Page 78 of Dust and Ashes

“I’ll kill you at the same time, most likely. Then it will be over for both of us.” She stayed where she was, standing her ground.

Jax shifted in the hospital bed. “Kenna.” He said her name like a warning.

Kart said, “You kill me, you’ll never find Javier.”

Kenna shrugged one shoulder. “Assuming the child is even still alive. Which is unlikely.” Let him believe she wasn’t convinced the boy had survived the past few hours with him. And at the same time she’d told Jax there was a child’s life at stake right now.

Where were the medical staff? Or security? Even the FBI.

Stairns had surely called the closest office by now to send down agents to look through the compound Kart had occupied. But that would’ve been in the wee hours of the morning. Now it was barely eight, and a coastal hurricane was all any news report wanted to talk about.

The hospital should be teeming with patients and staff. Not two agents who’d been drugged, or tased, or otherwise knocked out.

Why not just shoot them?

She got the feeling yet again that he had orders from someone else. Kart wasn’t in control of the situation he’d found himself in. Like at the compound when it had been clear he’d like nothing better than to kill her, or even hurt her a little bit for his own amusement. But he hadn’t.

Because they’d been waiting for his cousin, Elliot Preston.

And Maizie had told her the sheriff was still on his way down here, though encountering travel setbacks.

It could be that Kart was currently under the same orders as before. Not to kill her.

Had he really dumped the child somewhere and set up this elaborate scheme…for what? To get her to show up when she heard Jax was alive. Information that had come through Ramon.

Which made her question Ramon’s honesty as well as cast doubt on whether the former fed had been working against her all this time. Or undermining her ability to find the child. Did Ramon know where Javier was? If he did and it had all been subterfuge, he was a seriously good actor.

“The boy is alive,” Kart said. “For now.”

“So what happens next?” As much as she tried to fight it, she had to shift her weight. Soon her arm wouldn’t be able to hold the weight of the gun, raised like she had it. Did he know that she lacked the strength? Was that why he seemed to be stalling. “What’s the plan here, Ian?” She used his first name to throw him off balance, and by appearances it worked.

He hesitated.

“You probably want to hurry it up before we’re swarmed with people.” She tried to sound nonchalant.

“Why do you think I came here, but to kill the FBI agent so he can’t tell anyone what happened at the compound?” He almost smirked.

“He doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t remember anything.” Kenna stared him down. “Problem solved.” He didn’t need to kill Jax. “So let’s get going. We can settle this elsewhere.”

“You know, you almost had me fooled that it might’ve just been basic human consideration—”

“Which you know nothing about,” she pointed out.

“But you really do care about him.” Kart studied her. “Maybe you even love him.” Kart was only trying to bait the two of them. He wanted her off her game as much as she wanted the same from him.

Out the corner of her eye, Kenna saw Jax look at her. “So you kill him, and I kill you.” She paused, her gun still trained on Kartom. “What does that get you?”

“I’ll die knowing you have nothing, and I won.”

Kenna chuckled. She might lose, but she wouldn’t have nothing. “That’s not the definition of winning. You’ll be dead, and I’ll still be here. The one who carries on my legacy? That would be me when I go hunt down everyone under your protection. Everyone who is connected to your life, personal and professional. Everyone you’ve ever cared about. I’ll bankrupt their businesses. Ruin them financially. Spread their secrets all over the internet. I’ll destroy their lives.”

Surely he’d heard the termscorched earth.

“A little bloodthirsty there, Kenna.” His brows rose. “I like it.”

She pressed her lips into a thin line. As if he might’ve corrupted her into acting like this? She could be that vindictive all by herself.

Maybe he just didn’t understand how loyalty worked, or the way she was with family. How people who looked out for each other in her small circle were all in, the way they couldn’t be if the circle was larger. When it came to the people she cared about—even if it was only Maizie, Stairns and his wife, Ryson and his family, and Jax—-all that protective instinct distilled in a way that meant she went to bat with everything she had in her.

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