Page 139 of The Lazarus Protocol

Adam couldn’t do anything about that, so he put it out of his mind. They were getting out of here, and that was all that mattered right now.

The tender motored up to the side of the bigger ship, and each of them had to climb the ladder to get on deck.

Kai waited at the top, giving Adam a hand to get over. “Still think this is too easy?”

Adam didn’t answer that. He hopped onto the deck, splashing down in half an inch of water. “Something is wrong.”

Noah came over. Everyone else milled around, spreading out. “What is it?”

“Where’s the crew? And the first boatload of people?” Adam pushed through the group, looking around at the empty deck.

He grabbed the rail and looked over the side at the tender, but the crew wasn’t acting strangely. That boat would have to be hoisted aboard this one before they set sail.

“Bro.”

Whoever said that, it got Adam’s attention. He turned back, his friends around him. His weapon in his hands. Whatever this was…

All of his instincts were flashing like lightning.

A door opened on the side of the central tower facing them, swinging out and hitting the metal wall beside the door. It sounded like the wood splintered, but Adam wasn’t so worried about the door when his mind registered who was exiting the cabin.

Adam lifted his gun and strode forward, staring hard at Colonel Alan Montrose. Moving without thinking about it. The guy wore his uniform like it gave him the right to do whatever he wanted. Dark-brown hair, thin and greasy. That smug look on his face, as if he ruled the world.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t put a bullet in your face right now?” Adam stopped, not so close the guy could overpower him. Not so far it wouldn’t be a point-blank-range gunshot. Game over. Thank you and goodnight. “Tell me why you don’t bleed out on this deck, right here and right now.”

His friends gathered around him, closing ranks. Backing him up.

But this was personal, between him and Montrose.

“Congratulations yet again, Uncle Adam.” The Southern drawl of his voice was like an oil that snaked down your throat and choked you. “Wouldn’t want anything to happen to that sweet little family.”

Yeah, that’s why the guy looked so smug. Adam stared at him. Roxie is pregnant. “You touch one hair on my sister’s head⁠—”

Men spilled out of every door, armed to the teeth. Guys in jeans and jackets, looking lethal. The kind of men you didn’t want to run into late at night, in dark alley, in Eastern Europe. All of them pointed guns at the group.

Montrose tsked, waving a hand at the crowd on the deck. “Seems to me like you have a lot to lose these days.”

Yeah, Adam wasn’t some grunt with hardly any family ties. He wasn’t the guy who took orders without question, even when it didn’t seem right. He wasn’t the victim. Not for a long time now. Don’t fret was a command he needed now, like a safety net. When things looked impossible, he needed something to fall back on. A firm foundation.

“Seems to me like you do, too.” Adam lifted his chin. “Hard to cover it up a second time, right? That’s a whole lot of people for you to kill.”

“I’ve moved on from research. These days I’m more inclined toward pet projects.” The colonel looked around. “I like the idea of roaming the world on a ship and taking my time with my work. Earthnet just handed me enough subjects to last a lifetime—yours, of course.” He didn’t give Adam a chance to respond. “Kill me and you’re all dead. Right here, right now.”

Noah put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “We do this together.”

Adam shook his head, so much in his mind to say. To them and to Montrose. But the words seemed to stick on his tongue, even while his mind screamed for him to turn and run to the edge of the deck. To jump off the side of the ship and swim. Keep swimming. Anywhere, nowhere.

To never stop. Never look back.

Get as far from Montrose as he could get.

Instead, he stood his ground, surrounded by his family. “You haven’t won. We won’t ever be at your mercy.”

Montrose looked amused, glancing over at one of the men. “Take their weapons. Lock them up belowdecks.” Then he looked back at Adam. “I suppose time will tell.”

Adam forced himself not to break Montrose’s stare down. He was going to stand his ground the way he had last time, no matter what this guy threw at him.

One of the men took his M4.