Deadly Game (27 page)

She kept pace beside Sean, staying to the hedges for as much cover as possible. Sean handed her a gun as they ran, signaling her to go up and over the security fence. She shoved the gun in the waistband of her jeans and leapt to catch the top of the high fence, flip over, and drop to the other side.

Ken would try to follow them. The moment he knew they were gone, he would come after her. And he’d remember that she’d knocked him out. Ken Norton wasn’t a man to forget such things. Her breath came out in a little sob, and Sean shot her a sharp glance and fell back to protect her.

The blast was thunderous, debris shooting up and out as the building exploded. The fence burst outward toward them. The concussion blew both of them into the air and sent them flying across a small open expanse of grass to land hard on the ground. The air left her lungs in one awful rush, leaving Mari gasping and wheezing.

Sean crawled to her side. “Can you move? We’ve got to keep going.”

She nodded. Everything hurt. She couldn’t hear very well, but it didn’t matter. She had to get out of there and she had to get out fast. She climbed unsteadily to her feet, using Sean as a crutch. Her arm was bleeding.

Instead of running, Sean retained his hold on her, inspecting her for damage. He took in the bruises on her wrists and face, the marks on her neck, and the too-big pair of jeans. He stepped closer and inhaled. “Some son of a bitch fucked you. I can smell his stench all over you,” he snarled.

It was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “What? No sympathy? No how did they treat you? No wow, you were shot, it’s a miracle you’re alive?” Mari scowled at him. “Nice of you to get so upset on my behalf, Sean. Too bad you don’t feel the same way when Brett comes to my room and you let him in. You’re a hypocrite.”

“That’s bullshit. It isn’t the same.”

“Why? Because you didn’t get to have your usual vicarious experience? What do you do? Stand there and listen while he beats the crap out of me and then gets what he wants? Don’t pretend to get all bent because some man touched me. You give the key to Brett whenever he gets a little horny.”

“I do my job. You’re in a special program. Get pregnant and the visits will stop. I know you’re doing something to prevent it. Whitney knows your cycle. You should be knocked up by now, and then he wouldn’t let Brett near you again.”

Sean slapped her across the face. Without hesitation, Mari punched him hard, turning into it, pushing off with her right foot to use every bit of strength she possessed. Sean dropped like a stone when her fist smashed into his cheekbone. Simultaneously, a bullet whined just over him, right where his head had been.

Don’t you dare shoot him, Ken.
She should have known the man would never let anyone walk away with her.
I have to go back.

Bullshit.

She detested the implacable resolve in his voice—in his mind.
You know the way you feel about Jack? That’s the way I feel about my sisters. I’m not taking a chance with their lives. So you’re not shooting him.

Sean climbed unsteadily to his feet. Mari didn’t back up or even flinch, staring him straight in the eye. “I can see you’re very torn up about my appearance. The gunshot wound, the broken leg and hand, and by the way, Zenith kills if it’s in your system too long—but maybe you knew that already. I died and had to be revived.”

“Zenith saved your life.” Sean rubbed his face, glaring at her. He inhaled her scent and scowled, still obviously furious over the idea that she’d been with a man. “Some man treated you like a camp whore and you’re thinking you might give birth to his baby? No chance, Mari. When you get back, you’re going to make damn sure you’re not pregnant.”

“How do you know how he treated me, Sean? Maybe I jumped him. You just never know with me. After Brett, a monkey might look good.”

“I’ve known you for years, Mari. Why do you think I stay in that hellhole and put up with Whitney’s insanity?”

“Because you care? Is that what you’re going to say? Save it. You pimp me out to that jerk and then have the gall to pretend we’re still friends. No thanks, Sean. You killed that a long time ago. You’ve been brainwashed by Whitney’s ‘take one for the good of mankind’ speech, but you know, it seems I’m always the one taking it, not you.” She stepped close to him, her fingers balled into two tight fists. “And if you ever hit me again, you’d better make damn certain I can’t ever get up, because I’ll kill you.”

She turned away from him and began to jog toward the tree-line, head up, shaking with fury. Sean had been her friend, someone she cared a great deal about. Whatever had gotten into him sickened her. Her vision blurred and she stumbled, realized she was crying, and wiped the tears with the back of her hand.

Ken. Can you hear me?
She reached out to him, needing someone. She never needed anyone, but she was shaken and angry and terrified that something could have happened to him.

Sean fell into step with her, sneaking quick, hard glances at her, but she refused to acknowledge him.

I hear you and I’ve got a rifle trained on your friend, Mari.

She heard the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. Her hand went once again to the cross nestled between her breasts. “Sean. You ever hear of a couple of snipers named Norton?”

“Hell yes. Everyone’s heard of them.”

“One of them has you in his scope right now. He nearly killed you before. Didn’t you hear the bullet when you hit the ground?”
You can’t shoot him, Ken. If you do that, how are you going to follow me back to the compound?

I’m feeling a little mean right about now, Mari.

Sean’s breath sounded like one long wheeze. He looked wildly around. “Are you certain, Mari?”

I suppose you have reason to feel that way,
she conceded to Ken.
I had to think of something to keep everyone from getting killed, and after all, you did it to me first. I was saving your life, just like you saved mine.

Is that what you call it?

“Oh, yeah. I’m certain,” she told Sean.
That’s what you called it,
she reminded Ken.
And just so you know, I didn’t know about the gas or the building blowing up at the time. It wasn’t my team. Someone on the inside working for Whitney did all that.

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.