Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

the man treats those women is criminal. And I’m not convinced he doesn’t have more orphans locked up somewhere, experimenting on them. I’ll pay whatever price Griffen wants to keep Jaimie out of Whitney’s hands.”
    She turned around and rested one hip against the counter to study Kane’s face. He was handsome in a tough sort of way, even with the lines etched there. “What happened there, Kane? In Whitney’s compound. I know you were assigned to guard the place . . .”
    “I wish I’d been assigned to guard the place. That’s what I thought. That’s what we all thought. But it was for something altogether different. Whitney ran tests on all of us and he paired a few of us with some of the women being held there.”
    She swallowed hard. She’d hacked into Whitney’s files and she had several condemning files. Had Kane really been asked to get one of the women pregnant? She couldn’t imagine him doing something like that.
    “I’m not discussing it, Jaimie, not yet. It’s all too raw and I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to do yet.”
    “Jaimie! Get down here now.” Javier’s voice came through the intercom. “You’re being hacked. Double-time it.”
    Jaimie threw the spoon back in the sauce and pushed past Mack. She leapt across the room in two long bounds, landing at the top of the stairs in a crouch and then jumping to the landing below. She was comfortable using her enhanced genetic skills.
    Mack noted her body was fluid like a cat’s as she leapt the remaining distances. He didn’t use his cat skills; he used his teleportation speed, flashing from spot to spot and landing right with her.
    “The alarm should have gone off upstairs. I’ve been waiting for this,” Jaimie said, seating herself beside Javier. Her eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “Did you touch anything?”
    “I turned it off just now,” Javier admitted. “It scared the hell out of me.”
    Her fingers raced over the keyboard at an enormous rate of speed. Javier seemed to know exactly what she was doing, his fingers were flying as well. To Mack the screen was nothing but numbers and red lines streaking in various directions.

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    “He’s been nosing around trying to get past my security, so I set up a nice little trap and the idiot fell for it.”
    “He’s good,” Javier pointed out, his eyes glued to the data flowing across the screen.
    “Yep, but I’m better,” Jaimie said. “I knew he was going to make his try soon. I put out bait and he took it. I’m going to find out exactly who he is.”
    “Will he know you’ve traced him?” Mack asked.
    “He’s bouncing all over the place,” Javier hissed.
    “He doesn’t know we’re tracking him,” Jaimie said. “I just need another minute to get him. He’s hacking into the trap I set and if he makes it in before I get him, he’ll be gone.”
    “I take it you made it difficult?”
    “You bet. I want to see how skilled he really is. He’s moving through the walls fast.”
    “He’s a pro with resources,” Javier added. “Only a few in the world are good enough to hack into your system, Jaimie.”
    Mack marveled at the speed their fingers flew across the keyboard. Their eyes were glued to the screen. It all made sense to them, but to him it was a jumble of code and nothing more. That didn’t stop uneasiness from creeping into him. He felt hunted.
    Watched. Something evil moving in the room.
    Twice Jaimie’s breath hissed out and once Javier hunched lower over the keys as if that small movement would increase his speed and dexterity.
    The tension in the room coiled tighter and tighter, stretching nerves taut. Mack could hear breathing, feel the blood pounding in his veins, the knots forming in the pit of his stomach. He looked around, into every corner, half expecting someone to come jumping out at them. His hand actually crept toward the knife at his belt.
    “I’m almost on him,” Jaimie hissed. “I’ve got you, you toad.”
    Mack’s gut reacted with more knots and somewhere in his brain a warning flash went off. He cleared his throat. “Jaimie, shut it down.”
    “Are you crazy?”
    “Do it, Jaimie,” Kane said. “Shut it down.”
    “Javier, that’s an order,” Mack snapped and caught Jaimie, jerking her away from the computer. “Pull the plug. Do it now, do it fast.”

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    “Whose side are you on?” Jaimie demanded, twisting around, trying to get back to her chair. Mack kept his arm around her waist, lifting her