Page 28 of Storm and Tempest (Brand of Justice #13)

Chapter Twenty

J ax jerked awake in the front seat of the car. The inside of his arm stung. The outside of his arm stung. His head felt like cotton had been stuffed inside it.

“Hey.” Ramon glanced over from the front seat.

They were on the freeway, but Jax didn’t bother trying to figure out where. He scrubbed his hands down his face. “Hey.”

“Gas station up ahead.” Ramon switched lanes.

“Maizie?”

From the back seat, the young woman said, “I’m good. Just working through the flash drive you got from those guys. You might wanna take a look when you’re all the way awake. It’s corporate stuff I don’t understand.”

“Okay.” Jax looked at Ramon. “How long was I out?”

“Only a few minutes,” Ramon said. “Not entirely surprising considering.”

He checked the side mirror and saw Zeyla’s car behind them. He didn’t want sympathy, or for his weaknesses to get explained away. His mind wouldn’t quit going over his father, and Kenna, and whatever that had been at the hospital with some tactical team threatening Maizie and Zeyla.

Jax rubbed the inside of his arm with his thumb while Ramon pulled into a truck stop and parked near the door.

“Pit stop,” Ramon said.

Jax stowed his gun in the pocket behind the driver’s seat and pushed the door open, then got his phone out. Dialing Stairns, he leaned against the outside of the door with his face turned to the sun.

Zeyla wandered over from her car, a couple of spaces down. She lit a cigarette and stood by the door, near a smoker’s pole off to the side. It didn’t quite look natural, making him wonder if it was just a good cover for her watching their backs.

Stairns answered, “Yeah.”

“It’s Jax. Any word on my father?” He explained what Four had said about his dad making a bad deal, and their offer for him to locate his father before they sent someone to take him out.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe they just don’t want a war,” Jax said. “That’s all I can think of. They want us to bring him in, and we feel like we’ve won something. Then we’re more willing to accept concessions or make deals when they’re ultimately going to refuse to turn Kenna back over to us.”

Ramon walked into the gas station store.

Jax checked and saw Maizie in the back seat and opened the door. She put her feet out and turned to the door but stayed on her computer. She glanced at him. “Why does Ramon keep it so cold?”

Jax managed to smile.

Stairns said, “I dug in your old man’s office computer and his safe, went through all his papers.”

“Mom gave you access?”

“There’s got to be more he never told her about. All this is way too neat. Does he have any business partners that you’re aware of?”

“He worked with a guy back in the day. They had a finance company together, but he sold his half and went off on his own.”

“Good place to start. I’ll ask your mom.”

“Thanks.”

“Elizabeth and your sister are taking care of her. If your dad really did take off, there’s no need for you to come here.”

Jax said, “He might even be coming this direction. It’s where I would go if I was gonna run. He’ll be far enough away from home, but not totally cut off if he needs my help.”

“The old man doesn’t think like you, Son. You can’t figure he’ll do what you would.” He said it gently, but the words still stung.

“No, I guess not.” Jax watched a semitruck pull out. “Thanks for being there.”

Jax had ordered him to do it, for all intents and purposes, dividing up team tasks and giving the most important one—after Maizie’s protection—to Stairns, who he trusted the most.

“You think it could be a distraction?” Stairns asked. “Maybe they captured him, and getting you to focus on your father means you’re not looking for Kenna as hard.”

“I don’t want to, but I wouldn’t put it past them.” Jax winced. “While you’re going through his business, look for anything ‘offshore’ in the files. Money, locations. I don’t know what it means, but it’s the last thing Samuel Chistane said before he died.”

“The guy is dead?” Stairns paused. “What did Bruce do?”

Jax told him the whole deal, and how Elliot was on the run.

Whatever the special agent did next, he hoped it involved the truth coming out for the FBI.

Someone had to realize a conspiracy had occurred.

Otherwise, it would continue unchecked. The FBI could use a little of Kenna’s brand of justice, but Jax was going to have to settle with what Elliot managed to achieve.

And if there was anything he could do later, then fine. But it was hardly his priority.

Part of Jax couldn’t really believe that was true.

For so long, the FBI had been his focus, and their integrity was sacrosanct as far as he was concerned.

Now that he lived more on Kenna’s side of the aisle, he had way different priorities.

And it had only been a few days since he handed over his badge and gun.

“There you are.” Maizie’s fingers flew across the keys. “But not for long.”

Stairns said, “I’ll check in with Bruce. See how things are going.”

“Thanks.” Jax hung up. “Maizie?”

“The flash drive has a virus on it, but that’s hardly surprising.” Maizie had all her focus on the computer screen. “Because I was expecting you.”

Jax crouched by the open door. “They’re infiltrating your computer?”

“This one is air gapped. They aren’t getting in the Banbury Investigations network.”

“Smart.” Jax nodded. She’d kept the flash drive and anything on it from connecting to the computer system she’d set up for Kenna. “You need me to do anything?”

“Yeah.” She bit her lip and reached to the side to hand over her phone. “Look at what that notification is. I don’t recognize the chime.”

He showed the phone to her so face ID could do its thing and then pulled down from the top. “It’s from the bank. You have an appointment reminder.”

“No, I don’t.” She tapped across the keyboard.

“What’s going on?” Ramon wandered around the back of the car, a plastic bag rustling against his leg. He dug inside it and handed Jax a sugary soda. “Drink this. It’ll wake you up.”

“Thanks.” He sipped and scanned the email. “Kenna made an appointment at the bank. It’s for today.” According to the time… “We have an hour.”

“Which branch?” Ramon unwrapped a sub sandwich and took a bite.

Jax shook his head. “Does it matter?”

“Yes,” Maizie said. “Because it wasn’t Kenna.”

He looked at her, wondering if he wanted to question aloud if that was true.

In the end, he said nothing and looked at the notification.

Then went back into Maizie’s inbox to see if he could find the original email.

“Here we go.” He tapped it. “Three days ago. Looks like that’s when the original email was sent. ”

“Like I said”—she let out a frustrated sound and slammed the lid of the laptop closed—“they’re giving me the runaround because I want to know what’s on that drive.”

“It should’ve been information about my father. Instead, it was a virus?” He didn’t really need an answer to that question. “Because they want to distract us.”

“They wanted something important from you,” Ramon said around a bite of sandwich.

“That part probably wasn’t a distraction.” Jax closed his eyes for a second. “They said they needed the father’s genetic profile.”

“She’s pregnant.” Zeyla blew out a long breath.

Maizie looked like she was about to cry.

Jax looked at Zeyla. “You knew?”

“Mom and I suspected.” She looked like she wanted to shrug, but her body was far too tense. “It’s what they do.”

“But it’s not their baby. It’s mine.”

She nodded, her jaw tight. This was the kind of woman who didn’t fit in suburban America. She was more suited to international travel, and covert operations. Even wearing wide-leg jeans and a cropped T-shirt, she still came across as deadly, as if the clothes were a ruse meant to disarm a person.

Since he’d met her, Kenna had softened. She’d let people into her life and her heart. She’d become a believer in Jesus.

Zeyla was the person Kenna would’ve been if she’d been raised in a family controlled by Dominatus.

Maizie said nothing, that sheen of tears still in her eyes. Ramon had quit eating and looked a little sick.

Zeyla pressed her lips together. “I can call Mom and see if she and Bruce figured out anything new.”

“We have an appointment at the bank.” Jax needed something else to focus on or he was going to lose it. Maizie, and even Ramon, needed him to keep it together so they could help him work the case rather than being focused on supporting him. “Maizie, are you authorized on the account?”

She frowned. “Why would someone make an appointment at the bank?”

“That’s what we need to find out. It could be what Dominatus is trying to distract us from.”

Her eyes widened. “You think whoever it is, that woman who looks like Kenna—you think she’s the one who made the appointment?”

“Her, or Kenna herself.” He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but there it was. The rush of possibly seeing her today. Getting her back. After all, it might not be the lookalike. Or it could be Kenna herself going to the bank.

Maizie tucked her legs back in the car and grabbed an iPad from her backpack. “I’ll check all the accounts. I haven’t really been paying attention to them.”

Ramon said, “Maybe they’re trying to clean out her money, since they believe she won’t need it. It’s probably where they get their cash from.” He made a face like saying that left a bad taste in his mouth.

“I’ll follow you guys and make my call.” Zeyla headed off to her car.

Jax slid in the front seat.

“Feeling okay?” Ramon cranked the car.

“Thanks for the soda.”

Ramon nodded even though Jax hadn’t answered the question. It didn’t really matter how he felt. What mattered is that they kept moving, overturning every rock in their path until they found the one whoever took Kenna had crawled under.

His father knew something about what was going on. Where are you, Dad?

Maybe he had this whole time and simply refused to admit it to Jax. Because it was safer for him, or for the whole family, if he kept his head down and avoided the fact he was in this whether he liked it or not.

Jax looked up the branch of the bank where Kenna had all her accounts.

They’d combined personal finances when they married, but her business was separate.

So was her trust fund from her dad’s book and movie sales.

Every two weeks, she moved money into their joint account that represented the paycheck the business she ran gave to her.

She’d also told him she paid Maizie more than what she paid herself to cover bills and incidentals.

Maizie tapped his shoulder. “Nothing in these messages says what the appointment is for.”

Jax turned to look at her. “What about activity on the account since she’s been gone?” He tripped over the last word, even though he tried not to. He cleared his throat, and his phone buzzed with a notification—the verse of the day from his Bible app.

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

Jax nearly laughed, muttering to himself, “That’s super subtle.”

Even if it wasn’t God blatantly trying to get his attention, it was still a good message he needed to remember.

Whatever happened, the Lord was sovereign.

Jax didn’t really understand how free will intersected with the things God ordained, even with how long he’d been a believer.

But he did know this was only going to turn out to be a victory if God directed the outcome.

It was the one thing he could count on versus the option of relying on his own fallible strength. Jax might not succeed if it was all up to him. The question was whether he could afford to trust God if the answer was one he didn’t like. That he might not get Kenna back.

If he lost her…and their baby.

A lump rose in his throat.

He blinked back tears and stared out the window, trying to decide if he could take the leap and fully trust God. Sure, he was praying constantly for Kenna. He could trust God to take care of her and their baby right now, because he couldn’t do anything to help until he found them.

But with the things that Jax could control, he found it far easier to rely on himself because he could affect the outcome.

Ramon pulled into a parking space downtown, in front of a jeweler.

Towering over the jeweler was a high-rise of apartments.

Across the street, the bank branch had its offices above, a huge international company that might be connected to Dominatus.

Kenna wouldn’t want to discover that about her finances—but she would want to know.

Jax holstered his gun and flipped the back of his shirt over it.

“I’m coming with you.” Maizie opened her door and climbed out. “I’m not staying in the car.”

Zeyla strode along the sidewalk toward them. “Mom hasn’t received anything from you-know-who about Kenna since their operative was killed.”

It wasn’t only the woman sent to murder Samuel who had been killed, but also Sandra. So much death and destruction when all he’d been trying to do was run the Phoenix FBI office and enjoy married life.

Jax shoved away those unhelpful thoughts and focused. “Does she know where Kenna is, or what ‘offshore’ means?”

“She doesn’t know where Kenna is,” Zeyla replied, “but in the pictures it’s clearly a facility. That much you can tell from the images they sent. But they have places all over. She could literally be anywhere in the world.”

“And if we narrow it down to places that are on coastlines—or ‘offshore’—then what happens to our search results?”

“I have no idea where they are. I just know they exist.” Her gaze drifted to the side.

“What?” Jax wanted to pressure her, but they were all about to break.

“The only way to get a list of every facility is to get into one and access their server.” Zeyla paused. “But we aren’t doing that. It’s a death sentence if we get caught. And that’s the best-case scenario.”

“I’ll go.” Maizie hugged her iPad. “Tell me where it is, Zeyla. Or take me to one like you’re turning me in. I can get into the server and find the information we need.”

“No,” Jax replied, in unison with Ramon. “Kenna would never go for that.” Jax walked a step away from the car and turned back, needing to do something.

“She isn’t here.” Maizie lifted her chin. A tear trailed from the corner of her left eye, and she swiped it away. “This is how we get her back.”

“Actually”—Jax motioned with his chin across the road, where he spotted the Kenna lookalike approaching the bank—“that’s how we get her back.”

Ramon said, “Let’s go.”