Jax said, “I’ll give you an email address. Or a phone number. You send everything about these people you have to the place I give you. When I can confirm it checks out, I’ll deposit money into your account.”
“So, I send a text, and you let me walk away? I don’t get paid until later?”
“I’m keeping this gun.”
Kenna would have as well. Better than getting shot in the back when the guy left. It was probably going to turn out to be the weapon in some unsolved crimes, so she figured they’d be turning it over to the police.
It might even be the gun used to kill Marcus Neerwood and Shawn Terrance.
Kenna caught a quiet whirring outside the car and only just recognized she was hearing it when her door opened. Someone pulled Maizie’s door open at the same time.
The dome light above her went on.
Maizie yelped as she was dragged out of the car.
Kenna said, “Hey, what?—”
Across the parking lot, Jax yelled, “KENNA!”
A stinky cloth was shoved in her mouth before she could finish what she was saying. The smell of it rushed up into her nostrils, and she tried to pull it out. Her fingers glanced over a hand on her face, and she scratched at it.
But the chemical did its job, and everything went black.
Chapter Forty-One
Washington, DC, Federal Courthouse
Present Day
Kenna stared at the room full of people, half of whom should have gone home hours ago. They’d all stuck around, as if what she had to say was of vital importance. That she might have changed the fate of the world.
This farce of a court case needed to be done already.
“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?” Hasworth was back on her feet. The prosecutor was supposed to be here to prove the defendant was responsible for the deaths of all those people in Chicago, while the defense attorneys proved she was acting under duress. Not in control of her actions. Or that she believed she was acting in a kind of self-defense.
“Plenty of people face trauma in their lives. Mine might be different, but it’s not the worst a human has endured. I’ve made it through a lot, survived, and built a family.” Kenna grabbed a tissue from the box the judge had given her and dabbed the corners of her eyes.
“That’s a gracious way to look at it.”
Kenna said, “I’ve met a lot of people who’ve gone through worse than me. Working cases. Finding victims. Children. Vulnerable adults. I was able to fight back in a lot of the situations I found myself in. And I was never alone.”
Even when she’d thought she was by herself. Without hope, the way Bradley had believed he was when he took his own life.
Kenna had always had God with her, even in the darkness when she hadn’t known He was there.Emmanuel.
“What a heartwarming story.” The lead defense attorney stood, a distinctly mocking tone in his voice. “Defeating the big, bad evil in the world. The power of love and family. Meanwhile, my client had no one to stand with her. She was completely alone. Isn’t that true, Mrs. Jaxton?”
She wasn’t supposed to answer a question like that. But Kenna wasn’t an FBI agent who had to follow the rules anymore.
“We all make our own choices,” Kenna said. “And we have to face the consequences of those choices. That’s what integrity is.”
“Your Honor—” Hasworth began.
The defense interrupted. “It’s unorthodox, I know. But this has been an unorthodox trial from start to finish.”
The judge asked, “Would the defense like to cross-examine the witness?”
Kenna wasn’t sure which of them thought she was going to make their point for them. Hasworth wanted her to provide testimony on how this was all probably inevitable. How the defendant had been raised as an asset forDominatus. How she had been taught to take life and insinuate herself into situations like a spy.
