Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Undisclosed Location, Colorado
Fourteen Months Earlier
Kenna pulled out a chair at the dining table and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box in the middle of the table, trying to get close enough to reach it without jamming the baby against the edge. She sat back, pizza in hand, and let out a breath.
Preston glanced over from the head of the table with a mouthful of pizza. He seemed to find her predicament amusing, but she was going to ignore that.
Maizie sat to her right, poring over a stack of pages, arranging them side by side and scouring for details.
Jax had taken one slice and then headed to their RV, eating as he went. The vehicle was parked in the barn. She figured he needed sleep, and since they had no answers as to what was going on, it was a good time for him to rest.
He’d kissed her before he went, attentive and making sure she didn’t need anything. She needed him, but it wasn’t more important than his healing.
Kenna chewed, trying not to think about the podcast and the sound of Ellayna’s voice on the line. She’d listened to it so many times she could practically recite the girl’s words verbatim at this point.
She saved me.
Zeyla kicked out a chair and sat, a diet soda in one hand and a slice of pizza held aloft in the other. “Did you try to call Mom?”
Kenna nodded. “She didn’t answer, so I left a message.”
Zeyla swallowed her bite of pizza. “Why don’t you explain this to me like I have no idea what you’re talking about? Because I don’t.”
Kenna set the rest of her slice on the plate and wiped her fingers on a napkin. “Ellayna Feathers was the last victim of the Seventh Day Killer, Gerald Rickshire.”
“And he’s in prison now, right? ’Cause you caught him?” Maizie took a big bite of pizza, leaning forward with her mouth over her plate.
“He is.” That was part of how she’d first met Jax.
He’d been talking to Rickshire in the prison, and she’d listened to Jax essentially accuse her of colluding with the guy.
After that chat, she and Jax had gone to the diner where she found Cabot had been abandoned.
Now the dog was living her best life at the Stairns’ house, getting spoiled and sleeping on the comfy furniture.
“Ellayna’s mother hired me to find her when the police were facing roadblocks in the case. Given the seven-day timeline, it was clear that time was running out.” Kenna took a sip of her caffeine-free soda. “She has a little brother who would be two or three now.”
That was the same visit to Salt Lake City where she’d helped Valentina and Javier Ryson, her dear friends, and their new baby. She’d also been shot in the chest in her Class C—which made her rub her sternum right over the massive scar she’d been left with, thanks to Bradley’s mother.
Kenna shook her head. “A lot happened, but it didn’t have to do with the Seventh Day Killer. He was already in prison.”
“Dominatus?” Zeyla asked, as if that was a complete question.
“There was no indication more was going on then. I didn’t learn anything about powerful families controlling society or international organizations until much later.”
Maizie raised a hand. “I knew.”
Preston said, “So did I.” He winked at Maizie, and she grinned back at him.
Kenna said, “I worked it out eventually.”
Preston smiled at her. She didn’t want to get off topic and wind up recounting all their journeys to get here, but she found herself nostalgic for the way her life had been when she didn’t know about Dominatus.
Then again, given what she had now—the good and the bad—would she wish for it to be gone?
That would mean giving up this family. Losing Jax. The gift of motherhood that God had given her, this time in a way that He blessed—because she had chosen righteousness as a way to live to honor Him.
It had been a long road, but she was here now. “Presto chango, here I am.”
Zeyla frowned. “Was that English?”
Kenna shrugged. “Long story short?”
“That one makes more sense. But we’re talking about Ellayna.” Zeyla leaned back in her chair. “He must have contacted her mom and requested that she come on the show.”
“I’d presume so, but someone unscrupulous might have reached out to her. Maybe Ellayna has social media accounts, and he contacted her through those.” Kenna didn’t want to think that Ellayna might have reached out to him, asking to be on the podcast so she could talk about her experiences.
Who knew what was going through the preteen’s head.
After a trauma like the one she’d suffered, she might be a precocious girl acting out, trying to prove herself to the world.
Ellayna could already be on a spiral of self-destruction, even as young as she was.
Without more information, it was hard to tell.
“How old is she now?” Preston asked.
“Twelve or so.” She glanced at Maizie. “Can you…” The girl was up to her eyeballs in work right now. Kenna didn’t need to be piling more tasks on her plate. “I’ll look for Ellayna on socials.”
“Thanks.” Maizie slid a paper over and scanned the text. “Huh.”
“What do you have?”
Now that Kenna had thought about the Rysons, she wanted to call Javier, her police officer friend in Salt Lake City, and ask if he could check on Ellayna and her family. Get a sense of the situation and maybe find out why Ms. Feathers wasn’t answering the phone.
But if Maizie had something from Shawn’s stolen files, they all needed to know what it was. What both Shawn and Gabby had died for. What someone was willing to kill to get their hands on.
Maizie slid over a paper. “From what Shawn downloaded, it seems as if the company’s AI software was cataloging information about its users.
Putting them in socio-economic groups, like what their interests are, their income, and how they use their finances.
Based on decisions they made, how susceptible they were to the suggestions the algorithms made, and how it affected what they bought or chose to watch. ”
“So, a giant data collection operation?” Kenna scanned the page, but it looked like computer code, or some kind of foreign language. She would need a bachelor’s in something she knew nothing about to decipher this stuff.
“Kind of. Only…” Maizie shifted a couple of papers. “That’s a code I know.”
Preston said, “You’ve seen it before?”
Maizie bit her lip and scrunched up her nose. “I know what this whole program does, but this line of code is like a signature that tells me who wrote it. Like recognizing someone’s handwriting or their speech patterns.”
“What is it?” Kenna asked.
“You didn’t want to do anything connected to Dominatus.”
“And I’ll be so surprised to discover everything is connected to them anyway, no matter how hard I try to avoid them?” At least this wasn’t a case they’d been sent by the president. But in trying to avoid what she wanted them to work on, Kenna had fallen into the same situation, regardless.
“The person who programmed this artificial intelligence works with or for Dominatus,” Maizie said, her tone cautious as if she worried Kenna would be mad. “Because they programmed the system on that deep-sea platform where you were held.”
“So, we’re dealing with an enemy vicious enough to put a bomb in an innocent woman’s abdominal cavity, and it turns out to be the people we know who are vicious enough kill a bunch of people,” Zeyla said. “I’m shocked.”
“And they have the resources to disappear.” Preston tapped his index and middle fingers on the table. “I’m going to pay the Pueblo Police Department a visit. See what I can find out about their pursuit of the kidnappers.”
Maizie sighed. “If they’re collecting invasive data from people’s lives, maybe it’s about controlling them.”
“Or it’s market research,” Kenna said. “Or they’re using the information to steer votes their way. Or public perception. Or the people being spied on are all targets. Or assets.”
Zeyla nodded. “That fits.”
“What does?”
She bit into a piece of pizza. “Everything you just said.”
Kenna would rather they narrow it down further than that.
“Maybe see if you guys can figure out which it is.” She stood, pushing off the table with one hand and grabbing her phone from the back pocket of her maternity jeans with the other.
“I need to make a call. Get someone to visit the Feathers’ house and find out what’s going on. ”
Zeyla lifted her chin in a nod that told Kenna she was going to keep an eye on Maizie.
The two of them were becoming good friends, kind of like Ramon and Maizie.
Maybe Zeyla was taking the time to connect with the young woman he referred to as his little sister.
The three of them might well end up being the boots on the ground division of Banbury Investigations, while Kenna and Jax stayed on the home front, so their learning how to work as a team who watched each other’s backs was a good thing, as far as she was concerned.
She pulled up her message threads and asked Ramon to check in. However it was going with MSI and their operation attempting to take down Dominatus by force, she wanted to know.
Then she found a quiet spot with an armchair she could sink into and called Ryson.
“Kenna, hey.” Affection softened his tone into a low rumble.
“Are you whispering, or did you lose your voice?” She tucked her legs up on the chair and settled in.
“I’m hanging with Carlos, trying to get him to settle down.”
Kenna smiled to herself. “How is he?”
“Mi hijo needs to learn how to settle, but babies are like that. Especially little boys who want to battle the world, take no prisoners, and never surrender.”
Kenna chuckled. “He’s six weeks old.”
“I can tell already. My Luci is a sweetheart, as long as she gets what she wants. We are officially in the terrible threes.”
“I thought it was the terrible twos?” Wasn’t that what everyone said?
“Oh, girl, you have no idea.” Ryson chuckled quietly. “I’ve dealt with criminals that weren’t as stubborn as my girl. And the smart ones are half as clever as she is.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure your girl will be an angel. With any luck, she’ll take after her father.”
Kenna laughed aloud. “I’m planning to enjoy every moment, no matter what.”
“Good.” Ryson paused. “Did you call for baby tips? Is it time?”
“Couple of weeks yet,” Kenna said. “We hope.”
She explained about the podcast, then reminded him who Ellayna Feathers was. He’d been working that night, and they’d reconnected over a case. But underneath it all, they would always be friends first and investigators second.
“I tried to call her mom. I don’t know if Ellayna has a phone,” Kenna said. “If she does, I don’t have the number.”
“Send me what you have. I’ll look her up on a precinct computer. See what I can find out.” Ryson made a shushing noise. “Mi hijo, settle down. Do you want me to pay them a visit?”
That was exactly what she’d been planning to ask him. “If you could, I’d appreciate it.”
“Do you know who this podcaster guy is? I could shake that tree as well. Have a word.”
Kenna smiled. “I have a line of people ready to do that. But his name is an alias. The accounts online are all aliases, and when we dig, there’s nothing to find.
” Nothing but a loose thread from an old case she wanted to tug on.
But was it worth doing that so close to her due date?
If Amara would answer the phone, Kenna could send her and Bruce to check it out.
“Someone is protecting him.”
“We don’t know. And I have no idea what their agenda would be.”
“Distracting you. Tying you up in knots right when you need to be focusing.”
Kenna said, “I’m not focused on taking them down. It’s not like I’m a threat right now. I’m having a baby.”
“As if that would stop you from being the biggest threat they have.”
“That’s the point! I’m not even trying.” She sighed. “Every time I turn around, I stumble over a Dominatus operation.”
“Would you have it any other way?”
“Yes, I would have tweaked the timing. I don’t like being in danger and feeling vulnerable.”
Ryson started to chuckle. “Does anyone?”
“I guess not.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll make sure they’re okay.”
“All right. Thanks, Ryson. I appreciate it.” She was going to let Jax and Zeyla heal from their injuries, while she made a case.
One that local law enforcement in Utah or Montana could use to bring charges against the accomplice to a child’s death.
Someone she’d missed during her investigation. “I’ve got plenty to do.”
“Me, too. If I can get this baby to nap on his own,” he said. “How is everything else?”
“I need Valentina to tell me how she deals with you being at work, potentially in dangerous situations, and worrying you might not come home.”
“I don’t walk a beat anymore, Kenna. Guess why.”
“Because of her and the kids,” she said. “That’s why you took the lieutenant’s exam?”
“Sure is.”
“So that you could work a safer job.”
“And come home at the end of my shift,” he said.
“The risk is still there. But I’m not on the streets.
I work at a desk, for the most part. Sure, I used to do SWAT and patrol.
Plenty of our officers in those roles have kids.
But it’s not for everyone, and Valentina needed the peace of mind that I was doing what I could to stay safe. ”
“So you shifted your duties.”
“Comes with a bigger paycheck, which helps. But giving up patrol was a sacrifice. I loved the job.”
“You’re a good man, Javier Ryson. She’s a blessed woman, and your kids have the best kind of father.”
“Tell that to me in twenty years when I’m bailing this kid out of jail.”
Kenna chuckled. “Maybe we’ll have to introduce him to my daughter. See if we can give him a reason to settle down.”
“Oh, boy. Now there’s an idea.” He chuckled softly. “Gotta go.”
“Love you guys.”
“Yeah, yeah.” The call ended.