial by fire. He wasn’t certain he was strong enough to overcome the rage living and breathing inside of him. He couldn’t afford to feel. He couldn’t afford to want or need. He lived for the job. He lived to keep Jack safe, and now Briony and the twins she carried. Life for him had stopped almost before he was born, and it was much safer for everyone that way.

This unknown woman, already the enemy, could destroy not only him, but his family. It was through no fault of her own, but he didn’t dare allow compassion to sway his course. He was not going to become more of a monster than he already was. Inch by slow inch, his life had been compromised, until his outside skin reflected the dark shadows inside him where no one could see.

The hounds have been unleashed, Kadan warned. Not one stayed to go after the senator. They’re coming after you. I don’t dare leave the senator, just in case this is a setup, but watch yourself. I’m not certain who your sniper is, or why he’s so important, but get the hell out of there. You’re in enemy territory. And he’ll be able to communicate with them if you don’t get him out of range.

Copy that, Jack said. He’d dropped back even farther to protect them as they raced toward safety. And our him is a her.

Ken didn’t bother to acknowledge. He splashed through three narrow streams and up a steep embankment, grateful for the fact that he was genetically enhanced. He could run long distances without fighting for air, and carrying the woman, as small as she was, was no problem. But soldiers coming up behind them were enhanced as well, and they carried guns. He tried to stay to the heavier foliage when at all possible, deep in the trees, careful not to expose his body as he ran toward the rendezvous point.