"Is Colonel Higgens part of that?"

"Not to my knowledge." She tapped the edge of the seat. "This could be really bad, Arly. Surely Thornton's not that big a fool to sell national secrets." Lily wanted to pass the information to Ryland, but was afraid to distract him. The men were breaching the house, going in from four directions.

Ryland slipped over the porch railing, dropped silently onto the decking, and rolled away from the edge to give Ian room to follow. Dark shadows swarmed around the house, moving in from all directions, silent like the ghosts they called themselves. Blink and they were gone.

Ian moved into position at the door, making such short work of the lock it barely slowed them down. Ryland and Ian went inside nearly simultaneously, one going left, the other right, both at floor level and rolling into position to come up with weapons locked and ready. The entryway was clear. The house was dark, no lights on.

Somewhere outside a dog barked. Ryland felt the brief surge of energy and the animal subsided. He could hear the murmur of voices coming from the room opening to his right. He signaled to Ian and they positioned themselves to cover the entire layout of the room.

They've got a gun to Ranier's head. Do I have a go? I need a go right now. As always there was no tension in Nicolas's voice.

Do you have a clear shot? Ryland demanded.

Take out his aim, Nicolas responded.

You have a go. Ryland fed the energy already pouring into the room, using the power of their minds to twist the gun pointed at General Ranier away from him. When Nico fired the silenced shot, a bullet precisely between the eyes of the man holding Ranier hostage, there would be no chance of the gun going off and killing the general.

Higgens saw the hole blossoming in the middle of his man's forehead. Saw the man drop like a stone directly in front of the general. He whirled around, his gun in his fist, looking for a target. The only safety he had was the general. He pointed his weapon at him. The other two soldiers in the room gaped in shock, moved back to back for protection.

"I know you believe what Colonel Higgens told you," Ryland said softly to the two soldiers. "He's here to murder General Ranier and he's making you accomplices. Put down your weapons and back away. You're in an indefensible position." His voice rode the wave of energy, seemed to come from every direction. His men were feeding the two soldiers the uninterrupted flow of suggestion to obey.

The two men looked at one another almost helplessly and both laid their rifles on the floor and stepped back with their hands up. Immediately the flow of collective telepathy went to influence Colonel Higgens. He was expecting it and he was resistant, fighting for possession of his own actions.

"I'll kill him. Get up, General, we're getting out of here," Higgens stated. His eyes were wild as he looked around but couldn't see the men.

"I'm warning you one last time, Colonel. Nico has you in his sights. He never misses. You know his kill record. There is absolutely no way for you to shoot the general and he is not going to accompany you. Put down your weapon."

"Damn you, Miller, I should have killed you when I had the chance." Higgens snarled his hatred of the captain and turned and ran.

Round him up. Ryland hurried to the general while Ian searched the two soldiers. They were confused and cooperative, sitting on the floor with their backs to the wall and their fingers linked behind their heads.

Ryland helped the general to his feet. "I'm sorry we were late, sir. We didn't get the invitation immediately."

General Ranier staggered to a chair with Ryland's help. He touched his head and his hand came away sticky with blood. "That traitor pistol-whipped me." He sank heavily into the chair, his head down.

Ryland could see he looked old and tired, his face almost gray. Call for the medics. Secure the house and get Lily in here.

A grim-faced Nicolas shoved Colonel Higgens into the room. Nicolas marched him to a chair and thrust him into it. "The house is secure, Captain. We have three civilians down needing a medic. The man in the kitchen is dead. He's military."

"He was my bodyguard," Ranier said heavily. "A good man. I took Delia away and made certain she was safe then came back here so they would come after me. I had a feeling they would try and that she was in danger." He looked at Colonel Higgens. "You killed a good man tonight."

Higgens didn't say a word but his cold dead eyes never left Ryland.

"Sir, we've called the medics, they'll be here shortly. My men are seeing to your people. I'm Captain Ryland Miller." He saluted crisply.

"So you're the man all this fuss is about. Peter used to talk to me about enhancing psychic ability and I finally agreed to his crazy scheme, but I never thought it would really work." He sat back in his chair, rested his head against the leather. "If I'd believed him, I would have paid more attention to what was going on."

Ryland handed him a clean towel to press against his head. "My men and I are absent without leave, sir. We'd like to surrender ourselves into your custody."

"Well, now, Captain, I believe you were expressly given an order to do whatever was necessary to protect your men and our nation's secrets when you were given this assignment. To the best of your knowledge, is that what you've done?"

"Yes, sir, it is."

"Then I don't see any need for anyone to think you were away without leave; you were under orders. And as far as I can tell, your mission was a success."

"Thank you, sir. I do have one man injured." Ryland looked at Higgens. "You can put attempted murder down along with all the other charges to be brought against him."

Lily burst into the room, hurled herself straight at General Ranier. "Look at you! Look at this. Has anyone called an ambulance? Ryland, he should be lying down."

The general hugged her to him. "I'm fine, Lily, don't fuss. He just shook me up a little. I've been trying to put the pieces together ever since we talked."

"It has to be the defense contract. Higgens must have been selling secrets for some time," Lily said, dropping her voice. "This experiment was only a bonus for him. He was willing to sell the information, but he couldn't have had that many men in place so quickly unless he's been up and running for some time. Years, I'm guessing."

"He can't have been alone. He was never involved in the satellite defense program," General Ranier pointed out. "I thought the same thing, Lily. We've had our suspicions that information was being leaked, but Colonel Higgens never was a suspect. His record is impeccable."

"I have a disk my father recorded. He must have left the voice-activated recorder secreted somewhere he was certain the colonel would talk openly. Dad was very suspicious of the colonel. On the disk, you can clearly hear the colonel plotting your death and Delia's using a fire in your home as the means of the "accident" Arly made copies and we have the original to be used for voice comparison."

General Ranier looked across the room at Colonel Higgens. "How long has this been going on?"

"I deny everything. They're making up the entire story in an attempt to cover up their own cowardice and guilt," the colonel replied. "I refuse to address this nonsense without my attorney present."

"I believe General McEntire is involved, sir," Lily said with sorrow, knowing she was crushing Ranier. "I'm sorry, I know he's your friend. But I think he's the ringleader and Higgens works for him. I think Hilton was planted in your office to keep an eye on you and either plant incriminating documents should there be need, or keep anything that was suspicious from reaching you. Such as my father's numerous messages." She looked at Higgens. "McEntire had nothing to do with the experiment. He didn't even know about it at first. You didn't really believe it would work. And then you saw them in action and you realized no one else knew the potential. There was real value and for the first time you were in on the ground floor. You didn't let your boss McEntire in on it at first, did you?"