Page 41 of Storm and Tempest

“I’m sure you have. But I’m guessing you were younger then.”

Bruce chuckled. “You’d be right about that.”

“Let me know if you want me to keep going alone.”

“Kenna wouldn’t be offering to go it solo. She’d be complaining about the heat along with me.”

Jax smiled. “I’d like to hear about what the two of you got up to in England. But maybe later.”

“My side of the story.”

They stepped into the shady part, and both let out a long sigh.

“Twenty degrees cooler in here at least.” Jax wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “Thank you for bringing her up. A lot of people have hesitated, like hearing about her is going to make me lose it.”

“Maybe youshouldlose it.”

Jax shook his head. “That’s when things get dangerous for me. If I’m going to find her, I need to keep things tight and my head on straight.”

“Like not getting a rifle and taking that guy out?”

“Chistane is more valuable to us alive than dead, and you know it.”

“He’s more valuable to us if we can find him than if we can’t.” Bruce motioned to the trail up ahead, where the strip of asphalt between tall trees bent to the right. Samuel Chistane was out of sight. “And if we aren’t being watched.” He glanced around.

“What is it?” Jax asked. The back of his neck prickled with some kind of awareness. He looked around.

“Whoa,” Bruce said.

Jax clocked the red dot on his chest, a tiny light. He was in someone’s crosshairs.

But he wasn’t the only target.

“You, too.” Jax motioned to the red dot from a different laser sight on Bruce’s shirt buttons. Which meant they were being covered from multiple angles. “Put your hands up. Don’t do anything rash.”

Uniformed SWAT officers who were definitely FBI—not local police—emerged from all angles. The fact he hadn’t realized he and Bruce were surrounded until the team was almost on top of them impressed him. And made him proud to be their boss.

“FBI! No sudden movements!”

Jax stood very still, both hands in the air. He looked for a familiar face among the crowd of cops, but with their helmets, it was hard to recognize the few whose names he would know.

One grabbed the back of his shirt. “Down on the ground!”

“I’m Special Agent in Charge Oliver Jaxton. What’s going on?”

Bruce was slammed to the ground, held there by a knee. To his credit, the older man didn’t fight back. But he yelled, “We didn’t do anything!”

“What’s going on?” Jax looked around and spotted an agent he recognized at the back. “Farlan!”

The agent nearest Jax said, “We got a report. Male of your description brandishing a weapon with civilians around, threatening to shoot.”

Jax shook his head. “We’re just walking. That’s it.”

The agent lifted his chin, and the man behind Jax let him go.

Special Agent Farlan reached them. “Guys, this is the Phoenix ASAC.” To Jax he said, “These are agents from Albuquerque. They’re here doing a training, and we were closest when the call went out.”

“This is a setup.” Jax motioned to Bruce. “Let my friend up, please.”