Page 17 of Storm and Tempest

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.”

Chapter Six

Jax left Ramon to his file and went after Amara and Zeyla, catching up to Kenna’s mom and sister—or aunt and cousin—just outside the door.

“We didn’t want to disturb your meal,” Amara said.

As she had inside, Zeyla stood by her like a bodyguard.

“I didn’t come here to eat,” Jax said. “Is there anything else you can tell me?”

Amara was almost five ten, just an inch or so shorter than him. Zeyla had a similar build to Kenna, but curvier, and was maybe only five six. Her short haircut and thick bangs framed her face, whereas Kenna’s hair was long down to the middle of her back.

The matriarch said, “As you know, the men who took her have completely disappeared. Totally off the grid. We did manage to track them down to a municipal airport to the northwest of Phoenix, but that’s where the trail goes cold.”

“That’s farther than I’ve managed to get,” Jax said.

Amara nodded. “If they left on a plane, we can’t find it. Which in this age is next to impossible.”

“Unless you have someone in the FAA and the NTSB. Agents embedded in the government and air traffic control, and cops on your payroll.”

“And more money than God,” Zeyla added.

Jax didn’t like the sound of any of it. This whole thing seemed almost impossible. He needed to lean on the God who did impossible things and worked in the lives of people who trusted in Him. The believers who yielded to His way and followed it.

But Jax didn’t want to be all-in only for what he could get out of it—namely, having Kenna back. That would mean his heart was all wrong. He didn’t want to acknowledge that God might be testing him. Asking him to trust, even if he didn’t get what he wanted.

Which made him want to rage all over again. Get in another shoving match—and more—with Ramon. He needed to take his frustration out on someone. Or a heavy bag at the gym.

Otherwise, he was going to ruin his sobriety with the wrong choice.

Right now, he didn’t want to be a better person, or a better Christian. He just wanted Kenna back.

Zeyla shifted. “The only shot you have of finding her is if she can escape and contact you. The chance of that is slim to none.”

“We would have a better chance of rescuing her if we knew an area where she’s likely being held. Or a facility.”

That was a gross assumption—first that she was still alive. Something he refused to give up hope on. He wasn’t going to say he’d be able to “feel” it if she died. That was just hokey. But he wasn’t even considering she was really gone until he knew for sure.

The other assumption he was making was that she had been taken somewhere, rather than kept on the move. Or that it was somewhere that was even accessible.

The odds were more than stacked against him.

Didn’t mean he planned to give up.

Amara’s expression shifted while she thought about that, and after a few seconds she said, “There are facilities all over the world. We don’t even know if she’s still in the continental US. She could be anywhere.”

“Can we get a list of facilities, places we can start looking?” Jax asked.

Zeyla shook her head. “By the time you have data, it’s obsolete. No one knows the full extent ofDominatusexcept the Imperatoris.”

He tried to remember that word from Latin class. “Isn’t that like an emperor?”