I have one hell of a headache, thanks to you. Veer to the left. I like seeing him sweat. If you go left it gives me more of an opportunity to wing him.
She glanced sideways. Sean was sweating. Droplets ran down his face and his shirt had damp spots on it. You are feeling mean. You don't need to wing him. And I'd have more sympathy for the headache, except you gave me one first and I think you sort of deserve it.
I'm going to shoot the bastard, Mari.
Fine. I have sympathy. Loads of sympathy.
The son of a bitch didn't need to slap you.
Her heart jumped again. Ken sounded lethal, all playfulness gone. I need him to help me get the others out.
You really think I'm going to let you go?
You have to, Ken. I mean it. Her heart thundered in her ears. It was only a few more steps. Once they made it into the trees, Sean would be safe from a bullet and she could figure out what was going on with him. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to one of the other women.
There was a small silence. She was counting steps now, trying to judge how many more to reach the safety of the trees.
Mari, if he touches you, he's a dead man. You'd better know that. And I'm going to be with you every step of the way. Don't try to throw us off the trail. That's just going to piss me off, and you don't want to see that side of me.
No, she didn't. She knew men like Ken, and they didn't have that glacier-cold burn in their eyes because they were nice. I'm counting on you following me. I don't want to get trapped there ever again.
Then you're both clear.
Relief swept through her. Sean put on a burst of speed, seeing the trees close, and she fell back a couple of steps to help block his body just in case Ken changed his mind. With every step she took, relief turned to dread. Even though it was her choice to go back, and she knew Ken had her back, the idea of being trapped again in Whitney's nightmare world sickened her. The other women were as desperate to escape as she was, going so far as to plan it, but even their allies within the compound were afraid of Whitney and his bodyguards. The men were cruel and brutal. Brett had been one of them. All had seen plenty of combat and all were enhanced.
You think I'd let you go there alone, honey? Jack and I are right on your hot little tail. We can follow a ghost.
His voice brushed along the walls of her mind like a physical caress, steadying her. She could go back and get the others out. Whitney seemed invincible, but that was only because he'd been the authority figure from her childhood. He had stood watching them all with that dispassionate look on his face, so unemotional no matter what happened, his terrible half smile on his face as he forced obedience.
Ken, most of the people at the compound are good people, following orders and struggling to make sense of it all.
I'm not the devil. But maybe he was. Ken watched Mari disappear into the trees with Sean and reluctantly dropped the rifle from his shoulder. He wanted to pull the trigger. The moment he saw Sean--and he knew the big man was Mari's Sean--Ken had wanted him dead. The shot he'd taken had been a kill shot, and Mari had to have known that. If she hadn't punched the bastard and dropped him to the ground, the son of a bitch would be dead.
And why the hell did they need him alive? Mari needed to return to Whitney's secret compound, and that went against every instinct Ken had, but hell--he was in her head and knew she wouldn't stop trying until she'd done this. Short of locking her up--and he'd contemplated that very thing--he had to let her go back.
He rolled over, wiping his brow on his sleeve. Jack came up behind him. "How the hell do men do this? Because, let me tell you, bro, it's fucked. She's asking for something I don't think I can give her."
"Let's go," Jack said, his face grim. "You made the decision to let her go and we've got it to do now. We can't lose her."
"Lily make certain the tracking device is in her bloodstream?"
"Yes. She didn't like it, but she did it."
"How is she?"
"Ryland took her to the hospital to make sure the baby is okay. Everyone's in place. Let's do this and get Mari out of there as fast as we can," Jack insisted.
Ken rose to his feet and followed Jack from their vantage point. "No matter what, we had to put that tracking device in place. You have one in Briony and Lily has one. If Whitney takes them, we can get them back."
"They wouldn't like it if they knew, especially Mari."
"Who gives a damn?" Ken asked. "Mari can fucking well live with it. Asking me to let her do this is bullshit and she knows it."
"Women don't go for the word 'allow' anymore, bro. It's not politically correct." Jack kept his back turned as he listened to his brother spit out curses. Mari might look like Briony, but she wasn't ever going to act like her. Ken had his hands full.
"I am surprised you didn't chain her up inside a cave somewhere."
"Like you've done with Briony? Bri has the brains to listen to you. Mari would fight me every inch of the way."
The tension in Ken's voice made Jack glance at him sharply. "Ken, I know you're struggling here . . ."
Ken shook his head. "Don't even go there. I wanted to kill that man for just being near her. It wasn't that he hit her. He was a dead man the moment he did that, we both know that, but I wanted it before he was that stupid."
Jack sent a small, tight smile in his brother's general direction. "I wanted to kill him too, Ken. That doesn't mean either of us is like our father. It means we might need psychiatric help, but it doesn't mean what you think it does."
"She makes me crazy."
"She's supposed to make you crazy."
Ken shook his head in disgust. "You don't know, Jack. I have this driving need to keep her in a little cocoon, wrap her up in bubble wrap and force her to do every single thing I say. What the hell kind of man thinks that way?"
Jack snorted. "Pretty much all of them. We aren't that far from swinging in the trees, Ken." One eyebrow rose in inquiry. "So, if you want to force her to do what you say, why don't you?"
Ken shrugged, muttering under his breath as they reached their vehicle. "Mari's smart, you know. She's fast and she's efficient and she doesn't fuck around. Man, she put me out so fast I didn't know what she was doing until it was too late." He rubbed the back of his neck, but there was admiration in his voice. "Trying to control someone like that is like trying to hold water in your hand. It just makes a man insane."
"So, basically, if you locked her up, she might kick your balls right up into your stomach and then smile at you as you're lying on the floor."
"Basically."
Jack shot him a grin. "Good for her."
"Yeah, you can say that. She's not your woman. She was going back to that compound no matter what anyone said, but Jack, she doesn't know me. She only thinks she does. If they hurt her--if they touch her--they're dead men. I won't be able to stop myself. It won't matter if she thinks the women are in danger. Nothing is going to matter."
"That's not a big surprise, Ken," Jack said. "We both are fairly one dimensional in our approach to solving problems. Freud would have a field day with us."
Ken sighed. Mari was smart and sexy, far too independent, and as tough as they came. She was highly skilled, well trained, and unflinching in battle. She hadn't even hesitated to punch Sean, dropping him like a stone. And she'd known her team was there before he had, even though he'd fucked her brains out and he lay like a limp dishrag, unable to hear anything but his own heartbeat.
Soft laughter touched his mind. You're just being silly now.
He had inadvertently connected with her and shared his thoughts. Well, you recovered first when you should have been fainting or something. That's a challenge, Mari. You've challenged me. I can't have you able to think and act after sex if I'm incapacitated. I'll take my time next time. Slow torture. Make you want me so bad you're screaming for me again.
You have such an ego.
With good cause. Deliberately he sounded smug. What's your plan? You do have a plan
, right?
We've been working on one. She broke off abruptly.
Alarm spread through him. Mari? He swore. "I think someone heard us. I kept the energy spillage to a minimum, but Mari isn't as experienced at it. Sean is close to her. He may have caught the energy surge. Damn it. Have Logan give us a report."
"Ken," Jack cautioned. "We don't want to chance Sean spotting Logan. We've got men all over. Ryland's crew is helping us out. She's got a tracking device they don't know about and can't find on her, even with good electronic equipment. Whitney doesn't have this or access to it. Relax a little. She's not getting away from us."
"I don't care if the entire navy is watching. I want one of ours to eyeball her and let me know she's alive and well and we're staying right on her."
The edge to his voice made Jack shoot him another quick glance, as if assessing his mood. He started to protest, met Ken's glittering glare, and shrugged. "I'll let them know. But if they blow it, we're in trouble."
"We're already in trouble." At least Ken was. His gut was a series of hard knots that wouldn't relax. He'd never had a problem carrying out a mission, but he'd never felt anything before when he did. He was always--always--emotionally detached. Right now he was afraid that if anyone said or did the wrong thing near him, he wouldn't be able to control the violence pounding to break free.
He had awakened from nightmares with his heart slamming against his chest and his body drenched in sweat. He'd awakened with a gun in his hand. He'd even stabbed the mattress a few times, and once, when the flashbacks had been particularly bad, he'd shredded his down comforter so badly he'd been plucking feathers off the floor for weeks afterward. None of those times had felt like this.
His mouth was dry, his lungs burned, his palms felt sweaty. He was burning in hell for his sins and he had too damn many to count. None of the others would know, but Jack did. Jack always knew. He'd cover for him, they always covered for each other, but it was harrowing to suddenly have to contend with the terrifying realization that someone you didn't have in your control could change your life forever.
"Logan's got a visual on Mari," Jack reported. "Sean must have knocked her out. She's lying on the seat, buckled in, but he's cuffing her."
Ken swore, a blistering string of obscenities that would have shocked a sailor. "I knew I should have capped that bastard. What the hell was Mari thinking trusting him?"
"I don't know that she did trust him, Ken. All I caught was her need to get back to the women she loves--her family."
"I should have stopped her. I could have. I just let her go right back into the enemy's camp." His gaze glittered hotly, his mouth set in a grim, implacable line. "She's the primary mission, Jack. You make certain the others understand that. They don't want to be hunting me, and that's what's going to happen if they blow this. She's primary. The other women and Whitney are secondary."
"That's understood, Ken," Jack assured. "You're letting this get to you. She's a soldier and she'll act like one. Trust her. Hell, Ken, she saved our lives and she bested you, even knocked your ass out. She acts fast, hits hard, and does the unexpected. She gave us enough information to lull us into a false security, but nothing that would trip up her team or lead us back to her base." There was respect in Jack's voice. "I put a gun to her head, Ken, and she didn't even flinch. Did you notice that? Her mind was working the entire time. She doesn't panic and she's sorting through all the possibilities fast. There's no backup in her."
"She must have driven Whitney crazy. He doesn't like opposition of any kind, but he wants those very traits for his supersoldiers. He'd want to control her, but not break her spirit," Ken said. "I'm planning on using sex. Lots and lots of sex."
"Yeah, good luck with that." Jack quirked an eyebrow at him as they turned onto the road leading to the small airfield where Lily had private transportation waiting. "Am I missing something here or didn't you already have sex with her, really great sex, and her answer was to knock you out? Am I wrong? Didn't that happen?"
"Shut the hell up."
Ken shouldered his pack and stalked across the tarmac to the waiting plane. Jack followed at a more leisurely pace, whistling off-key.
Kadan, Ryland's second in command, joined them, glancing from one to the other. "You haven't switched roles on us, have you?" he asked. "Because, frankly, Ken's looking a little hostile."
"Yep. I'm the easygoing Norton," Jack said, prodding his brother with his satchel. "Isn't that right, Ken? He got beat up by a girl and he's sulking."
"Keep it up, Jack," Ken said, "you're not going to make it to your next birthday."
"But then Briony would be all upset and cry all the time. She probably would never get out of bed, and you'd have to take care of the babies."
Kadan's eyebrow shot up. "Someone must have given you a happy pill, Jack."
Jack shrugged. "There's nothing quite like seeing a woman wrapping my brother around her little finger. He's whipped . . ." He grinned. "Literally."
Ken muttered a suggestion that was anatomically impossible. "If you're here, Kadan, who's watching Briony? I wouldn't put it past Whitney to try for another grab at her."
Jack flicked him a warning look. "You can stop right there, Ken. I've stashed her somewhere very safe, somewhere Whitney would never think to look."
"He knows where all the GhostWalkers live, Jack. He probably knows the safe houses as well. You should be home with Briony right now, protecting her."
"Whitney doesn't know about this house."
Ken was silent for a moment. "She isn't with a GhostWalker."
Jack shook his head. "I sent her first to Lily's place, and then she was supposed to have gone to visit with Nico and Dahlia. Lily smuggled her out and she's safe with Miss Judith. I've wanted them to meet, so Jeff escorted Briony to her home. She's promised she won't leave the house and will stay out of sight. I've got two guards on them, but Whitney will never think to look for her there."
Miss Judith was the woman who had turned their lives around and kept them both out of jail. She'd been a volunteer, working at the group home where they were placed, and she had seen the rage hidden beneath the icy and very frightening demeanor of the two boys who had been constantly shuffled from one foster home to the next. She wasn't put off by their bad reputations or the fact that they had retaliated against a couple of their foster parents for mistreatment or the fact that they refused to be separated, running away each time the system had insisted on splitting them up. She looked beyond their horrific past, the fact that they'd killed their father and refused to be separated, no matter what the system said.
It was Miss Judith who had saved them, giving them a love of music and books and education. She taught them to harness the never-ending rage in positive ways, and when they joined the military and, eventually, Special Forces and then special ops, they created a very public and heated argument in order to ensure her protection against their enemies. Miss Judith had disappeared from their lives. She moved away for a year or so before returning to Montana. No one would ever find a single contact between them again.
Ken looked out the window, his mind once more reaching for Mari's. How had it happened? He'd been so certain he was going to walk away from her, yet now that she was gone, he knew he couldn't be without her. He had to find a way to control his baser traits. He wouldn't be jealous and domineering. He'd be one of those men women were always talking about, sensitive and socially correct.
He looked at his reflection in the window. What a crock. Who was he trying to kid? He looked the monster he was. Truthfully, he had every intention of controlling her. He wanted her completely under his thumb. He was no saint--not even close--and he wasn't going to pretend. She was going to have to learn to love the real man. He'd given her a choice. He'd told her to be sure. He'd warned her. Over and over.
His fist hit his thigh in a frustrated protest. Mari. Damn you. Where the hell are you? He tunneled his fingers through his hair, betraying his agitation. Come on, baby. You've got to answ
er me. Just touch my mind with yours.
CHAPTER 12
"Mari, come on, hon, you have to wake up."
The voice was insistent. Mari moved her head, and immediately a jackhammer began to drive on full throttle through it. She suppressed a groan and forced herself to reach out with her psychic senses to tell her where she was and what kind of trouble she was in.
Rose. She could never mistake Rose's soft feminine scent. Sean was there too. Bastard. He'd shot her full of something and knocked her out. He was going to pay for that. She heard the solid chink of a metal door closing. The sound of footsteps pacing. She was back in the compound.
Her body ached, her arms especially. She tried to relieve the pain by pulling them in close to her and found that she was cuffed to the metal rail of the bed.
"Mari," Rose repeated. "Wake up."
A cold cloth was pressed to her face. Rose leaned close. "Whitney's going to be here any minute. Come on, honey. We need you alert."
Mari pried her eyelids open and stared up into Rose's concerned face. She looked like a little pixie with her too large eyes and sultry mouth and small, heart-shaped face. Rose was delicate and a little younger than the rest of them, with not quite as tough an exterior, but she had steel beneath that soft skin and delicate bone structure. She smiled at Mari.
"At last. We were getting alarmed."
"Sean handcuffed me." She jerked at her hands and turned her head toward the man standing guard. "Why?"
"You were communicating with the enemy," he said.
"I was saving your butt, and right at this very moment, I can't think why." Mari maneuvered into a sitting position, clenching her teeth against the pounding in her head.
"Just how did you do that?"
She cast Sean the best glower she was capable of, dark and filled with contempt, withering even. She wanted him to wither. Switching her attention to Rose, she forced a serene smile. "I'm awake, hon. My head hurts like a bear, and I'm a little worse for wear, but I didn't get a chance to talk to the senator."
The smile faded from Rose's face. "We were counting on that." She lowered her voice. "Whitney brought in his other guards. Even if some of the men help us, those men are killers." She shivered, running her hands up and down her arms. "I hate the way they leer at us when we're in the yard."