Deadly Game (GhostWalkers, #5)(28)

But he was shaken. He covered it well, so well she doubted Jack could see past his mask—that false emotionless mask Ken showed to the world. But when he touched her, when they were skin to skin, she saw more, felt more, knew more than he ever intended—and he was definitely shaken.

“I was the lucky one our father handed down his legacy to, and Whitney knew all along. I thought I had buried it deep where no one would ever know, but he’s psychic and he read me like an open book, and all this time he’s been waiting his chance.”

Jack cleared his throat. “You think he wants to see your reaction to her when he’s paired her with other men?”

“He thinks I’ll kill them—or her.”

Mari’s stomach did a somersault. There was quiet truth in Ken’s voice. She moistened her suddenly dry lips. “Someone really needs to fill me in here, because, quite frankly, I don’t like the sound of that. Whitney has a way of manipulating people into doing exactly what he wants them to do and I’m not exactly his favorite person.”

“Ken.” Jack ignored her. “He isn’t reading you. He has no idea of your character. You think the old man is lurking around inside of you. Hell, I thought the same thing, but it isn’t true. We were investigated. Whitney has a high security clearance and he read everything in our files.”

“What is everything?” Mari asked, trying desperately to ignore the way Ken’s individual fingertips were bringing points of fire to her ankle.

“Jack, it has nothing to do with that. He probably did read the files, but he knows. He set this up because he wants to see how I’ll react and how Mari will react, and now that you have Briony to protect, he wants to see how you’ll react.” Ken’s fingers dug into Mari’s ankle, and he suddenly turned his glacier-cold gaze on her. “My father was an insanely jealous man. He brutally murdered our mother and tried to kill both of us. Whitney knows it and he set this up. You. Me. Jack. Briony. It’s all one big game to him.”

“Well he’s playing a deadly game then,” Jack said. “Because no one controls us, Ken. We do what we’ve always done; we make our own rules and we stick together.”

“What about her?” Ken’s reply was so low Mari barely caught the words.

Jack sighed. “You know it’s impossible to leave her behind, so we’re going to have to work through it. It wasn’t that easy for me with Briony, but we managed.”

“I’m not you, Jack. I’m telling you, I’m like he was.”

“No, you’re not.” Mari was firm, startling both men into noticing her. “If Whitney saw that information in a file somewhere, yes, he’d use it against you. He’s very good at twisting people into knots, exploring their weaknesses, but if he has psychic abilities and he touched you, he didn’t read that in you.”

“How do you know that?” Ken’s fingers continued that gentle brushing along her toes, his grip as strong as ever, but the touch had lost its warning and had become an involuntary caress.

“Because I touched you.”

Ken blinked. It was his only movement. There was no change of expression on his face, but she knew he’d reacted.

Jack edged closer. “You have that kind of ability? To read people when you touch them?”

“She doesn’t,” Ken denied. “She’s lying to try to ease my mind.”

“You wish. I don’t even like you. Why would I want to ease your mind? The worse you feel, the happier I am.” His eyes had gone to cold steel, but she held his gaze and shrugged with feigned casualness. “I couldn’t care less whether you believe me or not.”

“Do you?” Jack asked.

Mari studied their faces. There were definite chinks in their armor, whether they wanted to admit it or not. “Not strong, but strong enough to know Ken isn’t a flat-out murderer, especially not of women. He would carry out an order, but he wouldn’t just go around killing someone for no real reason.”

“Good to know.” Ken let go of her foot and took away the warmth. “If you’re so good at all of this, why don’t you tell me who this man is and we can let it go?”

She frowned. “You know it was Sean.”

“And he’ll come after you.”

“Whitney will send him, yes, but if you’re right that this is an experiment, why would he do that? Why would he send someone to bring me back to him? Wouldn’t he want to see what happens between us?”

“He’s sending Brett first,” Ken replied. “That’s all part of his happy little plan. And then he’ll send the other one because there’s a bond between you, and Whitney knows it—and he knows I know it and he knows I’ll kill them.”

There was an edge to his voice that alarmed her, his tone low and mean and without mercy. She wanted to say it shouldn’t matter, but she already knew the power of Whitney’s experiments, and she had enhanced scent, just as Ken did, just as Jack did. That made the pheromone response all the more potent. Whitney had created a powerful sexual attraction that transcended common restraint and threatened the discipline of even the strongest soldier—just as the doctor had planned.

If Ken was really like his father, as he evidently feared, she could be in more trouble than she’d ever dreamed. She doubted if she could resist Ken Norton if he made sexual advances toward her, but she would try. What she hadn’t counted on was caring one way or the other about the man. She was drawn to him, not just sexually, but emotionally, and that made no sense to her and almost scared her more than the physical attraction.