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Jax said, “You know how to get to Navarro?”
She headed for the ranch. “You know about the cartel?”
“They filled me in when I woke up. After they woke up.” He waved a hand. “It’s a whole thing.”
“I’d love to hear the story, but right now we need to get this money to a dangerous cartel leader and use it to buy back my friends.”
Jax grunted. “So basically it’s date night.”
ChapterTwenty-Eight
Kenna wanted to laugh at that so badly. Instead, she ended up crying, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do right now. She had Jax beside her in the truck. God had met her in that prayer. But even with those good things, there was still so much more that seemed out of control.
Then again, all of it had been outsidehercontrol.
The balance of good things and bad things—that scared her to her core—created a wash of emotion she couldn’t hold back.
Jax said nothing. He just let her get it all out, until she was gasping long breaths and still trying to drive. She slowed to yield before she pulled onto the highway and grabbed the phone off the floor. She put it in the cup holder, then took a second to wipe her dirty face and get ahold of herself. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for.”
“I wasn’t crying about the prospect of dating you, by the way.” Her throat felt hoarse, and her entire body ached like she needed two days of sleep—after a scorching hot bath. Then after all that, she could get dressed up andonlythenthey could talk about a date.
Where would he take her if they ever got the chance?
She wanted to know if he was a ballpark-and-hotdogs kind of guy, or sushi for dinner and her in heels. She could go either way when the occasion called for it. And not just if it was an undercover operation.
“I appreciate the clarification,” he said.
She glanced over for a second, long enough to see he had his eyes open, but they were lined with pain. “Are you up to talking? We need to put our heads together.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I woke up in the hospital. That guy was there.”
“Kart.” She said his name like a curse word.
“Then you, strolling in like a white knight there to save me.”
She wanted to point out that in getting taken she’d saved Javier, Navarro’s nephew. But that would take far too much explaining when she wanted to hear his story right now.
“You got him to take you and leave me.” His tone indicated his opinion of that. “The agents on the door rushed in a few minutes later, and one of them fell. They’d been drugged by Kart and his men.”
“I never saw anyone else with him…until tonight.” She stopped herself, not liking the accusation in her voice. The feds Jax trusted weren’t necessarily dirty. “Sorry, carry on.”
“It’s all right.” He squeezed her knee. “They told me they’d been given coffee by a nurse, and right before they passed out. They realized once they woke up that the agent from San Diego wasn’t legit. They double-checked his credentials, and the guy was pretending to be an agent so he could get intel on what they were doing.”
Kenna blew out a breath.
“And it turns out they’ve all been tracking Ian Kartom, his friends, and his business for months. Trying to piece together exactly what he does so they can build a solid case against him and get everything—not just part of it.”
“Seems like he does a little bit of everything.” She paused. “Do they know about the sheriff, Elliot Preston?”
Jax shook his head. “They didn’t say anything about him. Maizie told me, though.”
“You talked to her?” That must’ve been before she and Stairns had been captured.
“Thanks for leaving me your phone. I know how hard that must’ve been.”
“You could use it, and I could use it to call you. I didn’t want Kart finding Maizie.”
