Christine Feehan - Conspiracy Game

He glanced at Ken. Why the hell does a woman complete a family?

Ken shrugged and exchanged a small smile with him. I don’t know, but let’s keep her. She’s mellowed you out, and I didn’t think that was possible.

I’ve always been mellow.

Ken snorted aloud, drawing Briony’s attention. He reached past her head and opened the door of the restaurant. “My brother is living a life of total illusion. He thinks he’s mellow.”

“He does?” Briony’s eyebrow shot up as she tilted her head to look up at Jack. “You do?”

“We want that table,” Ken indicated a table near the exit door, up against the wall facing the front.

“We have a nicer table over here,” the hostess said, “in the section that’s open.” She stared at the scars on Ken’s face and neck and glanced briefly at Jack, then quickly averted her eyes.

Briony took a step to place herself between Ken and the hostess, bristling with indignation that the woman would stare with such naked horror at Ken’s wounds. Jack’s fingers settled around her arm-gently, but firmly-preventing her from moving out from between them.

“That table,” Ken said with another engaging smile, stepping in front of Jack, who didn’t move, didn’t speak, but suddenly appeared menacing.

The hostess took the bill Ken slipped her and led them to the table without further complaint. Ken waited until they were seated and had water and fresh baked bread before he pinned his brother with a steely gaze. “There’s no need to intimidate anyone, Jack. You be nice.”

“You have to bribe them to get your way,” Jack pointed out. “I’m never out any money.”

Ken shook his head. “Cretin.”

Briony rolled her eyes. “Are you two like this all the time?”

“Yes,” Ken confirmed. “I’m trying to integrate him into society, but he’s resistant. Without me, Jack would be some old mountain man with a bad attitude, chasing people around with his bowie knife.”

“I don’t much care for society-and I’d use a gun.”

“Were you always in the military-I mean, before Whitney?” Briony asked.

“Went in as soon as we were old enough,” Ken replied. “It got us off the streets and we had a knack for it. Pain didn’t mean much to either of us, and we’re both right at home behind a weapon.”

“How did Whitney find you?”

Ken sprawled his legs out under the table, forcing Jack to turn sideways. Both watched the doors and windows and people, rather than looking directly at Briony. “We’ve always been telepathic; used it to communicate when we were kids. In fact, we were pretty damned strong and had never met anyone else like us. We trained in the SEALs program and served a few years, then we were asked to take a test for psychic abilities.” He flashed her a brief grin. “We scored very high, and Whitney was drooling over us.”

“ Both of you scored high?” She flashed a small, teasing grin at Jack.

“I’m sure my score was higher,” Ken said, breaking off a piece of bread and slathering butter on it.

“Do both of you have the same abilities?”

“Yep, right down to being anchors. And we seem to be enhanced the same as well,” Ken added.

“So if he’s so interested in getting a baby out of Jack, why isn’t he pushing a woman on you, Ken?”

“That’s a good question,” Jack said. “Why didn’t we ask that question, Ken? Why is it that Whitney went to all the trouble and expense of maneuvering Briony and I into the same place to see what would happen, but not you and whoever he’s matched you up with.”

“Maybe there is no match,” Ken said. And I’m not certain how I feel about that. I should be elated that he hasn’t messed with me to that extent, but hell, I wouldn’t mind a woman of my own, not after seeing you with Briony.

The wistfulness in his brother’s voice had Jack’s gaze jumping to his face. Ken couldn’t stop the brief flow of information, the fear that his appearance would stop any woman from wanting to be near him. Ken looked away quickly and stuffed another piece of bread in his mouth.

“Or maybe he already has her,” Briony ventured. “I’m betting that Luther was my secondary match and that’s why he was really upset that I was pregnant. The thought that someone other than an enhanced soldier had taken his place was too much for him. He was really angry. I think Whitney had nearly given up on getting us together.”

“And he was counting on the fact that I’d walk if he did manage it,” Jack added.

“I don’t like that idea, that some woman could still be held prisoner by Whitney,” Ken said. “Jack, let’s get ahold of Lily and her team and find out how much they know. If they have an idea where he is, we can do a little recon.”

“The problem that we’re facing, Ken, is that we don’t know who we can trust. Whitney always had contacts. Hell, he knew the president. If he’s alive and pulling all the strings in this experiment, he isn’t alone. We don’t know who’s behind any of this. Whitney may have the know-how and the money, but he’s in solid with someone directing all this.”

Briony cleared her throat. “If Whitney really has contacts in the military, and there is some huge conspiracy going on, if they thought I was with you, wouldn’t they send you out on a mission so I had nowhere to go?”

The twins exchanged a long look.

“Oh God.” Her hand went to her throat. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Jack pulled her hand to his heart. “We were contacted late last week, but we’re on leave. We were both injured and neither of us has a doc’s okay to return to service, not that that ever stopped us before, but we said no.” I said no because Ken needs far more recup time. Jack made sure his barriers were up against his twin to keep him from that private contact. “Both of us intend to extend our time with personal leave as well.”

“They can’t make you go back?”

“I think they counted on us never turning them down. We never have. And they figured the target would be too personal for us to resist. They want General Ekabela taken out,” Jack said. “My guess is, the man knows too much and they need him dead.”

“In other words,” Ken added, “he isn’t useful to Whitney anymore.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jack raised her knuckles to his lips. “You were a bit upset, Briony, and you needed sleep last night, and in any case, we didn’t think about why they would send us into the field, we go all the time.” He shrugged. “I thought they offered it to us because of what Ekabela had done to us.”

“But that means they know I’m with you. How would they know?” She nearly jumped out of her skin as the waiter approached.

Jack laid his hand on her arm. Gently. Just touching her. Warmth flowed into her mind, and almost at once she felt calmer, more able to breathe away fear. “Not necessarily. They may have wanted to make certain we were out of the country in case you did try to contact me.”

“It makes sense,” Ken added.

As the waiter hovered, Jack glanced up, eyes suddenly going from warm gray to ice steel. Briony buried her face in her menu to hide her expression.

The waiter cleared his throat. “Are you ready to order, ma’am?”

Jack drew out the paper on nutrition and began to study the menu, comparing items with the paper. “The chicken pasta looks good, Briony,” he ventured. “And the vegetable salad.”

Ken nudged her foot under the table and flashed a quick grin from behind his menu, winking at her.

“Yes, it does, Jack. I think I’ll have that.” Briony gave the waiter her menu and smiled at Jack.

“And she’ll have a glass of milk as well,” he added.