Nathan shook his head. “Hell no. You don’t get shit from us until you tell us what the fuck is going on. I don’t give a fuck if your arm rots off. Shea is out there scared to death and unable to communicate with me. I’m not leaving her a minute longer than necessary. I’m going after her and you’re going to arm me with everything I need to know about what I’m walking into.”

 “Christ. At least give me a goddamn cigarette.”

 Garrett reached for the crumpled pack on the kitchen counter and tossed it along with a lighter in Resnick’s direction. Resnick tore half the packing off as he dug out a cigarette. Using his good arm, he shoved the end of the cigarette into his mouth and then raised his hand to light it.

A moment later, he inhaled deeply and then exhaled a long plume of smoke.

“So Shea can communicate with you?” Resnick asked Nathan. There was intense interest in his usually inscrutable gaze. “Can you talk to her or does she have to open the channel?”

 His curiosity only served to piss Nathan off more. And Resnick knew it.

 “Fuck you,” Nathan said in a deadly voice. “She isn’t some goddamn lab rat for you to poke and prod on.”

 Something dark flickered in Resnick’s eyes, giving him a haunted look. “Shea was never in any danger from me. Not me.”

 “Really?” Nathan asked coolly. “You could have fooled me.”

 “Why weren’t you straight with us?” Donovan demanded. “You clammed up the minute I asked about Shea. And you knew, goddamn it. You knew about her and you used the info I gave you to move in and snatch her. That’s bullshit and you know it. Is this how it’s going to work from now on? We can’t trust anything that comes from you?”

 “It’s a goddamn different situation!” Resnick seethed. “This is personal. I was protecting her, okay? I knew you guys had no idea what you were dealing with. How could you? I was doing what was best for Shea. There are people after her who don’t give a damn who lives or dies as long as they get what they want, and they want her and Grace. Suddenly she surfaces on your radar? What the hell? You have no idea what we’re dealing with here.”

 “And you damn sure didn’t do anything to change that fact,” Sam growled.

 “What people and why are you so involved?” Garrett barked at Resnick. “What’s your stake in this? It’s not like you to get personal about anything. You’d hang your own mother out to dry if it furthered your purpose.”

 Resnick’s lip curled back into a snarl and he glared Garrett down. “You don’t know anything about me, so back the fuck off. Just because we work together or I throw you a job here and there doesn’t mean you know shit about me or what matters to me.”

 “So explain it to us,” Donovan said impatiently. “We’re wasting time here, Resnick. Spill it or I’ll goddamn shoot you in the other arm, and you know I’m just pissed off enough to do it. What you did was bullshit and you know it.”

 “Fuck him,” Nathan spit out. “Let’s go. I don’t have time for this shit.” Then he turned to Resnick and got into his face until they were nose to nose. “Don’t you ever come near Shea again. You don’t even say her name. You forget she ever existed.”

 “Fuck you,” Resnick snarled back. “There’s a goddamn possibility that she’s my sister. I’m not leaving her safety to chance and definitely not to KGI. You guys are good. I get that. I wouldn’t have you do work for me if I didn’t think you were the best. But you don’t know what you’re dealing with here, and I didn’t have time to debrief you. I had to move and move fast because Shea and Grace were running out of time. As it is, Grace has dropped off the map. But I could save Shea and I did what I had to do.”

 “She’s your what?” Nathan demanded. What the fuck? This just got more twisted by the minute. “Wait a goddamn minute. Shea told me how she was born. Or rather how she was created. You’re full of shit, Resnick.”

 Resnick’s eyes grew shadowed and suddenly he looked so much older than he was. “I’m not full of shit. I was born in that same goddamn lab. Shea and Grace could both be my sisters. And even if they aren’t my blood, I feel a kinship to them that can’t be removed just because of genetics. I have to make this right for them once and for all. I don’t give a damn what it takes.”

CHAPTER 36

EVERYONE stared at Resnick like he’d just admitted to being a terrorist. Maybe that wasn’t far off the mark. Nathan glanced sideways at his brothers to gauge their reactions. They didn’t have time for this shit. Evidently Resnick agreed.

 “Look, we don’t have time for this right now, but I swear to you, I’ll explain everything. I won’t leave out anything. But you have to go after Shea. Bring her back.”

 “Oh, so now you trust us to track her down after she kicked your guy’s balls in,” Sam drawled. “How ironic.”

 “What the fuck did you do to her?” Nathan demanded. “Why can’t she communicate with me? Why would you take that away from her? I’d know where she is right now if you hadn’t fucked with her.”

 “It’s only temporary,” Resnick said warily. “I did it so she wouldn’t have you on our asses.”

 Ethan cleared his throat. “And how’s that working out for  you?”

 “You better hope it’s temporary,” Nathan seethed. “And you better hope I find her quick and that she’s okay. I’ll hunt you down, Resnick. There isn’t a place you can hide from me.”

 Joe put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “Come on, bro. I’m with you. Let’s go find Shea. We can take Steele and company, leave everyone else here to sit on the trash so we can take it out later.”

 Nathan turned to stare into his twin’s eyes, saw answering resolve there. Always looking out for each other. It was as it should be. Nathan hadn’t been the best at guarding Joe’s back over the last months, but Joe had never stopped standing at Nathan’s. Not even when Nathan was doing everything he could to push his twin away.

 Nathan held up his hand and Joe grasped it. Then they started for the door.

 “Now wait just a goddamn minute,” Sam said in exasperation. “I don’t know who you two knuckleheads think you are or what you’re doing, but you don’t run this operation. And Steele damn sure won’t take orders from either one of you infants.”

 Donovan lowered his rifle and then glanced toward Ethan, Garrett and Sam. “You stay here. Swanny and I will go with them.”

 Garrett didn’t look happy, but then he never was happy about anything that kept him out of the know.

 “Steele, fall back. Have P.J. and Cole stand down. We’re out of here,” Donovan said into the radio. “Shea escaped and is on her own. It’s imperative we find her before things get any worse.”

 HER head hurt. Not just headache hurt. It felt like someone had hit her with a sledgehammer and half her skull was caved in. She was so overwhelmed with nausea that even breathing was a chore.

 And she was pissed.

 She was tired of all the crazies in her life. The dude whose house she had been taken to gave her the creeps. Like in a stalkerish “I’m not going to hurt you but I’ll confine you to my dungeon for the next ten years and never let you come out” kind of way.

 She shivered and trudged down another alleyway that reeked of garbage and God only knew what else. She had a good imagination. She didn’t really need to know.

 At least she knew where she was now, thanks to her flight through the streets. The problem? It was several states away from Tennessee. Charleston, South Carolina, was a beautiful city. It really was. Just not so much right now when she had no money, no ID, no idea how to communicate with Nathan—it wasn’t as if she had his phone number.

 Lord, but she was getting loopy, and if she didn’t get rid of the headache soon, she was going to vomit everywhere.

 She was afraid even to think about reaching out to Nathan. The pain was already so overwhelming that anything else she did to intensify her agony would send her straight over the edge.

 Still, she had to try. What other options did she have?

 She stepped from the alleyway and then hurriedly crossed the street. She’d been in this situation before. Nothing had changed. She’d been running for a year. She could do this without freaking out. Or at least that’s what she kept telling herself.

 Focus, Shea. Just focus, damn it.

 The problem was that before she only had to run. It didn’t matter where she went as long as she was able to melt in a crowd somewhere, disappear, lie low. Now? It wasn’t that easy. She didn’t want to go off alone again. She wanted to be back with Nathan and his horde of overprotective brothers and all their hulking team members.

 She slowed in her walk. She’d felt safe with them, but she hadn’t been. Maybe that was her reality. Maybe she’d never be safe with anyone. She’d allowed herself to be reeled in by the fantasy of being able to rely on someone else. To have someone to protect her. Hope had been fierce within her after dealing with cold, hard reality for so long.

 And the minute she’d let her guard down and allowed herself to depend on someone else? She’d been thrown over some psycho G.I. Joe wannabe’s shoulder and nearly tossed off a cliff.

 Say it with me. Safety is an illusion.

 Nothing like a good shot of optimism to boost her spirits.

 Seeing an empty bench by a bus stop, she sank down onto it, watching warily around her for anyone who looked remotely threatening. She needed to clear her damn mind. She needed to figure out what to do.

 She had no money, no ID. If she got stopped by a cop for any reason, she was so screwed. She had stuff stashed in a few places, but that didn’t do her any good when she had no way to get to it.