Page 60 of Storm and Tempest

Ramon nodded, but didn’t look convinced. “Seemed like it was more to do with Amara not telling you about Kenna.”

Jax’s hand shook so badly it was hard to start the vehicle, but he got it running.

From the back seat, Maizie put her hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

He gripped the wheel.I’ll be okay when I get her back. “We did the right thing, leaving them. Right?”

“I can drive,” Ramon offered. His voice was low, maybe even gentle.

Because he knew what Jax was going through. All of them did. It wasn’t about who cared for Kenna more than everyone else. They all needed her back.

Jax squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m good.”

“First time you killed someone?”

Jax opened his eyes and shook his head.

“I didn’t think so.”

“It’s just…a lot right now.”

Ramon said, “We know she’s alive.”

Deciding that Ramon should drive, Jax looked at Ramon and cocked his head, then got out and switched seats with the guy. In the passenger side, he turned so he could see Maizie. Ramon pulled out fast, and Jax buckled his seatbelt.

She reached for her laptop. “I’m going to use what was sent to Amara to find her. I’m done being too scared to do everything I can to find her.”

“I don’t want you thinking this is all riding on you, Maze.” Jax paused. “You have amazing skills. You can do things the rest of us don’t even have the first clue how to do. But finding her isn’t solely your responsibility, okay?”

She stared at him, her laptop open on her knees.

“I don’t want you to get crushed under the pressure of thinking you’re the one responsible for finding Kenna.”

“I want to find her. If I can do it, Iwill.”

He knew that look in her eyes, because he saw it when he looked in the mirror—grief and the weight of responsibility. “I know.”

He twisted back to face the front, closing his eyes and leaning his head back on the seat. First, he’d thought it was the FBI who would help him find her. But given the evidence of Special Agent Herron being blackmailed, and Hadley taking over Jax’s job, they only wanted to believe the story that Kenna had run off. As if shehadturned dark side—and, if that video was to be believed, she was having a relationship with someone else. As if Jax had been somehow holding her back.

Staying at the FBI, trying to keep his job, had felt more like fighting the battle solo, without their backing. He’d been on his own, or working with Maizie. She was the one who’d been his ally this whole time, but with her beinghisresponsibility, he couldn’t lean on her as an equal. Doing that wouldn’t be fair to her.

Now that he’d walked away from the FBI, he almost felt as if he had more support. Add the fact there had been more movement on the case in the past day than in weeks, he didn’t know if he should feel reassured or not.

Things seemed to be unraveling rather than progressing toward solving the case.

Ramon glanced over his shoulder. “Any way to track down Elliot?”

Jax met his gaze. “You think he knows more than he was letting on?”

Ramon shrugged.

Maizie looked up. “I have his laptop, so I can set up an alert. And if he logs onto any of his apps or accounts from another device, I’ll know about it. Do we need to find him?”

“He could be in danger,” Jax said. “But I’m not wasting time looking for him if he’s on the run, keeping a low profile.” He winced, thinking of how Elliot could implicate Jax in crimes that would get him fired—if not put in jail. But catching the guy and shutting him down just to keep the truth buried wasn’t the right course of action.

Ramon said, “Where to, Maze?”

“The RV?”