Mind Game (GhostWalkers #2)(73)
Author: Christine Feehan

“A lot of what we can do is easier and faster if we’re all together,” Kaden explained. “We all have talents, but we seem to become stronger when we’re together, which is why, when we go on a mission, we generally go in small units.”

“I’ve always worked alone. If I had a partner and he or she became frightened, or excited or was injured, I wouldn’t be able to function properly,” Dahlia said and looked up at Nicolas to make certain he understood what she was saying.

He frowned at her. “You’re functioning with no problems right now,” he pointed out.

“True, I am,” Dahlia said, “but some of you are having trouble keeping emotions and thoughts in check. It isn’t natural to do it for long periods of time.”

“We do just fine together,” Nicolas said.

Dahlia rolled her eyes. This is exactly why I don’t have a partner. I’m the one who has to guard my emotions when people act idiotic. I can’t take it, Nicolas. It’s just plain silly to get all chest pounding on me.

I was stating a fact.

No, you weren’t, you were giving me one of your mini lectures.

“I don’t give lectures,” Nicolas said aloud.

“What about Jesse Calhoun,” Kaden interrupted quietly. “Did you do much work with him? Did he ever go out with you on a mission?”

It seemed a casual enough question, but Dahlia instantly felt the shift. Tension went up just a notch, and everyone was suddenly paying close attention, waiting for her answer. “We worked together. He was always the handler, sending me in. I only had contact with him when it came to my missions, but he never accompanied me, it didn’t work that way.” She chose her words carefully, searching the energy for a sign of where the sudden change of subject was heading.

“Nicolas mentioned that Jesse Calhoun is a GhostWalker. Is that true?”

Dahlia nodded her head slowly. “He’s definitely an anchor and a strong telepath. He’s an ex SEAL and a very good agent. He can track almost anything.”

“How does this whole thing work with you and the NCIS? Do you do investigative work for them?” Kaden continued.

Dahlia’s fingers curled around the amethyst spheres in her pocket. “No, I’m strictly recovery. Jesse does investigations.”

“Who else?”

She shrugged. “Todd Aikens. He’s a SEAL as well. He and Jesse are very close. Martin Howard, he works with both Todd and Jesse sometimes, and there’s Neil Campbell. They’re all friends. I’ve not met them, just heard Jesse talk about them. I’ve heard him mention a couple of other names as well.”

“How many others? Are they like Jesse?”

“I told you, I don’t know. I just know of them. I’ve never worked with them.” She was beginning to feel as if she were being interrogated.

“Would any of them know you were going into recover the data?” Kaden asked.

“Only Jesse as far as I know. Well, his boss would know, and maybe Louise, the secretary. I mean she’d guess. If Jesse’s called in and asked to do an investigation and then I’m called in it would be obvious they’re using me for something to do with the investigation, I’d think. And I only do recovery.”

“By boss, you’re referring to Frank Henderson?” Respect crept into Kaden’s voice. Henderson was a legend in the military.

“Yes, he heads up the NCIS. Nothing happens without his knowledge. He’s very hands-on with the investigations and he wants up-to-the-minute reports. He runs a tight ship.”

“How do you pass the data to Calhoun?” Kaden persisted.

“I recover, drop it in a safe zone, and tell him in person where it is. He goes and gets it and takes it back to the NCIS.”

“Have you checked in to the office at all?”

She shook her head. “I figure someone there has to be selling information. I walked into a trap. And they knew where I lived. And they knew about the safe house in the Quarter. That could only have come from the NCIS office. The computers are regularly gone over by the techs, so I doubt if someone could have found me through all the security that way.”

“And someone took a shot at her,” Nicolas added.

“Call them now,” Kaden advised. “Talk only to Henderson. Tell him you think there’s a rat and that’s why Calhoun was taken to a safe location and is under guard. Tell him you want to bring the data in, but you don’t trust anyone. He’ll set up a meeting to do the exchange, and we’ll be there to protect you.”

She shook her head. “It’s too risky. He could get killed.”

“You don’t think he’s the traitor?”

“Not for a minute. I don’t have a single doubt about him. Have you ever met him?” Dahlia’s voice was fierce. “He loves his country. He’s served it all his life. He would never, under any circumstances betray it or his men. He has a code of honor he lives by and he’s as solid as they come.”

“You like him.”

“I’ve grown to respect him.” She glanced apologetically at Nicolas. “He talked me into working for the NCIS when I was just a kid. I’m not going to use him as bait to bring out the traitor. Besides, he’ll expect the data, and I don’t have it yet.”

“What did you just say?” Nicolas’s voice was very quiet and sent a shiver of alarm down her spine.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Dahlia shrugged her shoulders, striving to appear nonchalant. “That data still has to be recovered.”

There was a small silence. The GhostWalkers exchanged long looks. “I thought you’d already recovered the research,” Nicolas said. “Why would these people be coming after you if they still had it?”

“Well, they don’t have it. Halfway into the mission, I realized it was a setup. I knew they were dangling bait, false bait—I’d read the original data the professors had before they were murdered. A few days earlier, when I was scouting the building, I thought I recognized one of the men on the same floor where I’d been told the data was. It nagged at me that I’d seen him before somewhere, but I couldn’t place him. I’d already broken in and had accessed the computer and I skimmed the report and realized it was a fake. That triggered my memory of the man. He’d been a student at the university, just walking by in the hall outside of one of the professor’s offices. He had glanced inside the door, and that attracted my attention. He didn’t turn his head in any obvious way, but I knew he was looking in. People just don’t do that ordinarily, so he stuck in my mind.”