Ruthless Game (GhostWalkers, #9)(105)

Give me three, Top. I’m coming to the corner now. Javier, we’ll need your boys.

Roger that. They’re already on their way. Someone just told them about the SUV parked on the street with the keys still in it.

Kane stayed close to the wall, his clothes blending into the walls of the warehouse as he rounded the corner. It was three steps to the shadowed alcove. They’d taken advantage whenever an apartment had been vacant to study the vulnerabilities of their own warehouses, finding each blind spot from the windows and marking them for future use.

Negotiations so far had proved to be nearly impossible in acquiring the apartment house. The corporation owning the building steadfastly refused to sell. Jaimie was peeling away the layers in an effort to find who actually owned the corporation. The fact that the building had recently been sold quietly, without advertisement, along with the property managers being deliberately evasive had raised suspicions that either Whitney or another enemy had bought up the building.

Kane waited in the alcove, hearing the crowd of boys coming up the walkway, trash-talking loudly. They shoved one another, leapt over a fire hydrant, and threw several rocks at a stop sign. The sound, much like a series of gunshots, was loud despite the blanket of fog.

Movement at the window on second floor, Gideon reported.

One of the boys kicked the SUV as they surrounded it. The others laughed. Swaggering up to the passenger windows, the boys peered in. More fog poured into the street, swirling around the buildings, a moving, living veil.

Kane stepped into the darkened doorway that was one of the best blind spots available. Set back from the street, the deeper recesses allowed someone able to blend into shadows to disappear. Kane did so, steeling himself to use his particular talent. It was wrenching to use his vision, seeing through the walls inside the actual rooms.

The buildup of energy radiated heat in the small confines of the doorway. The building across from him shimmered, the thick walls undulating as if not real, the solid matter no longer solid. He felt the wrenching in his gut, the lurching of his stomach, and fought down the bile. Pain sliced into his head. He ruthlessly pushed the side effects down. Each time was different, but he had noticed some time ago that the salt air and fog seemed to make the initial penetration a little more difficult.

He took a breath and swung his gaze up toward the second floor. The walls fell away, giving him a dizzying moment, but he rode it out, setting his teeth, ignoring the commotion in the streets as the boys tried to enter the bloodstained SUV to steal it. They’d found the pool of blood and had exited fast, yelling. The world dropped away until there was nothing left between Kane and the occupants of Room 224.

Someone sitting in a chair facing the window. He isn’t moving, just staring out. No woman. No children. He’s in a perfect position to be observing a camera. Gideon?

I have him, Gideon acknowledged. I have a shot.

Check Room 225, Mack ordered.

On it, Top. Kane shifted his gaze to the next apartment. Jaimie had said a single male had moved in. A man moved through the apartment fast, away from the window. The male in Room 225 is armed. There’s a second male standing by the door, armed as well.

I have the first male, Ethan said, second is out of my sight.

It’s a drug deal. Man with briefcase just walked in. Kane moved on to the next floor.

Checking the third floor. Room 334. Kane looked up to the top floor. The walls dropped away, leaving the occupants exposed. A woman lay on a bed motionless, her head tilted at an odd angle. The man was at the side of the windows in the front room, staring at the street below and the chaos the boys were causing as they ran from the SUV. The male glanced toward the bedroom, seemed to say something, and then walked into the kitchen to open the fridge and pull out a bottle. Can’t rule out. One male moving around. Female in bedroom, lying on the bed.

Check the roof again, Gideon.

Roger that, Top. Gideon complied.

Moving position, Kane said.

It always took a few moments to recover from using his gift. His body felt weak and shaky, his stomach churning. He dropped his head down to suck in as much air as he could to counteract the dizziness. It only took seconds, but he was running out of time.

While he still had the cover of the boys, he had to quickly get across the street. He slipped from the doorway and, hugging the shadows as best as possible, pulled a hat low, drooped his shoulders, and changed his gait. He appeared shorter and thinner than he was just by changing his posture and the way he walked. Hurrying, he crossed at the crosswalk, sending nervous, furtive glances at the boys, never once looking up.

Roof is clear, Top, Gideon reported.

Javier was already inside, and the two of them went up the stairs toward the second floor. Mack and Lucas had come in from the back and were already on the third-floor landing. Kane signaled to Javier, and they went into the hallway, guns out and ready, senses flaring out to find an enemy. They moved in silence, approaching apartment 224 first.

Gideon, do you have eyes on our man? Kane asked.

He hasn’t moved. Not so much as a change in position.

Kane nodded to Javier. Javier knelt and quickly worked the lock. He eased the door open. There was no chain in place, and icy fingers slid down Kane’s spine.

Going in. He knew Gideon would take the shot if necessary, but there was something else, some awareness that kept the adrenaline pumping through his system. He could almost smell Whitney’s presence.

He signaled again, and Javier dropped low to cover him as Kane went through the door and stepped to the left, clearing the room. The man in the chair didn’t move, didn’t turn his head. It was possible he hadn’t heard their entrance, but even when Javier moved to visibly clear the other small rooms, the occupant of the apartment was unnaturally still.