He closed his mouth.
Yeah, they had to discuss their relationship, or lack of one, as soon as she was back. Elizabeth was miserable with their arrangement.
It sucked.
She felt…cheap.
“I love you. I’ll be safe.”
She gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and then headed out of her room, down the hall, and to the stairs.
He listened to her boots on the hardwood, and finally, he heard the front door closing.
That’s when he did what he had to do.
This was about more than their relationship or the one he wanted desperately with her.
This was about keeping her safe.
This was about protecting someone when they were in serious danger.
Someone had to have her back.
Chris picked up his phone and made a call. When it was answered, he didn’t wait for the secretary. He dove right into the conversation.
“This is Doctor Leonard. I need to speak to Deputy Director Rothschild.”
He waited as he was put on hold. In fact, Chris began dressing and grabbing another bag out of her closet. He’d grab the rest of his things at his house before he headed to the airport.
“Yes, Doctor, is something wrong?” Gabe asked when he came on the line.
“Yeah, she can’t go alone.”
There was a pause.
“Uh, who are we talking about? Elizabeth?” he asked, playing dumb.
Oh, Gabe had been expecting this call.
“Yes. She just left her house, and she’s going to go play in Boston with a killer and mob guy.”
“Yes, I’m aware, since I offered her the case.”
Chris had to stay calm.
If he blew, he’d get shit canned or worse. Gabe would keep him as far away from her as possible for as long as possible. Then Chris wouldn’t be able to woo the girl.
Everything rode on this.
“I’m available.”
“You just pulled a ten-day stretch, Doctor. You need a few days down.”
“I’m good.”
“No, Doctor.”
“Okay, then I’ll be needing to take some personal time. I’m not letting Elizabeth, my best friend, head to a place where a mob guy makes women disappear for shits and giggles. She’s going to be focused on a case, and not him. I can’t sit by and take a few days off because I’ve pulled a rough one, knowing she could get hurt. I won’t.”
Oh, Gabe was already worried about her, and he didn’t want her going in alone.
Chris continued, unwilling to let up. This mattered too much.
“I’ll go and take vacation time if it’s going to be an issue. I’ve yet to use any this year. I have plenty coming, and I’ll use that.”
“Doctor.”
“She’ll get hurt. Then what?”
There was that silence.
“You’re not an agent, Doctor. What do you expect to do?” Gabe asked, realizing there was more to this than just friendship between them. Rumors were rumors, but this spoke louder than words.
The man sounded…scared.
Desperate.
Panicked.
“So, me watching her back is worse than no one doing it? At least I might see something coming at her. You can’t send her.”
“Why does this matter so much?”
“She’s my best friend, and she’s done enough for everyone. She was there when you and Livy needed her.”
There was that pause.
“I suggest you forget that,” Gabe said, warning him. “If you ever bring anything up again, bad things will happen to you, Doctor.”
Oh, he didn’t doubt that.
Still, for Elizabeth, he’d risk it.
“Then send me. I have never asked for anything. I just spent ten days digging in guts and corpses. I’d prefer not to spend one digging in hers.”
That said it all.
Gabe didn’t want that happening either. In his head, he could picture it, and he’d seen plenty of agents in their morgue. It was horrifying and devastating.
It was his job to send them out.
Each death was on his shoulders.
Hers would be, too, and Gabe didn’t think he could live with that.
No.
He knew he couldn’t.
He sighed.
“Fine. You can go. I’ll contact Boston to make them aware that you’re going to be using their facilities. Keep it legit, Doctor, or you’ll be finding a new job, and that’s not a threat. It’s a very real promise.”
Chris got it.
Gabe was not going to ever be a fan of his, and that was fine by him.
He didn’t care.
For Elizabeth, he’d take twenty years of shittiness for her. He’d let the man tear into him, humiliate him, and degrade him. For her, he’d swallow it all.
“Thank you, Director.”
But it was too late.
He’d already hung up.
Well, there went that bridge. Chris had used up his one and only favor with ‘The Dragon Slayer’. There would never be another one again.
He was officially on his shit list.
Oh, well.
Chris grabbed the bag, pulled on his loafers, and raced for the door. He had to beat her to the plane, and then convince her not to kick his ass.
Yeah, this should be good.
Chapter Three
Tarmac
Dulles Airport
W hen she arrived at the jet, there weren’t that many people onboard to support her on this case. Elizabeth had four techs, Tony, and herself. That was a damn small team, and she hoped it would be enough.
Not only were they going to be chasing a killer, but trying to avoid a mob man all at the same time.
Well, this was going to be all kinds of interesting—that was for damn sure.
Once situated onboard, she told the pilot to take off. It looked like she was off on another case.
Alone.
She said a silent prayer to her deceased mother. ‘Watch my back, Mom. I’m going to make you proud.’
Then it was time.
“Let’s roll.”
The pilot stood in the doorway of the cockpit. “Sorry, Agent, but we’re waiting for one more. The deputy director added someone to the list.”
She didn’t care.
The more the merrier.
“You smell like Chris,” Tony said, sitting beside her in the seat.
“Do I really?” she whispered back, sniffing herself to pick up his scent.
Then she realized what she’d done. She’d walked right into the trap.
Son of a bitch!
She was off her game.
Tony found that as amusing as hell.
While he swore to Chris he wouldn’t say anything about knowing about their relationship, he would still mess with them—and he did at every available opportunity.
It was fun.
It amused him.
It was what siblings did—he imagined.
Clearly, they had something sexual going on. She had whisker burn on her jaw from someone, and she’d mentioned Chris was sleeping at her place when she’d arrived at his to pick him up for the assignment.
“Yeah, that’s odd,” he said, continuing with his torment. She could kill him and she might, but until then, he was going to have fun with it.
She stared at him.
“I must have hugged him a little too hard,” she said, daring him to go there.
“Yeah, hug me like that. I might like it a lot.”
Elizabeth wasn’t going there. She liked Tony, but he loved to torment the hell out of her. Well, she would get even.
Maybe not now.
Maybe not later.
But it would happen.
“Everyone buckle in,” she stated, ignoring the eyebrow wiggle he was giving her. “We’re leaving as soon as the last person gets here.”
“I’m here,” Chris said, entering from the door.
Her mouth opened and
she stared at him. What the hell was he doing there?
She was going to kick his ass.
“Surprise! You got your ME.”
The pilot closed the door.
“Wait! Don’t close that door. He’s not staying!” she stated, as the pilot stopped.
“Close it. I’m staying.”
“He’s not.”
“Gabe ordered it. So…”
The pilot listened to Chris. They were all wary of Gabriel Rothschild. Elizabeth was just an agent.
She had no clout.
“Did I miss anything?” he asked, dropping his bag into the cargo space beside hers.
Yeah, he was going to be missing his ass when she finished chewing him out.
“Can I speak to you back there?” Elizabeth asked, pointing to the back of the jet where there was a set of seats where no one was sitting.
Chris knew this was coming.
He fully expected her to kick his ass for pulling this, but he was willing to do whatever it took to keep her safe. She said he couldn't call their boss, and he’d done just that.
Let the punishment begin.
In his mind, it was worth it. He’d take it to keep Tony’s lecherous self away from her too. It was hard not to notice that he was already plopped down in the seat beside her.
His seat.
He was not getting cozy.
Not on his watch.
“Sure,” Chris offered, following her down the aisle. When they reached the seats, they both buckled in and she tried not to lose her freaking mind.
“What did you do?” she whispered, keeping her voice low so only he could hear her.
“I called Gabe, and told him I was free.”
Elizabeth stared at him.
“WHAT?” she hissed. “Which part of ‘don’t call our boss and ask to come’ did you misinterpret?” she asked. “I do believe I was pretty clear!”
Oh, she was.
Only, he didn’t care. This wasn’t about a relationship. This was about her going out alone, being distracted, and him having to autopsy her.
Not.
Happening.
“I understood you perfectly fine, Elizabeth.”
This made her insane—not that he was going to help her, but that now he was going to be in danger too. She was well aware of the shit storm they were walking into, and now she’d be worried about him.
Elizabeth could take care of herself, and now she was tasked with protecting him too.
That was going to be hard as she was investigating and he was doing his ME thing.
“Before you get mad at me, listen to what I have to say. If I was going out on a case where there was a hostile environment and I was in danger, what would you do?”
“Smack the stupid out of you and make you stay home,” she offered.
He smacked her in the middle of the forehead.
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind.
“Did you just hit me?” she asked. “Seriously? First, you call our boss, and then you assault me?”
Chris laughed.
“Assault? That’s a tad bit dramatic, isn’t it? Fair warning because I’ll do it again. You aren’t thinking. You need backup for this case.”
She pulled her jacket back and there was her gun.
“I happen to have backup.”
Well, he had news for her.
He did the same, and there was his. That was a startling sight for her. Chris NEVER carried his sidearm. He pretty much refused on principle alone.
“Oh, Jesus in a sinking lifeboat. You’re going to end up shooting me in the ass or yourself.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m technically a doctor, and that I’ve seen your ass to put it back together again.”
She was horrified.
This was her proof that this was way out of control. They were discussing her nakedness on the job.
The look on her face must have said it all.
“Stop it, Elizabeth! You always protect everyone. I’m going to be your protection for a change. You need me.”
She did.
God!
She really did.
He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Let me help you.”
He was staring at her with those baby blue eyes that made her melt.
“I am three days past screwed.”
He didn’t argue.
“You can help.”
It was a win.
“Oh, look. We’re in the air. Now I can nap.”
She found that amusing. Oh, if he wanted to play ME on this one, there’d be no freaking sleep for him.
Elizabeth told him as much too.
“You’re on duty.”
She stood up as soon as the seatbelt sign was off.
“There’s no rest for the wicked, Doc. You wanted to play ME on this circus, so let’s go get to work. When we land, we start.”
He was good with that.
Chris had already had a nap, and he was ready to go. He’d sleep later.
Maybe.
They headed back toward their seats, and she squeezed by Tony to park her ass in her seat.
Chris glared at the man. Tony was NOT going to give up that seat.
He was going to ride tail.
The man had been trying to get intimate details out of him about Elizabeth for weeks.
Months.
He was going to have to play this cool, so he took a seat on the other side of Tony.
“Do you have the autopsies?” Chris asked, holding out his hand.
Elizabeth dug through the file and pulled them out, and then handed them to him.
Chris scanned them.
“There’s a lot here,” he said.
“They were killed in their own beds,” she said. “It made ID’ing them easier. It looks like you’re in the clear when it comes to that.”
“Yeah, you can focus on other things,” Tony offered. “More lively things.”
Chris kicked him in the leg.
Hard.
Elizabeth chose to ignore him. With Tony and his antics, that was generally the best option for all of their sanity.
Elizabeth kept pulling the pages out as she stayed focused on her job at hand.
“We’re going to take them down to the bones,” she said, keeping Tony busy. “I want the standard procedure,” she offered. “This is a hotbed of chaos. I don’t want to get a surprise or bit in the ass—if you know what I mean.”
Chris glared at Tony as he opened his mouth to say something totally inappropriate.
‘Don’t,’ he mouthed in warning. ‘I will kill you.’
The man was entertained by all of it, but he took the threat seriously. Once they admitted they were a couple, he’d stop harassing them. Until then, he had no plans to stop.
Elizabeth continued, not even looking up. She had her information on her phone, and she was excited to be field-testing it.
Gabe had procured her new tech, and she was loving it. They were in an age where their phones could do so much more. Gone was her flip phone, and here was her sexy new model.
Hopefully, here to stay.
“Who do we have?” Chris asked, trying to get the show on the road.
Elizabeth did the reverse of what she normally did. She gave them all their information.
“Our first victim was Naomi Emery—single with no roommate. She was a teacher who didn’t show up for work. The school called the police, and they entered her home and found her.”
“Where?” Chris asked, wishing he could see the exact scenes. The file didn’t contain them.
He wasn’t shocked. When they came in and took over, they usually got the stripped-down version. The local law wanted them to fail.
They didn’t get that.
You’d think they’d want them to solve the case—so everyone would be safe.
“She was found in bed. She was face up, cord around her neck, and she’d been raped—according to the ME who did the
autopsies, a Doctor Julliard, she was violently raped.”
One of the techs was making notes.
They knew what was coming. They were going to be rerunning everything that had already been done. The FBI held themselves to a higher standard. There was no room for any error.
“Doc, you know what I’m going to ask, right?”
And he did.
“You want me to go back over the bodies and check the doctor’s work?”
“Yep. You get the star for today.”
Or a kiss.
She wouldn’t mind planting one…
Elizabeth forced herself to focus on the job. This was exactly why she didn’t fool around with people she worked with. It made it hard to focus.
“Well, I do like stars.”
She continued, as she flipped through the file.
“The two detectives in charge of this clusterfuck interviewed her co-workers, and apparently, she wasn’t having any issues. I’m going to canvas the neighborhood around her house after we land. Well, after I head to the police station.”
They all knew what that was going to be like.
Shitty.
“When the co-workers swear nothing was going on, and that everything appeared normal, then she gets killed in her own home, that’s odd. I’m going to be doing some research on this one.”
Chris had every intention to help her. There was no way he was letting her wander the streets.
Now he just had to figure out how…
That was the issue.
She continued with the file.
“The second victim is Mirel McGowan. She was found dead in her home, too, but this time on her stairs. There were numerous wounds to her body.”
Chris took over.
“Most of them were defensive. She had broken nails, and there was tissue under them. DNA is going to take a while, so we are going to have to go by the physical evidence.”
The techs continued to make notes.
“Where did she work?” Chris asked. “Who found her?”
Elizabeth flipped through the papers until she found that information in the attached police report.
“She was found by her housekeeper. She’s a professor at Harvard—or she was. As I stated, she wasn’t found in bed, but on the floor. There was a lot more blood on the scene.”
Chris held up a copy of an x-ray and checked out the damage to her body.
“She had multiple broken ribs. He roughed her up before he raped and killed her.”
Dawn of Evil_FBI Flashback Page 7
