Ghostwalker 06 - Predatory Game

rolled her eyes. “He’s a grump and a bore. Last night was no fun at all working with him.”
    He grinned at her. “I’ll be sure to plan all my future days off around your schedule.”
    She thumped his shoulder, knowing sarcasm when she heard it. “The phones are lighting up all over the place.”
    He shrugged, uncaring. “Probably that nut. He’s called six times already tonight. I don’t want to talk to him.”
    “Might be,” Saber agreed. “But on the other hand it could be our mighty boss. Ever think of that?”
    Brian’s smile faded instantly. He was halfway down the hall by the time Saber lifted a heavy hand to wave before matching her short strides to the security guard’s longer ones.
    The ride home seemed longer than usual. Saber was so sick she could barely keep her head up. She never got sick. She was so used to her body’s natural immunity to illness, it was rather alarming to find she had a high fever. If she wasn’t so afraid of calling attention to herself—and Jess—she might have considered seeing a doctor.
    Saber parked her small Volkswagen bug beside Jess’s large, custom-made van. Her car looked incongruous next to the huge bulk of the van. She glared at the pair of cars, thinking of how many times Jess had teased her about how small she was. She kicked the tire in a spurt of resentment. So like the two of them. Mutt and Jeff. She didn’t belong here. She could never belong here and she had to get the backbone to leave—and soon.

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    The large house seemed unusually dark and spooky as she entered it. Saber resisted the urge to flood the room with light, not wanting to disturb Jess. She did enough of that on the nights she didn’t work, keeping him awake with her phobias.
    There was no sound to warn her, yet suddenly Saber couldn’t breathe, adrenaline pumping into her body, freezing her halfway through the foyer. There was no scent, no breath, no stirring of the air, but she knew, an eternity too late, she wasn’t alone.
    Something snagged her ankles and she sprawled facedown on the hardwood floor, the breath knocked from her body. Before she could roll or retaliate, she felt the cold, deadly kiss of a gun barrel pressed against the nape of her neck.
    It all happened in seconds, yet time slowed down so that everything was crystal clear for Saber. The faint lemon in the polish on the wood floor, the beating of her heart, the pain in her lungs, the deadly feel of metal against her skin. Everything stilled as if she’d been waiting.
    They were here. They had hunted her, stalked her, and now they were here. Jesse. Oh God, she thought wildly. Jess was alone, asleep, vulnerable—what if they had hurt Jesse? Her vision tunneled, everything inside her coiling, ready to strike. She would have to kill the intruder in order to protect Jesse. Even if her assailant killed her, she would have to take him with her.
    The moment she put her hands palms down to push up off the floor, he shoved harder with the gun.
    “Don’t do it.”
    She had to get her hands on him, make him think she was a woman terrified out of her mind. She just needed that one moment where she could wrap her hand around his wrist, feel his pulse, his heartbeat…Saber went crazy, thrashing, trying to turn, arms flailing out at the gun to knock it aside. “Go ahead, shoot! Do it! Get it over with. I’m not running from you anymore.” She caught at the gleaming barrel as she sat up, pulled it against her head. “Do it!” She judged the distance to his wrist. A moment, just one heartbeat and she had him.
    To her surprise, her assailant suddenly swore and yanked the gun back.
    “Saber!” Jess’s voice was hoarse with a mixture of fear and anger. “Are you out of your mind sneaking in here like that? I could have shot you.”
    Fury and relief met fear head on, mingled, and melted together in a violent swirl of emotion she couldn’t contain. “You pulled a gun on me?” She flung herself at him, swinging at him with a clenched fist. She could have killed him—had come within a hairsbreadth of killing Jesse. Oh God, she could never—never—have lived with that.
    He caught both of her wrists, tipped her off balance, and brought her up hard against his legs. “Stop it, Saber.” He gave her a little shake when she continued to struggle. “I had no idea you were coming home.
    It’s hours early. You hate the dark and yet you didn’t