Ghostwalker 01- Shadow Game

Lily sensed the edge of grim tension building in their voices. The double doors leading out into the complex were looming. She kept her head down and walked slowly, dragging her leg.
    Hilton pushed open the doors and waved her through. Lily didn't look at him. He was dead. He just didn't know it yet. She kept walking until Higgens tugged on her arm, bringing her abruptly to a halt. Hilton trotted off. "That was smart to stay quiet with the guards. You wouldn't want blood on your hands."
    Lily lifted her head to look him directly in the eye. "Don't let the fact that I'm a woman fool you, Colonel. I don't mind violence under the right circumstances. Someone is responsible for killing my father and I'm going to find them."
    He smiled at her. His eyes were flat. "I hope you do, Dr. Whitney."
    The car pulled up beside them. Higgens reached out to open the door for her. Lily half turned as if to slide onto the passenger seat. Instead she snapped out a front kick, putting her weight behind it. The kick took Higgens precisely in the solar plexus, driving the air from his lungs so that he collapsed like a deflated balloon. As he went down, Kaden loomed up behind him, finishing her work with a vicious chop to his neck. Colonel Higgens dropped to the asphalt like stone.
    Kaden didn't hesitate, shoving Lily into the car and crowding in after her. "Go, go."
    Phase one completed. We have recovery. Repeat, we have recovery .
    "They'll stop us at the gate," Lily pointed out. "Kaden, get these cuffs off me. I can't stand them." She was phase one. The retrieved object. The idea irritated her but not as much as the metal cuffs on her wrists.
    "We're in possession of the gate at the moment, Lily," he replied gently. "Just a few more minutes. As soon as I know we're clear."
    "Did Arly get out?" She was looking at the driver in an effort to identify him. He wore the white lab coat Hilton had been wearing.

    Jonas glanced at her in the mirror and winked. "Arly's waiting outside the gates with the Porsche. Sweet little number, that car. I'd like to drive it sometime." He sounded very hopeful. He pulled the car right up to the gate. The uniformed man simply opened the door and slid in on the other side of Lily so she was surrounded.
    Ryland framed her face in his hands and kissed her hard. "Damn it, Lily, I'm going to find a padded room and lock you up in it where I know you're safe," he said, then turned to watch their back trail. Lily could see the gun in his hand.
    Behind them, the laboratories rocked with several loud explosions. She turned to look out the back window. Smoke billowed into the sky. "Who did that?"
    "Kyle, of course. He does like to blow things up."
    "There are a lot of innocent people working there," she pointed out.
    Jonas drew the car up beside the Porsche. Arly was out of the car and pacing back and forth. They were four blocks from the laboratories and could hear the sirens blaring in alarm. Ryland dragged Lily out of the backseat and put her in the Porsche, taking the keys from Arly before the man could protest.
    "What are we doing?" Lily asked.
    "Getting you away from that place fast," Ryland replied.
    "I didn't even get to hug Arly," she said. "He must have been so worried."
    " He was worried?" Ryland changed gears with more strength than finesse. "You took ten years off my life. You'll have to hug Arly later. Right now I want you as far away from Donovans as fast as I can get you away. As far as I'm concerned the place can burn to the ground." A muscle jerked along his set jaw. "They could have killed you, Lily."
    She leaned her head back against the seat as he maneuvered his way in and out of the light traffic. "I know. I was really afraid. But I got the disk and Higgens never had a clue." She closed her eyes. "Hilton was the man who threw my father overboard."
    Ryland glanced at her, worried. "I know, honey. I'm sorry. Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?" He wanted to stop the car and examine every inch of her.
    Lily shook her head wearily without opening her eyes. "Not really. But I was really, really afraid. He was going to kill me after he got the process out of me."
    Ryland frowned. "You don't know the process, do you?"

    "Not exactly. I see where my father was going and it wouldn't be hard, knowing him as well as I do, to figure most of it out. It's all in his laptop in the laboratory at the house.
    Everything is there. I would have made something up for Higgens." She was exhausted, wanting desperately to