Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
“Give it to me, I just want to smell it.” Kenna reached for his coffee cup.
Jax burst out laughing. “I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re okay this morning. Or better. You seem more…you.”
“Because I want to smell your caffeine?”
He grinned, pulling into the parking lot with one hand on the wheel and holding his mug out of her reach with the other. “Drink your decaf.”
“You’re mean.” She didn’t mean that, and they both knew it.
Out the passenger-side window, she looked at the three-story building. White exterior, long walls of windows on each floor. The kind of generic office space any company could rent. Or a government-funded group doing something or other the nature of which Maizie hadn’t quite figured out yet.
Kenna did feel a whole lot better today than she had the day before, prior to going to meet Jax’s old friend. They’d spent a chunk of time in prayer, talking through her experience and how it worked to get back “on track” with the Lord, as he’d called it.
What she didn’t like was how it’d seemed as if her faith might’ve been just a shallow thing in the two years since she became a Christian.
That she hadn’t dug in as much as she could’ve or developed a solid enough foundation to withstand being in captivity.
Jesse Lee and Jax had both told her that her loss of faith was an entirely human reaction to what’d happened, and that a lot of people would’ve reacted the same in a situation like that.
She was trying to give herself more grace about it, at least. To not get sucked under with what she “should’ve” done or blame herself for the failure to keep hold of her faith.
To simply take the next right step and keep moving forward, being who she wanted to be.
“This is it?” She pointed to the office building.
“This is the address Maizie gave us.”
“I need to stretch.” She pushed her door open.
It was barely past eight in the morning, but with DC area traffic, it had taken over an hour to get here from their campsite.
The other residents in the RV park had been starting to wake up, an older couple out walking their tiny dog around the rows and lanes.
Just looking at the empty pool made her cold and this empty parking lot was no different.
Kenna tucked her heavy coat around her. She was glad for a season of not having to worry so much about her health, but the reason why wasn’t a good one.
Being the subject of medical research wasn’t something she’d had on her bucket list, but at least they hadn’t been trying to correct an issue.
It had all been about gathering information on her progress, and the baby’s growth.
She shut the door and leaned against it, scanning the industrial area while Jax came around the hood of the car. She dialed Maizie and held the phone in front of both of them, the audible sound of ringing coming through the speaker on the bottom of the phone.
“Hey.” The young woman sounded breathy.
“Everything good?” Kenna frowned. All Maizie had sent so far was an address she’d managed to gather from the information in the packet they’d been given the password for.
“We got a warning about a wildfire a few miles west of here. We’re supposed to be getting ready to go, but depending on what happens, they might upgrade us to go now or downgrade us because it changed direction or they squashed it.”
“A wildfire?” Jax leaned against Kenna’s shoulder and put his arm around her, his elbow on the roof of the car.
“There was a big storm a couple of nights ago, and the lightning started a fire.” Maizie’s tone was laced with worry.
“It’s pretty crazy, but Craig said stuff like this happens sometimes.
It’s just usually earlier in the year, like over summer.
He said because it’s been so dry this year, that everything is just going up. ”
Kenna exhaled. “We’ll pray for the situation, and for you guys.”
Only after she said it did she realize how easily that sentiment had come, and how it wasn’t just a platitude. She would pray, because she knew it was the only thing she could do that would be effective in a situation like that.
“Thanks,” Maizie said. “Elizabeth and Craig said we should come to DC if we do have to evacuate, so we’re in the process of packing up just in case.”
“What about Cabot?” Kenna asked, suddenly missing her old dog.
“I’m not sure, because we might have to fly. But there’s, uh, someone who can watch her. Someone that”—she cleared her throat—“that I know. He and Cabot get along pretty well.”
“It’s serious enough he’s been to the trailer? Wow.”
“I didn’t let him come inside. That would’ve been weird, and he doesn’t exactly know what I do for you. Just some of the admin stuff. And I showed him the website.”
“Are you going to tell your adoptive parents what his name is?”
Maizie was quiet for a moment. “Andrew, but I’m not telling you his last name because you don’t need to have him investigated, and I don’t want Ramon paying him a visit in the middle of the night and scaring the life out of him.”
Jax grinned.
Kenna laughed to herself, keeping it silent so Maizie didn’t hear. “Of course, we can’t approve of anyone in your life without meeting them first.” She tried to force all humor out of her tone and sound stern.
Maizie sighed. “Craig told me to tell you about him. But it is pretty new. When he came over, it was for a school project, and we were still just friends back then.”
“And now?”
“We’re still mostly just friends, but…I don’t know. I have no idea how to do this. We talked about it, and we both agreed to take things slow.”
“In the middle of a wildfire and the case of our lives?” Kenna said.
Jax squeezed her shoulder. “Happy for you, Maze.”
“In the middle of the case of our lives?” she repeated.
“It’s a good distraction,” Maizie said. “And taking it slow doesn’t mean I’m distracted all the time. He knows I have to work and it’s important.”
Kenna didn’t want to worry that the guy in this young woman’s life was an agent of their enemy, but it was a possibility they had to consider. That and the wildfire being a design to force them from their safe place. Were it not for the lightning storm, Kenna might have thought it was intentional.
She closed her eyes for a second and prayed silently, determined to cling to the Lord in every situation. Even ones that didn’t seem scary.
“Speaking of work,” Jax said while she finished up her prayer, “tell us about this address, and the packet you received. Give us the rundown.”
“Okay, here goes,” Maizie began. She sounded confident again.
Now that the big secret was out, things could blow over and get back to normal.
Back to work. “The code unlocked everything, but there’s so much we couldn’t even print it and divide up who’s reading what.
Elizabeth and Craig are working through parts of it on their own, listening to it super fast. But it could still take days to get through all of it. ”
“But you found an address for where they were working.” Kenna stared at the building. “This place is so generic you’d never think anything interesting is happening here.”
“That’s probably the point,” Jax said. “We should go inside and look around.”
There were a lot of contributing factors that went into how they chose to do that, and he didn’t need to explain them all aloud.
Kenna had peace about it, because they were here to protect each other.
He could go inside alone if it came to it, and if they saw anyone threatening, they’d be out of here in seconds.
She leaned closer into her husband’s side. “I’m ready for some action.”
He squeezed her shoulder.
“Maizie, what is the packet so far?” she asked. “Beyond the address, what’s in the files?”
“There are all kinds of things, it’s crazy.
” Maizie paused. “Elizabeth found personnel records, but they aren’t people who exist. We found maps of different metropolitan areas, and what look like escape routes.
Then there’s a long section of battle plans.
An in-depth review of the European Union and projections for the next twenty years, including expanding to several additional nations. ”
“Like Croatia?”
“Yeah, actually. That country is on the list. How did you know?”
“Just a hunch. I don’t suppose there’s any indication of Dominatus in the files is there?”
“Not in what we’ve looked at so far. Like, they didn’t sign it or anything obvious like that.
” Maizie paused. “Craig thinks the place was some kind of think tank, but he’s trying to piece together what they were working on.
Right now, it’s all just random tasks that don’t make sense unless they add up to something. ”
“Could be a number of scenarios.” Kenna didn’t know much about think tanks. “Was it something the government was doing, or a private company?”
“All we know is it’s connected to the lawyers. Like maybe they participated, but we still don’t know who was paying the bills. We’re hoping there’s a list of people involved somewhere in the packet, so we know what their role was. And who paid them.”
“Hmm,” Kenna said. “Seems odd that they jumped on this. Unless it was a way to further their aim of fighting Dominatus.”
Jax nodded. “We should go inside and look around. They might’ve cleared out, but there could be something inside worth finding.”
“Maizie, can you send us the photos that are with the personnel records? I’d like to look at all the people and see if I can recognize any of them.”
“Okay.” Her voice was quiet for that. “I didn’t know if you wanted to see them.”
“I don’t, but it’s a good idea.”
“I’ll send them.”
“Keep us updated on the fire, and the file packet, okay?” Kenna stepped away from the car and turned to face Jax.
The street remained empty. She hadn’t seen any movement or lights on in the windows of the building, no cars had passed them, and no one was visible around any of the other buildings on the street in this industrial area.
Only the drone of morning rush-hour traffic a couple of streets over let her know they weren’t completely alone.
“Will do.” Maizie signed off.
Kenna stuck her phone in her pocket. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t move. That steady gaze held hers, strength and peace in his expression. “What if I asked you to stay in the car?”
“I would, even though I’d probably complain. Not that I need to be in the middle of the action.” She laid a hand on his jacket, over his heart. “I just feel safer near you.”
“I know what you mean.” He nodded slowly, as if conceding the point within himself. At war in his own mind between work and keeping them both safe. “Let’s at least peek in the window. See what we can see. If it looks clear, we could check it out.”
She nodded. “Sounds good.”
Before she could even turn, the sound of traffic swelled. Multiple vehicles turned the corner at the end of the street. Black SUVs, the kind that could only be government vehicles, sped down the street.
She tucked herself closer to Jax, who straightened away from the car with her in his arms. Ready for what happened next.
The SUVs didn’t pass by. Instead, they turned into the empty parking lot where she and Jax stood and screeched to a halt around them and men and women in suits climbed out.
Kenna stayed by Jax’s side as he turned to face the approaching agents. No question, that’s what they were. Even before she saw the first badge on a belt each of the suited men and a couple of severe-looking women, she knew they were with an agency.
Kenna muttered, “Secret Service.”
“That’s a new one.” Louder, Jax said, “Can we help you?”
The lead agent was older, probably in his fifties.
Still trim like maybe he’d never had an extra few pounds in his life but kept his weight as tight as his belt.
Hair completely white. No stubble on his chin.
Clean-cut, maybe military at some point.
“I’m Assistant Director Ranturno.” He glanced between them. “Mr. Jaxton, Ms. Banbury.”
“It’s Mrs. Jaxton.” Depending on whether this was a personal or a business contact, anyway.
Right now, she wanted as much association with Jax as possible.
They had to know who she and Jax were to each other.
Plus, it was fun to correct someone who operated on the principle that they knew everything.
“Right.” Ranturno nodded. “The president would like a word with the two of you.”