Forgotten Sins (Sin Brothers, #1)(83)

Matt’s eyes softened as he glanced at Josie before grabbing Shane’s chart for a quick read. “The bullet didn’t impact anything important. You’re fine.”

“I know that.”

The chart clanked against the end of the bed. “She’s something, Shane. Taking down those two men.” Matt rubbed his chin.

Yeah, she was. He understood the risk he was taking, and leaving his brothers would cut him in two. But the risk was his, and he had to keep them safe. But he had to choose Josie—she needed him more than they did. Any life he had wasn’t worth it without her. “I want to stay with her, Mattie.”

“I was afraid of that, little brother.” Matt sidled around the bed, dropping into a guest chair. “The whole happily ever after with a family… it’s impossible. Does she know, I mean, ah…”

“We can have kids, Matt.” If he couldn’t, and Josie wanted kids, they’d adopt. Maybe. Someday when he’d taken care of the danger.

Matt frowned. “They tried, Shane. The scientists tried to create little test-tube babies with our genetic material. You know that. They never once succeeded.”

“Maybe test tubes won’t work for our kids.”

“Maybe.” Matt leaned back, stretching his neck. “It’s more likely they f*cked up our DNA so that we can’t reproduce.” Anger filtered through his quiet words. “Something to think about.”

He would. “Besides, we’re not exactly safe right now, Matt. Won’t be until the commander and his top scientists are in the ground.” That was if they figured out a way to deactivate the kill chips. If Shane were a better person, he’d think about sending those people to jail. But he wasn’t. The only way his family would be safe was if the people who’d created him died. Period.

“True.” Matt eyed Josie. “I spent the day hacking into the local police database. Apparently, the bugs in Josie’s house were planted by Max’s men.”

“Yeah, I know.” Shane took a deep breath. “I found the bugs, figured the commander had found Josie, and bugged her place myself. Then when I figured out it had nothing to do with me, I went after the morons lying in wait for her.” Of course, he hadn’t planned on getting hit in the head with a bat.

“Then you conducted Internet searches that could’ve brought us down. Thank goodness they didn’t. We got lucky this time. From now on, we check in with Nathan once a week so nothing like this happens again.” Footsteps sounded and Matt stiffened, his shoulders relaxing when a nurse passed by the doorway. “Though to be safe, we need to get out of town.”

“Yeah. I need to get Josie to the ranch—just for the next three months. If we figure out the code for the kill chip, I’ll take her somewhere else to keep everyone safe.” The ranch was one hundred acres in the Montana mountains where Nate had set up a protected space for them all to live if necessary.

“We need to stick together, Shane.”

“Not if it puts us all in more danger.” Shane shook his head.

“We’re not separating.”

“Leaving her again is impossible, and I won’t let my choices put you in the ground.” Shane winced as his abs protested. “I’m so sorry, Matt.”

“Don’t be.” His older brother leaned back, his gaze serious. “All I ever wanted was a good life for you. If you think it’s possible, I’ll do whatever I have to do in order to help.”

Gratitude and love choked Shane. “I can’t let you take the risk.”

“That’s a fight you’re not going to win—a fight for another day.” Matt steepled his fingers under his chin. “So your memory is coming back?”

“Yeah.” Shane searched deep in his head where something echoed. “I’m almost there. I can feel it.” Maybe he didn’t want to know what happened to his brother. “Tell me what you know.”

Matt’s jaw tightened. “We put Jory deep into a company called Millennia Investments.”

“I remember. The company has its fingers in everything from military contracts to genetic laboratories and drug manufacturing.” Shane had posed as a researcher to get in quickly. “Jory was beyond a genius with computers, wasn’t he?”

“Yes.” Matt sighed, dropping his hands to his lap and stretching his legs out. “Jory’s IQ kept him alive when he was a kid.”

Memories of a scrawny kid with huge feet filtered through Shane’s mind. “I remember. You kept him alive as a kid. It was you.”

“No.” Matt shook his head. “Jory’s IQ was incredibly high. Too high to measure, in fact. That kept him alive until he grew into those feet.” He chuckled. “Then he became downright deadly, remember?”

“Yes.” Shane nodded. Jory fought with cold, hard logic. No emotion, no anger. His well-trained limbs did what that powerful brain dictated. He usually won. “What if he hadn’t? I mean, did you ever wonder what really happened to the kids who left the camp?”

Matt stilled. “You’ve never asked me that before.”

Maybe Shane hadn’t wanted to know. “Do you know?”

“No. I assume they went to a different camp.” Raw pain flashed through Matt’s eyes to be quickly veiled. He was lying. There was no question he was hiding something. “Either way, right now we need to figure out what happened to Jory.”