Matt blinked once, a dark flush crossing his high cheekbones. “Seeing us all—does it bring any memories back about Jory?”
“No.” But something lingered at the base of Shane’s consciousness. “The memories are so close—right there waiting for me.” He examined each of his brothers in turn. They were risking their lives to save the woman he loved, and he lacked the words of gratitude. Emotion clogged this throat. The right words probably didn’t exist.
“You’re welcome,” Nate said, his gray eyes swirling with emotion. “Come in and suit up—let’s go get your wife.”
Chapter 30
“I don’t understand.” Josie wrenched her wrists against the handcuffs that held her attached to the grab bar above the door of the large SUV. Pain cascaded up her arm. From the backseat, she glared at Tom’s head as he drove through after-work traffic. “I thought you wanted Shane to trace the call.”
Dr. Madison sighed from the front passenger seat. “How in the world did my Shane fall for such a ditz?” Reaching out red-manicured nails, she ran her hand down Tom’s arm. “You always had better taste now, didn’t you, Tommy?”
He nodded. “Sure. Though I wanted to stay and wait for good old Shane.”
“No.” Madison settled back into her seat and crossed her legs. “We need you to protect us for now. The commander will capture Shane and whatever brother is with him. Then don’t worry. We’ll let you in the training ring with him.”
“I can’t wait.” Satisfaction oozed in Tom’s deep voice.
Fury swirled through Josie. “He’ll kick your ass.”
Tom’s brown eyes flashed to the rearview mirror. “Not a chance. Believe me, once he understands what I’ve done to you, anger will make him easy to beat.” Tom shook his head. “You’re a weakness, Josie. A big one.”
Damn it, she was his weakness. Nathan had been correct. Josie was going to get Shane killed. She tugged again on her wrists. The metal cut deeper into her skin, and she fought a whimper at the pain. Anger brought sharp focus to her eyesight. A blaring of a horn made her jump. Fear shoved the anger away. Her lungs wanted to seize up. “Where are we going?”
Madison smoothed her pencil skirt down. “To a safe place until Shane is contained. Then we’re going home. Thank God.”
“God?” Josie gasped. No way did the psychotic bitch believe in God. “Where might home be?”
Madison twisted in her seat to flash a tight smile. “Back East. Not the facility where dear Shane grew up, but similar. State of the art, in fact.”
The woman had more than one screw loose. “You honestly think you’ll be able to capture Shane, and he’ll go back to work for you? That he’ll be an ultimate soldier doing your dirty work?” Dr. Madison really didn’t know Shane.
The smile widened. “Of course. Now that we have you, Shane will do anything I want. And those brothers of his will follow suit.” She sniffed. “They’ve had an almost unnatural loyalty to each other since birth.” Her exhale scented the car with mint. “I wonder if it’s something we did with the genetic engineering.”
Josie shook her head, trying to ignore the pounding ache in her shoulder blades from her odd position. “More likely a survival instinct. To survive their childhood and being raised by a complete nut job like you.”
“Interesting theory.” Madison pursed her lips, lines in her forehead creasing as she frowned. “Though the commander held death over their heads. I just studied them. Put them through their tests and so on.” She turned around, her gaze wandering over Josie’s face. “So who’s with Shane? There must be one of the brothers close by. Close enough to call for help.”
Just Matt. Nathan had headed out to a new assignment. Could Matt and Shane take the commander and his soldiers? Josie raised an eyebrow. “Shane doesn’t need backup, and you know it. What kind of trap do you think will work, anyway?” There had to be some way to get a message to her husband. To warn him.
Tom switched lanes, allowing a hot yellow Ferrari to pass him on the left. “Let’s just say the trap involves nerve gas that would knock out a stegosaurus. Before your boy knows it, he’ll be at the new facility working to draw his brothers back in.”
What kind of gas? Shane had just recovered from a concussion and surgery—and he didn’t even have his entire memory back. Josie had to get out of there and warn him. How did people get out of handcuffs, anyway? The more she tugged, the harder the cold metal dug into her wrists. They were already raw. Blood oozed to coat the metal. Bile swirled up her throat, and she swallowed the horrid taste back down.
Tom signaled and took the off-ramp toward Miller’s Strip.