Ghostwalker 05 - Deadly Game

one controls us, Ken. We do what we've always done; we make our own rules and we stick together."

    "What about her?" Ken's reply was so low Mari barely caught the words.
    Jack sighed. "You know it's impossible to leave her behind, so we're going to have to work through it. It wasn't that easy for me with Briony, but we managed."
    "I'm not you, Jack. I'm telling you, I'm like he was."
    "No, you're not." Mari was firm, startling both men into noticing her. "If Whitney saw that information in a file somewhere, yes, he'd use it against you. He's very good at twisting people into knots, exploring their weaknesses, but if he has psychic abilities and he touched you, he didn't read that in you."
    "How do you know that?" Ken's fingers continued that gentle brushing along her toes, his grip as strong as ever, but the touch had lost its warning and had become an involuntary caress.
    "Because I touched you."
    Ken blinked. It was his only movement. There was no change of expression on his face, but she knew he'd reacted.
    Jack edged closer. "You have that kind of ability? To read people when you touch them?"
    "She doesn't," Ken denied. "She's lying to try to ease my mind."
    "You wish. I don't even like you. Why would I want to ease your mind? The worse you feel, the happier I am." His eyes had gone to cold steel, but she held his gaze and shrugged with feigned casualness. "I couldn't care less whether you believe me or not."
    "Do you?" Jack asked.
    Mari studied their faces. There were definite chinks in their armor, whether they wanted to admit it or not. "Not strong, but strong enough to know Ken isn't a flat-out murderer, especially not of women. He would carry out an order, but he wouldn't just go around killing someone for no real reason."
    "Good to know." Ken let go of her foot and took away the warmth. "If you're so good at all of this, why don't you tell me who this man is and we can let it go?"
    She frowned. "You know it was Sean."
    "And he'll come after you."
    "Whitney will send him, yes, but if you're right that this is an experiment, why would he do that? Why would he send someone to bring me back to him? Wouldn't he want to see what happens between us?"

    "He's sending Brett first," Ken replied. "That's all part of his happy little plan. And then he'll send the other one because there's a bond between you, and Whitney knows it – and he knows I know it and he knows I'll kill them."
    There was an edge to his voice that alarmed her, his tone low and mean and without mercy. She wanted to say it shouldn't matter, but she already knew the power of Whitney's experiments, and she had enhanced scent, just as Ken did, just as Jack did. That made the pheromone response all the more potent. Whitney had created a powerful sexual attraction that transcended common restraint and threatened the discipline of even the strongest soldier – just as the doctor had planned.
    If Ken was really like his father, as he evidently feared, she could be in more trouble than she'd ever dreamed. She doubted if she could resist Ken Norton if he made sexual advances toward her, but she would try. What she hadn't counted on was caring one way or the other about the man. She was drawn to him, not just sexually, but emotionally, and that made no sense to her and almost scared her more than the physical attraction.
    "My leg hurts and this conversation is making me feel sick. I shouldn't be giving out information to you. We're enemies."
    Jack shook his head. "I don't think we are. If you were really ordered to protect the senator, as we were, then we're on the same side. You have the GhostWalker crest tattooed on your upper back." He shoved up his sleeve. "We're a member of an elite unit of the Special Forces and we all work for the United States. We're on the same side, Mari. I don't know how the wires are getting crossed, but I suspect Whitney has something to do with it."
    "You think Whitney has gone rogue."
    "We all thought he was dead – murdered," Jack replied. "He disappeared about eighteen months ago, and his daughter 'saw' his death, saw him murdered."
    "I can assure you, he's very much alive."
    "No one has seen or heard from him. Only recently, we began to suspect he faked his own death."
    Mari frowned, shifting slightly to ease the soreness in her hips. Nothing could stop the pain in her leg, so she ignored it, the way she'd been taught. It bothered her that Jack was doing all the talking, as if Ken was still dwelling on other things –