“Of course not,” he said, gravity seeming to pull him down with more force than usual. “But she’s asleep and doesn’t seem to have frostbite, so I’ll take the win for a second.” He leaned back against the counter. “I now have no problem killing Madison, however.” Sometimes even a woman needed to be killed. That one did.
Ryker leaned forward to study his screen and then settled back. “Why do you think her soldiers left you at the hotel?”
Denver shrugged. “There were only three soldiers, and I killed one and incapacitated a second, while the cops were fast to arrive. They couldn’t get me as well as Noni and the baby in time with the police arriving. So she sent Cobb to take me from the hospital, and he had his own plan.”
“He didn’t even bring backup?” Heath asked.
“No. He wants me dead too badly,” Denver said, his mind turning things over. “I think they’re working against each other at the moment.”
“Do they know it?” Ryker asked thoughtfully.
Denver nodded. “Madison knows it, of course. Cobb? Not sure. He probably doesn’t realize she’ll sacrifice him in a second to get what she wants. It’s who she is.”
Heath typed what looked like a set of commands. “She needs him right now, I think. She’s lost the commander and several of her top soldiers lately.”
That psychopath didn’t need anybody. “How are the searches going?”
“Good,” Ryker said. “We’re hacking all traffic cams, bank cams, and security cams from the area of the hospital you were in and tying them to the shots we have of Cobb when he visited Detective Malloy in Snowville. We’ll find him on one of these feeds. I just know it. That’ll help us trace Madison’s current base of operations sometime today.”
Heath gestured toward the silent phone on the table. Cobb’s phone. “The message on Noni’s back has me confused. Why does she want just you?”
“I don’t know,” Denver said, having thought of nothing else for hours. “She’s playing yet another game. I don’t know what it is. Maybe she’s bluffing and just trying to catch us off guard.” Though she’d always treated him as special. Why? He didn’t see it. He looked around. “Zara and Anya are sleeping?”
“Yeah.” Ryker tilted his head toward the other bedroom. “I figured they should get rest while they can. This is about to become crazy.”
Cobb’s stolen phone rang.
Denver jumped. He took several deep breaths as his brothers stood and moved toward the table. “Well, shit.” His body went on full alert, but he forced himself to move slowly and pick up the phone, then push the speaker button. “What?”
“Who is this?” Madison’s voice came clearly over the line.
“Denver,” he said without preamble.
“Did you get my gift?” she asked on a giggle.
Rage rushed through him so swiftly he could barely think. “Your gift? You mean my girlfriend half frozen in a snowbank? She hasn’t woken, you crazy bitch.” He had to see how much the evil doctor really knew.
“What in the world are you talking about?” Madison asked.
Denver lowered his head and tried to listen through the line. Was there any sound of a baby anywhere in the background? He couldn’t tell. “Noni was half naked in the snow out on the tarmac. Did you do that?”
Silence came for a moment. “Interesting. No. I left her on the chair for you. The silly twit must’ve gotten loose and gone walking. In bare feet.” Madison tsked through the line. “You really could do so much better, Denver.”
Denver’s hand tightened on the phone with enough force the screen started to crack. Heath grabbed it and placed it on the counter, his own jaw tight with what looked like raw fury. Denver cleared his throat and tried to sound unaffected. “Well, I found her in the snow, and she’s still in bed trying to get warm enough. That was quite the message you wrote on her back.”
Madison giggled. “I know. It was like being back in college and doing a prank.”
Denver reached for the phone, fury consuming him.
Ryker walked right into him, using his body as a block. Denver fought for two seconds and then regained his fucking brain. He gave a short nod, and Ryker moved to the side. “Why the hell do you want me so badly? Why me?”
“Why you? Come on. You know you’re special.” Madison sounded almost gleeful.
Denver barely kept the rage out of his voice. “Special my ass. This is just another of your mind games.”
“Language,” she admonished. “Be polite.”
Polite? His fingers curled into a fist he would’ve loved to plant through the nearest wall. “Whatthe fuckdo you want?” he hissed, his chest filling.
