Predatory Game (GhostWalkers, #6)(102)

Saber twisted her fingers together and tried to look calm. “That sounds best. Then, if he goes down, you can get us help fast.” Her eyes met Jess’s. “You’ll have to have your legs stretched out.”

“That small couch is a futon. I rest in here sometimes,” Jess said.

“Is that what you do when I think you’re hard at work?” Saber said, trying to inject a light note into the situation. She was liable to have a heart attack before they were through she was so scared.

As Saber pulled off the cushion to unfold the frame, she heard Lily rattle papers. “While she’s fixing up the room, Jess, I may as well let you know we got the identities of three of the four men who attacked your sister. The fourth man is a ghost. He’s dead. I mean he was listed as dead before he ever arrived in Sheridan. The other three were all army, just as you suspected. And the ghost was a Ranger. Special Forces. He took the psychic exam, but didn’t pass it. Didn’t score any psychic ability. He was supposedly killed in Afghanistan.”

“I’ll bet that was the one they called Ben.”

“Ben Fromeyer. Supposedly deceased a couple of years ago,” Lily said. “But here’s the really interesting thing, at least to Ryland. Two of your dead men served under Colonel Higgens before he was killed. Higgens is the man who tried to have Ryland and his GhostWalker team destroyed. We thought he murdered Whitney.”

Jess noted that once again, Lily distanced herself from her father. “Higgens was selling secrets to other countries. Conspiracy, treason, espionage, murder—the man was a real piece of work.”

Lily nodded. “Ryland thought he stopped him.”

“But maybe Higgens was just a cog in the wheel,” Jess mused. “And it’s been moving right along ever since.”

“That’s what Ryland thinks. He wants to discuss this with General Rainer.”

“He can’t until Rainer is cleared. You know that, Lily.”

“He won’t. But in spite of the circumstantial evidence, Ryland doesn’t believe the general is involved.”

“Ranier’s army, and he was a good friend of Whitney’s.”

“I know. I know that. But Peter Whitney never sold out his country. Higgens wanted him dead because he found out about the espionage ring. That part was very real. Whitney faked his death and went underground so he could continue with his experiments, but you can bet he’s still got every single government contact he had before.”

“Does that include General Rainer?”

Lily shook her head. “Absolutely not. The general has been very good to the GhostWalkers. Without him, Ryland’s team would be on the run.” She looked past Jess to Saber. “Saber is ready, Jess, if you really want to try this.”

Jess didn’t make the mistake of hesitating. One look at Saber’s face told him she was ready to run. He pushed his chair close to the futon and locked the brakes so he could shift onto the open bed. Saber handed him the two pillows that he kept on the shelf in the frame, and he stretched out, positioning his legs so Saber could touch them easily.

She sank down beside him and tangled her fingers with his. “Are you certain? Very certain you want to try this?”

He could feel her trembling and raised her knuckles to his mouth. “I need to do this, Saber. If there’s a way I can walk again, then I have to try.”

She took a breath and let it out, glanced at Lily, who nodded encouragement, and moved down to the end of the futon where she could circle Jess’s ankle with her fingers. His skin was warm, so the circulation was working. She had to calm her mind, put away any possibility of mistakes, and listen, find his rhythm and hear what was happening in his body.

In actuality, it was more than hearing—Saber felt the movement of blood. Felt the way everything worked, as if it were her own body, as if they shared one skin, much like it felt when Jess made love to her. That same breath. The euphoria. He was so strong, inside and out.

She moved one hand up his leg to his calf, trying to feel the electrical pulse, that field of energy always present. She had to map the electrical properties of the damaged cells. She could identify them and keep the map in her mind, one of her greatest gifts. Lily and Eric had believed that with the DNA Whitney had given Jess during the genetic enhancement, and with the new drug accelerating cell repair, they would be able to stimulate the damaged nerves to work, but clearly the damage was far too severe.

“Tell me what you’re doing.”

She moistened her lower lip with her tongue, the only sign of nerves. “Obviously, Jesse, I’m in uncharted territory. If the damaged cells had been usable, physical therapy would have been enough along with the other things Lily and Eric have tried, but the therapy failed. Before I can stimulate new nerves to grow, I’ll have to get rid of the damaged ones.”

Jess linked his fingers behind his head. “That makes sense.”

She flashed him a brief, tentative smile. “I’m glad you think so. And I sure hope you’re right about Dr. Whitney, because I’m using everything he said in that file. According to him, many areas of the body have their own built-in programs for regrowing themselves if they’re damaged. To heal myself, or someone else, in theory, all I really have to do is trigger one of those programs and the body will do the rest.”

“Let’s do it then.”