Murder Game

by Christine Feehan

  "Yes, eventually. For now, the best we can do is jam it. I don't want to cut you open to take it out. We need a doc for that."

  "No, we don't. Not if it's in my hip where the first one was. I remember having stitches in my hip. Dad told me I fell and hit my head and tore a laceration in my hip but--" She stopped abruptly and turned her face away from them. "I'm going to make tea. Does anyone want a cup?"

  Kadan filled her mind with him, wrapping himself in her. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but she kept space between them. The only thing he had was his mind and he used it, pushing inside her where she was silently weeping, where the pain of her father's betrayal cut like a knife. Even when he willed her to look at him, she kept her head down, her arms crossing her breasts in a protective gesture. He hated the separation. And he hated more that his reaction went from being about her and the pain her father caused, to him and his own need to be complete with her.

  He watched her walk out and felt like she took all the warmth in the room with her. His eyes met Ryland's. "I've never wanted to hurt anyone in my life the way I want to hurt her father," he admitted.

  "Man," Ryland set the heavy bag he'd carried in onto the couch and unzipped it, "I'm sorry to have to tell her. And he bragged about it, bragged he could find her anywhere in the world. He may not have realized he set the assassins on her trail, but he did. He led them right to her."

  "She'll handle it," Kadan said.

  "Yeah, but she shouldn't have to," Ryland said, dragging weapons from the bag. "I brought a few supplies. Thought they might come in handy. And I've got transport standing by just in case we need it."

  "Isn't Gator's wife really good on a computer?"

  "She can hack just about anything," Ryland confirmed.

  "I'm going to need her to work on a few things for me. With her help, I think I can find and take down killers on the East Coast team, but not until Tansy handles the other team's game pieces and gives me enough to find them. I'm going to have to eliminate them all fast so no one has time to disappear."

  "Tansy can do that? She looks a little worn."

  Kadan shook his head. "I almost lost her with the last one. We'll have to be careful. But I can't eliminate anyone without the others going underground. I have to know who they are."

  "I can ask Lily if there are any other trackers, but I've not heard of it, not legitimate ones anyway." Ryland began pulling guns and ammunition out of the sack and spreading the cache across the couch. "So she has to handle how many more objects before we can go after them?"

  "Four."

  "That burns." He added grenades and claymore mines to the mix. "You better pack up whatever evidence you have and get it ready to move fast. We secured another house, and partially set it up. We can use this one as bait, but I doubt if they'll be very far behind us. They've had the information for a while. They'll be trying to find out who is with her."

  Gator and Nico came in and scooped up the claymores. "We'll handle the setup outside," Gator drawled.

  "Don't kill the neighborhood dogs," Kadan warned.

  Gator flashed him a grin. "Hey, man, they shouldn't be on my property. Where's that good-lookin' woman of yours? You don' much let her outa your sight."

  Kadan sent his friend an ice-cold stare that failed to wipe the grin from Gator's face. The Cajun just shrugged his shoulders, shouldered his weapon, and followed Nico out with a handful of claymores.

  "Does he ever stop smiling?" Kadan asked.

  "Not in all the time I've known him." Ryland shoved a magazine into an automatic. "This woman is the one?"

  "The only."

  "Then we make certain she's safe," Ryland said.

  A muffled noise, like something thumping against the floor, came from the kitchen. Kadan whirled around, inhaling sharply, and caught the coppery scent of blood. He sprinted, using his enhanced speed, his heart in his throat.

  No! Damn it, no! He knew what Tansy was doing. He should have known from the moment he saw her face when they'd told her.

  He halted at the kitchen entrance, his heart nearly stopping. He stood for a beat of time staring almost uncomprehendingly at the blood soaking into the kitchen tile and the knife in Tansy's hand. He moved with blurring speed, gripping her wrist, twisting hard to remove the weapon and toss it across the room with so much force it dented the wall where it hit, before clattering to the floor.

  "What the fuck were you thinking?" Pressing his hands tightly to the gushing wound in her hip, he raised his voice. "Ryland. Get the emergency medical kit now."

  "I want it out of me."

  "Shut up." Kadan's piercing eyes slashed at her face as he put pressure on the wound. "Don't talk or move. Damn it! Just damn it. Ryland. Fucking get in here."

  Ryland came at a run, the medical kit in his hand. He threw himself on the floor beside Kadan, ignoring the blood soaking into his jeans.

  "Okay." Ryland took a breath. "Okay," he repeated, waiting for his heart to start again. "We've got Nico. He can deal with this shit. He's good, Kadan. I've called him in."

  "I need more pressure. She's losing too much blood." Kadan tried to detach himself, to find that calm that was always at his core, but there was only fear. He'd never been so shaken by fear. There wasn't enough air in the room to breathe.

  Nico and Gator came rushing in, and Nico pushed his way in between Kadan and Ryland, indicating for Kadan to let him see the damage.

  Kadan caught Tansy's face in his blood-soaked hands. "I swear I'm going to beat you within an inch of your life for this. Damn you for this, Tansy."

  "You're not helping," Nico said. "Back off and give me some room. I need hot water and some towels fast. Ryland, get me the iodine."

  Without a word, Kadan positioned himself at Tansy's head, so that she was pillowed in his lap. He tried to keep his mind blank, for once in his life, allowing his teammates to do the work.

  "Normally when I use healing energy, Dahlia is with me to focus the crystals. Somehow she can get what's inside of me to flow much more easily." As he spoke, Nico dumped the antiseptic into the wound.

  Tansy screamed and nearly came off of Kadan's lap. It was liquid fire pouring through her flesh. Kadan held her down and she clutched at his arms. "Make them take it out."

  He swore savagely. Kadan, the ice man, who was about to go off like a nuclear blast. "Can you do it and still stop the bleeding? Can you get it out of her?"

  Nico muttered to himself, but he wiped at the wound and peered into the deep slash. "I can see the edge of it. It's close to the bone, Kadan. Maybe. Give me the small knife in the kit, Rye." He held out his hand for the instrument while he looked at Tansy. "Can you take the pain?"

  "Anything to get it out," Tansy said. She looked up at Kadan, tears swimming in her eyes. I know you're angry with me.

  Damn it, just stay quiet right now. His chest was so tight it burned. He couldn't lose her. Thunder roared in his ears. Fire burned in his belly. His gut knotted tight and hard and dangerous--oh so dangerous. His mind actually went numb, blank, except for the protest, the litany. Don't take her. You can't take her. Whatever you do, don't take her. He didn't even know who he was pleading with, but there was too much blood.

  Tansy wanted him to understand how desperate she felt. Killers crowded into her head, victims shared the space. There was no way to tell him, not now when he was so angry with her. She almost wished for his cold mask. He looked frightening, a dangerous man on the edge of sanity. She should have thought before she'd decided to take the tracking device out herself. How deep could it be? Her hand had slipped. There'd been more blood, the shock of pain; her hand just slipped. She couldn't stand the thought of anything else foreign in her body. And she couldn't bear the idea that she might cause the death of Kadan or any one of his friends.

  Kadan gripped her shoulders hard and Gator thrust a towel into her mouth as Nico took the tip of the blade and sliced deeper around the small tracker. She heard her muffled scream, her body arched in torment, but she fought the re
action, wanting Nico to succeed.

  Kadan swallowed bile and bent over her. You're all right, baby. He's getting it out of you. Just breathe through it. Almost there.

  All the while Kadan soothed her, he kept shifting his gaze back and forth between Tansy's face and Nico. Ryland put tweezers into Nico's hand, and Nico carefully inserted the tips into the wound. Sweat beaded on Tansy's forehead; there were white lines around her mouth. Her lashes fluttered and her eyes turned opaque.

  Kadan wanted her to pass out. Her fainting would be good for both of them. He willed her to let herself go, and thankfully, she did, slumping in his arms, making it much easier for Nico.

  "Got it." Triumphantly, Nico held up the small chip. He handed it off to Gator and turned back to the deep slice along Tansy's hip and thigh. "I'm going to need to stitch this. Do we know her blood type?"

  Kadan nodded. "It was in her file. She has the same type I do."

  "That's not a surprise," Ryland said. "Lily found documentation that Whitney's been trying to make us universal so we can all give to each other. With pairing, he tried to make certain. Remember, we're all supposed to be the ultimate weapons in combat situations, so that means we have to be able to heal each other."

  "Yeah, well, if I can't do my thing with her, she's going to be out of commission for a while. We may need to take her to a hospital."

  "Do your thing then," Kadan said, ice creeping back into his voice, "because protecting her in that public a place will be nearly impossible."

  Nico didn't reply. He simply began the intricate and difficult job of meticulously repairing the damage Tansy had done to her leg.

  "Do we move her? We're going to have company and she probably needs a transfusion," Ryland said. "It's up to you, Kadan."

  "We fight here. Get fluids in her and see if we can hold off the transfusion until we move. If we're lucky, maybe she won't need one." Kadan wanted a battle--even needed one. He felt the familiar calm settle over him. The warrior was stronger than the lover, more recognizable. The persona fit him. "I've got the escape routes ready. If you have to go up, there's a rope ladder as well as a cable to shoot to the roof on the west side. I don't want to let it get that far."

  "I'll be outside then," Nico said. "When I'm done here, I'll find myself a spot."

  "They'll send a team," Kadan warned. "I took out two of them in the mountains. They aren't going to be happy about it."

  "I'm feeling a little mean about now," Nico said as he took another stitch.

  Gator nodded, and the smile not only faded from his eyes, but his mouth had gone tight and grim. "I'm getting damn tired of our women having to suffer."

  Kadan looked at Ryland, who shrugged his broad shoulders.

  "I've been looking for a little action ever since I found out Freeman was involved. She's a traitor of the worst sort, turning on her sisters to further her own cause. I could use a little combat time."

  "Set up an IV in the bedroom," Nico instructed. "I'll try to heal her. Don't worry, bro, we'll get her right."

  "I can't do what Dahlia does," Kadan said, "but I'm fairly accurate at focusing energy. I can take a shot at helping you."

  Nico nodded and kept working. Ryland added more light while Gator found a mop and a bucket to try to clean the mess.

  "What are we going to do about her clothes?" Ryland asked.

  Kadan sighed. "She'll run out at this rate. I'll cut off her jeans. They're ruined anyway. She'll have to be ready to go once we take out the team. I'll get her ready, don't worry."

  Nico sank back on his heels and wiped his face, smearing it with Tansy's blood. "Get her ready then. Are you set otherwise?"

  "No. Rye, you'll have to pack up the war room. Don't touch anything with your skin. Use gloves, double them up if you can. I'll need everything out of there, and be especially careful with the game pieces on the table. She handles those to track the killers."

  Kadan lifted Tansy into his arms. She flinched and murmured a protest, instinctively trying to pull away. "Do you have painkillers in that bag?"

  "Yeah. Hurry, Kadan. We'll need you for this. They'll be coming in when they think you've gone to bed." He glanced at his watch. "We've probably only got an hour before they come at us." He threw a towel on the bed as Kadan jerked a knife from his boot. "I'll get the equipment, but if she ends up needing a transfusion we could be in trouble."

  Kadan appreciated Ryland giving him a few minutes of privacy to strip the bloody clothes from Tansy's body. He cleaned her as best he could and wrapped her in one of his shirts, but left off the sweatpants he'd found in her bag until Nico gave healing a try. He was covering her when Ryland returned with the IV equipment.

  They worked fast, pushing the fluids while Nico knelt beside the bed. He unwrapped a crystal from a soft cloth he kept in his pocket. "This is amethyst for focus, Kadan. You want to direct through this. I'll use the rose quartz for healing." He unwrapped the second piece.

  "I'll place my hands over the wound and you gather the energy using the amethyst. Try to pull it to you and then focus it over my hands. I've never done this without Dahlia."

  "I can do it," Kadan said. He had to do it. He had no choice. "Energy swarms to me, and as a rule I can focus, direct, and even bend it to my will. Give me the image of what Dahlia does and I can grab it out of your head."

  Nico extended his hands over Tansy's bare hip, directly over the long gash. He wanted the inside of the torn wound to heal, the tear to repair itself. His hands felt cold, as they always did when he started. He used a Lakota healing chant his grandfather had taught him years earlier, the steady rhythm helping to block out everything around him but the task at hand.

  Kadan reached for Nico's exact brain wave, found where he could merge, and slid respectfully in. He saw the image of Nico's wife, Dahlia, with the two crystals in her hands, and he picked them up, closing his fingers around them. The air around him instantly charged, crackling with electricity as the energy rushed to him, filling him, so that his core temperature rose and, with it, heat invaded the room. The crystals in his hands glowed hot, and he felt a jolt and then the sizzling tingle of an electrical current. He placed his hands over Nico's, palms down, the crystals between them.

  The current hit Nico hard, slamming into his body with much more force than when Dahlia conducted. The whip of electricity sizzled through him, white-hot, almost frightening in its strength, and then it jumped back to Kadan. Tiny sparks rained down around them.

  "Rein it in," Nico hissed between clenched teeth. "Too much power."

  "I'm trying." The heat the crystals gave off burned against his rough palms. He hated to think what that would do to Dahlia's hands.

  Kadan took a breath and forced his mind to stay connected with Nico's. He heard the man's heartbeat, the flow of blood through his veins. It took a moment for him to realize it wasn't Nico's heart he was hearing, but Tansy's. He took a breath and called the energy to him again. It swelled in answer, a hot burn that went through him, once again gathering strength, until it boiled and seethed in a violent mass as he focused and aimed it through the crystals. Mimicking the images of Dahlia in Nico's mind, Kadan pressed the amethyst crystal into Nico's hand.

  There was a moment, a breath between time. Kadan saw prisms of light burst from beneath Nico's hand and radiate through Tansy's hip. Another beat of time and they were gone, but the heat was there, rising around them, white-hot. Sharing Nico's mind allowed Kadan to feel power uncoiling, shifting and moving, coming from a tight core to spread and grow.

  The universe unfurled, stretching out before them, so that both men seemed to become an integral, fundamental part of it. Atoms and molecules burst around them, lights like cosmic stardust beckoned from every direction and gathered inside of them. Power moved through their bodies, sizzling in veins and arteries and even in their brains. Kadan placed the rose quartz in Nico's hand.

  At once the force grew, gathering into a huge collective pool of electrical energy. Kadan felt the change in Nico, the su
dden focus. Immediately the energy surged toward Nico's hands and the crystals he held. Light burst bright and radiant beneath his palms, saturating the wound, cauterizing the tears, and speeding the healing process. GhostWalkers already possessed a natural ability to heal faster, but Nico's healing energy visibly repaired damage.

  The flow only lasted a few moments, but the light was blinding and the heat intense. When Nico dropped the crystals back into Kadan's palms, they were warm, almost to the point of being hot. Nico slumped forward against the bed.

  "That's all I can do. I hope it's enough. She nicked an artery, and I'm no vascular surgeon. If that didn't repair the damage, she'll have to go to a hospital."

  "If that didn't work, no surgeon is going to be able to help her."

  "I tried to direct the energy to her artery, but this is the first time I've worked like this without Dahlia, and the power is much stronger coming through you and harder to work with." He glanced up at Kadan. "You're one scary man, my friend."

  Kadan shrugged. "I wouldn't mind having your talent."

  Gator stuck his head in the door. "Nico, you need to be getting outside. I don't think we've got much time. I hear dogs in the neighborhood acting up, and the word is we've got strangers drifting from house to house."

  "'The word is'?" Kadan echoed. "Seriously, Gator, talking to animals is making you nuttier than ever."

  Gator flashed his ever present grin and winked. "Yeah, you remember you said that when the animals take over and I rule the world."

  "Rule outside, where you can call your army in to help," Ryland suggested.

  Gator saluted and followed Nico into the living room, scooping up weapons and ammunition as he went through.

  "Do we have a vehicle ready for a quick escape?" Kadan asked as he checked the IV. He crouched down beside the bed, taking Tansy's hand in his.

  "We're ready for them. The neighborhood's going to hell though." Ryland went out, turning off lights as he went, plunging the house into darkness.

  Kadan pressed his forehead to Tansy's. "You awake, baby? I need you to wake up."

  "It hurts. I'm not sure I want to be awake." She'd been aware of Nico sending fire through her body and not much else. Everything around her had taken on a dreamlike quality.