Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Kenna was still in the dress when they pulled into the parking lot of an extended stay motel that looked pretty nice. The kind of spot with suites that had kitchens, and federal agents on long-term assignment could charge their travel expenses to the government dime.
“Nice digs,” she told her husband. “Took too long to get here, though.” She didn’t like their odds of finding Andrette alive in her room, but she had hope that God could do anything.
A single police car was parked at the curb in front of the main entrance, the motel stretching two stories either side of the tall doorway.
Plenty of windows lit up, curtains drawn.
Dawn would be lighting the sky in just a few hours.
Kenna had slept part of the way, but both of them needed rest. Hopefully, the peaceful sleep of having saved a life.
“You’re gonna check in with everyone?” Jax asked.
“Yeah, I’ll sit in the lobby. You make sure your friend is alive.” She leaned over and kissed him.
The dome light illuminated as he got out, washing her in yellow light.
Kenna was ready to get out of the car and stretch her legs but brought her gun with her. She tucked it into the pocket and left her hand in there as well. Loose hold on the grip, just in case, and walked to the entrance with him.
The air held a chill, and ice had collected in what would be puddles in cooler weather. Jax had the car warm since she’d been cold falling asleep, but now she was glad for the low temperature. As long as it didn’t rain while she was standing here.
Inside the sliding doors, she said, “Go” and he raced to the elevator, knowing he would’ve been up there much faster if it wasn’t for her.
She found an alcove where the desk person couldn’t watch her and called Maizie, put her earbuds in, and tucked the phone in her other pocket.
When the young woman answered, she said, “Catch me up.” Scanning all directions around her.
Checking no one lurked in the shadows outside, ready to pounce.
Sure, she’d been left alone in this lobby, but she was also standing beside a fire alarm she could pull. She had her hand on her gun.
“You good?”
Kenna said, “Sure.”
Just because Jax was dealing with the cops and she was here didn’t mean anything would happen.
Eventually they’d have to do things separately. Today was just a taste, and she could admit she didn’t prefer it. So she knew that “eventually” wasn’t going to come that fast.
“At least make it sound convincing,” Maizie said.
“The police are here. Jax is checking on his friend. I’m fine, but ready to get out of this dress. Feels like I’ve been wearing it for days.” Kenna paused. “Now catch me up.”
“They’re working on a plan. Neither of those men is going to play along with a ruse that could get Ramon and Zeyla into a military facility, so that idea got tossed out pretty quickly.
” Maizie paused, sounding distracted. “Their phone location histories have them all at the same facility often over the past few months.”
“A decommissioned base?”
“It’s in West Virginia. Craig says if you didn’t know where to find it, you’d never stumble across it. He wants Amara to come here and ‘watch’ me and Elizabeth so he can be there helping you, but neither of us liked that idea.”
“We’ll figure out how to do this,” Kenna said. “I might have an angle on access, but it won’t happen for a few hours. If it does at all.”
“I’ll tell Zeyla.”
“What about Joseph?”
“Amara called Boston authorities.” The tone of Maizie’s voice rose. “They showed up at Joseph’s grandparents and found Mitch in the process of beating them to death.”
“Whoa.”
“I know. It was crazy. Apparently, Joseph was upstairs screaming. They took the grandparents to the hospital, and the kid is getting checked out. Mitch is under arrest. Hope you don’t mind, but I told them I was from Banbury Investigations and explained they should consider him extremely dangerous and capable of anything.
That he’s someone we’ve been investigating, and he’s committed a number of serious crimes. ”
“All true,” Kenna said. “Good thinking, Maze.”
“Thanks.”
Kenna took a couple of steps and sat on a cushy chair someone had placed in this alcove beside a small end table. “What’s going to happen to the nurse and those two guys?”
“They’re part of the team that was killed in action supposedly.
Craig is on the phone with a contact of his that he trusts, but Ramon said if we turn them over to the military police, then we risk Dominatus letting them out again.
Or moving them to another secret division where they keep doing what they’re doing. ”
“The alternative is murder.” Kenna had seen enough bloodshed in her life that she didn’t want to be even vicariously responsible for the end of someone’s life like that.
She spotted movement over by the elevator and stiffened for a second before realizing it was Jax.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“Plenty,” Maizie said, “but it can wait if you have to go.”
“I’ll call back.” Kenna hung up and waited for Jax to walk all the way to her before she held out her hand. He assisted her to her feet, and she hugged him. “How is Andrette?”
“They took her to the hospital half an hour ago. She’d lost a lot of blood, but there was no sign of Simon.”
“Do you want to speak to her? Maybe he told her where he’d be going next.”
Jax didn’t answer right away. “We already caught two tonight. I shouldn’t be disappointed we didn’t get three.”
“We did.” She told him about Mitch, about Joseph’s grandparents being alive and the child safe.
Relief washed over Jax’s face. “That’s great.”
“We got three out of four. That’s pretty good odds.” She squeezed his side. “Once we have a plan, we can get on wrapping this up and shutting down Schnell.” She said the name quieter than the rest. “And then hopefully Simon as well.”
Jax nodded. “That sounds good.” His gaze scanned her face.
“What is it?”
“I want to pack up the RV and get out of town.” He hesitated, like he wasn’t sure how she would react. “After tonight…I want us gone from here.”
“Wherever we go, there’s a real threat that they’ll find us.”
“But I’ll feel better being able to see it coming.”
She nodded. “I know exactly how you feel.”
“That’s why we have a team, right? So they can help us?”
“And carry the whole load?” Kenna paused. “I know they’d jump at being in danger so we’re safe. Asking them to do it, that’s another story.”
“The plan to take down Schnell isn’t going to involve you going into that military facility, so we don’t have to worry about asking if one of them can take your place. It won’t even occur to them.”
Kenna shook her head. “Who’d have thought it would come to this? That my life would be at a place where the biggest baddest threat of my life is one I don’t fight alone, but the people I care about put their lives on the line for me.”
Jax kissed her forehead. “That’s what family does.”
“Let’s go home and then unhook our home and drive it home.” She’d had a taste of being alone, even though it was barely a few minutes, and she didn’t like it. She wanted her husband by her side. It wasn’t something she would demand, but as long as Jax felt the same, this is where they would be.
Together.
The entrance doors slid open, and they went outside.
Jax shook his head. “It’s freezing here.”
“Too much time in Phoenix?”
“And an entire childhood in California.”
Kenna shuddered. “Utah weather is my speed. Florida is a nightmare.”
He chuckled. “I’ll keep my thoughts about Florida to myself, but even in Salt Lake City I tried to escape somewhere warmer in the winter.”
“You’re destined to turn us into snow bunnies. Summers up north, winter in the mild south.”
“I can handle that if you can.”
Kenna glanced at him, content to lean on him for their protection. Just in case. “I think you’re giving up a whole lot more than me in this equation.”
“You’ve given up plenty in your life. Just like with the team, it’s time someone makes the sacrifice for you so you don’t have to.”
She thought it was sweet he viewed it like that but had no intention of just taking forever.
Theirs was a give-and-take family. There would be times where she repaid the favor and stepped up to the plate.
Not because anyone owed anyone else in their marriage, or with their family.
It wasn’t about proving they were good enough or being worthy of love and belonging.
It was just about the loyalty and affection they all had for each other.
He beeped the locks on the car.
Kenna flinched, but the engine turned over and it sat there idling. “I really thought it was going to explode for a second.”
“We have a bigger problem,” Jax whispered, slowing their pace. He drew his weapon and moved Kenna behind him. “What do you want, Simon?”
Kenna should just hunker down behind her husband, but she had to see. She slid her hand into her pocket with the gun. No, she should call 911. No, the gun was a better idea. She looked around Jax’s shoulder and saw him.
Simon stood about fifteen feet away. “You interrupted my work.”
Unlike on the platform out at sea, where they had met, he didn’t wear white scrubs. He wore dark clothing, pants not jeans, and had a heavy overcoat on. Leather gloves. No eyebrows. Likely no hair on his arms.
But she hadn’t noticed him being bald when he stabbed Langley in the street. So did he wear a head covering to ensure he left no evidence behind?
She didn’t see a gun in his hand, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one. Two against one, buddy.
Jax said, “Put your hands on your head and get on your knees.”
Simon cracked a smile. “A citizen’s arrest?” He laughed. “I have more authority here than you.”
“You’re a killer, Simon,” Jax said. “We bring killers to justice.”
“Is that you, Kenna? I can’t see you hiding back there.”
She made sure no one was to sneak up behind them. But Simon only ever worked alone. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about what happens to killers who return to the scene of the crime and get caught.”
More laughter.
“Put your hands up,” Jax said, his gun trained on Simon.
Kenna dug out her phone with her off hand and dialed 911. Maizie would see it, but it was enough for the police to follow her to this location—preferably from as close as inside the building behind her. She moved to look around Jax’s shoulder.
Simon moved fast, bringing out a gun. Already firing before he could even aim.
Jax fired back.
She felt the bullet slam into Jax’s chest, and everything in her tensed in a wrenching grief. He grunted and started to fall. Simon barely rocked back.
Kenna squeezed the trigger on her gun and fired over and over.
Simon’s body jerked as he fell to the ground.
She lowered the pocket of her jacket. Someone was yelling—maybe it was her. She collapsed to the ground beside Jax and rolled him to his back.
His head lolled to the side, a single bullet embedded in his shirt.
She choked back a sob. “Right. You’re wearing that vest.” She could hardly breathe.
“Ma’am!” The cop raced over. “Ma’am, are you all right?”
She lifted her hands. “My husband has been shot.”