Predatory Game (GhostWalkers, #6)(94)

Her voice was so drowsy and sexy, he felt it vibrate through his body, heating his blood, stirring his senses.

“Go to sleep. I’ll come wake you in a few hours.”

“You’d better. I have to go to work tonight.” She yawned and then smiled at him, her lashes already drifting down. “Or my boss might fire me.”

Her boss was already thinking about firing her. He was altogether certain he could not survive her going to work, not after what had been done to Patsy. “A couple of the guys will be over, so don’t come walking out in my shirt and nothing else.”

“Good tip.” Amusement tinged her voice, a slight smile curved her mouth, but she didn’t open her eyes.

Jess left her to sleep, showering and dressing, using his racing chair rather than the heavier electric one to take him into the office. It took twenty minutes for Logan and Neil to show up, and he could tell by their faces Neil had managed to extract something from the recorder.

“You’re going to hate this,” Neil greeted.

Logan glanced around. “Where is she?”

“She?” Jess frowned at him. “You mean Saber? Do you really want to piss me off, Max? Because I just spent a couple of hours looking at the bruises on her face and body. I saw her lying in the fetal position on the ground, from the psychic backlash after firing a gun and killing a man—for me, for Patsy. I wasn’t close enough to draw the energy away and you and I both know without an anchor, even a shield won’t help. She knew it too, but she still did it.”

Logan poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot on the desk. “I’m going to look out for you whether you like it or not.”

“Then let’s get this over. Tell me how she’s different. Eric Lambert has the same objection to her, but he isn’t a GhostWalker. You can kill. I can. All of us do kill. Does it really make a difference how we do it? You have no problems with Mari or Briony.”

Logan sighed. “Mari is a soldier and Briony doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”

Neil cleared his throat. “What about the other women? Flame and Dahlia?”

Logan swept a hand through his hair. “I know Dahlia. That’s different. To be honest, I didn’t trust her at first. And Flame—she can kill with sound. So yeah, she makes me a little nervous too.”

“I can kill with sound,” Neil pointed out.

“It isn’t the same thing.”

“Why?”

“Because women don’t belong in combat. They shouldn’t be running around killing people. They’re supposed to be the gentle sex. We take care of them. They should be having babies and cooking dinner not killing people. What the hell is going on in the world when we think it’s okay for women to have guns?”

“Flame, Dahlia, and Saber don’t need nor want guns, bro,” Neil pointed out.

“Well that’s just a f*cking great relief to me,” Logan snapped.

There was a stunned silence and then both Neil and Jess burst out laughing.

“I suppose they shouldn’t be allowed to vote either,” Neil said.

“Would you like her better if I told you she can cook?” Jess asked.

Logan glared at them. “Go ahead and laugh. It isn’t right.”

“Good God, Max. You’re a f*ckin’ male chauvinist,” Jess said.

“So what if I am? What about you? Don’t pretend it doesn’t freak you out just a little that that woman can kill with one touch. What if she’s on her period? You ever see a woman with full-blown PMS? My mom used to lose her mind. I’d go to a friend’s house for a week until she’d call and say it was safe to come home.”

“Okay, I’ve gotta go with Max on that one,” Neil agreed. “Think about it, Jess. The ability to kill with a touch and a woman with PMS. You gotta have some big balls to live with a threat like that.”

Jess let out his breath. “I have to admit, I never thought about it.”

“It could be ugly,” Logan said. “Really ugly.”

“I’ll just have to keep her pregnant.”

“Yeah. That’ll work,” Logan rolled his eyes. “Don’t you watch movies? Ever see a woman in labor? Or having a baby? One hard contraction, my man, and you are toast. The husband’s life is already at risk without the woman knowing how to kill. Seriously, Jess, you’ve got to think about this long and hard, and think with your brain, not with other portions of your anatomy.”

“You’re just trying to scare me,” Jess said, glaring at them.

Logan and Neil burst out laughing.

“Go to hell, both of you.” Jess poured a cup of coffee. “You’re a couple of boneheads. Are we working here or what?”

“I brought this for you.” Neil pulled a disk from his pocket, the smile fading from his face. “I’m going to let you listen. It took a while to clean it up and get the conversation. There’s still some background noise, but I think you’ll recognize a couple of voices.” He pushed the disk into the computer. “I’m saving the original and you’ll see why.”

There was a moment of silence and then the sound of footsteps. “We can’t afford to let any of them live, Senator, not one. I don’t care if they’re out of it or not. You’ve got to shut that program down. The biggest danger to us right now is that megalomaniac, Whitney, and the abominations he creates.” The voice was muffled, and a little distorted, but Neil had managed to amplify the sound enough to catch the words.