Ghostwalker 02 - Mind Game

everything, Dahlia.”

    “Do you remember the other girls? I’ve been trying to remember them. Flame, with her red, red hair. She’s very vivid in my memory.”

    “Iris,” Lily confirmed. “And there was Tansy. She was very quiet and introverted.”

    “That’s right.” Relief was flooding through her. She did remember the other children.
    Girls, all of them with their own nurse. “There was the baby, Jonquille. She was so tiny.
    And Laurel. Who else?”

    “Wasn’t there a Rose? I remember her laughing.”

    Dahlia nodded. There wasn’t much laughter in the laboratory. She should have remembered Rose. “I know there are others.”

    “We’ll think of them together,” Lily consoled. “We’ll find all their tapes, and we’ll find them.”

    They looked at one another and smiled in understanding. Lily held out her hand. Dahlia took it. “I’m so glad you’ve come. Ryland is wonderful. I love him so much, but I felt alone sometimes. You make that go away.”

    “That’s exactly how I feel,” Dahlia admitted. “Is this where Dr. Whitney brought Jesse and the others when he experimented on them?”

    Lily nodded. “He didn’t want Colonel Higgens to know about them. He suspected Higgens was trying to kill the GhostWalkers, and he wanted to make certain his experiment was carried on.”

    “Basically,” Ryland said, “Dr. Whitney used my group as a decoy to keep Higgens from knowing about his other group. He worked here at this laboratory and the men used the tunnels to get in and out.”

    “So if you all died,” Dahlia reached for Nicolas, “he’d still have someone to continue his research on.” She bit back the rest of her thoughts when she saw Lily’s face. “I’m sorry, I know you must have loved him.”

    Lily leaned against Ryland for comfort. “I think of him as two men. The monster who did all this to us, and to the men, and the man who was my father.”

    “Have you found his research on Calhoun and the others?” Nicolas asked.

    Lily nodded. “A couple of days ago. I haven’t gone over it, but once I do, I should be able to find all the problems and start working up a program for them.” She turned to Dahlia. “Just as I will for you.”

    Dahlia looked up at Nicolas—her rock, her anchor. The man that had provided a life and now a family for her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her first real spontaneous demonstration of affection in front of others. “Thank you. Thank you for giving me back my life.”

    He kissed her, uncaring that Ryland had a silly grin on his face and that Lily was looking too pleased with herself. “I love you, Dahlia Le Blanc. I always will.”

    Her black, haunting gaze drifted over his face. “It’s a good thing, because I love you very much, Nicolas Trevane, and if you trifle with my feelings, you’re playing with fire.
    Literally.”

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Prologue

    “Come on, Colby,” Ben Lassiter yelled, feeling like a fool running alongside the tractor.
    “You have to be reasonable. Get off that damn thing and listen to me for once in your life. You’re being stubborn!”

    The ancient tractor bounced along in the gathering dusk, shooting up clouds of powdery dirt to spray over Ben’s immaculate sheriff’s uniform. Colby waited until he was totally out of breath and at a complete disadvantage before she stopped the tractor and sat staring moodily out over the field. Very slowly she pulled off her leather work gloves. “I’m getting tired of these visits, Ben. Just whose side are you on, anyway? You know me.
    You knew my father. These