Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jax’s phone chimed. Kenna’s vibrated across the table before she could even stand up. The same alert—movement on the sensors and cameras outside. He tapped the screen, and a second later, someone knocked on the door.
“It’s just me.” Zeyla pulled at the handle, evidently impatient to get in.
Jax got up and unlocked the door so she could enter.
“Hey.” Zeyla looked flushed, but not tired at all from being up all night.
“Everything okay?” Kenna asked.
“I had an idea. I need to borrow some clothes.”
Her cousin was an…edgier version of herself. They had very different clothing and hairstyles, but their basic build was similar even if Zeyla was a little shorter than Kenna.
“And I need coffee.” Zeyla grabbed a mug from the little shelf above the coffee pot. “This isn’t decaf, is it?” She looked over her shoulder.
“I have hot chocolate.”
Zeyla made a face. “Awesome.” Her tone indicated it was anything but awesome.
Kenna smiled over the rim of her mug, and Jax returned it.
He said, “There’s coffee in the French press.”
Kenna ignored that. “What do you need clothes for?”
“You have an appointment at this pregnancy center. They take walk-ins, but I figured if we book ahead, it’ll hit on someone’s radar.”
Kenna had an appointment, but Zeyla wanted to borrow clothes? That didn’t amount to too many options, and none of them involved Kenna being in danger. Or facing down a medical professional who may or may not be an agent of Dominatus. “How long is the ruse that you’re pregnant going to hold up?”
“Long enough.” Zeyla shrugged, drinking half the mug of hot coffee in a few gulps.
“For what?” Jax asked.
“Hopefully long enough for kidnappers to show up.” Zeyla lifted her brows. “I have an idea about that as well.” She looked at Kenna. “You good if I take Jax with me? To keep up the ruse.”
Jax said, “I’ll ask Ramon to trade.”
Kenna bit her lip. She didn’t want to get in between the team and a chance at a solution, or at least a break in the case. Zeyla clearly had a plan. Kenna didn’t need her fears to stall that plan and prevent this whole thing from being over sooner rather than later.
She needed to memorize Psalm 91, just in case.
At least so that she could recall more Scripture than she’d been able to previously.
But the just in case part was about the chance she might once again be a captive of their enemy.
Or that the baby might be. If the worst happened, she wanted to be able to recite Scripture to keep a hold on her hope even when things got darkest.
“I can stay here if you want me to,” Jax offered.
Kenna shook her head. “It’s okay. If the plan is for me to see a doctor, it’s way more convincing if you’re there.” Unless he didn’t want to leave her as much as she didn’t want to leave him. “If Ramon is here, and rested, it’ll be okay. It’s a workable plan.”
Jax glanced aside at Zeyla. “What’s the plan?”
“Kenna sees a doctor we found randomly, trying to roll the dice that it’s not one of their doctors.”
That had happened before, so it was a valid concern.
Zeyla continued, “The form I filled out online said you just want to check everything is okay with the baby so far. No concerns, but you’d love an ultrasound.”
“I would love an ultrasound.”
Jax’s expression softened.
“Those three-dimensional ones are weird. The baby always looks like a mutant. It’s not cute.”
Jax grinned.
“Right?!” Zeyla said. “And you’re supposed to tell people it’s so amazing, their baby is beautiful.
Okay, so the technology is amazing, because you can see what the kid looks like before they’re born.
But what if they’re ugly? It’s like, Sorry you didn’t pass this class. Enjoy your unfortunate life.”
Kenna turned to her cousin and stared at her.
“What?”
“So you’re gonna be that auntie? The one who says the kid is cute, but really you’re just lying.”
Zeyla stilled, the coffee mug close to her mouth. “You two will probably make a cute baby.” She shrugged. “I mean, the odds are good your kid will be cute. But what if it’s like one of those cute puppies that grows up to be an ugly dog?”
Kenna said, “You’d better be good at presents.”
Zeyla’s expression shifted, and now she looked affronted. “Mom already got a storage unit. She’s filling it with baby stuff for you guys. I pitched in.”
Jax frowned
Kenna said, “Really?”
“We’re family, aren’t we?” Zeyla drank the rest of her coffee, then upended her mug in the tiny RV kitchen sink. “Can I rummage in your closet?”
Kenna nodded. “Maternity stuff is in the drawers, so just go for what’s hung up.” She turned on the seat and spoke toward the bedroom end of the RV. “What are you going to do about your hair?”
“Huh,” Zeyla called back. “Maybe I’ll hit a costume shop and get a wig or something.”
Her mind still wanted to hang on the idea of Amara with a storage unit of gifts for Kenna and Jax.
Of course, her aunt was excited to be a grandma to this baby, but with their enemy and Amara being caught up in the fight along with the rest of them, how could she have carved out time for gifts—or basic supplies?
Kenna and Jax had bought a baby carrier just so they had something for the baby after she was born, but nothing else yet.
The basics were diapers and wipes, clothes, and a couple of blankets.
Aside from that, it was just a lot of stuff people accumulated, and you didn’t know what was necessity and what was frivolous until after the baby was too old to utilize it anymore.
Their plan was to flex as needed, buy what was a “need” in the moment, and be grateful for all of it.
Every second they had health and life, and freedom, was a second they could be thankful to God for what they had.
“Have you heard from your mom in the last day or so?” Kenna asked.
Zeyla called back from the bedroom, “I can ask her where the storage unit is if you want to look at what she got, but I think it’s in Kansas.”
Jax frowned. “Why Kansas?”
“It’s the center of the continental US, so you don’t get stuck across the country three days from where you need to be. You’re only a day’s drive, or thereabouts.” Hangers clacked together.
Kenna figured the logic on that was sound enough. But that didn’t mean she was going to move there. “What time is the appointment?”
“Two ten this afternoon.”
“Okay. I want to go and see Detective Langley this morning, and I’ll be back here in time for you to make that appointment.”
Zeyla reappeared holding a pair of Kenna’s jeans and a heavy red-and-white lumberjack shirt that was lined. The jeans could probably pass as maternity if Zeyla didn’t show the waistband.
“How are you going to pretend to be pregnant?” Kenna asked.
“I guess I need a pillow or something I can stuff up the shirt.” Zeyla headed for the door. “I’ll text you guys with the plan. Thanks for the coffee!” The door clicked shut.
Jax turned to Kenna. “You want to talk to Detective Langley?”
She nodded. “I’d reassure you that hospitals are pretty safe places, but has that really been our experience?”
“It’s at least a good place to be in case someone is injured, or you and the baby have a problem.”
They weren’t going to be spending much time there, but she agreed on principle.
Kenna nodded. “Let’s go.”
Half an hour later, Jax knocked on the door to Detective Langley’s room.
“Come in.” The muffled voice was male, and when Jax opened the door, only Langley occupied the space.
The detective sat up. “Hey, guys.”
“Jordan.” Jax held out his hand, and they shook. “Good to see you looking awake.”
Kenna nodded. “You do look a whole lot better than the last time I saw you.”
The detective smiled. “The alternative isn’t great.” He had on a hospital gown and an ID bracelet, but wasn’t hooked up to any machines or medicines.
“How soon until they let you out?” Kenna settled into the chair against the wall beside the little cabinet and countertop, above which was a small TV on a shelf.
“Hopefully later today. I’m all stitched up, no infections, and I can go back to work in a week. I just can’t do anything but sit at my desk. And no lifting anything heavier than a piece of paper.”
Jax chuckled. “I’ve been there. You’ll be back to work soon enough.” He paused a second, then asked, “Did you see the face of the man who attacked you?”
“I scratched his neck.”
“I heard about that.” Jax nodded. “Good for you.”
“Maybe I got a look at his face. But mostly I just remember the sneer, and teeth.”
He enjoyed it. Kenna wasn’t surprised. But unlike his usual drawn-out kills, where he got to enjoy spilling blood and causing someone terror, this had been quick. “It was different with you. Fast.”
“He still managed to enjoy it,” Langley said.
She nodded. “Because he takes pride in his work.”
The two men looked at her.
She shook her head, mostly to try and shake off the memories. “Don’t worry about it.” She found the image in her phone and showed Langley. “Was this him?”
“I got his DNA. I don’t need to ID him.”
“His name is Simon Newton, and he’s a dangerous killer. If he isn’t in the system, then your colleagues need you to ID him from this photo so they can hunt him down before he hurts someone else.”
“He’s the one killing people?”
Kenna nodded. “Did he say anything at all?”
She couldn’t let go of the idea that hurting Langley had been about sending a message.
To her, to Jax. To someone else, or all of them and the police department.
He was a hired gun, though. Or a hired knife.
The person that whoever wanted to be in charge of Dominatus at the expense of everyone else sent to take out those who got in his way.
Either Langley was a player who needed to be removed from the board, or he was a pawn. If he meant nothing to Simon, then the assassin would never have bothered to hurt him.
“Not that I remember.”
Jax said, “Any idea why he’d hurt you?”
“You mean tried to kill me, right? Because that’s what he did.”
Kenna shook her head, but it was Jax who pointed out what they knew. “If he wanted you dead, you would be. He severely injured you, but he didn’t kill you.”
“Because he’s the kind of sicko who likes to see people suffer.”
“Yes, unless death needs to be expedient,” Kenna said. “We’ve known him to poison people and leave them to succumb while he’s miles away. Or chase a person for hours and then draw their death out for days.”
Surprise registered on Langley’s face.
Of course, he mattered as a human being. Everyone had intrinsic value. She just didn’t know if he mattered to Dominatus.
“Sorry, but we have to know how you fit into this whole thing,” she continued. “Or if you were just in the wrong place at the right time.”
Langley picked up his cell phone. “Guess I’m the chump who got targeted. But I’m also the chump who’s going to catch this guy.”
Jax shifted, empathy in his body language. “Detective—”
Langley cut him off. “Can’t do that without a hit on that scumbag’s DNA.”
“You have the results?” Kenna asked. “Your lieutenant told me the department put a rush on it.”
“That happens when someone tries to kill a cop.” Langley frowned. “They’re retesting the results because they think there was an error.”
“What kind of error?” Jax asked.
“They’re a match with some guy in the army. But he was killed in action six years ago.”