Page 97 of When the Silence Breaks

“You’ve seen he’s safe,” Malcolm said. “That’s what you wanted.”

“I heard his voice.” Her voice cracked. “I heard him crying. That’s not proof of safety. That’s proof you’re holding a toddler hostage.”

Tessa’s arms remained folded, but her face had changed. Paled. Jaw tight. Maybe she’d cared for her family, for Sarah’s son. Maybe not. Even if she had cared, only someone with a stone-cold heart could do what Tessa had done.

“You want the coordinates?” Sarah asked. “You want this vial? Then I want a full extraction. My son in my arms. Somewhere safe. Somewhere public. Or this vial is shattered.”

“You can’t possibly think you’re going to get out of this without giving us something,” Malcolm snapped, his patience running thin.

Sarah smiled. “I just did.”

And maybe he was right, and she was losing it, really losing it. She’d reached her tipping point and had gone over. She took another step back, the vial dangling from her fingers now over a boulder—free of snow and ice—ready to shatter and turn into their death trap. One wrong move and it would fall.

Behind her, Ryder shifted, staying close. Silent. Steady. She felt his presence like a tether, and he probably didn’t like the direction she’d taken either, but then again, their backs had been forced against this wall.

Malcolm turned on Tessa. “Do something.”

Tessa didn’t move.

Sarah met her eyes. “Is this who you are now? The woman who helps a man use a child as a pawn?”

Tessa swallowed hard.

“I don’t even know you,” Sarah whispered. And she never had.

For a second, everything stilled like the forest itself was holding its breath.

Malcolm’s voice sliced through the cold. “You’re bluffing.”

“Try me.” Sarah lifted the vial another inch, then cocked her arm back like she meant to throw it down hard against the boulder. He’d always been able to see through her bluffs. And now he knew—this time she was not bluffing.

And her old boss flinched. The tallest of his men raised his rifle, aiming at her.

Ryder stepped in front of her fast. “You fire on her,” he warned, “and I’ll make sure what she’s holding disappears forever.”

Malcolm’s control cracked, his face contorting into something untamed, vicious, and frankly unrecognizable, once again confirming she didn’t know this man she’d trusted with her life. That man was long gone, if he’d ever existed.

“We want the boy,” Ryder said. “Safe. Delivered to Mercy Ridge. You make it happen. Then we talk.”

Like Sarah would ever give this to them. Malcolm hesitated, weighing options.

Sarah’s hand never wavered. This wasn’t a negotiation. It was a standoff, and she was ready to end it.

Forty

Sweat dripped down his back in the growing darkness. This deadlock wouldn’t end well for someone, and he didn’t take his eyes off Sarah’s former boss. He didn’t care that the man was still CIA. He didn’t care what agency the man was with or who was ultimately funding the operation—but the man before him had shifted, morphed right in front of Ryder’s eyes.

He no longer smiled. His expression had gone cold, and he didn’t bother to hide his true intentions. No more diplomacy or mask. He was just a man with no chains and nothing left to lose—for what reasons, Ryder couldn’t know, and he didn’t care.

Sarah continued to stand her ground, the vial clenched tight in her shaking hand. He wished things hadn’t come to this point where she had been forced into this decision, this crucible that left them with no good options, but in all of it, he admired her for the brutal restraint it took to hold the line when her son’s life hung in the balance.

Earlier, she’d thanked him for saving her, and here they were again, in the middle of certain death.God, help me.

There had to be a way to end this without losing anyone. Without losingher. Without failing. And even if they survivedthis debacle, for once Ryder dared to believe in more than just survival. Just existing. And that’s all he’d done for two years since his father’s death.

Existed. That was no way to live. He wanted to save the girl, her son, and he wanted to live life to the fullest.

Please, God. Show me the way.