Page 82 of Every Which Way

Kenna shrugged. “They have Zeyla. She got Hadley out but was recaptured, and they burned the location and went somewhere else. I think it might be about drawing out my mother so they can have AmaraandZeyla.”

Ramon said, “What about moving vehicles? If they had to transport everything and everyone—because that hospital was cleaned out—somewhere else, to the new location, that means they’d need vehicles to put the stuff in. At the last minute, they had to have hired transportation. There could be a paper trail.”

Maizie said, “I’ll see what I can find. We know it would’ve been contracted from the building we looked through, with all the bodies. Want me to pass on what I find to the police?”

Kenna said, “Langford is probably mad because we left Hadley’s house. She isn’t responding to my messages.”

“She’s probably at the DA’s office getting a warrant for your arrest.” Ramon smirked.

“That isn’t actually so funny,” Kenna said. “I’d rather not end up in jail.”

Ramon shrugged. “It happens.”

Kenna frowned. She wanted to ask what he was talking about, but they were better off focusing. “What else do we know?”

“According to social media…” Maizie’s voice trailed off.

The Class C screen door snapped back on its hinges. Stairns rounded the hood of the vehicle and came over, holding a thermal cup and his phone. His gaze met Maizie’s, and he nodded slightly.

Kenna asked, “Is there something I’m missing?” Everyone was sharing looks, and she was evidently not privy to their private conversations.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ramon waved a hand. Then to Maizie, he said, “What did you find online?”

Stairns sat beside Ramon with his coffee. He’d gone to talk to his wife when she’d called, and apparently, it put him in a good mood. Made her want to call Jax just so she could hear him say something sweet.

Maizie said, “They’re having a party tonight at that address. A big fancy fundraiser for a local charity. It’s black tie, and there are three hundred people on the guest list.”

“I have a swollen face,” Kenna pointed out. “And Ramon doesn’t look much better.”

“You could cover it with makeup,” Maizie said. “Or wear a wig that falls over your left cheek.”

Ramon said, “You could tell Langford. She could take Miller.”

Stairns shook his head. “Terrible idea. They’ll get outed as cops in five minutes, and we won’t manage to find Amara in the crowd.”

Ramon said, “I hate to be the one to suggest this, but given the crowd they’ll be going into… What about Stairns and Maizie?”

Kenna and Stairns both said, “No,” at the same time.

Ramon lifted his hands.

Maizie looked disappointed. “I have black eyes, but I could cover them with makeup.”

Kenna turned on the bench seat to face the teen. “You absolutely could go to something like this. It has nothing to do with your age. It’s about training and knowing what to do. Then, you go in with confidence, not as a ball of nerves with no skills.”

“I don’t mind being in the van. It’s like being home in the Airstream.”

This was new. “You like being there?”

“It’s not like I’m scared to leave. I’ve been to Mexico and England. This is Colorado still, so we’re not even that far from home, but I wanna go back there when the mission is over. And I don’t want to spend more time on the road than in the Airstream at Stairns’ house.”

Kenna squeezed the girl’s shoulder. “That’s good to know. For now, it works, and if you want to change things in the future, we can make sure you have the skills to do what you want to do.”

Maizie kept her expression impassive. “Bruce said he’d teach me how to interrogate a suspect. Like with pliers and a car battery.”

Ramon busted up laughing.

What could Kenna say to that? Bruce was going to teach herenhanced interrogationtactics?

---