GhostWalkers 10 - Samurai Game

the handsomest man in the room, but he knew without a doubt, no one else would understand or be as loyal to her as he would.
    Azami pressed her lips together and then switched her gaze back to Ryland. “That’s good to know.”
    “If this information you’ve given us is true,” Ryland said, “Whitney’s probably been pumping arms and money into the rebel camp for some time in order to gain control of the diamond mines. Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives and still it isn’t enough. Whitney must be determined to gain control, through the rebel forces, of that specific area—that particular diamond mine.”
    “Can that diamond be so important to him?” Sam murmured aloud. “Back when Jack and Ken Norton went in with a team to rescue a senator, we believed that senator was part of a coalition trying to get rid of the GhostWalkers. Suppose we were right, but the senator double-crossed Whitney? Suppose Whitney and the senator were originally acting together to get a diamond or diamonds Whitney wanted and the negotiations didn’t go as planned because the senator had other ideas?”
    Azami shrugged. “That’s entirely possible. Senator Freeman was being used as Whitney’s way into the White House. He paired him with Violet, thinking she would influence Freeman to do Whitney’s bidding. I know that Whitney provided money to back Freeman’s campaign using several corporations to donate.”
    “Senator Freeman’s father and Whitney went to school together,” Sam told her. “He’s a powerful man in banking.”
    Azami nodded. “He communicates with Whitney often. I think the idea, eventually, was to take control of the presidency. They groomed Freeman’s son for the position, paired him with Violet, and helped his political career.”
    “But Violet got greedy,” Sam said. “Or maybe it was the senator. They broke with Whitney and aligned themselves with whoever it is in the White House that wants to get rid of the GhostWalkers. He would have to have access to classified information, so someone … ”
    “Like the chief of staff, Bernard Scheffield?” Azami suggested. “He was also in Whitney’s class, but was his archenemy.”
    Ryland swung around to pin her with a stare. “Where the hell do you get this information? I knew they went to college together, but archenemy? I never heard that.”
    Azami shrugged, looking smug. “They despise one another. Whitney often speaks of him in disparaging terms. He’s even gone so far as to say he’s working with foreign nationals to bring down the U. S. Whitney believes in a strong military and that every U. S. citizen should be protected, much like the Romans. If harm comes to a U. S. citizen, the retaliation should be swift and brutal.”
    “Does he want us to go to war with everyone?” Ryland asked.
    Azami shrugged again. “Whitney believes that Scheffield is advising the president against building up the military—that he wants to cut funds to the military and always, always chooses a diplomatic path. Whitney was so furious when American tourists were taken prisoner after hiking near the Iranian border that he actually discussed assassinating the chief of staff. Whitney told his private army that everyone knew those taken were just kids. He claimed the Iranian government was using them to try to force the U. S. into giving them what they wanted, all of which was probably true, but it didn’t warrant the military intervention that Whitney believed should have been taken immediately.”
    “How long has this feud been going on?” Sam asked. “Not since they were in school?”
    “Apparently Bernard Scheffield comes from money. Big money. He was considered a big deal in school. Not only did he have money and relatives in high places, he was the smartest kid in the school—until Whitney showed up.”
    “So egos, then. We know Whitney has a massive ego.” Sam said.
    “You have someone providing you with good intel,” Ryland said. “Are you absolutely certain you can trust him? Or her?”
    Azami looked at him with cool eyes. If he was fishing, she wasn’t biting. “Yes. Absolutely.”
    “You have no objections to Sam asking permission to marry you?” Ryland asked, suddenly changing the subject.
    Sam swore under his breath at that deceptively mild tone. Ryland wasn’t finished.
    Azami lowered her lashes so that they feathered across her high cheekbones like twin fans. “It is the custom in my family and a matter of