Page 19 of Storm and Tempest (Brand of Justice #13)

Chapter Fourteen

T he roll-up door at the end of the warehouse ascended, and Bruce pulled in. Maizie had been at the RV, so she was across town still but on her way, and Jax was watching her progress on his tracking app.

The slam of the car door echoed in the otherwise quiet expanse of space. A couple of birds took flight up in the ceiling, soaring out an open window.

A couple of the lawyers he’d met a few months ago at their office were at the far end of the room, standing guard. One of the two had been there when they rescued him, he was pretty sure. He’d been badly injured and didn’t remember a lot of it, but he thought she looked familiar.

The mafia guys who had captured him, trying to get Kenna to rescue the leader’s niece in exchange for Jax’s freedom, hadn’t been seen since. He never asked anyone where they were. Whether the lawyers killed them, or someone else had, Jax wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

But where did that get him? Maybe he should’ve asked a whole lot more questions, given Amara had been keeping the secrets she had. Then there was Ramon and the thing he seemed to have going with Zeyla—even if it was antagonistic.

Bruce stopped by the trunk of the car, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. Blood at the corner of his mouth. His former partner had put up a fight.

Jax strode over. “Were you going to tell anyone you caught up to Samuel and were moving in?”

“I told Maizie.” He reached for the trunk. Jax grabbed his shoulder and turned the man back around. Bruce twisted to him, already swinging.

Jax blocked the punch. “We’re going to establish some ground rules.”

“Like no one puts their hands on anyone else?”

Jax wanted to say, You started it , but didn’t. “Fine.” He folded his arms. “But clue us in. You don’t want the guy loose, and he needs to explain his involvement while also giving you an answer as to why he betrayed you. Did I get that right?”

Bruce nodded.

“Great. But now is when we quit doing things solo and call each other for backup.”

After all, if he’d quit the FBI to help them full-time, then they needed to start acting like a team.

Ramon, staring at his phone, muttered, “Who put you in charge?”

Jax glanced at him.

Bruce flipped the lid of the trunk open, and he and Amara hauled Samuel out. The guy was breathing hard behind the cloth tied around his head. Both his hands and feet had been taped together, and he’d soiled himself.

Jax wrinkled his nose, but couldn’t help noticing how it seemed Bruce and Amara were in sync. There was a pattern to their movements, most likely similar to him and Kenna. As if they’d spent a lot of time in close quarters—living and working together.

All that since Bruce had met her only months ago?

The guy certainly kept his secrets, but it wasn’t like he was playing both sides in the same way Amara did.

At least, not according to Kenna he wasn’t.

Now that Jax knew Amara had been hiding Kenna’s situation from all of them, he’d have to ask them straight-out what was going on.

“I’m just saying.” Ramon shrugged. “Kenna lets us do our own thing.”

“And look where that has us so far.” Jax wasn’t going to back down on this. “It’s time to change how we’ve been doing things.” Ramon didn’t look up, so Jax peered at what was on his screen. A small circle moved across a map. “You’re tracking Maizie as well?”

“She’s almost here.”

Jax nodded. “When she gets here, we’re having a team meeting.” Someone grumbled, but he didn’t wait around to figure out who. Instead, he went to the front doors and watched for Maizie to appear in the direction she was coming from.

Bruce followed him outside, and then Ramon.

Bruce said, “They’re getting Samuel settled in a spot that’s good for questioning.”

Jax didn’t look at either of them. “They’ve done that before here?”

“Probably thought they’d have to do that with Elliot,” Bruce said. “But he just told them everything after Amara brought him here.”

“Even though she’s the one who ran him off the road?” He didn’t understand any of these people. They didn’t operate the way he’d been trained to at all.

Bruce started to say something but didn’t.

Maizie pulled into the parking lot at that moment, turning haphazardly into a space across two white lines and barely shutting off the engine before she ran over.

The young woman didn’t slow down. She slammed into Jax and wrapped her arms around him.

“She’s really alive? When did Amara hear from them? ”

He hugged her back, careful to keep his arms loose for when she wanted to step back. “She’s alive,” he repeated back to her. Rather than dwell on the when, he just wanted a second to absorb the fact they hadn’t killed Kenna.

She stepped back, swiping her face, and groaned, “Ramon.”

“I know. It’s good news.”

She gave him a hug as well, briefer than the one she’d given Jax. Then she hugged Bruce. The old man said, “Trouble,” sounding like he had a lump in his throat. When he stepped back, he sniffed.

“She’s alive,” Jax said, just to voice it aloud again. “That means we need to double down on finding her while we have this fresh evidence.”

“With team meetings?” Bruce eyed him.

“All or nothing,” Jax replied. “We do this together.”

Ramon shook his head. “Isn’t it supposed to be ‘all for one and one for all’?”

Maizie said, “What are you guys talking about?”

“There’s work to do.” Jax motioned to the door. “Because the longer we let them have her, the greater the chance—” His voice caught in his throat. That image flashed in his mind again. Kenna in a hospital bed. “That we never get her back.”

Given who these people were, the ones who had her, they could be doing anything. She could be…

He rubbed his chest, his breaths coming hard. “We need to…” He gasped, and the world swam around him.

The others grabbed his arms and walked him inside, making the front door clang. It echoed through the entryway, and he shrugged off their hands to turn and pace.

Jax tried to catch his breath.

Vulnerable was one thing. But he couldn’t completely lose it in front of them or Maizie—get freaked out beyond anything he’d ever felt—over the fact that horrible things were happening to Kenna.

Even the best-case scenarios were a kind of torture.

And all of it boiled down to the fact that she wasn’t here with him, enjoying their life together.

Living a peaceful existence like the one she’d craved before they all barreled into her life.

“We’re going to find her,” Bruce said.

Ramon nodded. “We won’t stop. Because you know she would do the exact same for any of us.”

Maizie touched Jax’s arm. “She wouldn’t quit. Ever. That’s why we aren’t going to either.”

He was making them all waste time standing here dealing with his freak-out. He ran his hands down his face and scrubbed against the stubble on his chin. “I need her back.”

Maizie nodded. “We all do.”

“Can you even imagine if one of us was missing?” Ramon said, a smile tugging at his mouth. “She would be on a rampage. Yelling at all of us. Drinking too much coffee and never sleeping. We’d never hear the end of it until whoever it was got found.”

Maizie giggled. “That’s true.”

Even Bruce smiled.

“Thanks, guys,” Jax managed.

Ramon clapped his back. “You want a team? I guess you got one.”

“You want a meeting? Make it a quick one.” Bruce eyed him. “No wasting time.”

“I know you want to question Samuel, but it might be best if someone else does it,” Jax pointed out. “Just in case he feels like accusing you of being vindictive.”

Ramon said, “I’ll do it,” following Bruce through the doors.

Which left Jax in the entryway with Maizie. He said, “Are you okay?”

Something shifted in her gaze, but he couldn’t pin down what it was. “I’ll be okay when we find her.”

He nodded. “Me, too.”

Jax pushed through the doors, and Maizie went with him to the same hall where they’d spoken to Elliot. The lawyer stood waiting. “Ms. Romeo, will you take Maizie to speak with Elliot and his sister.”

The woman nodded. “I can do that.”

“And stay with her until I get there.” Jax wasn’t going to budge on that.

“You believe she might be in danger from Elliot or Sandra?”

“We’re all in danger all the time. Prudence dictates we pay attention to security. Especially when we have so much to lose.”

She eyed him, a tiny bit of admiration in her eyes. “Very well. I’ll stay with Ms. Morrow.”

He looked at Maizie, who tipped her head and said, “Go. I’m good.”

Not the first time he hadn’t wanted to leave Maizie, but he did it. Jax followed the sound of conversation down the hall, around the corner. Ramon stood in the hall with Zeyla, their stances a whole lot like they were in a standoff.

“What now?”

Ramon glanced over his shoulder at Jax. “Nothing.”

“Right.”

Zeyla said, “I didn’t do anything. Ramon is just being Ramon. ”

Her voice was so similar to Kenna’s it made his chest squeeze. He’d wonder if he needed to see a doctor if not for the fact this felt exactly like the weeks after his grandpa died. The same steel bands wrapped around his chest.

But he wasn’t grieving Kenna, because she wasn’t dead. She’s alive. He was going to find her. Which meant this feeling was fear that he might not.

“See?” Zeyla waved an arm. “He won’t even look at me.”

Jax shifted his attention to Ramon, who shook his head and said, “So you’re all butthurt about that? It’s hardly the time to be petty.”

Zeyla scoffed. “You think that’s what this is?”

Jax said, “You look like her. You sound like her.”

He wasn’t sure he could explain it more than that. But he figured it could very well be the problem Ramon had with this woman.

“I get it. I make things hard.” She started to turn away.

Ramon clasped her elbow. “Zey?—”

“Don’t bother.” She pulled her arm from his grip. “It’s not like I’m asking to be part of your team.” She walked away.

“We need to get in here and talk to Samuel,” Jax said. “But what’s going on? You know Kenna would ask. She would want to know.”