Ghostwalker 05 - Deadly Game

visual on Mari," Jack reported. "Sean must have knocked her out. She's lying on the seat, buckled in, but he's cuffing her."
    Ken swore, a blistering string of obscenities that would have shocked a sailor. "I knew I should have capped that bastard. What the hell was Mari thinking trusting him?"
    "I don't know that she did trust him, Ken. All I caught was her need to get back to the women she loves – her family."
    "I should have stopped her. I could have. I just let her go right back into the enemy's camp." His gaze glittered hotly, his mouth set in a grim, implacable line. "She's the primary mission, Jack. You make certain the others understand that. They don't want to be hunting me, and that's what's going to happen if they blow this. She's primary. The other women and Whitney are secondary."
    "That's understood, Ken," Jack assured. "You're letting this get to you. She's a soldier and she'll act like one. Trust her. Hell, Ken, she saved our lives and she bested you, even knocked your ass out. She acts fast, hits hard, and does the unexpected. She gave us enough information to lull us into a false security, but nothing that would trip up her team or lead us back to her base." There was respect in Jack's voice. "I put a gun to her head, Ken, and she didn't even flinch. Did you notice that? Her mind was working the entire time. She doesn't panic and she's sorting through all the possibilities fast. There's no backup in her."
    "She must have driven Whitney crazy. He doesn't like opposition of any kind, but he wants those very traits for his supersoldiers. He'd want to control her, but not break her spirit," Ken said. "I'm planning on using sex. Lots and lots of sex."
    "Yeah, good luck with that." Jack quirked an eyebrow at him as they turned onto the road leading to the small airfield where Lily had private transportation waiting. "Am I missing something here or didn't you already have sex with her, really great sex, and her answer was to knock you out? Am I wrong? Didn't that happen?"

    "Shut the hell up."
    Ken shouldered his pack and stalked across the tarmac to the waiting plane. Jack followed at a more leisurely pace, whistling off-key.
    Kadan, Ryland's second in command, joined them, glancing from one to the other. "You haven't switched roles on us, have you?" he asked. "Because, frankly, Ken's looking a little hostile."
    "Yep. I'm the easygoing Norton," Jack said, prodding his brother with his satchel. "Isn't that right, Ken? He got beat up by a girl and he's sulking."
    "Keep it up, Jack," Ken said, "you're not going to make it to your next birthday."
    "But then Briony would be all upset and cry all the time. She probably would never get out of bed, and you'd have to take care of the babies."
    Kadan's eyebrow shot up. "Someone must have given you a happy pill, Jack."
    Jack shrugged. "There's nothing quite like seeing a woman wrapping my brother around her little finger. He's whipped…" He grinned. "Literally."
    Ken muttered a suggestion that was anatomically impossible. "If you're here, Kadan, who's watching Briony? I wouldn't put it past Whitney to try for another grab at her."
    Jack flicked him a warning look. "You can stop right there, Ken. I've stashed her somewhere very safe, somewhere Whitney would never think to look."
    "He knows where all the GhostWalkers live, Jack. He probably knows the safe houses as well. You should be home with Briony right now, protecting her."
    "Whitney doesn't know about this house."
    Ken was silent for a moment. "She isn't with a GhostWalker."
    Jack shook his head. "I sent her first to Lily's place, and then she was supposed to have gone to visit with Nico and Dahlia. Lily smuggled her out and she's safe with Miss Judith.
    I've wanted them to meet, so Jeff escorted Briony to her home. She's promised she won't leave the house and will stay out of sight. I've got two guards on them, but Whitney will never think to look for her there."
    Miss Judith was the woman who had turned their lives around and kept them both out of jail. She'd been a volunteer, working at the group home where they were placed, and she had seen the rage hidden beneath the icy and very frightening demeanor of the two boys who had been constantly shuffled from one foster home to the next. She wasn't put off by their bad reputations or the fact that they had retaliated against a couple of their foster parents for mistreatment or the fact that they refused to be separated, running away each time the system had