He turned toward the open front door and gestured to the dark yard.

“Bring him in,” Ethan ordered.

Two more men dragged Liam through the doorway.

My brother’s face was bruised, a dark cut bleeding near his temple.

His hands were zip-tied behind his back.

He was breathing heavily, his boots dragging on the floorboards.

“Claire,” Liam muttered, his voice gravelly. “I’m sorry. They jumped me by the woodpile.”

“Liam!” I tried to lung forward, but the man holding me pinned my arms tighter.

“He’s a big guy,” Ethan said, tapping Liam’s shoulder with his flashlight.

“Former military. Chief physician. Very impressive.”

“But a stun gun to the neck drops anyone.”

Ethan stood between us, looking back and forth.

“Here is how this is going to play out, Claire,” Ethan said.

“You have the master decryption keys.”

“They are on a physical flash drive, or they are memorized in that analytical brain of yours.”

“I want them.”

“If you don’t give them to me, your brother is going to have an accident.”

“A fatal one.”

I looked at Liam.