Page 88 of When the Silence Breaks

What happened to this hero? Sarah blinked back what would be hot tears streaming down her cold cheeks. Not now. Not ... now.

“And what about the vials we left behind? They’re buried now. What do we do next? We can’t let someone else get them. Anyone who escaped the avalanche knows where to find them.”

“They aren’t easy to get to, as today proves. But one thing at a time. One ... problem at a time.”

“Someone will come for them.” Sarah pulled her knees to her chest. “Someone always does. And I ... we ... led them right to the bioweapon. I suspect Malcolm will come.”

Ryder looked at her sharply. “Your boss?”

“My former boss who claims he’s retiring. He warned me not to come. I think ... he didn’t want anyoneelseto know that he’d warned me.”

“Do you think he wants to destroy the bioweapon or claim it?” Ryder asked. “Do you think maybe he’s the one to betray you?”

“Betray me?” Sarah had been furious and even a little suspicious of Malcolm, but she could never fathom betrayal.

“Reid Maddox. The team of men here on the mountain. Who sent them if not your former boss?”

“I don’t know, honestly. I trust Malcolm. He mentored me. He was there ... he helped me. After Jeremy was born, I retired officially.”

“But unofficially?”

“I worked as an analyst on a secure network—but chose my projects and hours. I was able to be a mother. Malcolm didn’twant to lose my skills.” She’d been through so much horror, losing her husband that way. “He claimed the CIA owed me.”

“Honestly, I thought they simply disavowed people when push came to shove.” Ryder blew out a hot breath.

“If they were NOC, then yes, they do at times. Whatever. We can’t let this end here.”

“Unfortunately, I’m sure it won’t.” He got to his feet.

He reached for her gloved hand, and she welcomed his touch, the warmth, even through her glove because it meant something deeper. His presence steadied her in ways she couldn’t understand. And plenty that she could.

They’d survived even though the mountain had tried to bury the truth they’d uncovered.

Thirty-Six

They’d outrun the avalanche only to run straight into the mountain’s jaw, where they were now trapped. He knew this cave well. The death trap it had been before. Freedom was an illusion—and the mountain had only tightened its hold on them. Blackspire Mountain wasn’t finished with them.

He shook off the thoughts and shoved away the exhaustion. He should be grateful they’d made it this far, against all odds.

Grateful to God.

He had to stop giving the mountain a presence in his mind, as if it were a monster chasing them. But he couldn’t shake the sense that, at the very least, they’d traded a roaring death for a silent one as they wasted away without escape in this stone-cold, icy cave. Except, that wasn’t true—there was a way out. Ryder just had to find it. Sounds from the outside world remained muffled, but the wind’s savage howl battered the slope, its eerie, foreboding wail seeping through the wall of snow and ice sealing them in. At least, from this direction.

Ryder had no desire to go deeper into the cave. The memories accosted him, lashed at him.

“So, what’s your story, Ryder?” Sarah’s soft voice brokethrough his self-recriminations. “How do you know about this cave, but you didn’t know about the crashed plane?”

“Who said I knew about this cave?”

“Oh, so you just happened upon it as we raced for our lives?”

“Okay, yeah, I knew.”

“And the buried fuselage? How come you didn’t know about that?” Her tone held no accusation but, rather, simple curiosity.

She made a good point. One he might ponder one day, but no one had been looking on that slope for a crashed plane. Their only focus had been to rescue a stranded hiker.

“I mentioned my father’s death. This is where it happened.” Well, up top.