Page 25 of The Lazarus Protocol

“You’ve been thinking about this.” Noah would rather just get a file from the CIA and read the truth for himself than try to puzzle out a hundred theories about why their parents left and never came back.

“And you’ve been trying to solve it.” Caleb shrugged. “There’s not much I can do out checking fences and doing chores except think. If you believe the CIA will honor the deal and give us real intel about who Mom and Dad were, and where they are⁠—”

“And why they never came back.”

“—then convince the team.” Caleb wandered over and slumped onto the couch. “But you’ve got to figure out a way to get past it, or you’ll be stuck here forever. Watching them drive away from the ranch. Thinking they’ll be back in a few weeks. Then it’s August and we’re trying out for football. Then it’s homecoming and they’re still not back. Then it’s Christmas and⁠—”

“I get it.”

“Let it go.”

Noah’s phone started to vibrate in his pocket.

“Let it go,” Caleb repeated. Then he got up and walked out of the room.

Noah didn’t recognize the number. “Rour—” A click interrupted him. Noah tried again with the call actually connected this time. “Rourke.”

“This is Doctor Emanuela Peraya, and you’re on a secure line.”

“Understood,” Noah said. This was what working for the CIA was going to be?

“We have a situation here with one of our assets, and we may need the help of Division Zero to pull them out.” Peraya laid out the particulars.

“You haven’t heard from her since?”

“That’s correct. We have a possible location, but even that is flimsy intel at best.”

Noah gripped the phone tighter. “We’ll find her and bring her home.”

“Looking forward to it,” Peraya said. “I’ll email you everything we have.”

“Sounds good.”

The call ended, and Noah stood, dialing Adam’s number as he went back to the window. Tessa and Marina now sat on the porch steps, Morgan and her daughter were using the hose to fill a row of dog water bowls, and Caleb and Jay chatted. Pops was likely watching the whole scene from his rocker on the porch, though Noah couldn’t see him from this angle. The sight filled Noah’s soul, watering the cracks and making him feel more like himself than he had in months.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Noah set aside the thoughts of home and family, and said, “The CIA called, and they need their new Division Zero team to do a job.”

“Serious?”

“There’s more to the agreement I need to fill you in on, but it can sit until later.”

“We’re ninety minutes out of GZT,” Adam said. “I could argue I’ve got time, but I could use some sleep now that we’ve got a solid plan.”

“The CIA needs you to find and retrieve an asset.”

“Any idea where they are?”

“I should have an idea for you before you land.” Noah braced his hand on the frame of the window. “How is Ice?”

“We gave him something to knock him out, so he quit complaining his shoulder hurt.”

Noah smiled to himself.

Adam said, “I’ll keep an eye on him. But if we’ve got two rush jobs on, I might want you or Jay.”

Noah studied Jay. Did the guy want back in the field? He’d been here for a few months, and Noah knew he was planning to propose to Morgan pretty soon. Make this Montana thing permanent the way Caleb had.