Page 128 of Storm and Tempest

“You think this place has basement cells like in France?” she asked.

“I wasn’t there when you rescued Preston,” he replied. “I was delivering a message to that publisher.”

“Right. I was thinking about that in my cell. In fact, I came up with a whole story for a book. But it’s so outlandish no one would ever believe it could really happen.”

“Like our lives?” He had her wait at the next corner.

Someone stepped into view at the end.

“Ramon!” Jax stayed where he was, though. Just in case. There was something about?—

The guy lifted his gun.

Not Ramon.Jax fired around the corner, and the guy fell to the side. He shot wide, the rounds slamming into the ceiling while muzzle flash lit up the long hallway.

“Jax!” Bear strode down the hall from the other end. “You guys good?”

“We’re good. Where’s Ramon?”

“This way.” Bear motioned. “He found them, but he can’t get through the door. Jonas barricaded himself in there with Maizie and Zeyla, and he’s threatening them.”

Jax followed him, Kenna by his side.

Tension stiffened every inch of Bear’s body, as though the slightest thing might make him snap. Like he wanted to rant and pace or just knock someone out with one punch. He stepped through a set of doors into a pretentious study. There really was no other way to describe the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that filled the room, complete with one of those old-world library ladders that slid all the way around so a person could climb up and get a book off the top shelf.

Ramon stood at the far end, pushing on a panel that looked like it should move one way.

Jax said, “Panic room.”

“I need plastic explosives.” Ramon didn’t turn around, he just kept pushing.

“One of those remotes.” Kenna clicked her fingers. “When was that?”

Ramon glanced at her. “New York. Look around.”

She went to the desk and sat in the leather chair before she pulled open drawers. “Wish I could remember what that thing looked like. Some kind of clicker remote thingy that opened the secret drawer.”

Ramon pulled open drawers on the other side of the desk, rooting around.

A man came into the room. Jax lifted his gun to protect the rest of them, but the guy’s body jerked, and the sound of a gunshot rang through the room. Shot from behind. He fell to the floor, and Hollace appeared in the door. “It’s clear.”

“That’s all of them?” Bear asked.

Hollace nodded.

Jax said, “Is there any way to communicate with Maizie, or Zeyla, or even Jonas, inside there?”

Bear scratched his jaw. “Preston might know.”

“Or my father.” Jax figured that was a longshot, but anything was worth a try right now. “What happened, Ramon?”

He was still thrown by the guy he’d thought was Ramon in the hallway, not wanting to contemplate how many doppelgangers might be out there. Assets loyal toDominatuswho would be willing to lay down their lives for the cause. That guy probably hadn’t looked like Ramon, just a similar build in the dark, but tell that to Jax’s racing heart.

Ramon crouched to root around in a drawer, while Kenna sank back in the tall-backed leather chair with an audible sigh. The Hispanic man said, “He shoved them in there and hit the button inside that closed the door.”

Jax heard the note in his voice. The two women had been freaked out. He turned to Hollace. “C4?”

Hollace folded his arms. “He could kill them before we clear the smoke to get in there.”