Page 60 of Every Which Way

The agents piled out of the chopper in full gear as if they’d been deployed to a hostage situation. Or they were coming back from one.

They strode over as a group, unclipping helmets and removing them.

She caught a look at the leader’s face and groaned.

Stairns held out his hand. “Thanks for coming.”

“Yes, sir.” The lead agent shook his hand. “Kenna Banbury, as I live and breathe.”

“Special Agent Miller.” Her nemesis from Salt Lake City. He was here? “It’s a surprise to see you.”

“Considering you’re standing in a field of buried bodies beside the rubble of a building, I’m not actually all that surprised.”

Stairns said, “Now that we got the friendly reunion out of the way, let’s get to work.”

He strode away, and most of the feds broke off to go with him.

Miller didn’t move, and neither did she. “Kenna. You look well.”

She lifted her left hand and waved her fingers so he’d see the ring.

“Yeah, I heard about that.” He looked her up and down. “You doing okay?”

“It’s good to see you. I’m glad this case will be handled by someone I know. Given the scope and the seriousness of it.”

“Did you just pay me a compliment?” He grinned, his clean-cut persona a little rougher around the edges. It had been two years since she’d seen him. In that time, he seemed to have ditched the mustache in favor of a full beard and a more tactical, less desk-work position. “As I live and breathe.”

Kenna rolled her eyes. “Let’s just do the handoff, okay? You guys take the scene. Stairns and I will leave.”

She walked off toward the others.

“Yeah, maybe it won’t be so cut-and-dry as that.” He jogged beside her.

Years ago, Miller had been her former fiancé’s best friend. He’d worked with her under Stairns. The entire office had considered her responsible for Bradley’s death and taken out their grief on her. But they’d also worked with Jax for long enough that they respected him.

They would at least have to admit she had good taste.

“Could be a few days before we confirm you and Stairns—and any of your current associates—aren’t suspects in this case.”

“What associates?” She looked around. “Stairns and I are the only ones here.”

“But you aren’t going to deny you’re involved? Interesting.”

Kenna reached the others. Most of the feds were staring at the ground. She didn’t blame them. “We’re working a case that led us here. If it wasn’t for that, you wouldn’t even know this place exists.”

Miller stared down at her from his perpetual high horse. Mr. Team Leader in his tactical gear. “Like I said, could be a while before we get this all figured out.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she would call Jax and they’d see about that when Stairns got on his phone.

“Assistant Director Simms, please. It’s Craig Stairns.”

Kenna chuckled. Then she stared at the view. “This is going to take you guys days, or even weeks, to process.” She patted Miller on the shoulder. “Guess you’d better get started.”

“Don’t leave town.”

She stared at him.

“I’ll need to know everything you know about what happened here. Down to the smallest detail, even if you don’t think it’s relevant.”

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