Ghostwalker 02 - Mind Game

dangling bait, false bait—I’d read the original data the professors had before they were murdered. A few days earlier, when I was scouting the building, I thought I recognized one of the men on the same floor where I’d been told the data was. It nagged at me that I’d seen him before somewhere, but I couldn’t place him. I’d already broken in and had accessed the computer and I skimmed the report and realized it was a fake. That triggered my memory of the man. He’d been a student at the university, just walking by in the hall outside of one of the professor’s offices. He had glanced inside the door, and that attracted my attention. He didn’t turn his head in any obvious way, but I knew he was looking in. People just don’t do that ordinarily, so he stuck in my mind.”

    Gator rubbed his head. “I’m confused, Dahlia. You spotted this same man in the building where you were scouting to break in?”

    She nodded. “But I didn’t place him. It’s been a year since I was at the university taking a look at the documents.”

    Sam laughed. “Don’t apologize. Most people wouldn’t have noticed him, let alone recognized him a year later.”

    “Well, it would have been a lot safer had I recognized him immediately. Instead, it took me skimming the document and realizing it was a false one as well. For a minute I thought maybe the company had been sold false data, but then I remembered where I’d seen him, and I realized the data was flagged and I’d be having company any minute.”

    She glanced at Nicolas. Waves of dark energy swarmed around her. “You’re getting upset. I’m alive and safe, and it wasn’t all that difficult to get out of there. The biggest problem was the research data. I didn’t want them to be able to move it. I was fairly certain they didn’t have much warning so they couldn’t have buried it all that deep. Most people think in terms of protecting a computer, but a really good hacker can get through most computers given the time. I figured they didn’t put anything on the computers just because of that. And if I was right, that meant there was only the one copy. And if there was only one copy, they had it locked up tight.”

    “A lot of assumptions in a short period of time, especially when people are coming after you,” Kaden pointed out. “You should have gotten the hell out of there.”

    “I was fairly certain I could stay hidden. And I also knew I could provide a few diversions. I was more worried about the security system where they had the data. I assumed they’d beef it up and maybe provided a human guard or two. I wish I had your ability to coax someone to look the other way.”

    Nicolas folded his arms across his chest, his bronzed features an implacable mask. “So you stayed even though you knew it was a trap and you had no backup. Calhoun couldn’t have even gotten to you if they’d found you. You saw what they did to him. They would have killed you. You must have known that, Dahlia. They had to be putting out some malicious energy.”

    She could feel his level of anger rising, a very unusual emotion for Nicolas. If the others hadn’t been there, she would have reached out to soothe him, but she felt inhibited by their presence. Inwardly she sighed. She had no idea how to act around other people.
    What kind of relationship did Nicolas and she really have? They’d slept together. Lots of couples slept together and it didn’t mean anything at all.

    “Yes it does.” Nicolas said the words aloud deliberately, said them between his bared teeth. He said them aloud to show her he was seriously staking his claim. He didn’t care how primitive she might think him. She wasn’t going to have sex with him and throw him out, damn it. They belonged together. There was law and order in the universe. She wasn’t going to turn him inside out and upside down and then toss him out like garbage.

    “Stop it!” Dahlia backed away from him to the doorway. “You’re acting like an idiot.”

    The other GhostWalkers exchanged raised eyebrows, clearly not feeling the hostile energy pouring off of Nicolas the way she did. Dahlia didn’t understand how they could be so protected.

    “Well, now, ma’am,” Sam said, scratching his head. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone call Nico an idiot.” He quickly held up his hand for peace when she turned to include him in her glare. “I’d be obliged if you let us in on what’s going on. To be