Greg shook his head. “I just want her location, and I’ll go. She’s none of your business.” A thread of vulnerability wound through his tone.
“Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” Ryker said. There had to be a way to get through to this desperate child. “You’re not going anywhere, so you might as well work with us.”
The kid’s shoulders rolled, and he drew out a small box from his right pocket. “I brought insurance.”
Ah hell. Ryker squinted, horror spiking through him. “What the fuck?”
The kid turned the box around, and a green light flickered. “Place is wired.”
Heath coughed, fury darkening his face. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. Give me the intel on Madison, and I’ll leave this nice little box on the front curb. It’ll only take ten minutes to defuse the bomb. I promise.” Greg retreated until his back was against the wall.
The kid had planted a bomb. Anger swept through Ryker on the heels of panic. His lungs seized. He’d brought Zara right into danger. Locks on the doors wouldn’t save her from an explosion. His hands started to shake, and temper roared in to coat his vision.
Greg turned and eyed him. “I doubt you want the pretty lady sleeping upstairs to end up in pieces. She will if you don’t do what I say.”
Ryker snarled and took a step toward Greg, his back going rigid. “You can threaten me all you want, but you mess with my woman, and I’ll rip your head off.”
Greg blinked. “I really don’t want to hurt her.”
Truth. Definitely the truth. Ryker forced himself into a calm state before he drove the kid to push the button. “Then you probably shouldn’t have planted a bomb that’ll take down where she’s sleeping. Let’s defuse it and now.”
“That’s up to you.” Greg’s jaw visibly hardened, his emotions all over the board and difficult to read. “You’re in perfect control, and it’s up to you if she lives or dies.”
Something wasn’t quite right in the statement, but Ryker couldn’t get a bead on Greg. Was he lying? If so, he was trained to do so.
Heath moved to make sure they all but surrounded the threat. “I did not see this coming.” He sounded more bemused than angry, as if surprised that anybody could surprise him, but it was an act. Ryker knew his brother, and he was livid. “You’re impressive, kid.”
“Thanks. Do you want to die?” Greg asked, his voice calm, but raw desperation swirled in his eyes. He had a good hold on the box.
“How about we all live.” Ryker ran through possible scenarios in his head, the need to go cover Zara nearly overwhelming him. Heat coated his throat and made it hard to breathe.
Greg shook his head wildly. “You can’t get to me before I push the button.”
Ryker kept his hands at his sides. “Do you want to die?”
“I don’t know.” Greg looked down at the trigger. “I mean, I was supposed to die, you know? But I didn’t, and now I’m here, and I just want to go back home. But there is no home, so maybe dying is the option.”
Well, fuck. Definitely not what Ryker wanted to hear. “I can get you home.”
“No.” So much pain sizzled in Greg’s brown eyes that Ryker’s chest hurt. “My home no longer exists.”
“Then why Isobel?” Ryker asked, trying to slide forward to get that box. “Did she study you?”
Greg’s head reared back. “Why do you ask that?”
Holy land mine. “She’s a doctor, right?” Ryker murmured, angling a little bit more. If he could just reach the boy before he pushed the button, he could end the threat to Zara.
Greg nodded. “Madison is a doctor.”
Denver cleared his throat. “Is she your mom or something?”
“No.” Greg’s hand visibly tightened on the box until his knuckles turned white. “There’s no way, is there? You didn’t find her. This was just a trap.”
“Wait.” Ryker stiffened, one hand held out. “Just wait. Okay. Trust goes both ways, right? Here it is, kid.”
Greg focused solely on him.
Good. That was good. “We’ve seen the woman before. All three of us. She’d show up at the boys home, the one you know about, and test us for shit. But she went by a different name.”
The color drained from Greg’s face. “Bullshit, man,” he whispered, his voice going hoarse.
Denver moved closer to him. “You’re killin’ me. I can almost taste your pain. Jesus. Let it out.”
Greg blinked. “Wait a minute. Just wait a fucking minute.”
Ryker had seen a wounded bear cub in the woods years ago. The little furball had been scared shitless and horribly furious, and it had kept striking out and retreating over and over. This kid was worse. Wild desperation glittered in his eyes, and resignation slumped his shoulders. “Wait, Greg.”
“Why?” the kid sputtered.