Ghostwalker 04 - Conspiracy Game

her, but the darkness hid any light that might have reached his eyes. Makes you feel alive, doesn’t it?
    Jack. I love you. I do. But you’re just a little bit crazy. And that was the thing. He actually was enjoying himself. You have ice water in your veins.
    We have to make the top before dawn. We’ll need a lead time before they come after us.
    I’ll call in reinforcements at the next leg up , Ken said. But they won’t be here for a few hours, and we’re going to need a place to hole up and wait.
    Jack nodded and studied the wall rising above him. The crevice runs through the rock about fifteen feet above our heads. It’s too wide farther to the left to use for anything but a finger-or toehold, but it makes a good boost to the next level.
    Briony could barely concentrate on what he said—the need to wrap her arms around him and keep him safe was nearly overwhelming. She watched him spring up and over again, this time about a ten-foot jump, one easier than the last. She let herself breathe again when Jack hung above them waiting for her to join him.
    The climb took hours, with a repeat over and over of their strange flying act. By the time they reached the top, all of them were exhausted, but exhilarated that they’d made it. They lay for a long time on the edge of the cliff, straining to breathe while they listened—and scented the wind for the enemy they knew would be waiting in the dark for them.

    CHAPTER 20

    Jack touched Briony’s shoulder and swept his hand up her arm to settle his fingers around the nape of her neck. Ken and he not only practiced such ascents, but had used them on occasion to escape enemies, but he’d never been so tense in a situation as he had in this one. Jack Norton didn’t get clammy skin, sweaty palms, or a churning stomach in combat.
    He was infamous for the ice in his veins and his complete discipline over his emotions when he worked, but now—everything had changed. Briony. He massaged her neck and leaned against her, absorbing the warm satin of her skin.
    What is it?
    She turned her head to look at him, her dark chocolate eyes filled with such an intensity of love his stomach seemed to turn inside out.
    Damn, Ken, do men just make complete idiots of themselves over women? I feel like a fool every time she looks at me like that.
    Jack felt more than a fool—he felt humble and undeserving, but most of all, there was a part of him that was afraid. If she left him, she’d rip out his heart and what was left of his soul. Sooner or later the rose-colored glasses were going to come off, leaving him naked and vulnerable to her scrutiny. She would see inside him, not just to the black violence always seething beneath the thin surface of ice he kept to cover it. No, she’d see the true monster—the one who didn’t feel—couldn’t feel.
    Ken’s sympathy moved in his mind. Ken knew—he felt the same rage, and the same detachment. The monster was a legacy from their father they would never be free of, and any woman in their lives would have to live, just as they did, with that unspeakable demon.
    Ken dropped a hand on Jack’s shoulder and looked toward the trees. We can’t stay in the open like this. It will be a good ten to twelve hours even with the teams scrambling to pick us up. We have to find cover and a defensible position.
    Jack nodded and helped Briony to her feet. They moved fast in single file, staying to the trees and brush, careful not to make a sound. In the night, any noise carried, and they couldn’t afford to bring the enemy down on them. They needed as much distance as possible. As soon as they were a good mile from the cliffs, they began to pick up the pace, jogging now, using long, ground-eating strides.
    Every muscle in Briony’s body felt fatigued, but there was satisfaction in knowing she’d not only used her circus training to escape Whitney’s men—but the very skills and abilities he’d provided. Even now, her enhanced muscles worked like a machine, carrying her fast over rugged terrain, and her vision enabled her to see in the dark when few others could have moved so quickly. And that was all due to Whitney’s experiment and the education he’d insisted on providing for her.
    They jogged for two hours, took a break, and ran again, this time slowed down by the thicker brush and trees as they started downhill. Obviously Jack and Ken had a particular place in mind. They took cover a few hundred yards from a clearing. They hunkered down in