Zeyla frowned. “Would they really give us the runaround like that? For all we know, they killed Shawn Terrance and wanted that information so badly they killed Gabby, too. Are they so far gone and so desperate for the tech from that software company that they went to this extent?”
“They either wanted it badly for themselves, or they knew they had to get it off the market so no one had access to it,” Maizie said. “Either way, it doesn’t look good.”
Kenna blew out a breath. “They’ve got a whole lot to answer for. I say we press the issue. Force them to confront us with what’s really going on.”
There had to be a way to call them out that they couldn’t deny.
“That could backfire.” Zeyla set a hand on her hip. “Unless we have a good plan.”
Kenna said, “Then I guess we need to come up with one.”
“Good thing I’m making bacon.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kenna leaned her hips back against the kitchen counter. Jax sat at the dinette, halfway through his sandwich stacked with thick-cut bacon. Zeyla had gone for a run to burn off some of the tension of sleeping upright in a chair. Kenna figured she just wasn’t a big fan of close quarters and needed her own space on occasion.
Or she was hoping those guys in the black SUVs would make another move.
Maybe both.
“I don’t like any of this,” she said.
Maizie had come down from her loft bed and taken a shower. Now she sat in the driver’s seat with her laptop on her knees. Wearing wide-leg jeans and a loose-fit T-shirt. Her wet blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head. “He really told you to find the family?”
Kenna nodded. “He probably knows where they are, and he wants me to work the case. Like solving a puzzle. It’s a distraction at best; that’s the only explanation.”
Ellayna and her mother and her brother were gone. Supposedly kidnapped and being held somewhere.
But if MSI was behind it, then why was Crystal’s ex dead?
Even if they’d taken the family, someone had taken Marcus Neerwood’s life. She had a few theories as to why he was dead but no evidence to prove one was more likely than the others.
“I don’t like the idea that MSI put a bomb in Gabby and pushed her off that bridge.” Jax shook his head. “I’d never have said they were capable of doing something like that.”
“I knew they were capable,” Kenna countered. “But I thought they had more integrity than to kill an innocent person.”
Maizie said, “Unless she wasn’t all that innocent. But that’s too much collateral damage.”
It was certainlyanexplanation. And it fit, but Kenna still didn’t like it. “I don’t like the idea we’re being played. That we’ve been played on multiple occasions for the past few weeks.”
Ramon might be the only person who could tell her what was going on, and he was out of contact. Same with Bruce and Amara. Even Zeyla had tried reaching them, but it was as if all their phones were off.
Kenna jogged her heel up and down, using the movement to try and jog an idea loose from her brain. But she was being purposely kept in the dark. So how could she possibly figure out the answers.
“If it wasn’t for MSI being in the middle of this, I’d think it wasDominatusgiving me the runaround. Distracting me because they have something big going on—probably something to do with the president.”
Jax turned and leaned against the window, one leg on the seat and his foot in the aisle. “What if we assume that’s true? It could mean they’re using the guys from MSI because we’re more likely to believe them. We trust them, right? So, if they say it’s all good, then we’re more inclined to go along with it. To not try and uncover whatever sinister thing is going on underneath.”
Maizie said, “That, and if MSI is the one shooting at us, then it makes sense why none of us has been hurt.”
Kenna looked at Maizie. “They missed on purpose.”
“It fits,” Jax said. “If we assume MSI doesn’t want something bad to happen to any of us. Perhaps they’re the ones who took the job withDominatusbecause they can then actively ensure none of us gets hurt.”
“But Gabby was fair game,” Kenna pointed out.
Jax tipped his head to the side. “Maybe those guys in Pueblo weren’t MSI, but someone else. The guys here in the black SUVs are supposed to be the bad guys who wanted the tech from that software company, but they’re just pretending? But Bear wouldn’t stand for losing his men.”
