Murder Game (GhostWalkers #7)(87)
Author: Christine Feehan

Kadan frowned, trapping her injured hand beneath his. Her nervous plucking at the sheet was making him want to drag her into his arms and rock her. He needed to stay cool and think. “Have you heard of dreamwalking?”

Tansy sat up. When she did so, Kadan caught her waist and moved her up into a more comfortable position. She didn’t protest his help, although her leg didn’t hurt that much. She knew, on some level, that he needed to help her, to feel as if he was doing something for her. “I’ve heard rumors of the talent, but I don’t understand it and I certainly can’t do it.”

“One of the members of our team, Jeff Hollister, is a major talent when it comes to dreamwalking. It’s dangerous. If you’re killed in the dream, or caught there, you can’t get back to your body and it eventually dies. I think it’s a very rare talent, but then so is being an elite tracker. We have to face the fact that there’s every possibility that the puppet master is a dreamwalker. Nico can also dreamwalk, but he claims Jeff is far stronger.”

“How does it work?” Now she was even more frightened. Her fingers tangled with his and clung. “Can he get to me?”

“Maybe, but we’ve got Nico and I’ll get Jeff to come on board. He had a stroke some time back, but he’s recovered and has wanted to go on a mission. This might suit him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They can protect you while you’re sleeping, maybe even kill him if we set it up right.”

“In the meantime, going to sleep isn’t a good idea?”

“Let me talk to Jeff and find out what he thinks. Do you need help getting up?”

She tugged at his hand as he stood. “Thank you for believing me. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.”

“I hope you are, baby, but I’d rather be prepared if you’re not.” He lifted her off the bed in one easy movement.

“What are you doing?”

“Carrying you to the bathroom so you don’t have to walk on that leg.”

“No you’re not. I’m fine. Really. I’ll get dressed and make breakfast, and then we’ll try to see what we can find out about the West Coast team. If we’re lucky, we can pick up impressions on how the game works and what the stakes are, along with identifying the killers.”

“Lily, Rye’s wife, and Flame, Gator’s wife, are researching the East Coast suspects. It shouldn’t be difficult to identify members of teams who took the psych test and served together. If they have a history, and they used those nicknames in the service, then even if they are out now, we’ll find them.”

“Put me down.” She wasn’t going in the bathroom with him.

Kadan set her down reluctantly, allowing her body to slide against his, hands skimming down her sides to hold her h*ps against him. He rested his forehead against hers. “Be sure, Tansy. I don’t want to find you on the floor.”

“I’m sure.” She was even more certain she needed a shower and actual clothes to face the other GhostWalkers after screaming her guts out. “Go make sure my father’s okay.”

“Don’t lock the door.”

“I have no doubt if I did and I fell, you’d have no problems breaking it down,” she said, teasing him.

Kadan wasn’t certain he was in the right frame of mind to be teased, but he managed a faint smile as she closed the door in his face.

“She all right?” Ryland greeted, snapping closed his cell phone as Kadan entered the room.

“Yes. I want to get in touch with Jeff. We may need him. How’s he doing?”

“He’s strengthened his right side, that was the damaged side, and he’s walking now. The right leg was unresponsive for a long time. He’s working out daily, sometimes too much. The tremors stopped in his hand and he’s no longer numb in his face. Lily thinks his right leg will always be a little weak, but his talents are stronger than ever. He’s had more time than any of us to practice, and Lily was particularly hard on him, working him as much as possible on exercises to keep him from seizing when he uses psychic ability.”

“If I needed him for dreamwalking, do you think he’s up to it?”

“I’ll double-check with Lily, but we’re not going to keep him on the sidelines much longer. You know Jeff, he’s a kamikaze, high IQ, needs a lot of stimulation. He’s thrown himself into his recovery, but he wants action.”

“Talk to Lily then. What did Tucker say?”

“Says all quiet, but if you’re worried, they can bring in Sam.”

Kadan frowned. “Not yet. Let’s see how things play out today. She’s going to try to lift impressions from a couple more pieces.”

“You’re not happy about it.”

“No, it’s dangerous. I might not be able to pull her back if the impressions are too strong. And we’ve got an enemy we can’t identify trying to track her. He knows who she is thanks to the news story. He’s smart, this guy. And he’s patient. He flies under the radar.”

“Is he working for Whitney?”

Kadan shook his head. “It doesn’t feel right to me, and Tansy picked up that he had worked for Whitney sometime in the past. She thinks there’s the possibility that he ran the psych testing for the candidates for the GhostWalker program. Can Lily access those files and get us names?”

“She’ll try. It’s much more difficult. We’re using a back door into Whitney’s computer as well as searching the computers he left behind, but most of those records were destroyed when the GhostWalker program was supposedly disbanded. No one wanted the news to get out that the government’s top scientist, still working for them, experimented on children that he bought and sold. We now know there were more girls than the ones he held at his home. This experiment has been ongoing for too many years, and you and I both know others had to have known about it.”

Kadan led the way to the kitchen. Nico had brought in groceries earlier, so there was coffee made. He set about making breakfast. Tansy wasn’t going to be standing on her leg, and she sure as hell wasn’t serving breakfast to everyone before she handled the game pieces. Ryland pitched in and helped him, and by the time the others came in, breakfast was ready.

Tansy came in, limping a little, very pale, her eyes taking up most of her face, but the fragrance of cinnamon and sin drifted through the air. She was barefoot, wore no makeup, and her mouth was devoid of lipstick. She wore a soft pair of sweats and a thin tank that hugged her br**sts, and Kadan thought she was the most beautiful, sexy woman he’d ever seen. He went to her immediately, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against him, inhaling her scent while he dropped a kiss on her upturned mouth.