Ghostwalker 09 - Ruthless Game

voice came out of the fog, disembodied, slightly distorted. “You’re cut off from your men. Put her down and walk away.”
    I’ve got no shot, Lucas said. I’m firing blind at the boat. Fog’s too thick.
    I’ve got an angle on the boat, but can’t see Rose, Ethan reported. He sent two rounds at the zigzagging boat. The two occupants had good cover with the smal cabin.
    Kane stopped running as he neared the enemy and went “ghost,” sliding into the dense fog, barely taking a breath, his feet making no sound on the heavy wooden planks.
    Keep his attention centered on you, Mack instructed Jacob. We’re approaching from behind and slightly left and right.
    They didn’t want Jacob to shoot them by accident as they split off from each other, moving in complete silence. Kane had sight of the enemy now, standing near the railing overlooking the pounding waves as they broke over the pier pil ars. Rose hung limp, either hurt or drugged. Not once had his efforts to rouse her met with a conscious mind. He didn’t stop moving or even hesitate, coming out of the fog, the vapor swirling around him as he approached, striding right up to Whitney’s man, eyes locked on his prey, his gun up and ready.
    He recognized the man as one of the guards he worked with, David something. Their eyes met. David’s eyes went wide. He turned and heaved Rose’s body over the railing into the rol ing ocean. Kane shot him in the back of his neck, picking up speed as he did, running toward the rail. He tossed the gun to Mack, leapt onto the rail, and dove, fol owing Rose into the sea.
    The water was ice cold, closing over his head, taking him down into darkness. He refused to feel the cold or the pounding, rol ing force of nature. He didn’t fight, rather went with it, waiting to surface until the sucking sensation left and he could kick upward. He took a breath and looked around, knowing the next wave would drive him against the pil ars if he wasn’t careful.
    He spotted her body up against one of the whitened columns, the waves battering her delicate form. He swam, using his enormous strength to pul him through the water, using the wave to push him closer to her.
    Rose! Rose, baby, wake up for me.
    He refused to al ow panic into his world. There was only the distance between them, and he was closing it with every long, strong stroke. He got his arm around her and rol ed her over. Her body was completely limp, and for a moment he thought she might be dead. He managed to ride out the next wave with his arm firmly under her.
    In the water! Bogey in the water. Ethan’s voice fil ed his mind.
    A bul et spit just past Kane as a diver in a green and black wet suit emerged from behind the pil ar, speargun in hand. Lucas had taken a shot at the diver but missed. The diver shot at Kane, reaching for Rose in an attempt to get her away from Kane. The spear slid fast through the water, but as the wave came crashing in, it veered slightly off course and just missed his leg.
    Go, Jacob, Mack directed. Jacob had been enhanced through DNA just for this purpose. He was the best in the water, and Mack sent him to back up Kane.
    Jacob Princeton sliced through the water, moving fast, his body built for swimming, his enhancement al owing him to stay under for long periods of time.
    He dove under Kane, straight at the diver’s legs, yanking him down and away from Kane, who retained possession of Rose.
    The fog was dense over the water, like a living gray cloud, muffling sound and making it more difficult than ever to see, but Kane heard the sound of the boat returning to aid the diver. A large body burst out of the water, knife in hand, coming at him like some monster of the deep. A second diver had waited his chance. They had to have been waiting to transport Rose or the baby into the boat should the land operation fail. David had been quick to throw Rose over the railing because he’d known they had men waiting to fish her out before she drowned.
    Second bogey, Kane informed Mack even as he caught the second diver’s wrist as it came down at him from above, the knife pointed straight at his throat.
    The diver was in a yel ow and black wet suit, and Kane, in his civilian clothes, was subject to the cold water. He had to let go of Rose in order to keep from being stabbed. He caught the diver’s wrist with both hands and kicked the man hard in the gut. The wave took Rose and rol ed her underwater.
    Mack! Rose. It was a measure of Kane’s distress that