Street Game (GhostWalkers, #8)(92)

“Why did you follow Chilton?” Mack asked.

Griffen went silent. His fingers drummed on the tabletop. Mack sat back in his seat, tipping the chair. “I see. But you changed your mind.”

“Nothing seems so certain anymore, Mack. I’d get out, but that would leave you and the rest of the GhostWalkers hanging out there, more vulnerable than ever.”

“Whitney doesn’t want us dead,” Mack said.

“No. He’s proud of his soldiers,” Griffen agreed. “But you’ve got enemies, someone working against all of you, and that someone is powerful. They aren’t the ones pulling my strings.” He glanced at the bed where Jaimie and Ethan lay side by side, both asleep, and where his son sat, still slumped, head in his hands. “Jaimie opened a can of worms when she started her campaign to gather proof against Whitney. His supporters don’t want his experiments coming out into the light.”

“They know it’s her?”

Griffen shook his head. “I knew. I knew the minute the senator and the general came to me saying someone was hacking into top-secret files. She would never walk away from the rest of you and she was convinced Whitney was doing things he shouldn’t have been from the start. She came to me and told me she’d done research and that someone had been murdering GhostWalkers. She was afraid for you all. I thought, at the time, that I’d convinced her Colonel Higgens had been killed and his people rounded up and everyone was safe. Months later, the senator shows up in my office and tells me they have a problem. I knew it was Jaimie.”

“Why didn’t you tell them who you suspected?”

“By that time, I was already worried about Whitney, and Paul had applied and been accepted into the program. I wanted to do some investigating of my own.”

“So when Kane came to you and asked you to provide a guard for Jaimie, you just thought you’d take advantage of that and get something in return.”

Griffen shrugged. “I was happy he came to me, Mack. Someone had to keep an eye on her. Joe Spagnola is a good man. I knew him personally and I trusted him. If anyone came after Jaimie, he would protect her.”

“And if he found any incriminating evidence against Whitney and his supporters, he could turn it over to you, just as you’d instructed Kane to do.” He sat forward, putting both hands onto the table. “You should have brought me in on this, Theo.”

“So now I get a ‘Theo.’ I thought maybe you’d forgotten we were friends.”

“I wasn’t being friendly.”

“I got that.”

Mack didn’t reply, just continued to stare down the sergeant major. Griffen sighed. “You were my ace in the hole, Master Guns. I didn’t want you anywhere near this mess. I sent you Paul because I knew you’d keep him alive.”

“And Kane and Brian?” There was a challenge in Mack’s voice. “Did you expect me to keep them alive as well?”

Griffen’s teeth snapped together impatiently. “Damn right I expected you to keep them alive. And you did.”

“We’re in the middle of a maze, Sergeant Major. There’re only a handful of people we know we can trust. We have to rely on one another.” Mack leaned across the table. “Know this. Jaimie is not a pawn. I don’t want you to think you can use her as a bargaining chip with these people.”

Griffen burst out laughing. “Do you think I’m stupid, Mack? Do you think anyone in this room, anyone who knows you, would make a move against Jaimie and not kill you first? No one wants you for an enemy. Even Whitney wouldn’t be that stupid. He’s the one who wrote the profile on you. I protected Jaimie. I wanted her data, yes, but only to add to my own. What’s she going to do with it? Take it to the newspapers?” He gave a snort of derision.

Silence once again descended. Griffen’s eyebrow shot up. “Not to the newspapers. Come on, Mack. Within hours they’d have an entire history of her being in mental institutions. They’d discredit her so fast she wouldn’t know what hit her.”

“She knew that. But it would still be out there and the evidence would be where everyone could see it. She’d ruin them.”

Mack. Joe Spagnola’s on the rooftop across from me. He’s spotted Shepherd’s men and I’m afraid he thinks they’re watching Jaimie, Gideon reported.

Mack sighed. “How well do you know Spagnola?”

“He’s my best friend’s son. A good man. I’ve known him since he was a kid.”

“And you trust him,” Mack said.

“Yes.”

Mack turned around. “Paul. You feeling better?”

“Not much. I need to lie down for a while.”

“How much can you tell about a man by his energy? Can you tell if he lies?”

“It depends on whether or not he believes the lie. In other words, if he believes he’s telling the truth, there’s no way of knowing differently.”

Signal him in, Gideon. Tell him we’re running a couple of missions and could use some help.

“I hope you’re right about him, Top,” Mack said, finally giving his friend a title of friendly respect. “Paul, after you see Spagnola and tell me what you think, I want you to get some sleep. All of you will need to rest up. I’m going to need you, Kane. We’ll hash this out and come up with a plan of action.”