Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

Jaimie finished. “But what happened to the chain of command, Mack?”
    “You have been digging for information.” Mack didn’t know whether to admire her or shake her. “Did you see the actual report?”
    “It was a closed meeting, Mack, and all of them—and you—trusted Griffen would take it higher and something would be done. The men turned over all their evidence to the sergeant major as they were supposed to. Did you think it strange that Kane and Brian were sent out on a mission alone not long after, when your team always works together?”
    Mack shook his head. “Not always, Jaimie.” But his gut was churning again, always a bad sign. “All the teams are assigned to support one another at times.” But he had thought it strange. The order had raised a red flag in his mind and he’d sent Javier and Gideon as backup. He’d kept that to himself.
    “Things didn’t go as well as expected.”
    “They completed their assignment and they made it back.”
    “And Sergeant Major has sent all of you out on assignments with specific orders on how to run the operation. Brian and Kane were always put in harm’s way.”
    “We all were. That’s the name of the game.”
    A flash of annoyance crossed her face. “That’s your problem, Mack. You think this is all some massive chess game. The human lives you’re playing with are your family.”
    “That’s such bullshit, Jaimie.” Now he was furious. “I keep them alive. I don’t take my men blindly into a combat situation. And I don’t let anyone else plan my missions, not even Sergeant Major.”
    “Which is why Kane and Brian are still alive. Fortunately for Antonio Martinez, the leader of Team Two seems to be just as good at planning and so far has managed to keep him alive. As for Malichai, he’s been wounded twice. The missions for the 127

    pararescue team are much more sensitive and harder to get to, but often only three men are sent out together and unfortunately they have no way of knowing he’s a target. He’s going to have a difficult time staying alive.”
    Mack was silent, turning over her information. His every instinct told him she was right. For all he knew, Jaimie might be able to hack into the Pentagon computers. She had skills that were incredible. She wrote programs and codes that others couldn’t seem to compete with, and the military used her programs. She could look at a report, a picture, and see inconsistencies or patterns long before anyone else. If she said someone was targeting those four men—there was no question about it.
    “You hacked Sergeant Major. Maybe someone else did.”
    “He reported everything to Colonel Wilford, Mack. Colonel Wilford consulted with someone other than the next in the chain of command, someone I can’t get to yet.
    That man turned over all the evidence to Whitney. He’s running the teams and he believes in the GhostWalkers, but he’s fanatical the way Whitney is. The end justifies the means. If they lose a few along the way, too bad as long as the end results are the super-soldier they believe is the wave of the future.”
    “You believe Griffen is actually trying to kill four GhostWalkers.” He made it a statement.
    “I don’t know exactly what he’s doing, but he takes his orders from Colonel Wilford and Wilford takes them from someone who consults with Whitney. What do you think? I’ve studied Whitney. He’s very removed from human feelings. He isn’t going to kill his soldiers outright. If they die, they weren’t good enough to live. But he’s going to keep putting them in harm’s way because they’re the most expendable.
    He knows Griffen gave them an order. He told them they weren’t to discuss what they saw at Whitney’s compound with anyone. And they haven’t.”
    “Kane told me there’s a breeding program.”
    “Because the rumor was already going around. Team Two has a woman from the program married to one of their members. That isn’t exactly news.”
    Mack sagged against the desktop. Had he trapped them all in a web of intrigue?
    He wasn’t the intrigue type. Point him at a target and he could take it out without hesitation. He was hell on wheels in a fight, but not this kind of deceit. Friends betraying friends. There was a code of honor. A standard. Sergeant Major was the man who directed his team as well as a personal friend. They relied on each other.
    Nothing worked if there wasn’t honor.
    Jaimie moved closer to him. He felt the warmth of her body,