Page 39 of Storm and Tempest

Jax saw a woman approach Hadley’s table. A blonde, so maybe one of the lawyers they’d met—resistance fighters who worked to undermineDominatus.Or it was an agent of the company who had been trained her whole life to be one of their operatives.

The woman walked by.

Jax relaxed in his seat. “You never did tell me about the lawyers.”

Bruce shrugged. “Haven’t spoken to them in weeks. They shut the office in Phoenix after the doctor was killed at the silo, and I couldn’t trace them.”

“They wanted him dead,” Jax said. “Someone should tell them he’s running around making waves.”

Bruce muttered, “Clone,” under his breath, but Jax ignored it.

A guy in a suit walked out of the restaurant, looked around, and made a beeline for the Assistant Director in Charge.

“Binoculars?” Bruce asked, a tightness to his voice.

Jax dug in the duffel on the back seat and handed over a pair. “You see him?”

Bruce put the viewfinders to his face and swore.

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry. Kenna doesn’t like when I do that either, but this time it was justified.” Bruce’s jaw flexed. “I know that guy. The one who just sat down with your boss.”

“Who is it?”

“Samuel Chistane.” Bruce lowered the binoculars. The two men at the table talked, settling in for lunch. “I want to take my pistol, cross the street, and put a bullet in his head in broad daylight in front of all those witnesses.”

“But you aren’t going to do that,” Jax said. “What you’re going to do is tell me who he is.” He kept one eye on the two men. “Talk to me, Bruce.”

“Doesn’t mean I won’t kill him later.” Bruce blew out a breath. “We were partners. Did a lot of jobs together, because the success rate was higher when we could cover for each other. We went in as partners who ran an investment company. Got a lot of intel that way. Until I realized Samuel was also selling the intel to competitors of whoever we were trying to take down. The CIA wanted the information, but he’d copy it and get himself an influx of cash. Probably to pay his loan shark.”

Jax winced. “Did the CIA know he was gambling?”

“Of course,” Bruce said. “Doesn’t mean they ever did anything about it. Pretty sure they encouraged it. Paid his debts a couple of times to keep him in house, keep him loyal to them. They probably knew he would switch sides at the first sign someone else might give him a better deal.”

“So he played both off against each other, balancing his vices, his creditors, and his country.”

“Mm-hmm. Samuel liked the rush, but I didn’t want anything to do with it.” Bruce paused. “He did his thing. I did my part. All of it was hunky-dory.”

“Until?” Jax watched the two men across the street drink wine and eat their lunch. What was Hadley doing with a former CIA agent? And why was Samuel Chistane in his calendar as simplyD?

“Until an operation in Belgrade where the client didn’t want the CIA to get anything. Samuel was going to tell our handler we got nothing, but that would’ve meant I failed as well. No-go, not part of our deal. In the end, that mission cost us an informant.” Bruce continued, his voice rough, “She…” He cleared his throat. “Samuel tried to kill me when I realized he was the one who’d killed the informant. I fought him. He injured me and got back to the CIA first. Told them I was the one who’d turned. They burned me, and the rest is history as they say.”

“What do you want to do about him?”

“We know he’s connected. The finance company he owns is in deals with companies whose sole customer isDominatus.It would be satisfying to learn he’s one of them, because then I could torture him before I kill him. But we both know that’s not how life works.”

“He might know something,” Jax said. “Not that I’m advocating torture.”

“I’d say I’ll take your guy, you take mine, but I want to see his face when he’s asked aboutDominatusand his role with them.”

“This is just lunch between a businessman and an Assistant Director in Charge at the FBI.” Jax shrugged. “It could be nothing.”

“And he might know where Kenna is.”

Jax blew out a long breath. “When he gets up to leave, we follow Samuel and find out where he goes. Maybe we’ll get a result.”

“No maybes,” Bruce said. “Either way, there will be a result.”