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Chapter Twenty-Seven

R amon stopped at the driver’s door and turned to her, his face shadowed by the streetlights around the law office parking lot. “We have the address. Let’s just go.”

She shook her head, moving to the passenger’s side. “If we go in with guns blazing, we could get killed or captured.”

“I mean…” He shrugged. “Captured is fine. We’ll just fight our way out and rescue everyone as we go.”

She didn’t share his same certainty. In fact, she was barely holding it together right now.

Thinking any second that her phone was going to ring or beep with a text.

Gregorio might contact her with information about Jax—a photo or another threat.

Or the FBI could call to say they’d found his body somewhere, mangled and cold.

Bruce wandered over to where his car was parked, alongside hers. He stopped in the space between her door and his without crowding her. “What are you thinking?”

She shifted her weight, too amped up to be still. “Gregorio lied to get Jax and I to that state park area. He said he was following the retirement home guys, but if he wasn’t, then we can contact them. Use the number they gave us.”

Ramon asked, “Didn’t Maizie say that was for a pay phone in New York?”

“We have to try,” she said, half aware that the law office towered over them to one side.

Were the lawyers up there, watching them have this conversation?

For all she knew, they could have surveillance in the parking lot that allowed them to listen in to everything she and her associates were saying.

“We can find out if they know about security at the silo or if there’s another way in.”

Bruce said, “You really think they’re going to help us get in and take down that doctor guy?”

Kenna worked her mouth side to side. “I have an idea about that. Let’s go.”

She climbed into the passenger’s seat of Ramon’s car, not wanting to make this call where there was a chance the lawyers might hear it.

If only she was in Jax’s car with her husband.

Leaving it where they had, back where he had disappeared, made a whole lot more sense.

It was proof he’d been there. Proof he hadn’t left to go somewhere else.

Because he’d been taken.

Ramon hit the gas and peeled out of the spot. She checked the side mirror and saw Bruce behind them.

Kenna glanced over at Ramon. “Thanks for helping me.”

“Just make your call.”

She figured that meant, “You’re welcome,” but ignored the fact his gruff response sounded curt. Jax was missing, and Ramon was all in for helping her do what it took to get him back. Despite how he might’ve felt about her.

Any romantic feelings for her had probably dissipated a while ago, and if he did still have some, it really wasn’t her problem.

He wasn’t making it her issue to deal with, that was for sure.

Hopefully, he’d find someone—the person God had planned for him.

Not just a whim or a way to self-destruct.

He seemed to live his life on a knife-edge, but that was his business.

All she was able to do for him was pray.

So she did that.

The peace of God was something she would always need, for herself and for the people she considered family.

After a minute or so, she found the number where she’d saved it and made the call. While it rang, she said to Ramon, “We need to check in with Maizie.”

“Pretty sure Bruce is doing that. He’s getting good at looping the kid in.”

Before she could respond, the call was answered. “Yes?”

“This is Kenna Banbury-Jaxton.” She wanted to add that last part. The two sides of who she was, personal and professional. “Who is this?”

“Depends on what you want.”

She figured One, considering the tone, so she explained what Gregorio had done.

They hadn’t seen these guys since the house explosion.

For all she knew, they could’ve found the doctor and convinced him to go to ground and disappear.

A huge operation couldn’t be erased in just a few hours, but if the doctor thought he was secure in his bunker—the silo Terri had designed—then it was entirely possible he had enough hubris to think it was impenetrable.

“We need your help to get in.” She wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.

“Get in where?”

She said, “The silo,” then gave him the location Terri had given them. “We’re going to save those people.”

“And you think I’ll stop you?”

“I think you want to, but you know it’s not the right thing. We have to know if we’re going to get killed by some security system he has set up before we even reach the door. I need you to be straight with me. People’s lives are on the line.”

“Yeah, mine.”

She gritted her teeth, the phone hot against her ear. Ramon was driving eighty-five down the freeway. “Mine, too. Right?”

“So why are you all fired up to get yourself killed?”

Kenna said, “Because it will save other people’s lives, and it will stop him from doing this again.”

Of course, there was still the problem of how to get Jax back when she wouldn’t give Buzard to the Santino crime family. No matter what she’d promised, that wasn’t justice. Maybe Nicola could convince Gregorio to let justice take its course.

But was that justice going to come in the form of a Dominatus Tribunal?

All she cared about was saving those people. And getting Jax home. She would do whatever it took to make that happen.

The rest of it, she was going to leave in God’s hands.

“Very well.”

Kenna frowned. “You’re going to help me?”

One was silent for a moment, then said, “Three, Four, and Five aren’t going to like it. If I can find something to help them afterward, then I’m going to do that.”

“He can’t be left to continue.”

One said, “I’ll give you Buzard. Whatever happens to me… Well, in the grand scheme of human history, it’s not really relevant, is it?”

That was probably a rhetorical question. “Thank you.”

“I’m not doing this to be appreciated.”

Kenna bit her lip. “The architect told me where to find the silo. I need to know how to get in?—”

Noise over the line cut her off at the end.

“One?”

He said, “What are you…?”

He might have been talking to her or someone else. “One?”

A crackle burst against her ear. She winced.

One said, “No, you’re not going to—don’t. Don’t!”

One gurgled. He cried out.

Kenna lowered the phone and said to Ramon, “Call Maizie. I need to know where he is.” She listened to the call but heard nothing more. “One? One!”

Ramon had his cell to his ear, driving with the other hand. He tucked it between his shoulder and his chin, grasped the steering wheel with both hands, and changed lanes fast. He got off the freeway at the next exit, pulling into a gas station parking lot. Bruce pulled up behind them.

Ramon and Bruce got out, talking between them while Ramon made the call.

She checked the call with One was still open on her phone, but she still couldn’t hear anything. “One?”

He would be dead before they got there. But she had to try.

Ramon slid back into the driver’s seat. “Okay, got it. Thanks, kid.” He dropped his phone in the cup holder and hit the gas.

Kenna grabbed the door handle, holding on while he swung out of the parking lot. Ten minutes later, they pulled off the main street into the parking lot for a flooring store. He drove around the back, unlocking his phone with his thumb. He handed it to her.

She still had her phone connected to the call with One, but she laid it in her lap. On Ramon’s screen, a dot blinked. “Up a little farther, almost to the next building.”

“Never mind,” Ramon said. “I see him.”

He pulled off to the side by a chain-link fence behind the big warehouse building. It looked almost new in front, with gleaming windows and a fancy sign. Back here, cardboard and Styrofoam overflowed the garbage.

What she wouldn’t give for a nice cooling breeze.

It wasn’t going to fix the gritty, hot feeling and the dirt all over her.

She needed a shower after being left on that trail, but who cared when there was a job to do.

Going home would feel so wrong without Jax there.

She might be able to wash herself and snuggle Jolene for a second, but that wasn’t what would get her husband back.

She shoved her door open and ran over to the dark lump in the shape of a man lying in the road. “One!” Kenna collapsed beside him and rolled him to his back. She gasped. Blood coated the front of his shirt. “One.”

He inhaled a rattling breath that sounded like some of the blood was in his lungs. “You.”

“I’m so sorry.” Of course, he had been killed because of her.

Because he’d been about to betray his friends and the doctor to help her. They had to have known somehow—heard him on the phone with her—and understood his intent.

“I’m so sorry,” she repeated.

That rattling sound felt like it moved through her. Maybe it was the sound of her heart, unable to handle all the pain of what was going on. Too much grief. Even though she knew what loss felt like, it surprised her all over again with how much it hurt every time.

“Silo,” One croaked out.

She winced, her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t try to talk. We’ll get an ambulance.”

Ramon had a knife out. He cut One’s shirt open, pulling back the sides to reveal his chest. A number of stab wounds leaked blood in steady streams. Ramon leaned down with his head turned so he could listen. He knocked in different places on One’s chest and then shook his head.

“Hold on.” She leaned close to One, refusing to admit defeat. “We aren’t going to let you go.”

“Silo.” He coughed and blood bubbled up from his lips. “Door.”

“We’ll figure out how to get in. Don’t worry about it.” She swiped a tear from her face, probably smearing blood across her cheek, but she didn’t care. “Don’t worry.”

His hand found hers. One turned hers over so her palm was up. He traced something on her hand, wincing. Pain in his expression and more blood leaking from him. He wasn’t going to last much longer.

He tapped her palm with his index finger.

“What is it?” She looked at her hand.

He drew a number three on her skin with the tip of his finger.

“Three.” He repeated the gesture, and she said, “Three.” He tapped a dot on her hand. “Period. Four. Four…” He kept going.

Ramon typed on his phone, entering everything she said. He muttered, “Those are latitude and longitude numbers.”

When the numbers stopped, Ramon said, “Got it.”

One’s hands slid from hers, falling to the ground by his sides. He inhaled another rattling breath, but it caught far too soon. A second later, his head lolled to the side.

“There’s nothing more we can do for him.”

She looked at Ramon but couldn’t say anything.

“It’s not the location Fleming gave us. Maybe it’s another way in.”

She should nod, but she hung her head instead. She didn’t have the energy to do anything just then. A man was dead, and she should’ve been able to protect him, but in the end, there hadn’t been anything she could do.

I’m powerless. She squeezed her eyes shut. God help us.

Bruce hauled her up. “Come on, girlie. Time to go.” He walked her back to the car and put her in Ramon’s passenger’s seat. When he reached over with the seat belt, she grabbed it and clicked it in.

“Thanks.”

He squeezed her shoulder and shut the door.

Kenna ran her hands down her face, praying some more. Trying to figure out a way they could do this, but her mind couldn’t come up with any answers. She needed God to step in like He did. In a major way.

Ramon started the car. “They knew he was talking to you, and they took him out. That means they’ll be headed to the doctor to inform him that we’re on our way. We don’t have much time.”

She managed to nod. “What did Maizie say?”

“Those coordinates are for property owned by the same corporation. It’s about a half mile from the shed that Fleming said was the entrance, so…a back door? Another way in?”

“I hope so.” She had so much riding on this that part of her had to admit she couldn’t do it. In a way, that made her want to curl up and quit. But God could bring them through this. He could do it all. “Let’s go.”

Ramon squeezed her knee.

Her phone buzzed. She lifted it from the cup holder and hit the power button on the side. The number Gregorio had used flashed on the screen with a notification for a message. An image sent by text.

“Jax.” She fumbled to unlock it.

“What is it? What did Santino send you?”

The text thread loaded. Her stomach flipped over at seeing Jax tied to a chair with sweat across his hairline. His face was set hard, anger infusing his features. It wasn’t directed at her, but it still hurt to see it there on his face.

“Kenna, what does it say?”

She pushed out a breath. “Gregorio wants an update on where we’re at. He’s giving us four hours to bring Nicola and Doctor Buzard to him, or he’ll leave Jax in the desert in pieces.”

Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed it back down.

“It might be time to call in the FBI. Tell them what we know.” Ramon glanced over, then focused back on the road. “If we tell them where the front door is, maybe they can distract the doctor while we sneak in the back. That could work, right?”

“That’s a pretty good idea.”

“That’s why you keep me around. For my pretty good ideas.” Ramon gently shoved her knee. “Make the call.”

He wasn’t giving her much choice except to do as he said, but that was exactly what she needed. A team who had her back. People she cared for, who cared for her, and who were here to help her get her husband back.

“Okay, I’ll call them.”