Shadowgame

'Whatever the reason, Captain'-a brief smile lit up her eyes as she corrected herself-'Ryland, I think we have enough on our plates without that.' She raised her voice to a normal level. 'I've read all the reports my father generated for the colonel-I was given copies-but there's no data at all stating how my father accomplished what he did.' She looked at him very steadily. You heard what he said to me. He believes you're a prisoner here. I can't find the laboratory he spoke of before they murdered him… She faltered for a moment, and he felt the wrench in the vicinity of his heart. I need the information in that room if I'm going to help you.

'You don't actually think you can find a way to reverse the process when your father couldn't do it?' You have to find it, Lily. Whatever is there is important to us. I don't know if my men can survive on the outside. And if Higgens has his way, some of us will be terminated. I have a feeling I'm number one on his list.

Lily turned away from him, afraid the shock would show on her face. 'I don't know if I can reverse it, or even if it's necessary, but consider this: You and the others have had terrible side effects. Is it possible one of the side effects is paranoia?' Lily willed him to act out a part for the camera. If she couldn't convince Higgens she was impartial and willing to go along with whatever the colonel wanted, the possibility of her being excluded was very real. I'll find the room, Ryland, but we have to buy ourselves some time. You have to appear somewhat cooperative or Higgens might move before we're ready. Surely you have a contact in the military I can go to. She had a feeling Ryland might be right, that Higgens wanted to go forward with the experiment and Ryland Miller stood in his way.

I don't have a clue who I can trust. I trusted Higgens. Ryland paced the length of his cage, as if contemplating the question. He raked both hands through his hair, playing to the camera. 'I hadn't considered that. Colonel Higgens was always behind us, but when he locked us up and separated us, I felt as if…' Deliberately he trailed off.

'As if he had deserted you. Left you alone. Cut you off from your command.'

Ryland nodded. 'All of those things.' He sat down heavily in a chair and regarded her with glittering eyes and the beginnings of a smile in his mind as he teased her. You rich types can act with the best of them, can't you? He admired the cool way she played her part, the cool way she handed him cues and lines. With her brains and quick thinking, she would fit right into their team.

Do you have a prejudice against money? She actually teased him.

Only because you have too much. It puts you out of my league.

Lily ignored his response, the only sane thing to do. 'I think the possibility of paranoia induced by the experiment is a possibility we have to consider.'

He nodded. 'I want to see my men. I want to know they're all right.'

'That's not an unreasonable request. I'll see what I can do.' Now you're trying to get to me.

I'm trying to make you laugh. Your sorrow is weighing on me like a stone. Ryland pressed a hand to his temples.

Lily was instantly contrite. She'd felt the shards of glass on more than one occasion from strong emotions she couldn't block out. Telepathic communication was difficult and prolonged use was downright painful. She went to his cage and once more gripped the bars. 'I'm sorry, Ryland, I can't help grieving over my father's disappearance. I'm hurting you, aren't I? Would it be easier if I put the glass barricade up to protect you?'

'No.' He rubbed his throbbing temples one last time as he came out of the chair, stretching as he did so, a lazy ripple of muscle she couldn't help but notice. 'I'm fine. It will pass.' He crossed unhurriedly to her, took her hand in his.

The jolt hit them both like a lightning bolt. Lily half expected to see sparks flying. 'It isn't going to go away, is it? We just…' She trailed off, unable to think clearly with him so completely focused on her.

For the briefest of moments his white teeth flashed at her. 'Fit.' He supplied the word for her. 'We fit.'

She tugged to free her hand. Ryland retained possession, a glint of male amusement in his eyes. Deliberately he raised her knuckles to the warmth of his mouth, swirled his tongue over and between each separate bone.

She shivered at the sensuous contact. Fire sparked and raced over her bare skin each time his tongue tasted. He lifted his head, his gaze meeting hers. Everything in her went still; even her heart seemed to cease beating. The amusement in the depths of his eyes was gone, replaced by stark possession. It glittered there in plain view for her to see. A challenge. A promise. Her breath caught in her throat.

The camera. She reminded him, struggling to pull her hand away. He held on to her. 'What's your relationship with Roger?'

The question threw her, completely taking her by surprise it was so unexpected. There was an edge to his voice, his eyes gleaming with icy menace. She blinked at him. 'Roger? Roger who?'

'Roger, the tech I make so nervous he wants the guards in here with their guns.' There was the merest whip of contempt in his voice. 'As if that would help him in time.'

'What does Roger have to do with anything?'

'That's what I'm asking you.'

Are you completely crazy? I'm trying to help you. There's a major conspiracy going on and a murderer running around loose. Roger is completely beside the point.

'Dr. Whitney?' The voice floated over the intercom. 'Do you need assistance?'

'If she needed assistance, pal, it would be apparent,' Ryland snapped, glaring up at the camera, daring the unseen observer to reveal himself. Roger is the point. He was drooling over you.

'I don't require assistance, thank you.' Lily smiled for the camera as she yanked her hand away from Ryland. I think being in that cage has finally gotten to you. Will you focus on what's important here?

This is important to me.

'Ryland.' Couldn't he see the chemistry between them had to be artificial? Enhanced in some way, the way his psychic abilities had been enhanced? He could tune in with much more clarity around her. She was obviously an amplifier.

I'm sorry, I know I'm distressing you, but it's getting worse. I feel like some caveman, wanting to drag you off by your hair or something. Honest to God, Lily, I hurt like hell. Just answer the damn question and give me a little reassurance.

Lily studied his face. He had suffered. He was suffering. 'Why doesn't any of this make sense to me?' She asked it softly, afraid of the answer. Her world had always been balanced, necessarily so. Her father was a man who'd protected her from the outside world, yet at the same time, gave her every opportunity to expand her mind and gather knowledge. He'd opened so many doors for her. He'd been kind and considerate and loving.

She knew that Ryland Miller believed her father had betrayed him and his men. Her father had conducted an experiment on human beings and something had gone terribly wrong. She had to find out exactly what it was and how it had been done. The attraction between Ryland and her was threatening good sense on both sides. She was a practical person, logical and serious. She easily put aside emotion when it was called for.

'It doesn't make sense to me either.' God damn it, Lily, I'm being eaten alive with jealousy. It's ugly and uncomfortable and I don't like myself very much.

Roger is a good man, a friend, but I've never laid eyes on him outside this building. Nor do I intend to do so.

Ryland pressed his forehead against the bars of the cage, taking in a deep breath to steady his roiling gut. There were tiny beads of sweat on his skin. 'What the hell is happening to me? Do you know?'

Lily shook her head, her fingers itching to stray to the unruly spirals falling across his forehead. 'I'll find out, Ryland. This has never happened to you or to any of the men?'

He lifted his head and looked at her and there was a mixture of turbulence, anger, and despair. 'Kaden is able to draw the angriest and most violent emotions away from the rest of us so we can cope better. I think he's like you in some way. When we're out in the field together and he's with us, things run smoothly and all the signals come in clearer. We have more power to project. At least three others are like him in varying degrees. We try to keep one of them with the others at all times in the field when we're working.'

'And the man who died recently in training?'

Ryland shook his head. 'He was alone and he ran into the wrong people. By the time we got to him it was too