Page 7 of Storm and Tempest (Brand of Justice #13)

Chapter Five

J ax strode down the hall and headed for the elevator so he could go to the fourth floor, where they had interview rooms and the holding cells. On the way, he grabbed his phone and called Stairns.

“Morning, Jaxton.”

There was a reassurance to hearing it. Possibly because Jax respected Stairns far more than he respected a lot of the people he’d worked with.

He held the phone to his ear and pushed the UP button. “How’s everything there?”

“Kids are off to school. Laney is having lunch with Elizabeth, and then they’re going to play tennis at the country club.”

Jax looked at his shoes, a smile pulling at his lips. “Thank you.”

“And our Maizie girl?”

Jax’s nose started to itch. He wanted to open up to Stairns, but they’d never been like that. “She’s being interviewed by a couple of agents about a worm in the network. I’m headed there now to find out what’s going on.”

He wanted to tell Stairns how it felt not knowing where Kenna was, or how he didn’t know how he was even going to begin to find her. The lack of leads told him enough about the enemy they faced. But how was it supposed to get Kenna back?

This building, this job, was supposed to be his support network—the way he understood how the world worked and how he could navigate it, knowing that he could keep everything contained.

All those self-destructive tendencies were in check if he had to pass regular drug tests, act within the bounds of procedure, and operate with integrity.

Sure, some agents didn’t. That was why they had an Office of Professional Responsibility. But it wasn’t the way he operated.

“Fix it.”

“Yes, sir.” Jax didn’t work for the guy, but he had immense respect for what Stairns had done with Maizie.

Craig and Elizabeth Stairns had three grown daughters and grandchildren, and they’d opted in their retirement to take on the challenge of helping Maizie navigate recovery from trauma and rebuild her life. Likely out of respect for Kenna.

“Any new leads?”

Jax told him about Buzard’s body and talked enough around the hole in the ground and what the groundskeeper said that Stairns would know what happened—that Kenna’s team had dug him up and taken him.

“I need the funeral director’s name, I think.

To find out if there was anything odd about the body or how it all transacted. ”

“Good idea.”

“Have you ever come across Assistant Director in Charge Hadley?” Jax asked. “He’s here, shaking the trees and asking me if I’m seeing the psychologist.”

“I’d say, ‘Don’t act unhinged and they won’t think you’re unhinged,’ but it doesn’t always work like that.”

Stairns could say that, because when Kenna was retired with no room for debate, it was Stairns who’d signed the papers, thinking he was doing her a favor.

Someone needed to do Jax a favor and just let him look for his wife.

The other agents in the office could take care of their cases. He needed to be a man on a mission.

Finding Kenna.

“There has to be a way to get to her.” The elevator doors opened, and Jax sniffed, stepping out so no one would think he was having a breakdown. “I need to find her.”

“Talk to Bruce. Both him and Ramon called me this morning. You need to get with them and work this.” Stairns paused. “As far as Hadley goes, watch yourself. He hasn’t risen to the top without stepping on a few heads on the way up.”

“Copy that.”

“I’ll let you go,” Stairns said. He must’ve heard the shift in Jax’s tone.

“Thanks.” Jax hung up.

He ducked in the surveillance office, logged into the closest computer, and pulled up the feed for the room where Maizie was being questioned. Anyone who checked the records would know he had observed the conversation.

He slid the headphones on.

“…explaining how it is that your station interacted with this worm more than once,” the agent stated. She was older and didn’t go out in the field much, but she was whip smart and hopefully astute enough to treat Maizie with compassion.

His girl sat across the table, straight with her shoulders back.

Chin high but not high enough to be defiant.

To her credit, she didn’t look as tired as she should be after being up half the night, digging up a dead body and stealing surveillance video.

“Everyone in this office likely interacted with that worm,” she replied.

“The fact I did it only a couple of times means I likely brushed past it in the course of my normal duties.”

“Let’s talk about those ‘normal duties.’” The agent made air quotes. “The Special Agent in Charge personally invited you to work here, even vouched for you.”

Maizie stayed quiet longer than someone just thinking what to say.

As though taking a more measured approach, keeping herself from saying something she didn’t mean to and landing in hot water for it.

“If I brushed past the worm, that’s likely the same as anyone on the network has done.

There’s nothing special about my activity.

” She spoke calmly, as if she’d been advised how to treat this interview, and was reserving judgment on how much trouble she was in.

“You’re eighteen years old, and you work as an FBI consultant technician. You think there’s nothing special about your situation?” The agent relaxed in her seat. “When did you first realize you were so good with computers?”

Trying to make friends with Maizie so she would let down her guard.

The agent had no idea what kind of person she was dealing with.

A fact that could help Maizie keep her own confidence and come across as unflappable, and equally meant she might break more than anyone this woman had ever met.

Jax knew it had happened. Her trauma whipped up and slapped her across the face when she least expected it, as it often did to former victims.

The question was, how far would this agent push—and how would Maizie react?

Maizie cleared her throat. “The worm you showed me on that device is pervasive. Everyone has likely interacted with it, unknowingly.” She motioned to a tablet on the table.

“That’s what we’re talking about right now, because that worm is a threat to this office, and you need to deal with it.

” She leaned forward. “You need me if you want to get rid of it.”

Jax absorbed those words, wondering when she’d decided to make a power play. To shift the balance from the agent to her. She was the one in a position to help the Bureau rather than the agent having all the power. Maizie didn’t need to simper and bargain for concessions.

Effective, but not the tactic that Jax would have told her to use.

Maizie’s lips curled up, just a fraction. Not enough that anyone who didn’t know her would recognize.

Jax shook his head and muttered to himself, “Who is talking in your ear, Maze?”

He would put money on her being coached in the moment.

Maybe by Ramon, but more likely it was Bruce the former CIA agent.

Or both. Men he wanted to blame, rage against, and pummel until they got him Kenna back.

But right now, he couldn’t muster up the anger that seemed to have been burning in his chest since he found out she was gone.

In fact, he was angrier at the FBI than at Kenna’s team right now.

“What was that, sir?”

Jax hadn’t realized the agent on the far side of the room could hear him. He shook his head, holding the earphones in place. “Nothing.”

The agent across the table from Maizie in the interview room tapped the tablet screen.

“You might be able to help us, but that means answering my questions.” She lifted it to Maizie, which meant he couldn’t see what was on the screen.

“Like explain to me why you’ve been looking at this page of the silo after action report more than any other.

” She paused a second. “Is there some kind of code embedded in this data?”

Maizie didn’t answer right away. “His name is Sean Reed. He’s one of the victims that Kenna Banbury rescued from that silo. He’s twenty-one, and he was taken captive when he was fifteen. Experimented on.”

“And the code embedded in the page? Is this the back door into the whole network?” The agent stared her down. “Who did you sell access to the FBI system to?”

“When the victim has a face and a name, then they have a story. And when they have a story, you know it hasn’t ended yet.

And if you have the power to help someone have a happy ending, then that’s the best kind of life to live.

One where you can change someone’s future.

” Maizie sat back in her chair. “That’s what Kenna Banbury taught me. ”

Jax blinked at the sheen of moisture in his eyes. He set the headphones down and wandered to the door of the interview room. He didn’t bother knocking, but opened the door and strode in. “Maizie, who is Sean Reed?”

Maizie looked at him, her eyes wide.

“I want an answer, young lady. Have you been talking to boys online again?”

The agent glanced at him, but he didn’t take his attention from Maizie.

“It wasn’t about the case, or any sensitive FBI information,” Maizie said. “I promise.”

He was surprised she didn’t add Dad to the end of that.

The agent said, “Uh, Boss?”

“We’ll talk about this at home. I’m very disappointed in you.” Jax turned to the agent. “This conversation is done. If you have more questions, those can be asked at a later time.”

“Ms. Morrow is free to go…for now, sir.” The agent frowned. “But I may have more questions for her, and her duties here will be limited until we can clear this up.”

Jax nodded. “Understood.”

Maizie had already stood.

He held out his hand as she approached him, and she took it. If she hadn’t, he’d have held it up as if leading her by the small of her back—just without touching her. She squeezed the life out of his hand, and they stepped into the hall.

He kept his grip loose so she could let go as soon as she wanted to, which was at the elevator. “Okay?”

She glanced at him, her attention elsewhere. “Got it.” Then she focused on him. “We have lunch plans.”

“Ramon?”

“Bruce. Ramon said don’t bother calling him back, because of course you were definitely going to do that. He said he’ll tell you everything at lunch.”

The elevator doors slid open, and they stepped in.

Jax told her, “I need my backpack if we’re going out.”

She nodded. “There’s a lot to tell you.”

Yeah, he’d bet that was true. He wanted to ask her outright now, but someone could be listening even in the elevator.

Half an hour later, he parked not far from her in the restaurant parking lot and jogged to catch up. “Sean Reed?”

She ducked her head. “Can’t we talk about something else?”

“You’ve taken to driving. Some of those corners were a little fast, though.”

“You totally sound like a dad.”

He smiled and held the door for her. “At least you think that’s a good thing.”

She went right to the back corner of this Mexican joint that smelled amazing and looked a little rundown. He’d never even noticed this place, which could bode well for the food. Not that he was here to enjoy it.

When Kenna was home, they could come here.

Maizie took a seat beside Ramon, which left Jax on the side with Bruce.

Before he even touched the seat, Jax said, “Someone tell me where the body is.”

“That would be difficult, bro.” Ramon took a sip of his soda.

Bruce shrugged. “There was no body. No casket. Just dirt.”

Jax glanced around, not sure if he should even believe that. “So y’all took it upon yourselves to jump the gun and dig up a body?”

“Can’t dig up a body if there’s no body.” Ramon was completely unrepentant. “We were uh…landscaping.”

Jax eyed him. “So Marcus Buzard isn’t actually dead?”

“He was dead,” Ramon said. “Kenna shot him. That guy wasn’t coming back.”

Jax clenched down on his molars.

Bruce said, “I’m thinking…cloning.”

“Identical twins would be a lot less fantastical,” Jax said. “And more plausible.”

“We’re talking Dominatus . Plausible went out the window a long time ago.”

Jax glanced at Maizie, who had kept quiet so far. “You went into an FBI interview wearing an earpiece so they could feed you answers?” He motioned to Ramon and Bruce.

“We weren’t going to let her go in alone,” Bruce said.

Jax glanced at them. “I was there.”

Ramon shrugged, taking up the baton. “We did our job. Kenna wants Maizie safe, so that’s what we do.”

“Any leads on finding her?” Jax turned to Bruce.

The former CIA agent said, “The doctor’s body was our best bet. Maizie needs to go through the footage to see if she can find out who took him. Someone was covering tracks for Dominatus .”

Jax needed more of a universal update than that, so he said, “And the lawyers, and Amara and Zeyla…” Plus avenues to get more evidence.

“The funeral director. Those old guys from the retirement home. Financial companies we know are connected.” He looked at each of them.

“Am I forgetting anything? Like maybe young men you’re chatting with online. ”

“We haven’t talked.” Maizie actually looked nervous.

Jax left that one alone. For now. “We need leads.”

“That’s why I’m here.” A woman approached the table, giving them all plenty of warning before she slapped a file on the table.

“Amara.”

Behind her was a younger woman. Both looked so much like Kenna it hurt, but he didn’t rub his chest. They were even wearing tactical pants and T-shirts like Kenna often did. They looked like a mother-daughter crime fighting, investigating duo.

Jax cleared his throat. “How are you both?”

Zeyla only nodded. She’d had several organs removed while in captivity with another branch of Dominatus. The fact she was on her feet and functional was a miracle by itself.

“How we are is irrelevant,” Amara said. “We have a lead. Maybe.”

“I’ll take a maybe.”

Amara nodded. “I thought you might.”

Ramon reached over and took the file before Jax could open it. Jax shot him a look because he was the one who would be investigating any possible leads. Ramon totally ignored his issue.

Amara continued, “An agent of the FBI was dispatched to find the transport that took Kenna from the silo. The men who pretended to be agents had airtight covers, but an agent was sent to investigate where they went after she never arrived at the federal prison they were supposed to take her to.”

Jax had a lot of questions but held his tongue. He hadn’t known anything about this. At the time, he’d been in the hospital. When he finally got back to the office, no one mentioned it.

Maybe it was in a report somewhere, but he’d read everything. Hadn’t he?

“The agent was never seen again,” Amara added. “And no one is looking for him. The whole thing was brushed under the rug.”