Street Game by Christine Feehan

Whitney had done and what she’d become thanks to him. She couldn’t lose herself, not when it had taken her so long to build her self-esteem and courage. Mack couldn’t just come back and steal it all away. She wasn’t that same innocent girl.
    When she was with Mack, he overshadowed her. She knew she was intelligent, more so than both Mack and Kane, yet she never felt strong around them. They had a different kind of strength and for some reason, she could never quite feel equal to them. She couldn’t blame Mack for treating her as someone he had to take care of when she didn’t act like a partner, but she had stood on her own and she liked herself. She didn’t want to go back.
    A tingling awareness crept down the back of her neck and she took a breath. “Who do you have watching me, Mack?” There was accusation in her voice.
    Mack glanced at his watch. “It’s Gideon’s shift. In another hour Jacob will take over on the roof. We’ve got a ship coming in around eleven and the boys will be coming off that and securing residences around the neighborhood. We made certain the rooms we wanted were open. You’ve got someone watching you across the way. He’s got to be a GhostWalker, or he’s a damn good terrorist. We didn’t even get close to him. He won’t go back to his room, so we’ve got people going through it. If he left anything behind, we’ll find it.”
    “If he’s that good, there won’t be anything,” she said with a sigh as she swung around and leaned one hip against the windowsill. If Mack was right, her warning system had definitely failed. She shook her head. Everything had been right. Good. And now, in one moment, she was back into something she couldn’t handle. Mack and Kane had turned her life upside down just like they always did.
    Jaimie turned back to the window and stared down at the water, her fingers twisting together, betraying her agitation. “Maybe you’d answer a question for me, Kane.”
    “Does it have to be tonight?” Kane asked easily. “Or rather this morning?”
    Mack sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Both Jaimie and Kane sounded tense in spite of their deliberately casual tones. He knew them both too well. The muscles in his belly knotted uncomfortably.
    Jaimie didn’t turn, but stood unnaturally stiff, hands linked behind her back like a soldier—waiting for bad news. “Now would be a good time.”
    “So shoot.”
    “What do you think the odds are on you and Mack chasing a shipment of explosives halfway around the world and ending up in San Francisco at the wrong warehouse?”
    “Jaimie, I told you.” Mack stood up and padded across the room on silent feet to stand behind her. “Do you think I would lie about this? Lie to you?”
    “Let Kane answer me,” Jaimie suggested quietly. “I think it’s a legitimate question, don’t you, Kane?”
    Mack shook his head. “I took the order from Sergeant Major, not Kane. I made the mistake, didn’t adequately check things out.” Mack hastened to defend Kane. “We were so close to catching them after following the shipment and I didn’t want to delay even a few minutes.”
    “I want Kane to answer my question, Mack,” Jaimie insisted, her voice very low.
    Kane’s sigh was audible. “No, you don’t, honey, you already have your answers and a closed mind.”
    “That isn’t an answer.”
    “What are you accusing Kane of, Jaimie?” Mack demanded.
    Kane ignored Mack and posed his own question. “What are the odds on you training nearly three years, topping everyone in every drill, and freaking out on the first mission?”
    Mack stiffened, instant rage coiling in his gut. “Damn you, Kane, you’re going too far.” He looked from one to the other. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but stop.”
    Jaimie’s fingers curled around Mack’s forearm, silencing him. “No, Mack. I want him to continue.” There was no mistaking the accusation in her voice.
    Mack turned to look at his