Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

Major.”
    “And he told you to play down your abilities.”
    Paul shook his head. “I was already doing that. Whitney’s a brilliant man. His weakness is thinking no one else is quite as bright as he is. His ego defeats him every time.”
    “So he never guessed about you.”
    “No.”
    “And the old man decided to put you somewhere safe.”
    Paul sent Mack a half smile. “You were the safest person he knew.”
    “Did it occur to either of you I might blow your brains out, thinking you were betraying us? Your old man needs a lot more than a slap upside the head.” Mack glared at the boy. “I considered just shooting you and getting it over with. I’m not one for mysteries in my own backyard. Are we clear?”
    “Yes, Top.”
    “That’s boss to you,” Mack corrected.
    The kid hid a smile, his eyes lighting up. “Yes, Top . . . boss.”
    “You know we’re going to talk about the old man and the things you’ve been keeping from me. I’ll want to meet with him.”
    “Not in his office, Top . . . boss.”
    Mack’s eyebrow shot up. His eyes met Kane’s. If their commanding officer was compromised, and Paul seemed to be telling them he was, they were all in trouble.
    Why hadn’t Griffen found a way to reach out to him? He really hated mysteries. If someone wanted them dead, just come at them and make the try.
    He sat back in his chair. “They sweep his office every day.”
    Paul kept his eyes fixed on Mack. “Yes, they do.”
    “Damn it. Why didn’t the old man tell me?”

    186

    “He said you’d figure it out.”
    So the old man had expected him to figure it out. How? Without Jaimie experimenting with him they would never have discovered Paul. But maybe they weren’t meant to find out about Paul. Griffen had sent Paul to him as part of the team—not as his son. He hadn’t revealed the asset that Paul was because he didn’t want the boy compromised. Griffen would never have told Mack that Paul was his son. The sergeant major had expected him to figure out that he was compromised.
    How?
    He did what he always did—he found Jaimie. She sat tailor fashion on her bed, listening. What do you think? he asked.
    The suicide missions. You obviously had a bad feeling the moment the orders came down. What tipped you off?
    It was the one thing that didn’t make sense, unless Griffen was working with Whitney. But if he wasn’t working with Whitney, then the suicide missions didn’t make sense at all. He would never set up the men in his own command. Mack pressed his fingers into his throbbing eyes. Griffen should have found a better way to get through to him. He must have subtly warned Mack, enough that he picked up on it, but not in a way that tipped anyone else off.
    The boy was looking at Mack as if he was going to save the world—save his father. He stretched his legs out in front of him, feeling old and tired. A few minutes earlier, Jaimie’s soft body was wrapped around him, taking him away from reality, but this—blood and death and the planning of it—was his reality. He felt very alone.
    Weighed down. Sometimes he thought his back might break under the load.
    Look at me.
    Her voice shimmered in his mind. Soft. Tender. Like that of an angel. Like sex and sin. Like love and devotion. Everything . There she was. He lifted his gaze, his eyes meeting hers.
    I’ll be here for you. Every minute, Mack. You can do this thing better than anyone else. It’s a gift.
    It’s a burden.
    A gift. You are extraordinary. You’ll find a way out for Griffen, for Paul, for Kane and Brian. You aren’t alone. We’re with you. I’m with you.
    She sent him her slow, sexy smile. The one that reminded him how her lips felt wrapped around his cock, how it felt to be sliding in and out of that hot, wet world, her gaze locked with his. Just the memory of her soft moans aroused him, made him so hard he could barely move with the aching demand. Other times, like now, just the touch of her mind in his, the feeling that she could be aroused just by the brush of his hand along her breasts, or thighs, settled his mind right along with his gut.
    Paul smiled at him. “Your energy and Jaimie’s merge and the patterns weave together. It’s very strange and really cool.”

    187

    Sharing himself with Jaimie was far too intimate to have anyone else “reading”
    their energy. He couldn’t explain how he felt to her, let alone to anyone else. And he certainly didn’t want his emotions dissected in some psychic