Deadly Game

remember me,' she said aloud.

'I know of you.' Mari tried not to wince when the needle went in. I hate needles, she confessed, ashamed. It's so stupid really. I can break bones and shoot someone at a hundred yards without batting an eye, but I hate needles. She should be used to them: Whitney was always taking blood for something, or giving her shots, or strapping her to a table and adding to her genetic enhancements. He used her as the guinea pig much more often than the other women because he considered her difficult to control. She asked too many questions, incited the other women to rebellion.

She felt Ken settle in next to her, his weight making her body roll toward his. Their hips touched. His thigh slid along hers. The heat of his body warmed the cold of hers. She was instantly hyper-aware of him. of his masculine scent and his sheer strength-of the fact that she was a woman and he was a man.

'Relax, Mari.' His fingers tangled with hers.

Lily and another man were working to get bags of something thick and yellow into the IVs while someone else was sticking needles into Ken's arm.

Tell me what's happening.

Don't panic. We'll get you through this. Lily is really good. She's studied this drug, because Zenith obviously can regenerate our cells, but after it's been in our systems for a length of time, it begins to have a negative impact. The cells deteriorate at a very rapid rate, almost the same rate as healing occurs. He squeezed her hand to reassure her. Mass hemorrhaging occurs. She's giving you the antidote fast, that's why so many IVs. She'll shoot some of the antidote into your muscles as well.

And that's already happening to me. That's why the leg keeps bleeding and now I'm getting nosebleeds. A frisson of fear crept down her spine. She could deal with anything if she knew what was happening. She would not panic. Why would he continue to give us the drug if he knew it would kill us?

The pad of Ken's thumb brushed back and forth over her wrist. Blood began to run in a tube from his arm to hers. If you re captured and can't get to him, you die. It's another protection in place for him. If you come back, he administers an antidote and no one is the wiser. If someone comes back late, he either saves them where no one can see or that person simply disappears. He wins any way you look at it. All of us are disposable.

I'll bet Lily isn't. Mari studied the face of the doctor's daughter. She wore a look of total determination. No one was that good of an actress. Lily Whitney was totally focused on saving Mari's life.

Has he talked about her lately?

No one gets that close to him-well-other than Sean. Sean's a supersoldier, and Whitney keeps him around as a bodyguard.

There was that name again. Sean. Ken often caught glimpses of Sean in Mari's mind. More than that, there was respect-admiration even. His gut twisted into hard knots at the mention of the man, and something dark and shadowy swirled in his brain.

Could I really die?

He brought her knuckles to his lips wanting to comfort her, not wanting to answer her, or think about the possibilities. She sounded forlorn, and vulnerable. His heart reacted with a strange shifting. There was more blood at the corner of her mouth. Ken ignored the way air rushed from his lungs, leaving him fighting to breathe. He refused to panic if Mari wasn't. Lily would save her because there was no other choice.

If something happens to me, tell Briony I thought of her every day-that her happiness mattered more to me than anything else. Even in his mind, her voice sounded faraway, paper thin, as if she struggled to breathe, to live.

Ken went still, holding her hand tightly against his lips. Her skin was soft, even along the scar that split his lip. 'You aren't going to die, Mari. We won't let that happen.' He said the words aloud because he wanted Lily to hear. He struggled to keep his voice even, calm, without a threat, when he knew he meant it as a threat-when everyone in the room knew it was a threat. His heart pounded in terror. He couldn't lose her this way. He wouldn't let Whitney win this battle. Mari had to live.

Lily put her hand briefly on his shoulder. 'It's okay, Ken. I understand.'

Maybe she understood, but he didn't. He felt torn in two. Mari was virtually a stranger, yet he felt as if he knew her intimately. He had known the GhostWalkers for some time, many of them for years, but it was Mari he wanted to protect, Mari he needed to know was safe and alive and well somewhere in the world-even if it couldn't be with him.

'How could he do this?' Ken bit out the question before he could stop himself, glaring at Lily, a sudden flash of anger shaking him.

Ryland. Lily's husband, frowned, straightening slowly from where he was bent over Ken's arm, making certain blood was flowing smoothly from one patient to the other. There was a certain threat in his manner.

Lily shook her head slightly to warn her husband not to interfere. 'I don't know. Ken. I've asked myself that question a million times. They say the line between genius and insanity is too fine to measure. And he's deteriorating every day.'

'Why do you say he's deteriorating?'

'He's been hacking into our computers right from the day he disappeared. Flame found a way to get a program into his computer so we can spy on him. From his notations I can see that his mental state is slipping more and more with each new project. He's so far from reality, I can't even begin to guess what he might do next. I have no idea how we're going to stop him.'

There was utter weariness in her voice. Lines of worry edged her young face. Her eyes held sorrow-too much sorrow and responsibility for a woman her age. Ken reached out to touch Lily's hand. 'I do.' He said it with conviction, wanting her to believe him, wanting to ease her suffering.

Mari caught his arm and tugged, the gesture weak but insistent. He turned his head toward her. She was glaring at him.

What's wrong?

She blinked, her expression changing to one of confusion. I don't know. I didn't like that-you touching her-which is totally absurd. You were only comforting her, and her husband is right there, so it makes no sense to feel upset about it. She sounded puzzled and unguarded and suddenly very fragile.

Alarm spread through his body. Ken wanted to gather her into his arms and hold her tight, afraid of losing her. The life was already draining out of her. Blood trickled from her mouth and nose. I'm here, Mari, right beside you. I'll get you through this.

I know you will. She tried to smile at him, but her eyes closed and she went limp.

'Damn it! I need more time. Jack, get over here.' Lily ordered. 'We didn't get enough of the antidote in.'

'Talk to me, Lily,' Ken snapped. 'Tell me what's happening.'

'She's crashing!' Lily's voice was tight. 'Jack!'

Jack straddled Mari and began CPR while Lily grabbed a syringe with a very long and wicked-looking needle from the surgical tray.

'Open her shirt, Jack,' Lily instructed. She sounded calm and controlled.

She took Jack's place, sitting on top of Mari, driving the needle through the chest wall straight into the heart to administer the stimulant.

Ken's stomach lurched. For a moment there was silence. He heard the ticking of a clock. Lily's breath. Someone shuffling their feet. Beside him, Mari wheezed, drawing in a hard lungful of air, her eyes flying open, terror on her face, her hand gripping his wrist as if her life depended on the contact, and then she went limp again.

Lily bent over her, feeling for her pulse, listening to her heart. 'She's back. Get the antidote in her and as much blood as we can. We may need you before this thing is over, Jack.'

While she worked on Mari, Lily kept glancing at Ken. 'You said you thought you had a way to stop him. As long as he's allowed to keep up his experiments, none of us are safe. Do you really have a plan?'

'I can control people's actions with my mind,' Ken said, his gaze shifting toward his brother to catch the look of shock he knew would be there. Don't admit you can do the same thing. You have Briony and the babies to think about.