Mind Game (GhostWalkers, #2)(89)

“Stop it!” Dahlia backed away from him to the doorway. “You’re acting like an idiot.”

The other GhostWalkers exchanged raised eyebrows, clearly not feeling the hostile energy pouring off of Nicolas the way she did. Dahlia didn’t understand how they could be so protected.

“Well, now, ma’am,” Sam said, scratching his head. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone call Nico an idiot.” He quickly held up his hand for peace when she turned to include him in her glare. “I’d be obliged if you let us in on what’s going on. To be honest, no one dares to call him much of anything.”

“Why not?” Dahlia flicked a quick look at Nicolas, who leaned one hip against the wall and managed to look lethal just standing there.

“He’s a dangerous-looking fellow,” Sam pointed out.

“And he’s handy with guns and knives and all sorts of other nasty weapons a pretty little thing like you wouldn’t want to know about.”

Dahlia knew immediately Sam was diffusing the situation, and she was grateful for the instant reduction of energy. She had the impression of a smile in her mind, but Nicolas’s expressionless features didn’t reflect one.

“Please go on, Dahlia,” Kaden prompted with a small warning glance at Nicolas. “What did you do?”

Nicolas’s black gaze iced over, but he refrained from speaking.

“I went into my invisible mode and made myself quite small. I can’t blur my clothes, so I always note the walls of the places I’m going and try to wear clothes that blend. I can manipulate the surface of my skin, which helps to blur my image somewhat. It allows me to slip past the guards. I hid in a vent while they searched the building. I purposely chose the smallest one I could find so they would overlook it, thinking I couldn’t possibly have used it to hide. It was a very uncomfortable couple of hours.”

Kaden nodded his head. “Your ‘invisible mode’ is really more of a chameleon mode, right?”

“Exactly. I’ve practiced until I can blend into most backgrounds.”

Tucker inhaled sharply. “I saw that on the tape during your training. It must come in handy. Wish I could do it.”

“Why didn’t you just get the hell out of there?” Sam asked curiously.

“I figured they’d move the real data. I was fairly certain they’d check to make certain I hadn’t found it and they’d lead me right to it. I wouldn’t have to check every box in the vault, and I’d be able to get it and get out fast.”

Nicolas paced away from the small group. Dahlia’s tales of her adventures were holding the GhostWalkers spellbound, but they made him ill. Nothing and no one had ever affected him as she did. He felt her inside of him. Inside his head, his body, even his heart. It was crippling to a man like him. He had to have a clear head and his body couldn’t be tied up in knots, especially around Dahlia. Just the thought of her in such a dangerous situation sickened him.

He took a deep breath, made every effort to clear his mind.

“Nico,” Kaden called him back to the group. “If we’re going to help Dahlia plan going back in to recover the data, we’ll need you on board. You’re carrying most of the load, moving the energy away from all of us.”

Nicolas glanced at his friend and then back into the murky waters of the bayou. Kaden was carrying a good bit of the load as well. He was every bit as strong an anchor as Nicolas was, and he guarded the other men carefully. He sighed. As much as he liked Kaden, he didn’t want his friend to be the one drawing the energy away from Dahlia, or worse, diffusing it with whatever emotion was the most flammable.

He nodded at Kaden. “Don’t worry, I’m on board.”

Dahlia walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. It was a small gesture, but he knew the cost to her. She wasn’t a woman who touched others, and certainly not publicly. His thumb feathered over her wrist. “What did you do?”

“I waited in the vent until I heard them call off the search and then I followed the primary suspect, a man by the name of Trevor Billings. He heads up one of the many departments at Lombard Inc.” She named a primary company the defense department often used for building prototypes and weapons. The company was reputed to be heavily guarded and under the tightest of security. “Billings has been a suspect for some time. The NCIS believed he was selling weapons to terrorists and other governments, basically anyone who can pay for them, but they can’t prove it. The word is, he has a small army of his own and a couple of senators in his pocket to insure he gets the contracts he wants. Jesse believed someone inside the NCIS was tipping him off when anyone came up with new ideas for weapons and Billings was stealing the data before the contracts were given out. That way, he didn’t have to pay off his senators and he didn’t have to share with anyone. He just creates a couple of accidents for the professor, or whoever happens to think up the idea, and then he claims it belongs to his company and sells it to the government, or whoever is the highest bidder. It’s a win-win situation for him.”

“It’s not a bad idea. If he uses accidents and covers all of the United States, not hitting in the same place too often, he could really have something and no one would be the wiser. People get government grants all the time to think things up. From one end of the country to the other, teachers and students and private corporations seek grants,” Kaden mused aloud. “I can see how it would be much more profitable to him to get the data and suddenly come up with the idea himself and then market it.”