“I know.” Heath released him.
Ryker slowly turned around to see Denver helping Grams up. She was pale but steady. “Zara jumped out the window,” she whispered.
“Yeah.” Ryker would never forget the sight of her leaping into the storm. He’d run upstairs the second they’d heard a helicopter. Make that two of them.
“Fucking brave,” Denver said quietly, his eyes beyond tortured. He scouted the west windows and kicked glass out of the way.
Ryker clenched his hands into fists. “How did they find us?”
“Don’t know.” Heath moved to help Grams to a chair not covered with glass. “My guess is they followed our trap but just watched us before striking.” He scrubbed his face. “Until now, of course. The dings from the safe house must have been a diversion so they could grab Greg.”
Heat rushed through Ryker. “We’ll get him back. Them back.” He said the words as a vow, trying to banish the raw terror eating at his heart. His gaze caught on Grams’s desperate eyes, and it was like being kicked in the chest. “I promise,” he vowed. No way would he let that sweet elderly lady down—no matter what he had to do or become.
Denver stood now by the door, his body alert and no doubt tuned into any more surprises from downstairs. “I’ll get on the computer right now and try to track the helicopters by satellite. We find the lost, Ryker. It’s what we do, and we’ll find them.” His tone was low and determined with a new hardness—a deadly edge.
Ryker nodded. Zara and Greg were now beyond lost. “Heath?”
Heath nodded. “Good idea. Try to track the trap we set on safe house three to see how Dr. Madison traced us.” He paused. “I guess I shouldn’t assume Madison is the one who has Greg and Zara?”
“It has to be her,” Ryker said, his gaze going back to the snow blowing through the broken windows. He spied Zara’s purse by the door with the contents all spilled out. He charged over and lifted it up, quickly rifling through everything.
“What?” Denver asked.
“Her cell phone isn’t here.” He turned and looked at the window.
Grams coughed. “She said ‘phone.’ Before she jumped, she pushed something down her nightgown and said ‘phone’ to me.”
“We can GPS track it,” Heath hissed.
“Yes,” Ryker said. Smart woman. “She would’ve known. If she shoved it in her nightgown, she might’ve thought it was the only way to track Greg.” Though it had been fucking crazy.
Heath’s eyes lit with determination. “They’ll search her pockets.”
Hopefully it didn’t just fall out in the helicopter. Ryker looked again at the gaping window, somehow wishing to get one more look at her.
“I’m on it.” Denver turned and ran for the stairs.
Ryker hurried over and assisted Grams up. “How about I get you to one of the other apartments that have windows keeping the storm out? You need to rest after that fight.”
Grams shook her head. “I want to help.” Her voice shook as much as her hands.
Ryker took her gently by the arms, failure making his hands shake too. “I promise I’ll get your granddaughter back, and when she gets here, she’ll kick my butt for not taking care of you. Please go rest, and then we’ll figure out what to do.”
Grams nodded and headed toward her bedroom. Ryker waited until she’d shut the door. “We have image and GPS satellite tracking going. Something will break,” he said.
Heath frowned. “How are you so calm?”
It was taking everything Ryker had not to rip his apartment apart even more than it already was. “I’m not calm, not really.” Heat seared him from within, turning quickly to ice. “If I give in to the panic or the rage, then I can’t think. Right now I have to think, and so do you. We have to be smarter than they are, and we have to believe we’ll get Zara and Greg home. Any other reality is unacceptable.”
“This isn’t your fault,” Heath said.
At the words, Ryker’s breath heated. Fury clenched his hands. He turned and punched the wall as hard as he could. Then again.
Heath grabbed him from behind and yanked him away, struggling hard until Ryker subsided. “There it is. Okay. You let it out, and now you’re okay. Now you’re in control, and now you can think.” His voice remained low and soothing.
Ryker breathed out several times, and his vision cleared. He relaxed, and Heath released him. “Shit. I lost it.”
“It’s okay to freak out a little.” Heath frowned at the battered wall. “Again, not your fault.”
“Yeah, it is. Zara and Greg are mine to protect.”
Heath leveled him with a look. “They’re family, which means they’re ours to protect.”
Ryker nodded, his throat closing. God, they had to be all right. “We have to find them.”
Chapter
34