Page 91 of Long Road Home

“Yep.” Kenna hung up.

“You have a kid that works for you?” Pilsborough said, leafing through a stack of envelopes.

“Not sure that’s your business.”

“This car is owned by a guy in Appleton. It’s probably stolen, but we can find out.”

Kenna held the wheel tight and eased down the lane, careful not to go too slow or too fast. They didn’t need to get stuck or start sliding. “Even if they find the guys we just killed back there are the ones that stole it, we still won’t know who they work for.” Dead men couldn’t give statements. “No point busting the guy in the trunk for car theft.”

“Oh, I’ll figure something out.”

She caught a scary look in his eyes, and glanced in the rearview. She couldn’t see Jax, but just knowing he was back there helped her keep her wits about her. “You guys good?”

“No, my arm hurts.”

Kenna started, hearing all that from Jim in one go. He hadn’t said much else.

Destain chuckled. “We’ll get you some happy meds when they patch you up.”

“No drugs,” Jim said.

“Liquor?” Destain asked.

Jim shook his head. “Not if it gets us all killed.”

Pilsborough huffed. He flipped his phone end over end on his knee. The fact he hadn’t called for help, or a SWAT team of state police to escort them, was interesting. They wanted this operation undercover. Gingrich had received the request and handed it to her without further ado. But he hadn’t had a good reason until Kobrinsky was injured.

Far too much coincidence.

But she wondered if Kobrinsky hadn’t been injured…would he still have made up an excuse for her to take this escort duty?

Kenna spotted the highway up ahead, after a dip in the lane. She eased down on the gas, and they bumped up the far side of the dip onto the highway. Semi truck headlights rushed toward them from the left. Kenna grabbed the wheel and swung it to the right.

The SUV slid around, out of the way of the semi. Wind rocked the vehicle as it sped past, honking loudly. Whoever it was, they didn’t slow down to see if the occupants of the SUV were all right.

Kenna pulled over to the lane the semi was in and followed it south, driving slow until she had her phone giving her directions. There were no other cars around, so she glanced back at Jax. He lifted his chin.Guess we’re good.

In his expression, she’d seen plenty of indication he was trying to figure out something. He wasn’t the only one who could read the other. There was something not right here, and it had nothing to do with the two of them, but she trusted he would figure it out.

“Whoever these people are,” Kenna said, keepingher eyes on the road, “how do we know they won’t catch up to us at this medical center we’re going to?”

“She’s got a point.” That was Jax.

But it wasn’t like it was them against the rest, as much as she’d prefer it that way. He still needed to maintain his standing with the feds. The last thing she wanted was for association with her to cost him his career.

Destain said, “Keep your eyes peeled, I guess.”

Kenna tipped her head to the side. “Jax.”

“Yeah?”

“Ask Maizie for an alternate.” They could use a Plan B at any moment, and she wanted one figured out before the last second when it might mean life or death.

“On it.”

Kenna drove at 35 mph on the highway, trying to figure out where the road lines were, While she held steady on the wheel and peered into the swirling snow, all she could think about was Forrest sitting in a cold cell. The fact Marion Wells was right beside her wasn’t right at all. One woman was a stone-cold killer. The other had never killed anyone.

And she was out here, helping a man who could fix something in the FBI that had been broken for a long time.