Viper Game

by Christine Feehan

  Wyatt moved his leg very casually closer to the table, wedging it between Pepper and Trap, his thigh pressing tight against her body as he leaned down to study the drawing of the large building she'd superimposed over the blueprints.

  "The cargo elevator is here." He drew a line with his finger. "So this has to be the recreation room for the guards who don' have any real knowledge of what's takin' place in their own backyard. The kitchen and cafeteria. You've got bathrooms and the plastic plant itself. So those workin' the plant itself are kept away from anythin' they might be able to talk about."

  Pepper nodded. "They bring in prisoners through the cargo elevator enclosed in a truck. Everyone's used to the trucks bringing supplies for the plant. When a prisoner is brought in, they're completely enclosed in a type of crate and sometimes unconscious. The woman they're terminating was definitely unconscious. I was hiding in the vent just opposite the second elevator and I saw them take her in the crate down to the cells on the other side."

  Wyatt scowled. "Where were they holdin' you?"

  "Down in the cells with the children. They keep it cold down there, so it makes it harder for us to move around or fight them."

  Wyatt closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to think what would have happened to her and the children had the cells flooded. The water table in the swamp was particularly high, which was the reason most houses were built fairly high off the ground.

  "I think I'd like to break Whitney's neck," he said softly, his Cajun accent deepening in direct proportion to his temper.

  "Get in line," Trap said. "Can you imagine if he happened to employ a sadistic guard to look after his prisoners? No one would be around to know what was done down there, and if the prisoner was going to be terminated, anything could happen and be gotten away with."

  All the men looked at Pepper. She took a deep breath and let it out. Wyatt noted that her hand trembled.

  "Those guards and lab workers come in only when they have prisoners there." She changed the subject hastily. "When we came, no one else was there. The laboratory is on the third floor along with sleeping and recreation quarters for those personnel."

  I'm here, baby. Don' think about it. We'll sort that out later.

  I'm good. I'm here. I've got you and we're getting the children out.

  Still, she was shaken. He had the feeling those guards hadn't been easy to manage. He didn't want to think what they might have done to her.

  "And the elevators go all the way up from the cells below to the third floor, is that correct?" Malichai asked. "Are they guarded, Pepper?"

  "No, they aren't guarded, but both are locked down by codes and palm print scans. You have to have both to get into the elevators. And yes, all elevators run to all floors, but those two can't be accessed by everyone."

  Wyatt was proud of her voice, smooth and steady. Whatever memory Trap had brought up with his mention of the guards she had tucked away and then kept strictly professional.

  "I take it on the third floor they have all kinds of chemicals," Trap said.

  Pepper nodded. "I've gone up there numerous times with the children. I'm more familiar with the third floor than the plant floor."

  "How were you able to move around in the plant without detection?" Ezekiel asked.

  "I can fit in very small places," she explained. "I'm very flexible."

  Wyatt nearly groaned aloud. Don' be sayin' thin's like that out loud, he cautioned. I'm standin' right behind you, remember? Deliberately he smoothed his hand down the curve of her butt. He wanted her to laugh. To feel his presence and know she was safe with them. That means I can feel your skin against mine and I'm breathin' you in with every damn breath I take. I'm as hard as a rock and I can' exactly move right now. Usin' a word like "flexible" is just bound to conjure up images neither of us wants to think about.

  Pepper leaned back, pushing her bottom tight against him. It was a subtle move, but the contact with his heavy erection sent flames dancing through him. You're a little insane, aren't you? Does your grand-mere know she raised an oversexed crazy man?

  I'm Cajun, honey, we know what the good thin's in life are. Food. Fightin' and lovin'. He nudged her with his thigh. Not necessarily in that order.

  Pepper coughed and covered her mouth as she looked back at him over her shoulder, but it was impossible to cover the flash of laughter in her eyes or the answering spark of desire. Wyatt found the laughter was every bit as important to him as the desire was. She wasn't a woman who ever had much to laugh about.

  "Pepper?" Ezekiel prompted. "If Wyatt can quit trying to charm your panties off, we might actually come up with a plan."

  "I have no idea why you're accusin' me of misconduct," Wyatt said. "And don' be thinkin' about her panties or I'll have to pound you into the ground. Don' even say the word 'panties.' "

  He groaned inside his head deliberately, centering Pepper's attention on him. Now he's got me thinkin' about your panties. You are wearin' some, aren' you? Wait. Don' be answerin' that. If you're not, we're goin' to have words about it, and if you are, I'll be deeply disappointed.

  You really are obsessed with sex.

  Ma'am, I do thank you for the compliment. It's true. Absolutely true. Know I'll take good care of you and anytime we have an argument, I will find the perfect way to make things up to you.

  Wyatt poured sincerity into his voice.

  Pepper burst out laughing. "You really are insane, and if you keep it up, I'm telling Grand-mere on you."

  He placed his hand over his heart. "I'm just reassurin' you, darlin', that I can take very good care of you, that's all."

  "Miss Pepper," Ezekiel said. "Would you like me to take him outside behind the barn and teach him a few manners? I'd be happy to do that for you."

  "I wouldn't mind getting in on that," Malichai added. "Having been on the receiving end of his lessons on manners quite a few times, I can testify that my brother has excellent skills in this particular area."

  "Don' even think the two of you city boys could take on a Cajun born and bred in the bayou and win," Wyatt cautioned. "'Specially when a lady is watchin'."

  Pepper tapped the blueprints. "Maybe we should just forego the lesson in manners altogether. My guess is, Grand-mere tried her best, and if she couldn't get anything through that thick skull of his, no one could."

  "So how did you get out?" Trap asked, bringing them all back to the important matters at hand.

  "The ventilation system, which, by the way, is very narrow. I actually was afraid I'd get stuck a couple of times. Every eight feet they have high-speed fans. I believe it was more to ensure against escape than to ventilate, but I could be wrong."

  "So thick concrete, elevators requiring both palm prints and a code," Wyatt said. "Whose palm print?"

  "A specific guard. There're only two of them. They always are the ones to accompany the prisoners. They escorted me and the children, and they left and came back with the other woman."

  "You had no communication with the woman?" Draden asked.

  "I didn't say that," Pepper said. "I just don't know anything about her. We used a kind of Morse code. Every soldier is taught it at school and I knew she was one of us - the flawed rejects, not worthy of being called a soldier."

  "Don' say that." The table trembled and Wyatt pulled his fists from the top of it and put his hands on her narrow waist. "That just pisses me off. You're one of us - a GhostWalker - and so is that woman. If she's still alive, we'll go in and get her out. We don' leave anyone behind."

  "Her name is Cayenne. That means she was developed at the school in France. Everyone there was given the name of a spice. She wasn't with my group, so she's probably a little younger than me."

  The men looked at one another. "That means she can't be more than eighteen or nineteen. Twenty at the oldest," Wyatt said. "What the hell did she do to get herself on a termination list?"

  "Unfortunately, if you don't follow orders and you try to escape or you refuse to do something they think is import
ant, with Braden, that's pretty much all it takes, especially if they already think you're dangerous."

  "Every GhostWalker is dangerous," Trap pointed out. "We're supposed to be. I think the original idea of enhancing our psychic abilities was lost a bit when Whitney switched that over to genetics."

  "Whitney uses women and children to experiment on," Draden said, "to perfect his ideas before he tries them on his male soldiers."

  "Damn him," Ezekiel said. "Why can't one of us get to him?"

  "The intel on him is that he moves every couple of days. He can be anyone," Wyatt said. "He's become that good."

  Malichai nodded. "He was actually at the White House for an event with Violet Freeman a couple of months back. Violet is now officially a widow. Senator Freeman died. Whitney used an alias, but Lily Miller, Whitney's daughter, has facial recognition software constantly searching for him and it identified him positively. While he was there, he met with several top members of the president's staff. We don't know why, of course, but we think he's moving Violet into position to run for president next election year."

  "Violet's a GhostWalker," Wyatt added to Pepper. "But for some reason, she betrayed the other women in her unit and has aligned herself with Whitney. Our sources say she's actually in a relationship with him."

  "I'm not certain I believe it," Trap said. "Unfortunately, I'm just a little too close to his personality, and I would find it very difficult to maintain a relationship with anyone - or at least they wouldn't be comfortable for very long with me."

  Draden nudged Malichai. "I'm comfortable with him. Aren't you?"

  "Well, since he read those books on manners and social behaviors, he's gotten a little more tolerable," Malichai replied. "But I think you still have work to do on him, bro. Miss Manners? Maybe she gives a course he can take. We can hire someone to teach him."

  In one smooth motion Trap drew a knife from the sheath between his shoulder blades and threw it at Malichai. The knife took off the material of Malichai's shirt along his right shoulder and lodged in the wall behind him, the material pinned there.

  "You're in such trouble now," Malichai said. "Grand-mere said no playing with knives in the house. Especially her kitchen."

  "I didn't know the rules before, so she can't really get angry with me," Trap justified. "In any case, if I take you out back and skin you alive, she'll probably thank me."

  "She's got a soft spot for me," Malichai declared. "I appreciate good cooking, unlike certain cretins who don't even know what they're chewing on."

  Nonny wandered in, glancing at the blueprints spread out over her kitchen table. "When you boys are through playin' with your knives and guns, I've got me an idea, now that we'll have three babies and Pepper to protect."

  Trap rolled up the blueprints, clearly trying to be discreet. Wyatt straightened and stepped back to allow Pepper to stand straight. He wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her into him, covering his body against Nonny's sharp eyes.

  "What's your idea, Grand-mere?" Ezekiel asked.

  "I watched this movie where some rich folks got invaded and they had them a little room they could hole up in. I liked the look of that little room. I've been sittin' outside, smokin' my pipe and thinkin' a little room like that with beds for the girls and some supplies, where no one could get in, might be jist the thin' when those bad boys of Whitney's come callin'. You all could make me that room."

  Trap frowned, his mind working fast. "That might not be such a bad idea. We've got building supplies. We've brought in top-of-the-line security and every kind of weapon and enough ammo to take out a small country to defend ourselves. We need to focus on personal protection for the women and children."

  Pepper stirred in his arms as if she might protest. She was a soldier after all, but Wyatt wasn't going to let her get into semantics.

  Let it go. He pushed the command into her mind.

  She turned her head back to look at him, her eyes dark with censure. I'm not part of your team.

  Meanin' I don' get to tell you what to do? He pushed male amusement into her mind. Got news for you, baby, I'm always goin' to be tellin' you what to do. You bought that life when you gave me the go-ahead.

  "I think so as well," Ezekiel said. "I've been thinking of ways to shore up the house. Bulletproof glass, even thin armor between the walls, certainly something on the roof, but a room where the children would be safe would be good."

  See, even Ezekiel realizes I do not have to be hidden away when there's trouble. I can fight as well as any of you.

  Wyatt deliberately nuzzled her neck, his arms locking her in place when she would have stepped away. I like it when you want to fight me. My blood gets all hot and yours does too and then we both burn in paradise.

  Do you ever think about anything besides sex? I'm the one whose supposed to be sex hungry, not you.

  You're supposed to be Wyatt hungry.

  He felt her laughter. There in his mind. It was the most intimate thing, having her there, filling him up with... her. Pepper.

  How had he ever even conceived of loving someone else? Every other woman paled in comparison to her. She made him feel so alive. Anger, passion, humor, all of it was wrapped up in her.

  It's a good thing you're charming, Wyatt. Otherwise your bossy ways would get you in a lot of trouble.

  I'm the boss, not bossy, there's a difference.

  She burst out laughing and then hastily covered her mouth with her hand when the other team members turned to look at her.

  "Grand-mere, I'm expecting a large truck with equipment for the lab," Trap said, saving her. Clearly trying to make up for his remarks about studying the babies. "As well as a few more items we need for security. Had I known about the safe room, I would have sent for those supplies as well. They'll be pulling in probably during the time we're gone. My assistant's name is Daryl Monroe. I would take it as a favor if you gave him the same welcome you gave to me. He's been up for over twenty-four hours pulling things together for us."

  "Of course," Nonny said. "No need to even ask."

  "If we're going to make this a base," Trap added, turning toward Wyatt, "we'll need a topnotch laboratory to work in. I can give Daryl the list of supplies we'll need to secure the house itself as well as a safe room. He'll get it all done."

  "Trap, that's too much money," Wyatt protested. "I'm coverin' it, but you're lookin' at top-of-the-line materials and they don' come cheap."

  "We're family. I'll be building my own place close. When this is over, they might be selling that tract of land the plastics company is on. I can buy that for my place and try to secure as much land around and between the two compounds for the others on our team. That way, the children and women will have plenty of protection all the time, even when we have to go out on missions."

  This time Pepper didn't protest. Wyatt felt the change in her toward Trap immediately. He couldn't say he wasn't happy about it. Trap was family, but still, that dark ugly male, very ferocious and possessive cat inside of him unsheathed claws and raked hard in his belly.

  Pepper leaned back into him, her hand sliding down his hip. Her touch was barely there. Gentle. But he felt it right to his bones.

  You're a good man, Wyatt. You have good friends, and that says a lot about you. They're willing to relocate at a great expense to keep your children safe. I didn't know there were people like you in the world.

  Her voice whispering so intimately in his head soothed the beast inside of him. She really was wholly focused on him. She heard the conversation swirling around her, admired his friends and his grandmother, but he was her center. There was no doubt in his mind and the terrible beast closed its mouth with a snap and went back to sleep.

  I am lucky, Pepper. My friends are the kind that always have my back. In this case, that will extend to you and the girls.

  I'm so anxious to get them back. They have to be so scared without me. Braden will have told them lies. That I abandoned them. That no one will ever come for them. I just hope t
hey're asleep and that for once, Braden put them in the same cell.

  "Who is changing their diapers or helping them onto the potty chair? Who's givin' them bottles at night?" Wyatt asked aloud, a lump in his throat.

  "Don't think about it, Wyatt," Ezekiel said. "That will only make you crazy. We can't get them out until we know their prison inside and out. We've got the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow to strengthen our plan. We're going to get them out."

  Pepper turned in his arms and buried her face against his chest. Wyatt felt a tremor run through her body and knew instantly she'd been holding herself together by a thread. She knew those babies. She'd been with them from the time they were three months old. She loved them. She might not think she knew what love was, but the children were hers, biologically or not, and she loved them.

  As much as it was hell for the team - and him - to think of the babies locked away in cells, it had to be sheer torture for her. He felt the hot tears on his shirt and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him.

  "I'm callin' it a night, boys," Wyatt said. "Trap, I don' know what to say but thank you. You know I've got your back."

  He turned his body to prevent them from seeing Pepper's face. They knew. They all knew. They were GhostWalkers. They wouldn't like her tears any more than he did. She would be embarrassed that she cried in front of them, but she would never know that someone would be paying for those tears. She was one of them whether a part of their actual team or not, and none of them liked anyone messing with a GhostWalker.

  He caught the grim exchanges the men had over her head. If Nonny caught them, she didn't say a word. She leaned over and kissed Pepper's cheek.

  "She needs care tonight, Wyatt," Grand-mere said.

  He nodded his understanding and, sweeping his arm around Pepper, walked her out of the kitchen and down the hall. Only then did he dare to look down at her. Tears streamed down her face. She cried in utter silence. Ginger had done that. His baby. His heart stuttered in his chest. He opened the door to the baby's room and let her look in on Ginger. There was a baby monitor, with a camera inside so they could see her while she slept and hear her when she woke. Still, both liked to peek in on her before they went to bed.