Street Game (GhostWalkers, #8)(49)

Jaimie switched her gaze to Javier. “Are you going to yell at me too?”

“No. I want a decent dinner tonight.” He sat on the edge of the desk and regarded her with cool eyes. “What’s going on, babe? Do you really think Mack and Kane would betray you? If they betray you, they’d have to go through all the rest of us. You’re my baby sister. The only one I’ve got. And don’t bring up Rhianna, because you know I don’t look at her that way and I never will, no matter what she says.”

Jaimie pressed her fingertips to her throbbing temples. “All of you like this life, Javier, including Rhianna. You’re all anchors. Using psychic energy doesn’t bother you. And all the genetic enhancements enable you to be faster and do really cool things. You all like and maybe even need the adrenaline rush, Mack and Kane included. You’re serving your country and you’re very good at what you do.”

“The point?”

“When you love something, Javier, it’s difficult to see the downside.”

He shrugged. “But not impossible, Jaimie. You don’t seem to realize the influence you have on all of us. You’re ours, Jaimie. You think you’re all alone in the world. And I think you somehow got it in your head that when you and Mack broke up, you broke up with the rest of us.”

He was shredding her heart with his words. Of course she thought that. What else could she think? Mack was the head of their family. What he said went. Where he led, the others followed. All of them were strong, independent men, but they worked together like a machine and Mack was always—always—at the wheel.

“Jaimie?” Javier insisted. “Did you write all of us off?”

She frowned at him, blinking away tears. There was something in his voice, a note of hurt in that soft inquiry, that gave her pause, made her think from their point of view. She hadn’t contacted any of them. Not a single one. When she’d left Mack, she believed they’d all side with him and when she split with the leader of the family, that she’d be the one alone.

“I didn’t write anyone off. Why do you think I’m doing this?” She swept her hand toward the computers. “Do you really think it’s to prove a point to Mack? That’s so like the way he’d think. He’s egotistical and arrogant. I want to keep you all safe. I found out that the first GhostWalker team was targeted for murder. Did you know that? They were incarcerated in Whitney’s lab and someone was sending them out on assignments and having them killed. Do you understand what that means, Javier? Sergeant Major could send you on a mission and you’d follow orders.”

Javier frowned and crossed his arms across his chest, stretching his legs out in front of him as he regarded her with his dark, unblinking eyes. “You sure about this?”

She nodded. “And the second GhostWalker team was sent to the Congo. It was a trap. Two of the members were horribly tortured. The report is very detailed and includes some ghastly photographs. I have plenty of proof that it was a conspiracy involving a senator and another female GhostWalker. There are so many incidents, Javier, where GhostWalkers were sent into impossible situations. Fortunately, when they’re together as a team, they’ve managed to escape, but I’ve pieced together at least four more incidents where I believe the first two teams were targeted for complete elimination.”

“What about us?”

She dropped her eyes and shrugged. Casually. Too casually. “I have only one suspect mission.”

“Our first. Where everything went to hell and they were waiting for us. It could have been bad intel, Jaimie.”

“Yes. But it wasn’t. I believe it was deliberate. If I hadn’t been there to warn you all, most of you, or all of you, would have been wiped out on a single mission.”

“And the fourth team?”

She shook her head. “They’re shrouded in mystery. To get to their files, I have to peel layers and layers of protection away. I think they’re hunting terrorist cells around the world. I think they assassinate them and melt back into the shadows. If I’m right, Javier, it would be easy for them to be eliminated.”

“You think Whitney is doing this? Killing the soldiers he made?”

Jaimie shook her head, grateful someone she cared about was willing to listen to her. “Not Whitney. It doesn’t fit his profile.” She paced across the room and back, a small frown creasing her forehead. “It isn’t him or his supporters. Those helping him know about his experiments with children and they’re covering for him. And they sure know about his breeding program, but they don’t want him dead. Or us. They believe his soldiers, all of you—me—are the answer for future soldiers.” She shook her head. “No, it’s someone else. Another group opposing Whitney’s work and they don’t mind murder to get rid of us.”

“So different groups could be after you,” Javier said.

She looked at him. “Probably.” He kept looking at her, his gaze locking with hers. She sighed. “Okay. Yes. Two different factions. I think Whitney’s supporters know about me and want me dead before I have a chance to expose them. The second group I don’t believe has a clue I’m coming after them.”

“Walk away from it, Jaimie.”

“I can’t. You’re my family. I’m not letting them target you for elimination. I can’t go with you, so this is the only way I have of protecting you.”