CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER
FORTY-NINE
Lana and her team came up with a game plan. They figured if they went now, Ellers nor Roderic would be the wiser.
Sgt. Buller, Sunny, Cullen, and Swift were going to Ryan’s house to bring Jayme into the department. Lana, Rocky, Hollywood, Jayson, and Ryan were monitoring the streets for anyone watching the house and the airwaves in case Jayme got a call out.
Lana had to admit she was worried about Ryan, now that he knew his wife had used him to cover her tracks. She still couldn’t understand why the Kenwood brothers were targeted.
The fact both men served in the military shouldn’t make them a target like it has. Both men are law enforcement but serve different agencies and areas.
Everything comes back to the fact both men served under Hubbard. While they were on separate teams, Hubbard was both of their X.O.’s.
Lana pulled out her phone and dialed her sometimes X.O.’s number. She needed answers, and fast.
“Lana, we don’t have you on assignment, so why are you calling at this ungodly hour disturbing my much-needed beauty sleep?”
“Aww, Trevor, we both know you could sleep for days, and it wouldn’t help that ugly mug of yours.” Lana laughed into the phone.
“Ouch, Pennington. If I had feelings, that would have hurt. What do you want?”
“The file intel has on Colonel Hubbard. We have our own file from when he was arrested, but I need the military file they have on him. He’s in the wind after his civilian attorney helped get him released.
I also understand that a JAG officer is now declared AWOL.
The same one that had been friends with him and helped the civilian attorney get him released on bail. ”
“Hubbard is in the wind?”
Lana heard the change in Trevor’s voice at that bit of news. He never liked Hubbard, and she never understood why.
“Yeah. He got released three days ago and ditched his shadow an hour or two later. He’s been in the wind since.”
“Well, shit. Guess my gut instinct on the JAG lawyers so called suicide was correct. I’ll have to let the big boss know now.”
“JAG officer committed suicide?”
Lana gasped at the news Trevor just gave her. Should she call her captain with that news?
“Yeah. JAG officer Lt. Redman was found with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. No note. The whole thing felt off to me,” Trevor admitted to Lana.
“Send me everything that you have. I’ll look at it. I need Hubbard’s file, too. Even the one you got from the C.I.A.”
“You’ll have it within the hour. Be safe, Lana. Hubbard is extremely dangerous.”
“I’m aware. I’m the one who took him down,” Lana reminded Trevor.
“Why do you need his files?”
Lana thought about whether she should admit her thoughts to Trevor. She knew she needed fresh eyes on this situation.
Lana laid out her thoughts and theories. When Trevor asked questions during the process, she answered them.
If she had not thought of something before the questions, she wrote it down for a later brainstorming session. It was why they worked so well together.
Lana had to admit that she’d been blessed in both her military and law enforcement career to have the teams she’d had. They all worked so well together.
Her current team met Trevor, and they all got along great. Trevor’s wife Dakota loved her teammates she wound up with when she’d joined the sheriff’s department.
“Kenwood…why does that name sound familiar?” Trevor puzzled quietly.
“Jayson Kenwood is the father of the twins. He was a Ranger when we were together. When I left, thinking he’d cheated on me, he eventually made Delta Force, then went on to Ghost Ops. He and his brother Ryan were both on Hubbard’s Ghost Ops team,” Lana explained to Trevor.
“They don’t have any other siblings, do they?”
Lana paused at Trevor’s question. Now her heart was going a mile a minute with questions.
“Yes. They have a sister named Crystal, who was my father’s hospice nurse here in Hellburn Falls. They also have a younger brother named Bryan, who is stationed at Ft. Bragg with a Delta Force unit. Why?” Lana asked hesitantly, fearing the answer.
“A Delta Force team got ambushed yesterday in Mexico. We’ve confirmed that three KIA and five are MIA. The younger Kenwood is one of the MIA. They are notifying the family in the morning. Lana, Hubbard’s name was mentioned in the briefing regarding the ambush. Their target knew they were coming.”
“What?” Lana gasped at the news. “Are you in the vault on this one?”
“Yes.”
“Please, tell me something is being done to rescue them!” Lana pleaded with Trevor.
“We are trying to locate them as we speak. If I had you here, we’d have them back by now!” Trevor sighed into the phone.
“Give me twenty-four hours to deal with this here and I’ll head back to help. If it gets worse, let me know asap, I’ll leave immediately,” Lana requested, hating to wait that long.
Lana clicked her phone off after Trevor agreed to the time frame. They needed to break Jayme tonight.
But first she needed to warn her team and the Kenwoods of the storm to come. Hell was breaking loose, and she had no way of stopping it.
Lana’s phone pinged with a text letting her know the “package” was secured and heading to the base. Now the real work has started.
Lana forwarded the text to the others and waited to see if anything happened as her teammates left Ryan’s house with Jayme back to the Sheriff’s department. After waiting the ten minutes they agreed up on, she left to meet up with the others to ride back to the department.
Lana stayed silent throughout the drive back to the department. Everyone in the vehicle was tense, as if they were waiting for something to go down.
She let out the breath that she hadn’t realized that she’d been holding until now. Now she had to get her team together so that she could break the news to Jayson and Ryan.
“Hey, are you okay, babe?” Jayson asked, pulling her aside after they exited the SUV.
“Yeah. I just have a lot floating around in my head. Trying to figure out all the connections. So much isn’t making any sense,” Lana half admitted to him. “Before we interrogate her, I need the team together to look at a file that’s being sent to me.”
“Okay. We’ll figure this out.”
Lana let Jayson pull her into his arms. She held him tight for several minutes.
When they walked into the observation room next to the interrogation room they were using, she motioned for everyone to gather around her. She started praying she wouldn’t walk into hell alone.