Predatory Game

  She moistened her lower lip with her tongue, the only sign of nerves. "Obviously, Jesse, I'm in uncharted territory. If the damaged cells had been usable, physical therapy would have been enough along with the other things Lily and Eric have tried, but the therapy failed. Before I can stimulate new nerves to grow, I'll have to get rid of the damaged ones."

  Jess linked his fingers behind his head. "That makes sense."

  She flashed him a brief, tentative smile. "I'm glad you think so. And I sure hope you're right about Dr. Whitney, because I'm using everything he said in that file. According to him, many areas of the body have their own built-in programs for regrowing themselves if they're damaged. To heal myself, or someone else, in theory, all I really have to do is trigger one of those programs and the body will do the rest."

  "Let's do it then."

  Saber sighed. She'd said "in theory." He had chosen to ignore that part. To trigger the program she needed to send a steady stream of electrical signal to the right place at the right time. The body's own biological regrowth program for that particular area would take over and do the rest. It sure beat trying to micromanage the regrowth process herself--that is, if Whitney was correct in his findings. She could just watch it kick in after she jump-started it.

  "Come on, Saber, let's do this."

  She scowled at him. "You know this isn't quite as easy as you want it to be. For one thing, aside from having never done it, I have to learn all kinds of little details. I have to be careful when healing wounds to apply the electrical current in the right direction. If I blow it, the wound would open up instead of close. This is going to take a little time until I figure out what I'm doing."

  He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. "I'm sorry. I know it's going to work, Saber. If you do this, I'll be able to walk again."

  "Well, don't talk to me anymore. Let me visualize this." Because she was scared now. She'd killed over and over again with the touch of her hand. Now she was going to do something good for a change--if she didn't blow it and do further damage. And she was going to have to follow Dr. Whitney's instructions verbatim. He had written that report for her to read, knowing she would read it and retain every word. He had described in great detail what needed to be done and how to do it. First she had to shrivel up the damaged nerve segment, using a targeted burst of electrical current. Then she needed to grow a new nerve segment to replace it.

  Growth of new nerves--neurogenesis--took a special application of her skill. Like an artist, she would "direct" the electrical field from one point to another--across the gap where the damaged nerve segment used to be--"painting" where she wanted the new nerve pathway to appear. This would set up an electrical field across the space she was visualizing, and nerve cells would start growing in the direction she had "commanded."

  She started tentatively, and found that for growing neural pathways, a pulsed electrical current worked much better than a steady one. With persistence, she could generate an entire nerve segment. It was an amazing feeling. The nerve cells felt like plants sprouting in her mind; she visualized them that way. Some would push out tentative tendrils that would grow around neighboring cells. Others would retract if they touched other cells.

  Once she grew some new nerve cells, she "fired" them repeatedly--just as if Jess were using those nerve cells over and over again, to break them in and to trigger growth of even newer neurons hanging off of them. If she generated more current, it resulted in faster growth of new nerve cells...but she also had to be careful to not overdo it and "fry" the new nerve segment she was creating.

  It was an exhausting business, but she grew more confident as she realized the useless tissue and cells were being replaced by healthy muscle and nerves. She concentrated on the most damaged areas, around the bionics where the electrical signals had been severed, and stimulated the growth in those precise muscles and nerves needed to drive the bionics.

  Growth of new muscle tissue required a little something, she discovered; it was actually easier than regenerating nerves, but required great precision for long periods of time. If she applied just the right amount of electrical current at just the right place on the edge of the healthy muscle tissue, she would trigger a biological program already built into the body, a program for regrowing new muscle tissue to replace old damaged tissue. She just had to keep the level of current steady to keep the body's program running and sit back and "feel" it do the rest of the work. It sure beat having to micromanage all the zillions of muscle cells. She was so exhausted, she wouldn't have been able to continue.

  She pulled her hand away from Jess's legs, aware of the time passage only because she was swaying with weariness. The room had been so silent while she worked, and when she glanced at the monitor, Ryland was watching with his wife.

  Jess lay very still for a long while, so long that Saber's heart began to accelerate. She touched his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

  He glanced at her and then at the monitor. "Yes. I feel fine. Just not any different. While you were working my legs were warm, and I actually felt a couple of zaps, but now I'm not feeling much of anything." He sat up slowly.

  Lily smiled at him. "If you don't see any improvement within twenty-four hours, you should try again. This is amazing, Saber."

  "Only if it worked," Saber said.

  "I'd like to stay and talk, this is really exciting, but I think I'm going to be having a baby here pretty soon."

  "You mean in a few weeks," Jess corrected.

  "I mean in a few hours. If you need anything else, call Eric. I'll be out of touch for a while."

  Ryland stuck his head around Lily, a grin splitting his face from ear to ear. "We're having a baby, Jess!"

  Jess laughed. "I can see that. Good luck to both of you. Let us know everyone's all right the minute it comes into the world."

  "I will," Ryland promised.

  Lily blew a kiss to Jess. "Be happy, you two."

  The monitor went dark and Saber flicked it off. She turned to Jess. "I can't believe she sat there in labor the entire time. I would have been freaking out."

  "I don't think you freak out much, Saber," Jess said, catching her hand and tugging until she was back beside him.

  "What is it?" She pushed back his hair.

  Jess lay back against the pillows, trying to hide his frustration, rubbing his hand over his shadowed jaw to hide his expression when he really wanted to pound his legs with his fist.

  "What?" Saber flashed a slow smile as she shook her head. "Did you think anything we did was going to meet with instant success and you'd miraculously stand up and walk? It even took a tadpole twenty-four hours to grow a new tail, and you, my impatient friend, are a lot larger than a tadpole."

  He scowled at her. "You could be a little more sympathetic."

  "Over what? You being a little kid who wants instant gratification?" She leaned over and kissed his nose. "There. It was all out of joint, but I've made it better."

  "It's not better." He pointed to the left corner of his mouth.

  She rolled her eyes, but leaned closer, her lips feathering across his until she found the corner and pressed briefly. "You're such a baby."

  He pointed to the other side.

  Saber caught his head in her hands and kissed the right corner of his mouth and then settled her lips over his. Teasing. Nibbling. Sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips. She felt her stomach tighten, her womb clench with need. It didn't take more than looking at Jess to want him. Kissing him was incredible. She loved his mouth, hot and sensual and a little ruthless.

  His hand moved to the nape of her neck, holding her still, while his mouth took control of hers. His other hand urged her down on top of him. She straddled him and slid her arms around his neck, pressing close to his chest.

  He kissed her over and over, deepening each kiss, demanding more and more until she felt as if she was melting in his arms. "If I didn't say it before, thank you. And if it doesn't work, thank you for trying. I know you were afraid."
>
  "If I forget to tell you," she whispered against his mouth, "I'm very much in love with you."

  "Then marry me."

  She sat up abruptly. "Not that again. Honestly, Jess, you're relentless when you want something."

  He tugged on a curl. "I can keep you safe from Whitney."

  "Maybe. And maybe you'll get me pregnant and we'll have to go underground like Lily. She's leaving her home in order to keep her child safe."

  He shrugged. "We can go up into the mountains near Jack and Ken. They have a fortress up there. It's all good, Saber, as long as we're together."

  She moved from his lap. "Come on, dragon king, let's go eat. I haven't had food yet and I've got to go to work." She needed something after expending all that energy.

  He slid his body from the futon to his chair. His right calf jerked. He caught his leg and positioned it. "I'll cook tonight. You can explain why you don't think moving to the mountains would be a good idea."

  "Your parents, for one thing, Jesse. And Patsy. After you moved here, Patsy followed you and then your parents bought a house as well. You told me that yourself. You just can't leave them."

  He laughed at her. "You're really grasping at straws, aren't you?"

  "Why marriage?"

  "Because I believe in it. My parents have been married for over thirty-four years. They're still very much in love. I don't think the real thing comes along all that often, so I'm grabbing it and hanging on."

  "How can you be so sure that it's not pheromones?"

  He caught her hand again, tugging until she was beside him. "Sex with you is fantastic, no doubt about it, better than anything I ever imagined." His grin turned wicked. "And I can imagine a lot. But the truth is..." His smile faded and he brought her onto his lap, his arms enfolding her close, sheltering her against his heart. "I'm so in love with you I can't think straight. One has little to do with the other. I wouldn't feel like this if it was all pheromones."

  She bit her lip. "You thought you loved Chaleen enough to ask her to marry you."

  "She was pretending to be someone she wasn't. I thought she liked all the same things I did, and I didn't know what real love was. I mistook a sexual attraction for the real thing. I think I knew all along, but I didn't want to know because a home and family meant so much to me. You're the real thing."

  "What if you're wrong?" she persisted, turning her face up to his. "You could be wrong."

  He slid his hand around the nape of her neck, the pad of his thumb caressing her face. "I'm not, Saber."

  She shook her head. She was tired already and she had a show to do. "I've got work tonight. Do you think we could talk about this later? I'm starving."

  "Fortunately for you, I called and had dinner delivered earlier. I just have to heat it up."

  "You cheat," she accused, sinking into a chair. Her hand was shaky as she pushed it through her hair. "That was more difficult than I imagined." She had to hide the effects of the psychic drain from him or he'd insist she stay home, and she needed a little time to put everything in perspective. But she was exhausted.

  "It makes sense, you're using energy to direct an electrical current. And you worked for over an hour and a half."

  "I didn't notice the time passing," she admitted. "Whitney's file was actually more helpful than I would like to admit. Everything he speculated and how to do it was dead on." She hadn't deviated at all from the instructions, too afraid of doing harm.

  He put a plate in front of her and turned back to get his own. "You said you read the second file, on your target. Senator Ed Freeman was your target, right?" He looked back at her when she didn't answer.

  Saber's gaze slid away from his. "I don't like talking about what went on before I came here. I'm trying to be someone else and forget all of that happened. Maybe, just maybe if I could help you, I wouldn't feel like the villainess of the world all the time. And maybe your friends wouldn't look at me like they expected me to fry them with my gaze."

  Jess put his plate on the table and rolled his chair beneath it. His legs were twitching, both of them, tiny sparks of pain zapping him. He didn't dare mention it, not when she was so certain she could harm him. "You're too sensitive. No one looks at you like that except you. What happened to you made you who you are, the woman I'm in love with, Saber. And we need to figure out who is trying to kill the GhostWalkers."

  "Whitney is a good start."

  "Maybe. Possibly. But then maybe it's someone else and Senator Freeman was involved in espionage." The pins and needles were painful and his muscles cramped and spasmed.

  She shrugged. "Whitney thought so. Freeman's father was friends with Whitney but apparently they had a falling out over Whitney documenting the senator's involvement with a General McEntire, who was part of an espionage ring. I saw the evidence and it was pretty damning. The senator looked a legitimate target to me, but then evidence can be falsified fairly easily."

  "I don't think Whitney made anything up, Saber. Freeman set up two GhostWalkers for capture and torture in the Congo. He's part of a ring trying to destroy us, although it doesn't make sense because he's married to one of us."

  "Violet. I read about her," Saber said. "Whitney wants her dead too."

  "He would if they were selling secrets to foreign countries, especially now with all the terrorist attacks. And I can't blame him. Freeman was about to be named as a vice presidential candidate. Can you imagine what he'd have access to?"

  Jess's legs were jumping. Beneath the table he pressed his hands down hard on his knees in an attempt to control the involuntary spasms. Pins and needles were like hot pokers stabbing into his flesh. He broke out in a sweat. He had meant to have her stay home from work, but he didn't want her to see him like this.

  Deliberately he glanced at his watch. "Have I made you late?"

  She grabbed his arm and turned his wrist over. "Oh no. I've got to go. Brian's going to be pulling out his hair. I'm sorry about the dishes. You heated up the food, I should clean up. Just leave them for when I get home."

  She rushed around the table, dropped a quick kiss on his head, and catching up her purse, paused at the door. "If you need me tonight, you call me, Jess."

  "I'll be all right." She had to leave fast or she was going to notice he was in trouble.

  "Your friends will be hanging out tonight, right? Watching over you?"

  The anxiety in her voice turned his heart over. "Yes. Now go, Saber. I'll be listening."

  She smiled at him and hurried out the kitchen door to the garage.

  Jess put his head down on the table and prepared himself for a long night.

  CHAPTER 18

  "Hey!" Brian frowned as he strode across the floor, reached for Saber's chin, and lifted it so he could inspect her face before she could jerk free. "What happened to your face? Who hit you?"

  Saber touched her cheek. "I forgot about that. It looks worse than it is, Brian. Some...people attacked Patsy, and Jess and I happened along and there was a bit of a fight."

  Brian's eyebrow shot up. "You got in a fight? And the boss? Is he all right? Who would fight someone in a wheelchair? And who would attack Patsy? She's the sweetest woman in the world. Is she all right?"

  Saber laughed and sank into a chair. "Do you have any more questions?"

  "A dozen or so." Brian gave her a reluctant answering smile. "But tell me if Patsy's all right."

  "Yes. She's in the hospital. She had a heart attack."

  Brian's color paled. "A heart attack? But, she's too young."

  "I think she had a heart problem and with the assault on her, her heart couldn't take it and reacted. She's in the hospital and she's better."

  His boyish good looks suddenly hardened, and for one brief second he looked scary. "Who attacked her?"

  Saber shrugged, trying to appear casual. "I have no idea who they were." Usually she liked the radio station at night, sitting in the booth, talking to unseen listeners, but she was so tired and so many things had gone so wrong, that maybe i
t wasn't such a good idea to come in to work. Now she was looking at Brian as if he were a suspect. "Do you know Patsy very well? I didn't think she came to the station that much."

  "Actually Jess interviewed me for the job at his home, not here at the station, and Patsy was there. I was new in town and she had coffee with me a couple of times. Not like a date or anything, she was just being nice to me. But I like her."

  Saber grinned at him.

  Brian raked a hand through his hair. "Not like that. Don't start. And at least tell me if Calhoun is all right. He must have been really upset over his sister being attacked."

  Saber settled into her familiar chair. "Yeah, you could say he was upset. He's pretty amazing for being in a wheelchair. I was impressed." She tapped the mike, a habit she couldn't break, her restless fingers moving everything around within reach. "It feels good to be back."

  "That nutcase that keeps calling you," Brian said, "I've been listening to the tapes over and over and he's distorting his voice, not a lot, but enough that I'm beginning to think that it's someone you know. And some of the calls were prerecorded."

  Saber's head snapped up. "What do you mean, prerecorded?"

  "I don't think he's there. I think..." He broke off abruptly and shook his head.

  "Oh no, you don't. You can't just stop there. This whack job records his distorted voice on tape and then calls the station and uses the recording?" That made no sense at all.

  "I think he arranges for the phone to call in automatically, like the telemarketers, and when the phone on our end answers, the recording kicks on."

  "Why would he do that?"

  "You tell me."

  Frustrated, Saber glared at him. "You're driving me crazy. Men are crazy. Whoever said they were the logical sex? You've obviously been thinking about this and you must have a theory."

  "I'm not stupid enough to tell it to you, because it's so farfetched. Figure it out yourself and tell me what you come up with." He glanced at the clock. "You're on in five."

  Brian had jinxed her for the entire night. She just couldn't get into her normal rhythm. It wasn't a bad show, but she didn't shine, that was for sure. Why would someone use a device to make a call demanding to talk to her? What if she'd agreed to talk to him? What if he'd gotten past Brian? So the object of the phone call hadn't really been to talk to her at all.