Page 29 of Storm and Tempest (Brand of Justice #13)

Chapter Twenty-One

J ax went in the bank first, the others behind him. The lunch rush appeared to be in full swing, and the line for the tellers snaked almost to the door. High ceilings and an old money feel made this place appear like a hotel lobby. He scanned the crowd for the Kenna lookalike.

“We’re sure it’s not her, right?” Ramon asked.

Maizie said, “She dresses a little like Kenna, but not completely. And she doesn’t walk the same.”

“She walks like an operative.” Zeyla’s expression darkened. “Which means she’s mine.”

Jax wasn’t so sure a fight in a bank lobby was the way to go. “I have an idea. I mean, she is here pretending to be my wife. In fact, the whole company is here. So let’s go join her for her appointment.”

Maizie grinned. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Jax frowned, but he weaved through the line over to where the Kenna lookalike was waiting in a seating area.

The hum of conversation drifted around him, and a phone rang in the corner of the lobby.

This place smelled like the floor cleaner they used and coffee that had sat on the burner for a few hours.

Someone cut in front of him, a familiar male making a beeline for the same dark-haired woman he was headed for.

Surely not here to meet her.

But who else would it be?

Jax took the chance to study the Kenna lookalike while she leafed through a real estate investing pamphlet and waited for her appointment.

She didn’t look like Kenna to him, though he supposed some people might be confused.

She shared some features with his wife, as well as her height and build.

But that was where the similarities ended.

This woman had a longer nose, and the whole demeanor was off. Kenna had softened over the past few years. This woman came across more like Zeyla. On edge. Ready for what was about to happen.

They were twenty feet away when she looked up and pinned him with a stare. Busted. She might think she had the upper hand here, but that wasn’t what was happening.

The man who’d cut in front of him sat beside her.

She didn’t look at the other man, and she spoke too low for Jax to hear, but he could lip-read. “Elliot, what do you want?”

Elliot looked haggard, talking quickly to the Kenna lookalike while she stared at Jax, watching him approach like a predator, barely paying any attention to the desperate man beside her.

Jax sat across from her, and Maizie settled beside him. “Good thing I’m not late for our appointment.”

Maizie eased her iPad down and tapped the screen a few times.

Elliot whipped around, surprised to see them. His mouth opened, but he just stared at them.

“Special Agent Adams.” Jax nodded. “Good to see you’re all right. I was worried.”

Elliot swallowed. “I just…” He looked at the woman beside him, then back at Jax. He twisted to her. “Just tell me where to meet you.”

“It’s over, Elliot. Sandra is dead, and you aren’t an FBI agent anymore as far as I can see. So what use do I have for you?” She had no emotion in her tone. Even her expression gave away nothing.

As if she had no feeling at all.

But the voice… Oh, the voice was almost an exact match for Kenna’s. Enough it made him wonder if she’d had corrective surgery to make her sound like his wife. The sound of it caused that squeeze in his chest again, the persistent pang of heartache.

Elliot blurted, “Kenna?—”

Jax flinched. Maizie was the one who said, “That isn’t Kenna.”

Elliot frowned. “Of course, it’s Kenna.” He swallowed. “It’s good you guys found her. I know you were pretty worried.” He shifted in the seat.

Nervous? “Why are you here, Elliot?” Jax didn’t take his attention from the woman, but he watched Elliot as well. “Why did you come to this bank?”

The Kenna lookalike seemed bored more than anything. She had either not noticed Zeyla and Ramon standing guard, or she didn’t care one bit for this confrontation and what might happen.

“I need to know what to do.” He clutched his phone between his hands. “I need orders, and Kenna is the one who gives them to Sandra and I.”

“Since when?” Jax shook his head. Elliot seemed surprised his sister was an operative.

“Since you first brought her to the FBI. Everyone knows who she is. I got into my sister’s phone account and read through her messages.

She’s been getting orders from Kenna for months.

” Elliot motioned to the woman pretending to be Jax’s wife, who’d gone to that bar and “bought” a particular girl, and starred in a video that made it look like Kenna was having an affair with a dead man.

Realization registered on his face. “In the messages, she said you knew.” He shifted in the seat, suddenly self-conscious. “She said you were part of all of it.”

“And when you were captured by Amara?” Jax asked, because Elliot had been in Amara’s “care” for weeks.

Elliot glanced at the Kenna lookalike. “I didn’t share anything Sandra knew with that woman. How could I when I had no idea?”

“That doesn’t change the situation,” she said.

Jax clenched his stomach, steeling himself against the voice. “You might not have told her, Elliot, but you’re going to tell me.”

A bank employee in a suit, his stomach distended between the sides of his jacket, wandered over. Slicked-back gray hair. “Ms. Banbury?” He glanced at the rest of them, then his client.

Jax stood at the same time she did, trusting that Ramon wouldn’t let Elliot leave.

“This is my wife. I’m glad I made it here in time for the appointment.

” Jax stuck his hand out to the guy, and they shook.

“Oliver Jaxton. I work for the FBI.” He didn’t give either of them a chance to speak. “What are we meeting about?”

The manager seemed a little confused why Jax was there—or why Jax looked like he’d been in a fight. “I’m Brian Holder. It’s nice to meet you both. I saw in our system that you’ve been a client of ours for years, Ms. Banbury.”

She started to speak, but a gunshot exploded behind them.

Jax expected someone to drop to the ground, and his mind eclipsed with dread as to who it would be. But Elliot had his gun pointed at the ceiling.

“This is a robbery!” Elliot yelled. “Nobody?—”

Ramon launched himself at Elliot and tackled him to the floor.

The Kenna lookalike darted away, but Zeyla intercepted her, and they tumbled to the floor, screaming at each other. Bank security raced over, looking around as if they weren’t exactly sure where to begin.

Elliot’s gun skittered across the floor and a security guard swept it up. The manager looked around, panic in his expression. Jax checked on Maizie, but she had her head dipped to her iPad. “You good, Maze?”

“Mm-hmm. I accessed her phone through the Bluetooth. I’m cloning it.”

“You want to let her go?”

She looked up at him. “Should we?”

Jax realized the manager had backed up. Beyond where they stood, Zeyla caught an elbow to the face but rallied and slammed the other woman’s head on the floor. She slumped on the tile, out cold. Zeyla stilled, breathing hard. “Ramon!”

“I’m good. You?”

“Clear.” She flipped “Kenna” to her face and pulled zip ties from her back pocket.

Ramon did the same, securing Elliot’s hands behind his back.

“Someone explain what’s going on,” the security guard demanded.

Ramon spoke to him, so Jax moved with the manager, who was trying to retreat in a panic even though the danger was over.

“I have questions,” Jax began.

The manager slumped into a chair, one hand on his chest.

“Breathe easy.” Jax stood near him.

“You just… You all…” The manager gasped. “They were going to rob this place!”

“I need you to tell me what that woman’s business here was.” If he had to, Jax would explain she’d been impersonating the account holder, but even the police weren’t going to believe it. At least no one had so far.

The bank manager looked up at him. “FBI, you said?”

“That’s correct. This isn’t a case I’m working, though. That woman is impersonating my wife and trying to gain access to my wife’s accounts.” He needed to sound official though, not like some crazy person with a story no one would believe.

“I assure you, without the right credentials she never would have been able to.”

Zeyla was rummaging in the woman’s pockets. “She has ID. A driver’s license. And a bunch of numbers on a paper.”

Jax took the paper. The bank manager seemed stunned and didn’t appear to be snapping out of it anytime soon.

Other employees ushered the customers to one side, away from their group, and someone had called this in to the police.

That meant they were going to lose Elliot soon to cuffs and custody.

Not only that, but the second the cops heard that Zeyla tackled the Kenna lookalike for trying to run, she was going to be released because she hadn’t actually done anything—yet.

Zeyla might even be arrested for assault.

Jax shifted his attention to Zeyla and saw her attention was on him. He tipped his head to the side like, Get out of here.

She hauled the other woman to her feet and walked her to the side of the room into an alcove. Maizie hurried after them.

Jax refocused on the bank manager. “Brian, I need you to tell me what that woman came here for. Did she explain the reason to you prior to the meeting?”

“Uh…” He pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking about it. “I think it was to close all the accounts. I had a whole pitch planned to convince her to stay on as a customer, products I can offer that might convince her not to close everything.”

They were going to take all Kenna’s money.

No way.

“Did she tell you if she wanted to walk away with a check, or was she going to have you transfer the money into another account somewhere else?” Jax glanced at the numbers on the paper, then showed Brian. “Like this?”