Page 94 of When the Silence Breaks

“Go ahead and open it,” Ryder said.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” she said. “We wore hazmat suits when we retrieved it. You’re not wearing any protection.”

Malcolm stared at her, then nodded to one of the men. “Open it.”

She hadn’t fooled her mentor. But she could try again. “No, don’t! Are you nuts?”

The soldier picked it up, turned it over, then, without hesitation, opened the seal. “Empty,” the man said.

Malcolm’s calm shattered. “I figured you’d try something like this.”

“Call it survival,” Ryder growled.

Malcolm’s jaw tightened. The two other men closed in.

“Where are the vials?” Malcolm asked.

Sarah stood tall, despite her shaking legs. The vials remained buried, but he didn’t need to know that. “What, you think I would let you have the vials without getting my son back first?You kill me like you killed my brother, and you’ll never find them. Now, where’s my son?”

He blinked. Just once. His hesitation confirmed what she hadn’t actually known. But she knew now. Yes, he and Reid had been behind Aaron’s death.How could you?

“You didn’t realize that I knew, did you?” Her voice grew steadier as she confronted her mentor and former boss. “You killed Aaron because he got close. He knew where to find the truth and how to uncover it. But he wouldn’t give you what you wanted. So you sent someone close to him.”

Her mind struggled, grappled to focus in on that one piece she’d been missing all along. Sarah didn’t know why she hadn’t seen that truth long ago, and she couldn’t even process what was now plain as day to her.

Malcolm’s lips parted. “What are you saying?”

But Sarah was already staring past him at the approaching snowmobile. When it stopped, a figure slid off.

The figure smiled—cool, polished, calculating—and removed her helmet.

“Tessa? Are you okay? Where’s Jeremy?” But Sarah’s questions came out as a denial to what her mind had already been processing.Please ... prove me wrong!But the sudden realization slammed into her. Aaron never would have gone to the lake ... unless pressed by someone he trusted and loved. He never would have simply left a flash drive behind.

“Aaron left me no choice,” Tessa said.

Tessa had been working for Malcolm all along. Nausea erupted.

“You? You killed my brother?”

Sarah’s heart cracked, the mountain air too thin to breathe. “Where’s ... my son?”

And this time, no one moved to catch her when she staggered.

Thirty-Eight

Ryder had been equally stunned when Sarah’s sister-in-law showed up, revealing her role in the deception. Sarah’s reaction didn’t surprise him, and he should have anticipated it. She dropped to her knees in the snow from the shock. The betrayal. The kind that knocked the air from your lungs and left you staring at someone you thought you knew.

Ryder didn’t need to ask why.

Tessa Ellison stood flanked by Malcolm and two armed men. She had just removed her helmet, her breath curling in the icy air. Her dark eyes locked onto Sarah—not cold or cruel. Just detached. Professional.

Which made it worse.

“Sarah.” Ryder held his hands up, revealing he wasn’t going to try anything, as he rushed to her side and crouched next to her, his hand bracing her back. “You’ve got to stay with me now. Stand strong. Get your boy back. Don’t give her this moment.”

Sarah didn’t look at him as she choked out the words, sending Tessa a glare that could kill. “She married my brother.Marriedhim. Then killed him. She cared for my son. Tucked him in. Prayed with him.”

“I know.” His voice tightened. “But she’s not in control here. You are.”