Page 5

Chapter Five

K enna stepped out into the hallway rather than heading back into the auditorium. Ramon was already out there, talking to Maizie. Kenna held the door for Adrielle and Laney, who both stuck near her to say goodbye.

Adrielle gave her a gentle hug.

“Didn’t go the way I thought it would.” Laney gave her a hug as well. “But you got a dress.”

“We cried. We laughed. We shopped.”

“Dinner tonight? I can find a place,” Adrielle said.

Kenna nodded. “That would be nice.”

The two of them wandered off, and at the end of the hall, Kenna spotted the woman who’d come into the room earlier. She watched Jax’s mom and sister but didn’t follow them. Instead, she turned to stare at Kenna.

Who waved her over.

While the woman walked to them, Kenna crossed to Ramon and Maizie and caught their conversation.

“She did?” Ramon looked like a proud uncle.

“It’s gorgeous.” Maizie grinned.

Both of them looked like they’d won something.

“We might have a case.”

They snapped around to face her.

“If you two aren’t busy.”

Maizie didn’t quit smiling. Ramon’s facial expression was more like a smirk. Their body language told her everything—both of them were enjoying themselves immensely.

As the woman drew near, Ramon shifted slightly in front of Maizie, who leaned against the wall behind him. The woman had seen her. But they already knew their enemy was aware of the teen’s existence, where she’d come from, and where she lived now. It was up to them to protect her because they certainly couldn’t change the fact she’d been exposed by them.

Their enemy had been watching all of them.

The question was, what did they want?

And what did this woman have to do with it.

“I’m Kenna.” She motioned to him. “This is my associate, Ramon.”

He said, “The empty Starbucks cup was a nice touch.”

Neither of them introduced Maizie, and it looked like the woman might’ve been expecting it. “Roxanne. Nice to meet you all.”

Sure it was. “You wanted to talk to me?”

The first inkling of a frown appeared on her face. “I have a problem, and it requires your help.”

“Does it have anything to do with a police crime scene?”

Roxanne seemed surprised Kenna knew. “Actually, yes.”

“Okay, then.” Kenna tipped her head. “Let’s go check it out.” She glanced at Ramon.

He said, “Later.”

Maizie had said that only a forensic accountant could help make sense of the information they’d gained yesterday, so she may as well get started with that. “Call Jax and ask for a recommendation for what you need.”

“Bye.”

Kenna kept her smile to herself, figuring the two of them wouldn’t be walking through the wedding show getting ideas. They were more likely to head back to the RV where Maizie could get to work while Ramon protected her.

The guys—Stairns, Ramon, and Bruce—had obtained a Class C, which they stayed in. Parked in the spot next to hers at the site. They’d opted for that so they could be nearby, but who would get custody of it when the trip was done remained a mystery.

“I can drive.” Roxanne glanced after Ramon, similar to the way Akira had looked at him.

Kenna figured ignoring it was best. His personal life wasn’t part of their working relationship, and if he wanted to start something, he could figure it out himself. He seemed content protecting Maizie when she was in the field, but that wouldn’t last forever.

Roxanne walked with her to a set of doors, through which was a concrete half a dozen steps that led them outside to a breezeway between the hotel and the parking lot structure. From there, they headed through another set of doors. She drew the rental keys from her jacket pocket and waved to the far side of the structure. “That way.”

After wearing that wedding dress, and the emotional upheaval that came with it, she’d changed back into her cotton cargo pants. The ones with huge pockets and some stretch for maximum door-kicking.

At least the wedding dress had that going for it. If she had to, she could fight in it.

Not that she was planning to do that.

Roxanne clicked the button on the key fob and started the car. Kenna slowed to stand by the back bumper.

“Now that we’re out of earshot of anyone, why don’t you tell me what this is about?” Before she got in the car. If it came to that, Kenna had plenty of weapons on her, but if Roxanne turned out to be an asset of the company, then Kenna would have to be careful. Assets could be lethal.

Roxanne turned to her. “You probably know who I work for.”

“Depends. Are you part of the resistance or loyal to your Grand Master?” At the least, this woman was bred to be genetically superior than the average person. Smarter. Faster. Kenna had been as well, but with her arms, she would be at a serious disadvantage.

“You think I’m going to incriminate myself?”

Kenna shrugged. “Wouldn’t it be nice to tell someone the truth for a change?”

Roxanne laughed. “And have you turn that information over to the wrong person? The company takes me out, and your hands are clean because they did the dirty work for you.”

She really thought Kenna would give her enemy information on its assets who were members of the resistance? “You think I’d purposely end the lives of good people trying to do the right thing in a horrible situation? Even to reduce the number of assets in the world?”

“I don’t know.” Roxanne mimicked her shrug. “Would you?”

She wasn’t likely to accept the argument that, in a way, those men and women were Kenna’s brothers and sisters. Who knew what Roxanne would think was a believable response?

“I guess you’ll find out,” Kenna said. “Now, tell me who it is that has familial DNA to mine.” For all she knew, it could be any of them—all created in a lab with donated cells.

“One of our assets.”

“Resistance?”

Roxanne hesitated a second, then said, “Yes. That’s how I know.”

But she wasn’t going to admit it aloud, in plain language. Kenna figured that was probably what had kept the resistance alive so long.

And her mother.

“Who is this asset to me?”

“I guess DNA testing will be able to tell you. Things within the company are far too compartmentalized for me to know one person and their situation.”

“Okay, so what do you know about this one?”

Roxanne glanced around. “Get in and I’ll tell you on the way.”

“Are we going to be able to look at the crime scene? The cops will have it locked down.”

She tugged open the driver’s door. “I figure you can talk us in there.”

Not too likely, but showing up at the scene was a surefire way for those detectives—or whoever had called Jax asking after her—to find her.

Because she was coming to them.

The real test would be what Roxanne did when the cops showed up.

Kenna buckled her seat belt, shifting so her phone and a weapon were within reach. The last thing she wanted was to miss out on her wedding again . Wearing that dress brought up so many thoughts about Bradley and some great spiritual revelations she hadn’t considered before.

Right now, she needed to focus, though. Being all twisted around internally wasn’t going to help her make sense of familial DNA at a crime scene.

If Roxanne didn’t plan to tell her who this person was in relation to Kenna, the only alternative was to guess. The one person in the world she knew of that was connected to her genes, at least for certain, was Amara Constantine.

But if her mother was an asset for the company, then that meant not only had she faked her death when Kenna was a toddler, she’d also gone back to work for them. Either for the resistance or because she had no other choice. Though there was another option—that Amara had changed her mind and agreed with the company’s endgame.

More likely, she was a double agent, using her position of trust to undermine them. Pretending she’d changed her mind. It might even be what had kept Kenna’s father, and Kenna, alive for so long. Her dad had passed away years ago now, but he was still a huge part of who she was.

Roxanne pulled out of the parking structure.

“Start talking.” Kenna glanced over, glad to not be the one driving so she could focus on assessing this woman.

Different clothes and hairstyles, and she could come across as all kinds of thirty-something women from a number of walks of life.

Roxanne said, “Two weeks ago, we lost contact with our asset here. I was sent to find you and gain your assistance in helping to find her.”

They probably figured if she thought the missing person was family, she’d be all on board to help. But what if the missing woman didn’t want to be found? “What do you know about her?”

“Not a whole lot, actually. Things are so compartmentalized I only have a code name. Chimera. As for what she was working on, she’d checked in that she was meeting with someone, but that was the last we heard.”

“You must burn through a lot of assets letting them go out on their own like that. Seems like you’d do better to keep track of them.”

Roxanne glanced over. “I’ll submit that as a suggestion for the future. You know, because the higher-ups are so good at taking constructive criticism.”

Kenna didn’t smirk since Roxanne likely wasn’t trying to be funny. “I already know they don’t care much about the value of a life. But if you had any information about the extent of their operation here in the US, that would help me fight them.”

“You mean clean up the mess you made.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Roxanne took a corner way too fast. “You took down the Rosenburgs. Now the company has nothing to push back at them, they can take all the territory they want and get a foothold here in the US.”

“So, it’s my fault for creating a power vacuum for people looking to steer society where they want it to go?”

“You said it, not me.”

“The Rosenburgs had their hooks in every level of US society. Private stockholders, government lobbyists. Healthcare. The media. Higher education. They even had someone in the FBI. That kind of corruption isn’t something I’m going to allow to continue if I can help it. The alternative to us being in a war against this ‘company’ as you all call it is that people like the Rosenburgs have the country in a stranglehold. So I’ll pass.”

“Except now you have to fight us whether you like it or not. And the company is so much worse than one family.”

Kenna said, “That’s life, I’m afraid. You take down a bad guy, and another comes along. Sometimes, they’re worse. Not exactly where I thought I’d be when I set out to catch killers and find missing people, but if taking them down makes it safer for ordinary people to live their lives, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

No matter that the president had effectively told her he had it under control. And he’d asked Jax to sign a nondisclosure about his mission to connect with the resistance so the US could help them. She was up against an international organization. No walking away.

And thankfully, she wasn’t alone.

She continued, “But it’s always been about finding a missing person. That’s the core of all of this. It’s about protecting lives. Especially when it’s family.” Making sure no one else had to go through what she went through the night Bradley lost his life. Not as far as she could help it, anyway.

So, if this organization wanted to manipulate her, they’d pressed the exact right button. They knew what tune to sing to get her to help Roxanne without even really thinking about it.

They’d made it about family.

Roxanne said, “Then this is right up your alley. And you could get the answers you’re looking for.”

That was what she was afraid of. “She’s your asset. Why don’t you find her?”

This woman had to be trained. There was no way she wasn’t. Whether she was here officially or under the radar, she had skills. Why involve Kenna? Unless they needed a scapegoat.

Kenna had to tread carefully with this, or it would blow up in her face.

And sometimes, that happened literally.

Roxanne said, “Aren’t you the one looking into the operation, trying to find a way to fight back? At least, I figure that’s why you broke into that finance company and copied all their files the other day. Finding this woman and uncovering what she was working on will be another blow. The resistance might even…owe you.”

And how did she know all that?

Regardless, it seemed they didn’t understand Kenna and what drove her, but she wasn’t going to let on about that. Instead, she said, “I guess the resistance needs my help, after all.”

“You can’t blame them for being insular, given the threat. Or for being wary of outsiders. Proud and wanting to do it themselves.”

“They’ve been at this a lot longer than I have. Even as long as I’ve been alive, someone has been fighting. Trying to regularly deal a blow to the organization’s operation. If I wasn’t a threat to the company, then that woman wouldn’t have tried to shoot Jax and me in Greece.”

She watched Roxanne for a reaction to that, which might be telling one way or another. Or not at all.

Her expression shuttered. Roxanne pulled onto a side street and into the parking lot for a low-budget motel. Good place for a clandestine meeting.

Not many cars were in the parking lot, probably due to the crime scene tape across one door on the upper level.

Roxanne said, “You wanna live a long and happy life, that’s your business. The rest of us want to stop the company from hurting people. And if you’d like to help, this is how we’re gonna do it.”