Page 22 of Storm and Tempest

“I’m not going to go off the rails just because I feel like crap that someone disappeared and I didn’t even notice the cover-up because I was in the hospital.”

“Just checking.”

“You’re telling me you have no vices?” Jax shifted in his seat, wondering how Ramon knew where to go. Or was he just driving around in circles? “What do you do to blow off steam, or relieve the stress?”

“It isn’t stress. It’s night terrors, waking up in a cold sweat with the taste of blood in my mouth.”

“How do you deal?”

“I find a bar, and I pick a fight with someone.”

Jax paused. “Does Kenna know about this?”

“I’ve got it under control.”

Whether he did or not, Jax felt a little like he was on more even footing now with Ramon than he’d been before. They knew each other’s weaknesses, so they could work together to avoid them, but it was also about being vulnerable enough to admit you couldn’t do it all on your own. Which only made him wonder why he was currently thinking of working with Ramon at all.

Yet here they were, together.

For Kenna.

“I’m still gonna get fired,” Jax said. He didn’t like how this was playing out. “My boss showed up at the office. He’s going to use what happened at the restaurant to undermine me and put me on leave.”

“Good.” Ramon shrugged. “You’ll be able to work this case for real.”

Jax wouldn’t see eye to eye with him on everything.

“Better that you’re free than they get you committed, or put you in jail. Or kill you. You need to leave on your terms so they don’t have the upper hand.”

“They already have it,” Jax said. “They’re waiting for me to make a misstep so they can hang me.”

“Bruce has Maizie covered so you and I can work this case. Someone is going to talk, and we’re going to find out what happened to this missing agent.”

“Which means I couldn’t hang back and oversee that scene because…” Jax began. They could’ve at least asked witnesses outside for descriptions of the shooters, and license plate numbers.

“Because I’ll bet you a hundred bucks the investigation will turn up someone who says you paid them to do that and make it look good,” Ramon finished. “Or they’ll ‘discover’ evidence that money changed hands. We need Maizie away from these people as much as we need you out of the Bureau. Beforesheends up in cuffs.”

Ramon clearly didn’t like that Jax had brought Maizie on as a consultant, but hopefully that was all they were going to say about that. He hadn’t liked seeing her in an interrogation room even if it was only about her being questioned.

Ramon pulled into a condo complex and headed for the farthest building.

Jax looked around at the manicured bushes and white-washed siding. “Who lives here?”

“The missing agent. Where did you think I was going?” Ramon navigated to a space, avoiding the rented moving truck blocking several spaces at the end. He frowned at the open door to the condo at the end, first floor. “Let’s go find out what’s going on.”

Jax opened the file, reading it while he got out and shut the car door. Special Agent Elliot Adams, twenty-eight. He’d onlybeen an agent for just over a year. Originally from Chicago, he had a sister, but the parents were deceased. Nothing much in savings and only the basic government retirement fund account, which he’d been putting hardly anything into since he started with the Bureau.

His superiors found him to be competent and said he had promise.

“Seems like a solid guy.” Jax stepped up onto the sidewalk.

Up ahead, Ramon jogged up the stairs, meeting a woman at the top carrying a heavy box. As Jax approached, Ramon said, “…just a minute of your time. It’s about your brother.”

Jax didn’t like feeling as if everyone around him was a step ahead, but in this case, it was efficient. “I’m Special Agent in Charge Oliver Jaxton,” he told her. “We’d like to speak with you about Elliot.”

The woman had blond highlights in her light-brown hair, and a round figure. She wore denim shorts, canvas shoes, and a gray T-shirt with flowers on it. “Not sure I wanna speak with the FBI since they’re the ones who killed him.”

“You know for sure that Elliot is dead?” Jax confirmed.