Ghostwalker 04 - Conspiracy Game

could only hope she wouldn’t turn away from him in horror when she discovered the real Jack—the one he kept hidden.
    “We’ll head to Lily Whitney’s, the place Kadan told you about,” he explained grimly.
    “She’ll send a cleanup crew to the house; we’ll make the necessary repairs and set up a better alarm system. We’ll have to turn our home into a fortress if we go back.”
    “Tell me what you want me to do,” Briony said.
    There was so much trust in her eyes, Jack had to look away. This was battle, an all-out war, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. There were the three of them against a helicopter filled with soldiers. Ken and Jack had limited ammunition and weapons, and every bullet was going to have to be a kill.
    The sound of a helicopter grew louder as Whitney’s men approached.
    Infantry taking up positions at nine and twelve o’clock, Ken reported.
    Jack handed Briony a gun and several clips of ammunition. Don’t waste this, baby. Shoot to kill. He caught her chin, looked into her eyes. You understand me? You shoot to kill. Ken and I will shield you from the repercussions. Not the emotional ones, that was impossible, but they’d do what they could.
    Helicopter’s coming in. They could see it hovering over the thick grove of trees, whipping winds so that the leaves and branches swayed. Thick ropes dropped from the open doorway and several men began a fast descent toward the safety of the trees.
    Briony stifled a cry of alarm when the first shot rang out, followed closely by a second and then a third. Jack reached up and yanked her down so that she lay prone on the ground between the two men. Three of the descending soldiers dropped instantly, crashing into the heavy branches. Ken calmly fired a fourth shot, and Jack took out a fifth soldier. It happened so fast she didn’t do more than stare, gun in her hand.
    The helicopter veered away in an effort to protect the remaining soldiers. Both Jack and Ken fired at the retreating mechanical bird, placing their shots with care and precision.
    Almost immediately black smoke billowed and the helicopter spun out of control.
    Go! Jack yanked her back up, pushing her in the direction of the clearing. Stay to cover but keep moving forward.
    They ran several feet and the ground soldiers suddenly swarmed around them. For a moment, Briony felt despair—it seemed impossible to break through their lines—but then Jack lobbed a grenade and took her to the ground, covering her body with his while the world blew up around them. That fast, he was on his feet, firing from the hip and running with her again.
    Briony realized both brothers were shielding her body with theirs as they ran, and that they anticipated where the enemy would be and what they would do. Experience counted far more in actual battle than she’d realized when training. By the time she aimed, one of the brothers had already fired. They kept moving forward, lobbing grenades, firing at the soldiers, always in motion. Smoke swirled thickly around them, and men screamed in pain.
    For the first time in her life, she was in a real combat situation, and it was horrifying.
    A man tackled her from behind, and Jack whirled around, knife in his fist, slicing fast across the soldier’s throat as he fell with Briony. Blood sprayed over all of them, but neither man blinked; they simply hauled her to her feet and kept running. She was in Jack’s mind and expected fear for her, horror of what he had to do, but there was only calm resolve, no emotion at all—as if he were the killing machine Luther had called him.
    Briony locked her mind into Jack’s in order to follow his lead. Her vision cleared, and she aimed and fired, bracing herself for the backlash of violence. When none came, she chose another target and fired again. The battle raged fast and furious, as they were pinned down.
    Getting low on ammo, Ken reported.
    Fuck. Me too. We’ll have to conserve and go hand-to-hand. Briony, stay out of the fighting if at all possible. Jack signaled them forward, and they rushed in the direction of the clearing.
    To your left, to your left! Ken flashed the warning just as a shot rang out. Beside her, Ken faltered, stumbled, and went down.
    Jack turned toward him, but whirled back to face the attack coming from his left side, a big man, moving fast, every bit as enhanced. Luther. He came out of the brush, his body blurred as he sped toward them.
    Run, Briony. Get to the edge of the clearing and stay