“You’re not just a GhostWalker, Diego,” Ezekiel said. “You’re family.”
That hit him hard. Zeke had always treated Rubin and him as family. Sometimes, most times, that wasn’t a good thing. Ezekiel was exacting about everything. Education. Training. Code of honor. He backed up his edicts with his fists. If you didn’t want a lesson in hand-to-hand combat or street fighting, you toed the line.
“Leila has a daughter, Grace. And a sister, Bridget. Even if they release Leila to us, we’re still going to have to fight for the baby. If Luther hasn’t managed to get Bridget back, she’s most likely with Whitney. So it won’t end with keeping Leila and getting Grace.” Diego gave the warning.
Who is this man? Are you safe?
Ezekiel lifted his head, his peculiar-colored eyes giving Diego his penetrating stare. It was never easy to take the man’s intense look. Diego always had the feeling he could see right through a man. In his case, he had a lot to hide.
He’s family. Big brother, adopted, so to speak. Don’t get out of bed and crawl out here with a gun. Ezekiel is most likely not alone.
Ezekiel wouldn’t be happy that he wasn’t being given important information, such as Diego being capable of psychic surgery. Diego had no intention of living his life the way his brother had to live—with guards around him nearly all the time. If Diego was being strictly honest, he was responsible for the intensity with which the other members of their unit watched over Rubin. Diego had used his voice to influence them every chance he got.
“Do you think that matters, Diego? I’ve got your back. The boys have your back. The rest of the team does. If I’m not mistaken, the other GhostWalker teams will say the same thing. We’ve allreached the point, between Whitney sending his soldiers to test us and trying to take our women and children from us, as well as our enemies in the White House, that everyone is fed up. We’ve established fortresses and escape routes. We have private satellites and our own helicopters and planes. We have more weapons than we know what to do with. Mostly, we have the ability to disappear. The faction in the government wanting us dead believes we’re too big of a threat to them—and we are. We just haven’t shown we’re willing to fight back.”
Diego thought about Ezekiel’s assessment of the situation. The GhostWalkers would stand together, but the circumstances were explosive any way one looked at it.
I don’t feel anyone else in the house.
Leila was being extra careful not to allow Rubin to hear the communication between her and Diego. He found having her make that effort felt all the more intimate between them.
Someone else is here, more than likely two more.Diego hadn’t bothered to search for Ezekiel’s two birth brothers, but if Ezekiel had felt it necessary to come to Diego’s aid, his younger brothers would as well. They were tight-knit.
“Rubin believes we should try a diplomatic approach,” he ventured aloud to Ezekiel.
Ezekiel shrugged. “There’s always that. I’m sure when Joe hears what’s going on, he’ll want to pursue that avenue.”
As usual, it was impossible to read Ezekiel’s expressionless mask or his lack of tone. Diego could never tell if Zeke agreed with Joe or not. He rarely went against him; only Trap, their resident genius, on-the-spectrum billionaire—and he was probably certifiable—clashed on a regular basis with Joe. And everyone else if he bothered to speak at all. Which, most of the time, he didn’t. Trap was more like a mad scientist, but he always got the job done. Always.
“I just think it’s about time we assert ourselves,” Rubin said. “I’ve had a few conversations with Joe. He’s of the same mind.”
“I thought the idea was to fly under the radar,” Diego said.
“As if the massacre that took place on this mountain wouldn’t be noticed,” Rubin said, an edge to his voice. “You risked your life, Diego, and you had no business doing it.” The floor trembled, and for a moment, the walls seemed to expand and contract.
Ezekiel turned his cool, penetrating gaze first on Rubin and then on Diego with far too much speculation. “Seems to me, Rubin, you’re a bit upset at Diego. At first glance, it doesn’t make sense, not when he was defending his woman. You have a closer call than it appears, Diego? You hurt and haven’t said anything?”
A direct question from Ezekiel. He was family. He’d saved their lives numerous times. Diego felt intensely loyal to Ezekiel, but more than that, he respected him. Just the fact that he asked Diego, not Rubin, made Diego admire him all the more. He wasn’t putting Rubin in the position of having to choose between snitching on Diego or lying to Ezekiel.
“Had a couple of minor wounds, but nothing I couldn’t handle,” Diego said.
The floor trembled again, and the walls contracted. He was pissing off Rubin again. He knew his brother’s anger wasn’t about the couple of near misses. It was the fact that he’d risked his life when he had such a rare and valuable gift. Diego had always insisted Rubin be guarded, to the point that Rubin rebelled. All that time, Diego had known he was capable of psychic surgery, but he hadn’t volunteered the information, and worse, he’d put himself in dangerous situations time after time.
He has the right to be angry with you, Diego, Leila said. The feel of her was gentle in his mind. Not accusing, simply pointing out that he hadn’t been fair to his brother.
I’m aware. Rubin deserved better.He couldn’t bring his mind to believe the things his brother had said to him. No matter how long he contemplated Rubin’s declaration, his mind rejected every word.
“You have something you need to tell me, Diego?” Ezekiel didn’t take those amber-colored eyes from Diego’s face.
Rubin’s voice always got lower, softer, when he was at his most lethal. Ezekiel’s soft voice developed a low growl in it. That alone could shake a grown man.
He can reduce me to a fourteen-year-old, he explained to Leila.That voice and that stare of his used to not only keep us safe from outsiders trying to mess with us, but it heralded a beatdown because we’d screwed up.
Diego had a sense of humor about it. He was grown. A lethal predator, and yet there he was, with his two older brothers trying to reduce him to a kid again—and succeeding.
Actually, you haven’t caved, Diego. They might be attempting to intimidate you into revealing things you would rather not, but they haven’t succeeded.
Ezekiel didn’t let up for a moment. Those strangely colored eyes never left Diego’s.
