Jonas loved the way Camellia’s mind worked. She always went straight to the heart of the problem. Who would have that opportunity? Jeff hadn’t told any of his teammates. Even if someone had tried to plant a listening device, the rooms were swept for bugs several times a day. They’d learned that lesson when Sam, a fellow GhostWalker, had first met his wife, Azami.
Crawley began to slow down. The buildings were coming into sight. Jeff moved up behind him but stayed a safe distance away.
“You’ve got two rifles trained on you, Crawley,” he said. “You don’t want to start being stupid at this late date. The welcoming committee has gone all out for you.”
* * *
The “war room” was large, given that it held the long table where the entire team could be seated, as well as two smaller tables where they often built their models of enemy sites. Jonas, Camellia, Jeff and Kyle faced Ryland Miller and Kaden Montague. Kaden was the team’s second-in-command. Of the two men, Kaden was definitely the most formidable. Ryland was diplomatic; Kaden got the job done fast if diplomacy failed.
“Crawley’s secured. He was stripped down and searched as you suggested. All kinds of weapons and more devices to call home than one can imagine. We employed jammers to make certain he couldn’t be tracked,” Kaden volunteered.
Jonas didn’t like the way Ryland remained silent, his gaze settling on Camellia. He also wasn’t thrilled that Lily wasn’t present. That wasn’t a good sign. He knew she would have wanted to see Camellia after all the time apart. She had made it her life’s work to find all the girls she’d been raised with.
“He’s enhanced,” Jonas said, although he was certain no one needed that reminder. “We left a few dead bodies up on the mountain. They’ll have to be retrieved. His men were also enhanced.”
Kaden nodded. “How many are coming for us?”
Jonas shook his head. “I don’t have that information. That’s why Crawley’s still alive. I went up the mountain, clueless to what I’d run into, but I felt a threat. These men were after Lily and Daniel. I got thinking about that and why they would specifically be targeting Daniel and Lily when we’ve been so careful to keep Daniel under wraps.”
“Whitney has always wanted her back,” Ryland said, speaking for the first time, his tone dismissive. “Everyone knows he thinks I’m not good enough for her.”
“Whitney didn’t send these men. And they know nothing whatsoever about the Nortons. Whitney knows about the Nortons and their twins. He would never chance endangering them. These men were sent by someone else. Someone infiltrated this compound and acquired the information on Daniel. They didn’t have the same access to Team Two and the Norton twins. They heard nothing extraordinary about them. Nor did they see anything. There was no order given to save them, unless there was a chance before the killing started. The troops coming are to wipe out everyone left behind.”
There was a shocked silence.
“Even the women?” Kaden asked.
Jonas nodded.
Ryland looked for confirmation to Jeff and Kyle as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. They both nodded as well.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ryland stated. He stood up, all flowing energy, and paced across the room to the window. “Why would anyone want to wipe out both teams and murder the women as well? Who would do that?”
“Crawley says he works for a banking conglomerate.”
Ryland spun around. “Banking conglomerate? As in Jacob Abrams? He’s always been one of Whitney’s biggest supporters. He’s funded Whitney, allowed him to continue his experiments, given him sanctuary all over the world. Why would he suddenly turn on him?”
Jonas didn’t have an answer for that. “Jacob Abrams heads the conglomerate. I do know that much. I know he wants Daniel and Lily. It’s possible, even probable, he wants them to keep Whitney in line. Whitney is more of a patriot than Abrams is, and he doesn’t always cooperate, at least that was what little I got out of Crawley. The bottom line is Abrams has more money than even Whitney, and he bought someone who comes here. Someone we trust. Someone who is able to get close to Lily.”
Ryland leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, leveling his gaze at Jonas. Ryland Miller had steel-gray eyes, and when he turned them on anyone with his piercing stare, it felt as if he cut right to the heart.
“Talk to me, Jonas.”
“I believe that someone figured out that Lily stored files she created on Daniel’s abilities in a dream she created with Jeff.”
Ryland went very still, a merciless predator in the room with them. His gaze switched from Jonas to Jeff. “I have the ability to dreamwalk. Why would my wife go to Jeff instead of me, Jonas?”
That tone was so low, it was barely heard. Every predatory animal instinct in Jonas reacted to that danger, his own aggression responding to match the rising threat in Ryland.
Immediately the sparks shot through his body, neurons altering, spreading, once again reversing the natural flow so that the need for a hot, violent response burst through him.
Camellia slipped her hand into his, her thumb sliding over the inside of his palm, that caress stroking along those same nerve endings inside his body. He let her take the lead in soothing him, even though he shifted his body so that he could slightly cover her smaller one. He didn’t like that he was sitting and Ryland was standing, giving his commander the advantage in a fight.
“I would imagine that you had forbidden any documentation of your son’s psychic or physical abilities. I say that because that would be what I would do under the circumstances,” Jonas answered honestly. He had known this wasn’t going to be easy. Ryland adored Lily. If she had actually documented Daniel’s abilities without the consent of her husband, there would be hell to pay. All of them knew that.
“Jeff?” Ryland’s tone was mild, but there was nothing mild about the way his very muscular body positioned itself as he turned to face the younger man.
Kaden stood up, a flowing of his tall, heavily muscled frame. He moved casually, partially placing his body between the leader of their team and those seated at the table. Jonas took the opportunity to rise as well, stretching, as if he’d been sitting for too long. He tugged on Camellia’s hand, taking her with him, all but putting her in a corner so she was protected on three sides, with him standing in front of her.
“Jeff?” Ryland said again. “Last time I ask you.”
“Lily came to me a few months ago, Cap,” Jeff said. “It didn’t occur to me that you weren’t aware of what we were doing. I wasn’t about to deny her. She’s Lily.”
“What exactly was it that you two were doing?” Ryland demanded.