Lethal Game

by Christine Feehan

She shook her head. “Absolutely not. He never appeared to be like some of the other guards. His head was always up. He was alert. He took the job seriously and acted as if he thought Whitney was worth guarding. That in itself was extremely rare. I can’t see Starks putting his life on the line for anyone, yet he clearly would have for Whitney.”

  Malichai knew Starks wasn’t a team player. He would never have helped out a fellow GhostWalker. He’d been cut from the program for psychological reasons. Whitney had been the one to cut him. And yet he’d ended up working for Whitney, as had many others Whitney had deemed unfit to be GhostWalkers.

  “He’s going to keep looking for you, Amaryllis. Once we get married and we’re back home, you’ll have to be prepared for Starks to make his try for you.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out. He could see she was worried. “I know he will, Malichai. I’ve been careful here. I told Marie that an ex-boyfriend was stalking me and I had to be careful and she helped me as much as she could to hide who I was. I made up my last name and date of birth because I wasn’t certain when I was born. My paperwork wasn’t that good, that’s why I was so afraid when I knew the police would look closely at it. I’m sure Marie thought when Tag came in that he was the one after me.”

  “You don’t have to worry about your paperwork now. That’s been taken care of. Because we’re getting married and you’re coming home with me, and you’re a GhostWalker, you’ll be valued as an asset by the government and protected at all times.”

  “Great. I’m an asset.”

  His smile was slow in coming because he was so worried about Starks being after her, but it found its way all the same. “You’re definitely an asset. At least to me. The government might think you are as well. No matter what, they have to protect you. No foreign government can get their hands on you. You’re really a national secret.”

  She laughed. “I’m something. I’d better get downstairs, Malichai. I still have a job to do. And just in case those people have hired someone other than your friend to do us all in, I’ve got weapons stashed from one end of this house to the other. I don’t take chances either. I’m not so easy to kill.”

  He was very certain she was telling the truth.

  “You can do your walk-through and hopefully figure out what’s bothering you.”

  “You don’t feel a threat at all?” Malichai asked. “Anything to raise your radar?”

  She shook her head. “No. I just feel you. Maybe you short-circuited my warning system, in which case, there’s no more . . . um . . . sex . . . until we’re somewhere where we don’t need a warning system.”

  “We’re always going to need one,” he protested.

  She shrugged. “Well, I’m sorry then. No more sex for you.” She stood up and acted as if she was going to walk right past him.

  Malichai reached out and caught her, pulling her into his body and closing his arms around her, locking her to him. “I’m afraid that’s a total no-go. Sex is going to be right up there with breathing, baby, so you’ll have to learn to keep the radar system in place.”

  “I think you’ve permanently damaged it,” she said, looking up at him.

  He kissed her. There was no looking down at that upturned mouth and not kissing her. His warning system might work fine, but his ability to stop kissing her was put to the test. He loved the way she tasted. The fire in her mouth. The passion that matched his. When he was finally able to come to his senses, he rested his forehead against hers.

  “Listen, baby. Generally, when I have this vague feeling, it means a threat is headed my way, not that it’s here. It means it’s close. I just can’t shake the feeling, so I want you to be extra cautious. If you have to leave the house, let me know. Or let one of my brothers know.”

  “I figured if you took the time out to have sex and then a long talk about Starks, the threat couldn’t be imminent,” she said. “I wish I felt it too, Malichai.”

  He shrugged and straightened, reluctant to leave her, but knowing he really needed to do a walk-through before everyone else was up. “Promise me, Amaryllis. Had I known that Starks had gotten anywhere near you, let alone the things you’ve told me, I wouldn’t have let you out of my sight.”

  A small frown crossed her face. She did that little nervous thing, stroking the pads of her fingers down her throat as if it ached. He stiffened.

  “Babe. Starks. Did he choke you?” If he had, the man was dead. Malichai was going to hunt him down and kill him. He didn’t care if that meant going directly after Whitney and starting an all-out war with him. Half of those in the White House would support the hunt. The other half would probably sanction Malichai’s death.

  She studied his face. “Honey, I don’t want to discuss Starks anymore. He gives me nightmares. Let’s just say, he made me so afraid I found the courage to leave and I did it in a smart enough way that I had a good start and could get out in front of them when they came hunting me.”

  Yeah, the bastard had choked her. Malichai pushed down anger and forced himself to nod. Amaryllis was far too perceptive. Just as he was able to read her, she was able to read him. She knew, if she admitted what Starks had done, Malichai would go hunting. He didn’t need her confirmation. He’d gone on two missions with Starks. One had been enough to know his character. Two had shown all of them that Starks would put a bullet in their heads if it in any way benefited him. The man was certifiable.

  Malichai followed Amaryllis out of the room. The hallways were dimly lit. Just enough light spilled from the ceiling to allow anyone to see where they were going. The lights weren’t so bright that if doors were opened it would disturb guests sleeping in the rooms. She headed toward the kitchen while he turned to make his way down the long hall.

  There were twelve mini-suites on the first floor. He knew the layouts and the names of each of those staying in those rooms. He caught the muffled sounds of snores coming from several of the rooms. That was to be expected. He was looking for something that might jar. A single note, anything that would make the knots in his gut either relax or tighten more.

  He was a GhostWalker, so he moved like a wraith down the long, snaking hallway. It wasn’t straight, so he couldn’t see all the way to the end. The dim light cast enough shadows that he was able to disappear into them. Someone was stirring in the dolphin room.

  Marie had decorated each of the downstairs rooms with sea animals to make it easier to identify guests and where they were staying. The dolphin room was Tania Leven’s. She was already up, moving around. Malichai could hear her talking quietly to someone else—a male. He slid deeper into the shadows beside her room in an effort to identify the male voice speaking with her at four in the morning.

  It wasn’t as if, on a vacation, she couldn’t hook up with someone, it was done all the time. It was just that Tania was surrounded by family, all men, and everywhere she went, she had her brother or cousin with her. Malichai had never noticed her flirting either.

  The door swung open and Tommy Leven stood there, looking back inside. “See you at breakfast, honey,” he said.

  “Thanks for staying with me,” Tania said. She sounded as if she’d been crying.

  Tommy shrugged and closed the door quietly. He stood there for a moment looking at the door and then he went on past Malichai, back toward his room. Malichai leaned against the wall, trying to puzzle out why Tania would be so upset that her brother had to spend most of the night talking to her. She always seemed a very steady woman.

  He was about to move on down the hall when the door to the orca room opened. It was the one right beside the dolphin room, the one rented to Linda, Lorrie, and Lexie Montclair. Linda looked out into the hall, toward Tommy’s room, and then crept out and knocked softly on Tania’s door. Malichai frowned. He’d never seen the women talking to each other.

  Tania opened her door slightly and then, seeing who it was, cracked it wider. Fresh tears insta
ntly began to track down her face. The two women stood there looking at each other and then Tania hiccupped.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “Linda, I was careless. That was all. Careless. It wasn’t on purpose. You have to know that.”

  She sounded so contrite, Malichai felt sorry for her and he didn’t even know what she’d done. Linda stepped closer to the door and Tania backed inside to allow the other woman entry. Linda put her arms around Tania and held her while Tania began to sob quietly.

  “You’re going to give yourself a headache. It’s over. Tag’s not going to hurt her now. Were you jealous? Why would you ever think I’d want to be with a man like that?”

  “He kept asking for you, not Lorrie. It was always, ‘Do you know this woman, Linda Montclair?’ I thought he was your ex and he wanted you back.”

  Linda reached behind her and closed the door, but as she did so, he could see she caught at Tania’s hair, turning her face so she could find her mouth with hers.

  Linda and Tania? What the hell was going on? And Tania had contacted Tag and brought him to the bed-and-breakfast because he’d been asking around for Linda? He probably realized Linda ran the show. She would be the one hiding her sister from him. But Tania and Linda? Linda was from San Diego. Tania was from North Carolina, at least that was what was on her driver’s license. They couldn’t have just struck up the relationship. How had they met? How long had they been together?

  Malichai waited a few more minutes, listening carefully, but there was no more conversation. None. He sighed and continued down the hallway until he was at the stairs leading to the second floor. There were two sets of staircases, one on either end of the first floor. There was also a lift a wheelchair could use from the foyer where the front desk was, so three ways to access the top floor.

  He went up the stairs and stood in the wide hallway for a moment, just listening, allowing his enhanced senses to scan for him. The five men from the various countries represented at the Ideas for Peace conference were each staying in one of the five suites on the second floor. Stefani Charles, representing Finland, was also on that floor. Three more of the rooms had been reserved for representatives of other countries. The remaining vacant two rooms on that floor were reserved for attendees of the conference. Those people would be coming in that morning or afternoon. The Ideas for Peace conference had turned out to be a huge draw, and the local motels, hotels and B and B places had all benefited.

  Malichai walked up and down the hallway, but as far as he could see, nothing seemed out of place. His alarm kept nagging at him, but there weren’t any whispers, no voices talking conspiracy. Just his gut telling him something wasn’t right. It was possibly left over from Tag’s sudden appearance, but that didn’t feel right to him.

  He turned to start back down the hall when the door to suite Atlantis opened and Billy Leven came out. He wore gloves, very dark ones, as he gripped the doorknob to make certain he had closed it properly. He tugged twice and then sauntered down the hall as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Suite Atlantis was the room Amaryllis had prepared for a representative of Egypt who had been coming in that night but was delayed until the next afternoon.

  Malichai stared at the closed door. The Levens were up to something. Billy seemed a good old boy, a man who was perpetually cheerful and yet, at the same time, stayed to himself. Tania seemed a sweet woman, but she was having an affair with a woman she acted as if she didn’t know. Tommy? What was he up to?

  Malichai waited for Billy to make his way down the stairs and then he followed at a more leisurely pace, not wanting to draw the eye to him. Billy didn’t go straight to his room but followed the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and bacon to the kitchen.

  Malichai heard Amaryllis’s laughter before he came up behind the man from North Carolina. He was using all his charm on her. Billy had one hip against the doorjamb as he casually draped himself there to observe Amaryllis putting the last touches on her trays of breakfast casserole.

  “You’re going to have to show me how to make that before I head home,” Billy said. “One of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had.”

  “It’s Marie’s recipe,” Amaryllis volunteered. She looked past Billy to Malichai. “Hi, honey,” she greeted softly. “Looking for coffee?”

  “I’m always looking for coffee,” Malichai said and nodded at Billy as the man moved in order for him to get by. “I see you found my girl and you’re giving me a run for my money this morning with the compliments.”

  “All sincere,” Billy said. “You’re a lucky man.”

  “I am that,” Malichai agreed, inhaling the aroma of coffee as he took the cup from Amaryllis. “And she makes the best coffee as well.”

  “You’re a soldier, Malichai,” Billy said. “What do you think about all this Ideas for Peace nonsense?”

  Malichai shrugged noncommittally. “I think nations have tried to talk peace for centuries and it never actually happens, so while I think it’s commendable, do I believe anything will come of it? Unfortunately, no.”

  Billy nodded several times, as if Malichai was only confirming what he believed. “Thanks for the coffee, little darlin’,” he said to Amaryllis and went off, whistling off-key down the hall back toward his room.

  12

  I think we need to explore the very real possibility that an unknown faction of terrorists may try to bomb the Ideas for Peace conference,” Ezekiel said. “We don’t have a lot of evidence. The police have done a well check on Miss Crystal from the magic shop and spoken with a woman they believe is her from the cruise ship. Her passport and ID have checked out. That’s a dead end for now, until she returns.”

  “That doesn’t negate what Anna and Burnell thought they overheard,” Malichai pointed out. “If we just ignore it, and it turns out they were talking about the maximum number of people they could kill, the convention center would be the place to do it.”

  “Exactly,” Ezekiel agreed. “I’ve got this nagging feeling. Malichai’s got it. Mordichai’s got it as well. In the past, whenever the three of us had that same feeling, something was very wrong. And we have the hit man going around over a two-year period doing in people all connected to the convention center.”

  “How did Miss Crystal pay for her cruise?” Malichai asked.

  “She ‘won’ the trip,” Ezekiel said. “She did enter every contest known to man, according to all of her friends, so it is a possibility that she actually won a legit contest.”

  Rubin was silent as he studied the board Ezekiel had made. He didn’t have the radar they did, but he was very good at puzzles. Right now, Malichai could see he was moving those names around like chess pieces on a board. They needed new insights, because he was fresh out of them. What would be the reasoning of targeting the peace conference? Malichai had told the truth to Billy when he said he doubted the conference would come up with anything that would change the world and the way it thought. Nations could talk to one another, but in the end, it all seemed to come down to who could gain what.

  “Are there any politicians or world leaders of significance going?” Mordichai asked.

  Ezekiel shook his head. “They were deliberately not invited. This conference is for the people and it’s all about ideas. Things to contribute to change the way people of various nations think about one another, their customs, religion and governments. Simply put, to shift world opinion in every nation toward tolerance.”

  “It’s a very lofty idea,” Mordichai said.

  “True, and it isn’t going to solve the world’s problems, but they’re hoping they can just shift the tolerance level so people can come together first before igniting into terrorism and hatred,” Ezekiel said. “We’re not about judging whether something works or not. We don’t have to agree or disagree. We’re soldiers and we protect people and those unable to protect themselves.”

  Malichai shook his head, trying to puzzle it ou
t. Politics aside, he needed to look at the bigger picture. There would be no reason to try to destroy the conference . . .

  Thinking aloud sometimes helped him. “We’re trying to find a reason. Suppose Anna and Burnell overheard the one thing that holds true. Whoever is behind this wants the largest body count possible. It doesn’t matter if they think the conference is a threat or not. They simply want the notoriety of killing as many people as possible. It doesn’t even matter if they’re Americans, just simply a body count.”

  “They could get that at a football game,” Mordichai said.

  Rubin shook his head. “Not like this. These are buildings. If the exits were blocked, thousands could be trapped inside. Have you seen what happens at Comic-Con? It’s insane.”

  There was a brief silence while the Fortunes brothers exchanged amused glances.

  “Rubin? You’ve been to Comic-Con? You actually know what that is?” Ezekiel asked, trying to keep a straight face and failing.

  “Get any autographs?” Mordichai teased.

  “He does like Harley Quinn,” Malichai told them. “He would stand in line for a couple of hours to get her autograph.”

  Rubin scowled at them. “I just said I wouldn’t mind a girlfriend like her, not that I’d stand in line anywhere to get an autograph. For that matter, if I really wanted one, I’d just bypass her security and wait for her in her living room.”

  “You do realize she’s a fictional character,” Ezekiel said. “An actress played her.”

  Rubin gave them all the finger, the standard answer when they were at their worst with one another. “I’m just saying, that many people filling up that big of a convention center, that would take out more than a football stadium.”

  “We might have to return to the subject of whether or not you attended one or more of those events,” Ezekiel said, “but you’re right, the San Diego Convention Center is enormous and holds thousands. I’ll see about getting us in there and taking a look at security.”