Page 103 of When the Silence Breaks

“But he didn’t.” Holt looked at him.

Ryder didn’t answer right away. He was still trying to grabonto the fact that, for once, a mistake hadn’t cost a man his life. That maybe, just this once, the mountain had given something back.

Cocooned in the shell of that plane once again battered by Mother Nature, Dean had gained consciousness, found a survival kit, and patched himself up, then set off a beacon while he holed up and kept warm. Before he’d been stabbed, Dean had urged them to go, urged Ryder to save Sarah. He’d given the ultimate sacrifice—or so Ryder had thought. Ryder was grateful the man had survived. He hadn’t heard if there had been any other survivors.

“Are you okay with him working at Adventures?” Holt asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ryder adjusted the reins, the leather creaking softly, the familiar sound and smells grounding him to this place, and maybe to himself. “I don’t blame him for Dad’s death.”

“What about yourself?”

“I’m good. I’m okay. I let it go. I don’t blame myself for his death anymore.” Because Dad wouldn’t want him to hang on to that burden, blaming himself for all the possible ways he failed to save his father. And maybe Sarah had something to do with that—maybe she had saved Ryder from himself.

“And Harlan?” Ryder asked Holt.

“He never meant any of this. Thought he was helping for the right reasons. The cause justified the means. He thought he was assisting with an official government operation. He won’t be charged.”

“I still can’t believe that even Harlan knew about all of this, but our own grandfather never told us,” Ryder said. “I still have to wonder if Dad knew.”

“We’ll never know.” Holt grunted and shook his head. “I doubt he told Mom. He would have wanted to protect her.”

And now Mom still didn’t know anything other than Ryder wasn’t allowed to tell her what this had really been about. He, Sarah, and Holt, along with anyone else with the knowledge, had been required to sign nondisclosure agreements. He suspected that Sarah, like Ryder, had bristled at being gagged when the point of their mission had been to get justice for her brother. Maybe they’d achieved that since his murderers were now in custody. But he wanted the truth to come out to the world at large.

“And what about Viv? Did you get a chance to look into her?” he asked. “The sheriff notified me of her death right before I went up the mountain. I suspect she was connected since she was the one person I told, and then Sarah showed up. Not only that, but I told Viv, and then Sarah’s brother was murdered a week later.”

“I’m not going to lie, given the connections we now know, I suspect your telling Viv what you found could have been the catalyst to escalate things,” Holt said. “She received a deposit every month. Routed through a front account tied to the Department of Energy.”

Ryder frowned. “The DOE? Why would they care about a forgotten wreck?”

“Because it wasn’t just wreckage. And Viv wasn’t just a librarian. She was placed here. Official title was something likecivilian archival liaison. Unofficially? She was tasked with keeping this town quiet. When the rumors started floating around about Nazi gold—decades ago—they put Viv in place to monitor things and inform someone if evidence showed up. And she reported to Maddox. She was silenced before she could report to anyone else.”

So much pain and death over a decades-old wrecked plane.

“Will you take Harlan back if he wants that?”

“We’ll see.” Ryder didn’t know just yet.

“There’s something else that’s bothering me,” Holt said.

Ryder’s insides tensed. He didn’t want to hear bad news after what he’d just been through. “What is it now?”

“You.” Holt turned toward him, brow furrowed. “I don’t like the idea of you getting tangled up with someone who used to work for the CIA.”

“You’re not supposed to know that.”

“Kind of hard for that not to come out given the players,” Holt said. “Don’t worry. Nobody’s going to talk about it.”

“So, what don’t you like about it?”

“You know the kind of danger that can follow someone like her.”

Seriously? Ryder’s lips tugged into a faint smile. “Yeah. I do.” And he wouldn’t have it any other way. Sarah had reignited something inside of him—he wanted to live, not simply to exist.

“All I can say, bro, is get used to the idea.” All Ryder could do was hope something more permanent would happen between him and Sarah, and right now they were taking things slowly. Treading lightly.

The sound of hooves drew his attention around. Sarah approached, riding Glitchy, Mom’s old mare. Her posture relaxed, thick brown strands falling over her shoulders, and her expression was peaceful—she looked like she was one of them now and belonged here.

Sarah gave Holt a small wave.