Mind Game (GhostWalkers, #2)(7)

Watching it made Lily sick. Once her father discovered Dahlia couldn’t work under the conditions they were expecting, he should have pulled her from the training immediately. Unfortunately, she always performed the given task before she collapsed. Remembering the earlier tapes of the stubborn and vengeful child in the laboratory, Lily wondered what they held over her head to get her to work for them when she was so clearly strong-willed enough to refuse.

Instead of watching the tapes she watched the reactions of the men. She wanted to send the most sympathetic after Dahlia. The woman had suffered trauma for years. She needed the safety of the Whitney home, with the protection of the thick walls and a compassionate and kind-hearted staff, all of whom had natural barriers so they couldn’t project emotions to the GhostWalker team. Her father had provided the safe house for her, and she had, in turn, chosen to share it with the men her father had experimented on.

Lily looked at their faces and for the first time felt the urge to laugh. Why had she thought she’d be able to read them? They hid their thoughts behind expressionless masks. They were well prepared by the military, each of them receiving special training long before they were ever recruited for duty in the GhostWalker squad.

She waited until the last tape had been played and the impact on the men was the most profound. Dahlia Le Blanc was the kind of woman most men would want to protect. Very small, very slight, with enormous sad eyes and flawless skin. She looked like a doll with her skin and eyes and wealth of jet-black hair. Lily knew Dahlia needed help, a tremendous amount of help, to adjust to living in the world again. She was determined to give Dahlia everything Dr. Whitney had failed to provide. A home, a sanctuary, people she could call family and count on. It wouldn’t be easy to convince Dahlia to come back to the very place where the original damage had been done to her.

Ryland swept his arm around Lily and bent his head to hers. “You have tears in your eyes.”

“Everyone else should, too,” Lily said and blinked rapidly. “My father took away her life, Ryland. No one would adopt her and give her a home. No one could adopt her. I don’t even know if we can help her. And why would she trust me?”

“I’ll go after her,” Nicolas said suddenly. Unexpectedly. And unwanted.

Lily tried not to gape in horror. She took a deep breath and let it out. “You just came back from that mission in the Congo, Nico. I know it wasn’t pleasant. You need rest, not another mission. I can’t ask you to go.”

“You didn’t ask me, Lily.” His black eyes pinned her. Held her. “And you wouldn’t ask me, but it doesn’t matter. I’m an anchor, and I can handle her. I’m here and on extended leave. I’ll go.”

Lily wanted to protest but couldn’t think of reasons to stop him. It annoyed her that she was so transparent that Nicolas could see she was uneasy around him. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, but he frightened her with his too cold eyes and his implacable resolve. It didn’t help that she knew his expertise. “I thought Gator would know the area better and find it easier.” It was the best excuse she could come up with.

Nicolas simply looked at her. “I’m going after her, Lily. If you need to give me papers to authorize me to get her out of there and bring her here, get them done. I’ll leave in an hour.”

“Nico,” Ryland protested. “You haven’t had more than a couple of hours of sleep. You just got home. At least rest tonight.”

Lily knew none of the men would argue with Nicolas. They just never did. And she had no good reason to argue with him. Dahlia would be safe with him. She glanced at Gator in the hopes he’d volunteer to go along. He wasn’t looking at her. Of course, the men would stand solidly behind Nicolas. She sighed and capitulated. “I’ll have Cyrus Bishop draw up the papers giving you the authority to remove her. We know we can trust Cyrus to stay quiet.” Lily had taken her time trusting the family lawyer after learning the extent of her father’s hidden secrets, uncertain just how deeply Cyrus Bishop had been involved. Experimenting on people, especially children was monstrous, yet Peter Whitney had provided her with a loving home life and a wonderful childhood. She was still struggling to understand the two sides of her father.

Ryland waited until his wife left the room before turning to Nicolas. “If she knew about that little scratch that almost ended your life, she’d be up in arms, Nico.”

I have to go, Rye. Nicolas indicated the others as he spoke telepathically to insure privacy. It had taken long months of practice to be able to direct telepathic communication to only one subject and keep the others from hearing, but it was a useful tool, and Nicolas had worked hard to learn the skill. Lily has them all bleeding in sympathy for this woman. Anyone capable of generating an antigravity field or the kind of heat it takes to start a fire or of changing the structure of a cable is dangerous. Every one of the men would hesitate to do whatever was necessary if she turned on them. I won’t.

Ryland let his breath out slowly. Nicolas always sounded the same. Calm, unemotional—logical. He wondered what it would take to ever stir Nicolas up and destroy his tranquil nature. I trust you, Nico, but Lily is afraid for this woman. She feels her father robbed Dahlia of everything she deserved. Parents, a home, a family, essentially a life.

He did. Lily takes on his blame, and she shouldn’t. She’s every bit as much a victim as this poor woman, but none of that changes the danger to anyone trying to persuade Dahlia to leave her only known sanctuary. Don’t you see what they’ve done, Rye? If they’re using her as an operative as Lily suspects, they keep her in line because she needs that home out in the swamp. She has no choice but to return to it. She can’t live outside of that environment, so she does what they tell her and returns to it. They wouldn’t even need to watch her; they’d know she’d have to come back.