Kenna asked, “Are you finally returning my calls?”
“I can dispense wisdom.”
“You can also help us work cases. But you pretty much disappeared.”
Amara didn’t respond right away. When she did, she said, “I needed to figure something out with Bruce.”
“And?”
“We’re good. We got it settled.”
Kenna asked, “Should I know what that means?”
She spotted movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Jax wander out from the hallway and go into the living room. Hair mussed all over the place, looking like he’d been asleep for days.
She smiled as he approached, pointing to her right earbud and mouthingAmara.
He braced his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned down to touch his lips to hers.
Amara said, “Bruce and I found a small chapel and got married.”
“Congratulations!”
Jax glanced at her.
“But aren’t you supposed to have witnesses at a wedding?”
“We found some locals. There wasn’t time to call you all down to Mexico once we settled it and decided to find a preacher.”
Kenna said, “Good, because I’m going to need some time before I go to Mexico.”
“Plus, I don’t think they let you fly as pregnant as you are.”
“Hmm. True.” Kenna sighed. “I appreciate the distraction from thinking about Ellayna and what possessed her mother to allow her to go on a podcast and talk about what happened to her?—”
“Assuming she knew,” Amara said.
“Or wondering when those guys in the SUV are going to show up looking for the flash drive.”
“I thought you were safe there. Didn’t the police follow them from the scene?”
“They couldn’t catch them. The kidnappers got away.” She should have called them killers. They’d murdered multiple people while trying to get what they wanted, with no regard for innocent lives. “Who knows what will happen next.” She tried to sound nonchalant when she said, “What are you and Bruce working on now that you’ve gotten your deal resolved?”
“Nice try.” Amara paused. “But…there is something I haven’t been able to tell you. I wasn’t sure if it would cause a problem. Bruce said I should’ve told you months ago, but I didn’t want you to think I was a terrible person.”
“You’re a person who has lived their whole life in a war, and war makes you do things you never thought you’d have done.” She wanted her mother to have lived a different life, not one fighting constantly againstDominatus. Playing both sides—sometimes simultaneously. “What did you do?”
Amara fell silent.
Kenna wondered if she even should’ve asked. There might be a better time to have this conversation or a better place both of them could be in. But the question was out now, and it was up to Amara whether she shared.
An alarm blared through the house, coming from speakers high on the wall that Kenna had noticed but didn’t know what they were for.
“What is that?”
“I’ve got to go.” She hung up on Amara and tugged out her earbuds as Jax raced back into the room. He caught her hand and helped her out of the chair quicker than she’d be able to manage. “What’s going on?”
“Incoming. Two black SUVs coming down the lane.” He was already walking toward the hall.
