Page 28 of When the Silence Breaks

“Please, just leave it. Go live your life.”

Her sister-in-law had been threatened. Her brother needed justice. “If only I could.”

The man’s eyes reflected deep concern, and fear—that he would never see her again?—as though she would meet Aaron’s end. “I’ll give you one thing. Let this be enough. Now you’ll know what happened to your brother, and you can shut the door forever. Project Deliverance.” He turned and walked away, then the doorbell jingled and he was gone.

Project Deliverance.

Her throat constricted and she couldn’t swallow. Well, that was something. An operation to go on, though she doubted she could find any information about it anywhere. It was probably scratched from already redacted files. Aaron was killed overProject Deliverance.

Deliverance from what or whom? If Malcolm thought knowing the name of the classified operation that had brought about Aaron’s death would be enough to stop her, he couldn’t be more wrong.

Snatching the plain brown parka from the rack, she left thehiking boots behind. She’d already broken in a pair she would use. She turned to head to the counter. But first she needed to compose herself. Catch her breath. Calm her pounding heart—Ryder would see something had upset her. She rounded a corner and walked right into his grip, otherwise she would have collided with that sturdy chest—and she knew exactly how that felt after the mudslide. His hands gently held her arms.

His intensity forced her to look at him. “Who was that?”

She glanced over her shoulder, relieved her old boss had disappeared completely. Couldn’t be seen through the glass windows, even.

“Not now,” she whispered. It wasn’t like she could tell Ryder he hadn’t seen her in a heated, secretive conversation next to the hiking-boot wall. “Let’s get geared up and out of here. I’ll explain later.”

And that gave her time to figure out what she would say, exactly. Ryder already knew or suspected much of it, really almost as much as she knew, except for maybe the danger level, and she was getting a better idea of that.

Half an hour later, supplies loaded in the covered truck bed, Sarah sat in the passenger seat, waiting for what came next. Self-doubt crept in. What if she should just let it go like Malcolm said?Project Deliverance.She could read about it or dig into it through old channels and connections. She didn’t have to hike up that mountain. Malcolm’s words echoed through her mind.

“Live your life.”

She shook off his words—that he’d come here to try to convince her to stop was confirmation she should keep going. Her brother had learned something—perhaps even known about Project Deliverance.

Still, she was here and had convinced Ryder to help. She knew in her gut that this would never end, and she and Tessaand possibly Jeremy would die—in an accident—for what little they knew. What Aaron had brought upon them and left for them hadn’t been a legacy but a death sentence.

Ryder climbed in and shut his door. Started the engine and navigated away from the back of the outfitter store, down an alley, and onto Main Street. “So, you going to tell me what that was about?”

“I’d prefer to wait until we’re on the mountain.”

“Why? Are you afraid I’ll change my mind?”

“I’m afraid that someone might overhear.”

“You weren’t afraid while in the store talking to that man. Was he the one who broke in last night?”

“What? No. Ryder, listen, this is ... dangerous. Probably bigger than either of us understands. I have no right to ask for your help. You’re free to step away knowing that it could be a deadly pursuit, but I hope—I pray—that you don’t.”

“You already told me about your brother. I understand your drive to end this. I’m not sure you’re the right person to do it, but here you are, showing up for the job. I respect that. I’m all in.”

There was the hero, Ryder Goodwin, also showing up, like she hoped he would. Showing up for her. Emotion thickened in her throat for some reason as she watched him so capably steer his vehicle up the rutted path to his house. Not for the first time, she took in his broad shoulders, his impossibly thick, wavy, sun-streaked shoulder-length hair. Sunshades covered his intense grays, and maybe, when he glanced her way and caught her staring, she was glad she couldn’t see those eyes and be dumbstruck by them.

She might have realized too late that for someone just sitting in the cab of a truck, her breaths came too fast. When he glanced at her, she knew he’d caught the uptick in her breathing. She couldn’t get anything past him.

And maybe ... maybe she didn’t want to. All things considered, spending the next few days with this mountain of a man wouldn’t be the worst thing she’d ever done. Sarah smiled to herself and pulled her attention from Ryder to stare out the window at the glorious view of the mountain that the two of them were set to conquer tomorrow.

Twelve

As Ryder navigated up the road to his home, he thought back to Sarah’s heated, whispered conversation with the older man. Then ...“This is ...dangerous.Probably biggerthan eitherof usunderstands.”

To which Ryder had replied,“I’m all in.”

Why did he think he had any business being all in with her? He had no business at all, and yet he couldn’t stop himself. He couldn’t back out. So yes, he was all in for a lot of conflicting reasons.

As he drove, he scrutinized the clouds gathering in the distance. The rain had stopped yesterday, for which he was grateful. If it was raining here, it was snowing in the higher elevation of the mountains. He had to be smart about it—pack light and yet be prepared for everything. A thousand questions about this unofficial self-inflicted mission remained and doubts plagued him, but Ryder set them aside and focused on what he knew. Hiking. Guiding. He could do this.