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“I’m not letting them take her.”
A car squealed into the parking lot at high speed, taking the turn fast and drawing the attention of the men on the pier. They started to run as the car barreled across the empty lot toward them.
Two of the men broke away from the group, moving back toward the SUV. They opened fire on the car as it sped to the front end of the SUV. The windshield splintered. Bullets hit the side of the car.
“They’re going to get killed.” Jax started forward.
Kenna held his elbow and went with him, unwilling to stop him from doing what he needed to do even if it was just a knee-jerk reaction. Then watched the boat as they moved. “She’s on board. They’re going to leave, and we won’t be able to stop them.”
The agents in the car opened fire on the gunmen, and both went down.
Three doors opened, and they climbed out, the body language of each man indicating they were at the end of their ropes. She didn’t blame them. They’d come to protect an agent, one of their own had been killed, and they’d wound up in the middle of more than one crazy situation tonight.
And they weren’t done.
The boat pulled away from the dock.
Kenna broke away from Jax and ran past the car. Someone spoke to her, but she ignored them and kept running, down the pier to the slip, even though the boat was long gone.
Maizie was out there.
Her breaths came fast. The water rippled, split by the trail that dissolved into the choppy water as they boat sped away. Out of reach.
Gone.
“Come on.” Jax tugged at her.
She couldn’t look away.
He tugged again. “Kenna, comeon.We’re going after her.”
Those words got her moving. She nearly stumbled but followed him onto a smaller boat. One of the agents stood behind the wheel. The engine caught and came to life. Another agent jumped on board behind them and tossed down a rope. Soaked. “Got it. Let’s go.”
“Come on.” Jax tugged her to a seat.
They were all soaked.
She realized why he wanted her to sit when the boat set off away from the pier and she stumbled to the seat. They’d just hotwired a boat and were stealing it. Because these FBI agents believed the person responsible for their colleague’s death was on the boat ahead of them? Since it could absolutely be the case, she didn’t begrudge their determination.
Jax spoke in her ear, over the pounding rain and the noise of the boat engine. “She knows how to survive.”
Kenna stared at the boat ahead, unwilling to let Stairns wake up from surgery and not have word that they’d got Maizie back. She was going to spend every ounce of her energy protecting this child. Even if Maizie would never refer to herself as that. The girl never had a childhood and was never given the chance to be a kid.
If they didn’t succeed tonight, she would never be able to see what Maizie could become. The girl would never know what real peace felt like—the kind Kenna had found just tonight. The kind of soul deep reassurance that tethered her when every bit of her wanted to spin out of control.
She grasped Jax’s hand and held on.
There was so much that made up Maizie which Kenna couldn’t wait to see. The teen wassosmart. And that wasn’t just a doting hero talking. Maizie was off-the-charts smart, and she wanted to do good in the world. Kenna couldn’t wait to see what became of her.
She turned now and saw Jax’s lips moving, though she couldn’t hear what he was saying.
Praying.
He was praying.
She wanted to pull his face down and kiss him, but they’d been interrupted last time, and right now they had an audience of three angry FBI agents.
One stormed over to them. “Come with me.”
