Page 107 of Storm and Tempest

“Bruce.”

“Fine.” The older man sighed. “I’ll quit feeling sorry for myself.”

“That would be helpful, thanks.” Jax had enough of that going on in his own head, so Bruce adding to it would be a real drag. Okay, fine. Instead of Jax feeling sorry for himself, he was projecting onto Bruce. “Sorry.”

The guy probably didn’t even know what Jax was apologizing for.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bruce said. “You just wanna get your girl back.”

Jax couldn’t keep using it as an excuse to be a jerk. The plan had gone haywire. Not that most plans really went…well, asplanned.He still had his watch on. It lit up with the displaythat showed the time when he lifted his wrist, but was it transmitting? Maybe this shipping container blocked the signal. Or a million other things that meant this all had gone wrong.

Jax shook his head like it actually dislodged the thoughts. “What about Ramon and Amara? Assuming these guys aren’t listening to us talk.”

“I doubt it. That’s why they shut us in here.” Bruce managed to sit up. “They carried Ramon off, supposedly to the medical tent. Which probably means they’ll shoot him and leave him in the woods. Amara is hopefully sticking to the plan.”

Jax lifted his gaze from his shoes. “You have doubts?”

“Wish I didn’t, but it’s hard to tell in our line of work. You rarely tell the truth, and it gets to be a lifestyle.”

“Bruce, are you an agent forDominatus?”

“Of course not.” He shook his head. “They wanted me in the fold, then they came to kill me. Guess we had a truce for a while there, but I’m also guessing I’ll find myself in their crosshairs again pretty soon.” He sighed, as if that wasn’t surprising at all but a regular part of their lives.

Jax felt moisture burn in his eyes. “I just want Kenna back.”

“That’s all any of us want. But if you’re gonna be safe after that, means we’ve gotta take them down.” Ire rang in his tone. “For good.”

“It’s impossible.”

“Isn’t that why you believe in God and all that stuff? Because He pitches in when things are impossible.”

Jax groaned, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.

“What? I was paying attention,” Bruce said. “And I listened to some videos and stuff online. I like the idea of having God Almighty on our side.”

“Doesn’t mean we win. It means He wins.”

“Okay, but that could come out good for us, right?”

Jax swallowed, still tasting the sick in his mouth. “Not if I’m supposed to learn to trust Him through losing her.”

“Does God do that kind of thing?” Bruce asked. “Make you lose people just to teach you a lesson?”

“Not in the bad way, like I deserve it. But in a way where I have to grow through that to do the things He wants me to do. To be the person He’s making me into. Someone more like Him.”

Jax had to face what he’d been avoiding since he first realized she was gone.

That he might have to walk the road where he didn’t get her back. That he was being called to trust God despite not getting what he wanted most.

He’d have to become who Kenna used to be.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It started as a dark spot on the horizon. The water reflected the morning sun, which he’d watched rise after it made its lazy descent down and started to ease back up almost immediately, not even really setting. Lightening the sky with a promise Jax didn’t feel.

Rain and gloom would have matched his mood far better than this. Not just the spray of the ocean as they raced across the surface of the water to the platform out in the stretch of ocean between Alaska and Russia, down to the south. Out of the main shipping lanes, and areas fishermen frequented.

Bruce lay in the back of the boat, the daylight giving Jax a full view of the bruises on the man’s face and neck. He’d understated what they did to him.