Page 126 of Storm and Tempest

Jax wondered if this was about the last time they’d lost her. “Looking for a shot to redeem yourself?”

“Long as no one hits me with a stun gun.”

Kenna glanced over her shoulder at Ramon, bringing up the rear. Why did the woman look so good in a bulletproof vest with her hair in the quick braids? She’d done her hair in the car with two rubber bands—the only thing available.

Even with dark circles under her eyes, and being thinner than might be healthy for her, she looked amazing to him.

She smiled at Ramon. “I’m surprised you haven’t spent the last few months practicing so you can get hit and keep going.”

Ramon saw the look he shot her. “What makes you think I haven’t?” The note of humor in his eyes took the tension out of it. At least a little.

Kenna said, “No one blames you for not being able to stop them.”

“Thank you.” Ramon gave her a tight nod. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t hunt down those old guys and get some payback.

“Put that on the agenda for the next staff meeting,” Jax said. “And we appreciate the offer, but both of us are hanging back. We’ll watch out for each other, andyougo find Maizie and Zeyla. We’ll be right behind you.”

“Copy that.” Ramon skirted around them and jogged up the path behind Earl Jonas’ house. A walking trail that ran alongside the highway.

The MSI boss had a house across the hill beyond the trees. Bear, Hollace, and the men loyal to them would breach the house. Ramon had the back entrance. They were his backup, hanging back but still part of it. Neither of them was a hundred percent—or even close to it—but no way were they going to sit this one out.

Preston and Jax’s father were also supposed to hang back and not come in the house until it was clear. Which, if he were honest, he and Kenna should do. But when had that ever stopped them?

Jax shifted his gun to his left hand and took Kenna’s with his right so they could walk through the woods down a deer trail together. Ramon sprinted the length of the trail, and some words drifted to them when he got on the radio Bear had given him with instructions to use a channel the men in the house wouldn’t be on. An encrypted channel they wouldn’t find the frequency for, even if they scrolled through them all.

“I guess you and Ramon became friends while I was gone.”

Jax couldn’t argue with her assessment. “First it was tense. We worked together out of necessity, and he was probably in it because he felt guilty about what happened as much as he wanted to get you back. But he’s more than proven his loyalty to you, and I can’t help but respect the guy.”

Kenna glanced at him. “Shouldn’t the FBI be out here, helping you take this guy down?”

“The FBI and I…aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now.” He gave her a brief rundown of Maizie coming on as a consultant, the worm in their network, and Special Agent Herron. “Who knows what Andrette is doing now, and what the Assistant Director in Charge thinks. I’m not sure I really care. I have you back, and we’ll have our family back together by the end of the night.” He shrugged. “Even the taskforce the president put together is kaput. However it happened,Dominatusdiscovered people are trying to fight them and squashed it.”

“We need a new plan.”

“We need a vacation.”

Kenna chuckled under her breath. “Maybe we can vacate and make a plan while we’re relaxing.”

“I’ll think about it.” Right now, he didn’t want to do anything but take a month off and spend it with her. Maybe a year. Or twenty.

She squeezed his hand. “Why did we get the farthest walk from the road to the house?”

He smiled. “Because they’re hoping they get the situation resolved before the injured people even get there.”

“Fine by me. Bear seemed pretty…perturbed that his people worked forDominatus.”

“I mean, if I thought I was an Avenger, and it turned out I was working for Hydra…”

She glanced at him. “You…what?”

He shrugged. “You were gone. I watched a lot of movies to distract myself. Maizie and I worked through the entire Marvel timeline. Twice.”

Kenna laughed aloud.

“Why is that funny?” he asked, smiling.

“Because I probably would’ve done the same if it had been months.” She squeezed his hand. “Movie night sounds good.”