Chapter 26

Shaking the dust from his hair, Kane looked at Jenna’s tear-streaked face and his stomach twisted. Thankful she had eluded Mateo’s clutches, now all he wanted was to hold her close and convince her all was well, but Wolfe was busy wiping the dirt from his eyes. He blinked away the dust. “I figured you’d find us.” He smiled at Duke. “I heard Duke barking and whistled. The table was so darn heavy, but I pushed up on it and hoped you’d see the bricks moving.”

“I’d never give up.” Jenna took bottles of water from her backpack and gave Tauri a drink and handed one to Kane. “It was fortunate that Styles arrived to help out, as Carter is still MIA.”

“Did you recognize any of them?” Wolfe was in doctor mode and checking Tauri for injuries and then flicked a light over Kane’s eyes.

Trying to put Wolfe at ease about his abductors, Kane gave him a meaningful stare and a slight shake of his head. “It was the cartel, and Mateo got away. He’s the one who threw the grenade. I’ll need time to hunt him down. He should be in jail. Carter assured me he’d put him on the bus to County personally.”

“No need, they’re all deactivated.” Styles flicked a glance at Tauri and smiled as he dropped the manacles to the ground. “No more baddy men. They’ve all run away.” He raised both eyebrows and much to his surprise spoke to Kane in Arabic. “I know you understand me. Wolfe mentioned you speak many languages. There are bodies in pieces all over. You’ll need to leave before the little one sees anything. Maybe cover him with your jacket? There are two trucks outside. Give me five to see if I can get them started. It would be easier to drive back to the choppers. They used some type of signal-blocking device and I’m hoping it’s in one of the trucks. If not, I’ll call in a cleanup crew when I get back to the chopper. I put my bird down out of range.”

Kane nodded and indicated to Jenna and Tauri with his chin. “Thanks, can you fly us back to the ranch? I need to get my family home.”

“That’s the plan.” Styles glanced at Wolfe, who was listening with interest. “Are you staying to supervise the cleanup?”

“Yeah, for the time being, but the bodies will need to be taken to California for identification.” Wolfe scratched his cheek. “These men were part of a federal investigation, and a California medical examiner will need to be handling the case. Plus, right now we have two ongoing homicide cases. I’ll call in the Helena team and they can hand over to the team in LA.”

Concerned about sensitive information getting into the wrong hands, Kane swung his attention back to Wolfe. “I hope they left my weapon and phone in one of the trucks.” He turned to Styles. “The second explosion I heard. Please tell me you took out Mateo’s chopper?”

“Yeah. I hit the gas tank.” Styles’ mouth twitched into a smile as he reverted to English. He pushed his hat firmly on his head and climbed over the mounds of debris. He looked over one shoulder. “Stay there, I’ll bring a truck closer. Best you cover Tauri’s head against the dust on your way out.” He climbed over the rubble and headed along the sidewalk.

Nodding, Kane sipped the water. His throat was parched. He looked at Jenna’s sheet-white face. “A signal blocker, huh? No wonder you couldn’t find me.” He held out his hand to her.

“We did it old-style.” Jenna slid under one of his arms and a tremble went through her. “Shane and Styles worked a grid across the lowlands. We figured they’d need space to land a chopper, so we discounted the forest or wooded areas.”

Kane frowned. “How did you know they had a chopper?”

“Y’all have a fault in your security we’ve never considered.” Wolfe met his gaze. “While Jenna was tending the horses early this morning, they dropped a chopper into your front yard, broke down your door, and took Tauri.”

“I told you, Daddy.” Tauri rubbed at his eyes and then dropped his head on Jenna’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

“I was expecting Styles and was hurrying to finish up and didn’t head out to meet him right away. I heard a smashing sound and ran out of the barn. As I came out of the barn I came under fire and couldn’t stop them taking Tauri.” She shook her head. “I’m never doing anything without carrying a weapon from now on. Dammit. In my own home, I should be safe.”

Hating to see Jenna so distressed, Kane rubbed her back. “All this is my fault. I’ve become so comfortable here. I honestly never expected the cartel would find me.” He shook his head. “No one spoke my name. I was in disguise and spoke Spanish the entire time. Not one person was suspicious of me. The sting went down perfectly. Everything was caught on film, with the audio from my nosepiece. I drove away with the cash. The FBI apprehended the dealers after I’d left. They couldn’t know I was involved. Carter and three other agents made the plans, and I went over them with Shane before I decided to take the mission. It was a few hours out of my day, is all. I couldn’t tell you the plan beforehand, Jenna. It was classified.”

“Do they know who you are? I mean your job before you came here?” She indicated to Tauri and raised both eyebrows in warning not to say anything that could be repeated.

“Not one hope in hell.” Wolfe shook his head. “Dave was there because he could pass as an arms dealer. He was set up with a cover story, creds, and he fooled them. Nope, for something to go wrong, one of the men in the team is a mole. When we eventually find Carter, we’ll get an investigation underway.”

Kane indicated with his chin to where Styles had gone. “Could Styles be the mole?”

“Nope.” Wolfe narrowed his gaze. “He’s solid. Former MP, high-ranking Army. You can trust him.”

“He speaks Spanish and would have a knowledge of arms. Why didn’t they use him?” Jenna narrowed her gaze. “Why when everyone wants someone to do something life-threatening do they call Dave? Why can’t they just leave us be? We’ve paid our dues. They owe it to us.”

Holding Jenna closer and more concerned about her trembling, Kane nodded. “They didn’t use an FBI agent because they’d have their ID in a second. They took pictures of me the moment I stepped out of the truck. No doubt, they ran my image through their database to make sure I wasn’t a fed before they allowed me to meet anyone. I had a choice this time and made the wrong choice, is all. It happens, but I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Next time?” Jenna twisted to look at him. “You’re batshit crazy, you know that?”

Blowing out a breath, Kane shook his head slowly. “I’m still active, Jenna. When and if a call comes, I have no choice but to go. One in five years isn’t so bad, is it?” He touched her cheek. “I’ll keep clear of the FBI missions from now on, but I figured I owed Carter for everything he’s done for us.”

“It’s his job.” Jenna’s eyes flashed with anger. “And right now, when we needed him most, he didn’t pick up his darn phone.”

Beside him, Wolfe’s phone chimed, and he frowned. “My satellite phone is working.” He took the call. “We have Kane and Tauri. Yeah, just found them. They’ll be fine. I’ll give you the details when I get back to the office.” He listened for a time and frowned. “Upload all the information to the server and I’ll inform Jenna. Our phones have been out. Yeah, Tauri is right here. I’ll give him your love when he wakes. He’s asleep right now.” He disconnected.

Kane looked at him. “Bad news?”

“First up, Emily sends her love and she’s very happy you’re okay.” Wolfe pushed a lock of hair from Tauri’s face and smiled at the sleeping child. “The stun gun matter we discussed yesterday? There’s been another incident. Rio and Rowley are handling it just fine. Emily and Norrell have done a forensic sweep and are on their way back to the office. She mentioned that Rio has everything under control and they’re heading out to interview a suspect known to the three women. All the current files are on the server.”

“I need to be in the office.” Jenna stepped away, swallowing hard. “He’s escalating.” She looked at Kane. “We must stop this killer before he takes another life.”

“There’s no way I’m passing either of you fit for work.” Wolfe looked from one to the other. “You’re in shock, Jenna, and y’all need to be at home with your son to reassure him. Dave is bruised all over and could have delayed concussion. Y’all have two very capable deputies investigating the case. Take the rest of the day and come back fresh in the morning. By then Rio and Rowley might have hunted down a few suspects or arrested the killer.”

“Uh-huh.” Jenna shook her head and looked at him. “I asked for a miracle. I guess I can’t expect two in one day.”