Ghostwalker 04 - Conspiracy Game

catch a ring painted black to blend in with the darkness. He inverted, planting his feet on either side of the trapdoor and, using toe rings to brace his body, he heaved upward.
    Briony realized only an enhanced person could move the door, another guard in place for the brothers. “If they do follow us into the tunnel, they might not be able to find the door,”
    she said aloud.
    “They’ll die if they come in the tunnel. Each section has an activation switch with very precisely directed blasts. Don’t go back in there for any reason until we deactivate the security.”
    “This place is a death trap.”
    “For anyone coming after us or ours,” he agreed. “Can you make it out, or do you want a hand?”
    “That’s an insult.” She leapt up, caught the lip of the doorjamb, and inverted easily, pushing through with her feet and shoving to launch herself out the opening. She did a flip and landed nearly at his feet.
    “Show off. I’m carrying the pack.”
    Briony looked around her. They were in deep forest, some distance from the house, but she could hear shots being fired. “I’m afraid to distract him even to make certain he’s safe.”
    “He’s safe. Worry about the other guy. If this is some kind of test for his soldiers, Whitney must have more than we thought, because these must be expendable.”
    “Do you think he guessed that I was here?”
    Ken frowned as he shook his head. “Whitney has access to our complete files. He has high security clearance. He’d never send men against us to get killed unless he was certain.
    Even if they planted a camera on Brady, he was treated the way he’s always treated and sent on his way. He never got close to the house—or to you. They couldn’t have known that way.”
    “But they knew, didn’t they?”
    Something quiet in her voice alerted him, and he stopped in the act of concealing the trapdoor to look at her sharply. “Whatever you’re thinking—don’t. You aren’t putting us in any more danger than we’re normally in.”
    “Yes, because you have enhanced soldiers coming after you all the time. These are military men. We can’t tell the good guys from the bad. For all we know, Ken, some of them are soldiers thinking they’re doing a job their commander sent them on. We have no idea what they’ve been told.”
    “Whitney isn’t going to chance letting someone else acquire you. These are his men. He may have gotten military equipment using his clearances, and no doubt someone, an admiral, a general, maybe the senator I pulled out of the Congo, is helping him, but these are definitely his men. Don’t do anything stupid, Briony, like try to leave. It wouldn’t be heroic—it would be the dumbest thing you could do. Jack would come after you. You know him now. He’s not going to let you go.”
    “I’m going to get you both killed.”

    “Have a little faith, woman. And think about my nephews. I’ll be damned if they’re raised in a laboratory.”
    Briony turned away from him, into the deeper forest, hurrying along the faint animal trail in the direction Ken indicated, but her mind was working furiously. She had come to them with nothing. Jack had even insisted she get rid of her clothes. She touched her earlobes and felt the rubies—not her mother’s diamonds. Everything had been left behind. So how were they tracking her so easily?
    “Shift to your right. I want you to walk along the boulders. The original mining camp is still here along with the original cabin. We’ve never actually done any mining, but we went through it to make certain it was safe and it’s a good place for you to wait for us. You can guard the entrance; no one can sneak up on you from behind, and anyone trying to come in is going to be a large target. I’ll get rid of the tracks leading to the mine and make a few branching off from the trail so anyone tracking us will head in the wrong direction. The stream winds through the property along here for a good four miles.”
    Briony glanced at him sharply.
    Ken sent her a reassuring smile. “I like to cover all of the bases. If by some miracle Whitney’s soldiers get lucky, you need a route out of here.”
    “If you’re not coming back to get me, I’ll be looking for you,” Briony said. “I mean it, Ken. I could help.”
    “You can help by staying put so we don’t have to worry about you.”
    Where the hell are you? You’d think this was a tea party.
    As a matter of fact, Briony and I were just pouring a