Christine Feehan

by Deadly Game

“We all thought he was dead—murdered,” Jack replied. “He disappeared about eighteen months ago, and his daughter ‘saw’ his death, saw him murdered.”

  “I can assure you, he’s very much alive.”

  “No one has seen or heard from him. Only recently, we began to suspect he faked his own death.”

  Mari frowned, shifting slightly to ease the soreness in her hips. Nothing could stop the pain in her leg, so she ignored it, the way she’d been taught. It bothered her that Jack was doing all the talking, as if Ken was still dwelling on other things—things she didn’t want him to be thinking about. “It’s possible he faked his own death so he wouldn’t be killed. If the government, or his friends, decided he was a liability, or a lunatic, they might have decided to get rid of him, or at the least have him locked up in an institution.” She risked a quick glance at Ken, but he was looking at her leg.

  “What friends?” Jack asked.

  “He has a couple of people visit every now and then. The compound is under heavy guard when they come, and they’re surrounded by bodyguards. Most of the time we’re moved to the back of the compound and only catch glimpses of them. Sean works with Whitney now, so a few times he’s told us about the arguments between them.”

  Ken stepped away from her, folding his arms across his chest and regarding her with cold eyes. “It didn’t occur to you that killing a woman because someone didn’t return might be a little out of the ordinary?”

  Mari noticed his body was still slightly between hers and his brother. Something about his deceptively casual stance and his tone sent a chill down her spine. “What’s ordinary? I was raised in the barracks with other girls. We were soldiers, trained as soldiers, ran missions even as young as twelve. None of us have ever been away except on a mission or training exercise. Normal was whatever Whitney told us it was.”

  “And now?” Jack prompted, shooting his twin a warning glance.

  Mari shrugged. “Whitney is getting worse. When I was a child, he just seemed mean, and remote, but over the years, he’s really deteriorated, especially the last year or two. For a while, he seemed like he had a human side. I thought maybe his daughter, Lily, was keeping him grounded, but—”

  “You know about Lily?” Jack interrupted.

  Mari nodded, trying not to flinch as Ken cleaned her leg. More blood had seeped out. “He talked about her often, and it seemed like he really might love her, although, to be honest, I couldn’t imagine that he was capable of real love. He didn’t see any of us as human beings. Over the last two years he’s become fanatical. Even his friends seem to be having trouble holding him in check.”

  “Tell us about his friends,” Jack encouraged, taking another step forward.

  Mari tried to keep her gaze from straying to the gun at his waist, or the two other weapons in the twin harnesses beneath his arms. He was close enough that she might be able to snag one of the guns if she was fast—very fast.

  “Is there something about my brother’s face you find fascinating?” Ken asked.

  The low tone made her shiver. He could sound so utterly menacing at times. “Actually, no,” she brazened, determined not to be intimidated. “I was wondering if he was deliberately tempting me to make a try for his guns or whether he was so into the conversation he forgot I was his prisoner.”

  “Do you really think you’re that fast?” Jack asked.

  “Ordinarily, but I’m hurting a little bit right now, so my timing might be off. In any case, you’re double-teaming me. Ken is waiting for me to jump you, and frankly, it’s a really uninspiring trap. Neither of you put much thought into it.”

  “Sorry, it was spur of the moment, just to see where we stood,” Jack said. “You thought about going for a gun.”

  “I have to escape. I don’t have a choice. As much as I’m enjoying your company, I really, really have to get back—everyone’s waiting for me.”

  “And all this time I thought we were getting to be friends. Didn’t we agree we were on the same side?”

  Ken ignored both of them and once more took up a position by her head. He wiped her face with a cool cloth. “Put off trying to escape just a little longer. Your leg isn’t up to it yet.”

  “I wish I could, but even if we were on the same side, they’re going to come looking for me and someone will end up hurt. I may be able to sneak back into the compound before Whitney realizes I’ve ever been gone. My people are going to try to make that happen.”

  “Just give us the location of the compound, and we’ll be happy to escort you home,” Jack suggested.

  “And you’d bring a few of your friends just to make it fun,” Mari said. She waved him away. “I’m tired. You can interrogate me later, okay?”

  “Take another drink of water.” Ken slipped his arm behind her back again. “We can’t risk you getting dehydrated.”

  “Did she do much damage to her leg?” Jack asked.

  Mari closed her eyes and turned her face away from them. She liked them. She even understood them. They were soldiers. She respected that. They were doing their job and they very well could be on the same side—she was fairly certain they were—but she couldn’t chance risking everyone’s life to find out.

  She inhaled, dragging Ken’s masculine scent into her lungs. She’d been more stimulated, more humiliated, and more exhilarated than she’d ever been in her life. She had to escape. Nothing she said or did was going to convince them to let her go.

  “Mari, drink the water.”

  The steel in Ken’s voice set her teeth on edge. She knew the ripple of anger going through her body tipped him off. She had a stubborn streak a mile wide, and it was the one thing that had gotten her through her separation from Briony—through her unusual childhood—and through the degradation of Whitney’s insane breeding program.

  Ken tightened his arm around her and lowered his face until his warm breath fanned her cheek—until she was enveloped in his scent and her body began to respond. She tried desperately to focus on the pain in her leg, on her dire situation, on anything but the feel of the muscles in his arm, the heat of his skin so close to hers.

  Are you doing this on purpose? Because it’s low.

  Don’t defy me just to prove some silly point. You need the water to keep you healthy. Drink it.

  She turned her head to glare at him, her lips inches from his, her gaze locked with his. It was a good thing she was telepathic, because she had no air left in her lungs to breathe—or talk. Has anyone ever mentioned to you that you’re a complete ass?

  I believe my brother has done so on many occasions.

  She nodded her head. Well. Okay then. As long as someone has.

  She took a small sip of the water and let it trickle down her throat, surprised at how parched she was. The drugs were beginning to leave her system, and things were much more sharply in focus. Time had passed. She understood why they had kept her knocked out as they moved her from place to place, probably one step ahead of her unit, but she had no idea if it had been hours or days.

  Panic gripped her for a moment and she fought it down. The five women left in the compound were her only real family. Well, there was Sean and a couple of the other men who had not been caught in Whitney’s web of deceit. But she’d been raised with the other women. They were all close, sisters. They had no parents, no other friends, so the bond between them was strong. In the end it didn’t matter if she was on the same side with Ken and Jack, because she had to go back. She couldn’t leave the others to face possible death at Whitney’s hands.

  She was absolutely convinced Whitney had begun a descent into madness. He might have started out a brilliant scientist, but somewhere along the way he had become convinced he was far smarter than anyone else and his ends justified his means. Rules weren’t for him. He had too much power and too little accountability.

  Mari drank more water. She had to regain her strength. “How long did you keep me out?”

  “A couple of days,” Jack answered. “We can’t have yo
u calling in your unit, and they’ve been hard on our heels.”

  She flashed him a brief smile, deliberately leaning back against Ken’s arm, determined to show him—and herself—that she could be in control of her physical feelings. “They’re good.”

  “Not that good,” Jack disagreed. “They don’t have you and we do. Had we been looking for you, we would have found you.”

  “You’re so arrogant.”

  Jack’s eyebrow shot up. “That isn’t being arrogant. It’s a fact.”

  “I’m tired and my head hurts.” She glared up at Ken. “Probably from where you slammed your elbow into me.”

  “I remember. And you didn’t even thank me for saving your life.”

  “I would have preferred you being a lot gentler about it.” She was joking, trying to lighten the situation—or stall for time, she wasn’t certain which—but a shadow crossed Ken’s face. Up so close to him, she caught that fleeting reaction to her words.

  Ken laid her back on the pillows. “You’ve been out a couple of days. We’ve been leading your unit away from anyone who could get caught in the cross fire.”

  Mari glanced at Jack. They had a plan. Whatever they were doing, she couldn’t be a part of it. “I have to get back. You don’t understand. If I don’t go back, Whitney is going to hurt one of the others. I can’t let that happen.”

  “Give us the location and we’ll go in and bring them out,” Ken said.

  She pushed at his chest. “You know I can’t do that. I won’t sell them out. I have no idea who you really are.”

  His glittering eyes met hers like the slash of a sword. Cold. Possessive. Very frightening. Her pulse began a frantic rhythm. He showed little emotion, and that had been frightening, but this seemed worse. Behind his mask, his mind was working fast, calculating, formulating, processing data every bit as fast—or faster—than hers did. What other attributes had Whitney brought out in him? What other genetic code had Whitney slipped into his body—because right at that moment he looked more predator than man.

  The throbbing in her head increased. She caught the exchange between Jack and Ken. A single look, no more, but it was enough. She took a deep calming breath and relaxed her mind and body. Sean? Anyone? Are you out there? Her head was hurting not because of the elbow, but because someone was out there, calling, using telepathy, and the Nortons had been alerted.

  Ken’s hand slipped around her neck, his fingers sliding to her pressure point. She tried to stop him, but it was a lifetime too late. She could feel the waves of dizziness, the room spinning away from her, and everything went black.

  CHAPTER 6

  “ They’re coming, Ken, let’s get the hell out of here,” Jack said. He snapped open his radio. “What the hell is taking you so long, Logan? Another couple of minutes and we’re going to be in a firefight. Nico’s trying to lead them away, but if you don’t get here, all this is for nothing.”

  “I’m about five minutes out, running without lights.”

  Ken had already plunged the room into darkness before taking up a position beside Mari. He felt for her pulse, his fingertips sliding in a caress over her smooth skin. He was sick with fear for his brother and Mari. Ever since he had inhaled her scent, the monster so carefully locked away had grown stronger with each moment spent in her company. He was jealous of those men, Brett and Sean. It was ugly and sharp and cut with as much pain as the slice of the knife into his skin.

  He knew Jack, knew Jack would do exactly as he warned and kill her should Ken try to take himself out of the equation. Jack had effectively removed Ken’s choices. And it was impossible to be alive in the world and know another man was holding Mari, kissing her, touching her. He nearly groaned aloud. She had brought his body painfully to life when Ken and the doctors had been certain he had been ruined. But even if she had, what did that mean for both of them? Hell, just because his cock was hard didn’t mean the damned thing could work anymore.

  Jack pressed a hand to his head. “They’re calling for her and they aren’t being quiet about it.”

  “They must be searching in grids and using more than one helicopter or they couldn’t cover so much territory so fast,” Ken added.

  Telepathy could be quiet. Jack and Ken had been using it since they were toddlers, and they could send easily to each other without a lot of energy spilling over to give them away. The GhostWalkers trained in sending precise waves when communicating, because anyone familiar with the strange buzzing and head pounding recognized it for what it was, but it wasn’t an easy talent to master. Right now it didn’t appear as if Mari’s GhostWalker team cared one way or the other that anyone else might hear them. They were frantic to find her and being loud about calling her.

  Her team wanted her back. Ken understood the creed of the GhostWalkers. They never left a man behind. If one was captured, they kept coming for him—or her. But he couldn’t help wonder if Brett or Sean were leading the rescue mission and if it was entirely personal. The team had been pressing them hard for two days, and they were definitely following Nico’s flight plans, filed with only a high security clearance access.

  He swore softly to himself. There seemed to be no controlling jealousy. He had never allowed himself to care about anything or anyone other than Jack, so it had never come up. When Briony had entered their lives and Jack had fallen so hard for her, Ken had only worried about Jack losing the one good thing that had ever happened to him.

  Ken touched Mari’s face, tracing her bone structure, imprinting it forever on his mind and into his skin and organs. He wanted her for himself. It was unexpected and shocking to him, even frightening, that he could want something so much, but he did. She was there. Inside of him. All the while she talked, he watched every expression, every gesture, and he had rested his palm on her body, absorbing what he could of her nature and character. It wasn’t one of his strongest gifts, but he caught impressions of her life, stark, sterile, and often unpleasant. She was the kind of woman he would have been drawn to without Whitney’s interference.

  She was strong and opinionated, not easily intimidated. She was beautiful. He knew she wouldn’t think so; women never did. They always wanted to be thinner, or have a different hair color, or be taller or shorter, but he’d been the one to undress her, and her body was perfect for him. He wanted her with an almost savage, primitive need, and now that she’d awakened his cock, that too, had become a monster, raging for attention.

  He’d always had tremendous stamina, a strong sex drive, and now that it was back, and he knew she was naked and receptive, it bordered on obsession. And what would it take to satisfy him? To stimulate him? He was fairly certain it would take a lot to stimulate him to orgasm, and a woman who had endured the kind of things Mari had would want no part of rough sex. He swore under his breath and turned away from her.

  What the hell was he thinking? He couldn’t have her. He couldn’t think with his dick; he had to think with his brain—and he couldn’t have her. It was that simple. He couldn’t think about the way her eyes lit up when she smiled, or the sexy curve of her lips and how she would look … He groaned softly and rubbed the front of his jeans, swearing again when he had to use a hard pressure to even feel the wave of pleasure that edged far too close to pain.

  “They’re two minutes out, Ken.”

  Jack’s voice startled him, never a good sign when he had to be alert. It had just been so long since he’d felt sexual pleasure, and being close to her, feeling his body harden and fill with pounding need was a miracle—and a curse—he hadn’t expected.

  “Are you certain she’s unconscious? We can’t chance her warning anyone. If they don’t follow Nico, we can’t get her to Lily’s. And you and I both know Whitney has something else up his sleeve that insures she’ll go home. I want Lily to check her over thoroughly before she ever gets near Briony.”

  “She’s out. We cut that one a little too close. They were an hour behind us. Nico could be in trouble.” The buzzing in his head was fading, indicat
ing that the team was moving away from them.

  “We wanted them to think they were gaining on us. They had to follow him. Nico knows what he’s doing. Logan will be here any minute, Ken. I need to ask you …”

  “Don’t. I tried to tell you and now it’s too late.”

  “We have to talk about it. I had to face it when Briony came to me asking for shelter. There was every possibility our father lived inside of me.”

  “There was never that possibility. We made a pact, Jack, that we’d never get close enough to a woman to fall in love, but I always knew you would be fine if it happened.”

  “How? I didn’t know. I feel nothing at all when I take the shot, Ken, you know that. I didn’t feel remorse when I killed our father.”

  “When you finished what I started,” Ken reminded. “Mom was already dead when I walked in on him. I should have run, but all I could think about was killing him.” He could still remember in vivid detail tearing the baseball bat from his father’s grip and swinging it hard. There was absolute pleasure when the bat connected with a satisfying crack and his father screamed. For the first time in his life, Ken had felt powerful and in control. He wasn’t even a teenager, and yet he’d planned his father’s death a million times, and when he’d found his father with his mother’s blood all over him, something cold and ugly, vicious and merciless, had sprung to life and taken hold.

  “You think I didn’t have those same feelings, Ken? He made our lives a living hell. He beat the crap out of us, out of Mom; he ridiculed and embarrassed us. He wanted us dead, and he punished her every day of her life for loving us. Of course you wanted him dead. That has nothing to do with her.” Jack stepped closer, gesturing toward Mari.

  “It has everything to do with her and you know it.” Ken was too ashamed to admit his feelings to his brother, the one person he loved and respected the most in the world. It was bad enough that he knew his own fatal flaw, that he had to stare into the mirror every day and see his father looking back at him, but he sure as hell didn’t want Jack to see what he did. “I would feel like that, not wanting to share her with anyone. I’m not taking the chance that we might have children and I’d lose my mind completely. When I heard about Brett …” He could hardly say the name and a wealth of disgust and anger was in his voice. “I should have been thinking what she went through, but all I could think about was that he’d touched her, been inside her, that I wanted him dead.”