Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

pretty little gun.”
    She laughed. “I believe that.” She started back up the stairs, hesitated, and half turned back toward him. “Javier, you aren’t going to blow up my house, are you? I don’t have insurance for that.”

    34

    “Don’t insult me, Jaimie,” he replied. “You know I’m a specialist. My charges go exactly where I want them to go. Your home will be perfectly safe.”
    She nodded, tried a smile, and went on up to the third floor.
    Javier noted she was as quiet as ever. Jaimie had been recruited out of college and trained as an operative. She certainly hadn’t lost any of her skills. She was amazing in knowing where her enemies were at all times, was maybe the best of them, but she couldn’t kill. There was no pulling the trigger for Jaimie. Javier couldn’t understand why Mack let that bother him. The woman was just wired differently. She always had been. He remembered her as a little girl, all eyes and wild hair and a brain that wouldn’t quit. She’d started high school at eight years of age, Mack and Kane already fifteen and watching over her.
    Javier? Mack whispered in his mind. You where you can talk?
    That’s affirmative.
    We’ve removed the bodies. I ran into a couple of suspects, but they backed off her place. I think they’re watching it, though. I’ve got them under surveillance. We’re going to set up shop in a couple of places.
    There’s no doubt they were making a grab for her. Whose are they, Top?
    Not the ones we were looking for. Someone else is in this mix. Kane got the information from Sergeant Major Griffen that Madigan had a heart attack and is in the hospital. That explains the low profile here. They don’t want to tip off Doomsday to where they’re keeping the guns or to the fact that Madigan is indisposed. He probably gave them some story about a delay. We should have a little time to set up here and watch the warehouse and keep Jaimie safe as well.
    A heart attack? Javier asked.
    Yeah, a little convenient.
    It could happen, Javier pointed out. Stranger things had.
    The problem with the address? Jaimie being here? Madigan having a heart attack before he can get the guns into Doomsday’s hands? Those conveniences just keep piling up, Mack said. Watch her and don’t trust anyone .
    I never do, Javier responded as he made his way up to the second story.
    If Mack thought they were all being manipulated, the chances were great that they had been. Mack rarely was wrong when he got a strong enough hunch to say it out loud.
    On the second story, two more boxes were opened that hadn’t been earlier, which meant Jaimie had been upset after they left and had worked rather than gone to bed.
    He added a few charges to slow down any unwanted guests and made his way to Jaimie’s
    living quarters. The aroma of coffee hit
    him
    immediately.
    Javier grinned at her. “I forgot you make the best coffee on the planet.”

    35

    The upper story had a few dim night-lights glowing; he didn’t want shadows across the windows giving away their positions, but she hadn’t turned on any bright lights. Jaimie turned around and leaned one hip against her counter. His stomach knotted. Here it came. Damn it. He had hoped Mack would get this, not him.
    “I haven’t seen any of you in two years and within minutes of seeing you, I’ve got trouble on my doorstep, haven’t I, Javier?”
    He tried an angelic grin. It worked on most women, but she knew him. She didn’t smile back and her eyes flickered. Oh, yeah. She was upset. “I like to think we arrived just in the nick of time to save the damsel in distress.”
    She sat on the counter and swung her legs. “Just how much danger is there, Javier?”
    He winked. “None now that I’m here. We’ll just stay away from the windows.
    You do have an escape route up here, right?” He couldn’t imagine a planner like Jaimie not incorporating a secret escape or two.
    She nodded curtly. “Don’t be cute with me, Javier.” She narrowed her eyes and looked at him closer. “Come here.”
    He took a step back, wary of that expression on her face. He’d seen it before on a woman and it never boded well. “I’m just hanging out with you, Jaimie.”
    “Really? Then why is there blood on your sleeve?” She wrinkled her nose. “I smell fresh blood.”
    The woman had always had sharp eyes. And an even keener sense of smell. Javier shrugged. “All in the line of duty. You had a couple of rats sniffing around your back door, babe. I