Blood or not, Ryker had just met Matt and Jory, and it was a stretch to ask them to put their lives on the line. He cleared his throat. “We can go in and meet you later. You have families at home and shouldn’t take this risk.”
“You are family, dumb-ass,” Matt said, peering out the front window at the raging storm. The helicopter pitched, and he quickly righted it.
Even so, this was dangerous. Ryker turned toward Jory.
Jory held up a hand. “Family is family, and we all go in.”
Ryker nodded, his throat closing. Heath gave him a supportive nudge from his other side. Jesus. “Thank you,” he said into the comms for everybody.
A series of nods acknowledged everything else he hadn’t been able to say.
“What do you know about the Protect group?” Ryker asked.
Matt banked left. “They’re a fundamentalist vigilante group, fully armed and dedicated to eradicating the world of all genetic experimentation. They subsist on donations and I suspect illegal methods like drug running and fraud. They’ve had some training but not anything close to ours.”
“The Protect group isn’t well trained enough to have taken Greg and Zara.” Jory breathed out. “Those guys had to have been former soldiers of the commander, so Dr. Madison has at least a few of them still loyal to her after all these years.”
“Even after we shut down Protect and Madison, we’ll never be out in the open. Just not going to happen,” Matt said. “I know you’re trusting us right now, and we’re doing the same. We have to start somewhere.”
Ryker nodded. “Understood.”
“You’d like the property in Montana,” Matt said, partially turning his head. “Lots of acreage, trees, water, mountains.”
“And security,” Jory added. “Some we invented.”
Ryker pushed back in his seat, trying to focus on the conversation and not the fact that Zara was in his enemy’s hands. “I’m not moving to Montana.”
“We’ll see,” Matt said.
Jory snorted. “Denver and Heath, you guys would like it, too. You’ll see.”
Ryker cut him a look.
Matt twisted a knob and flew incredibly low. “We’re five minutes from landing, and once we’re down, it’s a three-mile hike to the lodge. If I land any closer, they’ll detect us.”
“You’re assuming the Protect group or Madison doesn’t have the technology to track us?” Ryker asked.
“Affirmative,” Matt said. “They have numbers and dedication, but they’re lacking so far in other areas. Greg could give them an edge in that direction, which is another reason he should still be alive.”
The kid had to be alive. Ryker had no option but to trust these men as they began to descend into a snowy clearing in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Dusk disappeared and the night pressed in on them. Matt landed the helicopter and shut it down.
Silence suddenly roared in.
Ryker waited until everyone had exited the craft and inserted top of the line comm devices into their ears. “All right. Head out.” Both Zara and Greg had to be all right. He’d promised to protect them.
Banishing all emotion, he launched into a run.
Chapter
37
Zara struggled against the ropes binding her to a metal chair, but they were tied tight. She was back in the same cinder-block room, and a definite chill pierced the air. The exposed light bulb swung gently back and forth. It was like every torture room she’d ever seen in action movies. A shiver escaped her, and she jerked against the bindings again, wincing as the rope cut into her wrists.
The door opened, and Isobel Madison walked in. She’d donned a thick blue parka and furry brown boots with matching gloves.
“Bitch,” Zara muttered, her bare feet freezing.
A man followed Madison, carrying another chair. Tall and broad, midforties, blue eyes and blond hair. He was fit, and an unreadable gleam filled his eyes. Unlike Isobel, he wore only a thick T-shirt over dark jeans. He shut the door and eyed her. “Pretty,” he said.
Isobel nodded.
The guy unfolded the chair and placed it in the far corner. Madison hopped almost happily over to sit down, primly crossing her legs and drawing a tablet out of her front coat pocket. She tugged off her gloves and shoved them into her coat. “Zara, this is Sheriff Elton Cobb.”
That’s what she’d figured. “This is slightly against the law, Sheriff.”
He lifted a muscled shoulder. “Eh.”
She swallowed and tried to banish the raw terror climbing up her throat. “What do you want?” she asked.
His upper lip twisted. “Oh, so much. But for now, we’re gonna talk. Where’s Ryker?”
“I assume he’s trying to find me right now,” she said evenly. If somehow she could get past Cobb and out the door, how was she going to find Greg? Was his outbuilding close by? It seemed like they’d be built close together. Well, hopefully. “How did you find us, anyway?”
The backhand came out of nowhere and threw her head to the side. Agony exploded in her cheek—again. Tears pricked her eyes and she gasped, turning back around.
“I ask the questions,” Cobb said calmly, his nostrils flaring.