Page 11 of Storm and Tempest

Right then, Farlan come out of the small building behind him, but Jax wasn’t about to be waylaid by him any more than by her.

Herron lifted her chin. “We’re going to talk about this before we do something rash.”

“That tone might work with your kids, or maybe even your husband,” Jax said, “but I’m your boss.”

“Assistant Director in Charge Hadley arrived at the office this morning. He wants to speak to you as soon as you can get there.” Herron folded her arms. “And he’s not happy you’re making him wait.”

“There’s a dangerous man walking around who is supposed to be dead.” Jax wasn’t going to back down. “I’m looking at that grave.”

He strode in the right direction, and the team followed him.

“Don’t you need a shovel or something?” Farlan asked.

“I’m here to look,” Jax said. “We are getting this thing exhumed, but that can happen this afternoon. We need to secure the scene first.”

Farlan snorted. “You think someone’s gonna mess with it?”

“If they were going to, it’s probably already done,” Jax replied. “But there could be clues.” Maybe he sounded like a lunatic. But if that’s what got him Kenna back, then what did he care? “I want to examine the grave for indications anyone has been visiting. Or something that was left behind. Nothing is out of the realm of possibility right now.”

He wouldn’t rule outDominatusleaving a surprise for him—likely a nasty one.

They were trying to undermine his search for Kenna.

Jax couldn’t explain how she had been at that bar, or why she would be involved in a trafficking ring. At least not any more than he could understand the video of Kenna with Buzard, looking like they were involved in a romantic relationship.

Their enemy wanted the world to believe Kenna had run off with another man. There would certainly be nothing to investigate if that was the case. Jax would look like the guy who had lost his wife and couldn’t let her go.

He would be discredited—pitied. The guy who refused to see the truth.

Their enemy didn’t need to try and kill them. They certainly had the means to end his life and all of Maizie’s friends’ lives without firing a single shot.Dominatuscould destroy them all so easily.

That was why Jax had to figure out what they were up to. Get ahead of them for once, instead of feeling constantly as if his enemy was one step ahead of him. That would be the only way they could deal a blow, let alone take downDominatus.Jax would settle for being a legitimate threat to them—and finding Kenna in the process.

He counted rows to figure out where he should go. But as he neared the stretch of grass, it became apparent he was getting nowhere.

From ten feet away, he pointed. “Looks like someone beat us to it.”

The dirt had been piled to one side, and a gaping hole with no casket in it had been dug in front of the headstone that readMarcus Buzard.

“So…was he ever here or not?” Farlan squeezed the back of his neck.

“I don’t imagine they buried nothing, but I guess it’s possible there was just an empty casket. Or it was full of rocks. If there was something here, then someone dug it up.”

“I mean, I see that.” Farlan shook his head. “Grave robbers?”

Special Agent Herron sighed, her hands on her hips. “Someone didn’t want us to find Doctor Buzard.”

The man had been dead. So someone had stolen his body, then?

“I’m surprised they allowed him to be buried in the first place.” Jax shrugged. “Given who he was, I figured they’d have stolen the body before now or had him cremated to get rid of any evidence.”

“Who are these people?” Farlan shook his head. “I mean, I came in late to this game, but this Buzard guy had a facility full of test subjects, and people he coerced to working with him on his grand plan or whatever. But I feel like I need to get up to speed.”

“Buzard went rogue from a bigger organization,” Jax said. “I figured they would have buried him and everything connected to him.” Including people, but everyone that worked for Buzard had taken some kind of vow of silence, going to prison without uttering one word. All of them—and there were at least thirty. Jax had tried talking to a few of them, but still none of them would say anything. “Seemed more like the bigger organization washed their hands of the whole incident.”

The only connection he could see were those men from the retirement home, known only by numbers. They’d been registered at the home with clearly fake names, and Maizie had been scouring military service records, trying to find out who they were. It seemed more like they’d been erased from existence.

Something that wasnotgoing to happen to Kenna.