Ghostwalker 01- Shadow Game

was already making his way across the broad expanse of lawn, scooting on his belly, staying low in the open area.
    Lily winced when she heard the order. She didn't want to distract them as they made their way into the house but she had a few questions to mull over. She posed them to Arly, needing to think things through. "It doesn't make sense that Higgens would have so many men willing to betray their country over this one project. He has to have a long history to be able to recruit and trust more than a couple of men."
    Arly shrugged. "He's been in the service a long time, Lily. He's an officer, a person in power who might easily read the weaknesses in others."
    "But Phillip Thornton and Donovans…" She trailed off, her mind racing. "We do have several contracts dealing with security issues but… Oh no. We could really be in trouble, Arly. Donovans has the defense contract dealing with satellite intelligence. If Higgens has access to that data in any capacity he would be able to sell the locations of U.S.
    satellites." Her fingers dug into Arly's arm. "He would have the information on our early warning systems or our ability to retaliate against a large-scale attack. Even the communications information would be available to him. Thornton doesn't have that kind of security clearance. There's only a few in the company with that kind of clearance."
    "Is Colonel Higgens part of that?"

    "Not to my knowledge." She tapped the edge of the seat. "This could be really bad, Arly.
    Surely Thornton's not that big a fool to sell national secrets." Lily wanted to pass the information to Ryland, but was afraid to distract him. The men were breaching the house, going in from four directions.
    Ryland slipped over the porch railing, dropped silently onto the decking, and rolled away from the edge to give Ian room to follow. Dark shadows swarmed around the house, moving in from all directions, silent like the ghosts they called themselves. Blink and they were gone.
    Ian moved into position at the door, making such short work of the lock it barely slowed them down. Ryland and Ian went inside nearly simultaneously, one going left, the other right, both at floor level and rolling into position to come up with weapons locked and ready. The entryway was clear. The house was dark, no lights on.
    Somewhere outside a dog barked. Ryland felt the brief surge of energy and the animal subsided. He could hear the murmur of voices coming from the room opening to his right. He signaled to Ian and they positioned themselves to cover the entire layout of the room.
    They've got a gun to Ranier's head. Do I have a go? I need a go right now . As always there was no tension in Nicolas's voice.
    Do you have a clear shot ? Ryland demanded.
    Take out his aim , Nicolas responded.
    You have a go . Ryland fed the energy already pouring into the room, using the power of their minds to twist the gun pointed at General Ranier away from him. When Nico fired the silenced shot, a bullet precisely between the eyes of the man holding Ranier hostage, there would be no chance of the gun going off and killing the general.
    Higgens saw the hole blossoming in the middle of his man's forehead. Saw the man drop like a stone directly in front of the general. He whirled around, his gun in his fist, looking for a target. The only safety he had was the general. He pointed his weapon at him. The other two soldiers in the room gaped in shock, moved back to back for protection.
    "I know you believe what Colonel Higgens told you," Ryland said softly to the two soldiers. "He's here to murder General Ranier and he's making you accomplices. Put down your weapons and back away. You're in an indefensible position." His voice rode the wave of energy, seemed to come from every direction. His men were feeding the two soldiers the uninterrupted flow of suggestion to obey.
    The two men looked at one another almost helplessly and both laid their rifles on the floor and stepped back with their hands up. Immediately the flow of collective telepathy went to influence Colonel Higgens. He was expecting it and he was resistant, fighting for possession of his own actions.
    "I'll kill him. Get up, General, we're getting out of here," Higgens stated. His eyes were wild as he looked around but couldn't see the men.
    "I'm warning you one last time, Colonel. Nico has you in his sights. He never misses.
    You know his kill record. There is absolutely no way for you to shoot the general and he is not going