Street Game (GhostWalkers, #8)(53)

He studied her face. “You believe Sergeant Major is involved.”

“I know he is.”

He tried not to let the instant anger in his gut surface. He was good friends with Griffen and she knew it. Griffen had been instrumental in Mack making the decision to test for the psychic program in the first place. He’d also been the one to keep them all together. Jaimie had never been comfortable around Sergeant Major, but then, she wasn’t military. She loved the boys and Rhianna, but stayed away from everyone else.

Her soft laughter was without humor. “You have such a closed mind. I can tell you’re already building arguments against anything I have to say, so really, Mack, what’s the point?”

“I’m listening,” he replied. She always had been astute in an argument. Jaimie caught nuances others didn’t. “It isn’t easy to hear bad things about friends.”

Jaimie caught up a pen and wrote “Whitney” in the middle of a piece of paper. Above his name she drew a line, put a question mark above that, and drew another line and wrote “White House Who?”

“Someone is giving him a great deal of support. We know that or he wouldn’t still be in business. He can pull in GhostWalkers, and military personnel. He can land on military bases. We know he’s being protected and even warned when anyone gets too close to him. He has supporters, Mack. Big ones with lots of power.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“When Kane and Brian both came back from their assignment to Whitney, what did they do? What did they tell you?”

“That there were irregularities. That Whitney was involved in illegal experiments.”

“But Kane wouldn’t discuss it with you. You’re more than his best friend. Brian has looked up to you his entire life, yet he didn’t discuss it either.”

“No. They wanted to keep me out of it. They were afraid Whitney might target them and didn’t want me involved. I arranged a meeting with Sergeant Major Griffen. They reported directly to him. There were two others who came forward as well. A pararescue Team Four GhostWalker by the name of Malichai Fortunes and . . .”

“Antonio Martinez from Team Two, the SEAL GhostWalker team. All of them made their report together to Sergeant Major,” Jaimie finished. “But what happened to the chain of command, Mack?”

“You have been digging for information.” Mack didn’t know whether to admire her or shake her. “Did you see the actual report?”

“It was a closed meeting, Mack, and all of them—and you—trusted Griffen would take it higher and something would be done. The men turned over all their evidence to the sergeant major as they were supposed to. Did you think it strange that Kane and Brian were sent out on a mission alone not long after, when your team always works together?”

Mack shook his head. “Not always, Jaimie.” But his gut was churning again, always a bad sign. “All the teams are assigned to support one another at times.” But he had thought it strange. The order had raised a red flag in his mind and he’d sent Javier and Gideon as backup. He’d kept that to himself.

“Things didn’t go as well as expected.”

“They completed their assignment and they made it back.”

“And Sergeant Major has sent all of you out on assignments with specific orders on how to run the operation. Brian and Kane were always put in harm’s way.”

“We all were. That’s the name of the game.”

A flash of annoyance crossed her face. “That’s your problem, Mack. You think this is all some massive chess game. The human lives you’re playing with are your family.”

“That’s such bullshit, Jaimie.” Now he was furious. “I keep them alive. I don’t take my men blindly into a combat situation. And I don’t let anyone else plan my missions, not even Sergeant Major.”

“Which is why Kane and Brian are still alive. Fortunately for Antonio Martinez, the leader of Team Two seems to be just as good at planning and so far has managed to keep him alive. As for Malichai, he’s been wounded twice. The missions for the pararescue team are much more sensitive and harder to get to, but often only three men are sent out together and unfortunately they have no way of knowing he’s a target. He’s going to have a difficult time staying alive.”

Mack was silent, turning over her information. His every instinct told him she was right. For all he knew, Jaimie might be able to hack into the Pentagon computers. She had skills that were incredible. She wrote programs and codes that others couldn’t seem to compete with, and the military used her programs. She could look at a report, a picture, and see inconsistencies or patterns long before anyone else. If she said someone was targeting those four men—there was no question about it.

“You hacked Sergeant Major. Maybe someone else did.”

“He reported everything to Colonel Wilford, Mack. Colonel Wilford consulted with someone other than the next in the chain of command, someone I can’t get to yet. That man turned over all the evidence to Whitney. He’s running the teams and he believes in the GhostWalkers, but he’s fanatical the way Whitney is. The end justifies the means. If they lose a few along the way, too bad as long as the end results are the super-soldier they believe is the wave of the future.”

“You believe Griffen is actually trying to kill four GhostWalkers.” He made it a statement.