Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

contacted any of them. Not a single one. When she’d left Mack, she believed they’d all side with him and when she split with the leader of the family, that she’d be the one alone.
    “I didn’t write anyone off. Why do you think I’m doing this?” She swept her hand toward the computers. “Do you really think it’s to prove a point to Mack? That’s so like the way he’d think. He’s egotistical and arrogant. I want to keep you all safe. I found out that the first GhostWalker team was targeted for murder. Did you know that? They were incarcerated in Whitney’s lab and someone was sending them out on assignments and having them killed. Do you understand what that means, Javier?
    Sergeant Major could send you on a mission and you’d follow orders.”
    Javier frowned and crossed his arms across his chest, stretching his legs out in front of him as he regarded her with his dark, unblinking eyes. “You sure about this?”
    She nodded. “And the second GhostWalker team was sent to the Congo. It was a trap. Two of the members were horribly tortured. The report is very detailed and includes some ghastly photographs. I have plenty of proof that it was a conspiracy involving a senator and another female GhostWalker. There are so many incidents, Javier, where GhostWalkers were sent into impossible situations. Fortunately, when they’re together as a team, they’ve managed to escape, but I’ve pieced together at least four more incidents where I believe the first two teams were targeted for complete elimination.”
    “What about us?”
    She dropped her eyes and shrugged. Casually. Too casually. “I have only one suspect mission.”
    “Our first. Where everything went to hell and they were waiting for us. It could have been bad intel, Jaimie.”
    “Yes. But it wasn’t. I believe it was deliberate. If I hadn’t been there to warn you all, most of you, or all of you, would have been wiped out on a single mission.”
    “And the fourth team?”
    She shook her head. “They’re shrouded in mystery. To get to their files, I have to peel layers and layers of protection away. I think they’re hunting terrorist cells around 118

    the world. I think they assassinate them and melt back into the shadows. If I’m right, Javier, it would be easy for them to be eliminated.”
    “You think Whitney is doing this? Killing the soldiers he made?”
    Jaimie shook her head, grateful someone she cared about was willing to listen to her. “Not Whitney. It doesn’t fit his profile.” She paced across the room and back, a small frown creasing her forehead. “It isn’t him or his supporters. Those helping him know about his experiments with children and they’re covering for him. And they sure know about his breeding program, but they don’t want him dead. Or us. They believe his soldiers, all of you—me—are the answer for future soldiers.” She shook her head. “No, it’s someone else. Another group opposing Whitney’s work and they don’t mind murder to get rid of us.”
    “So different groups could be after you,” Javier said.
    She looked at him. “Probably.” He kept looking at her, his gaze locking with hers.
    She sighed. “Okay. Yes. Two different factions. I think Whitney’s supporters know about me and want me dead before I have a chance to expose them. The second group I don’t believe has a clue I’m coming after them.”
    “Walk away from it, Jaimie.”
    “I can’t. You’re my family. I’m not letting them target you for elimination. I can’t go with you, so this is the only way I have of protecting you.”
    Javier’s smile was slow in coming. “That’s so you, Jaimie. In your own way you think you can save the world.”
    “No, just my family. You and Mack and Kane save the world. I just care about saving you right now.”
    “Do you really believe you can’t trust Mack?” His voice was quiet, not at all accusing.
    She swallowed hard. What did she think? Kane had set Sergeant Major on her and what none of them seemed to realize was that he’d known she was digging for information. How had he known? “Mack protects all of us, Javier. He’d go up in flames if he saw I was setting myself up as a target in order to draw them away from you.”
    His breath hissed out. “You fucking tipped them off.”
    “I didn’t have any other way to keep them from going after you. I know they were going to kill all of you. I can’t prove it, not even to Mack. He wouldn’t listen or believe