Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kenna pushed out the front door, already dialing Maizie’s number.
She blinked at the sun peeking out between gray clouds.
The prison parking lot consisted of rows of mid-range cars, nothing fancy, all standard colors.
In the center of the lot, Jax walked toward her, while Ramon and Zeyla waited by the two cars parked side by side.
Maizie answered the phone before the first ring. “How did it go?”
“Tell me about the wildfire first, and what’s going on there.” Kenna tucked the phone between her cheek and shoulder while she put her sweater back on over her business clothes.
“Firefighters came through the property, and Elizabeth made them all coffee. They ate lunch on the lawn.”
“Did you talk to them, or stay in the Airstream?”
“I stayed inside, just in case. I would’ve been fine meeting them but given everything going on we had no idea if one might have been a Dominatus plant.
” Maizie laughed a little. “Cabot ran out and hopped around them all, begging to be petted. I think she got a couple of pieces of sandwich. Seemed like they really liked her.”
“That’s nice.”
Jax stopped in front of her but said nothing.
Kenna put the call on speaker and said, “Maizie, can you use the same code we got that unlocked the packet and reverse it? There’s information contained in the images that were included.
Apparently, they aren’t specific people and the dossiers are fake. ”
Jax frowned. “But we know one was a murder victim.”
“Exactly.” Kenna didn’t know what to make of it.
“Maybe she didn’t know or couldn’t say. But either way, she told me the images weren’t part of it.
Like they’re just stock photos, or AI images, or something.
” Kenna shook her head. “But they’re supposed to be real people?
I’m unclear on that, but I do know there is information embedded in the images. ”
Kenna held out her hand for Jax, and they walked toward the others. “I say we keep trying to figure out who they are anyway, as well as who hired the lawyers. Hopefully as a result of whatever comes from you entering the code backward.”
“I’ll have to resurrect a program I have that detects steganography. I’ll call you when I have the information and upload it to the folder.”
“Got it. Thanks, Maze.” She hung up and pocketed her phone.
“There’s a diner nearby.” Ramon didn’t look happy, and she had no idea why that was.
Kenna nodded. “Good idea.”
She almost told Jax that she would ride with Ramon, just to see if he wanted to open up to her one on one, but didn’t.
Still, the fear that remained so strong it was almost like she could taste it wouldn’t let her be even that far from her husband.
So many things could happen in a short drive with him in another car.
“You okay?” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
She looked out the front windshield of the car and saw that they were at the diner already. “I need to pray, but I’m all right.”
Jax leaned over and kissed her. “For the record, I’m not all right.” It seemed he could find the reaction amusing, though. “I thought for sure there would be some kind of prison break while you were in there, or a riot. You’d end up delivering the baby early in a federal prison.” He shook his head.
“It’s not crazy. My mind won’t stop coming up with worst-case scenarios wherein something happens to one of us. It didn’t help that you ran after a dangerous killer all by yourself with no backup.”
Jax patted his hip. “I have backup. His name is Sig.”
“Sounds like a real tough guy.” She smiled, so grateful for a moment of levity.
Before she could open the door, Ramon did it for her. “You guys good?”
Kenna climbed out. “I was thinking the same about you.”
Zeyla stood by the back corner of the car, frowning. “I don’t think I wanna have any babies.”
“Now, specifically, or ever in general?” Kenna asked.
“It looks uncomfortable.”
Kenna smiled. “Your assessment isn’t incorrect, and I’m not even that big.”
Ramon said, “The internet says it’s normal not to show much when it’s your first, and if you have a long torso.”
Kenna glanced at Ramon, one brow raised.
He shrugged. “I google.”
Zeyla laughed aloud. “I’m going to buy you a baby book so you can read up on the things you shouldn’t be asking Kenna about.”
Ramon walked ahead of them with Jax, while Zeyla stuck by Kenna. All of them watched the parking lot and the street around them.
Kenna spotted Zeyla checking out the roof of a neighboring building. “So, you don’t have a burning desire to take an accelerated course and become a midwife in the next month?”
Zeyla held the door. “Ask Mom. I’d be surprised if she hasn’t already done it. Just in case.”
“I’m on board with ‘just in case’ right now. The more variables we can eliminate, the better.”
Kenna planned to keep thanking God for every moment of safety, where each of them was injury-free, and she had no pregnancy complications.
So many things could crop up, some that would require bed rest or even hospitalization.
Not that she couldn’t work cases from her bed in the RV, but Kenna intended to enjoy her health for as long as she had it.
The hostess led them to a corner booth, and Kenna sat with her back to the wall. It wasn’t even lunchtime, and she was already exhausted. “Today is going to be a nap day.”
“Good.” Ramon nodded. “While you’re doing that, Zeyla and I will work this case.”
“I took a look at the photos from the packet.” Zeyla looked at her water glass rather than at them. She and Ramon sat with space between them, unlike Kenna and Jax, who took any opportunity to be tucked against each other for solidarity and reassurance.
The two of them, across the table, were different than they’d been before. They seemed to have reached some kind of consensus. Like new police detective partners, or coworkers forced to team up. Whether that developed into more later, time would tell.
Zeyla continued, “I know at least three of them. I’ve met them.”
“Are they offspring?”
“In the sense that you and I are, probably. They’re…in the program.”
“Not resistance?”
Zeyla shook her head. “It doesn’t pay to be resistance these days. Not since that bombing in Paris, and now with the lawyers all getting rounded up and arrested.” She hesitated, then said, “By the way, they asked me to join that think tank as well.”
Ramon’s head whipped around to her, but he didn’t say anything.
Zeyla’s confessions seemed like such a tenuous thing, so it was a good call on his part. If Kenna said the wrong thing, or spoke at the wrong time, she could break Zeyla’s intention to tell the truth.
“I didn’t realize that’s what the lawyers were into until Maizie sent me the photos.
The name was the same. They emailed a few months ago, and called me a bunch of times.
” Zeyla shook her head. “Everyone knows I signed up with you guys. I might not be resistance anymore technically, but I’m also not going to give up and do nothing. ”
Kenna sat back while the server delivered the meals they’d ordered. She’d chosen the first cheeseburger she saw, and it smelled good. She took a bite to try and get her stomach to back down with the hunger pangs and swallowed. “Risky move.”
“Signing on with you, or letting people know about it?” Zeyla stabbed a bite of her salmon salad.
Kenna had taken another bite. She shrugged. “Both.”
Zeyla nodded, chewing. Ramon glanced at her again. He had a huge roast beef sandwich and a mountain of fries. Jax had ordered a bowl of chili.
Kenna took one of her fries and dipped it in the sauce, swirling it a bit so she could try his lunch. “That’s spicy.”
He grinned. “It’s good.”
“Hmm. Maybe I need to dial up the heat when I make chili.” And then load it with sour cream for her so she didn’t get heartburn as bad.
Jax said, “Maizie is getting us the information from those images. What else do we have? The ghost should be our top priority, right? We need to catch him before he hurts someone else.”
They couldn’t put that much pressure on their ability to track him down, or they’d feel responsible if he did hurt or kill someone else. She already felt bad enough that he’d targeted Detective Langley.
Zeyla said, “We have a few cases we believe are connected. I don’t think he was responsible for anything to do with Samantha Ambrose’s death, but I do believe he was tasked with cleanup once we figured out what happened.”
Kenna nodded. “Right. Since he showed up at the hospital to kill Megan Tilley.”
“He also murdered the boyfriend,” Zeyla added. “Carl Allerton was released on bail and found dead less than twelve hours later. Someone slit his throat and left him in an alley.”
The server paused by the table, then turned and walked away instead of refilling their water glasses. Jax set his by Kenna’s and took her empty one. He set it at the edge of the table.
“Then he hightailed it to DC to catch Langley on the street,” Zeyla continued. “It’s almost impressive.”
Kenna took a sip. “He’s working for someone who wants to take out the competition and secure the vote to be the new Imperatoris.”
“I know.” Zeyla sighed, as if that information was obvious. “I mean, soon as they tried to take out Petyr, it was pretty obvious.”
If she knew that, then Kenna had more she wanted to run by her cousin. “Petyr thinks he’s my father.”
“He wishes.” Zeyla’s expression turned guarded.
“You don’t think it’s true.”
“I think he can give us a DNA sample to test if he wants to prove it.” Zeyla shrugged. “Other than that, I don’t trust one single word out of any of their mouths.”
“Agreed.” But she’d been suckered in plenty of times. Reprogrammed. Twisted around mentally and emotionally until she didn’t know which way was up. But if all that led her back to a tighter hold on her faith, on the constant need to trust God more every moment, maybe it wasn’t a complete waste.
Her captivity would never be a good thing, but it could be a redeemed thing.
Ramon ran the crust end of his sandwich through the juice on his plate. “If I didn’t know he was dead, I’d wonder if it was that Count of Shadows guy. But he’s dead.”
“Or so we think.”
Ramon glanced at Zeyla. “Again with that?”
“We’ve all come up against one of their lookalikes. Files can be fabricated. Did we really ask for credentials and fully vet them, or were you just kidnapped in a limo and—”
“Been there,” Kenna muttered.
Jax shook his head.
“—you couldn’t verify it was him,” Zeyla finished. “By the time I saw him, he was mist.”
“It’s the concussion talking.” Ramon shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth, indicating the discussion was over.
Zeyla wiped her mouth a napkin. “Sure, the photo you saw later that Maizie got for you said that was Major General Schnell, and it was the same guy. But do we really know for sure that it’s him? Maybe it was a decoy.”
Ramon eyed her. “How about we go after the dangerous killer we know isn’t a decoy first.”
“I’m just saying.” Zeyla shrugged.
Jax turned to Kenna. “Is that what we were like in the beginning?”
Kenna grinned. “It’s more fun on this side of the table.”