Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(63)

Greg didn’t answer and kept his gaze level.

Snow fell around them, soft and drifting. Ryker made tracks through town and pulled into the underground garage, where Denver and Heath were already waiting by the boiler room. He pulled Zara his way and helped her out his door. “Upstairs, sweetheart. If you can get some sleep, do it.”

She looked at Denver and Heath and then swung around to face him. “This is a bad idea.”

He ran a knuckle down the newest bruise on her face. So far, he was doing a piss-poor job of protecting her. The idea that somebody had infiltrated her home and put his hands on her threatened to steal Ryker’s self-control. The pressure of possible failure was nothing compared to the reality of the outcome. She couldn’t be one more person he’d lost. Thank God Greg had been there. Ryker owed the kid now, for sure. “Go. Now.”

She rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, heading for the stairwell.

Ryker opened the back door, and Greg jumped out. “I need you to cover her,” Ryker whispered. “Until we figure out if this guy was after her or not, she needs to stay in my apartment.”

Greg paused, looked at the door Zara had disappeared through and then back at Ryker. “I can get the guy to talk.”

Ryker blanched. “Give me something, kid. I can’t live with having you a part of this.” It was as honest as he could get with the twelve-year-old.

Greg tucked the gun into the back waistband of his pants. “Fair enough. If you need help, just holler.” He headed for the stairs.

Ryker watched him go, his chest actually hurting. Then he reached into the truck and hauled the bound man out by the armpits.

“Holy shit,” Heath said, moving forward to grab the guy’s knees and lift. “Who the hell?”

“He and two of his buddies broke into Zara’s tonight.” Ryker pivoted and headed for the boiler room.

Denver opened the heavy metal door, silent as usual.

“Do you think he’s one of Sheriff Cobb’s men?” A muscle ticked in Heath’s jaw, and his gaze hardened on the guy in black. “If so, he’s still working with Sylvia—I mean, Isobel Madison.”

“Dunno. We’re about to find out.” Ryker carried the guy inside the cinder-block room and shoved him onto the one metal chair.

Heath cut the duct tape and fastened shackles in the same places. “He’s out cold.”

Denver shut the door and grabbed a bucket of cold water from the floor. “We can fix that.”





CHAPTER


22


Zara finished dishing another waffle onto Greg’s plate as he sat on the floor. The kid ate hungrily, seeming completely unaffected by what was probably happening down in the boiler room.

He glanced up. “It’s okay. Ryker won’t kill the guy.”

Zara blinked. “How are you so knowledgeable about this kind of thing?”

Greg pushed his shaggy hair away from his face. “I was trained from day one as a soldier. So were my brothers. This is no big deal.”

Yet it was. It truly was. “We’re supposed to be the good guys.”

Greg lifted an eyebrow. “We are, I think. The good guys have to be able to use bad methods in order to win. You get that, right?”

She shook her head, everything in her wanted to soothe the boy, who was so familiar with violence. Ryker and Greg were cut from the same cloth, without a doubt. “I’m a paralegal, and I chose the law on purpose. We need to follow it.”

Greg snorted and shoveled in more waffle. He swallowed the entire chunk. “Your man doesn’t care about rules or law right now. A guy broke into your place and put his hands on you.” Greg shook his head. “Forget what I said. Maybe Ryker will kill him.”

The door opened, and Ryker strode in. Blood marred his torn shirt, and his jeans were wet.

Zara pushed away from the counter. Fine tremors attacked her nervous system. “Well?”

“The guy’s name is Jonny Reese, and he’s a thug out of Denver.” Ryker stretched bruised knuckles. “He and his buddies were hired to kidnap you, Zara.”

Pins pricked down her back. She believed in law and the rules. The idea that some thugs would just break into her safe home to take her made her knees weak. She looked at Ryker with new eyes. He didn’t believe in law or any rules. Nausea boiled in her stomach, and her breath quickened. “Why would they want me?” She tried to keep the fear out of her voice, but her voice trembled.

Ryker shook his head. “I don’t know yet.”

The world seemed darker somehow. A shadowed place where guys like Ryker moved freely. If he hadn’t been there, it was doubtful she and Greg would’ve won the fight. He’d saved her. She could’ve been the person in a boiler room.

Why? Why would anybody want to hurt her? “I don’t understand,” she whispered, her voice thick with tears.

Ryker’s gaze softened on her. “You have my word. Nobody will hurt you, baby.”

She nodded and swallowed several times. Ryker would kill to keep her safe, but what about him? What if he sacrificed his life for hers? She couldn’t let him do it. “I’m not scared.”

His lip twitched. “It’s okay to be scared. Means you have a brain.”

Oh. Okay. So she wasn’t weak. Time to think. She needed to copy how Ryker handled danger and think clearly without the fear. “Who hired that guy?” she asked, her mind spinning.