Ghostwalker 05 - Deadly Game

and prepared the needle. Using his teeth, he pulled off the cap and slammed it home, injecting her fast, praying she wasn't allergic and he could do a fast medical on her and make a run for it.
    Jack came up behind him, taking a position facing away from them, making a sweep with his rifle to keep back any of the sniper's squad that might slip through their team's net.
    "Hurry up," Jack growled. "Knock him out and stop being so gentle about it."
    "It's Mari, Jack," Ken whispered, needing to say it aloud.
    "What?" Jack jerked around, staring at the sniper as the eyes fluttered closed. "Are you certain?"
    Ken pulled the woman's belt loose and buckled it around her leg. "Either that or your wife is playing sniper for the other team. It has to be Mari. She looks exactly like Briony."
    Jack backed up until he had a good look at the woman's face. There was dirt and scratches and blood, but the sight of her lying pale, platinum and gold hair spilling around her face, nearly stopped his heart. "Is she going to make it?"
    "I'm trying. She's lost some blood. We've got to get out of here, Jack. Kadan and the others aren't going to be able to hold them for long. Who's our medic?"
    "Nico is the closest. He's with the helicopter, about an hour out."
    "Tell him to rendezvous at the point. We'll hump it out of here and hope she doesn't bleed out while we make a run for it." Ken reached over the top of the woman to grab her arm. He inhaled as he did so. He'd been holding his breath without realizing it, afraid to take in her scent. Whitney had done a lot of experimenting, everything from genetic enhancement to pheromones. Ken wanted no part of that. He already had enough to contend with.

    Mari was small and shapely beneath the vests, camouflage clothing, and regulation boots. The moment Ken drew her scent into his lungs, he knew he was in trouble. It mattered little that they were surrounded by the enemy, or that she smelled of sweat and blood; her natural scent acted like a powerful drug, an aphrodisiac, and he found his body reacting in spite of the dangerous situation. He clenched his teeth and brought her up to his shoulders, then moved quickly through the heavy brush toward the rendezvous point with the helicopter.
    Jack retrieved her weapon, slinging it around his neck and falling in behind his brother, forcing his attention on keeping them alive, and not worrying about what might happen to his wife's sister.
    Kadan and the rest of the team would get the senator and his wife to safety, utilizing the vehicles. Kadan had already arranged for another helicopter pickup at an opposite location.
    Ken and Jack were fairly certain the assassination team was going to be charging after them and their prisoner, or at least dividing. In any case, Kadan needed to question the senator's wife. At the very least they needed to take a much closer look at her.
    Ken ran, feeling with every step he took the weight of the knowledge that he was the one who had shot the woman. If she died, he would never be able to face Briony, Jack's wife.
    He loved Briony. She accepted him with his ugly face and body, never flinching away or averting her eyes. But more than her acceptance, she'd changed Jack's life. She'd brought happiness and hope to both of them when their world had been bleak and unforgiving.
    Briony and her twin sister had been two of the orphans Whitney had experimented on, and he had separated the twins, keeping Marigold and giving Briony up for adoption.
    Briony was frantic to find Mari, and if Ken had killed her, he had no idea what that would do to their family. He sent up a silent prayer as he jogged, trying to ignore the smell of blood and the feel of it soaking into his shirt.
    They had been looking for Marigold, unraveling the clues leading to her for weeks now.
    They'd started with the premise that Whitney still had her locked away in one of his many compounds. The locations were secret and difficult to find, as he had a high security clearance and someone very high up was helping him cover his tracks. But they had the name and registration number of the private jet that had gone down in the Congo carrying the senator. And there had been a private jet carrying the team of men who had chased Briony across the country.
    The jets were owned by two different corporations. The company in Nevada had a secretary who simply stated that the owner, an Earl Thomas Barlett, was not available. He signed all the documents and owned a home, yet