Ruthless Game (GhostWalkers #9)(68)
Author: Christine Feehan

I’d been so alone, felt so vulnerable, there in a foreign country with no real knowledge of how to live day to day without being in a military complex. I gravitated toward the elderly to tap into their knowledge and because they were far less threatening. I can barely believe that sweet old lady was born into the cartel.

“She did,” she acknowledged out loud. She looked at Kane, wanting to apologize, needing him to understand.

I brought another enemy straight to their door. It isn’t as if they don’t have too many against them already. I’m so sorry, Kane. I was so scared when it came closer to the baby being born.

Kane stood up, not quite with his usual fluid grace, but he managed without a cane, and went to her, wrapping his arm around her waist. She moved into him, nearly melting into his skin, slipping beneath his shoulder as if she just, for one moment, needed his strength.

“I’m sorry,” she said aloud to Mack. “It was stupid of me to trust any of them. She seemed so harmless, and I was about to give birth. I can leave . . .”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is your home,” Mack snapped, impatience crossing his face. “We don’t turn tail and run, and we sure don’t throw our family members to the wolves.”

“They kill everyone. They’ll go after Jaimie.”

Javier had slid back into the shadows; now he stirred, drawing her attention, quite frankly startling her. Kane felt her jump. He was used to Javier disappearing on them, fading into whatever was solid behind him, but Rose scowled.

“Stop doing that. I’m going to have a heart attack.”

He flashed a small, unrepentant grin. “I need the practice. Don’t you worry about Jaimie, Rose. She can handle herself, and she’s got all of us. No one’s going to get to Jaimie.”

Kane felt a shiver run through Rose, and he tightened his arm around her. Javier is on our side, Rose. He’d die for Jaimie—and for you and Sebastian. More important, he’d kill for you. He’s a good man. He lives by a strict code. He’s a man of honor.

I believe that, Kane, but I also believe it would never be a good idea to cross him—or betray him.

She was a good judge of character, no doubt about it. He rubbed her rib cage with gentle fingers, soothing her as he turned his attention back to the matter of the cartel. “Do they know she’s with us?”

“Of course not. They have no idea. Whitney sure isn’t going to give her up to them. More likely, we’ll get an influx of his men hanging around to help protect her—or snatch her if they get the chance. They’ll just muddy the waters for us,” Mack groused.

“So what are you worried about?”

“They have her picture. It’s been circulating, and they’ve got bounty hunters looking for her. They put a hefty price on her head.”

Kane took the body blow without flinching. His hand found hers, threading his fingers through hers in silent reassurance.

“What are we doing about it, Mack?” He knew Mack. There was already a plan in motion.

Mack’s smile was anything but pleasant. “We’re adept at urban warfare; they’re adept at killing unarmed, terrified people. We have as good—or better—weapons than they do. If they’re stupid enough to come at us, they’re going to get a fight they won’t believe.”

“I don’t understand what that means,” Rose said.

“It means,” Kane explained, “that if they find you here, if any bounty hunter finds you here, we’ll take the fight right back to them.”

“And shove it up their ass,” Javier added. “If you’ll excuse my language, ma’am.”

“You can’t invade a foreign country,” Rose said. “It would cause an international incident. Every GhostWalker could be in trouble.”

Mack shrugged. “They’d have to catch us first, baby sister, and that just isn’t going to happen. We’re ghosts, remember?”

“Have you sent them a message, Top?” Kane asked.

“Not yet. We’ll deliver it though, personally, if and when it’s needed.”

Kane frowned and shook his head, his body straightening. “No one is doing my job for me. I’ll take the message to them myself.”

Rose tightened her fingers around his and stepped in front of him, as if she could physically block his body from harm. “No one is going to deliver any message. They don’t have a clue where I am. They don’t know about any of you or what you do. If you go throwing down the gauntlet, you’ll be stirring up a hornet’s nest. Right now they’re looking for a pregnant woman worth a lot of money to a crazy billionaire. They don’t know about any of you. They know about Whitney, the man who supplied weapons and Humvees to the rebels. They think he killed all of their people trying to acquire me.”

There was a small silence. “She’s probably right about that, Top,” Kane said. “The cartel has to think Whitney’s men shot them all to hell.”

“In fact, they did,” Rose pointed out. “We only were responsible for a couple of them, and remember, they think I was a hostage.”

“Is the word on the street to kill her?”

“Dead or alive,” Mack’s voice was grim. “Preferably alive, but they’ll take what they can get. It’s more money if she’s delivered alive.”

“They plan on taunting Whitney with her,” Javier said. “Showing him they will retaliate.”

“The bottom line for me,” Kane said, “is that they said dead or alive. That’s unacceptable.”

“You can’t go to war with the cartel,” Rose said.

The three men smiled at one another, and there was nothing at all pleasant about those smiles.

Chapter 14

Rose stood on the rooftop and looked around, a little awed by the view. Three stories up, she could see the ocean as well as a good portion of the city. A garden had been started on the roof, mainly, she could see, for defense purposes. She was coming to realize this team did everything with both offense and defense in mind.

“Urban warfare is different than what you’ve been trained for,” Kane said, indicating the buildings around them. “See all those windows? Every one of them can house an innocent family. Women and children, a good man working to provide for his family—or an enemy can be sitting there waiting for you to give him a good target. Sometimes, it can be extremely difficult to tell the difference between that good man trying to protect his family from what he perceives as a threat, and the man waiting to take you out.”