Ruthless Game (44 page)

Kane waited in the alcove, hearing the crowd of boys coming up the walkway, trash-talking loudly. They shoved one another, leapt over a fire hydrant, and threw several rocks at a stop sign. The sound, much like a series of gunshots, was loud despite the blanket of fog.

Movement at the window on second floor,
Gideon reported.

One of the boys kicked the SUV as they surrounded it. The others laughed. Swaggering up to the passenger windows, the boys peered in. More fog poured into the street, swirling around the buildings, a moving, living veil.

Kane stepped into the darkened doorway that was one of the best blind spots available. Set back from the street, the deeper recesses allowed someone able to blend into shadows to disappear. Kane did so, steeling himself to use his particular talent. It was wrenching to use his vision, seeing through the walls inside the actual rooms.

The buildup of energy radiated heat in the small confines of the doorway. The building across from him shimmered, the thick walls undulating as if not real, the solid matter no longer solid. He felt the wrenching in his gut, the lurching of his stomach, and fought down the bile. Pain sliced into his head. He ruthlessly pushed the side effects down. Each time was different, but he had noticed some time ago that the salt air and fog seemed to make the initial penetration a little more difficult.

He took a breath and swung his gaze up toward the second floor. The walls fell away, giving him a dizzying moment, but he rode it out, setting his teeth, ignoring the commotion in the streets as the boys tried to enter the bloodstained SUV to steal it. They’d found the pool of blood and had exited fast, yelling. The world dropped away until there was nothing left between Kane and the occupants of Room 224.

Someone sitting in a chair facing the window. He isn’t moving, just staring out. No woman. No children. He’s in a perfect position to be observing a camera. Gideon?

I have him,
Gideon acknowledged.
I have a shot.

Check Room 225,
Mack ordered.

On it, Top.
Kane shifted his gaze to the next apartment. Jaimie had said a single male had moved in. A man moved through the apartment fast, away from the window.
The male in Room 225 is armed. There’s a second male standing by the door, armed as well.

I have the first male,
Ethan said,
second is out of my sight.

It’s a drug deal. Man with briefcase just walked in.
Kane moved on to the next floor.

Checking the third floor. Room 334.
Kane looked up to the top floor. The walls dropped away, leaving the occupants exposed. A woman lay on a bed motionless, her head tilted at an odd angle. The man was at the side of the windows in the front room, staring at the street below and the chaos the boys were causing as they ran from the SUV. The male glanced toward the bedroom, seemed to say something, and then walked into the kitchen to open the fridge and pull out a bottle.
Can’t rule out. One male moving around. Female in bedroom, lying on the bed.

Check the roof again, Gideon.

Roger that, Top.
Gideon complied.

Moving position,
Kane said.

It always took a few moments to recover from using his gift. His body felt weak and shaky, his stomach churning. He dropped his head down to suck in as much air as he could to counteract the dizziness. It only took seconds, but he was running out of time.

While he still had the cover of the boys, he had to quickly get across the street. He slipped from the doorway and, hugging the shadows as best as possible, pulled a hat low, drooped his shoulders, and changed his gait. He appeared shorter and thinner than he was just by changing his posture and the way he walked. Hurrying, he crossed at the crosswalk, sending nervous, furtive glances at the boys, never once looking up.

Roof is clear, Top,
Gideon reported.

Javier was already inside, and the two of them went up the stairs toward the second floor. Mack and Lucas had come in from the back and were already on the third-floor landing. Kane signaled to Javier, and they went into the hallway, guns out and ready, senses flaring out to find an enemy. They moved in silence, approaching apartment 224 first.

Gideon, do you have eyes on our man?
Kane asked.

He hasn’t moved. Not so much as a change in position.

Kane nodded to Javier. Javier knelt and quickly worked the lock. He eased the door open. There was no chain in place, and icy fingers slid down Kane’s spine.

Going in.
He knew Gideon would take the shot if necessary, but there was something else, some awareness that kept the adrenaline pumping through his system. He could almost smell Whitney’s presence.

He signaled again, and Javier dropped low to cover him as Kane went through the door and stepped to the left, clearing the room. The man in the chair didn’t move, didn’t turn his head. It was possible he hadn’t heard their entrance, but even when Javier moved to visibly clear the other small rooms, the occupant of the apartment was unnaturally still.

Kane glided up behind him, finger on the trigger, but still the man didn’t move. Kane could see why when he approached from the side. Eric Lambert sat grotesquely sprawled out in the chair, drink near his hand, throat cut open, shirt soaked in blood.

Man down, Top. Whitney was here.

Kane could smell the pipe tobacco, Whitney’s special blend. Bile reached his throat and he choked it back. He remembered that appalling scent as he came up from loving Rose. The man had made certain Kane and Rose had mated. Kane had ruined his cameras, so he’d come to see for himself. Kane had never detested a human being more than he did that poor excuse for a man. He would have killed him right there had he not been locked in a cage. The only thing he could do was cover Rose’s body with his own, shielding her from a monster’s smug, satisfied gaze. They’d looked at each other through the bars. Whitney had seen the resolve there, knew Kane wanted him dead. He’d simply, arrogantly, removed the pipe from his teeth and nodded before walking away.
As if they had been in some hellish pact together.

“He left you a note.”

Kane had seen it. That blood-spattered paper placed carefully and conspicuously beside the dead doctor. Cursing beneath his breath, Kane edged the envelope with his name on it out from the dead man’s hand.

Top, Whitney was here. Eric Lambert is dead. He couldn’t have left too long ago.
The scent of the tobacco made him sick. Kane reluctantly opened the envelope.

So you have finally won our little game, Kane. Your reward is this apartment building. I have signed the deed over to you. You are indeed worthy of keeping the boy. Eric Lambert betrayed you as he betrayed me. Had he gotten your son’s blood, he would have given it to your enemy, a group dedicated to wiping every GhostWalker from the planet and undoing years of my work. You prevented him from doing so by your vigilance. I commend you. They will pursue you, all of you, but you have the intellect and the training to keep them from succeeding in destroying you. Congratulations on your win. I would like to get Rose back. She did a superb job of producing a child. You must keep me informed of his progress. Rose can be tiresome in her rebellion, but her genetics are priceless. If you tire of her, get word to me, and I will make you a further trade.

Kane almost crushed the note in his hand.
Tire
of her? As if Rose had little worth beyond giving birth to a child. Did Whitney despise and loathe women so much? He certainly enjoyed seeing them suffer. He had enjoyed Rose being forced to accept a man.

“Damn you, Whitney,” he muttered aloud. He looked down at the last paragraph.

I warned McKinley about Javier Enderman, but he refused to listen. Enderman is a psychopath. If you all continue to trust him, he will be your downfall. Kill him now before he destroys you all. I should never have enhanced him, but his loyalty and protective instincts fooled me into believing he could be useful. He is not. I am not infallible, it seems. I have chosen the best, the absolute best of the genetic pool I could find for my mission. Weed him out so that he doesn’t poison it. He has one weakness that will bring you all down. He can be bought ...

Javier was looking over Kane’s shoulder, reading the letter. He looked at Kane with flat, cold eyes and shrugged. “He’s right, you know. I do have a weakness.”

Kane shook his head. “Don’t let him throw you.”

“It isn’t the first time I’ve been called a psychopath.”

“
Don’t
let him throw you,” Kane repeated. “You don’t break. I’ve known you since you were a child, Javier, and you’re no psychopath.” He knew Javier had been called that on more than one occasion. It had hurt, whether Javier admitted it did or not. He was very careful not to appear sympathetic. “We all have a weakness. Mine is Rose and now the boy. Whitney profiled each of us, and what he perceives as our weaknesses are actually our strengths. He’s never understood loyalty. He tries to separate us, because he thinks we make one another weak. He’s alone, and he thinks he’s greater and stronger than all of us. He doesn’t understand, and he never will, that together we’re unbreakable.”

“Fuck him. I could care less what that monster calls me.”

“Rhianna is back, Javier.” If Javier had one weakness, one thing that could make him lose the ice water running in his veins, it was Rhianna.

Something dangerous moved behind those dark eyes. “When?”

“I just heard. She has an apartment in this building.”

Javier shook his head and turned away. “We’ll need a cleaner up here.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this deed?”

“Is it legal?”

“Looks like. Jaimie can find out for us,” Kane replied.

“We’ve wanted the building. Jaimie said she was pretty certain Whitney was responsible for the quick sale of the building out from under us.”

Kane flashed a small grin. “We’ve got it now, don’t we?” But he didn’t want any part of Whitney’s gift. It made him feel he was being rewarded for taking Rose’s choices from her. He glanced at Javier’s set face. “I’m signing the damn thing over to you. You can figure it out.”

“What?” Javier stepped back. “You can’t give me the building.”

“I own the warehouse with Jaimie and Mack. I don’t want this from him, but we need it to secure the entire two blocks. We’ll have the bay on two sides of us, and we’ll only be vulnerable to the city side. We can set up security.”

“I’ll think about it.” A slow smile took some of the shadows from his eyes. “I could kick Rhianna’s little ass out onto the street.”

“Don’t start a war with her again,” Kane cautioned. Before Javier could answer, he indicated a sweep of the room. “Look for anything else the bastard might have left behind. He’s gone and we’re not going to find him tonight, but we’ve gained more than we lost. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

CHAPTER 18

Rhianna Bonds was nothing at all like Rose expected her to be. She was incredibly beautiful, not at all the tough chick everyone implied that she was. Average height maybe, but there was nothing else average about her. She was stunning with her large, impossibly blue eyes and thick, curly black hair. There was so much hair that her braid was as thick as her shapely arms. She was not conventionally thin but had a figure one couldn’t ignore, with curving hips, rounded breasts, and an extremely small waist.

She was hugged and kissed and greeted as a long-lost sister. Rose noticed Javier was conspicuously missing. Rhianna didn’t ask where he was. She took Sebastian in her arms and looked at him with such love in her eyes, Rose wanted to cry. This was a woman who felt deeply. Again, Rose expected her to be like Javier, a cold, female version of the man. She radiated warmth. She was the kind of woman who would walk into a room and be noticed instantly. She wasn’t spy material; she was too striking.

Rose found out the hard way that Rhianna was not all looks. Training began almost right away, and Rhianna was a big part of that. It was grueling and unrelenting. Rose found out quickly that there was no reasonable way to nurse Sebastian and train with the hours she was putting in. Instead of quitting altogether, wanting the best start for him, she opted for pumping her breasts. It was a nightmare, but better that than the alternative of not training. She needed to become part of the team, needed them to know what she could do and that she was good at it. And she was. Soldiering was something she’d done since she was a child, and there was nothing too rough, too dangerous, or too difficult for her. She had discipline and a sense of duty. She discovered Rhianna did as well.

Jaimie sat and watched sometimes, feeding Sebastian his bottle as they ran through the urban techniques, the one thing Rose hadn’t trained in. Each man took his turn working with her. They often broke into smaller teams and pitted themselves against each other. The work was satisfying, and at night, she had Kane.