Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
“She said that?” Ryson glanced over, his face shadowed.
Jax stomped his boots on the sidewalk, trying to get warm when it was freezing out here. He had his hands tucked in the pockets of his wool overcoat. Insulated pants on. Extra layers on top, a beanie, and gloves. “Yep. All this is some kind of test.”
“Do you need to tell the FBI?” Ryson motioned to the house with a black-gloved hand, where the FBI’s tactical team was breaching the house of one Rich Eastbury.
“They seem to be on it, looking for Ellayna. After all, they found this guy in her DMs on social media.” Jax’s stomach turned at the thought of a twelve-year-old being harassed like that.
Groomed, so that Rich would get her out of her routine in a way she was unprotected.
Then he would have her. “Let’s see what he says. ”
The FBI had confirmed that Rich was in the house. He’d been chatting online to who knew what kind of other perverts or victims for a couple of hours. Until his door exploded in and his entire world erupted into a flash of light.
Jax could just about hear shouts from inside the house. “Kenna called the president as soon as she got back in the car.”
Ryson shook his head. “It’s still crazy to me that they have each other’s number. Actually, it’s crazy that she outed all of you in that press conference and told everyone you guys work for her.”
“Thankfully, she’s been pretty hands off. It might even be over. Kenna said she sounded really irritated, told her she didn’t have time to hear about it, and hung up on her.”
“I didn’t vote for her.”
“No one did, but we’re the only ones that seem to disagree with how she’s running things. Then again, all those people she’s got who think she walks on water don’t know that she’s actually an asset for Dominatus. If we explained, we would only sound like we’re trying to incite something seditious.”
Jax was determined to continue their tactic of keeping their heads down.
It didn’t keep Kenna out of danger. He’d been trying to get her to lay low in the RV more, not that it was a foolproof way to keep her safe.
But then she had come to his and Zeyla’s rescue at that shopping mall.
Driving right into the middle of an active shooter situation.
“She terrifies me.”
“The president?”
Jax chuckled, shaking his head. “My wife.”
Ryson barked a laugh and clapped him on the shoulder. “You married her.”
“How do you do it? The world is terrifying, and yet you leave your house. You go to work and trust that nothing will happen to them while you’re on shift.”
“It’s why I do the work. I want the world they live in to be safe.”
“But you aren’t there to protect them.”
Ryson said, “You want to be her twenty-four seven bodyguard?”
“For her and the baby.”
“Eventually, you have to let them out of your sight, bro.”
Jax nodded. “I know that. I’m here, aren’t I? I’m living with it. But it still feels like the fear is eating me up from the inside.”
“That’s because you’re trying to carry it.
You’re trying to turn the fear into something else or make it less.
The fact that you have it in you in the first place is…
” Ryson blew out a breath. “Do you know how many fathers I meet on this job who don’t give two hoots about their kids?
Who couldn’t possibly care any less that something might happen to their children?
That they might ever be unsafe, unprotected, and get hurt? ”
“I’m not like them, I get it.”
“And that—just that—is an amazing thing. It’s not rare. It’s a miracle. Humans are selfish. We don’t do the right thing. We fail. You’re over here tearing yourself apart trying to figure out how to allow nothing to happen to them.”
“But I’m gonna fail. I’m gonna choose wrong, and they’ll get hurt.”
Ryson said, “Yeah, you will at some point. They will get hurt. You can’t stop it, though you can maybe mitigate some of the fallout.
Or the worst could happen, and you might not survive.
The point is whether you’re going to waste the time you have worrying about keeping them safe or whether you are going to live.
That’s why the Bible says to choose life. ”
Jax had chosen worry and fear a whole lot lately. Probably too much.
Ryson clapped him on the shoulder again. “You’ve got to let it go and trust God has it all in His hands, or you’ll wake up in twenty years and realize you wasted your life instead of enjoying what you have now.”
Ryson’s radio crackled. “All clear, Lieutenant. You and Mr. Jaxton can come in.”
“Time to go live in the moment.” Jax set off. They headed along the sidewalk, past the stump of a tree that had been cut down but not dug up. The roots ran under the sidewalk, pushing it up so that the surface was uneven.
The front door was open. An FBI agent stood there on guard with his weapon angled down at a forty-five. He nodded as they passed.
Inside the house, it seemed as if every light had been turned on. The yellow glow cast a weird filter over everything, and with the warmth indoors, it created a kind of haze in the air.
Ryson led him through the house, going first because he was the cop here.
Jax was only a civilian. They didn’t have to include him, but out of courtesy for the guy who used to work in the FBI office here—and what they knew of Kenna’s story—they’d allowed him access.
The bottom line was that these special agents knew him personally, not just what the news had said about him in the past few years.
The lead agent here was Dires, an ex-NFL football player who’d gone straight to Quantico from a Super Bowl loss a few years ago.
He was arguably a better agent than quarterback, but not by much.
The guy towered over everyone in height and was wider than most in his shoulders.
He turned to see them come in. “Gentlemen, Rich has some things he’d like to say. ”
The guy had been allowed to sit in a wooden chair pulled over from his dining table—a folded card table that didn’t match anything else. Even the two chairs were mismatched. Jax looked around and spotted a laptop on the recliner in the living room.
He had thinning brown hair, nothing on top but a few greasy strands. A T-shirt that was too big for his frame, and stained tan pants.
Jax said, “Go ahead.”
Rich blinked, opening his mouth and smacking his lips together like he had a bad taste in his mouth. To the FBI’s credit, he didn’t look like he’d been roughed up. Just surprised. “What do you want to know?”
Dires said, “We already know you were trying to groom Ellayna Feathers.”
His eyes flared. “Who?”
Jax shook his head. “Don’t play dumb. You were trying to connect with her online, and now she’s missing.”
The FBI would’ve searched the whole house. If they’d found the family, this would be an entirely different conversation.
“You think…” Rich glanced between them. “I didn’t do anything!”
“That’s debatable, I think,” Ryson said. “Depending on your definition. Seems like you do plenty.”
“What matters is what we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt.” Dires folded his arms, which made him look even bigger.
The terrified-dad part of Jax wanted to ask if he was interested in leaving the FBI and coming on staff with Banbury Investigations as a bodyguard. But that would ruin a good career that made a real difference in the world.
“I didn’t take them!” Rich fought against the cuffs securing his hands behind the chair. “I didn’t do it!”
“Can you prove that?” Jax shrugged. “Because we’ve got enough evidence that you might be the kidnapper that a judge granted these feds a warrant based on it. We can now tear apart your entire life. We’ll know everything you’ve been doing and everyone you’ve been talking to.”
Rich let out a shout of frustration. He fought harder against the bonds, sweating through his T-shirt now.
“Start talking,” Dires said. His tone made Jax want to start talking.
They hadn’t worked together here, as Dires hadn’t been an agent for that long.
But the guy’s history meant he quickly rose to a prominent position in the office.
He was the poster boy for the FBI, a star turned career cop—though he could never do undercover work with such a recognizable face.
He was a guy who had turned down millions because he wanted to seek out justice.
During his final season, he’d suffered a couple of injuries. No doubt he’d seen the writing on the wall and quit while he was ahead. Exactly the kind of guy the FBI would invest in, hoping he’d have a long career.
“I didn’t take them. They aren’t here, are they?” It was more of a statement than a question.
Jax was inclined to believe him.
Rich continued, “I don’t go anywhere but work and here. So, I don’t have them stashed anywhere else.”
“No?” Dires asked. “No side trips on your way home, driving past the park on Tenth? Slowing down to watch the kids play.”
Rich’s jaw flexed. His eyes darted to the side.
“Now isn’t the time for games,” Jax reminded him.
“Tell me this.” Dires flicked up his chin. “The day she went missing, you stopped messaging her. Before then, you’d been sending messages regularly. Seemed like you might be making some progress. Why’d you suddenly stop if you didn’t have a reason to believe she wouldn’t be reading them anyway?”
Jax caught where this was going. When Rich didn’t say anything, he picked up where Dires had left off. Driving the point in a little further. “You knew there was no point sending the messages. Seems to me that you knew they were gone, so you quit. How’s that, Rich? How did you know they were gone?”
Rich muttered under his breath.
“What’s that?” Jax wanted to lean in because it would be patronizing, but the guy would probably try to headbutt or bite him. But he had to know he’d been caught. “You know what happened.”
“I saw them.”
Jax’s stomach clenched.
Dires asked, “What did you see?”
“I like to…” Rich swallowed. “Drive past her house. When I know she gets off the bus and walks to her house. I sit across the street.”
“Nice view?” Dires’s insinuation was clear.
“I just watch! I didn’t touch her. I swear.”
That might make him at least responsible, or an accessory. He hadn’t stopped it from happening. They were still missing. “What did you see, Rich?”
“An SUV; it was black. It parked in the driveway, and these men knocked on the door. When it was opened, they shoved inside and dragged out all three of them.” He hesitated. “The baby was crying.”
Jax had seen far too many of those vehicles lately. He got the precise date and time from Rich, then said, “And no one on the street called 911 after hearing and seeing this commotion?”
Jax wanted him to realize that he should’ve been the one to call the police.
But also, if there had been so much noise that he heard it in his car, someone else must have noticed.
Right? It couldn’t have been that everyone on the street was gone or busy or unable to notice their neighbors were being kidnapped.
“No one is around at that time. That’s why I do it then.” Rich swallowed. “She gets off the bus by herself and walks alone.”
Jax clenched his teeth. “And these guys took them out of the house?”
“They rushed the mom down the steps with the baby in her arms. Ellayna was behind them. Hands over their mouths, so they couldn’t make noise. One of them picked up Ellayna and tossed her over his shoulder, then I think he threw her in the vehicle. But I couldn’t see exactly.”
They had been taken against their will. Hands over their mouths. Might have been nothing, but it might have been chloroform. “Did you see the license plate of the vehicle?”
“The back didn’t have one. I didn’t see the front. It sped away.”
“And the men?” Dires asked. “Assuming the kidnappers were men.”
Rich nodded. “One of them looked over at my car. I saw his face. Got a good look. I knew I should remember it, just in case the police came knocking, asking about it.”
Jax didn’t like where this was going.
“If you drop all the charges against me, I’ll give you the sketch of his face that I came up with.” Rich’s expression turned smug. “I used an online program where you can do like a police sketch. It’s a good one, if you ask me, anyway. You can find the kidnappers.”
He’d come up with a serious piece of leverage. Jax was almost impressed. “The warrant covers his computer, right?”
Dires nodded.
Rich screamed. “I want a deal!”
Jax turned back at the doorway to the living room. “Tell them you provided key evidence in their investigation. Maybe even saved lives. You’ll get your deal.”
Of course, he couldn’t promise that, but he didn’t care about anything but getting these people back.
A black SUV sounded a whole lot like those guys from Pueblo. Had they come here to take the Feathers family?
Jax sat on the couch and dragged over the computer. He looked at the files on Rich’s hard drive. It didn’t take long to find the right file type.
The image Rich had come up with was a decent representation, but it would never hold up in court.
These things had to be done officially. The hair was dark and curled on the man’s head.
High cheekbones and a pronounced jaw. Definitely the hard-edged look of a mercenary.
The kind of person who would kidnap a family, probably for money.
There had been no ransom. The phone calls didn’t fit a revenge plan—they would have been killed already.
Unless Kenna was right, and the calls from Ellayna had been done using the Dominatus software. In that case, they might not still be alive.
Ryson appeared at the door. “Got it?”
Jax looked over at his friend. “I know who took them.”