Ghostwalker 04 - Conspiracy Game

on it.”
    A small smile escaped Ken. “A cradle, you cretin. And just to give you an added glow, you might also consider that our dear old dad gave us one more legacy aside from his monster genes.”
    “And that would be?”
    “Twins. He was a twin. His father was a twin. His father before him was a twin. See any pattern here?”
    Jack groaned. “Briony will be especially pleased with me for that one.” He stared into the woods, at the trees with their dark trunks and dazzling leaves, one hand sliding down to cover her rounded tummy. “He drank, you know. Do you remember that? He was always drinking. I tried to remember what he was like without alcohol.” He looked at his brother.
    “Promise me, Ken.”
    “It’s a hell of a thing for you to ask me.”

    “I have to ask.”
    Ken swore and turned away from him. “Damn that man to hell for what he did to us. I have to think about it. I don’t know if I could do it. I’m not giving my word unless I know I’ll keep it.”
    “I’ve lived my entire life trying to do the right thing, Ken. I’m not ending it by hurting the people I care about.” A faint, humorless smile touched his mouth briefly. “There’s so many of you—you and Briony.”
    “And the men. You’ve never left a man down, Jack. You don’t give yourself enough credit because you’re always watching yourself so closely, so certain you’re going to be like him. He was vicious when he drank. It was like poison to him.”
    Jack raised his head, forcing his twin to look into his eyes. “You know we’re different.
    We’ve always been different. I refuse to pretend otherwise. If I know what I am—what I’m capable of doing—I have a chance to stop myself. If I can’t, then you have no choice.”
    “I’m not doing this with you. We both agreed there would be no woman, not one we cared about, not one who mattered.”
    “She saved my life. She’s a GhostWalker, same as we are. Whitney’s after her for the baby.”
    Ken swung around. “What the hell are you talking about? Peter Whitney is dead. He was murdered. How could he have anything to do with this?”
    “Apparently he has a lot to do with it. Aside from enhancing us, he programmed us to respond sexually to one of the enhanced females—at least that’s what I’m told. And if it’s true, it’s potent. I’m a walking hard-on around her.”
    “Great. Like we didn’t have enough problems.” Ken sighed. “Are you certain about all of this, Jack?”
    “Just as certain as I was that someone set us up in the Congo. That someone had to be Whitney. He has the money, the resources, and the clearance—and someone very high up is helping him. They’ll be coming after Briony and the baby.”
    “They won’t get her, Jack, but we’d better be prepared. How is she in a fight?”
    “She needs an anchor, but she’s tough as nails if she needs to be. She’ll stand.”
    “So there’s a woman out there who is going to turn me into a raging testosterone bull.”
    “Yeah, that’s about it,” Jack said.
    Ken whistled softly. “Well, there are always compensations in life.”

    “Yeah? Well, don’t be too sure about that. The way I understand it, Whitney’s not having much luck getting us lab rats together so he’s trying to round up the women and establish some kind of baby factory with a few of his enhanced soldiers volunteering for donor duty.”
    “Okay, that’s just sick.” Ken frowned. “So this woman—the one I’d react to—might be locked up in Whitney’s basement as a broodmare?”
    “Makes you want to meet the son of a bitch on a dark night with no one around, doesn’t it?”
    Ken crossed to his brother’s side and bent close to Briony’s neck, inhaling deeply. He was acutely aware of the rising tension and Jack’s sudden stillness. He straightened slowly, winked at his brother, and backed up. “Doesn’t do a thing for me.”
    “Well, next time you’re going to get personal, you might warn me.”
    “Get used to it. If you’re keeping her, then she’s my sister and that child is my niece or nephew. I’m a hands-on kind of man.”
    “You just like to piss me off,” Jack said.
    “Well, there’s that. On the other hand, we’ll find out really fast just how much of a bastard you’re going to be to live with—with your woman around. You get out of line, and I’ll have to take you out behind the barn.”
    “We don’t have a barn.”
    “I told you we needed a barn, damn it,” Ken said.