Deadly Silence (Blood Brothers #1)(73)

Greg turned around on the barstool, his chin lowering. “I can have you out of town and to a safe location within thirty minutes. Somewhere totally off the grid where they’ll never find you.”

Zara gaped at him. He was twelve years old, for goodness’ sake. “Um, thanks, but I think I’ll just go make a statement.” She hurried forward and kissed her grandmother on the cheek. “Oh. Grams, that’s Heath.”

Heath nodded.

“Nice to meet you,” Grams said, her eyebrows drawing down.

For good measure, Zara pecked a kiss on Greg’s cheek. “We’ll keep your idea for plan B,” she said with a smile.

His ears turned red, and he nodded.

She grabbed her purse and hustled toward Heath. “Don’t worry, you two. The police just want a statement from me, and then I’ll be home.” Hopefully. Were her prints at the murder scene enough probable cause to arrest her?

Heath closed the door behind them. “You can explain everything on the way to the station.”

She nodded. Ryker’s blood brother had shortish brown hair and stunning greenish brown eyes. He wore faded jeans, motorcycle boots, and a brown leather jacket, looking more like a badass biker than a lawyer. For some reason, that calmed her. “Where is Ryker?”

“On a case.” Heath led the way down to the stairs and pushed open the heavy door to the garage before stalking toward a decked-out black muscle car. “She’s solid enough she doesn’t really need snow tires yet. Hop in, Zara.”

Zara opened the door and slid onto black leather seats softer than a peach.

The car started with a loud purr. Heath backed out of his spot. “All right. Tell me everything, and start at the beginning.”

She took a deep breath and told her new attorney everything, trying not to notice how concerned his expression was by the time they reached the police station. “What do you think?” she finally asked.

He sighed and looked at her, his gaze beyond serious. “How do you feel about starting over somewhere else?”

Dr. Isobel Madison followed the crumbs along the Internet to a small Wyoming town called Cisco, her fingers clicking easily across the keyboard in her office. Oh, she kept her signature off her trace, and she made sure nobody knew she was calling.

Interesting that her searches, mainly across the dark web, had brought her back to this rather clear beacon. Even for a carefully laid trap, there was something sloppy about it.

The men she’d created in test tubes, even the ones she hadn’t personally raised, had extraordinary intelligence ranges. Not one of them would make a mistake like this one. So that prompted questions: Had one of her creations lost his mind, or was somebody else looking for her?

Interesting.

She quickly texted Todd to come see her. He was training his pseudo Protect army down at the barns. Truly, she couldn’t wait to terminate her association with them.

If this beacon led where she hoped, that would happen sooner rather than later.

She clicked over to another screen, this one password protected. Methodically working her way beyond the encryptions, she noted the progress of her newest lab. Excellent. Another couple of weeks, and it’d be operational.

Destiny shone bright and hard before her.

Sheriff Cobb strode into the room.

Isobel sat back behind her glass desk and studied him. Much, much better. She’d reached out to him months ago, and surveillance videos had shown him to be almost portly. The man had let himself go in the years they were apart, and he was only forty-five years old—ten years her junior. Yet now he looked like the mean fighting machine she remembered from years ago. Ripped muscles moved beneath his pressed uniform, and he walked with the angry grace she remembered from their time together. Obviously he’d started working out the moment she’d contacted him. “Thank you for coming. It’s time we brought the Lost boys back into the fold.”

“I’ve been trying to find them for years,” he countered, his eyes glittering with a primal light as he leaned against a tall file cabinet. “The assholes killed my brother.”

She shifted in her seat. While she’d had many lovers through her life, the sheriff had always held an edge that fascinated her. “When my lab is up and running, I’d like to do some tests on you.”

“Why?” His gaze dropped to her chest.

“I’d bet my slush fund that you have the warrior gene.” As did all of her creations, she was sure.

He frowned. “Isn’t that the one psychopaths have?”

“Sometimes.” She smiled and stroked his ego, truly intrigued by him. “You’re not a psychopath.” He was most likely a sociopath, which would work nicely with her plans.

“I like that you like all of me.” Vulnerability, rare in him, shone in his eyes. “That you’re not turned off by my darker urges.”

“I like dark urges,” she said, lowering her voice. “You know that.”

He shuffled his feet, looking endearing and dangerous all at once. “I’m glad you called me a few months ago. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too, and appreciate your coming so quickly when I called.”

He cocked his head. “I never figured we were quite finished with each other.”

She smiled and leaned back to stretch her neck, not missing when his eyes flared. “We aren’t, but I need you to keep that between us until I’m finished with Todd and his forces.”