Discarded by Fate

by Morgan Kelley

  Callen laughed.

  “Oh, I know who I’m going to take all my meanness out on today. Wallen Chitefox is going to be riding the couch.”

  She pointed at the dead woman.

  “Oh, look. He won’t be alone.”

  “Yep. She’s definitely mean. Wallen Chitefox is a glutton for punishment. He’s a crazy masochist. I’m glad that’s not me.”

  Elizabeth tried not to laugh.

  “Focus,” Ethan stated.

  “Back to Blue Garrick. I’ll take her. She’s smart, she broke the Bonnie case wide open, and she actually liked working with me. I think I’m mellowing out.”

  This time, it was Ethan and Gabe who laughed.

  “You are all funny. I can make you all hurt. Oh, Livy, Gabe was eating bagels. He needs a colonic.”

  The man looked horrified.

  “You’re evil—not even mean, but just the devil.”

  She smiled.

  “No one married to me is going to be getting laid either. They can both bunk on the couch.”

  “Ouch,” Ethan said, grinning. “That hurts.”

  “It will. Remember how I fight?”

  Oh, they did.

  “Blue and Johanna will be fine. Johanna can work with anyone. Case in point is she’s partnered with Brody, so get them here, and I’ll start working this case. Gabe, get me a morgue, and lose some ME’s.”

  He knew what that meant.

  She was NOT working with anyone but Chris.

  “The way you order me around, it’s like you’re my boss.”

  Oh, she knew how to shut him up.

  She turned the tablet around.

  “Do you want this getting out that security, that was hired by the FBI, and who protects you both, dropped the ball?” she asked.

  “HELL NO!”

  “I’m sure that’s all kinds of paperwork.”

  She smiled sweetly.

  “Well, the bitch is back,” Gabe said, opening Ethan’s desk drawer and grabbing a candy bar. He unwrapped it, and shoved it into his mouth.

  Blackhawk stared at him.

  “Now I know who’s been raiding my drawers.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “With a drawl, that last word sounds different, and that amuses me.”

  Ethan shook his head.

  “MMMMM, chocolate.”

  “Who did you hurt with that, baldy?” she called as he headed out of the office.

  Ethan laughed. “I’ll clean up the mess here, and I’ll get to Boston as soon as I can. Keep me in the loop.”

  “As my boss?” she asked.

  Ethan didn’t bat an eye at that.

  “No, as your profiler. I’m giving you the best one I can come up with for this box of crazy, and luckily for you, I take sex and kisses as a payment.”

  Yeah, she was good with that.

  She laughed. “As for this crazy train, you’re going to have to dig deep.”

  Ethan was okay with that.

  For his wife, he’d dig to freaking China.

  With a spoon.

  Alone.

  “I love you, Ethan. Thank you for having faith in me. Thank you for having my back.”

  “Baby, it’s the superior view.”

  She found him amusing. “Yeah, I say the same damn thing.”

  Ethan blew her a kiss and hung up the video call. He knew it was time to get his ass moving. The longer he stalled on cleaning up their personal mess, the longer he’d be away from her.

  And despite what he said, he was scared.

  Someone had snuck up on Elizabeth, and that worried him. How did someone pull that off?

  Bad shit was coming.

  He could tell.

  Blackhawk grabbed his suit jacket, his cell, and his bag. He was hitting the road, and he was bringing backup. While Elizabeth was trying out her newbie again in the field, so was he.

  After Liam’s death, they’d sent him a new security guy, and he was something.

  So, off he went.

  It was time to be tough.

  Besides, this one was on his father, and he was going to learn a new word.

  A was for ACCOUNTABLITY.

  Something that he lacked in his life.

  Well, that was then.

  This was now.

  Wyler was about to learn the hard way. Gabe’s plan was sadistic. His father…was about to be schooled.

  ‘Dragon Slayer’ style.

  And Blackhawk was going to enjoy it.

  A lot.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Boston

  Bed and Breakfast

  When Ivan got the text, he was outside the bed and breakfast waiting for his partner to return with some coffee. While he didn’t need much sleep, his security detail always made sure to keep him on his toes.

  If he wanted to track Elizabeth, he needed caffeine.

  Stat.

  Callen and Elizabeth would be on the move, and he imagined they were heading home.

  Honestly, he hoped, after last night, it all worked out. Ivan didn’t hear anything to lead him to believe there was a bloodbath, so he assumed no one was dead.

  Then again, this was Elizabeth Blackhawk.

  She was tricky as hell.

  As he knocked on the door, Callen opened it up. He didn’t look amused.

  Well, shit.

  It didn’t go well. Callen was about the happiest person on the earth. The man was always smiling, friendly, and joking around.

  If this was his ‘welcome’ face, bad shit was on the horizon.

  “Send him in,” she called from the inner sanctum of their private space.

  When he strolled in, Ivan came to a stop when he saw Elizabeth standing beside a woman, or what looked like a woman, on the couch.

  Jesus!

  When he said she was tricky, he didn’t think this was a possibility. Someone was playing with a body puzzle.

  “What the hell?” he asked.

  She stood there in a pair of dress pants and pretty shirt as she waited for the team to get her work gear there. Elizabeth crossed her arms and stared at the man.

  “You tell me, Igor the Terrible. At some point last night, someone snuck in, left a body, and our security never even seemed to notice. How exactly does that happen?” she asked. “You guys are supposed to be protecting us from shooters, murderers, homicidal maniacs, oh, and serial killers!”

  Elizabeth pointed at the chopped-up woman who had been the ‘The Puppet Master’s’ plaything.

  “THIS is NOT protecting us.”

  He stared at the disarticulated woman and the wires holding her severed limbs together. It was so sick and twisted that it actually stole his breath.

  Then to explain it?

  He couldn’t.

  What the hell had happened?

  Ivan was at a loss. He hadn’t fallen asleep last night, and he’d done the patrols. This…it shouldn’t have happened.

  “Elizabeth…”

  He stared at her.

  Ivan couldn’t believe he’d screwed this up.

  “Well?”

  “I have no freaking idea.”

  That wasn’t what she, or Callen, wanted to hear. Someone had gotten damn close to them, and that was NEVER a good thing.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, unable to think of anything else to say to her. “I can’t believe I dropped the ball on this one.”

  Yeah, well, that made the three of them.

  Oh, and Ethan Blackhawk—the man who picked him personally for this assignment.

  His ex-assignment.

  Chapter Two

  FBI Jet

  Sunday

  Morning

  T o say that she was excited as hell would be a huge understatement. Blue Garrick couldn’t believe that she’d worked one case with Elizabeth Blackhawk, and now she would be working a second one.

  That was astounding.

  That the woman saw value in her as an investigator meant more to her than anything. So many agents
feared the woman, but they’d give their kidneys to work with her.

  If you want to be trained by the best, you’d take whatever she threw out.

  That included Blue.

  She was a newbie in the field and a small fish in a big pond. With her career change, she was starting all over again. When she got out of college, she’d entered into the public sector, happy to be working a normal job to make a living.

  She loved helping people, and Blue liked to believe that she’d done just that.

  Her career went on for a couple years, until that fateful day when there had been a knock on her door.

  A recruiter wanted her.

  An FBI recruiter.

  It was still hard to believe that at her door stood some FBI agent. She’d been escorted to the Hoover building, brought up to Gabriel Rothschild’s office, and offered a job.

  But not in her field.

  It was crazy.

  She didn’t know why she did it.

  Oh yeah.

  She did it because she was bored stupid, so she went for it. Surprisingly, Blue passed all the testing, and she’d been given the job of her dreams.

  Drawing.

  Still, when they needed her to stand in as an agent and to help investigate, she was up for the job at hand.

  Hell!

  She jumped at the mere mention of solving something. After all, a mind was a terrible thing to waste, and she wanted to live her life to the fullest.

  This was her time to find that adventure and take it by the reins. Blue had always done everything her mother and father had asked, and now it was her turn to be what she wanted to be.

  As a forensic artist, she was still helping people and making a difference. She could reconstruct a skull with pen and paper, or sketch a perpetrator.

  That was her gift, and she was going to share it with the world through the FBI.

  Besides, she genuinely liked everyone she worked with so far. They’d been respectful, kind, and funny.

  Speaking of the epitome of that, the friendliest person she’d met was sitting not far from her. Glancing over, Doctor Leonard was on the phone talking to his nanny. She couldn’t help but overhear.

  He didn’t sound happy.

  In fact, he sounded frustrated.

  “You’ll have to take her to the pediatrician, Beatrice. I’m above New York, and a little out of my element right now, I can’t ask the pilots to fly back.”

  Blue listened.

  “I know it’s hard to get in to see them. I’m telling you she just has a cold. I am a doctor for Christ’s sake. Yeah, I’ll call when I get to Boston.”

  He hung up and rested his head back against the seat.

  “Kid issues?” she asked, trying to treat him how he’d treated her when they first met. Christopher Leonard had been welcoming, and kind.

  She wanted to pay that back.

  Chris opened his eyes. “Yeah, my daughter has been running a fever for the last day. I think it’s allergies, but the nanny, who knows more than me, a doctor, is telling me she needs to go to a doctor.”

  She laughed. “Ironic.”

  “Blue, you have no idea.”

  “Is it just a fever?” she asked. “Or are we talking about rosy cheeks, vomiting, or chills?”

  “Yes, no, and no. If she was that sick, I would have taken her to the doctor myself. This is frustrating.”

  She could only imagine.

  “I happen to know a doctor back in DC,” she offered. “She’s a really good pediatrician. I can have her stop in and check her out if you’d like.”

  He laughed. “I wish. The only doctors I know that make house calls in DC are the ones who pick up the bodies.” He pointed at himself. “See?”

  “This one will stop.”

  He didn’t buy it. “Good doctors don’t make house calls.”

  “Well, I guess that might come to mind, but my mom is Doctor McCall, and she’ll stop in if I ask her to do it.”

  He looked over.

  Had he heard her right?

  Seriously?

  “Are we talking Doctor ‘I’m booked up and not taking any more kid patients—even though I’m the best doctor’ McCall?” he asked.

  Blue found that funny.

  She was well aware of her reputation. “Yeah, but I call her mom for short.”

  “You have to be shitting me.”

  Chrissy spoke up from behind him after she heard the man. “She’s not! I needed to get Milo in to see someone and Blue hooked my little Native munchkin up.”

  Chris couldn’t believe this.

  What were the chances?

  He’d tried to buy his way into that office. It hadn’t worked.

  “I can make the call,” she offered again.

  He was so damn happy at that moment.

  “If you could, I’d be forever grateful. I’d pay whatever the bill,” he offered. “Hell! I’ll double her fee if she could do that for me.”

  Blue knew she wouldn’t charge the man.

  “My mom loves kids. She’ll do it if I ask. Then she’ll ask when I’m having kids of my own so she can stop playing doctor and be a grandmother. Me and my reproductive organs are standing between her and retirement.”

  Christina laughed and rubbed her tummy. “Tell her not to retire yet. I have another bun in my oven. I’ll need her in about seven more months.”

  Chris laughed. “Today may be my lucky day after all. Beatrice can kiss my ass.”

  “I’ll call,” Blue offered as she laughed.

  “Thank you.”

  He scribbled down the address for her.

  “This is where the bosses live,” she said. “Is your daughter over there?”

  “Yeah, you can say that. See, Elizabeth is my sister—of sorts. I stick pretty close. In fact, I live with her.”

  She smiled. “No problem.”

  Blue called her mother.

  They all waited.

  Chris crossed his fingers and hoped for the best.

  “Doctor McCall’s private number.”

  “Yeah, tell her it’s her daughter,” she said, putting it on speaker. “I know she’s with patients, but I need to talk to her.”

  No one spoke.

  “Hello, my darling. What do you need from me?”

  “Hey, Mom! I need a huge favor. There’s a sick baby, and I work with her father. We’re en route to Boston to work on a case, and he needs his child to be seen. Is there any way…?”

  “Are you marrying him?”

  “No, Mom. He’s our ME.”

  “Are you marrying anyone?”

  “There was that circus performer who asked me to do all those weird sex things that you always told me were bad, but hey! If you think they are okay now, then I’ll call him up.”

  Christina had to cover her mouth.

  Blue was pretty funny for a quiet person.

  “Well, at least I know you’re definitely my daughter. Such sass. Who is the child?”

  Chris scribbled her name down.

  “Bethe Leonard. Get this! You know how you told me you’d kill to get the Blackhawk brood into your practice?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “That’s Doctor Christopher Leonard’s daughter. I hear that Elizabeth loves her. In her office, there’s a picture of them.”

  Chris whispered something.

  “Oh, and she’s named after Elizabeth Blackhawk. So, if you do this little sweet favor, I’m sure Christopher Leonard will sing of your praises.”

  “The woman fascinates me. She’s on DC’s ‘Who’s Who’ list. Everyone wants her in their business.”

  “Well, you get to see their home.”

  She laughed.

  “I’ll be tied up until three. Is that okay?”

  “I’m sure it is, Mom. I’ll tell security to expect you, and thank you. I know how busy you are. I’ll stop in when I’m back in town.”

  Like every other mother in the world, she went there. “Are you going to do something dangerous?” sh
e asked.

  “Nah, I have my pencils, a pad, and I’m likely going to be drawing.”

  They both looked at her.

  She had neither, and she was wearing her gun.

  “You worry too much, Mom.”

  “You can always come back to the practice. I can always use another…”

  She cut her off. “I love you, Mom! Thanks! We’re going to be landing soon. The pilot wants me off the phone. Call you later!”

  “When are you going to have babies…?”

  The phone went dead.

  Chris was confused. “Wait! You’re a doctor?”

  “Yeah, well, we keep that one quiet. My mother wanted me to go to medical school, and I did.”

  He looked at her.

  “I’m sorry, but you look like you’re twenty-six at the MOST. How did you…?”

  “I graduated from high school at twelve, I graduated from college at fourteen, and I graduated from medical school at eighteen. By twenty-two, I was in her practice, and then the FBI invited me to do my thing.”

  She pointed at her bag.

  Well, that was unexpected, and absolutely fascinating. When Tony heard this, he was going to do his anthropological thing and want to write a paper on her.

  “You’re a genius!” Christina said, turning her tablet around. “I Googled you.”

  Blue blushed.

  The reason she didn’t say anything was that exact reason. She didn’t want people to treat her differently. In the FBI, she was boring old Blue.

  “Yeah, so they say.”

  “What’s your IQ?” Chris asked curiously.

  “I don’t buy into it,” she offered. “If you’re smart, you’re smart. If you’re not, you’re not.”

  “The story online says one forty-five, Chris.”

  He stared at her.

  “You’re smarter than me!”

  She laughed at the horrified look on his face.

  “Well, in my defense, women tend to have higher IQ’s than men. While your brain is bigger, mine has more neurons that fire quicker.”

  He stared at her. “You’re right.”

  She laughed again.

  “Here’s why I don’t tell people. The look on both of your faces. I’m smart. I’m also just a normal person.”