Page 55 of Storm and Tempest
“Bruce and Amara are…I don’t know where.” She glanced at him, an interesting look on her face. Worried, nervous, and abunch of other things. “They left a bit ago and didn’t tell me what for.”
“We have a team meeting later, so we can ask then.”
Elliot and Sandra didn’t need an earful of Maizie’s hang-ups about romantic relationships. She saw healthy examples in the people around her, but Bruce and whatever he had going with Amara might be something else entirely.
At best it was an on-again, off-again or nonstarter thing. The worse might be something unhealthy. Jax would rather Maizie got used to relationships that honored the God he served. Seeing examples of serving others would help her move the needle on her expectations for the future.
Jax wanted Kenna back so they could model a healthy marriage and healthy parenting.
Elliot sat back in his chair, and Jax caught the expression on his face.
“What is it?”
“I can’t stay here forever and keep living in this warehouse.” Elliot took a sip of his coffee. “I’ve been in this limbo for weeks. Now that Sandra is here, too, I’m thinking about what’s next. Amara said she would set us up with a new life as soon as Sandra came, but then she was asking me to help her. She never actually picked up Sandra.”
“She never approached me at all,” the sister said.
“We can arrange for protection to continue, assumingDominatuswill be looking for you.” Jax wasn’t sure what the threat level might be, but the lawyers surely had a longer-term solution for a place these two could live. Like a safehouse somewhere.
He could also call Preston, who had provided sanctuary for a young mother Kenna saved. Would he do that again?
Elliot started to shake his head. “What if I went back to the FBI, though? Confronted them with the reality of whathappened. I was run off the road, and then I got kidnapped—which is technically true.”
“Someone covered that up.”
“So I force the issue. Get whoever it is knocked back a step, because I make them face the lie that I was transferred when I’m showing up at the office. I never transferred, and someone outside of the FBI forged the paperwork and changed the internal computer records to show I’m…wherever I’m supposed to be. They can’t ignore the fact that I didn’t disappear and that it was all fake—not that I’m going to say I know who did it.”
Jax reached up and squeezed the back of his neck.
Elliot continued, “This was all a conspiracy to shove me out because of this case I was working. That means I’m onto something.” He looked at Jax. “So why don’t we go to the US Attorney’s office and get them to take the case?”
“We have to assume thatDominatushas someone in that office, or a federal judge in their pocket.” Jax set his coffee on the table nearest to him and stared across the open middle at the FBI agent. “I know you want your life back, but in my experience, once you get caught up with these people, they don’t let it go.”
He did have an idea that had been coalescing for a while now about where Elliot could go and keep fighting. After all, the more people who were in on this coordinated fight, the better. “I might have another job you can do,” he added. “A way to be part of the group working againstDominatus.”
Jax got out his phone and sent a message on a secure app he’d been given access to for the taskforce. Things had been oddly quiet on it lately, but this news might bring a resurgence of efforts. “When I get a call back, I’ll see what I can arrange so you can still do your job, but in a way that we’re all working together to fight this.”
Sandra didn’t look happy. “So we’re never going to get our lives back?”
Jax shook his head. “Not anytime soon.”
Elliot reached over and squeezed his sister’s hand. “This is important.”
She whipped her head around and looked at him. “I think what you meant to say is, ‘Your life wasn’t that great anyway,’ wasn’t it? That’s what you wanted to say.”
“A fresh start can be a good thing.”
She shifted her hand out of his grip and folded her arms. “Starting overagain? Sure. That’s always a great thing.”
Elliot opened his mouth to say something but only sighed. “I didn’t want to put you at risk. Amara explained to me that they used her daughter as leverage to get her to do things for them.”
“She was supposed to kill you, but she didn’t,” Sandra said. “If you go back to the FBI, everyone will see that you aren’t dead. What do you think will happen to the woman they care about who is missing when you do that?” She glared at her brother. “You never think about anyone else but yourself. You wanted me in your life, so you were going to have that Amara woman—who is scary, by the way—drag me frommylife so you can have what you want. Because what I want is less important.”
“Sis—”
“I was grieving you. Packing up your life and moving on with mine.” Sandra pushed her chair back and stood. “I didn’t ask to be part of this.”
Jax said, “None of us did.”
