Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

violence of a kill, the dark energy spreading like bloodstains through the air, rushing straight at her. Hurrying, she expanded her mind, seeking enemies, tracking her boys, her family, the men guarding her.
    There was Gideon on the roof, his energy a mixture of adrenaline, fear, and determination, and she knew she could read him only because he’d pulled the trigger and violence surrounded him like a net. Javier raced through the crowd to come up on their flank as they emerged. Lucas guarded the front door of the shop. Marc sprinted to take up his position to cover them. People were moving around like chess players on a board. She reached even further in an effort to find the hard-core violent energy of intent to do harm.
    He’s in the crowd, near Javier. Coming around the block to intercept us. She tried to get the message out to them all before the killing energy hit with lethal force. The wave blasted through her head, hit her nervous system, nearly driving her to her knees.
    “Damn it, Jaimie.” Mack slipped his arm around her to support her. She was bleeding from her nose and another thin trickle leaked down the side of her mouth. “I need you strong.”
    “Mack.” Kane’s voice was quiet. Calm. “She told us where he was. Let’s go.”
    They ignored the clerk trying to wave them away from the door marked emergency exit only and pushed their way through. Lucas fell in behind them as they burst out onto the street and into the middle of a crowd. Traffic was backed up and snarling, horns blaring and fingers gesturing obscenely as Ethan kept the Cadillac blocking the lane right off the back door.
    Mack and Kane half carried Jaimie as she coughed blood onto the sidewalk. Javier burst through the crowd on his skateboard just as Lucas whirled to face the threat coming up behind him. The skateboarder flashed past Jaimie as Mack simply leaned down and shouldered her, sprinting for the vehicle. Javier kept going and someone in the crowd screamed, hands up in the air as blood sprayed over them. A man stumbled and went down, still clutching his unfired weapon in his hand.
    Lucas ran to the downed man. “Call nine-one-one! He’s hurt. Does someone have a cell phone?” As a precaution, he pushed the gun away from the limp hand with his elbow, although Javier never missed. His practiced hands went through pockets, Lucas’s body hiding the movement. He came up empty just as he knew he would.
    Javier was long gone, lost in the crowd, and Ethan stuck his finger out the window, flipping off the angry drivers behind him, and then put his foot on the gas, taking them out of there.

    94

    “He was walking toward me,” the man covered in blood said. “Then he just coughed and looked at me and fell. You don’t think he’s got some kind of disease, do you?”
    Lucas jumped back away from the body. “I don’t know, man. He could have come off a freighter. I’m going to wash my hands.”
    A siren shrieked in the distance as the circle of people moved back from the slain man. No one had seen what happened, but then, Lucas really hadn’t expected any wit nesses. No one had thought a thing of the teen with his skateboard, weaving in and out of the crowd. He backed off more, allowing the talk to swirl around him, and then he simply did what GhostWalkers did best: He disappeared.

    95

CHAPTER 7

    “Okay, honey, you’re scaring the hell out of me. You’ve got to wake up for me.”
    Mack’s voice penetrated the layer of pain Jaimie seemed to be drowning in. Her lashes fluttered, but she couldn’t quite pry her swollen lids open. Every inch of her head hurt, even her teeth. She detested psychic overloads.
    She moistened her dry mouth, ignoring the metallic taste of blood. “Go away.”
    Because she wasn’t getting up, not even to hear his voice again.
    “Thank God, Jaimie.” Relief poured into Mack’s voice. “I was about to call for help. Open your eyes.”
    She swallowed a protest. “What part of ‘go away’ didn’t you understand?” She didn’t dare move. Not any part of her body. Certainly not her head.
    Top, looks like you’re about to have company, Gideon reported. Big son of a bitch.
    Looks like a model. Really good-looking. There’s something about the way he moves .
    . . There was speculation in Gideon’s voice.
    Mack signaled to Kane as he slipped a gun out and positioned himself in front of Jaimie’s bed. Kane slipped across the room, standing to one side of the window to peer down at the