"I always have a plan." Saber kept dragging him, staying low to the ground. Let their attacker think they were sheltering between the cars. "I can see in the dark, like a cat, Brady. Keep moving, we only have to make it to the edge there."

"There's a dropoff."

"Yeah, I know." She'd studied the area thoroughly over the past year, committing the landscape to memory just in case she had to escape fast. She figured this qualified.

"Saaaaber." The voice sounded eerie coming out of the dark. "Saaaaber."

"Great. It's the whack job sperm donor. Sheesh."

Brady muffled his snort.

Saber pulled at his arm harder, silently cursing that she didn't have the kind of strength needed for carrying big men. Whitney had physically enhanced her, but more with the ability to jump, to turn herself into a pretzel, get in small places. Her strength was more than adequate for lifting herself and dangling for long periods of time by her fingertips, but Brady was nearly dead weight. She was beginning to sweat, fearing they might not make it.

"When this is over, lose a little weight, Brady," she hissed in his ear.

"It's all muscle, ma'am."

There was little moon, so he couldn't appreciate the eye rolling. She could see the stain spreading now, inky black in the dark. "What is it about Navy SEALs? Do you all have to be so macho?"

She was talking more to distract herself from the task of pulling Brady's large body and the fear of a bullet striking them. She kept close to the cars as long as she could before dragging him into the open. They had to go slow, not draw the eye. Hopefully their attacker would be concentrating on watching between the cars. It would make sense for them to try to stay concealed and the cars were the only real cover available.

"Saaaaber." The call came again. Distorted. Taunting. Disturbed.

They stayed silent as they made their way with painstaking slowness across the ten feet separating the asphalt from the rough terrain. The wild grass was kept low around the edges of the parking lot to minimize the risk of fire.

"Be ready with your gun, Brady," she whispered. "We're going to be very exposed right here. Hopefully I can get you onto the grass without drawing his eye. It's going to hurt like hell. Are you ready?"

Brady gripped his gun and nodded.

Saber backed onto the curb, staying as low as possible. She hooked Brady under his arms and heaved, dragging him over the bump. His breath left his body in a rush, but he remained silent as they fell backward onto the grass. They lay gasping for breath, Saber under the upper half of Brady's body.

She put her mouth against his ear. "There's a ledge, a large one, just behind us. I'm going to try to get you there. Let's just rest for a minute." She could feel Brady's heart racing. His pulse was thready. He was heading toward shock. His skin had gone clammy. "Can you hang on a little longer, Brady? I'll get you help as soon as I can."

Brady managed a brief grin. "My backside's a little raw, ma'am."

In spite of the gravity of their situation, she found herself smiling back. "Come on, tough guy, let's move."

All the while she was listening for a sound, anything that would tell her where their attacker was. She watched the parking lot as she dragged Brady backward. Now that they'd been in the dark awhile, eyes were adjusting, which wasn't a good thing. She felt the need to move faster, but forced herself to keep their pace slow.

She saw a figure move, running from the side of the building to the shelter of one of the trees. Her heart jumped. She took a breath and allowed adrenaline to give her the rush she was going to need.

"He's over by the smaller of the trees closest to the station. Keep your eye on him. If he goes for the car, can you hit him? Are you good with that gun? Because, seriously, if you're not, I am. The thing is, though, it will make me sick-really, really sick-to kill."

He was silent for a moment, his grin widening. "Just how good are you with a gun?"

"I've had a lot of weapons training and I qualify as an expert marksman."

"You're just full of surprises. And mean as a snake. You want that son of a bitch dead, don't you?"

"I want him gone. And I don't want to have to worry that he's going to come after me again." She didn't know any other way to shoot than to shoot to kill.

They were right at the ledge now. She didn't want Brady to drop to the other side until he fired the shot or gave her the gun. They'd only have one shot at it. Once he'd given away their position, she'd have to stash him and draw the attacker away from him. Her only hope was that the madman didn't want to kill her right away. Whatever this was-whoever it was-it had nothing to do with the army and the investigation Jess was conducting. The man was a stalker-her stalker.

They lay in the thin grass, willing the man to go toward the cars. He called out Saber's name again, the sound so strange she realized he had to be using a device to distort the tone enough to disguise it. She knew him. She always identified people by their particular biorhythm, the way their body was unique. She had to tune out everything else and just hear him if she was going to recognize him. And that meant she couldn't do it until she could get far enough away from Brady so his heartbeat wouldn't interfere.

Everything to her was an electrical current-a kind of code-and she knew if she could get close enough, her body would pick her stalker's rhythm up.

"He's moving," Brady said.

She blinked to bring the shadowy figure into focus. He took a couple of tentative steps. Brady brought the gun up.

"I might be able to hit him," he said. "The company van is blocking him, but I might tag him if he comes out into the open."

"Go for it if you think you can."

He flicked her one quick glance and then shifted to get into a better position. His hand was shaking. Sweat dripped into his eyes.

Their attacker crouched low, looked left and right, and then ran toward the cars. The sound of his boots hitting the asphalt seemed overly loud in the silence.

Saber took the gun from Brady's hand, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet caught the man low, slamming him backward. The sound of the gunshot reverberated across the parking lot. He yelled and fired off several rounds as he went down, shooting wildly. The barrage of bullets hit cars and trees and went into the dirt, but didn't come close to them.

Saber pushed to her feet. She had very little time. Already the violent energy was rushing to overtake her. Brady tried to catch her with an outstretched hand, but she brushed past him and ran toward the downed man, the gun rock steady on him. She had to finish him before the energy hit her and she went down. There was no one else to protect Brady, and his wound was serious.

"Don't!" Brady called sharply.

She was aware of him struggling to get to his feet, but she couldn't stay and help. The wounded man thrashed on the ground, cursing aloud, and she gripped the gun harder, her stomach churning. She willed him to turn the gun on her. She didn't want to kill him in cold blood-like an assassin. She wanted it to at least be self-defense.

She made noise as she ran, deliberately making her footsteps loud, hoping he'd bring up the gun, but he kept screaming and rolling on the asphalt. Saber skidded to a halt, brought up the gun, and stared down into the face of the man who had violated her sanctuary-her home.

"Les." She let out her breath, a little shocked that the day soundman could have been stalking her for the last few weeks. He barely spoke to her, in fact the rare times they worked together, he was surly and mean.

He spat curses at her, the gun still in his hand, but he didn't lift it, only drummed his heels against the asphalt and raged as if demented. She could see he'd been wounded in the stomach. The pain had to be excruciating.

"Saber!"

If she was going to kill him, she had to do it now, squeeze the trigger and be done with him, but she couldn't. She stood there shaking, the energy swirling around her in blacks and reds, swallowing her up so that her vision darkened and she went to her knees.

Brian ran up behind her and the terrible churning in her stomach, the pounding in her head, lessened significantly. When he dropped his hand on her shoulder, it disappeared altogether.

"Are you all right?"

"Brady's been shot. We need to call an ambulance."

He reached down and helped her up, removing the gun and tucking it into his belt. "Did he hurt you?"

"No. But he's been the one calling and he broke into my house and did disgusting things in my bedroom. I don't understand this."

"No? Les was sent by Dr. Whitney to watch you and report back to him."

Brian drew a gun from beneath his shoulder and kicked at Les with the toe of his boot while Saber stood there, mouth open in shock.

"How would you know that? Who are you?"

"The theory was neither you nor Jess would pay much attention to someone not genetically enhanced. And you didn't. It was a test of sorts, one you both failed. You even disliked him, but you didn't bother to find out why. That's a weakness, Saber."

He brought up the gun, aimed it, and fired. A hole blossomed in the center of Les's forehead. Saber jumped and stepped back, horrified.

"You should have killed him. You never would have been safe as long as he was around. He's been deteriorating for months. He obsessed over you."

"Brian." Saber inhaled sharply, trying to keep panic down. He wasn't close enough to touch. And he didn't take his eyes off of her. "Do you work for Whitney?"

"You already know the answer to that and it should have occurred to you why you were so comfortable at work." There was a definite reprimand in his voice.

"You're an anchor." He was the reason she wasn't writhing on the ground with jackhammers pounding at her head from the aftermath of violence.

"And a shielder." He flashed a quick grin. "One of the rare ones-like you."

She raised her chin and took another step back. "You'll have to kill me, Brian, because I'm not going back."

His eyebrow shot up. "If I'd wanted to take you back, I would have knocked you out at work and gotten the job done."

"I liked you, Brian. You're very good at what you do."

"You don't have to stop liking me. I'm no different from you. I do a job. My job was to look out for you and I've done it. The next time you have a maggot on the ground, Saber, kill it. You've been taught right. Just because you don't want to work as an assassin anymore doesn't mean all of your training should be thrown out. You should be able to keep yourself alive."

Brian glanced over at Brady. "I've got to go. There are a couple of people I want to see before I take off."

She took a step toward him. "Not Jess."

"Of course not Jess. Back off, Saber. I wouldn't want to have to knock you out. I don't like seeing bruises on you. I'm going to see Patsy, just to make certain she's all right. I'm not going after Jess."

"She has guards on her," Saber felt compelled to point out. She liked Brian. She thought of him as a friend. And she was stunned that she had worked with him night after night and never once caught on to the fact that he was a GhostWalker working for Whitney.

"He's evil, Brian. You have to know that."

"I'm a soldier, Saber. Just like you. I take orders."

"You're not in his breeding program?"

"That's a rumor, nothing more."

She shook her head. "You're lying to yourself because you don't want it to be true. Why do you think he let me go? He wants Jess and me to have a baby."

In the distance they heard the wail of sirens. Brian didn't look away from her. In his eyes, on his face, she saw respect-the respect of a fellow soldier-admiration for what she could do.

"I do my job, Saber. Go where they tell me and carry out orders. I'm going to see Patsy and then I'll be gone. You stay out of trouble."

"Brian, get another assignment. Anyone but Whitney. Ask for a transfer to one of the other GhostWalker teams. Someone is out to kill all of us and we have no idea who. Not Whitney, but someone high enough up that they can mess with assignments. Some of the GhostWalkers have been sent out on suicide missions. You need to know that and all the men on your team need to be aware of it as well." She talked fast, keeping her voice low, aware of the janitor and two other security guards hesitantly coming toward them.

He smiled at her. "You take care of yourself. I have to get out before the cops arrive. Be safe, Saber. And don't let your guard down."

She was going to miss him. She watched him walk over to Brady and held her breath as he crouched down, took a pressure bandage out of his jacket, and handed it and Brady's gun back to the ex-SEAL. Brian went over the side of the mountain, using the exact escape route Saber had scoped out months earlier. He would have a car and a pack stashed close by.

She ran over to Brady and knelt down beside him. He tore open the packaging with his teeth. She ripped at the material of his trousers. His thigh was soaked with blood.

"Here, give it to me. The paramedics will be here any minute."

"Brian's military," Brady said. "Man, I didn't catch that. He blended so perfectly."

That was what a GhostWalker like Brian did. A chameleon, becoming who and what everyone expected. She shook her head. She'd heard of them, of course, but Brian was the first one she'd encountered. They could become anyone.

"Yeah, he's military."

"He executed that man."

She didn't reply, but sat back, rubbing her hand over her face, exhausted. Without Brian to pull the energy from her, she felt the aftereffects, although most of it was already dispersed. She held out her hand. "You have a cell phone." Because all she wanted to do was talk to Jess-hear the comfort of his voice.

Brady lay back in the grass beside her. "My pocket."

She glanced at him sharply. He was gray, with beads of sweat on his face. "Hey! You'd better not be thinking of dying on me."

Alarmed, she bent over him and pressed her fingers to his pulse. At once she felt the rhythm of his body. She could read it easily now, after working with Patsy and Jess. He was losing too much blood too fast. Swearing, she knelt beside him.

"Close your eyes and try to relax. You're going to feel warm, maybe even hot."

A faint grin told her he wanted to give her a snappy comeback, but he didn't have the energy to deliver it.

She sent out a tentative current, reading the feedback until she found the tiny nick in the artery. She closed herself off to all sights and sounds and sent a small pulse of heat to repair the tear. The electrical current stimulated cells to step up the repair process as well as closing off the artery.

Brady caught her wrist as she sank back on her heels. "What are you?"

She grinned at him. "I'm top secret, my friend." And she could save lives as well as take them.

She found his cell phone and flipped it open to call the one man she needed to share that piece of news with.

CHAPTER 19.

"Logan and Neil checked out Les's home and most of it was stripped clean. All but the little homemade dungeon he apparently had waiting for you," Jess said.

Saber shuddered. "There are just some things in life it's best not to hear about and Les's dungeon is one of them. What do you mean the house was stripped clean? Weren't there any prints?" She felt awful. So tired she could barely stand, and twice now she'd had nosebleeds. She'd covered it up at the police station when she was giving her report, but all she wanted to do was crawl in a hole somewhere.