Page 41 of Storm and Tempest (Brand of Justice #13)

Chapter Thirty-One

T he speedboat cut across the water, bouncing. Drowning everything out.

Jax had run down to the dock so fast that only Bear managed to get on the craft with him. Now he pushed the engine as hard as it would go, unwilling to waste even one second getting out there. Three days.

She’d been out there, exposed to the elements for that long. No food and limited water to drink.

He’d nearly strangled Buzard with his bare hands, but that would have taken a few moments he hadn’t been willing to sacrifice.

Bear glanced down at the screen in his hands, then yelled, “Keep it straight! We should be seeing it in a second.”

Jax’s eyes burned until he had to blink from staring so hard at the horizon, trying to find the spot indicated on Bear’s GPS. Transmitted to him by Maizie.

He hadn’t been surprised she wanted to know if he forgave her.

Their relationship might be vulnerable for many years to come as they navigated resolving conflict, but he wasn’t worried that they’d figure it out.

First lesson: trust. Which didn’t surprise him given that’s what he had been learning from the Lord.

He spotted it and pointed. “There!”

The buoy was tiny. He gripped the steering handle and kept the military-style inflatable gliding across the water, jumping waves.

Apparently, the whole helicopter-on-approach thing had been a ruse, since they’d known it would be shot down. It had been unmanned and controlled remotely.

Bear and his friends had then approached the platform using underwater single-person submarines, retired equipment they’d bought from the US Navy. They’d come up underneath it in diving masks and snuck on board from there, quickly subduing the skeleton staff remaining.

There was a sense of satisfaction in saving Kenna using a Dominatus boat.

Jax prayed for Bruce as he approached the buoy. That the guy would recover quickly. Jax thanked God that they’d found him before Buzard and his men did their sick surgery. Taking what Bruce had never agreed to give.

Then he prayed for Amara, wherever she was—whatever she was doing. Hopefully, she’d be able to aid them in convincing their enemy that the platform had remained in Dominatus’ hands after MSI took control of it.

Because once he had Kenna back, he wasn’t going to be thinking of anything else.

Eventually she’d want to spend time with her mother. Jax would deal when the time came, but he wasn’t sure he would ever fully trust Amara.

“Okay, slow it down,” Bear ordered.

Jax didn’t want to, but he followed Bear’s advice and came up to the buoy without jostling it, scanning the surface for her.

The buoy had a platform chained to the back.

Jax circled the boat slowly around the bobbing flotation blinking with a yellow light on it. Transmitting data back to the platform.

“Kenna!”

She lay facing away from him, curled up on the flat boards undulating with the surface of the water.

Bear grabbed the handle and took control of the boat. “Go. I’ve got this.”

Jax scrambled over to her, ignoring the heavy feeling in his shoulder.

So far, he hadn’t felt the effect of the drugs wearing off.

In fact, he felt pretty good. Which was a serious problem considering Buzard had dosed him with…

whatever that had been. So soon after surgery, he should still be laid up.

He certainly shouldn’t feel as if he was back to full strength and using his arm.

He steadied his weight on the platform, barely six by six if that. A prison cell with no walls, floating out here in the middle of the freezing ocean. He would’ve been terrified left out here all alone, wondering at any minute if he was going to be eaten by an Orca.

“Kenna.” He rolled her to her back, wondering for a split second that his hopes would be dashed and it wasn’t going to be her.

She flopped to her back, her face pale. Lips chapped. Her skin sunk into her eyes and cheekbones. Her skin cold.

Tears rolled down his face. “Kenna.”

He had to do it. Just do it. Jax pressed two fingers to her neck, feeling for a pulse.

Bear called over, “Is she alive?”

The question thrummed through him, a hollow echo of defeat that resonated in his bones. And then he felt it. “Faint. It’s there, but it’s faint.” He glanced at Bear. “She’s alive, but she needs medical attention. Now. ”

“I see them!” Bear lifted a hand and pointed at the sky. The call he’d made as soon as they found the location and were able to ask for help.

A coast guard helicopter—with an orange nose, and orange striped with white down the body—approached them, still a minute or so away.

Jax leaned over his wife, protecting her even though he was freezing and soaked by the spray of the sea. “Kenna.” He touched her face. “Don’t let go. Hang on. You’re almost home.”

She had a jacket on, at least. A lined overcoat zipped nearly to her throat.

The bump of early pregnancy would be under the big coat, at her middle.

He wanted to look but wasn’t going to let cold air in right now when she’d been out here facing exposure for days.

He’d keep that baby protected where she was.

He took Kenna’s hands, as icy cold as his own. Her feet in canvas shoes like his, and wearing the same white scrubs. Her toes were probably as cold as his as well.

“Hang on.” He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, shivering with the cold. Fighting back the rush of emotion at having her here, finally in his arms. Safe. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”

The chopper whipped wind and ocean salt against him, and he protected her face, because that was the only thing he could do.

The sound of it swelled around him, filling his ears until he couldn’t think through the disorientation of the noise.

Helicopter motor. The boat, which Bear circled around.

That steady beep of the buoy he hadn’t even noticed at first.

He twisted and saw a US Coast Guard rescuer in an orange jumpsuit lowering down to them with a basket the length of a stretcher. The spin of the rotors pushed the water away from them and whipped his T-shirt against his chest.

He turned back to her, holding her cheeks with his hands. “You did it. You beat them. You’re almost home.”

Her eyes fluttered.

“Kenna, can you hear me?”

Her lips parted.

He leaned down and put his ear in front of her mouth. He heard her whisper, “Dream.” Or, at least, that’s what he thought she might’ve said. He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t want to ask her to repeat it. She needed to sleep—to heal—and that started now.

Jax took her cheeks in his hands. “This is real, it’s not a dream. You’re going home, Kenna. It’s over.”

Her eyes fluttered, and he spotted white in the open slit when her eyes rolled back in her head. Then she was unconscious again.

It felt like hours waiting while the guy loaded her on the basket, covered in blankets, and lifted her to the helicopter. He said his name was Kevin, and that Jax would be next. He said more things, asking questions, and Jax nodded or shook his head in reply.

Jax watched Kenna ascend the rope to the helicopter, then looked at Bear.

“Go,” the big man said, motioning to the helicopter. Then he yelled, “I’ll take care of everything else!”

They both knew what that meant.

Jax didn’t even care that the MSI guys could veto his idea, kill everyone on the platform, and set the place on fire.

They could do whatever they wanted. The idea to keep it going and trick their enemy had been a good one, but it wasn’t the only option.

Crafting a ruse so that Dominatus had no clue they’d taken over the platform would be tricky—and it wouldn’t last forever.

Kevin, the coast guard rescuer, clipped Jax roughly into a harness, and they rose, winched up to the chopper. He let them unclip him and moved the first second he was disconnected. Sliding onto a seat so he could be near her, leaning over and taking her hand. “This is Kenna. She’s my wife.”

Kevin handed him a silver blanket to put around his shoulders, and the chopper sailed over the ocean headed toward the land.

Being away from the platform and having Kenna’s hand in his felt better than even the day they’d married. Standing beside her in that small country church and saying their vows to each other meant everything to him. But having her back now? He couldn’t even process how he felt.

His head swam, and he shivered. Kevin had a stethoscope out and listened to Jax’s heartbeat. “Kind of fast.”

“I just found my wife again. She’s been missing for months.” He had to yell over the sound of the chopper, now able to see the coastline ahead of them. The tall peak of Denali, perpetually snowcapped. The spread of lights, illuminating buildings. “Where are we going?”

“Anchorage. They have trauma care.”

Jax nodded and closed his eyes so his head would stop swimming. It didn’t necessarily help. His stomach felt like it flipped over and his body flushed, oddly hot and cold at the same time. Sweat broke out on his skin.

“They can check you out as well.”

He nodded again, but it made him dizzy. Their comments about Kenna flew by his awareness, a back-and-forth exchange of medical assessment terms.

Jax leaned his head back on the seat and took long breaths while the helicopter lowered to the ground and set down on the pad beside a collection of tall buildings, another set of buildings to the right. The city surrounded them, mountains in the distance.

The door opened, and Kenna was unloaded, Jax disembarking to follow.

His legs gave out, and Kevin caught him, then helped him to a wheelchair, lowering him into it whether Jax wanted to be there or not.

He heard the word withdrawal muttered around him, along with other words he couldn’t focus on with the noise of the chopper blades cutting through the air.

“Don’t give me drugs.” Jax gripped the handles of the chair to get up. “No narcotics.”