Page 77 of Storm and Tempest
“She doesn’t know where Kenna is,” Zeyla replied, “but in the pictures it’s clearly a facility. That much you can tell from the images they sent. But they have places all over. She could literally be anywhere in the world.”
“And if we narrow it down to places that are on coastlines—or ‘offshore’—then what happens to our search results?”
“I have no idea where they are. I just know they exist.” Her gaze drifted to the side.
“What?” Jax wanted to pressure her, but they were all about to break.
“The only way to get a list of every facility is to get into one and access their server.” Zeyla paused. “But we aren’t doing that. It’s a death sentence if we get caught. And that’s the best-case scenario.”
“I’ll go.” Maizie hugged her iPad. “Tell me where it is, Zeyla. Or take me to one like you’re turning me in. I can get into the server and find the information we need.”
“No,” Jax replied, in unison with Ramon. “Kenna would never go for that.” Jax walked a step away from the car and turned back, needing to do something.
“She isn’t here.” Maizie lifted her chin. A tear trailed from the corner of her left eye, and she swiped it away. “This is how we get her back.”
“Actually”—Jax motioned with his chin across the road, where he spotted the Kenna lookalike approaching the bank—“that’s how we get her back.”
Ramon said, “Let’s go.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jax went in the bank first, the others behind him. The lunch rush appeared to be in full swing, and the line for the tellers snaked almost to the door. High ceilings and an old money feel made this place appear like a hotel lobby. He scanned the crowd for the Kenna lookalike.
“We’re sure it’s not her, right?” Ramon asked.
Maizie said, “She dresses a little like Kenna, but not completely. And she doesn’t walk the same.”
“She walks like an operative.” Zeyla’s expression darkened. “Which means she’s mine.”
Jax wasn’t so sure a fight in a bank lobby was the way to go. “I have an idea. I mean, she is here pretending to be my wife. In fact, the whole company is here. So let’s go join her for her appointment.”
Maizie grinned. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Jax frowned, but he weaved through the line over to where the Kenna lookalike was waiting in a seating area. The hum of conversation drifted around him, and a phone rang in the corner of the lobby. This place smelled like the floor cleaner they used and coffee that had sat on the burner for a few hours. Someonecut in front of him, a familiar male making a beeline for the same dark-haired woman he was headed for.
Surely not here to meet her.
But who else would it be?
Jax took the chance to study the Kenna lookalike while she leafed through a real estate investing pamphlet and waited for her appointment. She didn’t look like Kenna to him, though he supposed some people might be confused. She shared some features with his wife, as well as her height and build. But that was where the similarities ended.
This woman had a longer nose, and the whole demeanor was off. Kenna had softened over the past few years. This woman came across more like Zeyla. On edge. Ready for what was about to happen.
They were twenty feet away when she looked up and pinned him with a stare.Busted.She might think she had the upper hand here, but that wasn’t what was happening.
The man who’d cut in front of him sat beside her.
She didn’t look at the other man, and she spoke too low for Jax to hear, but he could lip-read. “Elliot, what do you want?”
Elliot looked haggard, talking quickly to the Kenna lookalike while she stared at Jax, watching him approach like a predator, barely paying any attention to the desperate man beside her.
Jax sat across from her, and Maizie settled beside him. “Good thing I’m not late for our appointment.”
Maizie eased her iPad down and tapped the screen a few times.
Elliot whipped around, surprised to see them. His mouth opened, but he just stared at them.
“Special Agent Adams.” Jax nodded. “Good to see you’re all right. I was worried.”
