Ruthless Game

by Christine Feehan

The scent of death was strong. Dim light spilled a foot into the alley from the street. He crouched low and carefully searched out the darker shadows. A body lay crumpled against the base of the building, in the darkest spot. Kane crouched beside him. An automatic weapon was still in his hand, and the body was warm. His neck was broken. Javier had encountered an enemy and quietly disposed of him. There was no communication device, which meant either he wasn't part of a guard detail or Javier had taken the device.

  Sighing, Kane rose and stepped to the very edge of the alley where he could scan the buildings across the street. Seeing through a building always took a toll. Javier had to be in position to cover him. He waited, counting the seconds.

  Men with guns seemed to be in every doorway, patrolled the rooftops and along the long balcony of the second story. They were out in force, and few people dared to take to the streets. He spotted some teens throwing knives and trying to look tough at the end of the street, closest to the desert. Javier was distinctive. He swaggered with his cool confidence, showing them all how it was done and giving advice. It seemed impossible that he could insert himself into a group on the lookout for strangers, but Javier always managed--and out in the open.

  You're a go, bro, Javier's calm voice stated.

  Kane didn't hesitate. He'd learned to rely on his team members in any dangerous situation. He allowed his gaze to sweep through the buildings, searching out their package as well as their informant's apartment. X-ray vision was really all about sound. Ultrawide radio waves passed through walls to capture images, allowing Kane to "see" behind the walls of a building. Kane could generate those waves, but it took energy--lots of energy and focus.

  He spotted two potential hostages, both female, in the second-story apartment directly across from them. They appeared to be tied to chairs, ten feet into the room, back to back.

  The package is on the second floor, third apartment from the left. Two females, just as our informant said. One is slumped over, possibly unconscious. The smaller one is alert.

  A guard sat in front of a television set just to their left, and beyond the door, and out in the hallway, a second one sat playing with a handheld game.

  He relayed the information to all the team members, drawing a precise map for them in his head. I can't see the placement of the guards on the roof, Ethan. They're beyond my range of vision.

  No matter. That was Ethan, short and to the point.

  Kane swept the small apartment on the ground floor for their informant. They needed to make certain she was legitimate and this was no elaborate trap to capture or kill members of the elusive GhostWalker team. He took a couple of deep breaths and squeezed his eyes closed tight, conscious of the tremors running through his body. Using psychic energy always took a toll, but emitting sound waves and reading them was particularly difficult.

  He sent the pressure waves directly toward the small apartment. It had taken months of practice to read the various impressions caused by the distances the sound waves had to travel. Like a ripple effect, the sound traveled in repeating patterns, allowing the sensors Dr. Whitney had built into his body to detect reflected waves.

  Kane could see a lone woman in the apartment. Short, wearing jeans and a loose top, she moved with controlled speed, shoving things into a small pack. She's getting ready to run. Something about the way the woman moved was familiar to him. His heart began to pound. His pulse thundered in his ears. She didn't look pregnant. She'd suspected she was carrying his child before the escape. It had been imperative to get her out before Whitney realized he'd succeeded in his goal.

  He heard the collective gasp from his team as they felt the shock of recognition slam into him. Everyone went completely still. He could taste excitement in his mouth. He could taste--her. Once she got into the wind ... she'd be gone like the ghost she was. But the baby ...

  Mack broke the tension. Kane? Talk to me.

  It's Rose. My Rose. She's the informer, Mack, and she's getting ready to run. If she gets away from me again, I'll never find her.

  Kane didn't take his eyes from the figure moving around the house. Her movements were slow and controlled, with no wasted motion, very efficient. She knows we're here, Mack. I can't let her get away again.

  We're here to recover the hostages, Mack reminded. Take a breath, Kane. We won't lose her. Gideon's going in. She won't recognize him as a GhostWalker. She'll know we're out here, but she won't suspect him.

  GhostWalkers recognized one another. Their energy was different, but Gideon was an exception. He'll go in and get our information and plant a little bug.

  I'm on it, Kane. She won't get away from us, Gideon assured.

  I'm telling you, she already knows. Kane couldn't look away from that small apartment. His world had suddenly narrowed to the woman who had eluded him for months. He'd searched everywhere for her, called in every favor, and she'd been impossible to find. And now ... He was on a mission, and his team counted on him for his full focus.

  He swore under his breath as she slid into a harness that fit snugly under her shoulder and strapped a knife to her thigh and shoved another into her boot. She was readying herself for a fight. She stuck something in her hair and added more weapons to her belt. He was particularly impressed with the way she moved, the efficiency. He remembered her as a fragile creature he needed to protect. Rose was built small, like a little pixie. It was strange to see how she handled weapons with such smooth familiarity. He had to be careful of underestimating her. She was a GhostWalker--the same as he was. That meant enhanced psychic ability. She'd grown up with military training. She was probably every bit as lethal as he was or--he conceded--more.

  I have to be the one, Mack. She knows me. I helped her escape Whitney's breeding program. Even thinking about the vile place enraged him. Thinking about what he was forced to do to Rose sickened him. She's my responsibility, Mack. I have to do this.

  Mack swore under his breath, but each of them, as connected telepathically as they were, heard it. We're on a fucking mission here, Kane. Don't blow this.

  Ethan moved as if he'd been a racehorse waiting at the starting gate, flowing across the expanse of sand, all fluid muscle, sprinting in silence for the alley. Give me a minute to get into position to cover you.

  Kane stepped back to give Ethan room to move past him. Ethan flashed him a grin and moved out into the street, a blurring shadow sliding away from the lights. One guard turned his head toward Ethan, and Kane switched his knife to a throwing position, but the guard turned away, obviously not able to track the shadow as it went up the side of the building across from the alley. Ethan was nearly impossible to see without night vision, blending into the side of the building, clinging like a spider as he went up the impossible angle without climbing gear.

  Kane held his breath, quartering the area carefully for anyone who might spot Ethan, knowing Javier was doing the same. It seemed a lifetime waiting for confirmation that he'd made it. Kane could hear his own heart beating in his ears. Somewhere a dog barked. Someone coughed, and another man cursed. Laughter broke out. All the while he exercised tremendous discipline to keep from looking at the apartment where the woman he'd been searching for, for months, was getting ready to run.

  One man on the roof. He's got a bottle of tequila and an automatic. Great combo. Ethan's disgust was obvious.

  More time ticked by. Rose would be packed by now. She would travel light. Just the bare necessities. Kane tasted bitterness in his mouth, but his eyes continued a sweep up and down the buildings and along the street. His first order of business was to protect Ethan.

  All clear. Ethan's voice was calm. Launch "the Eagle."

  Gideon sprinted across the sand to the edge of the building and then into the alley. He clapped Kane on the shoulder, pausing to take stock of the dark streets. Figures moved in doorways, and two men stopped briefly to talk in low voices as they patrolled. A couple of women sat on a porch, silently watching, and down at the end of the street, five teenage boys laughed and p
rodded one another as they practiced throwing knives.

  Gideon put on blurring speed and crossed the empty street to the side of the building. He didn't have Ethan's advantage, climbing easily with only his hands and toes, but Ethan had left behind a stairway made of throwing stars. Gideon moved up fast in the dark, his sniper rifle snug against his back as he raced up the side of the building.

  They all could breathe a sigh of relief once Gideon was in place. The man just didn't miss. They all called him the Eagle for a reason. Gideon would cover the streets and windows, as Ethan and Mack would enter the building and bring out the prisoners. Kane would cover them from inside, and Javier would be on the street. They were all fast and lethal when need be, but in a situation such as this one, it was very difficult to distinguish between residents and those cooperating with the enemy, unless they blatantly carried a weapon.

  You're a go, Ethan said. We've got you covered.

  Everything in Kane settled. He turned his attention once more to Rose's apartment, sweeping it carefully, bouncing sound waves through the building to see inside. She stood by the front door, and there was a weapon in her hand.

  He took a deep breath to steady himself while his body reacted to the sensors processing the images before retreating from the alley to jog around the buildings to come up on her building from the same side of the street. Mack joined him, easily keeping the fast pace.

  We'll need you on this one, Kane.

  Kane shot Mack a quick look of impatience. I've never let you down. Give me a few minutes to get her ready to leave with us.

  Mack nodded and crouched in the shadow of the building. Gideon? You in position? Kane is going in. She's armed.

  Don't you shoot her! Mack, you son of a bitch. Nobody better shoot her. There was warning in Kane's voice. He was a dangerous, explosive man, capable of swift retribution. They had grown up with him. They knew him. His tone said it all. He expected them to back off and allow him to handle Rose--even if she tried to kill him, which he figured was entirely probable.

  Kane took a deep breath and moved around to the window opening onto a small side yard. He could see why Rose chose this apartment. She had alternative escape routes. He didn't make the mistake of stepping up to the window. Rose was a highly trained GhostWalker. She had survival skills. She was expecting him to come through the front door, a representative of the unit she'd called in to rescue important prisoners the drug cartel was using as hostages against el presidente.

  It took a few minutes to spot the small shards of glass scattered in the dirt and leaves. He cleared the area meticulously, knowing the sound of breaking glass would alert her instantly. Like most of the GhostWalkers, her hearing was enhanced as well as her vision. Her window wouldn't be nailed shut because she would need a quick escape, but she would have it rigged for visitors. It opened sideways, rather than up, a turn knob on the inside.

  Clever girl, he mused silently. He pulled a mini laser cutter from his tool kit and, after attaching the suction cup, carefully cut the glass. The suction cup was silent, drawing out the circle of glass without a sound. He reached in and slowly greased the knob to ensure continued silence. Only then did he twist the knob enough to crack the window. Tiny pieces of glass clung to the edges of the sill as the window slowly opened.

  Kane smiled to himself. Yeah. His woman knew how to take care of herself. He reached through the opening, avoiding the glass, and opened it wide enough to allow him entrance. Again he waited until he had found the small strobe trigger before easing his large body through the opening. It was no easy feat, not with the glass sticking out.

  As he stepped down silently onto the floor, he projected the sound of slow, deliberate footsteps coming up the sidewalk to the front of her apartment. He muffled his own tread, moving through the sparse room to the open doorway. A small pack was on a chair just to the left of her where she could grab it and run should the wrong person come through the door. Rose had her back to him. She was shorter than he remembered. Her body from the back didn't look pregnant. His heart thudded once at the thought that she might have lost the baby.

  She wore jeans and a long tunic top. Her hair was cut short and sassy, a thick cap of shiny, midnight black hair. The memory of the feel of it, soft like silk, bunched in his fist, washed over him, stealing his breath. For a moment, the sight of her shook him.

  He inhaled deeply in an effort to drag the fragrance of her deep into his lungs. He could actually feel her soft skin sliding against his, taste her in his mouth. Rose. He would never forget the way she looked up at him with her enormous eyes, so dark brown there was no gold whatsoever in them. Long lashes, black as night, framed those deep chocolate eyes, and she had stared straight into his eyes without flinching away, absolving him of all blame, but damn it all, she'd had no choice. None.

  Kane drew another breath as he shoved the memory away ruthlessly. He was a big man, dwarfing her in size, all flowing muscle, his height proportionate with his weight and not an ounce of fat. He loomed over her, nothing more than a shadow, his arms coming around her from behind to take her weapon, and in one smooth motion, he tossed it on the broken-down couch. She tried to whirl around, going for his instep, but his arms became a steel cage, trapping her. His hands settled over her midsection and shockingly, she was round, like a basketball. His heart, after one heavy thump, settled into a satisfied rhythm.

  "Shh, Rose," he said gently, trying to breathe calm into her. Her breathing had gone ragged. "There's a gun trained on you. Don't pull another weapon. Just stay still."

  Under the palm of his hand, he felt the small rounded belly and a peculiar push as if the baby kicked him, trying to protect his mother. The sheer relief and satisfaction that she carried his child shocked him a little. "No one is going to hurt you." And they wouldn't, not ever again. She carried his baby, and no matter what else, the child would always connect them.

  Rose went still. She didn't turn her head but remained tense, her hands gripping his wrists as if to pry them from the slight swell of her belly. "Kane?"

  He felt the tension coiling in her, not rigid and tense, but the coil of a snake about to attack. "I'm here, honey. No one wants to hurt you. Just stay still, and we'll sort this out without anyone getting hurt."

  "I won't go back. He can't have my baby." The statement was delivered in a quiet voice, but he believed her. Rose might look like a little Asian pixie, but she had a spine of steel. She had thwarted Whitney each time he'd sent a man to impregnate her. She'd fought until they feared they might kill her, and she was a vicious fighter. More than one man had been in the infirmary after a round with her.

  "Our baby," he corrected, and the rightness of it took some of the knots out of his belly. "You want to tell me why you didn't look pregnant? How did you manage that?"

  "I'm not without my own skills. I can camouflage when I need to. I felt all of you the moment you got close. Whitney isn't getting my baby. He doesn't know for certain yet that I'm pregnant, and I'm keeping it that way."

  "Whitney didn't send me after you. I don't take orders from him. We reported his experiments, and he's gone into hiding. I've searched for you ever since you disappeared."

  She had begun to relax, but at his words she tensed again.

  "To help you, Rose," he explained hastily. "I was the one who helped you escape, remember? I'm not about to hand you over to the enemy."

  Kane didn't make the mistake of letting go of her. He knew Gideon had a high-powered rifle on her and was all too aware that Gideon would protect him first. He wanted her away from the window, but that might trigger Mack to send in Javier. It was a very fragile line they were all walking, and one wrong move could result in disaster.

  "Then let's just get this over with," Rose said. She kept her gaze trained upward, right out the window, as if daring the marksmen to kill her. "I assume you are part of the team sent in to handle the hostages. For them to warrant a GhostWalker extraction, they must be pretty important."

  "If I sit you dow
n in the chair, will you stay put? Not do anything stupid?"

  She turned her head for the first time to look up at him over her shoulder. His heart jumped when her dark gaze met his. Steady as ever. Cool under fire. That was Rose. But he was shocked at the exhaustion marking her face. He was equally shocked at how not just his body but everything in him responded to her. His every protective instinct, his animalistic side, the alpha male in him--everything male.

  He forced his voice under control. "You've been sick."

  She nodded. "I haven't been able to keep much food down," she admitted, all the while searching his expression, trying to decide whether to trust him. "That's made me fairly weak, and staying below Whitney's radar means moving all the time." She sent him a humorless smile, just a flash of her white teeth, but it was enough to act as a warning. "I will get the baby to safety, and anyone in my way isn't going to live very long."

  Kane knew her quiet statement was more than an idle threat. Rose would fight if necessary, and as small as she was, she had psychic abilities and survival skills that made up for her size. He had come to know her in the brief time they'd been forced together. Dr. Whitney, head of the psychic experimental program, had gone rogue, determined to breed supersoldiers. Rose had been forced into his breeding program, but that brief time in his breeding program hadn't stopped any of the women there from training daily. The men tended to forget the women had undergone training almost since birth, while they had joined the military later. The women actually had an edge, although they were smaller in stature.

  "I said I'd get you out of here safely, Rose, and I meant it." He tried not to sound aggressive or commanding, when he felt a little of both. He tamped down his take-charge nature. Rose wasn't getting away again, not with danger surrounding her and their child every moment of every day. She needed protection, no matter how independent she was. Kane understood her aversion to him, but her safety took precedence over everything else.

  She didn't acknowledge his statement, and with Rose, he had no idea what she was thinking. She appeared fragile, but she had a core of steel and a will of iron. Even Whitney hadn't been able to get what he'd wanted from her. She'd chosen her partner, refusing to accept any of the others Whitney had sent to her, despite the fact that his punishments were horrible.