Page 19

CHAPTER 19

SHAUN: Get home now!

Kennedy slammed her laptop shut and shoved it back into the soft case. Nothing good ever came from her brother demanding she get home. Especially when he knew she was working feverishly to finish a book on time. She came to the cafe down the street because a change of location always helped the creative juices to start flowing. And it had worked. In the short time since she had been there, she managed to get over three thousand words in. A major accomplishment considering the block she had the last few days.

She drove faster than needed to get back home and managed to beat Shaun. But she did find Jayce's old pickup parked on the street. Rushing out of her car, Kennedy forgot her laptop and ran back to grab it before racing through the front door.

"What's going on?" she asked Jayce, out of breath.

"I'll tell you as soon as Shaun arrives. I don't want to say everything twice."

He might not want to repeat himself but she didn't want to be patient either. Something was happening and she wanted to know what it was.

Thankfully Shaun didn't make her wait too long. Less than ten minutes later he was rushing into the house. Except, unlike her, Shaun wasn't out of breath.

"What happened?"

"Let's take this to the living room?"

She wanted to scream at Jayce and tell him to spit it out already. Her brother must've understood her frustration because he gave her a look and a shake of his head. She squinted her eyes at him in return and all but screamed her displeasure with him.

When all four of them were settled on the couch, Jayce went into a no-nonsense description of what happened. She was mad all over again but this time at the special agent who dared to show up to speak with her nephew.

Then guilt took over for leaving. Even though she had been gone before Shaun was called into work, if she had been home, she could've intervened.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that." She grabbed Michael's hand. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Dad showed up and I never had to speak to the guy."

Dad. She liked hearing him refer to Jayce that way and it would appear so did her brother. It wasn't a conventional parenting situation, but it looked like it was going to work for them.

"So what's the plan?" Shaun asked.

"I wait for Luke to get back to me, but either way, I'm going after the Diego Cartel."

"I know someone in Texas who can help you."

Jayce lifted his brow at her brother's declaration.

"One of the guys I worked with at the VA. His wife was a Green Beret and has crazy good connections. I already asked her to look into things. I know she would be willing to help. They’re good people."

"What are their names?"

"Frankie and Annie Sanders. Like I said, they’re good people."

"I'm not saying they aren't, but I'll have Caden check into them anyway. I trust him with my life."

Shaun nodded his head in agreement.

"If they check out, then I'll stop over in Texas. I'll need to find a way to cross over into Mexico. Preferably undetected."

"I'm sure Annie can help with that. Her connections are pretty damn incredible."

Kennedy just sat back with Michael as Jayce and Shaun worked through a plan. Words like passport and helos were thrown around. She only half listened while giving the rest of her attention to her nephew. This was their domain, not hers, so she would leave all the planning to them and instead wait until the time was right to help as she could.