“Ed was dead already,” Abrams pointed out. “It wasn’t as if Peter did anything wrong. I just don’t think fooling Andrew into believing Ed’s still Ed is ethical.”

Jefferson snorted. Coughed. “That’s rich coming from you, Jacob.”

Mack leaned into his mouthpiece. “You getting this, Jaimie? Is it making any sense to you? How the hell could he stimulate a brain that’s dead?”

“I’m getting it. Paul might be able to help.”

Mack glanced out over the thick stand of trees. Violet was making her way toward the window, moving from shadow to shadow. Gideon.

I see her, boss. Javier’s keeping pace with her.

It was impossible for Mack to spot Javier, although he didn’t doubt that Gideon knew exactly where the man was. He sent up a silent prayer that Javier understood he was playing ghost with another GhostWalker. They knew little about Violet’s abilities.

Jacob Abrams sighed heavily and walked to the window to stare out, swirling the brandy in his glass. “Is she going to give us trouble?”

“She offered to bring in our missing women, including the pregnant one.”

Abrams whirled around. “Do you think she can do it?”

“Violet pointed out she can do a lot from her position as a senator’s wife for the women’s underground. She’ll be a saint to them while she’s searching. I’d put my money on her. She wants the presidency, Jacob. And she’ll do anything to keep Ed alive, even if it’s just his body.”

“It’s a big undertaking,” Abrams said, his voice thoughtful. “I’d like to see one baby before we’re dead and gone, Phillip, just to see if we accomplished what we set out to do.”

“James. Never forget I’m James,” Jefferson responded. “In any case, a couple of the GhostWalker couples have babies.”

“Yeah, they do, but we don’t have them.” Abrams turned back to face his old friend. “Is Theodore Griffen giving you trouble?”

There was an inflection. A casual note that was anything but casual. Jefferson visibly stiffened. “Why do you ask?”

“Rumors, Jefferson. I heard you sent a team to San Francisco and one of them didn’t come back. Whitney doesn’t want the girl killed. He said to tell you to leave her alone.”

“Did he even pay any attention to the evidence that’s been collected against him?

If I hadn’t persuaded Chilton to let me handle it, the committee might have shut him down. We got lucky.”

“You’re afraid the trail leads back to you.”

“And you, Jacob. Your reputation is on the line as well. A breeding program and experimenting on children, even orphans, will cause a worldwide uproar, and you know it,” Jefferson said. “If we have to sacrifice a couple of his precious soldiers to keep the programs intact, then it’s a small price to pay.”

“Whitney makes a bitter enemy, James,” Jacob said. “Find some other way of dealing with this woman. Bring her in. Get her back under control. Hell, put her in Whitney’s breeding program. I don’t care, but don’t kill her. Get your men to pick her up.”

Mack waited, but Jefferson didn’t confirm to Abrams that he’d sent the two men to kill Jaimie, but they’d failed and hadn’t returned. He didn’t answer one way or the other. Apparently there were things Jefferson didn’t want to share with his old friend.

Or maybe he was afraid. Could the tight-knit friends be splintering?

Violet crept toward the house, coming in from the south side. She took out an aerosol can and sprayed into the slight breeze moving out over the sweeping lawn.

Bright beams leapt into the air. Mack could see them without the spray and he was fairly certain Javier could as well. The enhancements Whitney had given them evidently weren’t part of Violet’s arsenal.

She glanced upward, her gaze sweeping the surrounding trees, looking for cameras, before inspecting the roof. Mack could have told her where every one of them was located. She didn’t hurry, but slid under the beams, taking care not to disturb them. Mack was a little surprised that Jefferson had used something so easy to defeat. The beams were crisscrossed, but still a good foot from the ground where someone as limber as Violet could slide beneath them. The woman used her elbows and knees to propel herself forward. She had shed the elegance of her former appearance and wore a black jumpsuit. Her hair was covered with a tight cap and there were no diamonds glittering anywhere on her body.

Mack caught a brief glimpse of a shadow sliding along the lawn, very low, not ten feet from Violet. He held his breath as Javier rolled clear of the beams and into the thick hedge that ran around the house. Violet wasn’t as confident, propelling her body forward with painstaking slowness.

Jacob’s voice brought Mack’s attention back to the house. “Griffen is no danger to us, James. The GhostWalkers are like his kids. He doesn’t want to lose them any more than Whitney does. Once you explain to him that we’re all on the same side, he’ll understand.”

“He’s arrogant.” Dislike was evident in Jefferson’s voice.

Jacob laughed harshly. “Now we’re getting to the real reason you’re upset. You don’t like Griffen.”

“He rubs me the wrong way.”

Violet was at the window now. She reached her arm up and pressed a small object into the frame. Another piece went into her ear.

Jacob helped himself to more brandy. “He rubs you the wrong way because he doesn’t like spooks. You’re recruiting his men for your dirty work.”

“He doesn’t have the balls to make this country strong. We need strong leaders,”

Jefferson said. “Griffen’s thinking is linear. Black and white.”

“Still, he not only believes in the GhostWalker program, but he runs one of the teams,” Jacob pointed out.

“He’s squeamish. He talked about women’s rights for God’s sake. Who gives a f**k? Really, Jacob. We’re talking about having the greatest soldiers in the world and he wants to spout off about women’s rights. We have a chance to make the United States the most powerful country in the world. Imagine if we could send a lone soldier into an enemy camp undetected and he could assassinate their greatest general and no one would be the wiser because the death looks natural. We could change entire governments, put people in office friendly to our country and no one, no one, would be the wiser. Whitney is a man of great vision . . .”

“Yet you don’t listen when he tells you he has plans for one of his GhostWalkers.”

“He has to be protected, even from himself. And Jacob.” Jefferson looked up to meet Jacob’s eyes over his drink. “So does Andrew. His daughter-in-law is as cold as ice. She can’t be trusted. Whitney chose her to be the senator’s wife because she had the least ability to be a soldier, but she has no loyalty.”

Mack watched Violet’s face carefully. There was no change of expression. None.

She might have been listening to a bedtime story. She might not have as many psychic talents as the other GhostWalkers, but he doubted if Whitney had sold her to Freeman because of her lack of talent; more likely he recognized her amoral nature. Whitney would have slated her for termination. He couldn’t control her through her affinity for others. If she was loyal to Freeman, it was because Whitney had bound them in some way. Mack would never believe the woman had a genuine care for anyone.

“She’s loyal to Ed,” Jacob pointed out. “And that’s good enough for me.”

“She’s sleeping with Andrew,” Jefferson said. “She controls him as totally as she does Ed. He’ll do anything she wants. And she wants Whitney to back Ed so Andrew will bring his full weight behind what she wants.”

Jacob sucked in his breath. “Are you sure? That can’t be true. Andrew loves his son.”

“Andrew’s a man. Violet was trained to seduce men. It was part of her ‘wifely’

duties. Sleeping with Andrew keeps him in line. She has his ear, and he feeds her the information she wants, so be very careful of what you tell him. She does whatever it takes to further Ed’s career, including f**king anyone he wants her to. Hell, Ed likes to watch. I’ve got tapes, Jacob. He’s just as sick as she is. Whitney programmed her that way and she’s very single-minded. She came here prepared to sleep with me to get her way.”

“But you didn’t.”

Jefferson shuddered. “I’d sooner sleep with a snake. She’d smile at you while she cut your balls off, Jacob. Don’t ever trust her.”

Abrams regarded Jefferson over the rim of his glass. “I don’t trust anyone anymore, James. We live in shifting times.” He put down his glass. “I’m an old man and need my sleep. Think about what I said about that girl in San Francisco. Leave her to Whitney. And as for Violet, let’s see how it goes with Andrew, whether or not he notices anything different about Ed. Whitney swears he’s the same, just more malleable. If Ed passes the test with Andrew, Whitney may want to strike a bargain with Violet and bring those women in. Especially the one he knows is pregnant. I think he’d do just about anything, including making a deal with that she-devil, if it meant getting his hands on the pregnant woman.”

Mack cursed softly under his breath. He was fairly certain the pregnant woman they were referring to was the woman Kane was searching for.

“You know one of the GhostWalkers who turned in evidence against Whitney was the one who impregnated her. He’s searching for her and Griffen is helping him, using all of his sources.”

“You have a line to Griffen. Let them search. As soon as they know where she is, we’ll know and we can snatch her first,” Abrams said. “Use both of them to get what we want. You can always have the bastard killed on a mission later if he gives you any more trouble.”

Jefferson didn’t bother to mention he’d tried it several times already.

Abrams put down his glass and picked up his coat. “I’ve seen Ed Freeman, James.

I don’t think his own father or anyone else will ever be able to tell the difference.”

“Can we trust Violet?”

“We don’t have to. If she tries to destroy Whitney or any of us, Ed will die. It’s that simple. Whitney has a protection built into the program and there is no way Violet is going to let Ed die. She’ll ride him all the way to the presidency.”

“And we’ll control both of them.” Satisfaction purred in Jefferson’s voice.

“A triumph beyond measure,” Abrams agreed.

Violet swiftly pocketed her listening device and rolled under the beams back toward the safety of the groves of trees. Javier had already anticipated her departure and moved before her, sliding into the shadows just parallel to her, escorting her back to where she’d left her car, just to make certain she didn’t backtrack and surprise them.

James Bradley Jefferson cleaned up the glasses, carrying them carefully through to his kitchen, where he washed them thoroughly and put them away. The small recorder he’d secreted in the book was removed and taken with him to his bedroom.

One by one the lights in the house went out until only a single lamp shone in the bedroom.

Mack waited until the moon moved across the sky and the sounds of the night had resumed a loud chorus. The slightest thing could alert a pro, including the sounds of insects. As he descended he made certain his energy was suppressed, that he moved with the night itself, keeping the natural rhythm.

Gideon’s sole job was to protect him, and Mack couldn’t imagine a better backup.

Gideon never missed. Javier waited by the house. “He’s got two cameras in the back.

That’s our best bet, boss,” Javier said. “Both are on five-second sweeps. You should be able to move through the two of them if you watch each lens, and use that weirdass teleportation thing you’ve got. No one will ever know you were in the house.”