Ghostwalker 06 - Predatory Game

head. “Absolutely not. The general has been very good to the GhostWalkers. Without him, Ryland’s team would be on the run.” She looked past Jess to Saber. “Saber is ready, Jess, if you really want to try this.”
    Jess didn’t make the mistake of hesitating. One look at Saber’s face told him she was ready to run. He pushed his chair close to the futon and locked the brakes so he could shift onto the open bed. Saber handed him the two pillows that he kept on the shelf in the frame, and he stretched out, positioning his legs so Saber could touch them easily.
    She sank down beside him and tangled her fingers with his. “Are you certain? Very certain you want to try this?”
    He could feel her trembling and raised her knuckles to his mouth. “I need to do this, Saber. If there’s a way I can walk again, then I have to try.”
    She took a breath and let it out, glanced at Lily, who nodded encouragement, and moved down to the end of the futon where she could circle Jess’s ankle with her fingers. His skin was warm, so the circulation was working. She had to calm her mind, put away any possibility of mistakes, and listen, find his rhythm and hear what was happening in his body.
    In actuality, it was more than hearing—Saber felt the movement of blood. Felt the way everything worked, as if it were her own body, as if they shared one skin, much like it felt when Jess made love to her. That same breath. The euphoria. He was so strong, inside and out.
    She moved one hand up his leg to his calf, trying to feel the electrical pulse, that field of energy always present. She had to map the electrical properties of the damaged cells. She could identify them and keep the map in her mind, one of her greatest gifts. Lily and Eric had believed that with the DNA Whitney had given Jess during the genetic enhancement, and with the new drug accelerating cell repair, they would be able to stimulate the damaged nerves to work, but clearly the damage was far too severe.
    “Tell me what you’re doing.”

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    She moistened her lower lip with her tongue, the only sign of nerves. “Obviously, Jesse, I’m in uncharted territory. If the damaged cells had been usable, physical therapy would have been enough along with the other things Lily and Eric have tried, but the therapy failed. Before I can stimulate new nerves to grow, I’ll have to get rid of the damaged ones.”
    Jess linked his fingers behind his head.“That makes sense.”
    She flashed him a brief, tentative smile. “I’m glad you think so. And I sure hope you’re right about Dr.
    Whitney, because I’m using everything he said in that file. According to him, many areas of the body have their own built-in programs for regrowing themselves if they’re damaged. To heal myself, or someone else, in theory, all I really have to do is trigger one of those programs and the body will do the rest.”
    “Let’s do it then.”
    Saber sighed. She’d said “in theory.” He had chosen to ignore that part. To trigger the program she needed to send a steady stream of electrical signal to the right place at the right time. The body’s own biological regrowth program for that particular area would take over and do the rest. It sure beat trying to micromanage the regrowth process herself—that is, if Whitney was correct in his findings. She could just watch it kick in after she jump-started it.
    “Come on, Saber, let’s do this.”
    She scowled at him. “You know this isn’t quite as easy as you want it to be. For one thing, aside from having never done it, I have to learn all kinds of little details. I have to be careful when healing wounds to apply the electrical current in the right direction. If I blow it, the wound would open up instead of close.
    This is going to take a little time until I figure out what I’m doing.”
    He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “I’m sorry. I know it’s going to work, Saber. If you do this, I’ll be able to walk again.”
    “Well, don’t talk to me anymore. Let me visualize this.” Because she was scared now. She’d killed over and over again with the touch of her hand. Now she was going to do something good for a change—if she didn’t blow it and do further damage. And she was going to have to follow Dr. Whitney’s instructions verbatim. He had written that report for her to read, knowing she would read it and retain every word.
    He had