Page 14

Chapter Fourteen

K enna lay on her back and stared up at the sky, earbuds in. She’d set her exercise mat on a stretch of grass between the two RV’s. She tucked one knee up to her chest.

“Want me to call the police department and request the files be sent to the FBI?”

She liked the sound of Jax’s voice in her ear. At least he wasn’t torturing her with crazy workouts. “And when they ask how you found out about the case?”

“I want to run that QR code.”

“Me, too, but we have to let them work the case.”

“I’m gonna email the Denver office, see if they have anything. I’ll shoot the breeze with their ASAC and see what they say. Could ring a bell.”

Kenna switched legs. “Because you don’t have enough to do?”

He chuckled. “Just trying to help.”

She smiled. “Sure, sure. I haven’t heard from your mom. Did she get back home okay?”

“They were shopping yesterday. Not sure what their plans are.”

Kenna sat up. “Why didn’t they leave?”

“Eager to get rid of them?”

“They’re in danger here. They could be targets. I don’t have the personnel to protect them and investigate this case.”

Jax said, “I’ll call Laney and make sure they know to be careful.”

“Thanks.” At least that would give him something to focus his extra energy on. “If I need the FBI’s help with this case, I’ll let you know.”

“Organ harvesting.” He muttered the words. “That’s just crazy.”

Kenna said, “I have two women to find, for different reasons. And no way to locate either of them.”

“And your mom isn’t helping.”

“I don’t even know how I’d reach her. Except to call the resistance, but I’m not sure if they’re aware she’s alive. It would be too easy for their enemy to find out she faked her death.” The novel had said she went back as a double agent, so maybe they knew she was alive, and it was only Kenna who’d been lied to.

“So she formed her own resistance?”

Kenna sighed. “I suppose. I have no idea, really, and she didn’t offer. I can’t even worry about that right now, and there’s no point wishing for something I don’t have. Why would I? Right now, my life is full.”

“It’s a big case, and it could be a shot at taking down the company.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” Kenna said. “I was talking about you. Maizie. Ramon. Stairns and Elizabeth. Bruce, even. I have a full life and then some with all of you guys.”

“Everyone needs a mom.”

“Do they? I’ve never had one that I can remember, and I think I did all right.”

“Good point.”

Kenna slid her phone into the side pocket on her leggings and got up so she could roll up her mat. “I guess when the case is done and things are quiet for a minute, I’ll get a chance to figure out what I want from her. But if she isn’t prepared to give it to me, it’s a moot point. It’s just wishes.”

The screen door to her RV swung open, and Cabot hopped out, padding over to her.

“Hi, doggy.” Kenna bent over and gave the dog a full rubdown.

In her ear, Jax said, “We should get a cat.”

Kenna sucked in a breath and choked a bit. “Say what now?”

“I like cats.”

“I’m a dog person. You know this.”

Jax chuckled. “We’ll see.”

The call ended.

“What’s going on?” Maizie called through the screen door. “You look like you got bad news.”

“Jax is a cat person.”

Maizie laughed, moving out of sight and groaning. “Ouch, my face hurts. Cabot needs to pee. When she’s done, I have information.”

Kenna clicked her fingers and gave her dog a hand signal she’d trained a long time ago. The dog still remembered. Cabot walked with her, and they found some grass. Kenna scanned the RV park, spotting an older man out walking a tiny dog over by the entrance office.

Was Roxanne out there somewhere watching her?

That would be better than her closing in on Zeyla. If Amara found her daughter, then Roxanne would never be able to. Kenna figured Roxanne—and the company—considered both Amara and Zeyla a threat to them.

As much as she wanted to jump in her car, which was busted right now anyway, and go find her sister, that could be the thing that led Roxanne to her. And besides, Kenna’s efforts were better spent taking down the whole operation than focusing on one person.

She had to keep working this thing one lead at a time rather than focusing so hard on one person that she lost sight of the main issue—this “company” couldn’t be allowed to prosper. They couldn’t continue thinking they had all the power and could do whatever they wanted.

Cabot trotted back over to her.

The dog hadn’t alerted to anything, which gave her enough peace of mind to turn her back and head over to the RV.

Maizie came out with her laptop and two mugs, holding the door so Cabot could go inside. Kenna took both mugs and set them on the table. “Your face looks better.”

“Bruce had a cream, but I think he might’ve mixed it himself. I have no idea what was in it, and I didn’t ask. But my face feels better today.”

“It’s bruised but not as swollen.”

“Thanks. The forensic analyst Jax found us just emailed me.”

Kenna sat across from her at the picnic table. “Anything good?”

Maizie nodded, tapping keys on her laptop and staring at the screen. “The highlight of what is a fifteen-page report is that the financial company we infiltrated really only has one client. They hide everything in subsidiaries, foundations, and other corporations, but if you trace them all back as far as they go, then they start to connect. Basically, every single “customer” the company has is exactly one organization.”

“The company.” Kenna took a sip of her coffee.

“Exactly.”

“What about where Hadley and Zeyla might have been taken? Anything about that?”

Maizie said, “Based on what he said about where he was, I ran the county records on all the land in that area.”

“That’s a huge area.” He’d effectively said anything west of Denver. “Who knows how long he was in the truck when he got a ride? He could’ve been in Utah, for all we know.”

Maize said, “Sure… but there’s a stretch of land owned by one of these companies, and it’s west of Denver. Rural, the plans list only a few buildings. Looks like it used to be a hospital, but it was shut down after the Second World War, and it’s been empty ever since. The company has owned the land all that time.”

“We need to go check it out.” Kenna took her coffee and went to the outside wall of the Class C in the space beside hers. She pounded the flat of her hand on the window and called out, “Rise and shine!”

Two hours later, she pulled off the highway in a rental car, Maizie in the passenger’s seat and Cabot in the back. Ramon, Stairns, and Bruce were in Ramon’s truck behind them.

The two-lane blacktop led them to a turnoff with a broken-down sign for St. Dymphna’s Psychiatric Hospital. Two brick towers topped with a light flanked the road. She drove between them, working around a downed tree that must have fallen during a storm. A breeze in the air caused the trees to sway back and forth.

As the expansive building came into view, she glanced at Maizie.

“I don’t recognize it.”

Kenna said, “That’s good.”

“Sure, because it means everything in there is going to be a surprise instead.”

Kenna almost smiled. The two-story brick building had rows and rows of broken windows. Huge stone stairs going up to the front door. Probably a basement level below ground. “It looks…cold.”

“That’s the scariest-looking building I’ve ever seen. It looks like the set of a horror movie I don’t want to watch.”

She was right.

Kenna pulled up in front of the steps. “Only death lives in this place.”

Maizie twisted around to look at her. “Did you have to say that?”

“Sorry. I don’t know why that came out just then. You can stay in the car.”

“There’s no way I’m staying in the car. Staying in the car is bad for me.” Maizie pushed open her door, but she definitely hesitated.

“I’m sure the guys brought all their weapons.” Kenna grabbed her gun in its holster from the duffel on the back seat. No way was she going inside this building without one. She clipped the holster on her belt and slid the gun out to check it.

Ramon pocketed his keys and drew a gun from the small of his back while the other guys climbed out of his truck. They’d parked on the gravel drive closest to the front of the building. “All the grass is dead.”

Bruce came up behind him. “The trees, too.”

“Hopefully, the building doesn’t collapse while we’re inside,” Stairns said, eyeing the building. He had a shotgun in his hands, which he handed to Maizie. “It isn’t loaded, but it looks scary to anyone who comes at you. Keep it pointed at the ground. It’s good practice.”

Maizie slid the backpack onto her shoulders and tucked the weapon against her front.

“Your finger goes nowhere near the trigger. Got it?” Stairns said.

She nodded. “Got it.”

“I don’t think there will be a computer to connect to, so you won’t need the backpack.” Kenna figured she could go with Bruce while Ramon and Stairns split off with Maizie.

“I’m not leaving it out here. It could get stolen,” Maizie said.

Ramon looked around. “Ain’t no one here but ghosts.”

Bruce grinned. “Who you gonna call?” He turned to the steps leading to the front door.

The teen said, “You guys need to teach me gun safety so I can carry one that’s loaded.”

Kenna wasn’t so sure about that, even if Maizie was about to turn eighteen. “I’ll put it on the agenda for our next family meeting.”

Stairns said, “Guess you’d better check the law, find out what you can legally do at eighteen. There could be restrictions, and the last thing you need is to get in trouble because you didn’t follow the rules about having a gun.”

Maizie let out a very teenage sigh.

Kenna stepped up beside Bruce, who had the padlock open. “That doesn’t match the age of the building.”

“No kidding.” He pulled the door open. “Someone was here recently.”

“Question is,” she said, “how recently?” She stepped into the lobby after him.

Dirt and leaves littered the floor, blown in by the breeze through shattered windows. The air was still and smelled faintly of something chemical, like disinfectant.

A wide staircase curled up to the second floor, and below it was a hall to the left. The entryway continued back under the second floor, with doors on both sides and a closed set of heavy doors that led in the direction of the back. Above their heads, a chandelier hung, the pieces of glass now dark and discolored with age.

Ramon wandered through the empty lobby. “Something was dragged across the floor. Look.” He waved at the stone floor where the dirt had been wiped away in a long line.

They cleared the ground floor but found nothing.

Kenna said, “Bruce and I will check the basement level. You guys go upstairs.”

“If you say so.” Ramon followed her up the steps. Maizie walked behind him with Stairns next to her.

Stairns headed for the staircase with Maizie behind him.

Kenna eyed the girl’s hold on the shotgun, even though it wasn’t loaded. The fact Maizie wanted training was good. She should know how to handle a weapon. But it would be better if she didn’t go anywhere near a situation where she’d have to use it. Kenna would be much more comfortable with Maizie in the office than in the field.

“Kenna!”

She jogged to catch up with Bruce and found him in the hall.

“Coming?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He ducked out of sight through a doorway into a dark staircase that went down and then doubled back on itself. His boots echoed in the quiet. “Remind you of that house in France?”

“Hopefully, none of our friends are in the basement.”

Bruce chuckled. “We got them out. How is Preston, anyway?” He clicked on a flashlight and held it under his gun hand, pointing both at the space in front of him.

Kenna turned on the flashlight on her weapon. “He’s good. He’s been emailing from his house in Washington state. A young woman with a baby that we met in New Orleans also lives there since she needed somewhere safe to stay. He’s been helping her find a job and a place to stay and a good daycare. All while he recovers from the wounds he sustained.”

Bruce opened the door at the bottom of the stairs. “He’s the reason I got back into the US, so I can’t really fault the guy.”

“Mmm.” Kenna had been contending with the fact Preston had lied to her about why he wanted her to go to England. He’d hired Miami Security International, and all of them had withheld information from her about why. They’d known about the company but needed her to discover her personal connection to it. She’d found out a lot that she hadn’t known about herself, but the journey to get there had been tough.

“But if you want him to die mysteriously of natural causes…”

Kenna said, “I won’t be asking you to do that. Not even with people I hate.”

“Fair enough.”

“Bruce—”

“It’s fine. I get it. Protect the kid, help you do your thing. It’s fine.”

Kenna followed him down the basement hall. “Can we focus? We can do your job performance review later.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

She spotted the shift in him. “Why?”

“Because there’s someone down here with us.”