Ruthless Game (34 page)

Kane grinned at him. “I could get used to it.”

“Well, don’t. You ever scare the shit out of me like that again, and I’ll put a bullet in you myself. We clear on that?”

“Yeah, Top, I get it.”

“Good. We’ve got that settled. Is Paul looking after the baby?” Mack pointed to the coffeepot.

Javier obligingly poured him a cup of coffee.

“He’s in the other room with Rose, who most likely heard the alarm and covered you with a gun. She’s a little edgy like that.”

Mack threw himself into a chair and pressed his fingers to his eyes. “She’ll need it. Damn cartel is a little pissed off at her, Kane.”

Kane took the blow stoically, but for a moment the blood thundered in his ears. He sank down into a chair, feeling a little weak in the knees. “It isn’t enough Whitney is after her? Tell me what’s going on, Mack.”

The infamous Lopez family was notorious for their bloody sieges and brutal retaliation. They’d virtually declared war on their own government, targeting policemen and their families, wiping them out, decapitating them and leaving their bodies in plain sight for all to see. They had begun going after the politicians recently, ambushing the cars carrying them, killing their military escorts, and carrying out their brutal death threats. Bombs were frequent, blowing up police stations and cars on the roadways.

“Diego Jimenez made a deal with Whitney,” Kane explained. “Whitney supplied Jimenez with guns and ammunition and probably money in order for him to fight the former president. That made Jimenez very unpopular with all of the cartels, but the Lopez family in particular. Apparently they targeted Jimenez’s family, and when he found himself dying of cancer and Whitney was willing to do anything to get Rose back, he found a way, he thought, to get the cartel off his family’s back.”

Kane raked his fingers through his hair and huffed out his breath, a sure sign for those who knew him that he was angry. “Rose nursed the old man through his dying days, but he sold her out to the cartel, trading her life for his sons’. He told the cartel where she was and what she was worth to Whitney. They know her identity, and they know she was involved in the deaths of the cartel members sent to acquire her. Damn Jimenez. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself.”

The sound of soft, feminine laughter whispered inside his head. He glanced up and met Rose’s laughing eyes. His stomach did its famous flip, and his body stirred to attention. It took a moment to realize her laughter was for him alone and the intimacy of the moment shook him.

She pushed herself off the wall. “It was a natural conclusion, Kane. I knew they’d blame me. They had my name and they lost at a lot of their men. They seek vengeance as a rule; it’s how they keep everyone afraid of them. They have to blame someone for all those deaths, and I’m all they’ve got. It was a war zone out there. There’s no trace of any of you. Whitney’s men probably cleaned up their bodies, so what’s left as an explanation? They
have
to find me and get their answers.” She shrugged her shoulders. “You would have figured it out if you hadn’t been unconscious and recovering for so long.”

“You might have told me,” Mack pointed out.

She stood still for a moment, her dark eyes searching his face. “Yes. I should have. I’m sorry for that. I knew it wasn’t just going to go away, and by being with you all, it would put you in jeopardy as well. I should have said something.”

Mack nodded, accepting her apology. “Jaimie is very good at hearing threats in chatter. She monitors everything, and about three weeks ago, we realized the head of the Lopez cartel had reached out to one of the gangs affiliated with them here in the States, and your name came up.”

“And yet you didn’t mention this to me.”

Mack’s expression didn’t change as he briefly nodded. “That’s true. Perhaps I should have said something.”

Kane looked from one to the other. “Are we at war?”

Mack flashed him a grin. “Not me.” He held up his hands in surrender. “She saved your life, bro. I owe her for that. And she gave me the most amazing nephew in the world. So permanent truce. Although, you know, I expect her to marry your ass. I had Jaimie do the preliminary paperwork.”

Rose went a little pale while Mack looked wholly pleased with himself.

Kane grinned at Rose. “Get used to it, sweetheart. He bosses all of us. I guess you’ll have to marry my ass. Boss man says so.”

“Both of you are crazy.”

“You knew that going into it.”

“I’m going to ignore both of you.”

“You do that,” Mack approved. “Just say ‘I do’ at the appropriate moment, and all will be well.”

She frowned, obviously not really understanding or taking him seriously. Kane knew better. He shot Mack a warning glance. “Paul, is Sebastian healthy?” he asked, changing the subject.

Paul hovered just outside the door, looking awkward. His face lit up. “Very healthy, Kane. He’s unusually strong. He’s also alert and aware of what’s going on around him. When I came into the room, he locked onto me right away, without blinking, almost uncomfortably so, like a predatory animal might. I know you have feline DNA and Rose admitted she did as well. He has a few traits that make me think he’s developing at a faster rate than most children, but I’m not a baby expert.”

Kane frowned. “Are you saying he’s part animal? Should we expect claws?”

Paul hastily shook his head. “No, no, of course not. I’m just saying you might want to expect unusual behavior rather quickly from him. His lungs, heart, every organ is in perfect working order. He’s extremely healthy. Really. Nothing crazy, no leopard skeletons inside of him, but his intelligence shines through. Looking at him, you get the feeling he understands. When Rose introduced me to him, that alert stare vanished, and he seemed just like a normal baby, checking out a stranger.”

The explanation tumbled out. Paul talked fast, stumbling over his words, trying to convey something intangible when it was impossible. Kane understood. He’d noticed Sebastian’s strange stare as well as the too intelligent look the boy often gave him. “Thanks for taking a look at him, Paul.”

“When I gave him a few strength tests, he pushed back hard, harder than I ever expected a child his age to be able to do.” Again the words fell nearly on top of one another. It was apparent Paul was eager to discuss the baby and all the possibilities he presented, or at least to bounce his ideas off them.

“You know you can’t mention Sebastian to anyone,” Mack said, startling Kane.

Rose threw him a grateful glance.

That pulled Paul up short. He flushed. “Of course not. Never outside this room and never to anyone not a member of our team.”

“Our family,” Mack corrected. “Some others consider themselves part of us, but they’re not. You protect Sebastian in the same way we protect one another.”

“I got it, Top,” Paul assured.

He looked so awkward, Kane took pity on him. “Coffee’s on, Paul. We were just discussing what Mack’s found out about the threat hanging over Rose’s head.”

Paul threw him a grateful look and headed to the coffeepot.

“What exactly is the threat, other than they know my name?” Rose asked. “As far as I know, none of them saw me alive.”

“There was an old woman,” Mack reminded. “Her name is Olivia Lopez Martinez. Her son was guarding the outskirts of town when the two of you were escaping.

Apparently you pretended to be in labor. Apparently she took your picture.”

Rose’s dark eyes went wide. “Damn it. Just damn it. She was my neighbor, and she seemed such a nice woman.”

“She introduced you to Diego Jimenez.” Kane made it a statement.

I’d been so alone, felt so vulnerable, there in a foreign country with no real knowledge of how to live day to day without being in a military complex. I gravitated toward the elderly to tap into their knowledge and because they were far less threatening. I can barely believe that sweet old lady was born into the cartel.

“She did,” she acknowledged out loud. She looked at Kane, wanting to apologize, needing him to understand.

I brought another enemy straight to their door. It isn’t as if they don’t have too many against them already. I’m so sorry, Kane. I was so scared when it came closer to the baby being born.

Kane stood up, not quite with his usual fluid grace, but he managed without a cane, and went to her, wrapping his arm around her waist. She moved into him, nearly melting into his skin, slipping beneath his shoulder as if she just, for one moment, needed his strength.

“I’m sorry,” she said aloud to Mack. “It was stupid of me to trust any of them. She seemed so harmless, and I was about to give birth. I can leave . . .”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is your home,” Mack snapped, impatience crossing his face. “We don’t turn tail and run, and we sure don’t throw our family members to the wolves.”

“They kill everyone. They’ll go after Jaimie.”

Javier had slid back into the shadows; now he stirred, drawing her attention, quite frankly startling her. Kane felt her jump. He was used to Javier disappearing on them, fading into whatever was solid behind him, but Rose scowled.

“Stop doing that. I’m going to have a heart attack.”

He flashed a small, unrepentant grin. “I need the practice. Don’t you worry about Jaimie, Rose. She can handle herself, and she’s got all of us. No one’s going to get to Jaimie.”

Kane felt a shiver run through Rose, and he tightened his arm around her.
Javier is on our side, Rose. He’d die for Jaimie—and for you and Sebastian. More important, he’d kill for you. He’s a good man. He lives by a strict code. He’s a man of honor.

I believe that, Kane, but I also believe it would never be a good idea to cross him—or betray him.

She was a good judge of character, no doubt about it. He rubbed her rib cage with gentle fingers, soothing her as he turned his attention back to the matter of the cartel. “Do they know she’s with us?”

“Of course not. They have no idea. Whitney sure isn’t going to give her up to them. More likely, we’ll get an influx of his men hanging around to help protect her—or snatch her if they get the chance. They’ll just muddy the waters for us,” Mack groused.

“So what are you worried about?”

“They have her picture. It’s been circulating, and they’ve got bounty hunters looking for her. They put a hefty price on her head.”

Kane took the body blow without flinching. His hand found hers, threading his fingers through hers in silent reassurance.

“What are we doing about it, Mack?” He knew Mack. There was already a plan in motion.

Mack’s smile was anything but pleasant. “We’re adept at urban warfare; they’re adept at killing unarmed, terrified people. We have as good—or better—weapons than they do. If they’re stupid enough to come at us, they’re going to get a fight they won’t believe.”

“I don’t understand what that means,” Rose said.

“It means,” Kane explained, “that if they find you here, if
any
bounty hunter finds you here, we’ll take the fight right back to them.”

“And shove it up their ass,” Javier added. “If you’ll excuse my language, ma’am.”

“You can’t invade a foreign country,” Rose said. “It would cause an international incident. Every GhostWalker could be in trouble.”

Mack shrugged. “They’d have to catch us first, baby sister, and that just isn’t going to happen. We’re ghosts, remember?”

“Have you sent them a message, Top?” Kane asked.

“Not yet. We’ll deliver it though, personally, if and when it’s needed.”

Kane frowned and shook his head, his body straightening. “No one is doing my job for me. I’ll take the message to them myself.”

Rose tightened her fingers around his and stepped in front of him, as if she could physically block his body from harm. “No one is going to deliver any message. They don’t have a clue where I am. They don’t know about any of you or what you do. If you go throwing down the gauntlet, you’ll be stirring up a hornet’s nest. Right now they’re looking for a pregnant woman worth a lot of money to a crazy billionaire. They don’t know about any of you. They know about Whitney, the man who supplied weapons and Humvees to the rebels. They think he killed all of their people trying to acquire me.”

There was a small silence. “She’s probably right about that, Top,” Kane said. “The cartel has to think Whitney’s men shot them all to hell.”

“In fact, they did,” Rose pointed out. “We only were responsible for a couple of them, and remember, they think I was a hostage.”

“Is the word on the street to kill her?”

“Dead or alive,” Mack’s voice was grim. “Preferably alive, but they’ll take what they can get. It’s more money if she’s delivered alive.”

“They plan on taunting Whitney with her,” Javier said. “Showing him they will retaliate.”

“The bottom line for me,” Kane said, “is that they said dead or alive. That’s unacceptable.”

“You can’t go to war with the cartel,” Rose said.

The three men smiled at one another, and there was nothing at all pleasant about those smiles.

CHAPTER 14

Rose stood on the rooftop and looked around, a little awed by the view. Three stories up, she could see the ocean as well as a good portion of the city. A garden had been started on the roof, mainly, she could see, for defense purposes. She was coming to realize this team did everything with both offense and defense in mind.