Page 127 of Storm and Tempest
“It’s a date.”
The trees came to an abrupt end, the terrain switching from backwoods overgrown brush to a manicured lawn in a stark line that delineated the edge of Jonas’ backyard. Acres of grass that could’ve been a golf course stretched beyond them, a slight decline down to the gravel around what could only be described as a mansion.
“Why do all these bad guys have gorgeous stone houses?”
Jax tugged on her hand, and they set off walking down the hill. “Do you want one?”
“No way.”
Over by the house, Ramon ducked through a door and left it open for them. Light flashed in one of the first-floor windows to the left. A gunshot.
She continued, “I want a cabin with acres and acres of hills, and mountains in the distance so you can see someone coming toward you from a long way off. The kind of place where the closest neighbor is five miles down the road and you get snowed in for weeks in the winter.”
“I’ll need an ATV with a snowplow attachment.”
“Of course.” She squeezed his hand. “Kids. Dogs. Cases we can consult on and not leave the house.”
“At this point, we’re gonna have a team we’re coordinating who go out and do the legwork for us while we go through the evidence.”
“Sounds good to me.”
To him, it almost sounded like a dream. The kind of life they might’ve had withoutDominatusin the picture. Something that “could be”—and if things went a certain way, that’s all it would ever be. The only chance they’d actually achieve it would beafter the fight of their lives, doing whatever it took to take that organization down. If they even survived the battle.
And with her pregnant… Well, he wanted to decree that they found that sanctuary of a cabin together. Then she could stay there while he took care of it for her. Kenna would never go for it, which was why he didn’t voice the idea out loud. Still, now that she was carrying their baby, he needed her to stay safe rather than be a target forDominatus.
For all he knew, they were both now on the radar. Targets of an enemy who would relentlessly pursue his family until they got what they wanted.
“As much as we might want to,” she began, “we can’t check out or bury our heads in the sand. Not with all we know and how widespread the threat is.”
“I still can’t see how we’d ever be able to take them down. The whole thing seems insurmountable.”
Not without identifying every single member ofDominatusand taking them down one by one. That was a fight that could take a lifetime.
He continued, “Right now all I can see is a fight that will be so difficult I don’t want to do it. I’d rather pack it all in and enjoy my life instead. But you’re right—with all we’ve seen, that isn’t something we can do. Not in all good conscience.”
“So we take it one day at a time. One mission at a time.” She slowed. “To be honest, this is the most exercise I’ve had in months.”
And she was coming off an “endurance” test, where she’d been subjected to starvation and hypothermia.
“Before you say it”—she smiled—“there’s no way I was going to stay in the car any more than you were.”
The steps up to the back door Ramon had left open were stone and looked like they’d been imported from someplace where medieval structures like castles and churches still stood.Was Earl Jonas really the kind of guy who would ship every piece of it over, stone by stone, and reassemble it? Jax wouldn’t have said so, but that was exactly what it seemed had happened.
Above his head, a window shattered and a dark form sailed out.
The man hit the gravel behind them with a sickening thud.
Kenna moved closer, and he slid his arm around her waist reflexively, even if the guy was dead. He could feel the baby between them, his family safe and sound. He leaned down and kissed her neck. “Stay behind me.”
“I’ll watch your back.”
“That’s not why.”
She squeezed his waist right as he crossed the threshold of the door. “I know.”
Jax couldn’t hold her hand because while he could shoot with his left, now wasn’t the time to sacrifice accuracy for convenience. He scanned the hallway, which was encased in wood wainscoting with pretentious paintings on the wall, listening to the faint sounds of hand-to-hand combat through the house.
A gunshot exploded, somewhere far enough it sounded like a muffled thud. Like a firework miles away.
