don't go too far. he's a smart man. ryland's voice brushed at the walls of her mind, but he sounded far away.

lily tossed the cloud of dark hair over her shoulder. not that smart. he had my father killed and he's using the same moron to come after me.

damn it, lily, don't push him too hard, it's dangerous. ryland was adamant.

"you want miller?" higgens asked.

hilton, finally managing to straighten, tossed the last of the pens to the floor and took a step toward lily. he stopped abruptly when higgens held up his hand in a silent order, but he never took his vengeful gaze from her face.

lily ignored him. "if miller killed my father, then, yes, i want him. you track him down and kill him. show me his body and i'll give you the process. otherwise, go ahead and kill me. you'll never figure it out on your own."

there was a small silence as the colonel thought it over. "you're a bloodthirsty woman, aren't you? i would never have guessed. you're always as cool as ice."

"he killed my father," she pointed out. "do you know where miller is?"

"not yet, but he can't just disappear. i have men looking for him, we'll get him. what did ranier say?"

"general ranier? what does he have to do with anything?"

"you spent a great deal of time with him," colonel higgens said, his eyes narrowed into tiny slits.

lily felt an instant chill down her spine. she could feel the waves of malice pouring off of higgens. the intent of violence. she forced a casual shrug, knowing she held the general's life in her hands. "he was concerned about me. delia wanted me to go stay with them after my father's disappearance. she hasn't been well and the general wanted me to consider the idea for her benefit as well as my own."

"did he mention miller?"

"i did." lily took a chance. "i was hoping miller had contacted him but the general didn't know anything at all that was helpful. i dropped the entire conversation because i didn't want him to become suspicious. we talked about delia after that."

"i think for your safety, dr. whitney, you're going to have to be placed in protective custody. i think miller is a real threat to you."

"my house is safe enough."

"nobody's safe from miller. he's a damned ghost. a chameleon. he could be in the same room with us in plain sight and we wouldn't know it. it's what he was trained for. no, you're much safer with us." the colonel nodded at hilton.

hilton caught lily's hands and yanked them out in front of her, snapping handcuffs tightly around her wrists. on the pretense of checking to see if they were on solidly he jerked her wrists back and forth maliciously.

"that's enough, hilton. let's get out of here." lily slid off the desk, testing her bad leg. she could limp, dragging her leg along, but it would never hold up if she had to run. with a sigh of resignation, she fell into line behind hilton. somewhere outside, the ghostwalkers were waiting. she hoped they were all the colonel said they were. chameleons. lying in wait to ambush her kidnappers.