Ghostwalker 06 - Predatory Game

person’s mind. I feel what you feel. I can see what you’re thinking. You aren’t a killer, Saber. You kill reluctantly.” He sighed. “The truth is, between the two of us, I have much more of a killer mentality.I don’t feel remorse. Dead people don’t haunt me at night. When I thought I was stuck in this chair, I missed the action, the adrenaline, the danger. I like the life. You don’t.”
    “I made mistakes, Jess. I could make more.”
    Jess was silent, very aware of her fragile state of mind, the battle raging in her.She sounded so lost. So forlorn. He was walking a tightrope, needing to find a way of reaching her. Eric had reconfirmed all her own doubts about herself. If only he could touch her, hold her, he might have a chance. They were separated by a flight of stairs; it might as well have been the Grand Canyon.
    “Listen to me, angel face,” he tried again. His voice was sheer black magic, a dark sorcerer’s powerful weapon, the only one he had at the moment, and he used it shamelessly.“We need to talk this out. Come on down, honey. I’ll make hot chocolate, we can curl up on the futon with the fire going and settle it all, just the two of us.”
    His voice touched her like fingers, soothing, caressing. Half mesmerized, needing him, Saber stood up slowly. Part of her wanted to run down the stairs, fling herself into his arms and be comforted. The other half of her, the sane half, recognized the danger, the shaky line separating standing on the fence and making a commitment. She actually walked down the stairs thinking she was going to do it, just sit on his lap, lay her head on his shoulder, and everything would be all right.
    Self-preservation took over. She’d hoped once. Believed once. Hoped and believed in him, yet with her own eyes she’d seen her file, pictures of her as a child killing a puppy. That had been one of the worst moments of her life and he’d witnessed it. Not only Jess, but his friends. Saber eluded Jess’s outstretched hand, hurried into the middle of the living room.
    “I can’t let this happen. Don’t you see? I want to be with you, to stay here, to believe it’s all going to come out right, so the moment I let you hold me, I’ll let you convince me even though I know it’s impossible.”Tears glittered on lashes. “And it is, Jess. It’s impossible.”
    Jess found himself holding his breath. Saber couldn’t possibly know what she looked like. Wild, beautiful, large violet-blue eyes luminous with unshed tears, blue-black curls spilling like a halo around her delicate face.She was clad only in his shirt, the tails dipping nearly to her knees, the sides riding higher, revealing an enticing glimpse of bare thigh. Her small bare feet only seemed to increase the feeling of intimacy between them. Beneath his terry cloth robe, his naked body stirred hungrily.
    “You have to be willing to listen,” he said gently. “I believe this can be resolved.”
    “Do you?” Her chin lifted, eyes flashing. “Do you really? Or are you just lying to yourself?”
    Something dark and dangerous flickered in the depths of his eyes.His mouth hardened perceptibly. “I don’t lie to myself.”
    “Really? What about your ‘friend’ Eric? Or the fact that you allowed them to talk you into the bionics program, or that they’re using Zenith on you? Did you think I wouldn’t recognize the signs of that drug?
    That was in Whitney’s file, the one in plain English, not math code. It was his suggestion Zenith be used in small dosages, did you know that? You sold me out to them, whether you intended to do it or not.”

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    “Bullshit, Saber. You’re picking a fucking fight with me so you can leave.”He knocked the ashes from his pipe into the ashtray beside him and tossed the pipe aside. “I would never sell you out, not for any reason. I had you investigated, like I was supposed to. It would have been criminal of me not to, and you can’t condemn me for that. I have no idea how Eric found out about you, but it wasn’t through me and it wasn’t through Lily.”
    “How would you know? Because she told you that? Of course she told you and you believed her. But you didn’t believe me when I told you he knew.” She backed away when he glided closer.
    “Damn it, Saber, we have no chance of straightening anything out between us if you’re going to insist on behaving