He sighed. He had to quit thinking about her or he was going to drive himself crazy. "Draden, let me take a look at your arm."
"It's nothing, Zeke. A burn."
"I still have to check it." Rather than make Draden come to him, and to forestall any arguments, he forced his exhausted body to get up and move.
"What the hell kind of name is Draden anyway?" Mordichai asked.
Ezekiel knew he was distracting the man with an all-too-familiar argument.
"Don't start with me, you Bible-thumping baboon." Draden glared at Mordichai while Ezekiel stripped away the bloody sleeve.
"One doesn't thump a Bible, one reads it," Mordichai declared piously.
"I'll bet you never read the damn thing ever," Draden said, clearly trying not to pull his arm away when Ezekiel wiped away the blood to get to the wound.
"He read it. I made both my brothers read it." Ezekiel poured antiseptic into the long wound where the bullet had torn a chunk of skin from Draden's bicep.
Draden erupted into a storm of swearing, and he was very inventive at it. He scowled at Ezekiel. "You do that again I'm laying you out, captain or not."
"Don't be such a baby," Gino said, opening one eye. "You got kissed. You didn't hear that SEAL crying his little head off."
"Do you know what the name Draden means?" Mordichai asked, clearly gleeful for the opening. "Sweet little Draden loves to be cuddled when he's not feeling well. You want to come and give him a cuddle, Phantom. Might make him stop whining like a girl."
Draden turned his scowl on Mordichai. "Shut the hell up, you cretin. I'm telling Cayenne you said 'whine like a girl.' She'll deliver the bite of paralysis, wind your worthless ass in a cocoon of webs and hang you upside down from the nearest tree."
"Oh shit, she would," Mordichai said. "She'd totally do that and just leave me there. I take that part back."
"You can't take it back. You said it, now you own it."
Ezekiel sewed up what he could. Draden would have a hell of a scar. He'd kept going, never missing a beat, never complaining, getting his job done, including taking care of their patients, and he'd lost a great deal of muscle when the bullet plowed through his arm. It was a little more than a kiss. Draden had been damned lucky.
He felt pride in his "brother" GhostWalker. In all of them. In the SEALs and SWCC crew. The Indonesian soldiers who had served with them. Each one of them had walked into a situation knowing it was probably a trap, and they'd still gone. They'd still risked their lives to bring out hostages who would have been dead in two more days. The American wouldn't have lasted through the night. He still might not. At least he had a fair chance. Ezekiel had blasted him with antibiotics.
He staggered back to his seat and looked at his fellow GhostWalkers. They had stayed alive after their enhancements by watching one another's back. That was the way it had to be. Each was a multimillion-dollar weapon, and supposedly top secret. Secrets had a way of leaking out. Violet was the largest leak they had.
He sighed as he sank into the uncomfortable seat. Senator Violet Smythe. She's one of us. Enhanced psychically and probably physically as well. If we don't stop her, she really will get to be president and she'll wipe us all out. What the hell are we going to do about her? He used telepathic communication to keep the SEALs traveling with them from overhearing.
We've got to take the bitch out, Gino said, not bothering to open his eyes. We should have done it when she went after Pepper and the girls.
There was a question mark, Mordichai pointed out.
There isn't now.
She's a United States senator, Draden said.
She's an enemy and she has to go, Gino insisted. If we don't kill her, she'll eventually kill every member of all four teams, their wives and children. Hell, my guess is she'll even kill Lily Whitney just to be a bitch. We don't have a choice if we want to survive. Personally, I don't mind doing the job myself.
There it was. Ezekiel had to agree with Gino's assessment. Senator Violet Smythe had to die.
11
Colonel Joe Spagnola, Doctor, the squadron leader for the GhostWalker PJs, returned on Bellisia's second day. He came with one other man, Diego Campo, Rubin's brother. She had noticed how good-looking Draden Freeman was, what woman wouldn't? He was a gorgeous man, looking as if he'd stepped off the cover of a magazine. Joe Spagnola could give him a run for his money. The man was beautiful, like a model. Well over six feet, with olive skin and dark hair, she pegged him as Italian American.
Colonel Spagnola was not very happy to be informed of the things that had transpired while he was gone. It was far too late to pull Ezekiel out of the field. The hostages were in poor shape and if not pulled out before the deadline, they would be killed. He was definitely furious, but he controlled his anger, questioning Rubin over and over until he was satisfied he had every detail, and then he turned his cool, dark eyes on her.
Joe especially didn't like that the two Indonesian imposters had been in on the training for at least one day before they made their move. It was very possible that they were in league with the terrorists and the mission was compromised before it had begun. The latest information coming out of the village was that the enemy hadn't geared up any more than usual for a possible assault.
Bellisia knew the inevitable was coming. The women had treated her with kindness and respect. This was the man responsible for his team members, and he wouldn't be too happy knowing she'd been spying on them, even if she did save Ezekiel's life.
"I'd like a word," Joe said, the moment after Rubin filled him in. His tone was mild enough, but it was a clear order.
Bellisia gazed longingly for the river. She hadn't said where she would wait for Ezekiel. Joe turned and led her away from the others, back into the laboratory. This time she wasn't put in a cage, but rather escorted to the office. Rubin's brother, Diego, brought up the rear so she was effectively sandwiched between the two. She was fairly certain they were both fast. With every step that took her away from the river, her hopes of escaping them dwindled.
Joe waved her to a chair. "You're one of the women Whitney took from the orphanage." He made it a statement.
She nodded and waited. She'd learned a few things from being in Nonny's home. Pepper usually disappeared when there were males around if her husband wasn't present. She didn't go out of the house without him, except very rarely. She had been created to be an assassin and could lure men with her voice. Sometimes the need for sex was overwhelming as the chemicals in her body flooded her system, and then she really hid until her husband came home, but they worked it out.
If Pepper could endure the cycles she had to go through in order to be with Wyatt, Bellisia could get through another interrogation. Ezekiel was worth it. She couldn't help feeling nervous and maybe, if she was being strictly honest with herself, scared. This man carried authority easily. He looked tough as nails. He couldn't exactly order Ezekiel to get rid of her, but his veto would be strong with the members of his squadron and, she suspected, the Fontenot family.
"Would you like to tell me in your own words how you came to be here?"
Her heart stuttered for a moment. His tone was so mild. So deceitful. He wasn't feeling mild. He wanted to pound someone into the ground. Self-preservation rose swift and fast. There was no way to stop the venom from rising to protect her. With it came the faint telltale blue rings on her skin and hair. Fortunately, they were very faint, but a man like Joe Spagnola wouldn't fail to notice them.
He leaned back in his chair and studied her face. "Do you feel threatened?"
Her chin went up. "Yes. You want me to feel threatened."
"I'm sorry if I gave you that impression. If I believed you were a threat to my men, I would have either thrown you back in a cage until I was certain, or I would have pulled out my gun and shot you on the spot."
If that was designed to make her feel better, it didn't. She had no doubt that he was very capable of shooting her the instant he thought she presented a threat. She lo
wered her blue-tinged lashes, not taking her gaze from him, but making certain of Diego's position in the room. They'd closed the office door. The door to the laboratory had been closed as well. No locks had been engaged. She'd counted the steps from the house to the river and from the laboratory to the river a hundred times over the last two days.
Realizing she had to say something, she made a face at him. "So glad you decided not to shoot me. I didn't know that was an option." So screw him. If he didn't believe she was a threat, what was she doing in here, other than being intimidated?
"Sarcasm. You can't be too scared."
"I'm scared, but you're not my commanding officer. I don't have to do a damn thing you tell me. I've been through an interrogation and it was determined I'm not a threat to anyone, so this is rather irritating."
"Who is your commanding officer?"
Sniping at him didn't faze him in the least. His expression didn't change. He looked like a tiger, watching prey. She resisted the urge to rub at the blue rings on her arm. She hated that he could see them, hated that he knew she was nervous. The bad news was, knowing she was enhanced, he wouldn't see a slight woman, very small and fragile-looking. He would know she had weapons. The blue rings would clue him in that she was lethal and very, very strong.
"I don't have a commanding officer. I escaped Whitney and, although I know he's looking for me and I can't stay here long, I gave my word to Ezekiel that I wouldn't leave until he returned. And I won't. If you prefer, I can go back to Donny's island and stay there until he's back."
"I don't want you to do that. It wouldn't be safe for Donny. He'd fight on your behalf, and anyone Whitney sends after you would be capable of crushing the man."
"I'll keep Donny safe."
Behind her, Diego stirred. She kept her eyes on Joe, but shifted just enough in her chair that she had a better view of Diego. He was average height, and a slighter build than Joe, but all muscle. He clearly was of Mexican American descent with his thick dark hair and even darker eyes. He had a knife strapped to his side like most of the men, but she noticed when he moved even slightly, his light jacket opened and there were throwing knives in loops on the inside of his coat--an airport security nightmare. She detested that he was behind her.
She judged she had about five steps to the window. Could she get her sweater off fast enough to protect her face and hands while going through it? Probably.
"The glass is bulletproof. No matter how strong you are, you wouldn't get through it first try and we'd be on you," Joe cautioned.
She smirked. "That wouldn't be such a good idea."
"Lethal venom every time? Or can you control it like Cayenne and Pepper?"
Bellisia didn't know why, but the fact that she couldn't control the amount of venom going into her victim made her feel inferior. Damn him. He was doing it deliberately. "What is your point?"
"My point is, I don't know anything about you or this situation. Ezekiel is not only under my command, which means I'm responsible for him, but he's my friend. I need to know what happened. How you got here. What you're like. Give me something, Bellisia, anything at all. Hell, I don't even know your last name."
Was she making him an adversary because she was so sick of answering to men? Whitney treated all the women like his slaves. He had power of life and death over them, and he'd killed more than one with his crazy experiments. They worked hard to keep from being put in his insane breeding program or worse, more experiments. He wanted everything perfected so his male soldiers had the best of his science.
She took a breath. "Okay. I'm sorry. That makes sense. We don't have last names. None of us. We make them up. I was called Bellis and my "sisters," meaning the other women at the compound where I was raised, began referring to me as Bellisia, an Italian version. I liked it because they love me and I matter to them. So when I escaped, I went by Bellisia, and I added Adams because one of the supersoldiers is named Adam and he's a bit of a badass."
Gerald and Adam were most often assigned to her as her handlers on the outside. She didn't want to kill either of them, but if they kept coming at her, she might not have a choice. She knew Whitney wanted to pair one of them with her eventually. Maybe both. He might have already done it. She figured Whitney hoped she would develop feelings for one or both of them. She had, just not in the way he wanted.
"Whitney thinks women are weak. He uses us for his experiments and to perfect his enhancements before he gives them to any of you. We're disposable, you're not. He became suspicious that Violet Smythe was selling out the GhostWalker program to Cheng for money so that her running mate could get the presidency. That's her ultimate goal, to become president. Whitney sent me undercover to Cheng's when he heard that she was doing some kind of diplomatic tour and one of the stops would be China."
"Unusual." He steepled his fingers together and nodded for her to continue.
"I infiltrated Cheng's laboratory. Whitney always has the best paperwork. Cheng's security didn't even raise an eyebrow. I fit right in." She put her hands in her lap to keep him from seeing her clench her fists. Whitney's betrayal still infuriated her. "He injected me with a virus specific to my DNA. I had a certain time to complete the assignment or the virus began to work. By the way, just so you know how he treats his operatives, the virus was fatal."
Joe glanced up to meet Diego's eyes. Something burned right behind the cool, but he blinked and the emotion was gone. "Keep going."
"Whitney apparently paired Violet with him, so he couldn't conceive of the fact that she'd actually betray him by selling his life's work to an enemy, but he couldn't take the chance. I was really there to disprove the rumor. She came and met with Cheng."
Joe's eyes flickered. Heat this time. Anger maybe. "You saw her? You actually saw her yourself?"
"I not only saw her, I heard her selling out her country. More, she sold out this specific squadron. Apparently you all consort with insects and snakes, and she doesn't like bugs or snakes. She was willing to sell all the GhostWalkers down the river for her own purposes."
"Do you have a recording of this conversation?"
She shook her head. "You'll have to take my word for it."
"Your word is good enough. I can hear a lie. You aren't lying."
"You aren't as shocked as I was," Bellisia observed. "But you're very upset by her betrayal. She has a certain reputation."
He sighed. "True, but I held out a small bit of hope that she was redeemable."
"She's a sociopath. No conscience whatsoever. Violet is willing to sell out her sisters, the women raised with her. She wants to be the only female GhostWalker, and she wants power." Bellisia shook her head. "Her voice is compelling. She weaves some kind of spell with her pitch. Don't fall for it."
"It doesn't work on me," Joe said.
Bellisia studied his completely expressionless face. That wasn't good. Whitney was very careful when he paired his couples to make certain one didn't have a distinct advantage over the other. In her case, because her venom was fatal, Ezekiel was certain he was immune to it, but she wasn't willing to take the chance to find out. If Joe wasn't susceptible, that could mean he was paired with Violet. She hoped not. Intellectually she knew it was just physical attraction, but it was powerful and with it seemed to come an emotional attachment.
"What did you hear?"
"Cheng wanted Whitney's files, but she said she couldn't get those for him, but she could deliver a GhostWalker. She really detests anyone with insect or reptile DNA. It repulses her, and according to her, cheapens all of you superior beings."
His eyes flickered with heat again. "Let's get this straight. The GhostWalkers, and my squadron specifically, do not believe anyone with insect or reptile DNA cheapens us."
There she was, doing it again, sneering at the male soldiers, lumping them all together. She hadn't even realized she had an issue, but apparently growing up in Whitney's company and having him cram it down their throats that women were inferior to men in every way upset her.
/> "I'm sorry. Sometimes I let my mouth run away with me. Violet sold out this team and told him they were here in Louisiana. Cheng locked the laboratory down while Violet left and that meant I was trapped there."
She shuddered and ran her fingers along her arm, feeling the tearing of her skin when the hook ripped at her. Joe's gaze followed her fingers, noting the long thin scar running along her forearm. His eyes narrowed and grew darker, making her shiver.
"Cheng's mercenaries searched the building and found my disguise. The alarm went up and I crawled into a water tank up on the roof. They had hooks and kept throwing them in the water. I got tagged a couple of times, but in the end, they couldn't find me."
Joe let out his breath. "How long were you delayed there?"
"Long enough that the virus took hold. I needed the antidote immediately. I climbed down the side of the building and my handler Gerald was waiting. He picked me up and ran with me to the van. Whitney didn't care that I was dying. He only cared that they got the information. I faked how bad off I was and they injected me. I pretended not to come around, and my body temperature was soaring, so Whitney told them to get me water. My other handler Adam opened the van doors and jumped out. I launched myself out of there and made it to the water."
"Tell me your abilities."
She lifted her chin. "Why?"
"Obviously Ezekiel is claiming you as his. You seem to feel the same way or you never would have given him your word that you'd stay."
"We barely know each other."
"You know him. Zeke isn't that hard to read. He's a good man. Protector. Off the charts protective, but lethal as hell. I think you're the same way. You're a good match for him. I can't see you doing whatever he tells you, but you're not going to argue with him just so you can get your way. That means you'll be living here with us. I need to know every asset we have."
"I can get in and out of very small places. I blend in easily wherever I am. Not just camouflage, but any environment or culture. Anything I see or read, I retain. Word for word. So no need for a recording. I can pick up languages fast and easily use the correct accents." She hesitated and then shook her head.