Street Game
Page 21
The year they’d spent together, the nightmares had lessened.
Mack bent over her, his fingertips gentle as they brushed at her tears. “I’m here, baby, you’re not alone.”
She opened her eyes then, but there was only anxiety and blankness. He knew she wasn’t aware. “I have to find her. She isn’t here. I can’t find her.”
His heart clenched so hard it felt like a heart attack, the pain gripping him until he could barely breathe. “She’s safe now, Jaimie. She’s where no one can hurt her.”
How many times had he murmured those words, trying to soothe her, quiet her mind when she was caught in the throes of a nightmare? It had always been Jaimie and her mother. Stacy had been fifteen when she’d given birth to her daughter. Her parents had thrown her out and she’d lived on the streets with the incredibly intelligent infant. Stacy had done her best for her daughter, working as a waitress and taking classes at night. It couldn’t have been easy and Jaimie had adored her mother.
He stretched out beside her, laying his claim in front of Joe. Jaimie was his. She would always be his, no matter how bad he screwed up, no matter how many mistakes he made. He’d find his way back to her, because in the end, Jaimie was his world.
He locked his fingers with hers, feeling a little helpless, as he always did when she was caught in the middle of a nightmare, restless and lost in another world he couldn’t travel into. He wasn’t a dreamwalker like Lucas or Ethan and he didn’t know what would happen if one of them entered her nightmare with her. All of them lived with enhanced psychic abilities, but they were all learning to cope with the skills, even after all this time. For him, he knew his abilities were growing. He could move from one place to another in seconds. At first it had been short distances, but now those distances were growing. It seemed that way with all of them, the psychic talents developing stronger over time and with use. Why, then, hadn’t Jaimie known Joe was a GhostWalker? Why hadn’t she sensed Gideon on the roof? And why was her reaction getting worse when she used her psychic abilities?
Because they were getting stronger. He closed his eyes as he brought her hand to his chest, just over his heart. That was the only explanation. Jaimie’s abilities were growing and the price was higher. Her talent was highly unusual. She could feel intent and, if expanded, she could take in an entire structure. Thinking about it, he realized she’d read the energy around her entire building and down the streets. What had she been reading on the street today? How large of an area?
She would be able to find positions on battlefields, know where snipers had positioned themselves, know if an assassin was in the crowd. She was too valuable to want dead, yet someone very high up had ordered her death. Was she close to finding Whitney’s supporters? She must have triggered a red flag in her search. That would be like Jaimie. She would go in where others would be terrified. She might not pull a trigger to kill someone, but she wouldn’t flinch when uncovering corruption and seeking justice.
“Stop crying, baby,” he whispered. “You’re killing me. I hate to feel helpless. You know that.” He wasn’t good at some things. Kane often had been the one wiping Jaimie’s tears away when she was a child and other kids tried bullying her. Mack was usually the one that beat the crap out of them. “Wake up, Jaimie. You’re here with me.” He pressed kisses along her temple. Come on, honey, you’re safe. I’ve got you.
He knew the instant she was aware of him lying beside her. He was in her mind, a place where he’d so often taken refuge in the past. He caught that brief flare of happiness, of completeness, and it settled the roiling in his stomach and mind. She hadn’t written him off quite as completely as she claimed, and she certainly didn’t hate him.
Every day had been endless without her unless he was in the field working. There had been a huge, empty hole nothing—and no one—could fill. He hadn’t bothered to try with anyone else. It was all about Jaimie. His other half. She had looked at him with stars in her eyes, allowing him the lead and following wherever he went. She hadn’t asked anything of him—until that night she left him. He was ashamed of himself, of his actions. He hadn’t wanted to admit to himself, let alone to her, what kind of power she had over him.
Jaimie. Honey. Can you hear me?
There was a small silence. He could hear the low murmur of Kane and Joe talking.
He couldn’t hear Ethan, but knew he was somewhere off to his right in the shadows, probably clinging to the ceiling like an upside-down spider. He could hear his heart beat.
Yes. There was a sob in her mind.
I should have told you I wanted you to stay. I know it’s not what you want to hear right now, but I was a f**king coward. Give me another chance with you. I don’t want to go through my life without you. I should have asked you to stay.
This time he counted his heartbeats. He felt her sadness beating at him. Her regret.
His heart beat double-time.
I’m not the same person anymore, Mack.
Is there someone else? He braced himself. She was going to kill him. He detested good-looking, over-six-foot Joe Spagnola, who had stayed all night with her to help her through her nightmares when he should have been there holding her.
Of course not. I loved you—love you, Mack. I always have. You don’t just get over that. Well, I don’t. You were my world. It took a little time to learn to just exist without you.
He knew she was being truthful, not hurtful. She was giving him facts, her tone all Jaimie and a clear reprimand. He wanted to smile, relief flooding him. Satisfaction.
There was no one else. Not even Superman. I’m not going anywhere again, Jaimie.
She sighed and turned into him, her head finding a niche against his shoulder.
Until the first time Griffen orders you into the field.
That’s work, Jaimie. You aren’t going to be upset when I go to work.
How are you ever going to know he isn’t sending you out on a suicide mission?
That brought him up short. He trusted Griffen. He knew the sergeant major. The man was a patriot through and through and he always stood for his men. He was tough, but he took the heat from the politicians. Part of the reason Mack had agreed to the program was because they would all report directly to Griffen. He didn’t send his team out lightly.
Jaimie, I’m telling you I want you to stay with me. Be with me.
And I don’t doubt it for a minute, Mack. She let go of his fingers and he immediately felt bereft. My head aches and I need to sleep.
No nightmares, then.
And tell Joe I’m really not happy with him either.
Mack shifted, leaned in to kiss her temple, and rose. “She’s not happy with you, Joe.” He didn’t bother to keep elation from his voice.
“I figured that,” Joe said. “I’m going back to my suite. The place is a dump but it’s home, unless your men tore it up.”
“They left it intact.”
Javier, he’s on the move, Mack warned. “How long you figure you’re staying around?”
“Until Sergeant Major pulls me off the duty. And that isn’t going to be until we find the bastard coming at her.”
“Sounds personal to me,” Mack said.
“You bet it’s personal,” Joe said, for once shaken out of his usual calm. “She’s mine. I’ve been protecting her for months. I’m not about to turn her over to you or anyone else. So forget asking your sergeant major. I’m going to find the bastard who put that body on her doorstep and whoever is targeting her for assassination. Not on my watch.”
Kane and Mack exchanged a long look as Joe crossed the room, checked Jaimie’s pulse, smoothed back her hair, and then, without another word, went down the stairs.
Ethan did a slow somersault from where he’d been clinging like a spider in the rafters and landed in a crouch. “You know, boss, you just might have a rival for Jaimie’s affections again. And this time, I don’t think he’s scared of you.”
CHAPTER 8
“You’re not cooking for all the boys, Jaimie. You’ve been ill. You couldn’t get out of bed for two days.”
Jaimie gave a little dismissive sniff and brushed past Mack. “I want to cook dinner for them. Kane already bought the groceries for me. And why does he have that bruise on his jaw?” She glared over her shoulder at Mack.
Mack shrugged. “I think he ran into a door.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. You’ve been glowering at each other since I’ve been up. Why don’t you kiss and make up instead of walking around like a couple of bears with sore teeth? You always make up, and the longer it takes, the more we all have to suffer.”
Mack didn’t reply, but came up behind her. Close. Very close. So close she could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of her neck.
She threw her elbow back and caught him in the ribs. “I mean it, Mack. Go make up. I hate it when the two of you stomp around and growl at each other. What’s wrong with you?”
“I went to Sergeant Major and asked for protection for you,” Kane said.
Jaimie whirled around and found herself up against Mack’s body. She felt his inhale, whether at the brush of her body against his or at Kane’s admission, she didn’t know.
“That’s no surprise.”
“It was to me,” Mack said. “He didn’t discuss it.”
“Jaimie’s my sister, Mack,” Kane said, his tone one of exaggerated patience. “I don’t have to discuss it with you. She left. She wasn’t going to let it go. I know her, the way she thinks, and she wasn’t going to drop her argument against Whitney. She was going to try to find proof for you.”
“You knew he was going to watch out for me anyway,” Jaimie pointed out, stepping away from Mack.
“From a distance, Jaimie. I wanted someone on you up close, where when you tripped up, they’d be able to send a report to Griffen and he’d contact me. That was the arrangement.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Mack demanded.
“Because the sergeant major wanted something in return,” Jaimie guessed, her eyes locked with Kane’s. “He did, didn’t he?”
Kane shrugged. “I knew what you’d do, Jaimie, and I wasn’t about to let you get your neck chopped off.”
“I’m not giving him my data. That’s what you promised him, isn’t it?”
“That and how you do what you do.”
“That’s too bad, Kane, because, had you asked me, I would have volunteered the information to you had I known how I do it. But no way in hell will I ever turn over my proof of Whitney’s crimes to Sergeant Major Griffen. He’s entrenched in the GhostWalker program and probably embroiled up to his medals in Whitney’s scum.”
“I can hack your computer.”
“You don’t have the skills to hack me. And neither do Sergeant Major’s little experts.” She tilted her chin at him, her eyes dark and stormy.
“Maybe, but Javier does.”
She smirked at him. “Maybe, but I don’t think so.”
Kane’s jaw tightened. “You anticipated me trading for protection.”
All trace of amusement faded from her face. “I know you just as well as you know me. The minute I saw that dead body, I knew it was a warning. I knew I was getting close to Whitney’s protectors. Then you showed up here because of a wrong address.”
“Wait a minute,” Mack said. There was a note in his voice, a strain of underlying anger that had Kane moving back out of harm’s way. Quiet. Nasty. That dangerous tone that made Mack who he was. “Are you telling me that Sergeant Major traded information for Jaimie’s safety? He actually knew she was in harm’s way and made you pay a price to protect her?”
Mack bent over her, his fingertips gentle as they brushed at her tears. “I’m here, baby, you’re not alone.”
She opened her eyes then, but there was only anxiety and blankness. He knew she wasn’t aware. “I have to find her. She isn’t here. I can’t find her.”
His heart clenched so hard it felt like a heart attack, the pain gripping him until he could barely breathe. “She’s safe now, Jaimie. She’s where no one can hurt her.”
How many times had he murmured those words, trying to soothe her, quiet her mind when she was caught in the throes of a nightmare? It had always been Jaimie and her mother. Stacy had been fifteen when she’d given birth to her daughter. Her parents had thrown her out and she’d lived on the streets with the incredibly intelligent infant. Stacy had done her best for her daughter, working as a waitress and taking classes at night. It couldn’t have been easy and Jaimie had adored her mother.
He stretched out beside her, laying his claim in front of Joe. Jaimie was his. She would always be his, no matter how bad he screwed up, no matter how many mistakes he made. He’d find his way back to her, because in the end, Jaimie was his world.
He locked his fingers with hers, feeling a little helpless, as he always did when she was caught in the middle of a nightmare, restless and lost in another world he couldn’t travel into. He wasn’t a dreamwalker like Lucas or Ethan and he didn’t know what would happen if one of them entered her nightmare with her. All of them lived with enhanced psychic abilities, but they were all learning to cope with the skills, even after all this time. For him, he knew his abilities were growing. He could move from one place to another in seconds. At first it had been short distances, but now those distances were growing. It seemed that way with all of them, the psychic talents developing stronger over time and with use. Why, then, hadn’t Jaimie known Joe was a GhostWalker? Why hadn’t she sensed Gideon on the roof? And why was her reaction getting worse when she used her psychic abilities?
Because they were getting stronger. He closed his eyes as he brought her hand to his chest, just over his heart. That was the only explanation. Jaimie’s abilities were growing and the price was higher. Her talent was highly unusual. She could feel intent and, if expanded, she could take in an entire structure. Thinking about it, he realized she’d read the energy around her entire building and down the streets. What had she been reading on the street today? How large of an area?
She would be able to find positions on battlefields, know where snipers had positioned themselves, know if an assassin was in the crowd. She was too valuable to want dead, yet someone very high up had ordered her death. Was she close to finding Whitney’s supporters? She must have triggered a red flag in her search. That would be like Jaimie. She would go in where others would be terrified. She might not pull a trigger to kill someone, but she wouldn’t flinch when uncovering corruption and seeking justice.
“Stop crying, baby,” he whispered. “You’re killing me. I hate to feel helpless. You know that.” He wasn’t good at some things. Kane often had been the one wiping Jaimie’s tears away when she was a child and other kids tried bullying her. Mack was usually the one that beat the crap out of them. “Wake up, Jaimie. You’re here with me.” He pressed kisses along her temple. Come on, honey, you’re safe. I’ve got you.
He knew the instant she was aware of him lying beside her. He was in her mind, a place where he’d so often taken refuge in the past. He caught that brief flare of happiness, of completeness, and it settled the roiling in his stomach and mind. She hadn’t written him off quite as completely as she claimed, and she certainly didn’t hate him.
Every day had been endless without her unless he was in the field working. There had been a huge, empty hole nothing—and no one—could fill. He hadn’t bothered to try with anyone else. It was all about Jaimie. His other half. She had looked at him with stars in her eyes, allowing him the lead and following wherever he went. She hadn’t asked anything of him—until that night she left him. He was ashamed of himself, of his actions. He hadn’t wanted to admit to himself, let alone to her, what kind of power she had over him.
Jaimie. Honey. Can you hear me?
There was a small silence. He could hear the low murmur of Kane and Joe talking.
He couldn’t hear Ethan, but knew he was somewhere off to his right in the shadows, probably clinging to the ceiling like an upside-down spider. He could hear his heart beat.
Yes. There was a sob in her mind.
I should have told you I wanted you to stay. I know it’s not what you want to hear right now, but I was a f**king coward. Give me another chance with you. I don’t want to go through my life without you. I should have asked you to stay.
This time he counted his heartbeats. He felt her sadness beating at him. Her regret.
His heart beat double-time.
I’m not the same person anymore, Mack.
Is there someone else? He braced himself. She was going to kill him. He detested good-looking, over-six-foot Joe Spagnola, who had stayed all night with her to help her through her nightmares when he should have been there holding her.
Of course not. I loved you—love you, Mack. I always have. You don’t just get over that. Well, I don’t. You were my world. It took a little time to learn to just exist without you.
He knew she was being truthful, not hurtful. She was giving him facts, her tone all Jaimie and a clear reprimand. He wanted to smile, relief flooding him. Satisfaction.
There was no one else. Not even Superman. I’m not going anywhere again, Jaimie.
She sighed and turned into him, her head finding a niche against his shoulder.
Until the first time Griffen orders you into the field.
That’s work, Jaimie. You aren’t going to be upset when I go to work.
How are you ever going to know he isn’t sending you out on a suicide mission?
That brought him up short. He trusted Griffen. He knew the sergeant major. The man was a patriot through and through and he always stood for his men. He was tough, but he took the heat from the politicians. Part of the reason Mack had agreed to the program was because they would all report directly to Griffen. He didn’t send his team out lightly.
Jaimie, I’m telling you I want you to stay with me. Be with me.
And I don’t doubt it for a minute, Mack. She let go of his fingers and he immediately felt bereft. My head aches and I need to sleep.
No nightmares, then.
And tell Joe I’m really not happy with him either.
Mack shifted, leaned in to kiss her temple, and rose. “She’s not happy with you, Joe.” He didn’t bother to keep elation from his voice.
“I figured that,” Joe said. “I’m going back to my suite. The place is a dump but it’s home, unless your men tore it up.”
“They left it intact.”
Javier, he’s on the move, Mack warned. “How long you figure you’re staying around?”
“Until Sergeant Major pulls me off the duty. And that isn’t going to be until we find the bastard coming at her.”
“Sounds personal to me,” Mack said.
“You bet it’s personal,” Joe said, for once shaken out of his usual calm. “She’s mine. I’ve been protecting her for months. I’m not about to turn her over to you or anyone else. So forget asking your sergeant major. I’m going to find the bastard who put that body on her doorstep and whoever is targeting her for assassination. Not on my watch.”
Kane and Mack exchanged a long look as Joe crossed the room, checked Jaimie’s pulse, smoothed back her hair, and then, without another word, went down the stairs.
Ethan did a slow somersault from where he’d been clinging like a spider in the rafters and landed in a crouch. “You know, boss, you just might have a rival for Jaimie’s affections again. And this time, I don’t think he’s scared of you.”
CHAPTER 8
“You’re not cooking for all the boys, Jaimie. You’ve been ill. You couldn’t get out of bed for two days.”
Jaimie gave a little dismissive sniff and brushed past Mack. “I want to cook dinner for them. Kane already bought the groceries for me. And why does he have that bruise on his jaw?” She glared over her shoulder at Mack.
Mack shrugged. “I think he ran into a door.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. You’ve been glowering at each other since I’ve been up. Why don’t you kiss and make up instead of walking around like a couple of bears with sore teeth? You always make up, and the longer it takes, the more we all have to suffer.”
Mack didn’t reply, but came up behind her. Close. Very close. So close she could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of her neck.
She threw her elbow back and caught him in the ribs. “I mean it, Mack. Go make up. I hate it when the two of you stomp around and growl at each other. What’s wrong with you?”
“I went to Sergeant Major and asked for protection for you,” Kane said.
Jaimie whirled around and found herself up against Mack’s body. She felt his inhale, whether at the brush of her body against his or at Kane’s admission, she didn’t know.
“That’s no surprise.”
“It was to me,” Mack said. “He didn’t discuss it.”
“Jaimie’s my sister, Mack,” Kane said, his tone one of exaggerated patience. “I don’t have to discuss it with you. She left. She wasn’t going to let it go. I know her, the way she thinks, and she wasn’t going to drop her argument against Whitney. She was going to try to find proof for you.”
“You knew he was going to watch out for me anyway,” Jaimie pointed out, stepping away from Mack.
“From a distance, Jaimie. I wanted someone on you up close, where when you tripped up, they’d be able to send a report to Griffen and he’d contact me. That was the arrangement.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Mack demanded.
“Because the sergeant major wanted something in return,” Jaimie guessed, her eyes locked with Kane’s. “He did, didn’t he?”
Kane shrugged. “I knew what you’d do, Jaimie, and I wasn’t about to let you get your neck chopped off.”
“I’m not giving him my data. That’s what you promised him, isn’t it?”
“That and how you do what you do.”
“That’s too bad, Kane, because, had you asked me, I would have volunteered the information to you had I known how I do it. But no way in hell will I ever turn over my proof of Whitney’s crimes to Sergeant Major Griffen. He’s entrenched in the GhostWalker program and probably embroiled up to his medals in Whitney’s scum.”
“I can hack your computer.”
“You don’t have the skills to hack me. And neither do Sergeant Major’s little experts.” She tilted her chin at him, her eyes dark and stormy.
“Maybe, but Javier does.”
She smirked at him. “Maybe, but I don’t think so.”
Kane’s jaw tightened. “You anticipated me trading for protection.”
All trace of amusement faded from her face. “I know you just as well as you know me. The minute I saw that dead body, I knew it was a warning. I knew I was getting close to Whitney’s protectors. Then you showed up here because of a wrong address.”
“Wait a minute,” Mack said. There was a note in his voice, a strain of underlying anger that had Kane moving back out of harm’s way. Quiet. Nasty. That dangerous tone that made Mack who he was. “Are you telling me that Sergeant Major traded information for Jaimie’s safety? He actually knew she was in harm’s way and made you pay a price to protect her?”
