“What the hell, Wyatt?” Delmar demanded.
“Sorry,” Wyatt called back without turning. “Gotta get the women home. You make yourself scarce for a few hours, Delmar. I’ll have someone clean up the mess.” Even as he spoke, Malichai came striding out of the swamp and dumped a body by the side of the canal.
Delmar swore under his breath. “Anyone messin’ with you Fontenot boys had better know you play for keeps.” He closed the door of his bar and followed Wyatt down to the pier. By the time he reached it, Malichai had dumped a second body on top of the first one. Delmar shook his head and watched him disappear back into the swamp.
Zara was busy inspecting the other side of the swamp, straining her eyes to catch a glimpse of Gino. Two bodies had rolled out of the swamp onto the embankment, but there wasn’t a third one, and no Gino.
Wyatt glanced at his watch. “Let’s move, ladies. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Zara couldn’t imagine why they didn’t have time. “Gino isn’t here yet.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Trap drawled. “Worry about the other guy.”
“That doesn’t help.” Cayenne glared at him, then let her gaze travel around to the others. “You all obviously suspect or know something we don’t. I don’t like being in the dark. Did you know these mercenaries were going to attack us tonight?”
“Not a clue,” Trap answered. He stepped onto the boat and tugged until she fell into him. At once his arm swept around her. “Just luck.”
“Where’s Gino?” Zara summoned up the courage to demand. “I’m not leaving here until I know where he is.” She took a step toward the front of the boat where it was tied up to the pier.
Wyatt stepped casually in front of her. He’d already seated Pepper. “Gino’s tracking the last merc back to the airstrip. If he can’t take out Zhu right there, we’ll be following.”
Zara’s breath caught in her throat. “Following? As in following the plane?”
“He’ll get a tracker on it.”
“But you know he’ll head for Shanghai.”
Wyatt shook his head. “We don’t know that for certain. We hope. He has a favorite little place he likes to go to unwind. We think, if he managed to reacquire you, that he planned to take you there. Now that he didn’t, he could go there to let out his frustration.”
“How could you know that?”
“He waited for a couple of months in order to make certain we forgot all about the threat. He thought we’d just buy that he let you go. The time gave us the opportunity to find out more about him. That was his first big mistake. The second was underestimating Gino. We were ready for him.” Wyatt indicated the seat.
Zara tried to stare him down, and then glanced anxiously into the swamp where she knew he was. That sound. The agony in the man’s voice. She knew Gino had caused that. It had given the others the necessary distraction to prevail. Intellectually, she told herself that, but emotionally, she feared Gino had been the one to make that terrible sound.
She sank onto the bench seat and gripped the edge, all the while staring into the swamp. Nonny sat beside and reached over to take her hand. “He’s going to be fine. That man of yours comes alive out there. He’s a hunter. It’s what he does. He’s going to eliminate the threat to you as any man would want to do.”
Zara shook her head, tears blurring her vision as Wyatt started the engine and took the boat into the middle of the canal, heading home. “I don’t want him to,” she whispered. “I really don’t, Nonny. I don’t want him to put himself in danger in order to protect me. He does that enough for everyone else. I just want him to come home. How many times is Zhu really going to hire mercenaries? After a while, he’ll give up.” But she knew he wouldn’t.
“You had to know Gino would hunt him down,” Nonny said.
She nodded because she had known. Before, she’d felt safe with him because he was the kind of man who would hunt down Bolan Zhu, but now that wasn’t at all what she wanted. She wanted him just as safe as he made her feel. She held herself very still, almost rigid, in spite of Nonny’s close proximity and her reassurances.
“So much for our girls’ night out!” Bellisia yelled. She was soaking wet, but as usual, refused to dry off, even though she’d been handed a towel by her husband.
“We always seem to have adventures,” Cayenne agreed.
Pepper nodded and sent them all a shaky smile. Energy created by violence could affect her. Just like the first team: Ryland Miller’s team could get brain bleeds when using violence. Ryland’s team was the first group of psychics Whitney had experimented on. With each group, Whitney got better, freeing the GhostWalkers he enhanced of most of the problems that came with his improvements. Because of Pepper’s brain bleeds around violence, Wyatt was very protective of her whether she was pregnant or not. Zara noticed Cayenne was as well.
The water was dark and choppy as the boat sped toward the Fontenot home. Zara couldn’t help but think, as laughter spilled around her, that everyone had someone, but she was once again alone. This time, she wasn’t thinking of herself, but of Gino, somewhere out there where he could be killed. Alone.
19
Z
ara stood at the window, one hand to her throat, staring out into the night. With the light off in the room, the only illumination was from the moon trying so valiantly to shine through the gathering clouds. Thunder rumbled ominously, and she rubbed her arms in an effort to soothe herself. She didn’t bother to check the tears running down her face. No one was around to see her weakness and she could cry all she wanted.
As soon as they’d returned to the house, a flurry of activity had ensued. The men seemed to be getting ready to take off, presumably to join Gino, wherever he was. Wherever he was going. Chasing Zhu was madness, but no one would listen to her. Zhu was like a wounded animal, lethal and angry, raging at the world around him, but disguised under his handsome features and his civilized clothing.
Rain hit the roof in a long wail. Not soft and light, but a furious pelting, as if the heavens had opened up and the water was pouring over the highest falls. She watched the drops hitting the window, obscuring her view of the thick swamp and the river. What would she do if Gino didn’t return? She touched the glass with her fingertips, a small brush that didn’t remove the heavy wash of raindrops from the other side. It didn’t give her mind any clarity either.
With a sigh, she turned back to the room, looking a little helplessly around her. The women had gone to bed finally and she was alone. In spite of the rain, it was still hot. The fan was going at high speed and not even that seemed to alleviate the relentless heat. It was strange that when Gino was around, the heat felt different. Sultry, yes, but sexy, as if the nights were made for sin and pleasure. Now it was just plain hot.
She paced until she could barely stand the pain in her feet and then she took a long cool soak in the bathtub, hoping she’d just drift off there, but it didn’t happen. She was certain she cried enough to raise the water in the tub an inch, but all she did was give herself a headache to go along with the persistent ache in her feet.
Wrapping herself in a silken robe that felt like heaven against her skin, she gave up and made her way back to the bedroom, where she put her hair up on top of her head to get it off her neck. Tossing the short robe aside, she lay under the fan without a stitch on. She clasped her hands behind her head and stared up at the rotating blades.