Ghostwalker 07 - Murder Game

now the law enforcement agencies claimed she'd lost her talent in a climbing accident, when she'd fallen and hit her head. He didn't believe it for a moment, but if he was wrong, he was wasting time he didn't have on a bad roll of the dice.

    He had a few questions marks in his mind about Meadows. There were no photographs of her, not a single one, and she worked for numerous law enforcement agencies. He'd tried National Geographic , but they didn't have a picture either. Who had that kind of power? No civilian could manage to wipe out law enforcement records—unless there was never a photograph in the first place. There were plenty of articles in newspapers, an her d
    name was in numerous FBI and police reports across the country, and then there were her hospital records. No photograph existed there either, which meant that little Miss Tansy Meadows had to be red flagged. Kadan had high security clearance and the general eve n
    higher, yet from what they could tell, no photograph of her existed. Period.

    She'd been adopted at the age of five by Don and Sharon Meadows, a wealthy couple who'd made a name for themselves in the research, design, and assembly of aircraft, specifically attack helicopters. Don and Sharon Meadows were major players in politics and frequently received government contracts for military research and design. The couple was well connected politically, but did that mean they had the clout to keep their daughter's photograph from appearing anywhere in the news? It was possible, but doubtful. It would take far more power and influence, and for what possible gain?

    The first time Kadan had heard rumors of a teenager who could track serial killers was when he'd trained atQuantico . Controversy had raged over whether there was such a thing as psychic ability, and if one had it, whether could it really be channeled to track a killer. He had never entered into the discussions, because he knew absolutely that psychic ability existed, but to harness it and be able to use it were difficult things. The police Tansy had worked with swore by her, but no one mentioned her training, which had seemed odd to him.

    He continued upward, his gut telling him he was on the right path. There were no tracks yet, nothing to indicate the presence of another human being, but he was certain he was heading in the right direction. He was looking for a needle in a haystack, yet he knew he would find her. Every instinct he had told him she was somewhere close. And he would bet his last dollar that she was lying her ass off claiming she'd lost her psychic abilities. If she had worked over and over with the police tracking serial killers successfully, he doubted if a climbing accident had suddenly snuffed out her talent as she claimed when she came out of the hospital, refusing to even meet with police or FBI agents again.

    His gaze scanned the ground as he moved at a steady pace along the narrow trail. The path was no more than a worn deer trail, zigzagging up and down the slope, but he spotted two places where the grass was crushed and several leaves appeared bruised.
    Something had moved through the brush recently. He stooped to examine the ground and saw a faint track. It was nearly four inches wide and the two front toes were not lined up, with one toe farther forward, almost pointing, and four toes all together. There were no ABC Amber LIT Converter
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    claw marks, and the top part of the heel pad had two distinct curvatures while the bottom had three separate lobes. There was no question in his mind the track belonged to a cougar. He'd found the cat; now he just needed to find the woman.

    The rangers had assured him the mountain lions were up here somewhere, and that meant that Tansy Meadows would be also. His mission was to find her and bring her back to aid him in clearing the GhostWalker name. She had the reputation with the FBI of being the real deal, and the general needed Kadan to do damage control as soon as o
    p ssible, and to do that, Kadan needed Tansy Meadows. He had never failed in a mission yet, and this one was too important.

    He continued hiking, using the winding ribbon of a trail. Occasionally he could see a partial track in the damp soil, and once he found a few tufts of fur in some brush where the cat had been rubbing. He decided she must be female; her tracks weren't deep enough to indicate much