Ghostwalker 08 - Street Game

“But he does have excellent hearing.”
    The men burst out laughing. Ethan slapped Paul on the back and then beat the kid to the next most comfortable chair.
    “Jaimie doesn’t have a lot of furniture,” Lucas complained. “I see you bought a couple of beds. Did it occur to you that when we’re hanging out here we’ll need chairs?” He swung a kitchen chair around and straddled it.
    “I discourage company every way I can,” Mack said.
    Lucas looked up at him. “You and Jaimie moving in together, boss?”
    Mack stared him down. “What do you think?”
    “That I’d better keep my mouth shut,” Lucas muttered.
    “Good plan.” Mack took the chair across from Kane, looking up as Gideon came in. He frowned. “You look tired. You aren’t sleeping again.”
    Gideon shrugged. “I’m fine. Getting headaches again, Mack.” He washed his hands at the sink and looked around. “You know, I’m not all that hungry. I might lie down while I brief you. Do you mind?”
    You need a medic? Mack demanded with quick concern. Don’t lie to me, Gideon.

    159

    There was a long pause and it took every ounce of self-discipline for Mack to keep from looking at him, and possibly tipping off the others—or Paul—to their private conversation.
    “Use Kane’s bed,” Mack said aloud. “It will be easier for you to talk.”
    Marc was the only one of them with real healing and medic abilities and right now, he’d gone out on the roof to keep an eye on their company. But there was Spagnola. The man was pararescue and he obviously had skills, psychic healing skills.
    I’ll be fine, Mack, Gideon assured.
    Any bleeding? Mack held his breath.
    A nosebleed. Nothing serious.
    Around him the men joked good-naturedly with one another, but Mack could only hear the warning alarm going off in his mind. A nosebleed—nothing serious. It was another complication. He needed Gideon, but the man had to be seen by a doctor and immediately.
    “We’ve got two men sitting out in a fishing boat. Neither is very happy. One keeps puking. They’re radioing our two on land. Right now they’re sniffing around the warehouses, including this one, so I’m fairly sure they aren’t certain of the exact location of the guns. But sooner or later, one of the guards is going to go home and someone else will take their place. There’s no mistaking a Madigan man. They wear that cute little tattoo on the inside of their arms, trying to be all scary.”
    “They don’t get one of those tattoos without first killing a Madigan enemy,” Mack said.
    “They like to brag,” Kane said.
    “And they strut around the docks. A couple of Madigan’s men were in the pub down the street and the local fishermen never even looked at them. It takes practice to keep your eyes off someone like that,” Lucas said. “Practice and fear. And these fishermen are tough. When I went up to the bar, one of the older fishermen gestured for me to sit with him. He made sure I was facing away from the bar and the two Madigan men. He didn’t say anything to warn me off, but he was definitely trying to convey to the newbie in the neighborhood that you don’t ‘see’ those men.”
    “Gideon, did you ID any of the Doomsday team?”
    “Oh, yeah. We got one of the heavy hitters running the show. Armando Shepherd.
    Believe me, boss, he’s not the one in the boat.”
    “Why do they all call you ‘boss’ and not ‘Top’?” Paul asked.
    “He’s been our boss a long time,” Kane said. “It’s a nickname more than a title.
    But if the brass is around, or we’re running a mission, most of the time we call him
    ‘Top.’ ”

    160

    Mack sent them both a quelling look as he got up to pour a large amount of coffee into a container to put it in the refrigerator. He left the rest on the warmer and returned to his chair. “Now that we managed to settle that important issue, did you ID anyone else?”
    “Armando always travels with his psycho buddy, Ramon Estes. The two are homegrown, by the way. Grew up in New York City. Both were Marines. Before that they terrorized their neighborhood until things got so hot they joined the service.”
    Gideon sounded so tired Mack went over to the bed there in the shadows and carefully inspected him for tell-tale signs of bleeding. You take anything for the pain?
    Gideon shook his head. Wanted my head clear to report.
    Mack bit back a curse as he dropped a hand on Gideon’s shoulder. “You’re taking something now. Kane. We need the