Page 18

Chapter Eighteen

R amon groaned. Kenna sat up on the hospital bed and looked at him, still holding the ice pack on her face. “You good, bro?”

He exhaled, coughed, and groaned some more. “Should’ve hit that guy again.”

“I kicked the other one pretty hard.” Soon as the police showed up, the twins had run out the back door. “We held our own.” But what would they have done if the cops hadn’t come in?

Stairns and Maizie rushed into the urgent care ward. This was the closest medical center to the roadhouse, which happened to be some small-town setup. The doctor hadn’t even blinked when fifteen people were walked in with split lips and black eyes, having trouble breathing. Someone had broken ribs, but it wasn’t Kenna or Ramon. Their fight with the twins spilled out to other people, and it all got pretty intense before the cops busted it up.

Maizie walked over, frowning. “What did you guys do?”

“We didn’t start it.” Kenna lowered the ice pack.

Maizie yelped.

“Is it that bad?”

Stairns moved to the end of the bed. “Your eye is swollen.”

“Long as it’s not purple.”

Maizie went over to Ramon. “Did you really get stabbed?” As if he didn’t have a bandage across his bare chest. High up and close to his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Ramon said something in Spanish, and Maizie nodded. She swung the backpack off her shoulders and pulled out a T-shirt. He said, “Help me get this on?”

Kenna watched closely, making sure Maizie didn’t have a reaction to being so close to a man with no shirt on. They kept it efficient, getting Ramon’s arm through the hole before Maizie stretched the shirt over, and he ducked his head.

“Thanks, Maze.” He got his other arm through himself.

She set a hand on her hip, like he was a wayward soul she needed to keep on the straight and narrow. “Why did you let yourself get stabbed?”

Ramon nearly smiled but didn’t, probably a good idea. “Poison. She caught me off guard.”

“Good thing she didn’t put poison on the knife.”

Kenna frowned, which made her face hurt even though the doctor had stuck her with a needle . She was going to leave him a one-star review online. “I didn’t think of that.” She had to cough again.

“What was it?”

“Some drug that closes up your airway like an allergic reaction,” Kenna said. “The doctor explained it but…” She shrugged.

“I’ll find out.” Maizie folded her arms. “And Roxanne? And Miller?”

“Where is Bruce?” Stairns asked.

Kenna glanced around. “Huh. Think we lost track of him in the confusion. Miller ran after Roxanne, but she got away in a car. He got a partial plate, so he went back to the FBI office to run it. He’s gonna tag team this with the police because they’ve got a suspect in an attempted mass murder.”

“That’s what they’re calling it?” Stairns pulled out his phone. When Kenna nodded, he said, “I’ll track down Bruce.”

“I’m ready to get back to work.” Ramon shifted to the edge of the bed, holding his left arm cradled in his right.

“You can get some rest.” Maizie lifted her chin.

Kenna felt her lips twitch.

“So can you.” She pinned Kenna with a stare. “Stairns and I will find Bruce. Tomorrow, we can figure out what to do next.” She looked exasperated.

Kenna’s phone rang. She reached all the way back to the bedside table and grabbed it. Jax was calling. “Hey.” She held the phone to her ear and found her shoes by the bed.

“Ramon got stabbed?”

“Yeah, can you believe he didn’t stop it?” She had to cough.

“Poison, really?”

“I ate like four fries.”

“To be honest”—he sounded as exasperated as Maizie—“that’s a miracle.”

Kenna’s mouth dropped open. “I…”

“Tell me I’m wrong.” He paused. “I’m glad you’re all right. That could have gone very badly.”

Fine, she couldn’t argue with it. She’d have dusted off that whole basket of fries if they’d been there any longer. “We’ve lost all our leads, and a bunch of people needed medical help. It did go badly.”

“I’m gonna hand in my notice tomorrow. I’m done being in Phoenix.”

“Don’t quit over one bar fight. You’d be throwing away your career.”

“My heart can’t take this, Kenna.” He sounded like he might be joking, but only a little and likely only to keep himself from getting overwhelmed by the fear.

“I’m good, just banged up.” She had to cough again, but the meds the doctor had given her started working right away, so she was only a little short of breath. “Ramon is okay. He just needs to sleep. If your mom and your sister are fine, then we’re good.”

Stairns walked back over to them, talking on his phone. “Got it.” He hung up. “Bruce is fine. But I can’t believe Miller walked you into that.”

“It was my idea,” Kenna said. “I can’t blame a guy for being mad that he got duped by a beautiful woman. She’s a professional at this.”

“This woman gets away a lot. It’s time to lock her down.”

She didn’t explain that the woman was a genetically superior asset of a deadly organization…but she was thinking it. Kenna ducked her head. “I love you.”

“Mmm. Love you, too.” He hung up.

“He’s mad. Kind of.” She lowered her phone, aware it wasn’t that he was angry with her for getting hurt. More like angry with himself for not being here to help. She’d be reacting the same way if he was out working cases miles from her. Even if he had a team of capable people watching his back.

Stairns said, “Bruce will meet us back at the campsite. Said he has something to show you.”

“Let’s get out of here.” She kicked her foot so her shoe slid on all the way and stood while also watching Ramon get up to assess his ability to move around. “How are you? Apart from the split lip, you look like nothing happened. I’ve got a swollen face.”

“Practice? Not like it’s the first time I’ve been stabbed.”

Yeah, she’d seen the scars on his upper body. Even the doctor had blinked at the sight of them.

“I need a caramel milkshake.” Kenna slid her arm through Maizie’s. “Are you driving?”

“Um, no.”

“Whatever the doctor gave me, it’s good stuff.”

Maizie chuckled.

Kenna fell asleep in the car, and when Stairns pulled into the campsite, she woke up with her forehead against the side window. She winced, a cold spot on her face from the glass, and groaned. “That’s the worst way to sleep.”

Stairns put the car in park. “Bruce is in our rig. He said to come see him.”

“I’m going back to work.” Maizie pushed the door open and got out. “Which is what I should’ve been doing this whole time.”

Kenna nudged Ramon awake. “Time to switch to your bed.”

He groaned, pushed the door open, and stumbled out.

Stairns met her at the rear of the car. “Maizie talked to Jax. She’s fine. They were both worried about you guys.”

“What does Bruce have?”

“A lead.” Stairns pulled the Class C door open, and she stepped inside, spotting two unexpected men sitting at their table. “It’s going to get crowded in here fast.”

Bruce stood by the sink, drinking from a short glass. “Our friend next door?”

“Went back to work.” She moved by him and got a water bottle out of their fridge.

Bruce pulled out his phone and sent a text.

Ramon eased by her. “I don’t wanna know, and I’ve been stabbed, so I don’t care.”

She glanced at the two bound men at the table. Their wrists and feet were taped together. Their eyes widened, watching Ramon, and Cliff appeared to be breathing hard underneath the tape stretched over his mouth.

Worried about what was going to happen next?

Bet you didn’t expect to get picked up by the same people you started a fight with, then ran from .

Ramon’s retreat made her wonder how bad he felt that he didn’t want in on what was going to happen next. Kenna watched him roll onto his bunk, halfway down the hall before the bedroom section. She held the water bottle to her face. “Cliff. And your brother. How fortuitous.” With her other hand, she tapped out a quick text, took their picture, and included it.

It would probably take Langford half an hour to get over here, which would save this situation from a turn that wouldn’t do any of them any good.

Stairns closed the door and set his elbow on the counter. The two men at the table both had bloody knots on their foreheads. In about the same spot. Bruce must have used the same tactic to take them both out.

“How’d you know we’d need them?”

Bruce lowered his glass. “Watched them run out the back. They were taking a path into the trees, so I followed. When I scoped it out before, I found a cabin up there. These guys chatted while they were walking.” His tone flattened. “Heard them talking about you and Ramon.”

The two men at the table started to breathe harder.

“Okay,” Kenna said to draw their attention to her. “Who wants to talk about the motel?”

Both of them looked from her to Stairns, then at Bruce.

Definitely, the kind of older men a fool might underestimate.

But Bruce had taken them both down, subdued them, and transported them here.

“As you can see”—Kenna motioned to where Ramon was now snoring—“we’re not interested in a fight. We only want information, and then you’re free to go.” To jail. “Whoever talks first gets to ask for something.”

Cliff’s unnamed brother lifted his chin.

Stairns leaned over and tore off the tape. “Your name?”

“Elyan Cartland. Cliff and I weren’t doing nothin’ but protecting our place. That’s the price of business.”

Kenna said, “Recommending to couples that they stay in a certain motel. After that, you…what? Send a photo of them to someone. So they know who to expect?”

Elyan winced. “It’s just business.”

“I’ll say.” Kenna stared at him. “I’m sure your mother is so proud of the two of you, being part of the organ trafficking world.”

Elyan flinched.

Cliff fought against the tape around his hands and feet, moaning behind the tape. Bruce took a half step toward him, which Cliff assessed as the threat it was, and Cliff stilled, breathing hard.

“Organ trafficking?” Elyan sputtered. “That’s crazy. It’s just about ripping off tourists. Catching people with their pants down and blackmailing them.”

“I’m not sure you know exactly what they’re doing. Maybe you asked, and they gave you some half-baked ideas. I think you should’ve dug a little deeper. Actually found out what they are doing.”

Elyan said, “We do what we’ve gotta do.”

“I can see that.” Bruce had his attention on his phone. “Got yourselves into some gambling debt, probably owe the wrong person. These guys swoop in when you’re desperate, and you think it’s the answer to your problems.”

“How much did they pay you?” Kenna asked.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Elyan said. “Just kill us and be done with it.”

Cliff didn’t seem to like that idea.

“We aren’t going to kill you,” Stairns said. “It would ruin the resale value of this rig.”

Elyan’s attention shifted to him, over by the door. “You’re gonna let us go?”

Kenna said, “Sure. After you tell us where to find these people. How you get paid. All communication back and forth. Everything.”

Elyan pressed his lips together and looked away.

Kenna went over and tore the tape off Cliff’s mouth. “Your brother thinks we should just kill you.”

“I saved a picture of them from our cameras, just in case.”

“In case you needed insurance.” Kenna stepped back into the aisle between the sink and the slender pantry cupboard. “Right? Let me guess, a man and a woman. But not the woman I was talking to earlier at the roadhouse. Someone else.”

“Give me my phone. I’ll send the file.”

Bruce handed two phones to her. She handed them to Stairns, who ducked out the door. Elyan and Cliff both looked confused when the screen door snapped shut. Cool air from outside came through the open doorway, and in the opening, she spotted a car easing down the lane from the end of the row where the campsite main drag was.

Langford.

“You’re in the middle of something, and you have no idea who these people are.” Kenna glanced between the brothers. “You think organ trafficking is the worst of it? I’ll tell you now it’s the surface of what this is. Beneath that is so much more.”

Her phone buzzed with a text from Maizie.

Got them.

She stowed her phone. Langford approached the door, followed by two uniformed officers whose car she hadn’t even seen. Apparently, the detective wasn’t taking any chances with this.

“Are they involved with the poisoning?”

Kenna said, “I thought it was attempted mass murder?”

Langford rolled her eyes. “Sounds like federal jargon to me. Who’s your friend?” She motioned to Bruce.

“My associate, Bruce.”

“You the one who brought in the infamous Cartland twins?”

Bruce took a sip of his drink. “Why? Is there a reward?”

Langford chuckled. “That’s funny.” She motioned behind her. “These officers will take the twins off your hands, given they have half a dozen outstanding warrants between them.”

“Probably why they were hiding out at an out-of-the-way roadhouse.” She was definitely going to find out why Miller hadn’t realized the bartenders were wanted men. Too focused on Roxanne to pay attention to a bartender and his twin. Surely, he wasn’t in on it, though it was almost worse that all this happened under his nose, and he never realized.

They were going to have a conversation.

Tomorrow. After she’d slept.

Bruce watched the cops load the twins into the back of their black-and-white patrol car. He muttered, “You never let me have any fun,” and closed the door.

Kenna turned to Langford. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Interesting friend you have there,” Langford said. “And you’re welcome, but I think I owe you a thanks for capturing them.”

“All in a day’s work.”

“Believe me, I’m counting on it.” In the dim light, her expression shifted.

“What is it?” Kenna asked her.

“Pressure from my captain. If we don’t get a lead and there are no new victims soon, the case is getting put on the back burner.” Langford shook her head. “Office politics.”

Kenna wasn’t going to let these people get away with this and hurt someone else. “I’ll get you another lead.”