Free Ghostwalker 09 - Ruthless Game by authors_sort

nephew to kil him. I’m sorry we couldn’t save him, Rose, but we had no time, and we had to get the five-year-old to safety.”
    “I know. It’s just hard to think of his mother waiting for him to come home, knowing those horrible monsters took him from her for no reason other than their own amusement.”
    Kane didn’t know how to comfort her, so instead, he took her hand and set a much slower pace, catering to her short legs and lack of physical fitness.
    The terrain changed from pure sand to patches of saw grass. A few hearty flowers tried to grow among the thick stalks. Rocks formed a rough terrace along several of the rol ing hil s of dirt and sand. This was barren country, without the natural beauty of the desert. The land was so stark, he couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to build a home in the middle of such a wasteland—unless they were in hiding.
    “Who exactly was this man you befriended? To come out here, he must have a lot of enemies.”
    She didn’t look up at him, but he caught her smile. “He was in his eighties, and let’s just say he lived a very ful life opposing the government. He lost his children and his siblings to the fight and eventual y his wife.”
    Kane closed his eyes for a brief moment, trying to hold on to his sanity. “You befriended a rebel wanted by the government.”
    “Wel , yes,” she confirmed. “He was very adept at hiding his presence. I was on the run, he was on the run, it was sort of natural. And he needed help.”
    She didn’t know it, but she damn wel needed Kane. She didn’t have any sense in her pretty head. None.
    “You do realize even a man in his eighties could kil you, Rose, if he thought you were a threat to him, especial y one who spent an entire life kil ing those he perceived as enemies.”
    She walked in silence beside him, choosing not to see his logic or answer his charge. He scowled down at the top of her head. She was so headstrong she just blazed a path straight to trouble. He was going to have to put a stop to it, that was al . She definitely needed looking after, whether she thought so or not. Satisfied that he wasn’t just being selfish, he walked up the sloping hil , noting the vegetation was thicker in the area than most of the surrounding dirt and sand.
    “You’re about to walk right up the roof.”
    He halted abruptly. “You’re kidding.”
    She looked pleased—and a little smug. “Yes, it’s right there. Take a look around. The place is amazing. To get here, you have to know the GPS
    location. He was always careful to come in different ways and leave no tracks. There is a dune buggy, and he dragged a carpet behind it to cover the tire marks in the dirt and sand. That was how he would get his supplies. He has a truck parked in a garage in the vil age right on the edge of the desert. He drove the buggy across the sand and left it in the garage when he shopped with the truck.”
    “Clever. And no one ever betrayed him?”
    “According to him, everyone who knew about his desert retreat is dead.”
    “Just who is this saintly man?”
    “His name was Diego Jimenez.”
    Kane felt something inside him go stil . “And he just happened to tel you about the place?” Diego Jimenez led a shadowy group of rebels determined to overthrow the previous government. They did so by bombing oil and natural gas lines. They had a reputation for kil ing locals who didn’t agree with their policies. Jimenez had lived by the sword, betraying everything humanity stood for. He had an extensive family, and Kane doubted that they were al dead.
    He was evil, pure and simple, and Rose couldn’t see beyond a dying old man. Leopards didn’t change their spots, and snakes were snakes.
    He took a careful look around, using night vision. The night seemed stil , but what had been a place of refuge suddenly felt hostile.
    “I know what you’re thinking, but I took care of him until he died. He gave me the location and the keys. He knew I needed a place to