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Chapter Fourteen

“ N othing?”

Kenna probably sounded as exasperated as Maizie when she said, “Nothing.”

“Isn’t that odd?” the teen asked.

They were back in the car, heading to a place where Kenna could get a bone density test. She’d already made the appointment, choosing an out of the way doctor’s office.

She would have to use a fake ID, and paying in cash would help keep the test results off the radar of the wrong people.

She needed to know for herself what had been done to her.

Jax pulled into the parking lot in plenty of time for the appointment. He stopped, leaving the engine running so they could keep talking to Maizie in the cool, air-conditioned interior.

Probably not the day off he’d been imagining, even if it was a normal day for the two of them.

Jax looked over at her, then said to Maizie, “Not super odd. People don’t purposely point their doorbell cameras at each other’s homes. There were no traffic cams in the area. No neighborhood surveillance. We knew going over there that it was a long shot.”

“I found a couple of cases. I sent them to Bruce so he could look over the files. In one, there’s a witness who reported exactly what Dana told Kenna.

People in medical uniforms with freaky masks on.

The guy is a neighbor, and he happened to be looking out of his window at the time.

But the police didn’t put much stock in it. ”

Kenna said, “They never found the missing person?”

“Nope. Scottsdale PD has one listed as a cold case. It’s eight years old now.”

“Who went missing?”

Maizie said, “Rebecca Hardy. Twenty-seven years old. Husband and one child.” Her tone softened, resonating with sadness. “No one ever saw her again.”

“And the other one?”

“Similar story, Melissa Graham. She was engaged, went missing just a few weeks before her wedding, but no one found her, and the police assumed she got cold feet,” Maizie said.

“There’s more evidence on Mrs. Hardy. She went missing after a church service one night.

She had stayed late to clean up. Next day, the church’s administrator showed up and found her car in the parking lot.

The driver’s door was open, and her keys were on the ground near it. ”

Kenna asked, “What about the husband? He didn’t report her missing?”

“He’d gone to stay with his mother for the weekend and took their child with them. Could be a coincidence, but it might not be.”

She looked at the time on the dash. “I need to get inside for my appointment, but can you find out if there are any similarities between these three cases—the two missing women and Nicola Santorini?”

“I’m digging in now.”

“Thanks, Maze.”

Jax told her bye and hung up. “Ready for this?”

“No.” She wasn’t going to lie. “I want to know, but I also don’t want to know.”

“I can understand that.”

“Whatever he did to me…it’s done. I doubt there’s any reversing it. And honestly, why would I want to go back? My arms are stronger. All of me is stronger. I have to learn exactly how much stronger and how to account for it. And what the drawbacks are going to be.”

“You think he did you a favor?”

No way to tell. “I just don’t want to keep being kidnapped if it means I need treatments. I don’t want to be someone who’s inexplicably missing or the subject of an experiment. I just want them to leave me alone. Preferably long enough that I can figure out how to destroy them.”

Jax squeezed her knee. “That’s my girl.”

She chuckled, shaking her head.

“You can go in by yourself if you want to. I don’t need to be in there.”

“I know, but you should come with me and hang in the waiting room at least.” Not just because she’d rather not face this alone. It was an odd mix of wanting to shield him from it and knowing she probably needed him there to help her deal with the test results. If only she could handle it herself.

Which meant she should pray that God gave her what she needed to get through this.

It wasn’t only about her being sufficient on her own or leaning on Jax and getting her strength from him. What she needed to do was go to God for strength.

“I’ll find a good restaurant for dinner after.”

She smiled at him, got out of the car, and headed into the doctor’s office with her husband right behind her. The waiting room was empty. Within ten minutes, they had her in a gown, lying on a table while the scanner thing moved over her.

Kenna avoided the questions of why she’d suddenly requested the test, opting for an answer about getting older.

Sure, she was only in her mid-thirties, but why not get a jump on the next twenty years and how her health was going to change?

She’d need a baseline later. The nurse and the imaging assistant didn’t seem to believe what she said, but she sounded convinced about her own story at least.

After she’d dressed, they showed her to an office. The nurse stood by the door. “The doctor will be with you shortly to discuss your results.”

“My husband is out in the waiting area. Can I go get him? He’ll want to be in here.”

“I’ll show him back.” The nurse gave her a polite smile and shut the door.

Even though there were two chairs in front of the desk, Kenna wandered to the credenza and looked at the shelves.

Photos of the doctor in a row—framed pictures of him with the governor and then on a cruise with his family.

He seemed like a nice guy who kept his figure trim and enjoyed having a tan from his leisure activities.

She couldn’t tell much else from his office since it needed to present a professional front.

It wasn’t as if he was going to leave his dirty secrets on the desktop where a lone patient could snoop.

She wiggled the mouse and found she’d need a password to access his computer.

So he cared about keeping records secure. Or perhaps maintaining his own privacy.

Hopefully, this doctor wouldn’t face any danger from treating her, even if the last one had probably been kidnapped because of her.

Kenna heard a shuffle behind her.

The door hadn’t opened, so no one else was in?—

A sharp prick turned into a burning sensation in her upper arm. She twisted, grabbed the outside of her shoulder as she turned…

And came face-to-face with a guy taller than her, dressed in white scrubs and wearing a white mask with holes for eyes.

She rushed at him, but he caught her. Her limbs felt like jelly. He turned her and sat her in one of the chairs.

She tried to speak. No words came out.

Jax. She screamed his name in her head. This was it. They were going to take her from him. This time, she was going to remember every terrifying second of it.

She tried to move, but it felt like being paralyzed—or how she imagined that would feel.

Wanting to move but unable to get her body to cooperate.

Her mind was convinced she should be able to move if she simply willed her body to do so hard enough, as if her mind had full control over her body.

But she couldn’t even lift a finger. She could barely hold her own head up.

Her lips wouldn’t move any more than her body.

She couldn’t get to her phone to warn anyone or call for help. But Jax would know something was wrong as soon as he was brought here.

A door to the side opened, and he walked in. Doctor Marcus Buzard. She’d seen him more in photos than in real life, at least that she could remember. The top of his head reflected the light overhead, and he stared at her with an assessing gaze as he went to sit behind the desk.

Whoever had stuck her with that needle was probably still here, lurking behind her.

The doctor’s shoulders filled out the lab coat. He wore a purple shirt with a floral tie under it, along with gray slacks. He settled into the chair, which rolled back a couple of inches.

“It’s good you sought out the right kind of testing.” He set a tablet on the desk in front of him and swiped on the screen. “It will make it easier for you to follow my instructions if you understand what we’re trying to achieve here.”

She stared at him.

“Over the past seventy years, my predecessors and I have been endeavoring to provide Dominatus with the perfect operative. Considering you are one of their progeny, it seemed you fell into my lap when you moved here with your husband. Certainly made it easier to continue your treatment.”

So she’d walked right into a trap. Or the whole thing had been orchestrated. The Dominatus might have been pulling strings the whole time, making sure Jax got his job here. Directing their lives so that they’d settle in this city where the doctor already had everything set up.

He wasn’t the man in the photos on the credenza, so she figured he didn’t operate out of this office specifically. Hopefully, the doctor who did was still alive and not another casualty of this war she’d found herself caught up in.

Kenna tried to inhale, but it was like sucking through a blocked straw. Her head swam.

“You gave her too much, Earnest.” Doctor Buzard shoved his chair back and came around the desk to her. He touched two fingers to the underside of her neck. Checking for a pulse.

I’m not dead yet, Buddy.

She wanted to strangle him, but that would have to wait until she could move her fingers. When she had her strength back, he was going to regret doing this to her.

Doctor Buzard chuckled, digging in his breast pocket for a tiny flashlight, which he flicked in front of her eyes, moving it from side to side. “Kenna Banbury isn’t scared of us.”

He was wrong about that. She simply preferred anger…and action. As far as she was concerned, he could do whatever he wanted to her so long as Jax was kept out of it. More likely, though, he would be the leverage they’d use to convince her to cooperate.